Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
| 3421 Yet heere she is allow’d her virgin {Crants} <Rites>, | 5.1.232 |
|---|
1617 Minsheu
Minsheu
3421 Crants] Minsheu (1617; rpt. 1978, Beades) :à Sax: Beden [in OE], Belg: beden, I. preccá re, pétere, oráre, to pray. I. Paternostri, Coróna. T.B. Paternoster. B. etiam Roosen-krans, I. sertum rosaceum. H. Cuentas, à contár , I. numeráre, to number, to reckon. Rosario. P. Rosário. G. Patenostráges, Chaplet, quoniam earum magnus vsus est in saccellisquæ Gal: dicuntur Chapeles,aut à chapelet, I. corona, a crowne, eadem ratione qua L. Coronarium, à forma corone: sunt enim sphærule sive tesseræ precatoriæ. Rosarium, à rosa, q. corona rosea, Pillulæ precatoriæ, Calculi precatorii, vel Spherulæ, quibus certus numerus precationum domicalium & salutationum computatur.
1747 warb
warb
3421 Crants] Warburton (ed. 1747) : “The old Quarto reads virgin CRANTS, evidently corrupted from CHANTS, which is the true word. A specific rather than a generic term being here required, to answer to maiden strewments. [3422]”
1758 Edwards
Edwards : warb
3421-2 Crants, strewments]
Edwards (1758, p. 109; rpt. 7th ed, 1972, p. 147): <p. 109>“I suppose, because
generic comes from
genus, and that from
gigno; a word, improper to be us’d on so
maidenly an occasion: Fo else, her
maiden strewments, seems only to be specifying what is meant by her
virgin rites in general. But, however that be, Mr.W. is certainly very unlucky, in taking the word
chants. He had better have pitched upon
grants, wants, pants, or any other,
provided it rhymes to
chants; because it should seem by the very next speech of the Priest, that these same
chants were the only things that were deny’d her. ‘We should profane . . . souls.—’ If Mr. W’s reading be approved, we should, to restore
integrity, make a slight alteration in the latter line; and read ‘Her maiden ‘
struments—’ for
instruments. Music, not only vocal, but instrumental also. </p. 109>
<6th edition: <p. 109>Example XLIX. Vol. 8. p. 248 of Canon VIII: He may prove a reading, or support an explanation, by any sort of reasons, no matter whether good or bad .
1765 Heath
Heath : warb
3421 Crants]
Heath (1765, pp. 546-7) : <p. 546>“The common reading was, ‘her virgin
rites ;’ but </p.546> <p. 547>it seems in one of the old quarto editions Mr. Warburton found ‘virgin
crants ,’ from whence he drew his own conjecture. I should rather supppose it was an error of the press for,
grants , that is, the ceremonies granted by custom to those who died unmarried, and that this was Shakspear’s first expression, which he himself afterwards altered to,
rites . See the Canons of Criticism, p. 109.”
[HA:TOL2 repeats JOHN1 on pp.547: “Crants is the Germanic word for garlands and to carry garlands before the bier of a maiden and to hang them over her grave, is still the practice in rural parishes. We might have the word from the Saxons. “[upper note]; “Crants therefore was the original word: which the author, discovering it to be provincial and perhaps not understood changed to a term more intelligible ut less proper. JOHNSON”]
1765 john1
john1 : warb +
3421 Crants] Johnson (ed. 1765) : “I have been informed by an anonymous correspondent, that crants is the German word for garlands, and I suppose it was retained by us from the Saxons. To carry garlands before the bier of a maiden, and to hang them over her grave, is still the practice in rural parishes. Crants therefore was the original word, which the authour, discovering it to be provincial, and perhaps not understood, changed to a term more intelligible, but less proper. Maiden rites give no certain or definite image. He might have put maiden wreaths, or maiden garlands, but he perhaps bestowed no thought upon on it, and neither genius nor practice will always supply a hasty writer with the most proper diction.”
1773 v1773
v1773 = john1
3421 Crants]
1774-79? capn
capn
3421 Crants] Capell (1779-83 [1774]1:1:146) : “The ‘rites’ which the Priest speaks of, are — sacred rites; ‘ strewments,” a thing of custom that follow’d them; but what his next expressions import, is rather hard to determine: The best solution that offers, is — the interpreting “ home “ by -- ground consecrated, the improper last home of the dead: to this “ home ,” says the speadker, we have allow’d of Ophelia’s bringing , and our “ bell “ has been permitted to toll for her.”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773 + magenta underlined (≈Minsheu)
3421 Crants] Tollet(apud Steevens, ed. 1778) : “ In Minshew’s Dictionary, see Beades, where roosen krants means sertum rosarium ; and such is the name of a character in this play. TOLLET”
1784 ays1
ays1 ≈john1 w/o attribution (from “Crants is the German word . . . . in rural parishes”)
3421 Crants]
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
3421 Crants]
1785 Mason
Mason
3421 Crants]
Mason (1785, p. 396) : <p. 396> “
Warburton’s proposal to read
chants, instead of
crants, cannot be right; for in the next speech but one the Priest says, ‘that it would be a profanation to
sing a requiem to her, as to peace departed souls.’”</p. 396>
1787 ann
ann = v1785 (minus I . . .. correspondent, that in john1)
3421 Crants]
1790 mal
mal = v1785 +
3421 Crants] Malone (ed. 1790) : “ Thus the quarto, 1604. For this unusual word the editor of the first folio substituted rites . By a more attentive examination and comparison of the quarto copies and the folio, Dr. Johnson, I have no doubt, would have been convinced that this and many other changes in the folio were not made by Shakspeare, as is suggested in the following note MALONE”
1791- rann
rann
3421 Crants] Rann (ed. 1791-) : “such wreaths or garlands, as it was customary to carry before the bier of a maiden, and to hang over her grave, and interment in consecrated ground, with tolling of the bell, &c.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal
3421 Crants]
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793 + magenta underlined
3421 Crants] Steevens (apud Reed, ed. 1803) : “The names--Rosenkrantz and Gyldenstiern occur frequently in Rostgaard’s Deliciæ Poetarum Danorum . STEEVENS”
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
3421 Crants]
1819 cald1
cald1 = v1813
3421 Crants]
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
3421 Crants]
v1821
3421 Crants] Boswell (ed. 1821, 21:Glossary): “garlands.”
1822 Nares
Nares : standard
3421 Crants] Nares (1822; 1905): “Garlands. It seems sufficiently proved that this is the right reading in Hamlet, and such the meaning of it, being a German word; and probably also Danish, as Rosen-crantz, Rosy-garland, is the name of a character in the same play. It is certainly Icelandic. But how Shakespeare came to introduce a word so very unusual in our langauge, has not yet been accounted for: probably he found it in some legend of Hamlet. [cites Ham lines].”
1826 sing1
sing1 : john1 +
3421 Crants] Singer (ed. 1826) : “Still used in most northern languages, but no other example of its use among us has yet offered itself. It is thought that Shakspeare may have met with the word in some old history of Hamlet, which furnished him with his fable. The editor of the first folio changed his unusual word for rites , a less appropriate word. Warburton boldly substituted chants , and Mr. Alexander Chalmers affirms that this is the true word.”
[HA:SING1 appears to rephrase JOHNSOn for his “garland” reference, but then adds his own: “Still used in most northern languages, but no other example of its use among us has yet offered itself. It is thought that Shakspeare may have met with the word in some old history of Hamlet, which furnished him with his fable. The editor of the first folio changed his unusual word for rites , a less appropriate word. Warburton boldly substituted chants , and Mr. Alexander Chalmers affirms that this is the true word.” SING2 adds, “notwithstanding what follows!”]
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1
3421 Crants]
1833 valpy
valpy ≈ standard
3421 Crants] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Garlands.”
1841 knt1 (nd)
knt1
3421 Crants] Knight (ed. [1839]): “Rites]] So the folio. The reading of the quarto, which is ususally followed, is crants, which means garlands. But the ‘maiden strewments’ [3422] are the flowers, the garlands, which piety scatters over the bier of the young and innocent. The rites included these, and ‘the bringing home of bell and burial’—with bell and burial. [3422-3]”
1843 col1
col1 : standard
3421 Crants] Collier (ed. 1843) : “We preserve the word in every old quarto anterior to that of 1637, (which, like the folio, has rites) excepting that of 1603, where the line is not found. ‘Crants’ are garlands, from the German kranz. Warburton substituted chants.” 1843
1844 verp
verp = knt1 w/o attribution +
3421 Crants]
Verplanck (ed. 1844): “
Warburton conjectured ‘chants;’ I think with
Johnson that ‘crants’ was the original word, which the author discovering to be provincial and not understood, changed to a term more intelligible. I judge it to be the author’s own correction, both because it is an improvement for the reasons above stated, and from its analogy to the phrase ‘rites of war’ applied to Hamlet’s obsequies, at the end of the play.”
1854 del2
del2
3421 Crants] Delius (ed. 1854) : “crants, das deutsche ‘Kranz,’ ein sonst kaum vorkommendes Wort schrieb Sh. vielleicht zuerst und fügte gleichsam erklärend: her maiden strewments [3422] hinzu. Später änderte er das unverständige [unverständliche in corrigendda] crants in rites um, und so liest die Fol. Ob aber das seltsame crants der Qs. nicht amEnde ein blosser Druckfehler für grants ist=das, was ihr als Jungfrau gewährt wird, bliebe noch zu erwägen.” [Crants , the German “kranz” [is] a scarcely allowable word; Shakespeare wrote perhaps first and submitted likewise for reconsideration her maiden strewments there. Later he changed the foolish [ incomprehensible in corrigenda] crants to rites, and so the Folio reads. But if this same crants of the Qq is not in the end simply a misprint for grants , that is what she is allowed as a virgin, remains to be seen.]
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1≈ sing1
3421 Crants] Hudson (ed. 1856) : “Still used in most northern languages, but no other example of its use among us has yet offered itself. It is thought that Shakspeare may have met with the word in some old history of Hamlet, which furnished him with his fable. The folio changed this unusual word for rites, a less appropriate word.”
1856b sing2
sing2 = sing1 + magenta underlined
3421 Crants] Singer (ed. 1856) : “notwithstanding what follows!”
1857 dyce1
dyce1: cald2 ; knt1 ; del2
3421 Crants] Dyce (ed. 1857) : “The folio has ‘her Virgin Rites,’ &c; which is retained by Caldecott; and by Mr. Knight,—who prefers it for the reason which, in fact, renders it very objectionable. Johnson long ago observed, that ‘’virgin rites’ give no certain or definite image;’—and such the context plainly requires. (Dr. Delius—of whose skill in conjectural emendation a specimen has already been given (see p. 583 [621+20]),—suggests, most ridiculously, that here ‘crants’ may be an error for ‘grants.’).”
1857 elze1
elze1 : Nares ; Brand ; Drake (Sh. And his Times)
3421 Crants] Elze (ed. 1857): "So lesen QB—QF. QG und Fs: her virgin rites. Warburton: chants.—Crants, Kranz, commt nirgends weiter vor, und es ist noch unerklärt, wie Shakespeare zu diesem deutschen Worte gekommen ist, das als solches gerechtest Bedenken erregt. Für einen heimischen, volksthümlichen Gebrauch erwartet man auch einen heimischen Namen; oder, wenn beide der Fremde entlehnt sind, so pflegen sie doch äusserlich der heimischen Sitte und Sprache angepasst zu werden. Das ist bei ’Crants’ nicht geschehn; es macht vielmehr ganz und gar den Eindruck eines Fremdwortesw, und wir halten es desshalb für eine Verderbniss, vermuthlich aus ’chants’. Nares s. Crants. Brand Pop. Antiqu. II, 304. Drake 118." [So read Q2-Q4 [Elze includes many duplicate Qq here]. Q5 and F1: her virgin rites. Warburton: chants. —Crants, Kranz appear nowhere else, and it is still unclear how Shakespeare arrived at these German words, which caused such proper consideration. For a domestic, popular use, one expects even a domestic name; or, if both are borrowed from foreigners, so it is accustomed still the domestic customs and language to become adapted. That did not occur in ’Crants’; it produces rather and even more the impression of a foreign word, and we hold it for that as a corruption, perhaps from ’chants’. Nares s. Crants. Brand Pop Antiqu.2.304. Drake 118.]
1858 col3
col3=col1
3421 Crants]
col3
3421 Crants] Collier (ed. 1858: Glossary): “garlands.”
1859 stau
stau : standard
3421 Crants] Staunton (ed. 1859) : “coronæ , or garlands.”
1861 wh1
wh1 : ≈ john1
3421 Crants] White (ed. 1861): “Rites]] So the folio and the 4to. of 1637 [Q5]; the other 4tos., ‘her virgin crants,’ which, because crantz is a German word meaning garlands, most editors retain, although there is no other instance of its use known in our language. ‘Crants,’ too, makes ‘strewments,’ by which we are to understand flowrs and wreaths,a repetition; but ‘rites’ is a general term, including such particulars as madien strewments and the bringing home of bell and burial. It was Dr. Johnson’s opinion that ‘crants’ ‘was the original word, which the author, discovering to be provincial, and perhaps not understood, changed to a term more intelligible;’ and he adds, most incorrectly in my judgment, ‘less proper.’”
1861 mLETT
mLETT :
3421 Crants] Lettsom (26 April 1861, Letter 63): “Most of the editors explain crantz by garlands, but the German kranz is singular, and the singular seems indispensable here.
“From a note[?] to Prior’s[?] Danish Ballads, it would seem that young unmarried Danish ladies wear, or wore, chaplets of Pearl; at least “[. . .] Elsey’ is described as wearing one, and the translator (vol. III.. p. 111) says that this is the same as the ‘virgin crunt’ [sic] as Ophelia. Possibly therefore inShakespear such a chaplet and not one of flowers may be meant. However that may be, I must protest against Dr. Prior’s taking away Ophelia’s character by inferring from her indecent songs (which certainly were any thing but lauds) that she had been debauched by Hamlet. The whole point [?] of the play, and particularly Hamlet’s behaviour at the grave prove with this [?] notion to be utterly unfounded.”
1864b ktly
ktly : standard
3421 Crants] Keightley (ed. 1864 [1866]: Glossary):”maiden garlands. Ger.”
1864 Bickers
Bickers ≈ standard
3421 Crants] Clarke (ed. 1864, Glossary)
1868 c&mc
c&mc ≈ hud1 w/o attribution
3421 Crants]
Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “‘Garlands,’ ‘chaplets,’ ‘coronals,’ ‘wreaths.’ German,
krants. It was the custom to carry garlands before the bier of a maiden, and to hang them over her grave. ‘Crants’ is the word in the Quartos, while the Folio changes it to ‘rites.’ ‘Crants’ being an unusual word, it may have been thought advisable to substitute a more commonly known term; and it has been suggested that probably Shakespeare originally met with the word ‘crants’ in some Danish legend of Hamlet; as
krants is the name for ‘gralnd,’ not only in German, but in several of the northeast languages.”
1865 hal
hal ≈ cald1/cald2 [john1 ; Tollet apud v1778 ; STEEVENS apud v1803] ; FAIRHOLT
3421 Crants] Halliwell (ed. 1865) : “Mr. Fairholt accompanies the annexed woodcut with the following exceedingly interesting communication,— ‘I made this sketch of a funeral garland in 1844, when it wa suspended in St. Albans Abbey. It was then very old, and I was told by the sexton that such garlands were once commonly borne before the bodies of unmarried women to the grave, and suspended in the church afterwards, but that the custom had ceaed twenty years before this time. The substructure was formed of wooden hoops, to which were affixed rosettes of colored paper; and flowers, real and artificial, covered the whole; when I saw it nothing but the remains of the artificial decorations remained; but the sexton explained to me taht the whole had been originally thickly covered with flowers. In the general restorations and cleansing of the Abbey, which took place shortly afterwards, this garland, and some other vestiges of funeral trophies, were removed from the walls, nor have I met with another example elsewhere, so rapidly have our old village customs disappeared during the last half century.’”
1866a dyce2
dyce2 : VN ; v1821 (only mal) ; LETTSOM
3421 Crants] Malone (apud Dyce, ed. 1866) “For this unusual word the editor of the first folio substituted rites . By a more attentive examination and comparison of the quarto copies and the folio, Dr. Johnson, I have no doubt, would have been convince that this and many other changes in the folio were not made by Shakspeare, as is suggested in the following note MALONE”
3421 Crants] Lettsom (apud Dyce, ed. 1866) : “Most of the editors explain ‘crants’ by garlands; but the German kranz is singular, and the singular seems indispensable here. From a note to Prior’s Danish Ballads it would seem that young unmarried Danish ladies wear, or wore, chaplets of pearl; at least, ‘fair Elsey’ is described as wearing one, and th translator (vol. iii. p. 111) says that this is the same as the ‘virgincrant’ (sic) of Ophelia.’ W.N. Lettsom.”
1869 Romdahl
Romdahl
3421 Crants]
Romdahl (1869, p. 41-2): <p. 41>“garlands. The word has nowhere else been found in English. It is evidently the same word as the </p. 41> <p. 42>Germ.
kranz, Dan.
krands, Swed.
krans. The introduction of this foreign word exactly into
this drama does not to us appear so very strange, the Hamlet-tale itself being of northern origin, and the name of a person in this play being Rosencrantz.—The folios have:
rites.” </p. 42>
1869 tsch
tsch : john1
3421 Crants] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “bis auf die Verwendung der tenuis geschrieben wie dän. crands, ein dem Altn. ebenfalls angehöriges Wort, das in Deutschland nur eingebürgert scheint. Johnson erklärt: The garlands carried before the bier of a maiden, and hung over her grave.—Das Wort scheint englisch; vielleicht ist es mit ags. cranc, textura, verwandt; strewments ist keine Erklärung zu crants, da Blumen noch jetzt bei Begräbnissen gestreut werden. Dass der Dichter von alter Gewohnheit redet, geht aus der Rede des Priesters hervor; vielleicht kannte Sh. aber auch die Etymologie von Rosencrantz.” [“crants;Up to the transformation of the voiceless stop written as Danish crands, it seems one of the [[Old Norse?]] related word, perhaps, which naturalized in Germany. Johnson explains: The garlands carried before the bier of a maiden, and hung over her grave.—The word appears English: perhaps it is related to the A.S. cranc, textura; strewments is no explanation for crants, because flowers will be strewn even now at burials. The the poet speaks of old customs is presented from the discourse of the priest; perhaps Shakespeare knew even the etymology of Rosencrantz.”]]
1872 del4
del4 ≈ del2
3421 Crants] Delius (ed. 1872) : “crants, das deutsche ‘Kranz,’ ein in dieser Form sonst kaum vorkommendes Wort. Die Fol. liest rites für crants. In Chapman’s Tragedy of Alphonsus weist der Hg. Elze das Wort zweimal nach: When thou hadst stolen her dainty rose-crance und a Mitre with Corances on their heads, und will demnach auch in Hamlet virgin crance geschrieben. Jedenfalls ist virgin crants Singular, nicht Plural [“Crants , the German “kranz” [is] in this form a scarcely allowable word. The Folio reads rites for crants. In Chapman’s Tragedy of Alphonsus , the editor Elze twice indicates: When thou hadst stolen her dainty rose-crance and a Mitre with Corances on their heads., and wrote therefore also in Hamlet, virgin crance. In any case, virgin crants is singular, not plural.”]
1872 cln1
cln1 : standard ; Brand
3421 Crants] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “garland. The word in German is kranz, in other Teutonic dialects krants, krans, and crance, the latter being Lowland Scotch, and having cransis for plural. No other instance has been found of this word in English but Shakespeare would scarcely have used it if it had been unintelligible to his audience. The editors of the folios changed it to ‘rites.’ It appears from Brand’s Popular Antiquities, ii. p. 302 &c, that it was the custom in various parts of England to have a garland of flowers and sweet herbs carried before a maiden’s coffin, and afterwards to suspend it in the church. Dr. Johnson affirms that it was in his time still the custom in rural parishes. See Atkinson’s Cleveland Glossary, s.v. Arval.”
1872 hud2
hud2
3421 Crants] Hudson (ed. 1872): “Instead of rites, the folio reading, the quartos have crants, said to be an old provincial word for wreaths or garlands. Rites has the disadvantage of being the more general term; but then the sense of crants is probably implied in strewments.”
1873 rug2
rug2 ≈ standard
3421 Crants] Moberly (ed. 1873): “kranz [Gothic highlighted], a garland.”
1877 v1877
v1877 ≈warbB ; ≈Ewardss ; ≈ Heatj;≈john1;≈ mal; ≈ dyce1(minus cald and knt1 reference) ; ≈ kntI ; ≈ wh1 (summary to “White agrees with him [KNIGHT], that ‘crants’ would hereby be a mere repetition.) ; ≈ ELZE ; DYCE2 (LETTSOM note) ; Dyce(Glossary) ; hal (minus In the general restorations . . . the last half century) ; Nares (see 1905 below) ; ELZE
3421 Crants]
Furness (ed. 1877) : “
Edwards, whose book,
Canons of Criticism, was written in ridicule of Warburton’s edition, suggests derivisely (7th ed., p. 147) that Warburton had better have ‘pitched upon
grants, wants, pants, or any other, provided it rhymes to
chants; because it would seem by the very next speech of the Priest that these same
chants were the only things denied her [“To sing a requiem”]. If Warburton’s reading be approved, we should, to restore
integrity, make a slight alteration in line 221, and read ‘Her maiden
struments. Music, not only vocal, but instrumental also.”
3421 Crants]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Elze cannot avoid the conviction that ‘crants’ is a sophistication, since a most unusual and foreign word would never be applied to a most ususal and domestic ceremony.”
3421 Crants]
Furness (ed. 1877): “According to
Nares no other instance of the use of this word had been found; it was reserved for
Elze to discover two examples of it elsewhere. In Chapman’s
Alphonsus (ed. Elze, 1867, p. 82) there is the following stage-direction: “Enter . . . . SAXON, MENTZ like Clowns with each of them a Mitre with Corances on their heads.’ In a note on ‘corances, Elze says, referring to the present passage in
Ham.: ‘Sh, in my opinion, made the acquaintance of this German importation at the Steelyard, or he witnessed the funeral, in London, of some young German girl, where the coffin was decked, according to the German custom, with ‘crances;’ nay, both may have been the case. From the present passage it would appear that we ought to write
crance. See Cooper’s
List of Foreign Protestants and Aliens, where ‘Hans’ is usally spelt ‘Hance’ or “Haunce.’” The second instance occurs on p. 117, ‘When thou hast stolen her dainty rose-corance.’”
1877 col4
col4 ≈ col1
3421 Crants] Collier (ed. 1877) : “ ‘Crants’ are garlands, or chaplets, from the German kranz. Warburton substituted chants.”
1881 hud3
hud3 : WH1?
3421 Crants] hudson (ed. 1881): “Crants is an old word for garlands; very rare, and not used again by Shakespeare. It was customary in some parts of England to have a garland of flowers and sweet herbs carried before a maiden’s coffin. Johnson says it was the custom in rural parishes in his time.”
hud2
3421 Crants] Hudson (ed. 1881): “crants]] So the quartos. The folio has rites instead of crants.”
1882 elze2
elze2
3421 Crants] Elze (ed. 1882): “See my note on Chapman’s Alphonsus (Leipzig, 1867) p. 143 seq. Compare Jamieson’s Scottish Dictionary, s. Crance, and Brand’s Popular Antiquities, ed. Hazlitt, II, 223.”
1883 wh2
wh2 ; wh1 (glossary definition only)
3421 Crants] White (ed. 1883): “her virgin rites]] so the folio: the quarto, virgin crants, Krantz being Ger. for a garland, some editors have retained.”
1885 macd
macd
3421 Crants] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “chaplet—German krantz, used even for virginity itself.”
1885 mull
mull ≈ standard
3421 Crants]
1885 Guernsey
Guernsey ≈ standard
3421 virgin Crants]
Guernsey (1885, p. 35-8): <p. 35>“It was an ancient custom to crown the deceased with white flowers and to strew them on the corpse, and to place the crown or gar-</p. 35><p. 36> lands on the coffin. The Roman Catholic ritual recommends it in regard to those who die soon after baptism, in token of purity and virginity.
“To carry garlands tied with white ribbons before the bier of a maiden and to hang them over her grave was an old custom, and is still the practice in many rural parishes in England. The word ‘crants’ used by Shakespeare, is the old Dutch word for a garland or wreath, and was retained by the Saxons. A word of like sound and meaning is also found in the Lowland Scotch, and in the Danish and Swedish languages.
“If the funeral occurred when natural flowers could not be had, evergreens and artificial garlands and wreaths were used for the occasion. In some places these garlands were made of bay leaves and rosemary, and were solemnly carried before the corpse next to the priest, by one or two maidens dressed in white, about the size and age of the deceased maiden. These garlands were laid upon the grave after burial.</p. 36><p. 37>
“In some parts of England and Wales, (Glamorgan in particular) it is the custom when a young couple are to be married their ways to the church are strewed with sweet scented flowers and evergreens. The bridal bed was also covered with flowers. When a young unmarried person dies the corpse is strewed with flowers, and his or her ways to the grave are also strewed with sweet flowers and evergreens, and on such occasions it is the usual phrase that these persons are going to their nuptial beds. When the coffin is opened flowers are strewed upon the deceased. After the coffin is lowered in the grave flowers are again strewed upon it and the sprigs of rosemary are thrown upon it or stuck in the newly covered grave, and after the burial the garlands are laid upon the grave or over it.
“These were the ‘maiden strewments’ mentioned by the priest, and was the scattering of flowers and herbs in the way to the grave, and was not the scattering of flowers upon the coffin of deceased. The Queen </p. 37> said of them when she strewed the dead Ophelia : ‘Sweets to the sweet, farewell, I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife— I thought thy bride bed to have decked, sweet maid, And not to have strewed thy grave.’
“This custom in England is elsewhere alluded to by Shakespeare. Queen Catherine in [H8 4.2] directs: ‘When I am dead, good wench Let me be used with honor, strew me over With maiden flowers.’
“In ‘The Maid’s Tragedy,’ by Beaumont & Fletcher, describe the capricious melancholy of a broken-hearted girl thus: ‘When she sees a bank Stuck fall of flowers she with a sigh will tell Her servants what a pretty place it were To bury lovers in; and make her maids Pluck ’em and strew her over like a corse.’
“In a plaintive ditty sung by the melancholy Ophelia for her lost Hamlet, she said: ‘White his shroud as the mountain snows, Larded all with sweet flowers; Which bewept to the grave did (not)* go, With true love showers.’”</p. 38>
<n><p. 38>“*This verse is not in edition Of 1603, and the word in parentheses in third line is in all except some modern editions.”</p. 38></n>
1888 Furnivall
Furnivall
3421 virgin crants]
Furnivall (
New Shakespeare Society’sTransactions 1887-92, p.180): <p. 180>“They were made of wooden hoops coverd with paper originally white, and black rosettes... borne before the coffin of an unmarried girl.—F. J. F., 18 Aug. 1888.” </p. 180>
1889 Barnett
Barnett
3421 Crants]
Barnett (1889, p. 61): <p. 61>“
wreaths. O.Du.
krang, a
chaplet. Cf. Low Scotch,
crance.” </p. 61>
1890 irv2
irv2 : standard
3421 Crants] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “garland.”
Irv2 ≈v1877 w/o attribution (ELZE ;
3421 Crants] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Crants is the reading of Qq. (except the 6th[Q5-Q10]) ; Ff and Q.6 [Q5 or Q6] have rites, which looks like a conjectural alteration of a word not understood by the editors. The word crants seems to be the German krantz, a garland, which in Lowland Scotch becomes crance, but inEnglish has never been found except in the instance in the text. Elze found in Chapman’s Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany, two instances of the word—elsewhere unknown, I believe, in English—crance meaning a crown, probably of flowers. He thought it threw a light on the crantz of Hamlet, and that we ought to read that word crance. The custom of bearing garlands before the hearse at a maiden’s funeral, and hanging them up afterwards in the church, is narrated in Brand’s Pop. Antiq. ii. 302-07; but the word ‘crants’ is not used except as a quotation from the Hamlet instance. These wreaths are still to be seen in many country churches. See N. Sh. Soc. Trans. 1888, p. 180.”
1891 oxf1
oxf1 : standard
3421 Crants] Craig (ed. 1891: Glossary): “sub. a garland, a chaplet.”
1899 ard1
ard1 ≈ cln1 (Brand //) +
3421 Crants] Dowden (ed. 1899): “New Eng. Dict. quotes Greene in Harl. Misc. II. 246: ‘The filthy queane weares a craunce,’ and Nichol, Progr. Q. Eliz., 1596. Hardiman, Our Prayer-Book, 138, says: ‘The crants were garlands which it was usual to make of white paper, and to hang up in the church on the occasion of a young girl’s funeral. Some of these were hanging up in Flamborough Church, Yorkshire, as late as 1850.’ Many editors give F rites. See Brand’s Popular Antiquities, II. 302.”
1901 Elze
Elze
3421 Crants]
Elze (1901, p. 148): <p. 148>“for a wreath, under the German name of
Crants, he gives Ophelia on her last journey.” </p. 148>
1904 Anders
Anders
3421-5 Anders (1904, rpt. 1965, pp. 210-11) discusses burial of the dead but does not mention Hamlet’s allusion to his father’s burial or discuss why Laertes found lacking in his father’s obscure funeral. <p.210> He mentions Ophelia and says that according to 4.7, she had not committed suicide, and that the queen’s strewing of flowers [3435] is “after the manner of the Priests who, while the earth shall be cast upon the Body by some standing by, say: </p. 210> <p. 211> . . . we therefore commit his body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” </p. 211>
1905 rltr
rltr : standard
3421 Crants]
1906 nlsn
nlsn
3421 Crants] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary): “garlands (Q. reading for Ff. ‘rites’ in [3421].”
1931 crg1
crg1 ≈ standard
3421 Crants]
1934 Wilson
Wilson
3421 Crants] Wilson (1934, 2:272): Wilson feels that Q2 offers the more “attractive reading” than F1. He observes that ROWE, CAP, JEN and “etc” follow F1
3421 Crants]
Wilson (1934, 2:278) <p. 278> Wilson provides a table of Q2 and F1 words to indicate that Q2 often has the more poetic form:
iump : iust
deuise : aduise
topt : past
prefard : prepar’d
ascaunt :aslant
cronet : Coronet
laudes : tunes
clawed : caught
Crants : Rites
“A study of these variants is a lesson at once in Shakespearian diction and in the kind of degradation his verse suffered at the hands of those responsible for the F1 text, for what the context loses in every instance is poetic value rather than meaning.”
1934b rid1
rid1:: standard
3421 Crants] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary):
1934a cam3
Cam3 ≈ ard1 w/o attribution
3421 Crants] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary):
1939 kit2
kit2
3421 Crants] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “The word (spelled also cranse, craunce, corance) is singular, not plural. It comes from the Dutch crans or the German kranz. Such garlands, at the burial of maidens, were carried to the grave and afterwards hung up in the church.1 In Middleton’s play, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, v,4, Moll’s coffin is ‘adorned with a garland of flowers, and epitaphs pinned on it, attended by many matrons and maids.’ Cf. a letter of 1668-9: ‘Many have died this winter; . . . and the Church is full of garlands, hung up for those who died in youth’ (Diary and Correspondence of Dr. John Worthington, II, 304).”
<n> “.1 For descriptions and pictures see Jewett, The Reliquary, I (1860), 5-11; XXI (1881), 145-148; Syer Cuming, Journal of the British Archæological Association, XXI (1875), 190-195; Minns, Papers and Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club, IV (1905), 235-239; Burne, Shropshire Folk-Lore, pp. 310-313; Denham Tracts, II (1895), 33; New Shakspere Society Transactions, 1887-1892, p. 180.” </n>
kit2 ≈ standard
3421 Crants] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):
1938 parc
parc ≈ standard
3421 Crants]
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ standard
3421 Crants]
1951 alex
alex ≈ standard
3421 Crants] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary)
1951 crg2
crg2=crg1
3421 Crants]
1954 sis
sis ≈ standard
3421 Crants] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary):
1957 pel1
pel1 : standard
3421 Crants]
1970 pel2
pel2=pel1
3421 Crants]
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ standard
3421 Crants]
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ standard
3421 Crants]
1982 ard2
ard2 ≈ standard
3421 Crants] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “or crance, a garland or chaplet worn as a sign of maidenhood, placed on the bier at burial and afterwards hung up I church. LN [Longer Notes ; below].”
ard2 ≈
3421
Crants]
Jenkins (ed. 1982, Longer Notes, 555): <p. 555>“The word, from German
kranz ((Danish
krans)) is singular, though in this spelling often mistaken for plural. The original floral wreath for the burial of a maiden came to be replaced by a less perishable artificial structure. For women of rank this might be a chaplet of pearl or gold and silver filigree, but surviving and recorded examples show characteristically a frame of wood shaped like a crown twelve or more inches high, covered with cloth or paper, adorned with artificial flowers (or occasionally black rosettes)), and hanging from it ribbons, a pair of gloves, and sometimes a collar or kerchief. The practice of bearing such a symbol of virginity before the coffin and then hanging it in the church seems to have extended throughout northern Europe ((see
Edin. Rev., CXXX, 96-7)), in parts of which examples can still be seen. ((I have myself seen some in Norway)). It is conceivable that Shakespeare sought to suggest a Danish custom;
crants, like
lauds ((IV.vii. 176)) appears to have bee unfamiliar to F. But the difficulty must surely have lain in the name rather than the thing. For the practice was certainly widespread in Elizabethan England and in various parts continued through the 18th century. Later survivals are also recorded, some of quite recent date. See esp.
The Reliquary, I, 5-11; and also Chambers,
Book of Days, 1888 edn., I. 271-4;
Journ. of Brit. Archaeol. Soc., XXXI, 190-5; New Shaks. Soc.
Transactions; 1887-92, p. 180; C.S. Burne,
Shropshire Folk-Lore, pp. 310-13; Hants. Field Club
Papers and Proceedings, IV, 235-9;
English, VII, 202-3;
Explicator, XXVIII ((35)).” </p. 555>
1984 chal
chal : standard
3421 Crants]
1985 cam4
cam4 ≈ standard +
3421 crants] Edwards (ed. 1985): “An unfamiliar word, too remote for the playhouse scribe, who substituted ‘rites’.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4 ≈ cam4 w/o attribution
3421 crants] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “I take this to be, like have for been ((Q2)) in [3418], a piece of authorial revision in keeping with the general character of F. It replaces a rare word, crants meaning ‘garlands’, in Q2 with a more familiar one, just as the substitution of have for been replaces an unusual construction with a common one.”
1993 dent
dent ≈ standard
3421 crants]
1992 fol2
fol2≈ standard
3421 crants]
1998 OED
OED
3421 crants] OED Obs.A garland, chaplet, wreath. 1592 GREENE in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 246 The filthy queane weares a craunce and is a Frenchwoman, forsooth. 1596 in Nichols Progr. Q. Eliz. (1823) III. 391 After they received some reward, and with a cranse with their ladies gave daunses with them. 1602 SHAKS. Ham. V. i. 255 (Qq.) Yet here she is allowed her virgin crants [Fo. rites]. [etc.]
3421
