Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
| 3649-50 Hora. This Lapwing runnes away with the shell on his | head. | |
|---|
3651-2 Ham. A did {so sir} <Complie> with his dugge before a | suckt it, thus {has} <had> he and 3651
1580 Barrett
Barrett
3649 Lapwing] Barrett (1580, lapwing, #93): “birde. Vpupa, æ Plinius. poy Hupe.”
1678 Ray’s Proverbs
Ray’s Proverbs
3649 Lapwing] Ray’s Proverbs (1678; rpt. 1879, p. 168): “‘The lapwing cries most farthest from her nest.’”
1730 theol
theol
3651-2 did so sir] Theobald (26 Mar. 1730, [fol. 122v] [Nichols 2:580]): <fol. 122v> : “i.e. he ran away with his dug, before he sucked it; which, I confess, I do not very well understand. The first folio reads something more intelligibly: ‘He did COMPLY with his dug, before he suck’d it.’” </fol. 122v>
1747 warb
warb:
3651-2 did so sir] Warburton (ed. 1747) : “did Complie]] What, run away with it? The Folio reads, He did COMPLY with his dug. i.e. stand upon ceremony with it, to shew he was born a courtier. This is extremely humourous. WARBURTON”
1755 John
John
3649 Lapwing] Johnson (1755, Lapwing) : “ n.s. [lap and wing] A clamorous bird with long winds. ‘[Ah! but I think him better than I say, And yet would herein others eyes were worse: Far from her nest the lapwing cries away; My hart prays from him, though my tongue doe curse.’ Shak ‘And how in fields the lapwing Tereus reigns, The warbling nightingale in woods complains.’ Dryden.”
John
3651 dugge] Johnson (1755, dug, 1): “n.s. [deggia, to give suck, Islandick] 1. A pap, a nipple; a teat; spoken of beasts, or in malice of contempt of human beings. ‘Of her there bred A thousand young ones, which she daily fed, Sucking upon her poisonous dugs; each one Of sundry shape, yet all ill favoured.’ FQ. I. ‘They are first fed and nourished with the milk of a strange dug.’ Raleigh’s Histoyr of the World. ‘Then shines the goat, whose brutish dugs supply’d The infant Jove, and nurst his growing pride.’ Creech.”
1765 john1
john1
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Johnson (ed. 1765) : “I see no particular propriety in the image of the lapwing. Osric did not run till he had done his business. We may read, This lapwing ran away—That is, this fellow was full of unimportant bustle from his birth.” JOHNSON”
john1 = warb + magenta underlined
3651-2 did so sir] Johnson (ed. 1765) : “did Complie]] Hamner has the same emendation.”
-1779 mtol1
mtol1 : han1 ; warb
3651 Complie] Tollet (ms. notes in Theobald, ed. 1740): “compliment]]; Hanmer & Warburton read so from the folio, He did comply with his dug.
1773 v1773
v1773 = john1 +:magenta underlined
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Steevens (ed. 1773) : “The same image occurs in Ben Jonson’s Staple of News. ‘—-and coachmen To mount their boxes reverently, and drive Like lapwings with a shell upon their heads Thorough the streets.”
1773 jen
jen : john1 + magenta underlined
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
Jennens (ed. 1773): “All the editions read
runs.
J.[ohnson] says,
see no propriety in the image of lapwing. (He means, I suppose, when applied to
Osrick’s taking his leave of
Hamlet.) Osrick
did not run till he had done his business. We may read, This lapwing
ran away—
that is, this fellow was full of unimportant bustle from his birth. So far
J. But I see no reason why we may not read runs: Osrick is called young Osrick in the next speech but one, and being young, he may be supposed to be but an half-formed courtier, which Horatio justly compares to a lapwing scarcely hatched; and, by the running away with the shell on his head, he would image out his forwardness of talk, and conceit of himself; his putting on the courtier before he was properly qualified.”
jen : warb + magenta underlined
3651-2 did so sir]
Jennens (ed. 1773) :
“But I don’t see why the old reading may not stand. If Horatio’s foregoing speech means to express a wonder at so raw a youth’s affecting the airs of a courtier; Hamlet’s reply is very pertinent, He did so with his dug before he suck’d it. Do you wonder at his affecting the courtier now? why he has done it from his very cradle.”
1774 capn
capn : see n. 3656
3651-2 did so sir] Capell (1774:1:1:148-9) : “compliment,” and “ fan’d “ in [3656] are taken from the two latter moderns [WARB and HAMNER?]; and when the fit of amendment was on them, methinks they might have discover’d the slight corruption between. Words are not necessary, to prove the fitness of these emendations; but a few may be pardonable, to show by what connection the first-amended word is brought in: The speech before it is figurative; it’s meaning,— this fellow was certainly born what he is, a man of fashion and compliment, he is so compleat in it: to which Hamlet assents, by saying—that, to be sure, he must have ask’d the dug’s pardon, before he handl’d it.”
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773 +
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Steevens (ed. 1778) : “ And I have since met with it in several other plays. The meaning, I believe, is —This is a forward fellow. So, in Vittoria Carambona, or the White Devil, 1612: ‘—forward lapwing, He flies with the shell on’s head.’ Again, in Greene’s Neuer too late, 1616: ‘Are you no sooner hatched, with the lapwing , but you will run away with the shell on your head ?’ Again, in Reuenge for Honour, by Chapman: ‘Boldness enforces youth to hard atchievements Before their time; makes them run forth like lapwings From their warm nest, part of the shell yet sticking Unto their downy heads.’ STEEVENS”
v1778 = v1773 + magenta underlined
3651-2 did so sir] Tyrwhitt (apud Steevens, ed. 1778) : “I doubt whether any alteration be necessary. Shakespeare seems to have used comply in the sense in which we use the verb compliment . See before, [2.2.? (0000)] let me comply with you in this garb. TYRWHITT”
1784 ays1
ays1 ≈ v1778 (only Steevens’ “This ia a forward fellow”)
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
3651-2 did so sir]
1787 ann
ann = v1785
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
1790 mal
mal = v1785 + magenta underlined
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Malone (ed. 1790) : “ I believe, Hamlet means to say that Osrick is, bustling and impetuous, and yet ‘ but raw in respect of his quick sail.’ So, in The Character of an oxford Incendiary , 1643: ‘This lapwing incendiary rn away half-hatch’d from Oxford, to raise a combustion in Scotland. In Mere’s Wit’s Treasury 1598, we have the same image expressed exactly in our poet’s words: ‘As the lapwing runneth away with the shell on her head, as soon as she is hatched,’ &c. MALONE”
mal = v1785 +
3651-2 did so sir] Malone (ed. 1790) : “Thus the folio. [citing He did comply with his dug ] The quarto, 1604, reads— A [ie. he ] did, sir, with his dug, &c. For comply Dr. Warburton and the subsequent editors; read— compliment . The verb to compliment was not used, as I think, in the time of Shakspeare. MALONE”
1791- rann
rann : standard
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Rann (ed. 1790) : “This youth sets up for a courtier rather prematurely, before he is duly qualified for the character.”
rann : standard
3651-2 did so sir] 1791 RANN (1791 ed., p. 400) notes: “ He approached it ceremonially—He has play’d the courtier from his cradle—He did comply; He did so, Sir.“
1793 v1793
v1793 = v1785
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
v1793 = v1785
3651-2 did so sir]
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
v1803 = v1793 +
3651-2 did so sir] Reed (ed. 1803) : “Comply is right. So, in Fuller’s Historie of the Holy Warre , p. 80: ‘Some weeks were spent in complying , entertainments, and visiting holy places;-—’To compliment was, however, by no means, an unusual term in Shakespeare’s time.’ REED”
3651-2 did so sir] Steevens (apud Reed, ed. 1803) : “Again, ibid . p. 219: ‘But sure, so cunning a companion had long conversed with—and Princes, as appeareth by his complying carriage’ &c.’ STEEVENS”
1805 Seymour
Seymour
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
Seymour (1805, 2:203) : <p. 203> “He is prematurely busy; his actions do not wait for the judgment that ought to guide them.”
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
v1813 = v1803
3651-2 did so sir]
1818 Todd
Todd = John +
3649 Lapwing] Todd (1818, lapwing): “n.s. [lap and wing. The word was at first lapwink. So Huloet calls it, in his old dictinary. And so Gower, long before; ‘A lapwinke made he as.’ Conf. am. B.5. And thus the Saxon [lepethinc]] A clamorous bird with long winds. [Ah! but I think him better than I say, And yet would herein others eyes were worse: Far from her nest the lapwing cries away; My hart prays from him, though my tongue doe curse.’ Shak. ‘And how in fields the lapwing Tereus reigns, The warbling nightingale in woods complains.’ Dryden.”
1819 cald1
cald1 = v1813 + preface material
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “Prematurely hasty, starts almost before he has means, ere he has found legs or message to carry or be carried.”
CALD1: v1813 + magenta underlined
3651-2 did so sir] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “Was complaisant with, treated it with apish ceremony.
“There is a passage in an old author, which so closely resembles the foregoing, that we may conceive the idea, and partly the phrase itself, to have been caught, or rather copied, by Shakespeare from thence. ‘Flatterie hath taken such habit in man’s affections, that it is in moste men altera natura: yea, the very sucking babes hath a kind of adulation towards their nurses for the dugge .’ Ulpian Fulwel’s Arte of Flatterie, 4to. 1579. Preface to the Reader.
“Compliment is the word here used by most of the modern editors, who interpret comply in that sense both here and in II. 2. Haml., ‘let me comply with you in this garb.’ And Mr. Reed, who instances Fuller’s Holy Warre, p. 80: ‘Some weeks were spent in complying , entertainments, and visiting,’ adds, ‘To compliment was, however, by no means an unusual term in Shakespeare’s time.’
“In Herrick’s Poems, 8vo. 1648, we find a singular use of this word in the sense of enfold or encircle, and plainly as a derivative from the Latin complico . ‘O’ercast a rug of carded wool; Which, spunge-like, drinking in the dull Light of the moon, seem’d to comply Cloudlike the daintie Deitie. By Whom faire Corinna sits, and doth comply With yvorie wrists his Laureat head.’”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
v1821 = v1813 +
3651-2 did so sir] Malone (apud Boswell, ed. 1821) : “So, to recomply is used in the sense of returning a compliment : ‘Then stept I to the man of mysteries With careful compliment , least to offend; When he eftsoones with reverend arise Did recomplie me like a perfect friend.’ A Fig for Fortune by A.C. [Antony Copley ] 1596. MALONE”
1822 Nares
Nares : Ray’s Proverbs
3649 Lapwing] Nares (1822; 1905) : “ s. The green plover, or pe-wit. Tringa vanellus. This bird is said, and I believe truly, to draw pursuers from her nest by crying in other places; other birds also do it, as the partridge. This, however, was formerly the subject of a proverb: ‘The lapwing cries tongue from heart;’ or, ‘The lapwing cries most, furthest from her nest.’ Rays Proverb. p.199. ‘–Though ‘tis my familiar sin With maids to seem the lapwing, and to jest Tongue far from heart. MM. 1.4.32(982) ‘Far from her nest the lapwing cries away.’ Com. 4.2.27 (1132) ‘Wherein you resemble the lapwing, who crieth most where her nest is not’ Alex & Campaspe, ii. 2. O. Pl. ii. 105. ‘H’as the Iapwing’s cunning, I’m afraid, my lord, That cries most when she’s farthest fom the nest.’ Massinger’s Old Law, 5.2.
“The translator has introduced the allusion into the following passage of Tasso, but without any authority from the original: ‘Like as the bird, that having close imbarr’d Her tender young ones in the springing bent, To draw the searcher further from the next, Cries and complains most where she needeth least.’ Fair. Tasso, vi. 80.
“Another peculiarity of this bird ws also proverbially remarked; namely, that the young ones run out of the shell with part of it sticking upon their heads. It was generally used to express great forwardness. Thus Horatio says it of Osrick, meaning to call him a child, and a fine forward one: [Hamlet citation] ‘—Forward lapwing! He flies with the shell on his head. White Devil, O.pl. vi. 265. ‘Such as are bald and barren beyond hope Are to be separated and set by For ushers to old countesses: and coachmen To mount their boxes reverently, and drive Like lapwings with a shell upon their heads Thorow the streets.’ B.Jons. Staples of News, iii.2.”
“The bald head being uncovered, would make that appearance. See BARE.”
1826 sing1
sing1 ≈ mal
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Singer (ed. 1826) : “Horatio means to call Osric a raw, unfledged, foolish fellow. It was a common comparison for a forward fool. Thus in Meres’s Wits Treasury, 1598:—’As the lapwing runneth away with the shell on her head, as soon as she is hatched,’ &c. “
sing1
3651-2 did so sir] Singer (ed. 1826) : “See note 47, on 2.2.354 [1419).”
[note 47, 1419]: “Hanmer, with his usual temerity, changed comply to compliment , and Steevens has contented himself with saying that he means ‘to compliment with,’ here and in a passage in the fifth act, “he did comply with his dug before he sucked it.” where that sense would be even more absurd. He evidently never looked at the context. Hamlet has received his old schoolfellows with somewhat of the coldness of suspicion hitherto, but he now remembers that this is not courteous: He therefore rouses himself to give them a proper eception, ‘Gentlemen, you are welcome to Elsinore.— Your hands . Come then, the appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony : let me EMBRACE you in this fashion : lest I should seem to give you a less courteous reception than I give the players, to whom I must behave with at least exterior politeness.’ That to comply with was to embrace will appear from the following passages in Herrick:— ‘-—witty Ovid, by Whom fair Corinna sits, and doth comply , With iv’ry wrists, his laureat head, and steeps His eye in dew of kisses, while he sleeps.’ Again:—- ‘—a rug of carded wool Which, sponge-like, drinking in the dull Light of the moon, seem’d to comply , Cloud-like, the dainty deity.’ Dr. Nott’s Selections from Herrick , pp. 127 and 153.”
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
cald2 = cald1 + magenta underlined
3651-2 did so sir]
Caldecott (ed. 1832) : “Was complaisant with, treated it with apish ceremony.
“There is a passage in an old author, which so closely resembles the foregoing, that we may conceive the idea, and partly the phrase itself, to have been caught, or rather copied, by Shakespeare from thence. ‘Flatterie hath taken such habit in man’s affections, that it is in moste men altera natura: yea, the very sucking babes hath a kind of adulation towards their nurses for the dugge .’ Ulpian Fulwel’s Arte of Flatterie, 4to. 1579. Preface to the Reader.
“It appears to us, that both this passage, and the present drama must have been very familiar to E.S.; who in a Sermon, 4to. 1624, dedicated to Williams, Bishop of Lincoln and Lord Keeper, and entitled Anthropophagus , immediately after the mention of Flatterers as hic et ubique like Hamlet’s Ghost, has these words: ‘this contagious quality of Adulation and Flattery hath so perverted the nature of man in this age, and hath taken such habit in his affections, that it is in most men altera natura ; very hard to be removed: yea, the uery sucking babes have a kind of flattery towards their nurses for the dug.’ p. 14.; and from Copley’s Fig for Fortune 1596 Malone shews the use of recomply in the sense of ‘returning compliments;’ ‘Then stept I to the man of mysteries With careful compliment least to offend: When he eftsoones with reverend arise Did recomplie me like a perfect friend.’
“Compliment is the word here used by most of the modern editors, who interpret comply in that sense both here and in II. 2. Haml., ‘let me comply with you in this garb.’ And Mr. Reed, who instances Fuller’s Holy Warre, p. 80: ‘Some weeks were spent in complying , entertainments, and visiting,’ adds, ‘To compliment was, however, by no means an unusual term in Shakespeare’s time.’
“This was said in answer [referring to the gloss that compliment was not an unusual term for Sh., an observation by Reed]: “This was said in answer to an assertion of Malone’s in the Pseudo-Rowleian controversy, ‘that the verb, to compliment , was unknown for half a century fter Elizabeth’s reign:’ but which does not appear in his edition of our author’s works 1821: Reed having however omitted to produce any instance, and none having been given from any other quarter, we shall instance Lord Burleigh; who dies in 1598; and who at an earlier date in his letter of Aduice to his Son, afterwards Lord Salisbury, says, ‘Be sure to keep some great man: but trouble him not for trifles. Compliment him often with many, but small gifts, and of little charge.’ Desiderata Curosa . 4to. 1779, I. 47.
“So ‘free from inhumane austeritie on the one side and voyde of fond and idle complementing indulgence on the other.’ Chadwith’s Funeral Sermon . Dec. 9. 1613 on Sir Geo. Saint-Paule Bart. 4to. p. 18.
“In Herrick’s Poems, 8vo. 1648, we find a singular use of this word in the sense of enfold or encircle, and plainly as a derivative from the Latin complico . ‘O’ercast a rug of carded wool; Which, spunge-like, drinking in the dull Light of the moon, seem’d to comply Cloudlike the daintie Deitie. By Whom faire Corinna sits, and doth comply With yvorie wrists his Laureat head.’
“In the sense of complied Spenser also uses the word imply repeatedly. F.Q. I. VI.6: and I.IV.31. ‘His blushing face in foggy cloud implyes .’ In which or that of compliment we find comply in W. Rivett’s Commend. Verses prefixed to Gamble’s Ayres and Dialgoues . Fo. 1659. Vol. II.: ‘Where all variety of notes comply , Led in one silken threat of Harmony.’ And Tho. Jordan’s Ib . ‘Here word and Note in Complication roll Like twisted Twylight, or the Sense and Soule; Here each insinuating Note doth grow One with the word; as Waters mix and flow— With so much aptitude and prompt connexion As red and White comply in a Complexion.’”
1833 valpy
valpy ≈ standard
3649-50 Valpy (ed. 1833): “This bird is said to run about as soon as it is hatched.”
valpy ≈ standard
3651-2 did so sir] Valpy (ed. 1833): “did Complie]] Compliment.”
[1839] knt1 (nd)
knt1 ≈ cald1 without attribution (definition and Fulwel //)
3651-2 did so sir] Knight (ed. [1839]) : “Comply—was complaisant. In Fulwel’s ‘Arte of Flatterie,’ 1579, we have thes same idea:—’The very sucking babes hath a kind of adulation towards their nurses for the dug.’”
1843 col1
col1 : standard
3651-2 did so sir] Collier (ed. 1843) : “Horatio, by the simile of the lapwing, calls Osrick a forward fellow, and Hamlet follows it up by saying that he was so forward and conceited, that he complimented with his dug before he sucked it. Many authorities might be produced to show that to ‘comply’ was to compliment.”
1845 gents
Mitford
3649 lapwing]
Mitford (1845, p. 131): <p. 131> “See Flecknoe’s Love’s Kingdom, p. 13, ‘The shell that love is hatched of, and the nymphs here, just like young lapwings, run away with it on their heads.’” </p. 131>
1854 del2
del2
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]Delius (ed. 1854) : “Die sprüchwörtliche Redensart von dem Kibitz, der mit der Eierschale auf dem Kopfe davon läuft, wenn er eben ausgebrütet ist, ist bei Sh.’s Zeitgenossen häufig, zur Bezeichnung eines unreifen, naseweisen Gelbschnabels.” [The stated expression from the Kibitz[?], which runs with the eggshell on its head therefore, when it is thus hatched, is frequent in Sh’s contemporaries, as a sign of an immature, saucy yellow beak.]
del2
3651-2 did so sir] Delius (ed. 1854) : “to comply vgl. Anm. 105, 2.2.373(1419).” [“to comply “to comply, see note 105, Act 2.2.373”]
1419, note 105“to be accommodating, is an affected speech, in which Hamlet serves vis-a-vis the courtiers, to be courtly”
[ Delius refers back to the line in Hamlet to R&G after the arrival of players,
let me comply. He glosses the phrase there: <p. 63>.” </p. 63></p. 150>]
1855 Wade
Wade
3652-57 Wade (1855, p. 29): <p. 29> “Previously to Hamlet’s despatching this courteous verbal answer [3636-42] to the message of the traitorous king, he diverts himself with the fantastic manner and speech of the landed gentleman of the royal household, who seems, indeed, a very butterfly just issued out of his own grubby soil. Hamlet ridicules and mimics this man’s postural and verbal antics, and at his departure says of him:—[cites 3652-57] Just previously, in the Churchyard, Hamlet, after one of the tart rejoinders of the gravedigging Clown, has thus remarked:—[cites 3329-33] Thus, thus, does this unprepared Prince must, reflect, philosophise, jest, quibble, observe, comment, criticise—do anything, in short, rather than act. The ‘go’ (to use a vulgarism, in the want of a sufficiently expressive classicism)—the ‘go’ and the mystery of human things confound and monopolize his faculties, and render him less a man than amere wondrously-wrought thinking-machine.” </p. 29>
1856 hud1 (1851-6)
hud1 = sing1 without attribution
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . .
hud1 ≈ sing1 without attribution ; cald2 (Fulwel //)
3651-2 did so sir] Hudson (ed. 1856) : “Comply is used in the same sense here as in 2.2.373 (1419), note 35. In Fulwel’s Art of Flatterie, 1579, the same idea occurs; ‘The very sucking babes hath a kind of adulation towards their nurses for the dug.’”
[1419, note 35: “That is, let me embrace you in this fashion; lest I should seem to give you a less courteous reception than I give the players, to whim I must behave with at least exterior politeness. That comply with was sometimes used in the sense of embrace appears by the following from Herrick: ‘Witty Ovid, by Whom fair Corinna sits, and doth comply, With iv’ry wrists, his laureat head, and steeps His eye in dew of kisses, while he sleeps.’”]
1856 sing2
sing2 = sing1 ; v1778 (only the White Devil analogue)
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
1857 elze1
elze1
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . .]
Elze (ed. 1857, 257): <p. 257>"Johnson vermuthet: This lapwing ran away &c., that is, This fellow was full of unimportant bustle from his birth.—Dass der Kiebitz mit der Eierschale auf dem Kopfe davonlaufe, kommt öfter sprüchwörtlich vor, um einen naseweisen Burschen zu bezeichnen. Bei B. Johnson Staple of News III, 2 heisst es von kahlköpfigen Kutschern, die baarhaupt auf dem Bocke sitzen: and drive Like lapwings with a shell upon their heads Thorow the streets. Es ist übrigens Thatsache, dass die Jungen der Sumpfvögel, zu denen der Kiebitz gehört, meistens gleich nach ihrer Geburt gehen oder schwimmen können, während sie bei anderen Vogelarten, die kleine Eier legen und nur kurze Zeit brüten, blind und unbehülflich aus dem Ei kommen. Dazu kommt, dass die Kiebitze wie alle Regenpfeifer wegen ihres schnellen Laufes bekannt sind. Gräfe Handbuch der Naturgesch. I, 335 und 491. Nares s. Lapwing. ["
Johnson conjectures, ’This lapwing ran away etc., that is, This fellow was full of unimportant bustle from his birth.—That the kibbitz runs away with the eggshell on his head appears often in saying, to refer to a saucy youth. In Ben Jonson’s Staple of News III, 2 it refers to bald coachmen, who bareheaded sit obstinately: ’and drive Like lapwings with a shell upon their heads Thorow the streets. It is by the way a matter of fact that the young of swampbirds, belonging to the kibbitz, are able to go mostly even after their birth or swim,
1858 col3
col3
3649 Lapwing] Collier (2nd ed. 1858: 6: Glossary): “allusions to. I. 278, 400.”
col3 : col1
3651-2 did so sir] Collier (ed. 1858) : “Horatio, by the simile of the lapwing, calls Osrick a forward fellow, and Hamlet follows it up by saying that he was so forward and conceited, that he complimented with his dug before he sucked it. Various authorities might be produced to show that to ‘comply’ was to compliment. see also this play, p. 521 [see n. 1419].”
1859 stau
stau : standard
3651-2 did so sir] Staunton (ed. 1859) : “complie]] was ceremonious, or played the courtier with his dug.”
1861 wh1
wh1 ≈ cald2
3651-2 did so sir] White (ed. 1861) : “i.e. he exchanged compliments. See in this play, 2.2.373 (1419), ‘let me comply with you.’ Some doubt has been thrown upon this definition of ‘comply;’ but its correctness in this particular case would seem to be settled by the following passage in the Preface to Ulpian Fulwel’s Art of Flatterie, 4to., 1579, of which, indeed, Hamlet’s speech is not improbably a reminiscence: ‘Flatterie hath taken such habit in man’s affections, that it is in most men altera natura; yea the very sucking babes hath a kind of adulation towards their nurses for the dugge.’”
1864-68 c&mc
c&mc
3649 Lapwing] Clarke (ed. 1864, Glossary): “Plover, and Peewit; all names for the same bird. Believed to lure strangers from its nest by crying and limping, as if wounded.”
c&mc ≈ hud1 w/o attribution
3649 Lapwing] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “In allusion to an old proverb, thus given in Mere’s ‘Wits’ Treasury’ (1598): ‘As the lapwing runneth away with the shell on her head, as soon as she is hatched.’ this is Horatio’s way of calling Osric a silly fledgling fellow.”
c&mc ≈ hud1 w/o attribution
3651-2 did so sir] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “He did comply]] He was complaisant to,’ ‘he was obsequious or deferential to.’ See Note 84, Act ii [1419]. Hamlet’s phrase is equivalent to ‘he is a born courtier,’ ‘or ‘a courtier from his very cradle.’”
1865 hal
hal : Nares (from Another . . . would make that appearance.)
3649-50 This Lapwing runs away . . . ]
hal = cald2 (only the CALD2 addition That is, was complaisant . . . ‘like a perfect friend.’)
3651-2 did so sir]
1869 tsch
tsch
3651-2 did so sir] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “comply]]dem ital. complire entsprechend: Complimente machen, im Engl. mit with, wie im Ital. mit con gebräuchlich.” [“corresponds to the Italian complire; to make a compliment. in English used with with as in Italian with con.”]
1872 del4
del4 = del2
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
del4 = del2
3651-2 did so sir]
1872 cln1
cln1 : v1821? (Steevens ‘Greene’s Never too Late’ //) ; ≈ NARES? w/o attribution (MM //)
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “It was believed that the young lapwings were in such haste to be hatched, that they ran off with the shell upon their heads. The bird was therefore a symbol of a forward fellow. Steevens quotes from Greene’s Never too Late, 1616: ‘Are you no soonger hatched, with the lapwing, but you will run away with the shell on your head?’ It was also, from its habit of alluring intruders from its nest by crying far away from it, a symbol of insincerity. Compare [MM 1.4.32 (982)]: ‘Though ‘tis my familiar sin With maids to seen the lapwing and to jest, Tongue far from heart.’ Osric was both forward and insincere.”
cln1
3651 so sir] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “complie]] See [2.2.360 (1419)].
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
hud2 = hud1
3651-2 did so sir]
1873 rug2
rug2 ≈ standard
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Moberly (ed. 1873): “He is in such over-hurry that he is like the just-hatched lapwing which runs away with the shell on its head.”
-1875 Bulloch
Bulloch
3651-2 did so sir] Bulloch (-1875, New Readings #54): “In the quarto copies this problematical verb comply is left out, and their reading is either “A did sir with,’ or ‘A did so sir with,’ which Theobald and Rowe severally adopted with the more usual form of he for the pronoun. Hanmer and Warburton, however, kept by the folio text by using the form of complement and compliment—words of very different signification, though differing so slightly in spelling.
“Our own opinion is, there is no connection whatever with the verb to comply, and that, if it had been so, the proper form would have been ‘he complied,’ which still would have had no meaning in the case. Osric’s whole deportment was that of a ceremonious courtier, who could do nothing in a plain way, and his language is a mass of affectation. This Hamlet ridicules thoroughly, and he pictures him as even practising the same in his infancy. ‘Complie’ or ‘comply’ is only used three times by Shakespeare—twice in ‘Hamlet,’ and once in ‘Othello’—and in the instance before us it is printed with a capital, indicating that it is a noun. There is no difficulty anywhere but in this instance, where indeed the proper word should be compline, the very last act of deveotion when the religious service of the day was concluded. In Jeremy Taylor’s ‘Holy Living,’ chapter II., section VI., of ‘Contentedness,’ and paragraph ‘Death unreasonable’ we have the following—’And if a man were but of a day’s life, it is well if he lasts till evensong, and then says his compline an hour before the time’. The further illustration of this may be given from ‘Slawkenbergius Tale in Tristram Shandy—’The compline bells were just ringing to call the Strasburghers to their devotions, and shut up the duties of the day in prayer’; and again, ‘The compline bells were tinkling all the time’. But Osric was so ceremonius that he even said his compline with his dug. Indead of ‘did,’ the proper verb should be said, as in the phrase, ‘said his pryaers;’ so Hamlet pictures the precocious courtier in the highest ritualistic manner possible— ‘He said compline with his dug before he sucked it.’”
1877 v1877
v1877 = john1 ; ≈ jen ; v1778 (STEEVENS, GREENE analogue) ; mal (MERE analogue) ; ≈ CALD2 ; ≈ cln1
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
Clark & Wright (
apud Furness, ed. 1877): “
“It was believed that the young lapwings were in such haste to be hatched, that they ran off with the shell upon their heads. The bird was therefore a symbol of a forward fellow. Steevens quotes from Greene’s Never too Late, 1616: ‘Are you no soonger hatched, with the lapwing, but you will run away with the shell on your head?’ The lapwing was also, from its habit of alluring intruders from its nest by crying far away from it, a symbol of insincerity, from its habit of alluring intruders from its nest by crying far away from it Compare [MM 1.4.32 (982)]: ‘Though ‘tis my familiar sin With maids to seen the lapwing and to jest, Tongue far from heart.’ Osric was both forward and insincere.”
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . .]
Furness (ed. 1877) : “See
Harting,
Ornithology of Sh., p. 220.”
v1877 : ≈ warb ; capn (only “he must have ask’d the dug’s pardon, before he handl’d it”) ; ≈ jen ; ≈ cald2 (minus E.S. Sermon analogue ; COPLEY ; HERRICK analogue; minus SPENSER analogue and closing paragraph of cald2)
3651-2 did so sir]
Furness (ed. 1877) : “
comply]] See [2.2.354 (1419); both there and here
Singer maintains his interpretation of ‘embrace.’”
1877 col4
col4 : col3
3651-2 did so sir] Collier (ed. 1877) : “Horatio, by the simile of the lapwing, calls Osrick a forward fellow, and Hamlet follows it up by saying that he was so forward and conceited, that he complimented with his dug before he sucked it. Many authorities might be produced to show that to ‘comply’ meant to compliment in the time of Shakespeare
1877 neil
neil ≈ cln1 ; MM // +
3649-50 This Lapwing runs away . . . ] Neil (ed. 1877, Notes): “[Com. 4.2.23 (1132)] . . . Hamlet regards Osric as ‘forward and insincere.’”
1878 Bulloch2
Bulloch2 : ≈ Bulloch1 ; ≈ cam1(variants)
3651-2 did so sir]
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2
3649-50 This Lapwing runs away . . . ]
1882 elze2
elze2
3649-50 This Lapwing runs away . . . ] Elze (ed. 1882): “Compare Webster, Vittoria Corombona (Works, ed. Dyce, in I vol., p. 13b):—’Forward lap-wing! He flies with the shell on’s head.’”
1883 wh2
wh2
3651-2 did so sir] White (ed. 1883): “comply]] pass compliments.”
1884 Gould
Gould
3651 so sir]
Gould (1884, p. 62) : <p. 62> “‘He did
complie with [compliment] his dugge before he suck’t it’ (v,2).—Should be written out badly to see how such mistakes were made.” </p. 62>
[Ed: Gould here is criticizing the did compliment reading of WARB, JOHN1, CAP, v1773-v1785, and RANN.]
1885 macd
macd
3649-50 MacDonald (ed. 1885): “‘Well, he is a young one!’”
macd
3651 did so sir] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “did Complie]] ‘Com’ ply,’ with accent on first syllable: comply with means pay compliments to, compliment. See Q. reading: ‘A did sir with’ [sic]:—sir here is a veb—sir with means say sir to: ‘he sirred, complied with his nurse’s breast before &c.’ Hamlet speaks in mockery of the affected court-modes of speech and address, the fashion of euphuism—a mechanical attempt at the poetic.”
1885 mull
mull ≈ cln1 (via v1877?)
3649-50 This Lapwing runs away . . . ]
mull
3651 did so sir] Mull (ed. 1885): “did Complie]] ‘He did show complaisance, or ceremonial address, before he obtained ((sucked)) my answer.”
1889 Barnett
Barnett
3649 Lapwing]
Barnett (1889, p. 64): <p. 64> “from A.S.
hleápwince, hleáp meaning to run, and
wince, to
waver. Hence the word applied to a man means a
shifty fellow.”</p. 64>
3651 so sir]
Barnett (1889, p. 64): <p. 64> “
Complie]]
was courterous with. Hamlet means he showed his
nature early.”</p. 64>
1890 irv2
irv2 :
3651-2 did so sir] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “comply]] use ceremony.”
irv2 ≈ v1877 (mal ‘s Mere’s // [ascribed to Mere’s Palladis Tamia, 1598; not his Wit’s Treasury] ; steevens’ Greene // )
3649 Lapwing] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890):
1899 ard1
ard1 ≈ cln1
3649 Lapwing]
ard1 ≈ cln1 w/o attribution
3651-2 did so sir]
1905 rltr
rltr : standard
3651-2 did so sir]comply]]
1906 nlsn
nlsn ≈ irv2
3651-2 did so sir]Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary, comply)
1931 crg1
crg1 : Onions
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Craig (ed. 1931): “peewit; with allusion to its habits, e.g. its williness in drawing away a visitor from its nest and its supposed habit of running about when newly hatched with its head in the shell (Onions).”
crg1 ≈ standard
3651 did so sir] comply]] Craig (ed. 1951): “paid compliments to his mother’s breast.”
1934 Wilson
Wilson
3651 did so sir] Wilson (1934, 1:131) characterizes the Q2 uncorrected state did sir as corrected to did so sir as a compositor attempt to supply omitted words.
3651 did so sir] Wilson (1934, 1:139): see also n. 1 on page 139: “It will be noticed that F1 also has its omission [of Complie] in this passage, which in an edited text should read: ‘A’ did comply, sir, with his dug’. </p. 139>
3651 did so sir] Wilson (1934, 2:248) characterizes the Q2 omission of this F1 variant as “certainly omitted.” </p. 248>
1934 rid1
rid1
3651-57 Ridley (ed. 1934): “This passage is given substantially as in F, since Q2 has made such a botch of it that some emendation must be admitted. (Q2 reads sir for comply, out of an for outward, histy for yesty, prophane and trennowed for fond and winnowed. But Q2 probably conceals an original other and more comprehensible than the version of F, even though the original is now irrecoverable).”
rid1 : standard
3651 did so sir] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary, comply):
1934 cam3
cam3 : standard
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Wilson (ed. 1934, Notes): “Osric is one of the ‘new-hatched, unfledged’ courtiers (([1.3.65])), and the new-hatched lapwing was proverbially supposed to run about with its shell on its head. Hor. is referring to the hat which Osric has at last put on; cf. note [5.2.80] S.D.”
cam3 : standard
3649 Lapwing] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary)
cam3
3651 did so sir] Wilson (ed. 1934): “A did comply]] Ham. caps Hor.’s new-hatched lapwing with a new-born baby. For ‘comply’ v.G. and 2.2.375 (1419-20)].”
cam3 : OED
3651 did so sir] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary, comply): “‘observe the formalities of courtesy’ (N.E.D.).”
1939 kit2
kit2
3649-50 Kittredge (ed. 1939): “A mere jest at Osric’s juvenile self-sufficiency: ‘This young fellow is as forward as the lapwing, which begins to run before it is fairly out of the shell.’ The lapwing was proverbially precocious. Cf. Chapman, Revenge for Honour, ii, 1 (Pearson ed., III, 304): ‘Boldnesse inforces youth to hard atchievements Before their time, makes them run forth like Lapwings From their warm nest, part of the shel yet sticking Unto their downie heads.’”
kit2
3649 away] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “i.e. from the nest.”
kit2 ≈ standard
3651 did so sir] comply
3651 did so sir] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary): “ comply]]”
1937 pen1a
pen1a : standard
3649-50 This Lapwing runs away . . . ]
pen1a : standard
3651 did so sir] comply
1938 parc
parc ≈ standard
3649 Lapwing]
parc ≈ standard
3651 did so sir] comply
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ standard (perhaps cam3 )
3651 did so sir] comply
cln2
3649 Lapwing] Rylands (ed. 1947, Notes): ‘The newly hatched lapwing was supposed to runa bout with its shell on its head. The unfledged courtier Osric departs in his bonnet.”
1951 crg2
crg2=crg1+
3649 Lapwing] Craig (ed. 1951): “Ruth Cline suggests allusion to Osric’s hat.”
[Ed: We’ll need to track down this Ruth Cline xref.]
crg2= crg1
3651 did so sir] comply]] Craig (ed. 1951): “paid compliments to his mother’s breast.”
1954 sis
sis ≈ standard
3649 Lapwing] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary):
1957 pel1
pel1 : standard
3649 Lapwing]
pel1 : standard
3651 did so sir] comply . . . dug
1970 pel2
pel2=pel1
3649 Lapwing]
pel2=pel1
3651 did so sir] comply . . . dug
1974 evns1
evns1≈ standard (perhaps bev1 w/o attribution)
3649 Lapwing]
evns1≈ standard (perhaps bev1 w/o attribution)
3651 did so sir] comply . . . dug
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ standard
3649 Lapwing]
pen2 ≈ standard
3651 did so sir] comply . . . dug
1982 ard2
ard2 : cam3 ; kit2 w/o attribution : Tilley
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “But the essential point about the shell is that the lapwing is ornithologically remarkable for leaving the next within a few hours of birth and hence became the proverbial type of juvenile pretension. Cf. Greene’s Never Too Late ((Greene, viii.35)), ‘Are you no sooner hatched, with the lapwing, but you will run away with the shell on your head?’ Tilley L 69.”
ard2 : Fulwell (via cald? or hud1?)
3651 did so sir] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “comply with]] pay courtesies to. As at [2.2.368]. Cf. Fulwell, Art of Flattery, Pref.: ‘the very sucking babes hath a kind of adulation towards their nurses for the dug’.’ Q2, in trouble with several words in this speech, appears to have surrendered on this one, for which I take sir to be a subsitution ((and one which the press-corrector did not much improve)).”
1984 chal
chal : standard
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
chal : standard
3651 did so sir] comply . . . dug
1985 cam4
cam4 : Tilley
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
cam4
3651 dugge] Edwards (ed. 1985): “his mother’s ((or his nurse’s)) nipple.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4 : Tilley (L69) +
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ] Hibbard (ed. 1987): “Another proverb, to much the same effect, ‘His mother’s milk is not out of his nose ‘ ((Tilley M 1204)), may have served to trigger off Hamlet’s next remark.
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
bev2: standard
3651 did so sir] comply . . . dug
1992 fol2
fol2≈ standard
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
fol2≈ standard
3651 did so sir] comply . . . dug
1993 dent
dent
3649-50 This lapwing runs away . . . ]
dent
3651 did so sir] comply . . . dug
1998 OED
OED
3651 dugge] OED n 1. The pap or udder of female mammalia; also the teat or nipple; usually in reference to suckling. As applied to a woman’s breast, now contemptuous. 1530 PALSGR. 280/1 Tete, pappe, or dugge, a womans brest. 1583 STANYHURST Æneis I. (Arb.) 34 Her dug with platted gould rybband girded about her. 1592 SHAKS. Ven. & Ad. 875 [etc.]
1998 OED
OED
3649 Lapwing] OED A well-known bird of the plover family, Vanellus vulgaris or cristatus, common in the temperate parts of the Old World. Called also PEWIT, from its peculiar cry. Its eggs were the "plovers’ eggs" of the London markets. Allusions are frequent to its crested head, to its wily method of drawing away a
visitor from its nest, and to the notion that the newly hatched lapwing runs about with its head in the shell.
c 1050 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 260/2 Cucu, hleapewince. 1340 Ayenb. 61 Hy bye[th] ase th]e lhapwynche [th]et ine vel[th]e of man make[th] his nest. 1390 GOWER Conf. II. 329 A lappewinke has lost his feith And is the brid falsest of alle. c 1430 LYDG. Temple of Glass 495 + 21 Had In dispit, ryght as a-mong foulys Ben Iayis, Pyis, Lapwyngis & these Oulys. a 1529 SKELTON P. Sparowe 430 [They] With puwyt the lapwyng, The versycles shall syng. 1532 DU WES Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 911 The lapwyng, le uaniau. 1569 J. SANFORD tr.
Agrippa’s Van. Arts 137 b, The Lapwinke..seemeth to haue some royall thinge, and weareth a crowne. 1592 GREENE Art Conny Catching II. 4 Who..cry with the Lapwing farthest from their nest. 1602 SHAKS. Ham. V. ii. 192 This Lapwing runs away with the shell on his head. [etc.]
3649 3650 3651 3652
