Line 3858 - Commentary Note (CN) 
Commentary notes (CN):
1. SMALL CAPS Indicate editions. Notes for each commentator are divided into three parts:
In the 1st two lines of a record, when the name of the source text (the siglum) is printed in SMALL CAPS, the comment comes from an EDITION; when it is in normal font, it is derived from a book, article, ms. record or other source. We occasionally use small caps for ms. sources and for works related to editions. See bibliographies for complete information (in process).
2. How comments are related to predecessors' comments. In the second line of a record, a label "without attribution" indicates that a prior writer made the same or a similar point; such similarities do not usually indicate plagiarism because many writers do not, as a practice, indicate the sources of their glosses. We provide the designation ("standard") to indicate a gloss in common use. We use ≈ for "equivalent to" and = for "exactly alike."
3. Original comment. When the second line is blank after the writer's siglum, we are signaling that we have not seen that writer's gloss prior to that date. We welcome correction on this point.
4. Words from the play under discussion (lemmata). In the third line or lines of a record, the lemmata after the TLN (Through Line Number] are from Q2. When the difference between Q2 and the authors' lemma(ta) is significant, we include the writer's lemma(ta). When the gloss is for a whole line or lines, only the line number(s) appear. Through Line Numbers are numbers straight through a play and include stage directions. Most modern editions still use the system of starting line numbers afresh for every scene and do not assign line numbers to stage directions.
5. Bibliographic information. In the third line of the record, where we record the gloss, we provide concise bibliographic information, expanded in the bibliographies, several of which are in process.
6. References to other lines or other works. For a writer's reference to a passage elsewhere in Ham. we provide, in brackets, Through Line Numbers (TLN) from the Norton F1 (used by permission); we call these xref, i.e., cross references. We call references to Shakespearean plays other than Ham. “parallels” (//) and indicate Riverside act, scene and line number as well as TLN. We call references to non-Shakespearean works “analogues.”
7. Further information: See the Introduction for explanations of other abbreviations.
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Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
| 3858 What feast is toward in thine eternall cell, | 5.2.365 |
|---|
1726 theon
theon
3858 What . . .
cell]
Theobald (1726, p. 129-30) : <p. 129> “I can see no Propriety here in this Epithet of
eternal; nor does it communicate any Image suitable to the Circumstance of the Havock, that
Fortinbras looks on, and would represent in a Light of Horror. He, upon the Sight of so many dead Bodies, exclaims against Death, as an execrable, riotous Destroyer; and as preparing to make a savage and hellish Feast. The
Quarto Edition of 1637 [Q5] seems to give us an Epithet more forcible, and peculiar to this Scene of Action. </p. 129> <p. 130> [cites Q5 reading]” </p. 130>
1778 v1778
v1778
3858 What . . . cell] Steevens (ed. 1778) : “Shakespeare has already employed this allusion to the Choœ, or feasts of the dead , which were anciently celebrated at Athens, and are mentioned by Plutarch in the life of Antonius . Our author likewise makes Talbot say to his son in [1H6 4.5.7 (2121)]: ‘Now art thou come unto a feast of death.’ Steevens”
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
3858 What . . . cell]
1787 ann
ann = v1785
3858 What . . . cell]
1790 mal
mal = v1785
3858 What . . . cell]
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal
3858 What . . . cell]
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
3858 What . . . cell]
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
3858 What . . . cell]
1819 cald1
cald1
3858 What . . . cell] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : ‘How art thou glutted, what feast is now at hand in the open thrown gates of thy insatiable, endless, everlasting cell?’ We have in [1.5.22 (706)] ‘eternal blazon,’ Ghost.
“This wide waste of spoil, this quarry or pile of noble and royal victims, at once his trophy and prey, is represented as a provision for a feast, and is used in the same sense, as when in [1H6 4.5.7 (2121)] talbot tells his son, ‘Now thou art come unto a feast of death .’
“And in [KJ 2.1.354 (667)] Bast, ‘And now Death feasts , mousing the flesh of men.’
“ This allusion has no doubt some connexion with the usage of all the northern nationals, their Ambarvalia or Arval suppers referred to by Hamlet, [1.2.180 (368)] ‘The funeral bak’d meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.’ An usage, of which also probably originated in the ancient ceremonies of most nations; their parentalia, or oblations to the manes of the dead.”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
3858 What . . . cell]
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1 + magenta underlined
3858 What . . . cell] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : ‘How art thou glutted, what feast is now at hand in the open thrown gates of thy insatiable, endless, everlasting cell?’ which like the ‘janua Ditis noctes atque dies patet ampla:’[the spacious door is open for rich nights and days] we have in [1.5.22 (706)] ‘eternal blazon,’ Ghost.
“This wide waste of spoil, this quarry or pile of noble and royal victims, at once his trophy and prey, is represented as a provision for a feast, and is used in the same sense, as when in [1H6 4.5.7 (2121)] talbot tells his son, ‘Now thou art come unto a feast of death .’
“And in [KJ 2.1.354 (667)] Bast, ‘And now Death feasts , mousing the flesh of men.’
“‘War is Death’s feast’ is one of Ray’s Proverbs.
“This allusion has no doubt some connexion with the usage of all the northern nationals, their Ambarvalia or Arval suppers referred to by Hamlet, [1.2.22 (368)] ‘The funeral bak’d meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.’ An usage, of which also probably originated in the ancient ceremonies of most nations; their parentalia, or oblations to the manes of the dead.”
1854 [Quincy]
[Quincy]
3858 eternall cell]
[Quincy] (1854, p. 35): <p. 35>“The annotator reads ‘
infernal cell,’ which in connection with the context seems quite as proper.” </p. 35>
[Ed HLA:This the annotator from J.P. Quincy’s ms. corrections of F4, which Nick looked at in the Folger, summer 1998.]
1857 elze1
elze1: theo
3858 eternall]
Elze (ed. 1857, 263): <p. 263>"
infernal so lesen nach Theobald die älteren Qs. Str and Fs: in thine eternal cell.’ ["
infernal so reads the old Qq, according to
Theobald. StR and Ff: in thine eternal cell."
[Ed HLA:The StR is Steevens’ 1766 edition.]
1860 Walker
Walker
3858 eternall]
Walker (1860, 1:62): <p. 62>“The following are instances of an inaccurate use of words in Shakespeare, some of them owing to his imperfect scholarship (imperfect, I say, for he was not an
ignorant man even in this point), and others common to him with his contemporaries
Eternal for infernal. . . . And this, I think, is its meaning, [
Ham. 5.2.366-7 (3858)]’———O proud Death! What feast is toward in thine eternal cell, That thou so many princes at a shot So bloodily hast struck?’ This seems to be still in use among the common people. In two tales of Allan Cunningham’s (Ollier’s Miscellany, and London Magazine) I observe the exclamation, ‘Eternal villain!’ I need scarcely notice the Yankee ‘
tarnal.” </p. 62>
1864-68 c&mc
c&mc
3858 Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “See Note 104, Act I, [Rom.].”
1872 cln1
cln1 : cald2 (KJ //)
3856 feast] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “Compare [KJ 2.1.354 (667)], of Death: ‘And now he feasts, mousing the flesh of men.’”
cln1
3858 toward] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “See [1.1.77 (93)].”
cln1
3858 eternall] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “There are two or three passages in which Shakespeare seems to use this word as equivalent to ‘infernal.’ See [1.5.21 (706)]. Compare [JC 1.2.160 (260)]: ‘Thee was a Brutus once, who would have brook’d The eternal devel to keep his state in Rome As easily as a king.’” And [Oth. 4.2.130 (2842)]: ‘I will be hang’d, if some eternal villain, Some busy and insinuating rogue, Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office, Have not devised this slander.’”
1877 v1877
v1877 ≈ cald2 (only “This allusion . . . by Hamlet” & KJ //)
3856 feast
v1877 ≈ cln1
3858 toward]
Furness (ed. 1877): “See 1.1.77 (93).”
v1877 : ≈ Walker (Crit. Exam, 1.62)
3858 eternall]
Furness (ed. 1877): “
Walker gives two other instances besides this and [1.5.2. (706)] (which see), where ‘eternal’ seems to be used for
infernal: [
JC 1.2.160 (260);
Oth. 4.2.154 (2842) ‘This seems to be still in use among the common people. I need scarcely notice the Yankee ‘
tarnal.’”
1881 hud3
hud3
3858 toward] Hudson (ed. 1881): “Toward, again, for forthcoming, or at hand. See [n. 93].”
1885 macd
macd ≈ standard
3858 toward]
1885 mull
mull ≈ cln1
3858 eternall]
1890 irv2
irv2 : standard
3858 toward] Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “at hand.”
irv2 ≈ v1877
3858 Symons (in Irving & Marshall, ed. 1890): “Toward, meaning near at hand, is used once before in this play, [1.1.77 (93)]. Eternal, also, is used in [1.5.21 (706)], with the same apparent meaning as here, i.e. infernal. (see note 136 [706]). Compare [JC. 1.2.100 (260)] and [Oth. 4.2.130 (2842)]. The Yankee, therefore, with his ‘tarnal,’ is not in such bad company after all.”
1896 White
White : Walker
3858 eternall]
White (1896, pp. 333-5): <p. 333> “Of this word, the Lexicon, following
Walker, gives in three important passages the explanation that it is ‘used to express extreme abhorrence.’ The passages are:—’There was a Brutus once that would have brook’d The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome, etc.’ [
JC.1.2.160 (260)] ‘Some eternal villain, Some busy and insinuating rogue
.’ [ Oth. 4.2.130 (2842)] ‘O proud death, What feast is toward in thine eternal cell, That thou so many princes at a shot So bloodily hast struck!’ [
Ham. 5.2.366-7 (3858)]
“Mr.
Walker, who was the first to comment upon this word, has misled Dr.
Schmidt, and it would seem some others. Mr.
Dyce leaves it discreetly alone. But in these passages, and in corresponding use elsewhere, as in ‘eternal villain,’ which he quotes from Allan Cunningham, and ‘the Yankee tarnal,’ to which he refers,
eternal is not used, either by intention or by mistake, for
infernal, which is Mr.
Walker’s assumption. The passages above to indeed invite such an explanation: ‘infernal devil,’ ‘infernal villain,’ ‘infernal cell,’ would occur to the most superficial glossologist. But the word was not so used or misused; or which here is evidence, from a contemporary Shakespearean publication. The propitiatory address to the reader in the ante-natal edition of ‘Troilus and Cressida,’ 1609, begins ‘
Eternall reader, you have here a new play, never stal’d with the stage,’ etc. I remember other like instances, but have not time to look them up; nor is there any need; one such example is as good as forty. Manifestly, this writer did not intend to open his address in favor of his new play by ‘expressing extreme abhorrence’ of his reader, with Dr.
Schmidt, or by calling him ‘infernal reader,’ with Mr.
Walker. And yet the word is used just as it is in the passages quoted above from Shakespeare, and as the rustic Yankee uses it in ‘
tarnal.’ In all these cases the word is used merely as an expletive of excess. It means simply boundless, immeasurable, and corresponds very nearly in its purport to the word
egregious, as it is used by some of our elder writers, and nowadays in Spanish,
egregio autore. It is a mere
façon de parler, like
awful, which, in much the same sense, is now heard constantly, and found in all books of the present day except those of a serious character. When a rustic Yankee says that a girl is ‘tarnal hansome,’ he does not mean that she is at all infernal, nor to express extreme abhorrence of her, any more than a young swell who calls his favorite an ‘awfully jolly girl’ means </p. 334> <p. 335> that she inspires him with awe, or than another sort of man who calls his enslaver ‘a dayvlish fine woman’ means that she is at all like the Fiend, although he might perhaps safely venture that assertion. In Cassius’s ‘eternal devil,’ Emilia’s ‘eternal villain,’ ‘Fortinbras’s ‘eternal cell,’ and the ‘eternal reader’ of the address in ‘Troilus and Cressida’ the epithet is one merely of hyperbolical distinction.” </p. 335>
1899 ard1
ard1≈ cln1
3858 toward]
ard1≈ cln1
3858 eternall] Dowden (ed. 1899): “Perhaps used in the sense which expressed abhorrence; see note on [1.5.21 (706)].”
1906 nlsn
nlsn: standard
3858 toward] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)
1931 crg1
crg1 ≈ standard
3858 toward]
crg1 ≈ standard
3858 eternall]
1934 cam3
cam3 : standard
3858 feast] Wilson (ed. 1934): “cf. [Tit. 1.1.93 (0000)].”
cam3 : standard
3858 toward] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary)
1939 kit2
kit2
3858 toward] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “in preparation. Cf. [1.1.77 (0000)]. Scandanavian warriors believed that, if slain in battle, they were translated to Valhalla (Valhöll), Odin’s palace in the sky, where they were to spend their time in feasting and fighting. Though Shakespeare may have known nothing about this pagan creed, the present passage accords with it and sounds appropriate in the mouth of young Fortinbras. Cf. [1H6 4.5.7 (2121)]: ‘Now thou art come unto a feast of death.’”
kit2
3858 toward] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary): “in preparation.”
1938 parc
parc≈ standard (Kit1?)
3858 toward]
1947 cln2
cln2 ≈ standard
3858 toward]
cln2 ≈ standard
3858 eternall cell]
1951 crg2
crg2=crg1
3858 eternall]
1957 pel1
pel1 : standard
3858 toward]
1970 pel2
pel2=pel1
3858 toward]
1974 evns1
evns1 ≈ standard
3858 toward]
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ standard
3858 toward]
pen2 ≈ standard
3858 eternall cell]
1982 ard2
ard2 : contra kit2 w/o attribution
3858 Jenkins (ed. 1982): “The metaphor is not, as sometimes supposed, of Valhalla, where souls feast after death, but of Death feasting on the slain. Cf. [1H6 4.5.7; Jn. 2.1.354].”
ard2 ≈ standard
3858 toward]
1984 chal
chal : standard
3858 toward] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “in prospect.”
1985 cam4
cam4
3858 toward] Edwards (ed. 1985): “Monosyllable, ‘to’ard’.”
cam4
3858 eternall]
Edwards (ed. 1985): “Shakespeare occasionally uses this word as if it meant ‘damnable’ or ‘infernal’. See [
Oth. 4.2.130] ‘some eternal villain’. ((See
OED 7,, and
Schmidt)).”
1987 oxf4
oxf4 : OED (a. 2b)
3858 toward]
oxf4 : OED (a.7) ; Oth.// ; J.C.//
3858 eternall]
1988 bev2
bev2: standard (ard2)
3858
1992 fol2
fol2≈ standard
3858 toward]
1993 dent
dent ≈ standard
3858 toward]
2008
OED
OED
standard
3858 eternall]
OED adj 7. ‘Used to express extreme abhorrence‘(
Schmidt). Now
vulgar or
dial. OED≈
standard
3858 toward]
a 2 b. pred. Now rare or Obs.