Line 760 - 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 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
| 760 Of life, of Crowne, {of} <and> Queene at once dispatcht, | |
|---|
1747 warb
warb
760 dispatcht] Warburton (ed. 1747): “Dispatcht, for bereft.”
Ed. note: Warburton perhaps had seen wilk2 (see TNM) since Theobald admired the edition.
1765 john1
john1 = warb
760 dispatcht]
1773 v1773
v1773 = warb
760 dispatcht]
-1778 mtol3
mtol3
760 Tollet (-1778) cites an analogue for the line in Holinshed Vol.3. p. 545 (ed. 15??), “He of his kingdom, his life, his love, made a sorrowfull end.”
Ed. note: I have not found the precise Holinshed reference yet. Note in check in library doc.
1778 v1778
v1778 = v1773
760 dispatcht]
1785 v1785
v1785 = v1778
760 dispatcht]
1790 mal
mal = v1785
760 dispatcht]
1791- rann
rann ≈ mal
760 dispatcht] Rann(ed. 1791-): “deprived , bereft.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal
760 dispatcht]
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
760 dispatcht]
1805 Seymour
Seymour: warb +
760 Seymour (1805, 2:160): “ ‘Despatch’d’ for bereft, says Dr. Warburton. This certainly is sense; but can either of these words take place of the other? or does not the difficulty of explanation lie in the wrong use of the preposition ‘of’ instead of ‘from?’ a licence not uncommon with the writers of the age of Shakspeare.”
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1803
760 dispatcht]
1815 Becket
Becket: warb +
760 dispatcht]
Becket (1815, 1: 29-30): <p. 29>“Dispatch’d can scarcely be </p. 29><p. 30> right. Yet the proper word is not very easily found. Perhaps we may read
dismatch’d in the sense of
disunited. Words of privation were by the earlier writers formed by taking the particle
dis at pleasure; but which at present day are not in use. Thus
dis-eased with our author.
Dis-ware and
dis-ruly, Chaucer.
dis-loined, Spenser, &c. B.” </p. 30>
1819 cald1
cald1
760 dispatcht] Caldecott (ed. 1819): “Despoiled”
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
760 dispatcht]
1826 sing1
sing1
760 dispatcht] Singer (ed. 1826): “I have elsewhere remarked that to dispatch and to rid were synonymous in Shakspeare’s time.”
See OED, below
1832 cald2
cald2 = cald1 +
760 dispatcht]
Caldecott (ed. 1832): “i.e. ‘quickly bereaved, despoiled.’ ”
1843 col1
col1: rann
760 dispatcht] Collier (ed. 1843): “The word deprived, in the quarto, 1603, seems on some accounts preferable, but it is supported by no other authority.”
-1853 mcol1
mcol1 “corrects” dispatcht to despoiled
760 dispatcht]
760 dispatcht]
Collier (1853, p. 422): “Regarding the subsequent lines, as invariably printed, an advantageous proposal is made in the corrected folio, 1632:— ‘There was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand, Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch’d.’ ‘Dispatch’d’ cannot be right, and why should Shakespeare employ a wrong word when another, that is unobjectionable, at once presented itself,
viz.— ‘Of life, of crown, of queen, at once
despoil’d?’ Misreading was, most likely, the cause of this blunder; the earliest quarto, 1603, has
depriv’d for ‘dispatch’d,’ of the other quartos and folios; but we may feel confident that the poet’s misprinted word was
despoil’d. It is written upon an erasure, and possibly the old corrector first inserted
depriv’d, and afterwards saw reason to change it to
despoil’d, as the true language of the poet.”
1853 Dyce
760 dispatcht]
Dyce (1853, p. 139): “Why ‘despatch’d,’ the reading of all the old editions (for the quarto of 1603 is not of any authority), should be condemned by Mr.
Collier as a decided error of the press, I am at a loss to conceive. The ‘proposal’ of the Manuscript-corrector is so far from being ‘advantageous,’ that, strictly speaking, we lose something by it,—‘
despoil’d’ conveying merely the idea of
deprivation, while ‘despatch’d’ expresses the
suddeness of the bereavement.”
Singer 1853 Vindication
760 dispatcht]
Singer (1853, p. 263): “This [
Collier, p. 422] is another unnecessary interference with the old authentic reading, and there is not much probability that
dispatch’d could have been misprinted for
despoil’d. The reading of the quartos [Q1]
deprived is however perhaps to be preferred as being of more undoubted authority. There is not the slightest reason to ‘feel confident that the poet’s word was
despoil’d.’ ”
1853 Blackwood’s
760 dispatcht] Anon. (1853, p. 463): The Perkins correction despoiled “may be more strictly grammatical than the other. But ‘despatched’ is more forcible, and indicates a more summary mode of procedure. ‘Despatched,’ says Dyce, ‘expresses the suddenness of the bereavement.’ The quartos read ‘deprived,’ which is quite as good as despoiled.”
1854 del2
del2
760 dispatcht] Delius (ed. 1854): “to despatch liesse sich genau nur auf of life anwenden, wie in [Lr. 4.5.13 (2398)] es heisst: to despatch his nighted life; in weiterem Sinne bezieht es sich dann aber auch crown and queen.” [to despatch applies only to of life as in [Lr. 4.5.? (2398)] that is: to despatch his nighted life; but in a wider sense it refers also to crown and queen.]
1856 hud1
hud1 ≈ Dyce + R2 //
760 dispatcht] Hudson (ed. 1856): “The first quarto has depriv’d, and Mr. Collier’s second folio, despoil’d. Dispatch is better than either, because to the sense of deprivation it adds that of suddenness. See [R2 3.1.35 (1347)], note 2. H.”
1856 sing2
sing2 = sing1
760 dispatcht]
1858 col3
col3 ≈ col1 +
760 dispatcht] Collier (ed. 1858): “Depriv’d is the word in the 4to, 1603; but in the other 4tos. and folios ‘dispatch’d.’ The corr. fo. 1632 substitutes despoil’d, which on some accounts may seem preferable; but as ‘dispatch’d’ is so warranted, and, as far as intelligibility is concerned, so unobjectionable, we retain it.”
1860 stau
stau ≈ hud1 last sentence without attribution, = warb via v1821? without attribution
760 dispatcht] Staunton (ed. 1860): “Bereft. The quarto of 1603 has ‘deprived;’ but that hardly expresses the instantaneity of the severance as aptly as ‘despatch’d’.”
1867 Keightley
Keightley: contra stau without attribution; ≈ Seymour on preposition, without attribution
760 dispatcht] Keightley (1867, p. 288): “So the originals read, except 4to 1603, which has depriv’d, perhaps a better reading. ‘Despatch’d,’ which seems to be more forceable, is to be taken in the sense of dépéché, Fr., hurried away, and ‘of’ in its original sense of from.”
1868 c&mc
c&mc: standard
760 dispatcht]
Clarke &
Clarke (ed. 1868): “To ‘rid’ and to ‘dispatch’ were formerly used the one word for the other. See [
R2 5.4.l (2653), n. 47]. Here ‘despatch’d signifies ‘summarily sent from and bereft of.’”
760 dispatcht]
Schmidt (1874): “Followed by
of, = to deprive of by death, to tear away from by death [quotes 759-60], [where]
of = from. Cf.
Of.”
1872 cln1
cln1 ≈ del2 without attribution
760 dispatcht] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “deprived, as the quarto of 1603 reads. The author would scarcely have used it with ‘crown’ and ‘queen’ if he had not first used it with ‘life.’ The phrase ‘dispatch of life’ does not occur again; we have however ‘dispatch his nighted life’ in [Lr. 4.5.12 (2398)].”
1874 Corson
Corson: F1, cam1
760 of Queene] Corson (1874, p. 14) prefers F1
no explanation, of course, but why would anyone prefer F1? Surprisingly, though, Tanger does too!
1877 v1877
v1877 warb, dyce on mcol1, cln1 (≈ del2 without attribution)
760 dispatcht]
1880 Tanger
Tanger
760 of Queene] Tanger (1880, p. 125) Q2 “what is probably a foul case.” The Q1 reading “confirms, or at least countenances, [the Q2] reading.”
1885 mull
mull : standard
760 dispatcht] Mull (ed. 1885): “bereft.”
1929 trav
trav: standard gloss deprived +
760 dispatcht]
Travers (ed. 1929): “a deviation from the more usual meaning for which Shakespeare’s contemporaries were prepared.”
1938 parc
parc
760 dispatcht] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938): “bereft.”
1939 kit2
kit2: xref 2331
760 Queene] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "Queen is the acme of the climax, as in the King’s soliloquy [2331]."
kit2
760 at once] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "all at the same time."
kit2: standard
760 dispatcht] Kittredge (ed. 1939): "instantly deprived."
1947 cln2
cln2: standard
760 dispatcht] Rylands (ed. 1947): "deprived."
1973 ShSur
Brown
770 dispatcht] Brown (1973, p. 12), using the definition of dispatch found in TLN 212, notes that “Claudius dispatches both Hamlets: Old Hamlet to Purgatory, Young Hamlet to an intended death in England [2274]--naturally not expecting either to be able later to tell the story of their journeys.”
1980 pen2
pen2: standard
760 dispatcht] Spencer (ed. 1980): “deprived.”
1982 ard2
ard2: standard
760 dispatcht] Jenkins (ed. 1982): “deprived (by death).”
1985 cam4
cam4
760 dispatcht] Edwards (ed. 1985): "bereft by being put to death."
1987 oxf4
oxf4
760 at once] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "at one and the same time."
oxf4: OED
760 dispatcht] Hibbard (ed. 1987): "deprived (OED v. 7b, citing no earlier instance)."
1988 bev2
bev2: standard
760 dispatcht] Bevington (ed. 1988): “suddenly deprived.”
1992 fol2
fol2 ≈ standard
760 dispatcht] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “dispossessed”
1994 OED
OED
760 dispatcht] dispach: v. to hasten, to speed, to rid away any worke’ (Florio), or Sp. despachar to expedite, `to dispatch, to rid out of the way’ (Minsheu).
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: standard
760 dispatcht] Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “deprived”
760 2331