SHAKESPEARE AND THE " OXFORD DICTIONARY."
[To TUB EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] RJR,—I have noticed some peculiarities in the Oxford Dictionary, which I should be glad if some of your readers could explain. The first edition of Hamlet was published in quarto form in 1603, and the text differed so greatly from the present version that the editors of the Cambridge Edition were unable to give the various readings in the notes, so they reprinted it in full at the end of their last volume They give the dates of the quartos of this play as follows : Q1, 1603 ; Q2, 1604 ; Q3, 1605 ; Q4, 1611; Q5, no date ; and Q6, 1637. In the reprint of the first I find these lines :-
" What if it tempt you toward the flood, my Lord, That beckles ore his bace, into the sea."
Under the verb " Beetle " the dictionary gives the undernoted as an example—" 1602 Slinks. Ham. i. 4, 71. The dreadfull summit of the Cliffe, That beetles o'er his base into the sea." It will be observed that the first line is not in the quarto at all, and that the date is different. Again, according to the Cambridge Edition, Q2 and Q3 have " Betties " and 4, 5, and 6 have " Batas." What edition is the dictionary quoting
Previous page
