letter Pale as thy smock! When we shall meet at compt, Which, as I think, you know not:- here is a O curséd, curséd slave !-Whip me, ye devils, Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO; CASSIO, carried in a chair; and Officers, with IAGO, prisoner. Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? Oth. That's he that was Othello:-here I am. Lod. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth. Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo; Oth. I look down towards his feet; - but that's That there he dropped it for a special purpose a fable: Which wrought to his desire Oth. Albeit unused to the melting mood, Lod. You must forsake this room, and go with us: And smote him—thus. Your power and your command is taken off, And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave, If there be any cunning cruelty Lod. O bloody period! [Stabs himself. no way [Dies. All that is spoke is marred. Oth. I kissed thee ere I killed thee: but this, [Falling upon DESDEMONA. Killing myself, to die upon a kiss. Cas. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; For he was great of heart. Lod. O Spartan dog, That can torment him much and hold him long, speak Of one that loved not wisely, but too well; More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea! Look on the tragic loading of this bed: [To IAGO. To you, lord governor, For they succeed to you. [Exeunt. NOTES. "One Michael Cassio, a Florentine, A fellow almost damned in a fair wife." Act I., Scene 1. If the text in the second line is correct, Iago probably means that Cassio is likely to ruin himself by a marriage with Bianca. On a subsequent occasion (act iv., scene 1), he acquaints Cassio himself that such a report is in circulation. "Do; with like timorous accent, and dire yell, As when by night and negligence, the fire Is spied in populous cities."— Act I., Scene 1. Here "timorous," even taking it as frightened, seems quite out of place, when coupled with "dire yell;" and we may, therefore, fairly conclude that the poet wrote, as the old corrector states, "Do; with like clamorous accent, and dire yell," &c. "What tell'st thou me of robbing? This is Venice: My house is not a grange.”—Act I., Scene 1. That is, we are in a populous city, not in a lone house where a robbery might easily be committed. A grange is, strictly, the farm of a monastery; but in some counties every lone house or farm which stands solitary is called a grange. "You'll have your nephews neigh to you.”— Act I., Scene 1. Nephew, in this instance, has the power of the Latin word nepos, and signifies a grandson or any lineal descendant. "Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes In an extravagant and wheeling stranger.” Act I., Scene 1. Here the commentators have notes upon "extravagant," but pass over "wheeling" without explanation, although very unintelligible where it stands: a manuscript-correction in the folio, 1632, shows that it is a misprint for a most applicable epithet; and other emendations are proposed, such as Laying for "Tying," and on for "in," which render the meaning much more obvious than in the ordinary reading: "Laying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes Pope, adopting "Tying," follows it in the next line by the preposition to instead of "in; " neither Laying nor on are by any means absolutely necessary, but wheedling for "wheeling " is an important improvement of the text, and shows that the word was of older employment in our language than some lexicographers have supposed. Nothing can be more natural than that Roderigo should call Othello a" wheedling stranger," who had insinuated himself into the good graces of both father and daughter. 66 ᏃᏃ —“I fetch my life and being From men of royal seige; and my demerits May speak unbonneted to as proud a fortune As this that I have reached.”—Act I., Scene 2. "As in these cases, where they aim reports, 'Tis oft with difference.”— Act I., Scene 3. The expression, "where they aim reports" (or "where the aim reports," as Malone gives it from the folios), has occasioned discussion, although Johnson's interpretation has been usually followed. According to a correction in the folio, 1632, the words were misheard and misprinted, and the line is there given in a manner that clears away all obscurity: "As in these cases, with the same reports, 'Tis oft with difference." "Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you Against the general enemy Ottoman.”— Act I., Scene 3. It was part of the policy of the Venetian state never to entrust the command of an army to a native. "By land (says Thomas), they are served of strangers, both for generals, for captains, and for all other men of war; because their law permitteth not any Venetian to be captain over an army by land: fearing, I think, Cæsar's example." "Send for the lady to the Sagittary."-Act I., Scene 3. "Sagittary" was the name applied to a fictitious being, compounded of man and horse. As used in the text, it has been generally supposed to be the sign of an inn; but it now appears that it was the residence of the commanding officers of the republic. It is said that the figure of an archer, over the gate, still indicates the spot. "The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders."- Act I., Scene 3. Legends of this description had long been popular: the allusion in the text is probably directed in a particular manner to a passage in Raleigh's narrative of his voyage to Guiana:-"Next unto the Arvi are two rivers, Atoica and Caova; and on that branch which is called Caova are a nation of people whose heads appear not above their shoulders: which, though it may be thought a mere fable, yet for mine own part I am resolved it is true, because every child in the province of Arromaia and Canuri affirm the same. They are called Ewaipanoma; they are reported to have their eyes in their shoulders and their mouths in the middle of their breasts, and that a long train of hair groweth backward between their shoulders." 409 "I therefore beg it not, To please the palate of my appetite, And heaven defend your good souls, that you think I will your serious and great business scant My speculative and offic'd instrument," &c.- Act I., Scene 3. The only difference between the folios, 1623 and 1632, is that, in the latter, "affects" is printed effects; but various emendations have been proposed by modern editors (into which it is not necessary here to enter) in order to explain or remove the obscurities belonging to nearly the whole passage. We subjoin the representation of the text as made by the corrector of the folio, 1632: "I therefore beg it not, To please the palate of my appetite, And heaven defend your counsels, that you think When she is with me. No; when light-wing'd toys of feather'd Cupid foil with wanton dullness My speculative and offic'd instruments," &c. "A Sea-port Town in Cyprus."— Act II., Scene 1. Nicosia (or Leikosia), the capital city of Cyprus, was situated nearly in the center of the island, and thirty miles distant from the sea. The principal sea-port town was Famagusta, where there was formerly a strong fort and a commodious haven, the only one of any magnitude in the island; and there undoubtedly the scene should be placed. "Seems to cast water on the burning bear, And quench the guards of th' ever-fixed poles.” Act II., Scene 1. The "burning bear" is the constellation near the pole. The next line alludes to the star Arctophylax, which word signifies the guard of the bear. "T is here, but yet confused; Knavery's plain face is never seen till used." Act II., Scene 1. An honest man acts upon a plan, and forecasts his designs; but a knave depends upon temporary and local opportunities, and never knows his own purpose but at the time of execution.-JOHNSON. "Which thing to do, If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trace For his quick hunting, stand the putting on," &c. The quartos have crush for "trace," which must be wrong, and Warburton read brach, meaning a dog, for "trash." He was right in his guess, according to a correction in the folio, 1632, where the passage is thus given: "Which thing to do, If this poor brach of Venice, whom I trash For his quick hunting, stand the putting on," &c. "King Stephen was a worthy peer."- Act II., Scene 3. The term "peer" is here used in the sense of "fellow." The stanzas sung by Iago are taken from an excellent old ballad, which is printed in Percy's "RELIQUES." "He'll watch the horologe a double set, If drink rock not his cradle.”—Act II., Scene 3. That is, if he have no drink he'll keep awake while the clock strikes two rounds, or four-and-twenty hours. Chaucer and other old writers use the term horologe familiarly. "And passion having my best judgment collied."— Act II., Scene 3. The quarto has cooled for "collied;" and various explanations of "collied" have been given, but we are not required to state them, in as much as "collied" was, probably, not the poet's word: "And passion having my best judgment quelled," is the substitution in the folio, 1632; and Malone says that some "modern editor," whom he does not otherwise distinguish, had proposed quelled: Othello's judgment was quelled, or subdued, by his passion. There can hardly be a doubt that this is the proper restoration. "Sir, for your hurts, Myself will be your surgeon.— Lead him off."— Act II., Scene 3. I am persuaded these words ("Lead him off") were originally a marginal direction. In our old plays, all the stage directions were couched in imperative terms:-"Play music;""Ring the bell;" "Lead him off." "When devils will the blackest sins put on, They do suggest at first with heavenly shows." Act II., Scene 3. The term "put on" is here and in various other places used in the sense of "urge on." The meaning is, when devils mean to instigate men to commit the most atrocious crimes, they prompt or tempt at first with appearances of virtue. "I humbly thank you for 't.— I never knew A Florentine more kind and honest.”— Act III., Scene 1. Cassio was undoubtedly a Florentine; and, as Iago was a Venetian, what Cassio means to say, in the quoted passage, is, that he never knew one of his own countrymen more kind and honest. "(Save that they say the wars must make examples That is, the severity of military discipline must not spare the best men of the army, when their punishment may afford a wholesome example. "Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul But I do love thee!"- Act III., Scene 3. The meaning of the word wretch is not generally understood. It is now, in some parts of England, a term of the softest and fondest tenderness. It expresses the utmost degree of amiableness, joined with an idea, which perhaps all tenderness includes, of feebleness, softness, and want of protection.-JOHNSON. "Who has a breast so pure Keep leets and law-days, and in session sit That is, who has so virtuous a breast that some uncharitable surmises will not sometimes enter into it; hold a session there as in a regular court, and "bench by the side" of authorized and lawful thoughts? "O beware, my lord, of jealousy: It is the green-eyed monster which doth make The old copies have "mock." The correction was made by Sir T. Hanmer. I have not the smallest doubt that Shakspeare wrote "make," and have, therefore, inserted it in the text. The words "make" and "mocke" (for such was the old spelling) are often confounded in these plays.- MALONE. I have received Hanmer's emendation: and because, "to mock" does not signify "to loathe;" and because, when Iago bids Othello "beware of jealousy, the green-eyed monster," it is natural to tell why he should beware; and, for caution, he gives him two reasons:that jealousy often creates its own cause, and that, when the causes are real, jealousy is misery.-JOHNSON. Various passages, both from Shakspeare and other writers, are quoted in support of this reading. The chief is what Emilia says of jealousy, in the last scene of this Act:-"T is a monster begot upon itself, born on itself." "She did deceive her father, marrying you: And when she seemed to shake and fear your looks, This and the following argument of Othello ought to be deeply impressed on every reader. Deceit and falsehood, whatever conveniences they may for a time promise or produce, are in the sum of life obstacles to happiness. Those who profit by the cheat distrust the deceiver, and the act by which kindness was sought, puts an end to confidence. The same objection may be made, with a lower degree of strength, against the imprudent generosity of disproportionate marriages. When the first heat of passion is over, it is easily succeeded by suspicion that the same violence of inclination which caused one irregularity, may stimulate to another: and those who have shown that their passions are too violent for their prudence, will, with very slight appearances against them, be censured as not very likely to restrain them by their virtue.-JOHNSON. "To seel her father's eyes up close as oak."— Act III., Scene 3. "To seel" is an expression from falconry. To seel a hawk was to subject it to the barbarous operation of sewing up its eyelids."Close as oak" means, as close as the grain of the oak. "Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings, "Jesses" are short straps of leather tied about the foot of a hawk, by which she is held on the fist. "The falconers always let fly the hawk against the wind: if she flies with the wind behind her, she seldom returns. If, therefore, a hawk was for any reason to be dismissed, she was 'let down the wind,' and from that time shifted for herself. and 'preyed at fortune.'"-JOHNSON. -“I'll have the work ta'en out, And give it Iago."- Act III., Scene 3. By having the "work ta'en out," Emilia means that she will have it copied. This is her first thought; but the sudden coming in of Iago, in a surly humor, makes her alter her resolution. The same phrase afterwards occurs between Cassio and Bianca, in the last scene of this Act. It is impossible not to regret the execrable conduct which the poet (most likely from inadvertence) has assigned to Emilia in this matter of the handkerchief.- In Cinthio's novel, while Desdemona is caressing the child of the Iago of the play, the villain steals the handkerchief, which hung at her girdle, without the knowledge of his wife. "OTH. But this denoted a foregone conclusion. IAGO. 'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream." Act III., Scene 3. The last of these lines is usually given to Othello, on the authority of the folio: the quarto ascribes it to Iago; and we coincide with Warburton in thinking the latter arrangement preferable. Othello believes that the dream leaves no ambiguity about the matter: in his judgment, it "denoted a foregone conclusion." Iago, with affected reluctance, merely admits it "a shrewd doubt." "Ne'er keeps retiring ebb, but keeps due on," &c.-Act III., Scene 3. "Keeps" must be wrong in the first instance, and Pope altered it to "feels," which was, perhaps, derived by him from the quarto, 1630; but the manuscript-emendation in the folio, 1632, is, "Ne'er knows retiring ebb, but keeps due on," &c. This seems the superior reading, and may have been that of the poet: to say that a sea "ne'er feels retiring ebb," is hardly the language of Shakspeare. "So shall I clothe me in a forc'd content, This is as the passage has always appeared, but we are directed in the margin of the folio, 1632, to correct the two following lapses by the printer: "So shall I clothe me in a forc'd content, And shift myself upon some other course Cassio was not to "shut himself up in," but to "shift himself upon some other course" to obtain the favors of fortune, perhaps, by changing his profession. "But, alas! to make me A fixed figure for the time of scorn To point his slow unmoving finger at."-Act IV., Scene 2. The folios have "The fixed figure," and "slow and moving," but both quarto and folios "time of scorn," which Rowe properly changed to "hand of scorn," as appears by a correction in the folio, 1632. Another emendation in the next line converts "slow and moving," not into "slow unmoving," of the quarto, but into "slowly moving," the text of no old copy, so that the whole is there thus represented, with manifest improvement: |