That never set a squadron in the field, 1 More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric, Iago. But there's no remedy, 'tis the curse of 4 Preferment goes by letter, and affection, Rod. I would not follow him, then. I follow him to serve my turn upon him: Whip me such honest knaves : Others there are, Do themselves homage: these fellows have some And such a one do I profess myself. It is as sure as you are Roderigo, Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, For when my outward action doth demonstrate Call up her father, In simple and pure soul I come to you. Iago. 'Zounds, sir, you are one of those, that will not serve God, if the devil bid you. Because we come to do you service, you think we are ruf 4 i. e. by recommendation. 5 Do I stand within any such terms of propinquity to the Moor, as that I am bound to love him? The quarto has assign'd. Iago. Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight, his life.' The passage as it stands at present has been said by Steevens to mean, according to Iago's licentious manner of expressing himself, no more than a man 'very near being married.' This seems to have been the case in respect to Cassio. Act iv. Sc. 1, Iago speak-first ing to him of Bianca, says, 'Why, the cry goes that you shall marry her.' Cassio acknowledges that such a report had been raised, and adds-'This is the monkey's own giving out: she is persuaded I will marry her, out of her love and self flattery, not out of my promise.' Iago then, having heard this report before, very naturally alludes to it in his present conversation with Roderigo.-Mr. Boswell suspects that there may be some corruption in the text. 1 i. e. theory. See All's Well that Ends Well, Act jv Sc. 3. 6 Knave is here used for servant, but with a sly mix. ture of contempt. 7 Outward show of civility. 8 This is the reading of the folio. The first quarto reads 'doves.' 9 Full fortune is complete good fortune: to owe is to possess. So in Antony and Cleopatra:not the imperious show Of the full-fortun'd Cæsar.' And in Cymbeline : 'Our pleasure his full fortune doth confine.' 10 By night and negligence,' means 'in the time of night and negligence.' Nothing is more common than this mode of expression: we should not hesitate at the expression, By night and day.' 11 i. e. is broken. 12 That is, intoxicating draughts. In Hamlet, the king is said to be marvellous distemper'd with wine.' See King Henry V. Act ii. Sc. 2. 13 That is, we are in a populous city, mine is not a lone house, where a robbery might easily be committed Grange is, strictly, the farm of a monastery; grangia, Lat. from granum: but, provincially, any lone house or solitary farm is called a grange. So in Measure for Measure:- At the moated grange resides this dejected Mariana.' fians: You'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews1 neigh to you: you'll have coursers for cousins, and gennets for germans.2 Bra. What profane3 wretch art thou? Iago. I am one, sir, that comes to tell you, your laughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.4 Bra. Thou art a villain. Iago. You are-a senator. Bra. This thou shalt answer: I know thee, Roderigo. Enter, below, BRABANTIO, and Servants with Torches. Bra. It is too true an evil: gone she is: And what's to come of my despised time,11 Is nought but bitterness. Now, Roderigo, Where didst thou see her?-O, unhappy girl! With the Moor, sayst thou ?-Who would be a father? How didst thou know 'twas she? O, thou deceivʼst me Past thought!-What said she to you?-Get more tapers; Rod. Sir, I will answer any thing. But I beseech | Raise all my kindred.-Are they married, think you, If't be your pleasure, and most wise consent, 6 I thus would play and trifle with your reverence: you: Bra. Strike on the tinder, ho! Give me a taper;-call up my people : This accident is not unlike my dream, Belief of it oppresses me already Light, I say! light! [Exit, from above. Iago. Farewell; for I must leave It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place, To be produc'd, (as, if I stay, I shall,) Against the Moor: For, I do know, the state,However this may gall him with some check,Cannot with safety cast1o him! for he's embark'd With such loud reason to the Cyprus wars, (Which even now stand in act,) that, for their souls, Another of his fathom they have not, To lead their business: in which regard, Though I do hate him as I do hell pains, Yet, for necessity of present life, I must show out a flag and sign of love, you? Rod. Truly, I think, they are Bra. O, heaven!-How got she out!—O, treason of the blood! Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters' minds Rod. Some one way, some another.--Do you know Bra. 'Pray you, lead on. At every house I'll call ; I may command at most ;--Get weapons, ho! And raise some special officers of night.On, good Roderigo ;-I'll deserve your pains. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. Another Streeet. Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Attendants. lago. Though in the trade of war I have slain men, Yet do I hold it very stuff14 o' the conscience, To do no contriv'd murder; I lack iniquity Sometimes, to do me service: Nine or ten times I had thought to have yerk'd him here under the ribs. Oth. 'Tis better as it is. Iago. Nay, but he prated,' And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms Against your honour, That, with the little godliness I have, I did full hard forbear him. But, I pray, sir, Which is, indeed, but sign. That you shall surely As double as the duke's; he will divorce you, find him, Lead to the Sagittary the rais'd search Essex. In is here used for on, a common substitution And there will I be with him. So, farewell. [Exit. this, altered it, and read, To an extravagant &e in ancient phraseology. Pope and others, not aware of 3 A profane wretch is an unlucky or a wicked one. 4 Faire la bete a deux dos is a French proverbial So in Romeo and Juliet:expression, which needs no explanation. See the notes to any edition of Rabelais, or Le Roux's Dictionnaire Comique. 5 This odd-even appears to mean the interval between twelve at night and one in the morning. So in Macbeth: 7 That is, in opposition to or departing from the conscience. Shakspeare uses the word in the same sense of all civility. So in Twelfth Night :— sense, and in a manner yet more harsh in Macbeth. 'Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff. 15' Of whom is this said ?-Of Roderigo.'-Steevens 16 The chief men of Venice are by a peculiar name called magnifici, i. e. magnificoes. See Ben Jonson's Volpone. 17 i. e. as mighty, as powerful: as double, means as strong, as forcible, as double in effect as that of the doge, whose voice of course carried great sway with it, and who is said to have had extraordinary privileges influencing every court and council cfthe state Or put upon you what restraint and grievance Oth. my I would not my unhoused4 free condition For the sea's worth. But, look! what lights come yonder? Iago. Marry, to-Come, captain, will Enter CASSIO, at a Distance, and certain Officers He comes to bad intent. with Torches. Iago. These are the raised father, and his friends: Not I: I must be found; Iago. By Janus, I think no. Oth. The servants of the duke, and my lieutenant. The goodness of the night upon you, friends !6 What is the news? Cas. Even on the instant. Oth. The duke does greet you, general; When, being not at your lodging to be found, 'Tis well I am found by you. 1 'Men who have sat upon royal thrones.' So in Grafton's Chronicle, p. 443:- Incontinent, after that he was placed in the royal siege,' &c. 2 Demerits has the same meaning in Shakspeare as merits. Mereo and demereo had the same meaning in the Roman language. Demerit, (says Bullokar,) a dessert; also, (on the contrary, and as it is most commonly used at this day,) ill-deserving.' 3 Mr. Fuseli (and who was better acquainted with the sense and spirit of Shakspeare ?) explains this passage as follows:-'I am his equal or superior in rank; and were it not so, such are my merits, that unbonnetted, without the addition of patrician or senatorial dignity, they may speak to as proud a fortune,' &c. At Venice, the bonnet, as well as the toge, is a badge of aristocratic honours to this day. 4 i. e. unsettled, free from domestic cares. 5 Pliny, the naturalist, has a chapter on the riches of the sea. The expression seems to have been proverbial. Thus in Davenant's Cruel Brother, 1630he would not lose that privilege Oth. Down with him, thief! [They draw on both sides. Iago. You, Roderigo! come, sir, I am for you. Oth. Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them. Good signior, you shall more command with years, Than with your weapons. Bra. O, thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter? Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her · 12 i. e. be cautious, be discreet. 15 13 Sir W. Davenant uses the same expression in his Just Italian, 1630: 'The curl'd and silken nobles of the town.' | Again : 'Such as the curled youth of Italy.' It was the fashion of the poet's time for lusty gallants to wear a curled bush of frizzled hair. See Hall's Satires, ed. 1824, book iii. sat. 5. Shakspeare has in other places alluded to the fashion of curling the hair among persons of rank and fashion. Speaking of Tarquin, in The Rape of Lucrece, he says:- 'Let him have time to tear his curled hair.' And Edgar, in Lear, when he was proud in heart and mind,' curled his hair. Turnus, in the twelfth Eneid, speaking of Æneas, says: fædare in pulvere crines Vibratos calido ferre.' 14 'Of such a thing as thou: a thing to fear (i. v. tet rify,) not to delight." So in the next scene: To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on.' 15 The lines in crotchets are not in the first edition, 4to. 1622. 16 The old copy reads, 'That weaken motion.' The emendation is Hanmer's. Motion is elsewhere used by our poet precisely in the sense required here. So in Measure for Measure : — one who never feels The wanton stings and motions of the sense.' And in a subsequent scene of this play :- But we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts,' So in A Mad World, my Masters, by Middleton, 1608 'And in myself sooth up adulterous motions.' To waken is to incite, to stir up. We have in the pre sent play, 'waken'd wrath.' And in Shakspeare's 117th Sonnet, 'waken'd hate.' Brabantio afterwards A Council Chamber. SCENE III. The same. Duke. "There is no composition in these news, 1 Sèn. Indeed, they are disproportion'd; My letters say, a hundred and seven galleys. Duke. And mine, a hundred and forty. 2 Sen. And mine, two hundred : But though they jump not on a just account, (As in these cases, where the aim3 reports, "Tis oft with difference,) yet do they all confirm A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus. Duke. Nay, it is possible enough to judgment; I do not so secure me in the error, But the main article I do approve In fearful sense. 1 Sen. This cannot be, By no assay of reason;4 'tis a pageant, That, as it more concerns the Turk than Rhones, That Rhodes is dress'd in :—if we make thought of We must not think, the Turk is so unskilful, Sailor. [Within.] What ho! what ho! what ho! We lack'd Enter an Officer with a Sailor. Of. A messenger from the galleys. Now; the business? [TO BRABANTIO your counsel and your help to-night. Bra. So did I yours: Good your grace, pardor me; Neither my place, nor aught I heard of business, Sailor. The Turkish preparation makes for Hath rais'd me from my bed; nor doth the general Rhodes; So was I bid report here to the state, By signior Angelo. Duke. How say you by this change? care11 Take hold on me; for my particular grief 6 i. e. in such state of defence. To arm was called to brace on the armour. The seven following lines were added since the first edition in quarto, 1622. 7 To wake is to undertake. To wage law (in the common acceptation) seems to be to follow, to urge, drive on, or prosecute the law or law-suits; as to wage war is præliari, bellare, to drive on the war, to fight in battels as warriors do.'-Blount's Glossography. 8 'He entreats you not to doubt the truth of this intelligence.' 1 This passage has been completely misunderstood.— Pagan was a word of contempt; and the reason will appear from its etymology:- Paganus, villanus vel inculsus. Et derivatur a pagus quod est villa. Et quicunque habitat in villa est paganus. Præterea quicunque est extra civitatem Dei, i. e. ecclesiam, dicitur paganus. Anglice, a paynim.'-Ortus Vocabulorum, 1528. I know not whether pagan was ever used to designate a clown or rustic; but paganical and paganalian, in a kindred sense, were familiar to our elder language. Malone thinks that 'Brabantio is meant to allude to the common condition of all blacks, who come from their own country both slaves and pagans; and 'Write from us to him, post, post-haste, dispatch.' that he uses the word in contempt of Othello. If he is 10 It was part of the policy of the Venetian state to suffered to escape with impunity, we may expect to see employ strangers, and even Moors, in their wars. By all our offices of state filled up by the pagans and bond-lande they are served of straungers, both for generals, slaves of Africa.' 2 Composition for consistency. It has been before observed that news was considered of the plural number by our ancestors. 3 Aim is guess, conjecture. The quarto reads, they aim reports. The meaning appears to be, In these cases where conjecture tells the tale.'-Aim is again used as a substantive in Julius Cæsar : 'What you would work me to, I have some aim.' 4 Bring it to the test, examine it by reason, it will be found counterfeit.' 9 i. e. desire him to make all possible haste.' The folio reads :— for capitaines, and for all other men of warre, because 11 5 That he may carry it with less dispute, with di-interpolations; by which, he says, the metre of this minished opposition. tragedy is too frequ» tly deranged. Duke. Why, what's the matter? Dead? Sen. Bra. She is abus'd, stol'n from me, and corrupted By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks : For nature so preposterously to err, Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense,2 Sans witchcraft could not Duke. Whoe'er he be, that, in this foul proceeding, Hath thus beguil'd your daughter of herself, And you of her, the bloody book of law You shall yourself read in the bitter letter, After your own sense; yea, though our proper son Stood in your action.3 Bra. Humbly I thank your grace. Here is the man, this Moor; whom now, it seems, Your special mandate, for the state affairs, We are very sorry for it. Hath hither brought. this? Bra. Nothing, but this is so. Oth. Most potent, grave and reverend signiors, My very noble and approv'd good masters, That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter, It is most true; true, I have married her; The very head and front of my offending4 Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech, And little bless'd with the set' phrase of peace; For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith, Till now some nine moons wasted, they have us'd Their dearest action" in the tented field And little of this great world can I speak, More than pertains to feats of broil and battle; And therefore little shall I grace my cause, ; In speaking of myself: Yet, by your gracious pa tience, I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver you by indirect and forced courses 11 Send for the lady to the Sagittary,' Duke. Duke. Say it, Othello. Oth. Her father lov'd me; oft invited me; Still question'd me the story of my life, From year to year; the battles, sieges, fortunes, That I have pass'd. I ran it through, even from my boyish days, Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what To the very moment that he bade ne tell it charms, What conjuration, and what mighty magic, (For such proceeding I am charg'd withal,) I won his daughter with." Bra. A maiden never bold; Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion Blush'd at herself; And she,-in spite of nature, Of years, of country, credit, every thing, 8 4 The main, the whole unextenuated. causæ non satis honesta est, 'is a phrase used by Quintilian. A similar expression is found in Tamburlaine, 1590; "The man that in the forehead of his fortunes Beares figures of renown and miracle.' Again in Troilus and Cressida : So rich advantage of a promis'd glory As smiles upon the forehead of this action.' 5 The folio reads, 'soft phrase of peace.' 6 Their dearest action; that is, as we should say in modern language, their best exertion. 7 The word with, supplied in the second folio, is wanting in the older copies. Malone contends that it is merely an elliptical form of expression, and that the early copies are right. 8 Shakspeare, like other writers of his age, frequently uses the personal instead of the neutral pro The apprehension of his present portance, Which gibingly, ungravely he did fashion,' &c 15 i. e. caverns; from antrum, Lat. Warburton observes that Rymer ridicules this whole circumstance; and Shaftesbury obliquely sneers at it. Whoever (says Johnson) ridicules this account of the progress of love, shows his ignorance, not only of history, but of nature and manners. It is no wonder that, in any age, or in any nation, a lady, recluse, timorous, and delicate should desire to hear of events and scenes which she could never see, and should admire the man who had endured dangers, and performed actions, which, how ever great, were magnified by her timidity.' 16 The quarto and first folio read, desarts idle ;' the second folio reads, 'desarts wilde';' and this reading was adopted by Pope; at which Dr. Johnson expresses his surprise. 'Mr. Malone taxes the editor of the second folio with ignorance of Shakspeare's meaning; and idle is triumphantly reinstated in the text. It does not seem to have occurred to the commentators that wild might add a feature of some import, even to a desert; whereas idle, i. e. sterile, leaves it just as it found it, and is (without a pun) the idlest epithet which could be applied. Mr. Pope, too, had an ear for rhythm; and as his reading has some touch of Shakspeare, which the other has not, and is besides better poetry, I should hope that it would one day resume its proper place in the text.' Gifford. Notes on Sejanus.” Ben Jonson's Works vol |