Oth. I look down towards his feet;-but that's a fable:

If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee.
(Othello wounds Iago.)
Lod. Wrench his sword from him.
Iago.
I bleed, sir; but not kill'd.
Oth. I am not sorry neither; I'd have thee live;
For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die.

Lod. O thou Othello, that was once so good,
Fall'n in the practice of a cursed slave,
What shall be said to thee?

Oth.

Why, any thing: An honourable murderer, if you will; For nought I did in hate, but all in honour. Lod. This wretch hath part confess'd his villany: Did you and he consent in Cassio's death? Oth. Ay.

Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause. Oth. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon. Will you, I pray you, demand that demi devil, Why he hath thus ensnar'd my soul and body? Iago. Demand me nothing: What you know, you

know:

From this time forth I never will speak word.
Lod. What? not to pray?
Gra.

Torments will ope your lips.
Oth. Well, thou dost best.
Lod. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n,
Which, as I think, you know not: Here is a letter,
Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo;
And here, another: the one of them imports
The death of Cassio to be undertook

By Roderigo.

Oth. O villain! Cas. Most heathenish, and most gross! Lod. Now here's another discontented paper, Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems, Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain; But that, belike, lago in the interim

Came in and satisfied him.

Oth. O the pernicious caitiff!How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief That was my wife's? Cas.

I found it in my chamber: And he himself confess'd, but even now, That there he dropp'd it, for a special purpose, Which wrought to his desire.

Oth.

O fool! fool! fool!

Cas. There is, besides, in Roderigo's letter,kow he upbraids lago, that he made him

Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came
That I was cast: And even but now he spake,
After long seeming dead,-Iago hurt him,
Iago set him on.

Lod. You must forsake this room, and go with as
Your power and your command is taken off.
And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,-
If there be any cunning cruelty,

That can torment him much, and hold him long,
It shall be his: You shall close prisoner rest,
Till that the nature of your fault be known
To the Venetian state :-Come, bring him away.

Oth. Soft you; a word or two, before you go.
I bave done the state some service, and they know it:
No more of that:-I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then must you spea
Of one, that lov'd not wisely, but too well;
Of one, not easily jealous, but, being wrought.
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one, whose hand,
Like the base Judean, threw a pearl away,
Richer than all his tribe; of one, whose subdu'd eyes
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum: Set you down this:
And say, besides,-that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian, and traduc'd the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him-thus.

Lod. O bloody period! Gra.

(Stabs himsel

All, that's spoke, is marr'c.

Oth. I kiss'd thee, ere I kill'd thee:-No way 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.

(Dies

Lod. O Spartan dog, More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea! Look on the tragic loading of this bed; (To Iago This is thy work. the object poisons sight Let it be hid.-Gratiano, keep the house, And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor, For they succeed to you.-To you, lord governor, Remains the censure of this hellish villain; The time, the place, the torture,-O enforce it! Myself will straight aboard; and, to the state. This heavy act with heavy heart relate.

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El l l l l l l l

P. 625. Persons represented. Though the rank which Montano held in Cyprus cannot be exactly ascertained, yet, from many circumstances, we are sure he had not the powers with which Othello was subsequently invested.

Perhaps we do not receive any one of the Persona Dramatis to Shakspeare's plays, as it was originally drawn np by himself. These appendages are wanting to all the quartos, and are very rarely given in the folio. At the end of this play, however, the following enumeration of persons occurs:

The names of the actors.-Othello, the Moore.-Brabantio, Father to Desdemona. -Cassio, an Honourable Lieutenant.-Iago, | a Villaine-Rodorigo, a gull'd Gentleman. Duke of Venice.-Senators.-Montano, Governour of Cyprus.-Gentlemen of Cyprus. -Lodovico, and Gratiano, two noble Venetians--Saylors.-Clowne-Desdemona, Wife to Othello-Emilia, Wife to lago.Bianca, a Curtezan." STEEVENS.

Obsolete.

Id. I 25. A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife ;] | This passage has been much contested. We adopt Mr. Steevens's explanation. That Cassio was married is not sufficiently implied in the words, a fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife, since they 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 of Cassio.

Id. 1. 28. theoric,] Theoric, for theory.
Id. l. 29. Wherein the toged consuls-] The rulers

of the state, or civil governors. By toged
perhaps is meant peaceable, in opposition to
the warlike qualifications of which he had
been speaking. He might have formed the
word in allusion to the Latin adage,-Cedant
arma toga.

Id. l. 34. must be be-lec'd and calm'd-] Terms of navigation.

Id. l. 35.

Id.

this counter-caster;] It was auciently the practice to reckon up sums with

counters.

1. 37. —bless the mark!] Kelly, in his comments on Scots proverbs, observes, that the Scots, when they compare person to person, use this exclamation.

Id. c. 2, l. 1. — by letter,] By recommendation from powerful friends.

Id. 1. 4. Whether I in any just term am affin'd—] Do I stand within any such terms of propinquity, or relation to the Moor, as that it is my duty to love him?

Id. l. 16. honest knaves:] Knave is here for servant, but with a sly mixture of contempt. Id. 1. 32. In compliment extern,] In that which I do only for an outward show of civility. Id. l. 34. For doves"-MALONE. Id. 1. 35. What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe,] Full fortune, is, a complete piece of good fortune. To owe, is to possess. P. 626. c. 1, l. 20.is burst,] i. e. broken. Id. l. 25. distempering draughts,] To be distempered with liquor, was, in Shakspeare's age, the phrase for intoxication. Id. l. 43.

Id.

Id.

- this is Venice;

My house is not a grange.] That is, “you are in a populous city, not in a lone house. where a robbery might easily be committed." Grange is strictly and properly the farm of a monastery, where the religious reposited their corn. Grangia, Lat. from granum. But in Lincolnshire, and in other northern counties, they call every lone house, or farm which stands solitary, a grange.

l. 52. your nephews neigh to you:]
Nephew, in this instance, has the power of
the Latin word nepos, and signifies a grandson,
or any lineal descendant, however remote.
1. 53. - gennets for germans.] A jennet is a
Spanish horse.

Id. l. 66. At this odd-even and dull watch o'the
night,] By this singular expression,-" this
odd-even of the night,"-our poet appears to
have meant, that it was just approaching to,
or just past, that it was doubtful whether at
that moment is stood at the point of midnight,
or at some other less equal division of the
twenty-four hours; which a few minutes either
before or after midnight would be.
Id. 1. 70. and your allowance,] i. e. done with
your approbation.

Id. 1.74. That, from the sense of all civility.] That is, in opposition to, or departing from, the sense of all civility.

SCENE II.

Id. l. 62. stuff o'the conscience,] This expression to common readers appears harsh. Stuff of the conscience is, substance or essence of the conscience. Stuff is a word of great force in the Teutonic languages. The elements are called in Dutch, hoefd stoffen, or head stuffs. JOHNSON.

Id. l. 73. the magnifico-] "The chief men of Venice are by a peculiar name called magnifici, i. e. magnificoes."

P. 627, c. 1, 1.6. men of royal siege :] Men who have sat upon royal thrones. Siege is used for seat by other authors.

Id. l. 6. and my demerits-] Demerits has the same meaning in our author, and many others of that age, as merits.

Id. 1. 7. May speak, unbonneted.] Mr. Fuseli (and who is better acquainted with the sense and spirit of our author?) explains this contested passage as follows:

"I am his equal or superior in rank; and were it not so, such are my demerits, that, unbonneted, without the addition of patrician or senatorial dignity, they may speak to as proud. a fortune." &c. Id. 2. 10. unhoused-] Free from domestic cares. A thought natural to an adventurer. Id. 1. 26. "haste, post-haste”—MALONE. Id. l. 37.

three several quests,] Quests are, on this occasion, searches. Id. l. 44.

a land carack] A carack is a ship of great bulk, and commonly of great value; perhaps what we now call a galleon.

Id. l. 55. be advis'd;] That is, be cool; be cautious; be discreet.

Id. 1. 73. The wealthy curled darlings of our nation, Curled is elegantly and ostentatiously dressed.

Id. 1. 76. Of such a thing as thou; to fear, not to delight. To fear, in the present instance, may mean to terrify.

Id. c. 2, 13. That waken motion :] Excite desires. Id. 1. 32. Bond-slaves and pagans, i. e. if this

Moor is now suffered to escape with impunity, it will be such an encouragement to his black Countrymen, that we may expect to see all the first offices of our state filled up by the pagans

and bond slaves of Africa.

SCENE III.

Id. l. 37. There is no composition-] for consistency, concordancy.

Id. l. 44. where the aim reports.] Where conjecture or suspicion tells the tale.

Id. 1. 60. By no assay of reason;] Bring it to the test, examine it by reason as we examine metals by the assay, it will be found counterfeit by all trials.

ld. l. 65. -with more facile question-] That is, he may carry it with less dispute, with less opposition.

Id. l. 66. warlike brace,] State of defence. To arm was called to brace on the armour. Id. 1. 72. To wake, and wage, To wage here, as in many other places in Shakspeare, signities to fight to combat

mend, desire him.

wish him-] i. e. recom

Id. 1. 47. Stood in your action.] 'Were the man exposed to your charge or accusation. Id. 1. 60. The very head and frout of my offend ing- The main, the whole, unextenuated. Id. 1. 65. Their dearest action—] i e. their most important action.

Id. 1. 76. "I won his daughter." MALONE. Id. c. 2, l. 12 -over test,] Open proofs, external evidence.

Id. l. 14. Of modern seeming,] Weak show of slight appearance.

Id. l. 21. the sagittary,] The sagittary meats the sign of the fictitious creature so called i. e. an animal compounded of man and horse, and armed with a bow and quiver.

Id. 1. 47. And portance-] And behaviour. antres-] Caves and dens.

Id. l. 48. Id. 1. 53.

-men whose heads

Do grow beneath their shoulders:] Of these men there is an account in the interpolated travels of Mandeville, a book of that time. Raleigh also has given an account of me whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, in his Description of Guiana, published in 1596, a book that without doubt Shakspeare had read.

Id. l. 65. But not intentively:] i. e. with attention to all its parts. P. 629, c. 1,

35. Let me speak like yourself: i. e. let me speak as yourself would speak. were you not too much heated with passion. Id. l. 37. - as a grise,] Grize from degrees. A grize is a step.

Id. 1. 50. But the free comfort which from thenc he hears:] But the moral precepts of cosso lation, which are liberally bestowed on occasion of the sentence. JOHNSON.

Id. 1. 55. But words are words; I never yet did

Id.

hear,

That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear] These moral precepts, says Brabantio, may perhaps be founded in wisdom, but they are of no avail. Words after all are but words; and I never yet heard that conso latory speeches could reach and penetrate the afflicted heart, through the medium of the ear. l_64. to slubber the gloss of your new fortunes-] To slubber, on this occasion, is to obscure.

Id. 1. 68. thrice-driven bed of down] A driven bed, is a bed for which the feathers are selected, by driving with a fan, which separates the light from the heavy.

Id.

1. 68. ——I do agnize-] i. e. acknowledge, confess, avow.

Id. 1. 73 I crave fit disposition for my wife;

Due reference of place, and exhibition, &c I desire, that proper disposition be made for my wife, that she may have precedency an revenue, accommodation and company, sur table to her rank. Exhibition is allowance Id. c. 2, 1. 6. —a charter in your voice,] Let your favour privilege me.

Id. I. 10. My downright violence and storm of fortunes- Violence is not violence suffered. but violence acted. Breach of common rules and obligations.

Id.

1. 12. Even to, &c.] Quality here means prefession. "I am so much enamoured of Othello, that I am even willing to endure all the incoR veniences incident to a military life, and to attend him to the wars."

Id. 1. 13. I saw Othello's visage in his mind: It must raise no wonder, that I loved a mai of an appearance so little engaging, I saw bis face only in his mind; the greatness of h character reconciled me to his form.

P. 629, c. 2, l. 26. "disjunct"-MALONE.
Id. 1. 28.

defend, &c.] To defend, is to forbid. Id. 1. 32. My speculative and active instruments,] Speculative instruments, in Shakspeare's language, are the eyes; and active instruments, the hands and feet.

Id. 1. 56. If virtue no delighted beauty lack,] The meaning probably is, if virtue comprehends every thing in itself, then your virtuous son-inlaw of course is beautiful: he has that beauty which delights every one. Delighted, for delighting. Id. l. 65.

tunity.

best advantage.] Fairest oppor

P. 630, c. 1, l. 5. —a Guinea-hen,] A Guineahen was anciently the cant term for a prostitute.

Id. 1. 24 a sect,] A sect is what the more modern gardeners call a cutting.

Id. l. 33.

defeat thy favour with an usurped beard;] Favour here means that combination of features which gives the face its distinguishing character. Defeat, from defaire, in | French, signifies to unmake, decompose, or give a different appearance to, either by taking away something, or adding.

Id. l. 37. - an answerable sequestration;] for separation.

Id. l. 48. -betwixt an erring barbarian—] i. e. wandering.

Id 1 64. Traverse ;] This was an ancient military word of command.

Id. c. 2, l. 3. --as if for surety] That is, "I will act as if I were certain of the fact." Id. l. 3.

He holds me well;] i. e. esteems me.

ACT II.

SCENE 1.

Id. 1. 26. "haven"-MALONE.

Id l. 40. And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole: Alluding to the star Arctophylax. Id. 1. 66. Like a full soldier.] Like a complete soldier.

P. 631, c. 1, 1.4. Of very expert and approv'd

allowance; Expert and approv'd allowance is put for allow'd and approv'd expertness. This mode of expression is not unfrequent in Shakspeare.

Id. 1. 5. Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,

Stand in bold cure.] Presumptuous hopes, which have no foundation in probability, may poetically be said to surfeit themselves to death, or forward their own dissolution. To stand in bold cure, is to erect themselves in confidence of being fulfilled. Id. 1. 23. And in the essential vesture of creation,

Does bear all excellency.] The author seems to use essential for existent, real. She excels the praises of invention, says he, and in real qualities, with which creation has invested her, bears all excellency.

Id. 1. 33. Their mortal natures,] i. e. their deadly, destructive natures.

Id. c 2, 7. Saints in your injuries, &c.] When you have a mind to do injuries, you put on an air of sanctity. Id. l. 18. -critical.] That is, censorious. Id. l. 46. -one, that, in the authority of her merit, did justly put on the vouch of very malice itself!] The sense is this, one that was so conscious of her own merit, and of the authority her character had with every one, that she durst venture to call upon malice itself to vouch for her.

Id l. 64. profane-] Gross of language, of expression broad and brutal.

P. 632, c. 1, l. 33

well desir'd at Cyprus, ] i. e. much solicited by invitation.

Id. 1. 35. I prattle out of fashion,] Out of method, without any settled order of discourse. Id. l. 47. the court of guard:] i. e. the place where the guard musters.

Id. l. 78. - green minds-] Minds unripe, minds not yet fully formed.

Id. c. 2, l. 4. condition] Qualities, disposition of mind.

Id. 1. 22. tainting-] Throwing a slur upon his discipline.

Id. l. 26. sudden in choler ;] Sudden, is precipitately violent.

Id. l. 29. whose qualification shall come, &c.] Whose resentment shall not be so qualified or tempered, as to be well tasted, as not to retain some bitterness. The phrase is harsh, at least to our ears.

Id. l. 33. to prefer them ;] i. e. to advance

them.

Id. l. 59. If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trash- To trash, is still a hunter's phrase, and signifies to fasten a weight on the neck of a dog, when his speed is superior to that of his companions.

Id. l. 62. —in the rank garb ] i, e. grossly, without mincing the matter.

Id. 1. 68. Knavery's plain face is never seen,] 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.

P. 634, c. 1, 1. 7. ingraft infirmity :) An infirmity rooted, settled in his constitution. Id. l. 18. into a twiggen bottle. i. e. a wickered bottle. Id. 1. 40. He dies. i. e. he shall die. But Mr. Malone reads thus: "Zounds, I bleed still, I am hurt to the death."

Id. l. 51. " carpe forth his," &c. MALONE. Id. l. 54. From her propriety.] From her regular and proper state.

Id. 1. 60. In quarter.] i. e. on our station.

Id. l. 68. you are thus forgot?] i, e. you have thus forgot yourself.

Id. c. 2, l. 3. self-charity-] Care of one's

self.

Id. 1.8. And passion, having my best judgment collied.] Othello means, that passion has discoloured his judgment. To colly, anciently signified to besmut, to blacken as with coal. Id. l. 13. he that is approv'd-] He that is convicted by proof, of having been engaged in this offence.

Id. 1. 18. "court of guard”-MALONE. Id. 1. 20. If partially affin'd,] Affin'd is bound by proximity of relationship; but here it means related by nearness of office.

Id. l. 50. and bid-good-morrow, general] It is the usual practice of the waits, or nocturnal minstrels, in several towns in the north of England, after playing a tune or two, to cry, "Good-morrow, maister Such-a-one, good-morrow, dame," adding the hour, and state of the weather. It should seem to have prevailed at Stratford-upon-Avon. They formerly used hautboys, which are the windinstruments here meant. RITSON.

P. 636, c. 1, l. 21. For your displeasure;] i e. the displeasure you have incurred from Othello.

SCENE II.

Id. l. 74. I'll watch him tame,] Hawks and other birds are tamed by keeping them from sleep, to which management Shakspeare alludes. Id. c. 2. 1. 28. His present reconciliation take:

To take his reconciliation, may be to accept the submission which he makes in order to be reconciled.

Id. 1. 30. and not in cunning,] Cunning, for knowledge. Id. l. 50.

the wars must make examples

Out of their best,] The severity of military discipline must not spare the best men of their army, when their punishment may afford a wholesome example.

Id. l. 55. so mammering on.] To hesitate, to stand in suspense.

Id. 1. 56. " and so many a time,”—MALONE. Id. 1. 68. -full of poize- i, e. of weight. Id. l. 79. Excellent wretch ! The meaning of the word wretch is not generally understood. I 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 P. 637, c. 1, l. 19. "Honest? aye, honest."

MALONE.

Id. 1. 45. They are close denotements, working from the heart

Id.

That passion cannot rule.] i. e. indications, or discoveries, not openly revealed, but involuntarily working from the heart, which cannot rule and suppress its feelings.

1.53. "Why, then, I think Cassio's an honest man." MALONE.

Id. l. 60.--to that all slaves are free to.] I am not bound to do that which even slaves are not bound to do.

Id. 1 76. conjects.] To conject, i. e. to conjecture, is a word used by other writers. Id. c. 2, 1 17. which doth mock

Id.

"which doth make

The meat it feeds on:"

Implying that its suspicions are unreal and groundless, which is the very contrary to what he would here make his general think.

1. 24. But riches, fineless,] Unbounded, endless, unnumbered.

Id. 1. 34. To such exsufficate-] Whether our poet had any authority for the word exsufficate. which I think is used in the sense of swollen, and appears to have been formed from sufflatus. I am unable to ascertain : but I have not thought it safe to substitute for it another word equally unauthorised. MALONE. Mr. Nares explains it by contemptible, abominable. Id. l. 34.

blown surmises,

Matching thy inference.] That is,-sech as you have mentioned in describing the torments of jealousy.

Id. 1. 38. Where virtue is. these are more rirtuous:] An action in itself indifferent, grows virtuous by its end and application.

Id.

1. 52. Out of self-bounty-] Self-bounty for inherent generosity.

Id. 1. 60. And, when she seem'd-] This and the following argument of lago ought to be deepy 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 prost by the cheat, distrust the deceiver, and the act by which kindness is sought, puts an ed 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 easils succeeded by suspicion, and the same violence of inclination, which caused one irregulanty,