Chapter X: Part 10

If womens tears could impregnate the earth. By the doctrine of equivocal generation, new animals were supposed producible by new combinations of matter. See Bacon.

IV.i.277 (478,7)

whose solid virtue
The shot of accident, nor dart of chance,
Could neither graze nor pierce]

[T: of change] To _graze_ is not merely to touch superficially, but to strike not directly, not so as to bury the body of the thing striking in the matter struck.

Theobald trifles, as is usual. _Accident_ and _chance_ may admit a subtle distinction; _accident_ may be considered as the _act_, and _chance_ as the _power_ or _agency_ of fortune; as, _It was_ by chance _that this_ accident _befel me_. At least, if we suppose all corrupt that is inaccurate, there will be no end of emendation.

IV.ii.57 (482,1) garner'd up my heart] That is, _treasured_ up; the _garner_ and the _fountain_ are improperly conjoined.

IV.ii.62 (482,2)

Turn thy complexion there!
Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd cherubim;
Ay, there, look grim as hell]

At such an object do thou, _patience_, thyself _change colour_; at this do thou, even thou, _rosy cherub_ as thou art, _look grim as hell_. The old editions and the new have it,

_I here look grim as hell._

_I_ was written for _ay_, and not since corrected.

IV.ii.109 (484,4) The small'st opinion on my great'st abuse] The old quarto reads [for "least misuse"],

_The small'st opinion on my_ great'st abuse.

Which I think is better.

IV.ii.140 (486,6) Some base notorious knave] For _gross_, not in its proper meaning for _known_.

IV.ii.144 (486,7) Speak within door] Do not clamour so as to be heard beyond the house.

IV.ii.146 (486,8) the seamy side without] That is, _inside out_.

IV.iii.27 (490,2) and he, she lov'd, prov'd mad,/And did forsake her] I believe that _mad_ only signifies _wild, frantick, uncertain_.

IV.iii.31 (490,3) I have much to do,/But to go hang my head] I _have much_ ado to do any thing _but hang my head_. We might read,

Not _to go hang my head_.

This is perhaps the only insertion made in the latter editions which has improved the play. The rest seem to have been added for the sake of amplification, or of ornament. When the imagination had subsided, and the mind was no longer agitated by the horror of the action, it became at leisure to look round for specious additians. This addition is natural. Desdemona can at first hardly forbear to sing the song; she endeavours to change her train of thoughts, but her imagination at last prevails, and she sings it.

IV.iii.41 (491,4)

_Des._ "The poor soul sat singing by a sycamore-tree,
"Sing all a green willow]

This song, in two parts, is printed in a late collection of old ballads; the lines preserved here differ somewhat from the copy discovered by the ingenious collector.

IV.iii.55 (491,5)

_Des._ "I call'd my love false love; but what said
"he then?
"Sing willow, &c.]

This couplet is not in the ballad, which is the complaint, not of a woman forsaken, but of a man rejected. These lines were probably added when it was accommodated to a woman.

IV.iii.94 (493,6) our former having] Our former allowance of experience.

IV.iii.107 (493,7) heaven me such usage send] --_heaven me such_ uses _send_,] Such is the reading of the folio, and of the subsequent editions; but the old quarto has,

--_such_ usage _send_.--

_Usage_ is an old word for _custom_, and, I think, better than _uses_.

V.i.11 (494,1) I have rubb'd this young quat _almost to the sense_] In some editions,

_I've rubb'd this young_ gnat _almost to the sense,
And he grows angry_.]

This is a passage much controverted among the editors. Sir T. Hanner reads _quab_, a _gudgeon_; not that a gudgeon can be _rubbed_ to much _sense_, but that a man grossly deceived is often called a _gudgeon_. Mr. Upton reads _quail_, which he proves, by much learning, to be a very choleric bird. Dr. Warburton retains _gnat_, which is found in the early quarto. Theobald would introduce _knot_, a small bird of that name. I have followed the text of the folio, and third and fourth quartos.

A _quat_ in the midland counties is a _pimple_, which by rubbing is made to smart, or is _rubbed to sense_. Roderigo is called a _quat_ by the same mode of speech, as a low fellow is now termed in lay language a _scab. To rub to the sense_, is _to rub to the quick_.

V.i.37 (496,2) No passage?] No passengers? No body going by?

V.i.42 (499,4) a heary night] A _thick cloudy_ night, in which an ambush may be commodiously laid.

V.ii.1 (499,4) It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul;--/Let me not name it] The abruptness of this soliloquy makes it obscure. The meaning, I think, is this: "I am here (says Othello in his mind) overwhelmed with horror. What is the reason of this perturbation? Is it want of resolution to do justice? Is it the dread of shedding blood? No; it is not the action that shocks me, but _it is the cause, it is the cause, my soul; let me not name it to you, ye chaste stars; it is the cause_."

V.ii.20 (500,7)

I must weep,
But they are cruel tears: this sorrel's heavenly;
It strikes, where it doth love.--She wakes--]

This tenderness, with which I lament the punishment which justice compels me to inflict, is a holy passion.

I wish these two lines could be honestly ejected. It is the fate of Shakespeare to counteract his own pathos.

V.ii.65 (502,8) A murder, which I thought a sacrifice] This line is difficult. _Thou hast hardened my heart, and makest me_ kill thee with the rage of a _murderer_, when _I thought to have sacrificed_ thee to justice with the calmness of a priest striking a victim.

It must not be omitted, that one of the elder quartos reads, _thou dost stone_ thy _heart_; which I suspect to be genuine. The meaning then will be, _thou forcest me_ to dismiss thee from the world in the state of the _murdered_ without preparation for death, _when I intended_ that thy punishment should have been a _sacrifice_ atoning for thy crime.

I am glad that I have ended my revisal of this dreadful scene. It is not to be endured.

V.ii.134 (505,3) false as water] As water that will support no weight, nor keep any impression.

V.ii.151 (506,4) villainy has made mocks with love] _Villainy_ has taken advantage to _play upon_ the weakness of a violent passion.

V.ii.162 (506,5) Thou hast not half that power to do me harm, /As I have to be hurt] [Hamner: to bear hurt] The Oxford Editor saw well the meaning of his author, but weakened his expression. She means to say, _I have in this cause power to endure more than thou hast power to inflict_.

V.ii.183 (507, 6) charm your tongue] I know not whether I have read, or whether my own thoughts hare suggested, an alteration of this passage. It seems to me not improbable, that Shakespeare wrote _clam_ your tongue; to _clam_ a bell, is to cover the clapper with felt, which drowns the blow, and hinders the sound.

V.ii.211 (509,7) she with Cassio had the act of shame/A thousand times committed] This is another passage which seems to suppose a longer space comprised in the action of this play than the scenes include.

V.ii.253 (512,2) It was a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper] [In the first edition it is, _Isebroke's temper_. Thence corrupted to _Ice-brook's_.--_Ebro's temper_; the waters of that river of Spain are particularly famous for tempering of steel. POPE.] I believe the old reading changed to _ice-brook_ is right. Steel is hardened by being put red hot into very cold water.

V.ii.286 (513,3)

I look down towards his feet; but that's a fable.
If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee]

To see if, according to the common opinion, his feet be cloven.

V.ii.292 (513,4) Fall'n in the practice of a cursed slave] In the _snare_, by the _stratagem_.

V.ii.317 (514,5) in the interim] The first copy has, _in the_ nick. It was, I suppose, thought upon revisal, that _nick_ was too familiar.

V.ii.342 (515,6) Speak of me as I am] The early copies read, _Speak of them as they are_. The present reading has more force. (rev. 1778, X, 622, 6)

(520,2) General Observation. The beauties of this play impress themselves so strongly upon the attention of the reader, that they can draw no aid from critical illustration. The fiery openness of Othello, magnanimous, artless, and credulous, boundless in his confidence, ardent in his affection, inflexible in his resolution, and obdurate in his revenge; the cool malignity of Iago, silent in his resentment, subtle in his designs, and studious at once of his interest and his vengeance; the soft simplicity of Desdemona, confident of merit, and conscious of innocence, her artless perseverance in her suit, and her slowness to suspect that she can be suspected, are such proofs of Shakespeare's skill in human nature, as, I suppose, it is vain to seek in any modern writer. The gradual progress which Iago makes in the Moor's conviction, and the circumstances which he employs to inflame him, are so artfully natural, that, though it will perhaps not be said of him as he says of himself, that he is _a man not easily jealous_, yet we cannot but pity him, when at last we find him _perplexed in the extreme_.

There is always danger, lest wickedness, conjoined with abilities, should steal upon esteem, though it misses of approbation; but the character of Iago is so conducted, that he is from the first scene to the last hated and despised.

Even the inferior characters of this play would be very conspicuous in any other piece, not only for their justness, but their strength. Cassio is brave, benevolent, and honest, ruined only by his want of stubbornness to resist an insidious invitation. Roderigo's suspicious credulity, and impatient submission to the cheats which he sees practised upon him, and which by persuasion he suffers to be repeated, exhibit a strong picture of a weak mind betrayed by unlawful desires to a false friend; and the virtue of Aemilia is such as we often find, worn loosely, but not cast off, easy to commit small crimes, but quickened and alarmed at atrocious villainies.

The scenes from the beginning to the end are busy, varied by happy interchanges, and regularly promoting the progression of the story; and the narrative in the end, though it tells but what is known already, yet is necessary to produce the death of Othello.

Had the scene opened in Cyprus, and the preceding incidents been occasionally related, there had been little wanting to a drama of the most exact and scrupulous regularity.

(LI 2) Appendix. Some apology perhaps is necessary for the inconvenience of an Appendix, which, however, we can justify by the strongest of all pleas, the plea of necessity. The Notes which it contains, whether communicated by correspondents, or collected from published volumes, were not within our reach when the plays were printed, to which they relate. Of that which chance has supplied, we could have no previous knowledge; and he that waited till the river should run dry, did not act with less reason than the Editor would do, who should suspend his publication for possibilities of intelligence, or promises of improvement. Had we foreseen the _Oxford_ edition, the assistance we expected from it might have persuaded us to pause; but our volumes were completely finished before its publication. [There are no notes by Johnson in this Appendix; several are by Steevens.]