Chapter IX: Part 9

V.i.3 (310,1) make her grave straight] Make her grave from east to west in a direct line parallel to the church; not from north to south, athwart the regular line. This, I think, is meant.

V.i.87 (313,1) which this ass now o'er-reaches] In the quarto, for _over-offices_ is, _over-reaches_, which agrees better with the sentence: it is a strong exaggeration to remark that an _ass_ can _over-reach_ him who would once have tried to _circumvent_.--I believe both the words were Shakespeare's. An author in revising his work, when his original ideas have faded from his mind, and new observations have produced new sentiments, easily introduces images which have been more newly impressed upon him, without observing their want of congruity to the general texture of his original design.

V.i.96 (314,2) and now my lady Worm's] The scull that was _my lord Such a one's_, is now my _lady Worm's_.

V.i.100 (314,3) to play at loggats with 'em?] A play, in which pins are set up to be beaten down with a bowl.

V.i.149 (316,5) by the card] The _card_ is the paper on which the different points of the compass were described. _To do any thing by the card_, is, _to do it with nice observation_.

V.i.151 (316,6) the age is grown so picked] So _smart_, so _sharp_, says HANMER, very properly; but there was, I think, about that time, a _picked_ shoe, that is, _a shoe with a long pointed toe_, in fashion, to which the allusion seems likewise to be made. _Every man now is smart; and every man now is a man of fashion_.

V.i.239 (319,7) winter's flaw!] Winter's _blast_.

V.i.242 (319,8) maimed rites!] Imperfect obsequies.

V.i.244 (319,9) some estate] Some person of high rank.

V.i.255 (319,2) Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants] I have been informed by an anonymous correspondent, that _crants_ is the German word for _garlands_, and I suppose it was retained by us from the Saxons. To carry _garlands_ before the bier of a maiden, and to hang them over her grave, is still the practice in rural parishes.

_Crants_ therefore was the original word, which the author, discovering it to be provincial, and perhaps not understood, changed to a term more intelligible, but less proper. _Maiden rites_ give no certain or definite image. He might have put _maiden wreaths_, or _maiden garlands_, but he perhaps bestowed no thought upon it, and neither genius nor practice will always supply a hasty writer with the most proper diction.

V.i.310 (323,6) When that her golden couplets] [W: E'er that] Perhaps it should be,

_Ere yet_--

_Yet_ and _that_ are easily confounded.

V.ii.6 (324,7) mutinies in the bilboes] _Mutinies_, the French word for seditious or disobedient fellows in the army or fleet. _Bilboes_, the _ship's prison_.

V.ii.6 (324,8) Rashly,/And prais'd be rashness for it--Let us know] Both my copies read,

--Rashly,
_And prais'd be rashness for it_, let _us know_.

Hamlet, delivering an account of his escape, begins with saying, that he _rashly_--and then is carried into a reflection upon the weakness of human wisdom. I rashly--praised be rashness for it--_Let us_ not think these events casual, but _let us know_, that is, _take notice and remember_, that we sometimes succeed by _indiscretion_, when we _fail_ by _deep plots_, and infer the perpetual superintendance and _agency_ of the _Divinity_. The observation is just, and will be allowed by every human being who shall reflect on the course of his own life.

V.ii.22 (325,9) With, ho! such bugs and goblins in my life] With _such causes of terror_, arising from my character and designs.

V.ii.29 (325,2) Being thus benetted round with villainies,/ Ere I could make a prologue to my brains] [W: mark the prologue ... bane] In my opinion no alteration is necessary. Hamlet is telling how luckily every thing fell out; he groped out their commission in the dark without waking them; he found himself doomed to immediate destruction. Something was to be done for his preservation. An expedient occurred, not produced by the comparison of one method with another, or by a regular deduction of consequences, but before he _could make a prologue to his brains, they had begun the play_. Before he could summon his faculties, and propose to himself what should be done, a complete scheme of action presented itself to him. His mind operated before he had excited it. This appears to me to be the meaning.

V.ii.41 (326,5) As peace should still her wheaten garland wear,/ And stand a comma 'tween their amities] HANMER reads,

_And stand a_ cement--

I am again inclined to vindicate the old reading.

The expression of our author is, like many of his phrases, sufficiently constrained and affected, but it is not incapable of explanation. The _comma_ is the note of _connection_ and continuity of sentences; the _period_ is the note of _abruption_ and disjunction. Shakespeare had it perhaps in his mind to write, That unless England complied with the mandate, _war should put a_ period _to their amity_; he altered his mode of diction, and thought that, in an opposite sense, he might put, that _Peace should stand a_ comma between their amities_. This is not an easy stile; but is it not the stile of Shakespeare?

V.ii.43 (327,6) as's of great charge] _Asses_ heavily _loaded_. A quibble is intended between _as_ the conditional particle, and _ass_ the beast of burthen. That _charg'd_ anciently signified _leaded_, may be proved from the following passage in _The Widow's Tears_, by Chapman, 1612.

"Thou must be the _ass charg'd with crowns_ to make way." (see 1765, VIII, 294, 2)

V.ii.53 (327,7) The changeling never known] A _changeling_ is a _child_ which the fairies are supposed to leave in the room of that which they steal.

V.ii.68 (328,1) To quit him] To requite him; to pay him his due.

V.ii.84 (329,2) Dost know this water-fly] A _water-fly_, skips up and down upon the surface of the water, without any apparent purpose or reason, and is thence the proper emblem of a busy trifler.

V.ii.89 (329,3) It is a chough] A kind of jackdaw.

V.ii.112 (330,5) full of most excellent differences] Full of _distinguishing_ excellencies.

V.ii.114 (330,6) the card or calendar of gentry] The general preceptor of elegance; the _card_ by which a gentleman is to direct his course; the _calendar_ by which he is to choose his time, that what he does may be both excellent and seasonable.

V.ii.115 (330,7) for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would see] _You shall find him containing_ and comprising every _quality_ which a _gentleman_ would desire to _contemplate_ for imitation. I know not but it should be read, _You shall find him the continent_

V.ii.119 (330,9) and yet but raw neither in respect of his quick sail] [W: but slow] I believe _raw_ to be the right word; it is a word of great latitude; _raw_ signifies _unripe, immature_, thence _unformed, imperfect, unskilful_. The best account of him would be _imperfect_, in respect of his quick sail. The phrase _quick sail_ was, I suppose, a proverbial term for _activity of mind_.

V.ii.122 (330,1) a soul of great article] This is obscure. I once thought it might have been, _a soul of great altitude_; but, I suppose, _a soul of great article_, means _a soul of_ large comprehension, of many contents; the particulars of an inventory are called _articles_.

V.ii.122 (331,2) his infusion of such dearth and rareness] _Dearth_ is _dearness_, value, price. And his internal qualities of such value and rarity.

V.ii.131 (331,3) Is't not possible to understand in another tongue? you will do't, Sir, really] Of this interrogatory remark the sense ie very obscure. The question may mean, _Might not all this be understood in plainer language_. But then, _you will do it, Sir, really_, seems to have no use, for who could doubt but plain language would be intelligible? I would therefore read, _Is't possible_ not to be understood in a mother _tongue_. You will do it, Sir, really.

V.ii.140 (331,4) if you did, it would not much approve me] If you knew I was not ignorant, your esteem would not nuch advance my reputation. To _approve_, is to _recommend to approbation_.

V.ii.145 (331,5) I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him in excellence] I dare not pretend to know him, lest I should pretend to an equality: no man can completely know another, but by knowing himself, which is the utmost extent of human wisdom.

V.ii.149 (332,6) in his meed] In his excellence.

V.ii.156 (332,7) impon'd] Perhaps it should be, _depon'd_. So Hudibras,

"I would upon this cause _depone_,
"As much as any I have known."

But perhaps _imponed_ is pledged, _impawned_, so spelt to ridicule the affectation of uttering English words with French pronunciation.

V.ii.165 (332,9) more germane.] More_a-kin_.

V.ii.172 (333,1) The king, Sir, hath laid, that in a dozen passes between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits; he hath laid on twelve for nine] This wager I do not understand. In a dozen passes one must exceed the other more or less than three hits. Nor can I comprehend, how, in a dozen, there can be twelve to nine. The passage is of no importance; it is sufficient that there was a wager. The quarto has the passage as it stands. The folio, _He hath one twelve for mine_.

V.ii.193 (333,2) This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head] I see no particular propriety in the image of the lapwing. Osrick did not run till he had done his business. We may read, _This lapwing_ ran _away_--That is, _this fellow was full of unimportant bustle from his birth_.

V.ii.199 (334,4) a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions] [W: most fann'd] This is a very happy emendation; but I know not why the critic should suppose that _fond_ was printed for _fann'd_ in consequence of any reason or reflection. Such errors, to which there is no temptation but idleness, and of which there was no cause but ignorance, are in every page of the old editions. This passage in the quarto stands thus: "They have got out of the habit of encounter, a kind of misty collection, which carries them through and through the most profane and renowned opinions." If this printer preserved any traces of the original, our author wrote, "the most fane and renowned opinions," which is better than fann'd and winnow'd.

The meaning is, "these men have got the cant of the day, a superficial readiness of slight and cursory conversation, a kind of frothy collection of fashionable prattle, which yet carried them through the most select and approved judgment. This airy facility of talk sometimes imposes upon wise men."

Who has not seen this observation verified?

V.ii.201 (335,6) and do but blow them to their trials, the bubbles are out] These men of show, without solidity, are like bubbles raised from soap and water, which dance, and glitter, and please the eye, but if you extend them, by blowing hard, separate into a mist; so if you oblige these specious talkers to extend their compass of conversation, they at once discover the tenuity of their intellects.

V.ii.216 (335,7) gentle entertainment] Mild and temperate conversation.

V.ii.234 (336,1) Since no man knows aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes?] The reading of the quarto was right, but in some other copy the harshness of the transposition was softened, and the passage stood thus: _Since no man knows aught of what he leaves_. For _knows_ was printed in the later copies _has_, by a slight blunder in such typographers.

I do not think Dr. Warburton's interpretation of the passage the best that it will admit. The meaning may be this, Since _no man knows aught of_ the state of life which _he leaves_, since he cannot judge what others years may produce, why should he be afraid of _leaving_ life betimes? Why should he dread an early death, of which he cannot tell whether it is an exclusion of happiness, or an interception of calamity. I despise the superstition of augury and omens, which has no ground in reason or piety; my comfort is, that I cannot fall but by the direction of Providence.

Hanmer has, _Since no man_ owes _aught_, a conjecture not very reprehensible. Since _no man can call any possession certain_, what is it to leave?

V.ii.237 (337,2) Give me your pardon, Sir] I wish Hamlet had made some other defence; it is unsuitable to the character of a good or a brave man, to shelter himself in falsehood.

V.ii.272 (338,5) Your grace hath laid upon the weaker side] Thus Hanmer. All the others read,

_Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side._

When the odds were on the side of Laertes, who was to hit Hamlet twelve times to nine, it was perhaps the author's slip.

V.ii.310 (340,7) you make a wanton of me] A _wanton_ was, a man feeble and effeminate. In _Cymbeline_, Imogen says,

"I am not so citizen a _wanton_,
To die, ere I be sick."

V.ii.346 (342,8) That are but mutes or audience to this act] That are either mere _auditors_ of this _catastrophe_, or at most only _mute performers_, that fill the stage without any part in the action.

V.ii.375 (344,2) This quarry cries, on havock!] Hanmer reads,

--_cries_ out, _havock!_

To _cry on_, was to _exclaim against_. I suppose, when unfair sportsmen destroyed more _quarry_ or _game_ than was reasonable, the censure was to cry, _Havock_.

(346) General Observation. If the dramas of Shakespeare were to be characterised, each by the particular excellence which distinguishes it from the rest, we must allow to the tragedy of Hamlet the praise of variety. The incidents are so numerous, that the argument of the play would make a long tale. The scenes are interchangeably diversified with merriment and solemnity; with merriment that includes judicious and instructive observations, and solemnity, not strained by poetical violence above the natural sentiments of man. New characters appear from time to time in continual succession, exhibiting various forms of life and particular modes of conversation. The pretended madness of Hamlet causes much mirth, the mournful distraction of Ophelia fills the heart with tenderness, and every personage produces the effect intended, from the apparition that in the first act chills the blood with horror, to the fop in the last, that exposes affectation to just contempt. The conduct is perhaps not wholly secure against objections. The action is indeed for the most part in continual progression, but there are some scenes which neither forward nor retard it. Of the feigned madness of Hamlet there appears no adequate cause, for he does nothing which he might not have done with the reputation of sanity. He plays the madman most, when he treats Ophelia with so much rudeness, which seems to be useless and wanton cruelty.

Hamlet is, through the whole play, rather an instrument than an agent. After he has, by the stratagem of the play, convicted the king, he makes no attempt to punish him, and his death is at last effected by an incident which Hamlet had no part in producing.

The catastrophe is not very happily produced; the exchange of weapons is rather an expedient of necessity, than a stroke of art. A scheme might easily have been formed to kill Hamlet with the dagger, and Laertes with the bowl.

The poet is accused of having shewn little regard to poetical justice, and may be charged with equal neglect of poetical probability. The apparition left the regions of the dead to little purpose; the revenge which he demands is not obtained, but by the death of him that was required to take it; and the gratification which would arise from the destruction of an usurper and a murderer, is abated by the untimely death of Ophelia, the young, the beautiful, the harmless, and the pious.

OTHELLO

I.i.20 (358,4)

One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife]

This is one of the passages which must for the present be resigned to corruption and obscurity. I have nothing that I can, with any approach to confidence, propose. I cannot think it very plain from Act 3. Scene 1. that Cassio was or was not a Florentine.

I.i.30 (361,6) must be belee'd and calm'd] [--_must be_ LED _and calm'd_. So the old quarto. The first folio reads _belee'd_: but that spoils the measure. I read LET, hindered. WARBURTON.] _Belee'd_ suits to _calm'd_, and the measure is not less perfect than in many other places.

I.i.36 (361,7) Preferment goes by letter] By _recommendation_ from powerful friends.

I.i.37 (361,8) And not by old gradation] [W: Not (as of old)] _Old gradation_, is _gradation_ established by_ancient_ practice. Where is the difficulty?

I.i.39 (361,9) If I in any just term am affin'd] _Affine_ is the reading of the third quarto and the first folio. The second quarto and all the modern editions have _assign'd_. The meaning is, _Do I stand_ within _any such_ terms _of propinquit_ or _relation to the Moor, as that it is my duty to love him_?

I.i.49 (362,1) honest knaves] _Knave_ is here for _servant_, but with a mixture of sly contempt.

I.i.63 (362,2) In compliment extern] In that which I do only for an outward shew of civility.

I.i.76 (363,3) As when, by night and negligence, the fire/Is spied in populous cities] [Warburton, objecting to "by": Is spred] The particle is used equivocally; the same liberty is taken by writers more correct.

_The wonderful creature! a woman of reason!
Never grave_ out of _pride, never gay_ out of _season_.

I.i.115 (364,4) What profane wretch art thou?] That is, _what wretch of gross and licentious language?_ In that sense Shakespeare often uses the word _profane_.

I.i.124 (365,6) this odd even] The _even_ of _night_ is _midnight_, the time when night is divided into _even_ parts.

I.i.149 (366,7) some check] Some rebuke.

I.i.150 (366,8) cast him] That is, _dismiss_ him; _reject_ him. We still say, a _cast_ coat, and a _cast_ serving-man.

I.i.162 (366,9) And what's to come of my despised time] [W: despited] _Despised time_, is _time of no value_; time in which

"There's nothing serious in mortality,
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere dregs
Are left, this vault to brag of." _Macbeth_.

I.i.173 (367,2) By which the property of youth and maidhood/May be abus'd?] By which the faculties of a young virgin may be infatuated, and made subject to illusions and to false imagination.

"Wicked dreams _abuse_
The curtain'd sleep." _Macbeth._

I.ii.2 (368,3) 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_.

I.ii.13 (368,4) And hath, in his effect, a voice potential/As double as the duke's] [Warburton had given a source in Dioscorides and Theocritus for "double"] This note has been much censured by Mr. Upton, who denies, that the quotation is in Dioscorides, and disputes, not without reason, the interpretation of Theocritus.

All this learning, if it had even been what it endeavours to be thought, is, in this place, superfluous. There is no ground of supposing, that our author copied or knew the Greek phrase; nor does it follow, that, because a word has two senses in one language, the word which in another answers to one sense, should answer to both. _Manus_, in Latin, signifies both a _hand_ and _troop of soldiers_, but we cannot say, that _the captain marched at the_ head _of his_ hand; or, that _he laid his_ troop _upon his sword_. It is not always in books that the meaning is to be sought of this writer, who was much more acquainted with naked reason and with living manners.

_Double_ has here its natural sense. The president of every deliberative assembly has a _double voice_. In our courts, the chief justice and one of the inferior judges prevail over the other two, because the chief justice has a _double_ voice.

Brabantio had, _in his effect_, though not by law, yet by _weight_ and _influence_, a voice not _actual_ and formal, but _potential_ and operative, as _double_, that is, a voice that when a question was suspended, would turn the balance as effectually _as the duke's_. _Potential_ is used in the sense of science; a _caustic_ is called _potential_ fire.

I.ii.23 (370,7) speak, unbonnetted] [Pope: unbonnetting] I do not see the propriety of Mr. Pope's emendation, though adopted by Dr. Warburton. _Unbonnetting_ may as well be, _not putting on_, as _not putting off_, the bonnet. Hamner reads _e'en_ bonnetted.

I.ii.26 (370,8) unhoused] Free from _domestic_ cares. A thought natural to an adventurer.

I.ii.28 (370,9) For the sea's worth] I would not marry her, though she were as rich as the Adriatic, which the Doge annually marries.

I.ii.30 (371,2) a land-carrack] A _carrack_ is a ship of great bulk, and commonly of great value; perhaps what we now call a _galleon_.

I.ii.55 (372,3) be advis'd] That is, be _cool_; be _cautious_; be _discreet_.

I.ii.68 (372,4) The wealthy curled darlings of our nation] _Curled_ is _elegantly and ostentatiously dressed_. He had not the hair particularly in his thoughts.

I.ii.74 (373,6) Abused her delicate youth with drugs, or minerals,/ That weaken notion] [T: notion] Hanmer reads with equal probability, _That_ waken motion. [Originally _motion_].

I.iii.6 (375,9) As in these cases where they aim reports] [W: the aim] The folio has,

--_the_ aim reports.

But, _they aim reports_, has a sense sufficiently easy and commodious. There men _report_ not by certain knowledge, but by _aim _and conjecture.

I.ii.18 (375,1) 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.

I.iii.23 (376,2) facile question] _Question_ is for the _act of seeking_. With more _easy endeavour_.

I.iii.24 (376,4) warlike brace] State of defence. To arm was called to _brace on_ the armour.

I.iii.42 (376,5) And prays you to believe him] The late learned and ingenious Mr. Thomas Clark, of Lincoln's Inn, read the passage thus:

_And prays you to_ relieve _him_.

But the present reading may stand. _He intreats you not to doubt the truth of this intelligence_.

I.iii.54 (377,6) Hath rais'd me from my bed; nor doth the general care] The word _care_, which encumbers the verse, was probably added by the players. Shakespeare uses _the general_ as a substantive, though, I think, not in this sense.

I.iii.69 (373,8) though our proper son/Stood in your action] Were the man exposed to your _charge_ or _accusation_.

I.iii.80 (378,9) The very head and front of my offending] The _main_, the _whole_, unextenuated.

I.iii.85 (379,2) Their dearest action] That is _dear_, for which much is paid, whether money or labour; _dear action_, is action performed at great expence, either of ease or safety.

I.iii.107 (380,4) overt test] Open proofs, external evidence.

I.iii.108 (380,5) thin habits and poor likelihoods/Of modern seeming] Weak shew of slight appearance.

I.iii.139 (381,6) And portance in my travel's history] [I have restored,

_And with it all my travel's history_:

From the old edition. It is in the rest,

_And portance in my travel's history_.

Rymer, in his criticism on this play, has changed it to _portents_, instead of _portance_. POPE.] Mr. Pope has restored a line, to which there is little objection, but which has no force. I believe _portance_ was the author's word in some revised copy. I read thus,

_Of being----sold
To slavery, of my redemption, thence,
And portance in't; my travel's history._
My redemption from slavery, and behaviour in it.

I.iii.140-170 (381,7) Wherein of antres vast, and desarts idle] Whoever 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, however great, were yet magnified by her timidity. [Pope: deserts wild] Every mind is liable to absence and inadvertency, else Pope could never have rejected a word so poetically beautiful. Idle is an epithet used to express the infertility of the chaotic state, in the Saxon translation of the Pentateuch. (1773)

I.iii.140 (382,8) antres] [French grottos. POPE.] Rather _caves_ and _dens_.

I.iii.142 (382,9) It was my hint to speak] [W: hent] _Hent_ is not used in Shakespeare, nor, I believe, in any other author; _hint_, or _cue_, is comnonly used for occasion of speech, which is explained by, _such was the process_, that is, the course of the tale required it. If _hent_ be restored, it may be explained by _handle_. I had a _handle_, or _opportunity_, to speak of cannibals.

I.iii.144 (382,1) men whose heads/Do grow beneath their shoulders] Of these men there is an account in the interpolated travels of Mondeville, a book of that time.

I.iii.199 (384,4) Let me speak like yourself;] [W: our self] Hanmer reads,

_Let me_ now speak _more_ like your self.

Dr. Warburton's emendation is specious; but I do not see how Hanmer's makes any alteration. The duke seems to mean, when he says he will speak like Brabantio, that he will speak sententiously.

I.iii.213 (385,6) But the free comfort which from thence he hears] But the moral precepts of consolation, which are liberally bestowed on occasion of the sentence.

I.iii.232 (386,8) 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.

I.iii.237 (337,9)

I crave fit disposition for my wife;
Due reverence of place, and exhibition]

I desire, that a proper _disposition_ be made for my wife, that she may have _precedency_, and _revenue_, accommodation, and _company_, suitable to her rank.

For _reference_ of place, the old quartos have _reverence_, which Hanmer has received. I should read,

_Due_ preference _of place_.--

I.iii.246 (387,1) And let me find a charter in your voice] Let your favour _privilege_ me.

I.iii.250 (387,2) My down-right violence and storm of fortunes] [W: to forms, my fortunes] There is no need of this emendation. _Violence_ is not _violence suffered_, but _violence acted_. Breach of common rules and obligations. The old quarto has, _scorn_ of fortune, which is perhaps the true reading.

I.iii.253 (388,3) I saw Othello's visage in his mind] It must raise no wonder, that I loved a man of an appearance so little engaging; I saw his face only in his mind; the greatness of his character reconciled me to his form.

I.iii.264 (386,4)

Nor to comply with heat (the young affects,
In me defunct) and proper satisfaction]

[T: me distinct, i.e. with that heat and new affections which the indulgence of my appetite has raised and created. This is the meaning of _defunct_, which has made all the difficulty of the passage. WARBURTON.] I do not think that Mr. Theobald's emendation clears the text from embarrassment, though it is with a little imaginary improvement received by Hanmer, who reads thus:

_Nor to comply with heat_, affects the young
_In my_ distinct _and proper satisfaction_.

Dr. Warburton's explanation is not more satisfactory: what made the difficulty, will continue to make it. I read,

--_I beg it not,
To please the palate of my appetite,
Nor to comply with heat (the young affects
In me defunct) and proper satisfaction;
But to be free and bounteous to her mind._

_Affects_ stands here, not for _love_, but for _passions_, for that by which any thing is affected. _I ask it not_, says he, _to please appetite, or satisfy loose desires_, the passions of youth which I have now outlived, or _for any particular gratification of myself, but merely that I may indulge the wishes of my wife_.

Mr. Upton had, before me, changed _my_ to _me_; but he has printed young _effects_, not seeming to know that _affects_ could be a noun. (1773)

I.iii.290 (391,6) If virtue no delighted beauty lack] [W: belighted] Hanmer reads, more plausibly, _delighting_. I do not know that _belighted_ has any authority. I should rather read,

_If virtue no_ delight or _beauty lack_.

_Delight_, for _delectation_, or _power of pleasing_, as it is frequently used.

I.iii.299 (391,8) best advantage] Fairest opportunity.

I.iii.317 (392,9) a Guinea-hen] A showy bird with fine feathers.

I.iii.346 (392,1) defeat thy favour with an usurped beard] [W: disseat] It is more English, to _defeat_, than _disseat_. To _defeat_, is to _undo_, to _change_.

I.iii.350 (393,2) It was a violent commencement in her, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration] There seems to be an opposition of terms here intended, which has been lost in transcription. We may read, _It was a violent_ conjunction, _and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration_; or, what seems to me preferable, _It was a violent commencement, and thou shalt see an answerable sequel_.

I.iii.363 (393,4) betwixt an erring Barbarian] [W: errant] Hanmer reads, _errant_. _Erring_ is as well as either.

II.i.15 (396,1) And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole] Alluding to the star _Arctophylax_.

II.i.48 (397,3)

His bark is stoutly timber'd, and his pilot
Of very expert and approv'd allowance;
Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,
Stand in bold cure]

I do not understand these lines. I know not how _hope_ can be _surfeited to death_, that is, _can be encreased, till it is destroyed_; nor what it is _to stand in bold cure_; or why _hope_ should be considered as a disease. In the copies there is no variation. Shall we read

Therefore my fears, not surfeited to death,
Stand in bold cure?

This is better, but it is not well. Shall we strike a bolder stroke, and read thus?

_Therefore my hopes, not_ forfeited _to death_,
_Stand_ bold, not sure.

II.i.49 (398,4) Of very expert and approv'd allowance] I read, _Very expert, and of approv'd allowance_.

II.i.64 (308,5) And in the essential vesture of creation/Does bear all excellency; We in terrestrial] I do not think the present reading inexplicable. 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_.

_Does bear all excellency_----] Such is the reading of the quartos, for which the folio has this,

_And in the essential vesture of creation_
Do's tyre the ingeniuer.

Which I explain thus,

_Does tire the_ ingenious verse.

This is the best reading, and that which the author substituted in his revisal.

II.i.112 (401,9) Saints in your injuries] When you have a mind to do injuries, you put on an air of sanctity.

II.i.120 (402,1) I am nothing, if not critical] That is, _censorious_.

II.i.137 (402,2) _She never yet was foolish_] We may read,

She ne'er was yet so foolish that was fair,
But even her folly help'd her to an heir.

Yet I believe the common reading to be right; the lay makes the power of cohabitation a proof that a man is not a _natural_; therefore, since the foolishest woman, if _pretty_, may have a child, no _pretty woman_ is ever foolish.

II.i.146 (403,3) put on the vouch of very malice itself] _To put on the vouch of malice_, is to assume a character vouched by the testimony of malice itself.

II.i.165 (404,5) profane] Gross of language, of expression broad and brutal. So Brabantio, in the first act, calls Iago _profane_ wretch.

II.i.165 (404,6) liberal counsellor.] _Counsellor_ seems to mean, not so much a man that _gives counsel_, us one that discourses fearlessly and volubly. A talker.

II.i.177 (405,8) well kiss'd! an excellent courtesy!] [--_well kissed_, and _excellent courtesy_;--] This I think should be printed, _well kiss'd_! an _excellent courtesy_! Spoken when Cassio kisses his hand, and Desdemona courtesies. [The old quarto confirms Dr. Johnson's emendation. STEEVENS.]

II.i.208 (406,1) I prattle out of fashion] Out of method, without any settled order of discourse.

II.i.211 (406,2) the master] The pilot of the ship.

II.i.223 (406,3) Lay thy finger thus] On thy mouth, to stop it while thou art listening to a wiser man.

II.i.252 (407,5) green minds] Minds unripe, minds not yet fully formed.

II.i.254 (408,6) she is full of most bless'd condition] Qualities, disposition of mind.

II.i.274 (408,7) tainting his discipline] Throwing a slur upon hie discipline.

II.i.279 (408,8) sudden in choler] _Sudden_, is precipitately violent.

II.i.283 (408,9) whose qualification shall come into no true taste again] 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.

II.i.306 (409,1) like a poisonous mineral] This is philosophical. Mineral poisons kill by corrosion.

II.i.314 (411,4) I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip] A phrase from the art of wrestling.

II.i.321 (411,6) 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.

II.iii.14 (413,8) Our general cast us] That is, _appointed us to our stations_. To _cast the play_, is, in the stile of the theatres, to assign to every actor his proper part.

II.iii.26 (413,9) And when she speaks, is it not an alarum to love?] The voice may _sound_ an _alarm_ more properly than the _eye_ can _sound_ a _parley_.

II.iii.46 (413,1) I have drunk but one cap to-night, and that was carefully qualified too] Slily mixed with water.

II.iii.59 (414,2) The very elements; As quarrelsome as the as the _discordia semina rerum_; as quick in opposition as fire and water.

II.iii.64 (414,3) If consequence do but approve my dream] [T: my deer] This reading is followed by the succeeding editions. I rather read,

_If consequence do but approve my scheme_.

But why should _dream_ be rejected? Every scheme subsisting only in the imagination may be termed a _dream_.

II.iii.93-99 (416,6) _King Stephen was a worthy peer_] These stanzas are taken from an old song, which the reader will find recovered and preserved in a curious work lately printed, intitled, _Relicks of Ancient Poetry_, consisting of old heroic ballands, songs, &c. 3 vols. 12.

II.iii.95 (416,7) _lown_] Sorry fellow, paltry wretch.

II.iii.135 (417,8) He'll watch the horologe a double set] If he have no drink, he'll keep awake while the clock strikes two rounds, or four and twenty hours.

Chaucer uses the ward _horologe_ in more places than one.

"Well skirer was his crowing in his loge
"Than is a clock or abbey _horologe_."]

The bracketed part of Johnson's note is taken verbatim from Zacbary Gray, _Critical ... Notes on Shakespeare_, 1754, II, 316.] (see 1765, VIII, 374, 6) (rev. 1778, I, 503, 9)

II.iii.145 (418,9) ingraft infirmity; An infirmity _rooted, settled_ in his constitution.

II.iii.175 (419,3) it frights the isle/From her propriety] From her regular and _proper state_.

II.iii.180 (419,4) In quarter] In their quarters; at their lodging.

II.iii.194 (420,5) you unlace your reputation thus] Slacken, or _loosen_. Put in danger of dropping; or perhaps strip of its ornaments.

II.iii.195 (420,6) spend your rich opinion] Throw away and squander a reputation as valuable as yours.

II.iii.202 (420,7) self-charity] Care of one's self.

II.iii.211 (421,9) he that is approv'd in this offence] He that is convicted by proof, of having been engaged in this offence.

II.iii.274 (423,1) cast in his mood] Ejected in his anger.

II.iii.343 (425,4) this advice is free] This counsel has an appearance of honest openness, of frank good-will.

II.iii.348 (425,5) free elements] Liberal, bountiful, as the elements, out of which all things are produced.

II.iii.355 (425,6) to this parallel course] i.e. a course level, and even with his design.

II.iii.363 (425,8) That she repeals him] That is, recalls him.

II.iii.382 (426,1)

Though ether things grew fair against the sun,
Yet fruits, that blossom first, will first be ripe]

Of many different things, all planned with the same art, and promoted with the same diligence, some must succeed sooner than others, by the order of nature. Every thing cannot be done at once; we must proceed by the necessary gradation. We are not to _despair_ of slow events any _more_ than of tardy fruits, while the causes are in regular progress, and the fruits _grow fair against the sun_. Hanmer has not, I think, rightly conceived the sentiment; for he reads,

_Those fruits which blossom first_, are not first _ripe_.

I have therefore drawn it out at length, for there are few to whom that will be easy which was difficult to Hanmer.

III.i.3 (427,2) Why, masters, have your instruments been in Naples, that they speak i' the nose thus?] The venereal disease first appeared at the siege of Naples.

III.iii.14 (430,6)

That policy may either last so long,
Or feed upon such nice and waterish diet,
Or breed itself so out of circumstance,
That I, being absent, and my place supplied,
My general will forget my love and service]

He may either of himself think it politic to keep me out of office so long, or he may be satisfied with such slight reasons, or so many accidents may make him think my re-admission at that time improper, that I may be quite forgotten.

III.iii.23 (431,7) I'll watch him tame] It is said, that the ferocity of beasts, insuperable and irreclaimable by any other means, is subdued by keeping them from sleep.

III.iii.47 (431,8) His present reconciliation take] [W: make] To _take his reconciliation_, may be to accept the submission which he makes in order to be reconciled.

III.iii.65 (432,1) the wars must make examples/Out of their best] The severity of military discipline must not spare the _best men_ of the army, when their punishment nay afford a wholesome _example_.

III.iii.90 (433,2) Excellent wretch!--Perdition catch my soul,/But I do love thee!] 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. Othello, considering Desdemona as excelling in beauty and virtue, soft and timorous by her sex, and by her situation absolutely in his power, calls her _Excellent wretch!_ It may be expressed,

_Dear, harmless, helpless Excellence._

III.iii.91 (433,3) when I love thee not,/Chaos is come again] When my love is for a moment suspended by suspicion, I have nothing in my mind but discord, tumult, perturbation, and confusion.

III.iii.123 (435,4) They are close delations working from the heart,/ That passion cannot rule] _They are_ cold dilations _working from the heart,/That passion cannot rule_.] I know not why the modern editors are satisfied with this reading, which no explanation can clear. They might easily have found, that it is introduced without authority. The old copies uniformly give, _close dilations_, except that the earlier quarto has _close denotements_; which was the author's first expression, afterwards changed by him, not to _cold dilations_, for _cold_ is read in no ancient copy; nor, I believe, to _close dilations_, but to _close delations_; to _occult_ and _secret accusations, working_ involuntarily _from the heart_, which, though resolved to conceal the fault, cannot rule its _passion_ of resentment.

III.iii.127 (435,5) Or, those that be not, 'would they might seem none!] [W: seem knaves] I believe the meaning is, _would they might no longer seem_, or bear the shape of _men_.

III.iii.140 (436,6) Keep leets and law-days] [i.e. govern. WARBURTON.] Rather _visit_ than _govern_, but visit with authoritative intrusion.

III.iii.149 (437,8) From one that so improbably conceits]--imperfectly _conceits_,] In the old quarto it is,

--improbably _conceits_,

Which I think preferable.

III.iii.166 (437,9) the green-ey'd monster, which doth make/The meat it feeds on] _which doth_ mock _The meat it feeds on_.] I have received Hanmer's emendation ["make"]; because _to mock_, does not signify _to loath_; 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.

III.iii.173 (438,1) But riches, fineless] Unbounded, endless, unnumbered treasures.

III.iii.180 (438,3)

Exchange me for a goat,
When I shall turn the business of my soul
To such exsuffolate and blown surmises,
Matching thy inference]

This odd and far-fetched word was made yet more uncouth in all the editions before Hanmer's, by being printed, _exsufflicate_. The allusion is to a bubble. Do not think, says the Moor, that I shall change the noble designs that now employ my thoughts, to suspicions which, like bubbles _blown_ into a wide extent, have only an empty shew without solidity, or that in consequence of such empty fears, I will close with thy inference against the virtue of my wife.

III.iii.188 (439,4) Where virtue is, those are most virtuous] An action in itself indifferent grows virtuous by its end and application.

III.iii.201 (439,6)

I know our country disposition well;
In Venice they do let heaven see the pranks]

Here Iago seems to be a Venetian.

III.iii.207 (440,7) And, when she seem'd to shake, and fear your looks,/She lov'd them most] This and the following argument of Iago ought to be deeply impressed on every reader. Deceit and falsehood, whatever conveniencies they may for a time promise or produce, are, in the sum of life, obstacles to happiness. Those, who profit by the cheat, distruat 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 powerful for their prudence, will, with very alight appearances againat them, be censured, as not very likely to restrain them by their virtue. (see 1765, VIII, 397, 1)

III.iii.210 (440,8) To seel her father's eyes up, close as oak] There is little relation between _eyes_ and _oak_. I would read,

_She seel'd her father's eyes up close as_ owl's.

_As blind as an owl_, is a proverb.

III.iii.222 (441,1) My speech would fall into such vile success] [_Success_, far succession, i.e. conclusion; not prosperous issue. WARB.] I rather think there is a depravation, and would read,

_My speech would fall into such vile_ excess.

If _success_ be the right word, it seems to mean _consequence_ or _event_, as _successo_ is used in Italian.

III.iii.232 (441,2) will most rank] _Will_, is for wilfulness. It is so used by Ascham. A _rank will_, is _self-will_ overgrown and exuberant.

III.iii.249 (442,3) You shall by that perceive him, and his means] You shall discover whether he thinks his best _means_, his most powerful _interest_, is by the solicitation of your lady.

III.iii.250 (442,4) strain his entertainnent] Press hard his re-admission to his pay and office. _Entertainment_ was the military term for admission of soldiers.

III.iii.256 (442,5) Fear not my government] Do not distrust ay ability to contain my passion.

III.iii.259 (442,6) knows all qualities, with a learned spirit,/Of human dealings] The construction is, He knows with a learned spirit all qualities of human dealings.

III.iii.260 (442,7) If I do prore her haggard] A _haggard_ hark, is a _wild_ hawk, a _hawk unreclaimed_, or _irreclaimable_.

III.iii.262 (443,8) I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind,/ To prey at fortune] 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 far herself, and _preyed at fortune_. This was told me by the late Mr. Clark.

III.iii.276 (443,9) forked plague] In allusion to a _barbed_ or _forked_ arrow, which, once infixed, cannot be extracted.

III.iii.312 (445,2) And, to the advantage, I, being here, took it up] I being _opportunely_ here, took it up.

III.iii.319 (445,3) Be not you known on't] Should it not rather be read,

_Be not you known_ in't?

The folio reads,

_Be not_ unknown _on't_.

The sense is plain, but of the expression I cannot produce any example.

III.iii.332 (446,5) that sweet sleep,/Which thou owedst yesterday] To _owe_ is, in our author, oftener to _possess_, than _to be indebted_, and such was its meaning here; but as that sense was growing less usual, it was changed unnecessarily by the editors to _hadst_; to the sane meaning, more intelligibly expressed.

III.iii.351 (447,6)

Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife]

Dr. Warburton has offered _fear-spersing_, for _fear-dispersing_. But _ear-piercing_ is an epithet so eminently adapted to the _fife_, and so distinct from the shrillness of the trumpet, that it certainly ought not to be changed. Dr. Warburton has been censured for this proposed emendation with more noise than honesty, for he did not himself put it in the text.

III.iii.369 (449,8) abandon all remorse] [_Remorse_, for repentance. WARBURTON.] I rather think it is, Let go all scruples, throw aside all restraints.

III.iii.429 (451,4) _Oth._ 'tis a shrewd doubt] [The old quarto gives this line, with the two following, to Iago; and rightly. WARB.] I think it more naturally spoken by Othello, who, by dwelling so long upon the proof, encouraged Iago to enforce it.

III.iii.448 (452,8) hearted throne] [W: parted] _Hearted_ throne, is the heart on which thou wast _enthroned_. _Parted_ throne has no meaning.

III.iii.467 (453,3)

Let him command,
And to obey, shall be in me remorse,
What bloody business ever]

[Pope: Not to obey] [T: Nor, to obey.] [W: me. Remord] Of these two emendations, I believe, Theobald's will have the greater number of suffrages; it has at least mine. The objection against the propriety of the declaration in Iago is a cavil; he does not say that he has no principle of remorse, but that it shall not operate against Othello's commands. _To obey shall be in me_, for _I will obey you_, is a mode of expression not worth the pains here taken to introduce it; and the word _remords_ has not in the quotation the meaning of _withhold_, or _make reluctant_, but of _reprove_, or _censure_; nor do I know that it is used by any of the contemporaries of Shakespeare.

I will offer an interpretation, which, if it be received, will make alteration unnecessary, but it is very harsh and violent. Iago devotes himself to wronged Othello, and says, _Let him command whatever bloody business_, and in me it shall be an act, not of cruelty, but _of tenderness, to obey him_; not of malice to other, but of _tenderness_ for him. If this sense be thought too violent, I see nothing better than to follow Pope's reading, as it is improved by Theobald.

III.iv.26 (457,5) cruzadoes] [A Portugueze coin, in value three shillings sterling. Dr. GREY.] So called from the cross stamped upon it.

III.iv.46 (458,6) The hearts, of old, gave hands] [Warburton explains this is an allusion to James the First's practice of creating baronets for money and emends to "The hands of old gave hearts"] The historical observation is very judicious and acute, but of the emendation there is no need. She says, that her hand gave away _her heart_. He goes on with his suspicion, and the hand which he had before called _frank_, he now terms _liberal_; then proceeds to remark, that _the hand was formerly given by the heart_; but now it neither gives it, nor is given by it.

III.iv.51 (459,7) salt and sullen rheum]--_salt and_ sorry rheum] The old quarto has,

--_salt and_ sullen _rheum_---

That is, a _rheum obstinately troublesome_. I think this better.

III.iv.70 (459,8)

A Sybil, that had numbred in the world
The sun to course two hundred compasses]

The expression is not very infrequent; we say, _I counted the clock to strike four_; so she _number'd_ the sun _to course_, to run _two hundred compasses_, two hundred annual circuits.

III.iv.79 (460,1) Why do you speak so startingly, and rash?] Is _vehement, violent_.

III.iv.103 (461,2) 'Tis not a year, or two, shews us a man] From this line it may be conjectured, that the author intended the action of the play to be considered as longer than is marked by any note of time. Since their arrival at Cyprus, to which they were hurried on their wedding-night, the fable seems to have been in one continual progress, nor can I see any vacuity into which a _year or two_, or even a month or two, could be put. On the night of Othello's arrival, a feast was proclaimed; at that feast Cassio was degraded, and immediately applies to Desdemona to get him restored. Iago indeed advises Othello to hold him off a while, but there is no reason to think, that he has been held off long. A little longer interval would increase the probability of the story, though it might violate the rules of the drama. See Act. 5. Sc. 2. (see 1765, VIII, 416, 1)

III.iv.113 (461,3) the duty of my heart] --_the office _of my heart_.] The elder quarto reads,

--_the_ duty _of my heart_.

The author used the more proper word, and then changed it, I suppose, for fashionable diction; but, as fashion is a very weak protectress, the old word is now ready to resume its place.

III.iv.119 (462,4)

But to know so, must be my benefit]

"Si nequeo placidas affari Caesaris aures,
"Saltem aliquis veniat, qui mihi dicat, abi."

III.iv.125 (462,7) in favour] In _look_, in _countenance_.

III.iv.128 (462,8) within the blank of his displeasure] Within the _shot_ of his anger.

III.iv.141 (463,9) some unhatch'd practice] Some treason that has not taken effect.

III.iv.146 (463,1)

for let our finger ach,
And it endues our other healthful members
Even to that sense of pain]

_Endue with a sense of pain_, is an expression, which, though it might be endured, if it were genuine, cannot deserve to be introduced by artifice. The copies, both quarto and folio, read, _Endue our other healthful members even to a sense of pain_. I believe it should be rather, SUBDUE _our other healthful members to a sense of pain_.

III.iv.151 (463,2) (unhandsome warrior as I am)] [W: wrangler] _Unhandsome warrior_, is evidently _unfair assailant_.

III.iv.178 (464,3) a more continuate time]--_more_ convenient _time_] The folio has,

--_more_ continuate _time_;

Time _less interrupted_, time which I can call more my own. It gives a more distinct image than _convenient_.

III.iv.180 (464,4) Take me this work out] The meaning is not, "Pick out the work, and leave the ground plain;" but, "Copy this work in another handkerchief."

IV.i.5 (466,6)

Naked in bed, Iago, and not mean harm?
It is hypocrisy against the devil]

_Hypocrisy against the devil_, means hypocrisy to cheat the devil. As common hypocrites cheat men, by seeming good, and yet living wickedly, these men would cheat the devil, by giving him flattering hopes, and at last avoiding the crime which he thinks them ready to commit.

IV.i.22 (467,8) Boding to all] Thus all the old copies. The moderns, less grammatically,

_Boding to_ ill--

IV.i.42 (468,2) without sone instruction] [W: induction] This is a noble conjecture, and whether right or wrong does honour to its author. Yet I am in doubt whether there is any necessity of emendation. There has always prevailed in the world an opinion, that when any great calamity happens at a distance, notice is given of it to the sufferer by some dejection or perturbation of mind, of which he discovers no external cause. This is ascribed to that general communication of one part of the universe with another, which is called sympathy and antipathy; or to the secret monition, _instruction_, and influence of a superior Being, which superintends the order of nature and of life. Othello says, _Nature could not invest herself in such shadowing passion without_ instruction. _It is not words that shake me thus._ This passion, which spreads its clouds over me, is the effect of some agency more than the operation of words; it is one of those notices which men have of unseen calamities.

IV.i.76 (471,4) Confine yourself but in a patient list] For attention; act of listening.

IV.i.82 (471,5) encave yourself] Hide yourself in a private place.

IV.i.89 (471,6) Or I shall say, you are all in all in spleen,/And nothing of a man] I read,

_Or shall I say, you're all in all a spleen_.

I think our author uses this expression elsewhere.

IV.i.121 (472,8) Do you triumph, Roman? do you triumph?] Othello calls him _Roman_ ironically. _Triumph_, which was a Roman ceremony, brought Roman into his thoughts. _What_ (says he) _you are now_ triumphing _as great as a Roman_?

IV.i.123 (472,9) a customer!] A common woman, one that invites custom.

IV.i.130 (473,1) Have you scar'd me? Have you made my reckoning? have you settled the term of my life? The old quarto reads, _stored_ me. Have you disposed of me? have you laid me up?

IV.i.150 (473,2) 'Tis such another fitchew! marry, a perfum'd one] Shakespeare has in another place mentioned the lust of this animal. He tells Iago, that she is as lewd as the _polecat_, but of better scent, the polecat being a very stinking animal.

IV.i.244 (476,4) atone them] Make them _one_; reconcile them.

IV.i.256 (477,5)

If that the earth could teem with woman's tears,
Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile]