CAS. He fpeaks home, madam; you may relish him more in the foldier, than in the fcholar. IAGO. [Afide.] He takes her by the palm: Ay, well faid, whisper: with as little a web as this, will I enfnare as great a fly as Caffio. Ay, fmile upon her, do; I will gyve thee in thine own courtship. You fay true; 'tis fo, indeed: if fuch tricks as these ftrip you out of your lieutenantry, it had been better you had not kifs'd your three fingers fo oft, which now again you are most apt to play the fir in. Very good; well kifs'd! an excellent courtefy! 'tis fo, indeed. Yet again your fingers to your lips? would, they were clyfter-pipes for your fake! -[Trumpet.] The Moor, I know his 3 trumpet. See p. 295, n. 4. MALONE. Counsellor feems to mean, not fo much a man that gives counsel, as one that discourses fearlessly and volubly. A talker. JOHNSON. Counsellor is here ufed in the common acceptation. Defdemona refers to the answers fhe had received from lago, and particularly her laft. HENLEY. 2 I will gyve thee. -] i. e. catch, fhackle. POPE. The first quarto reads-I will catch you in your own courteftes; the fecond quarto—I will catch you in your own courtship. The folio as it is in the text. 3 STEEVENS. to play the fir in.] That is, to fhow your good breeding and gallantry. HENLEY. 4-well kifs'd! an excellent courtefy!] Spoken when Caffio kiffes his hand, and Defdemona courtefies. JOHNSON. This reading was recovered from the quarto, 1622, by Dr. Johnfon. The folio has-and excellent courtesy. I do not believe that any part of these words relates to Defde. mona. In the original copy, we have juft feen, the poet wrote"ay, fmile upon her, do; I will catch you in your own courtefies." Here therefore he probably meant only to speak of Caffio, while kiffing his hand. "Well kifs'd! an excellent courtesy!" i. e. an excellent falute. Courtely, in the fense of an obeifance or falute, was in Shakspeare's time applied to men as well as women. See Vol. VIII. p. 510, n. 4. MALONE. CAS. 'Tis truly fo. DES. Let's meet him, and receive him. CAS. Lo, where he comes! Enter OTHELLO, and Attendants. ОTH. O my fair warrior!' DES. My dear Othello! OTH. It gives me wonder great as my content, To fee you here before me. O my foul's joy! If after every tempeft come fuch calms," May the winds blow till they have waken'd death! And let the labouring bark climb hills of feas, Olympus-high; and duck again as low As hell's from heaven! If it were now to die, 50 my fair warrior!] Again, in Act III. Defdemona fays: "unhandsome warrior as I am." This phrafe was introduced by our copiers of the French Sonnetteers. Ronfard frequently calls his miftreffes guerrieres; and Southern, his imitator, is not lefs prodigal of the fame appellation. Thus, in his fifth Sonnet : "And, my warrier, my light fhines in thy fayre eyes." Again, in his fixth Sonnet: "I am not, my cruell warrier, the Thebain,” &c. Again, ibid: "I came not, my warrier, of the blood Lidain." Had I not met with the word thus fantastically applied, I should have concluded that Othello called his wife a warrior, because she had embarked with him on a warlike expedition, and not in confequence of Ovid's obfervation— Militat omnis amans, et habet fua castra Cupido. STEEVENS. come fuch calms,] Thus the folio. The quarto, 1622, reads-calmness. STEEVENS. And let the labouring bark climb hills of feas, Olympus-high; and duck again as low As hell's from heaven!] So, in Sidney's Arcadia, B. I: "The fea, making mountaines of itself, over which the toffed and tottering fhip fhould climbe, to be straight carried downe againe to a pit of hellish darkenee." STEEVENS. 'Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear, DES. The heavens forbid, But that our loves and comforts fhould increase, Even as our days do grow!" Отн. Amen to that, fweet powers! I cannot fpeak enough of this content, That e'er our hearts fhall make! LAGO. [Killing ber O, you are well tun'd now! But I'll fet down the pegs that make this musick, 7 If it were now to die, 'Twere now to be most happy ;] So Cherea, in The Eunuch of Terence, A& III. sc. v: 66 Proh Jupiter! "Nunc tempus profecto eft, cum perpeti me poffum inter feci, "Ne vita aliquâ hoc gaudium contaminet ægritudine." MALONE. 8 Even as our days do grow!] Here is one of thofe evident interpolations which abound in our author's dramas. Who does not perceive that the words-Even as our days, refer to the verb-increafe in the foregoing line? Omit therefore the profaick-do grow, (which is perfectly ufelefs) and the metre will be restored to its original regularity. Fenton has adopted this thought in his Mariamne : "And mutual paffion with our years increase!" STEEVENS. 9 And this, and this, &c. Kiffing her.] So, in Marlowe's Luft's Dominion: "I pri'thee, chide, if I have done amifs, "But let my punishment be this and this." [Kiffing the Moor. MALONE. Marlowe's play was written before that of Shakspeare, who might poffibly have acted in it. STEEVENS. 2 I'll fet down -] Thus the old copies, for which the As honeft as I am. Отн. 3 [Afide. Come, let's to the castle.News, friends; our wars are done, the Turks are drown'd. How do our old acquaintance of this ifle?— I prattle out of fashion,' and I dote In mine own comforts.-I pr'ythee, good Iago, "It was modern editors, following Mr. Pope, have fubftituted-let down. But who can prove that to fet down was not the language of Shakfpeare's time, when a viol was fpoken of?-To fet formerly fignified to tune, though it is no longer used in that sense. then," fays Anthony Wood in his Diary, "that I fet and tuned in ftrings and fourths," &c. So, in Skialetheia, a Collection of Satires, &c. 1598: 66 to a nimbler key "Set thy wind inftrument." MALONE. To "fet down" has this meaning in no other part of our author's works. However, virtus poft nummos: we have secured the phrafe, and the exemplification of it may follow when it will. STEEVENS. 3 News, friends;] The modern editors read (after Mr. Rowe) Now friends. I would obferve once for all, that (in numberless inftances in this play, as well as in others) where my predecessors had filently and without reafon made alterations, I have as filently reftored the old readings. STEEVENS. 66 at well defir'd in Cyprus,] i. e. much folicited by invitation. So, in The Letters of the Pafton Family, Vol. I. p. 299: the whych weddyng I was with myn hoftes, and alfo defyryd by ye jentylman hymfelfe." STEEVENS. 5 I prattle out of fashion,] Out of method, without any fettled order of difcourfe. JOHNSON. 6 the master] Dr. Johnfon fuppofed, that by the maf — ter was meant the pilot of the fhip, and indeed had high authority for this fuppofition; for our poet himself seems to have confounded He is a good one, and his worthiness [Exeunt OTHELLO, DESDEMONA, and Attendants. IAGO. Do thou meet me presently at the harbour. Come hither. If thou be'ft valiant as (they say) bafe men, being in love, have then a nobility in their natures more than is native to them,—list me. The lieutenant to-night watches on the court of guard: -First, I must tell thee this-Defdemona is directly in love with him. ROD. With him! why 'tis not poffible. IAGO. Lay thy finger-thus, and let thy foul be inftructed. Mark me with what violence the first loved the Moor, but for bragging, and telling her fantastical lies: And will the love him still for prating? let not thy difcreet heart think it. Her them. See Act III. fc. ii. 1. 1. But the mafter is a diftinct person, and has the principal command, and care of the navigation of the ship, under the captain, where there is a captain; and in chief, where there is none. The pilot is employed only in navigating the ship into or out of port. MALONE. The mafter (fays Smith in his Sea-grammar, 1627) and his mates, are to direct the course, command all the failors, for fteering, trimming, and failing the fhip," &c. STEEVENS. 7 tures 8 bafe men, being in love, have then a nobility in their naSo, in Hamlet: the court of guard:] i. e. the place where the guard mufters. So, in The Family of Love, 1608: "Thus have I país'd the round and court of guard." Again, in The Beggar's Bufh, by Beaumont and Fletcher: "Vifit your courts of guard, view your munition." STEEVENS. Lay thy finger-thus,] On thy mouth, to ftop it while thou art liftening to a wifer man. JOHNSON. And will the love him ftill for prating?] The folio reads-To love him still for prating! STEEVENS. |