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CAS. 'Tis truly fo.

DES. Let's meet him, and receive him.

CAS. Lo, where he comes!

Enter OTHELLO, and Attendants.

Ori. O my fair warrior!'

DES.

My dear Othello!

OTH. It gives me wonder great as my content, To see 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 shines 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 the had embarked with him on a warlike expedition, and not in confequence of Ovid's obfervation—

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Militat omnis amans, et habet fua caftra 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 bellifh darkenee." STEEVENS.

'Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear,
My foul hath her content fo abfolute,
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.

DES.

The heavens forbid,

But that our loves and comforts fhould increase, Even as our days do grow!

Отн.

Amen to that, sweet powers!

I cannot speak enough of this content,
It stops me here; it is too much of joy:
And this, and this, the greatest discords be,

That e'er our hearts fhall make!

IAGO.

[Kiffing her

O, you are well tun'd now! But I'll fet down the pegs that make this musick,

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7 If it were now to die,

'Twere now to be most happy ;] So Cherea, in The Eunuch of Terence, A& III. fc. v:

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-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.

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I'll fet down.

-] Thus the old copies, for which the

As honeft as I am.

Отн.

[Afide.

Come, let's to the caftle.

News, friends; our wars are done, the Turks are drown'd.

How do our old acquaintance of this ifle?-
Honey, you shall be well defir'd in Cyprus,*
I have found great love amongst them. O my
sweet,

I prattle out of fashion, and I dote

In mine own comforts.-I pr'ythee, good Iago,
Go to the bay, and difembark my coffers:
Bring thou the mafter to the citadel;

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 ufed in that fenfe." It was 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:

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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 phrase, 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 numberlefs inftances in this play, as well as in others) where my predeceffors had filently and without reafon made alterations, I have as filently reftored the old readings. STEEVENS.

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 feems to have confounded

He is a good one, and his worthiness

Does challenge much refpect.-Come, Defdemona, Once more well met at Cyprus.

[Exeunt OTHELLO, DESDEMONA, and Attendants. IAGO. Do thou meet me presently at the harbour. Come hither. If thou be'ft valiant as (they fay) base men, being in love, have then a nobility in their natures more than is native to them,—lift 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 she 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 distinct perfon, and has the principal command, and care of the navigation of the fhip, under the captain, where there is a captain; and in chief, where there is none. The pilot is employed only in navigating the fhip into or out of port. MALONE.

The mafter (fays Smith in his Sea-grammar, 1627) and his mates, are to direct the courfe, command all the failors, for steering, trimming, and failing the fhip," &c. STEEVENS.

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tures

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bafe men, being in love, have then a nobility in their na-] So, in Hamlet:

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the court of guard:] i. e. the place where the guard mufters. So, in The Family of Love, 1608:

"Thus have I pafs'd the round and court of guard.” Again, in The Beggar's Bufb, by Beaumont and Fletcher: "Vifit your courts of guard, view your munition."

STEEVENS.

9 Lay thy finger-thus,] On thy mouth, to ftop it while thou art liftening to a wifer man. JOHNSON.

And will the love him fill for prating?] The folio reads-T love him ftill for prating! STEEVENS.

eye must be fed; and what delight fhall fhe have to look on the devil? When the blood is made dull with the act of sport, there should be,—again to inflame it,' and to give fatiety a fresh appetite,lovelinefs in favour; fympathy in years, manners, and beauties, all which the Moor is defective in: Now, for want of these required conveniences, her delicate tenderness will find itself abufed, begin to heave the gorge, difrelish and abhor the Moor; very nature will inftruct her in it, and compel her to fome second choice. Now, fir, this granted, (as it is a most pregnant and unforced pofition,) who ftands so eminently in the degree of this fortune, as Caffio does? a knave very voluble; no further conscionable, than in putting on the mere form of civil and humane feeming, for the better compaffing of his falt and moft hidden loose affection? why, none; why, none: A flippery and subtle knave; a finder out of occafions; that has an eye can stamp and counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never prefent itself: A devilish knave! besides, the knave is handsome, young; and hath all those requifites in him, that folly and green minds 5 look after: A peftilent complete knave; and the woman hath found him already.

ROD. I cannot believe that in her; fhe is full of moft blefs'd condition."

LAGO. Blefs'd fig's end! the wine fhe drinks is

3 again to inflame it,] Thus the quarto, 1622. The folio reads-a game. STEEVENS.

and humane feeming,] Thus the folio. The quarto, 1622, reads-and hand-feeming. MALONE.

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green minds.

formed. JOHNSON.

Minds unripe, minds not yet fully

6 condition.] Qualities, difpofition of mind. JOHNSON. See Vol. IX. p. 494, n. 5. MALONE.

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