Hold, hold! the general speaks to you; hold, for

fhame!

OTH. Why, how now, ho! from whence arifeth this?

Are we turn'd Turks; and to ourfelves do that,
Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites?

For chriftian fhame, put by this barbarous brawl:
He that stirs next to carve for his own rage,
Holds his foul light; he dies upon his motion.-
Silence that dreadful bell, it frights the ifle
From her propriety.'-What is the matter, mas-

ters?

Honeft Iago, that look'ft dead with grieving, Speak, who began this? on thy love, I charge thee. LAGO. I do not know ;-friends all but now, even

now,

In quarter, and in terms like bride and

groom

2 Silence that dreadful bell,] It was a common practice formerly, when any great affray happened in a town, to ring the alarum bell. When David Rizzio was murdered at Edinburgh, the Provost ordered the common bell to be rung, and five hundred perfons were immediately affembled. See Saunderfon's Hift. of Queen Mary, P. 41. MALONE.

At Paris the Tocfin is ftill rung as often as fires or disturbances break out. STEEVENS.

3 — it frights the ifle

From her propriety.] From her regular and proper fate.

JOHNSON. In quarter,] In their quarters; at their lodging. JoHNSON. Rather at peace, quiet. They had been on that very spot (the court or platform, it is prefumed before the caftle) ever fince Othello left them, which can fcarcely be called being in their quarters, or at their lodging. RITSON.

So, in The Dumb Knight, A&t III. fc.i:

"Did not you hold fair quarter and commerce with all the spies of Cypres," REED.

It required one example, if no more, to evince that in quarter ever fignified quiet, at peace. But a little attention would have shown, that the them, whom he speaks of Othello's having left, was only

Devefting them for bed: and then, but now,
(As if fome planet had unwitted men,)
Swords out, and tilting one at other's breast,
In oppofition bloody. I cannot speak
Any beginning to this peevish odds;
And 'would in action glorious I had loft
These legs, that brought me to a part of it!
OTH. How comes it, Michael, you are thus for-
got? s

Caffio; who, being joined by Jago, where Othello (but not on the
platform) had just left him, is diffuaded from fetting the watch im
mediately; entreated to partake of a stoop of wine, in company
with a brace of Cyprus gallants, then waiting without; and pre-
vailed upon, though reluctantly, to invite them in. In this apart
ment the caroufal happens, and wine is repeatedly called for, till
at laft Caffio, finding its too powerful effects, goes out to fet the
watch. At the propofal of Montano, himself and Iago follow Caffio
towards the platform, and the latter fets on Roderigo to infult
him. The fcuffle enfues; an alarm is given, and Othello come
forth to inquire the caufe. When, therefore, lago answers:
I do not know :-friends all but now, even now
In quarter-

it is evident the quarter referred to, was that apartment of the cafe affigned to the officers on guard, where Othello, after giving Caffio his orders, had, a little before, left him; and where lago, with his companions, immediately found him. HENLEY.

In quarter,] i. e. on our station. So, in Timon of Athens: to atone your fears

"With my more noble meaning, not a man
"Shall pafs his quarter.”

Their ftation or quarter in the prefent inftance, was the guard room in Othello's caftle. In Cymbeline we have fires," i. e. their fires regularly difpofed.

their quarter'

In quarter Dr. Johnfon fuppofed to mean, at their lodgings; but that cannot be the meaning, for Montano and the gentlemen who accompanied him, had continued, from the time of their entrance, in the apartment in Othello's caftle, in which the caroufal had been; and Caffio had only gone forth for a fhort time to the platform, to fet the watch. On his return from the platform into the apartment, in which he left Montano and Iago, he meets Roderigo; and the scuffle, first between Caffio and Roderigo, and then between Montano and Caffio, enfues. MALONE.

5-you are thus forgot?] i. e. you have thus forgot yourself.

STEEVENS,

Cas. I pray you, pardon me, I cannot speak. OTH. Worthy Montano, you were wont be civil; The gravity and ftillness of your youth

The world hath noted, and your name is great
In mouths of wifeft cenfure; What's the matter,
That you unlace your reputation thus,

And fpend your rich opinion, for the name
Of a night-brawler? give me answer to it.

MON. Worthy Othello, I am hurt to danger; Your officer, Iago, can inform you

While I fpare fpeech, which fomething now offends

me,

Of all that I do know: nor know I aught,
By me that's faid or done amifs this night;
Unlefs felf-charity be sometime a vice;
And to defend ourfelves it be a fin,

When violence affails us.

Отн.

Now, by heaven,

My blood begins my fafer guides to rule;
And paffion, having my best judgement collied,'

6 That you unlace Slacken, or loofen. Put in danger of dropping; or perhaps strip of its ornaments. JOHNSON.

A fimilar phrafe occurs in Twelfth-Night:

I pr'ythee now, ungird thy ftrangenefs." STEEVENS. -Spend your rich opinion,] Throw away and squander a røputation fo valuable as yours. JOHNSON.

7

8

-felf-charity] Care of one's felf. JOHNSON.

9 And paffion, having my beft judgement collied,] Thus the folio reads, and I believe rightly. Othello means, that paffion has difcoloured his judgement. The word is used in A Midsummer-Night's

Dream:

"like lightning in the collied night."

To colly anciently fignified to befmut, to blacken as with coal. So, in a comedy called The Family of Love, 1608: " -carry thy link a't'other fide the way, thou collow'ft me and my ruffe." The word (as I am affured) is still used in the midland counties.

Mr. Tollet informs me that Wallis's Hiftory of Northumberland, p. 46, fays, “—in our northern counties it [i. e. a fine black clay

Affays to lead the way: If I once stir,
Or do but lift this arm, the best of you
Shall fink in my rebuke. Give me to know
How this foul rout began, who set it on;
And he that is approv'd in this offence,*
Though he had twinn'd with me, both at a birth,
Shall lofe me.-What! in a town of war,
Yet wild, the people's hearts brimfull of fear,
To manage private and domestick quarrel,
In night, and on the court and guard of fafety!

er ochre] is commonly known by the name of collow or killow, by which name it is known by Dr. Woodward," &c. The doctorin it had its name from kollow, by which name, in the North, the fmut or grime on the top of chimneys is called. Colly, however, is from coal, as collier. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads-chaler'd.

STEEVEN

Coles in his Dictionary, 1679, renders "collow'd by denigram: -to colly," denigro.

The quarto, 1622, reads-having my best judgement cool'd. A modern editor fuppofed that quell'd was the word intended.

MALLEL

2 be that is approv'd in this offence,] He that is convited by proof, of having been engaged in this offence. JOHNSON. 3 In night, and on the court and guard of fafety!] Thus the ol copics. Mr. Malone reads:

In night, and on the court of guard and fafety! STEEVIS Thefe words have undoubtedly been tranfpofed by negligenc the prefs. For this emendation, of which I am confident ever reader will approve, I am anfwerable. The court of guard wa. Im common phrafe of the time for the guard-room. It has already ne ufed by lago in a former fcene; and what ftill more ftrong confirms the emendation, Iago is there fpeaking of Caffio, and de fcribing him as about to be placed in the very station where he n appears: "The lieutenant to-night watches on the court of guard." Again, in Antony and Cleopatra:

"If we be not reliev'd within this hour,

"We must return to the court of guard."

The fame phrafe occurs in Sir John Oldcastle, 1600, and in man other old plays. A fimilar miftake has happened in the prefer fcene, where in the original copy we find :

Have you forgot all place of jenfe and duty?

irfead of all fee of place and duty.

'Tis monftrous.-Iago, who began it?

MON. If partially affin'd,' or leagu'd in office,"

I may venture to affert with confidence, that no editor of Shakspeare has more feduloufly adhered to the ancient copies than I have done, or more steadily oppofed any change grounded merely on obfolete or unufual phrafeology. But the error in the prefent cafe is fo apparent, and the phrase, the court of guard, so established by the uniform ufage of the poets of Shakspeare's time, that not to have corrected the mistake of the compofitor in the prefent inftance, would in my apprehenfion have been unwarrantable. If the phrafeology of the old copies had merely been unusual, I should not have ventured to make the flighteft change: but the frequent occurrence of the phrafe, the court of guard, in all our old plays, and that being the word of art, leave us not room to entertain a doubt of its being the true reading.

Mr. Steevens fays, a phrafeology as unufual occurs in A Midfummer-Night's Dream; but he forgets that it is fupported by the ufage of contemporary writers. When any fuch is produced in fupport of that before us, it ought certainly to be attended to.

I may add, that the court of jafety may in a metaphorical fenfe be understood; but who ever talked of the guard [i. e. the fafety] of Jafety? MALONE.

As a collocation of words, as feemingly perverfe, occurs in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, and is juftified there, in the following inftance

"I fhall defire you of more acquaintance;"

I forbear to disturb the text under confideration.

If Safety, like the Roman Salus, or Recovery in King Lear, be perfonified, where is the impropriety of faying-under the guard of Safety? Thus, Plautus, in his Captivi: "Neque jam fervare Salus, fi vult, me poteft."

Mr. Malone alfo appears to forget that, on a preceding occafion, he too has left an unexemplified and very queftionable phrafe, in the text of this tragedy, hoping, we may suppose, (as I do,) that it will be hereafter countenanced by example. See p. 470, n. 2. STEEVENS.

4 'Tis monstrous.] This word was used as a trifyllable, as if it were written monsterous. MALONE.

It is again ufed as a trifyllable in Macbeth. See Vol. VII. P. 494, n. 6. STEEVENS.

5 If partially affin'd,] Affin'd is bound by proximity of relation