LAGO. You are in the right. Good night, lieutenant; I must to the watch. Cas. Good night, honeft Iago. [Exit CASSIO. LAGO. And what's he then, that fays,-I play the villain? 8 When this advice is free, I give, and honeft, In any honeft fuit; fhe's fram'd as fruitful3 All feals and fymbols of redeemed fin,- That she may make, unmake, do what fhe lift, With his weak function. How am I then a villain, 8 this advice is free,] This counfel has an appearance of honeft openness, of frank good-will. JOHNSON. Rather gratis, not paid for, as his advice to Roderigo was. HENLEY. 9 Probal -] Thus the old editions. There may be such a contraction of the word probable, but I have not met with it in any other book. Yet abbreviations as violent occur in our ancient writers, and efpecially in the works of Churchyard. STEEVENS The inclining Defdemona - Inclining here fignifies compliant. 3 - fruitful-] Corresponding to benignus, aQovos. as fruitful HENLEY. As the free elements.] Liberal, bountiful, as the elements, out of which all things are produced. JOHNSON. to this parallel courfe,] Parallel, for even; becaufe parallel lincs run even and equidiftant. WARBURTON. Directly to his good? Divinity of hell! 8 That the repeals him for her body's luft; And out of her own goodness make the net, Enter RODERIGO. ROD. I do follow here in the chace, not like a hound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry. My money is almost spent; I have been to-night So, in our author's 70th Sonnet: "Time doth transfix the flourish fet on youth, "And delves the parallels in beauty's brow." MALONE. Parallel courfe; i. e. course level, and even with his defign. JOHNSON. 6 When devils will their blackeft fins put on, They do fuggeft] When devils mean to inftigate men to commit the most atrocious crimes. So, in Hamlet: "Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd caufe." To put on, has already occurred twice in the prefent play, in this fenfe. To fuggeft in old language is to tempt. See Vol. III. p. 220, n. 4. MALONE. I'll pour this peftilence-] Peftilence, for poifon. WARBURTON. 8 That he repeals him—] That is, recalls him. JOHNSON. 9 That shall enmesh them all.] A metaphor from taking birds in meshes. РОРЕ. Why not from the taking fifh, for which purpose nets are more frequently ufed? M. MASON. exceedingly well cudgell'd; and, I think, the iffue will be-I fhall have fo much experience for my pains: and fo, with no money at all, and a little more wit, return to Venice. LAGO. How poor are they, that have not patience! What wound did ever heal, but by degrees? Thou know'ft, we work by wit, and not by witchcraft; And wit depends on dilatory time. Does't not go well? Caffio hath beaten thee, 2 a little more wit,] Thus the folio. The first quarto reads -and with that wit. STEEVENS. 3 Though other things grow fair against the fun, Yet fruits, that blossom first, will first be ripe:] Of many different things, all planned with the fame art, and promoted with the fame diligence, fome must fucceed fooner than others, by the order of nature. Every thing cannot be done at once; we must proceed by the neceffary gradation. We are not to defpair of flow events any more than of tardy fruits, while the causes are in regular progrefs, and the fruits grow fair against the fun. Sir Thomas Hanmer has not, I think, rightly conceived the fentiment; for he reads: Thofe fruits which bloffom first, are not first ripe. I have therefore drawn it out at length, for there are few to whom that will be eafy which was difficult to Sir Thomas Hanmer. JOHNSON. The blooming, or fair appearance of things, to which Iago alludes, is, the removal of Caffio. As their plan had already blossomed, fo there was good ground for expecting that it would foon be ripe. Iago does not, I think, mean to compare their scheme to tardy fruits, as Dr. Johnfon feems to have fuppofed. MALONE. 4-By the mafs, 'tis morning;] Here we have one of the numerous arbitrary alterations made by the Mafter of the Revels in the Pleasure, and action, make the hours feem fhort.- to be done, My wife must move for Caffio to her mistress; Myfelf, the while, to draw the Moor apart, [Exit. playhoufe copies, from which a great part of the folio was printed. It reads-In troth, 'tis morning., See The Hiftorical Account of the English Stage, Vol. II. MALONE. 5 to draw-] Thus the old copies; and this reading is confiftent with the tenor of the prefent interrupted fpeech. lago is ftill debating with himfelf concerning the means to perpicx Othello. STEEVENS. Myfelf, the while, to draw] The old copies have aokile. Mr. Theobald made the correction. The modern editors read-Myfelf, the while, will draw. But the old copies are undoubtedly right. An imperfect fentence was intended. Iago is ruminating on his plan. MALONE. -bring him jump when] Unexpectedly :-an expreffion taken from the bound, or start, with which we are shocked, at the fudden and unlooked-for appearance of any offenfive object. HENLEY. Jump when, I believe, fignifies no more than juft at the time when. So, in Hamlet: "Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour." See p. 11 and 12, n. 7. STEEVENS. ACT III. SCENE I. Before the Castle. Enter CASSIO, and fome Musicians. CAS. Mafters, play here, I will content your pains, Something that's brief; and bid-good-morrow, [Mufick. general.' Enter Clown. CLO. Why, mafters, have your inftruments been at Naples, that they speak i'the nose thus? 8 1. Mus. How, fir, how! CLO. Are these, I pray you, call'd wind inftruments? 1. Mus. Ay, marry, are they, sir. CLO. O, thereby hangs a tail. 1. Mus. Whereby hangs a tale, sir? 7—and bid-good-morrow, general.] It is the ufual practice of the waits, or nocturnal minstrels, in feveral towns in the North of England, after playing a tune or two, to cry "Good-morrow, maister such a one, good-morrow dame," adding the hour, and state of the weather. It fhould feem to have prevailed at Stratfordupon-Avon. They formerly ufed hautboys, which are the windinftruments here meant. RITSON. 8 Why, mafters, have your inftruments been at Naples, that they fpeak i'the nofe thus?] So, in The Merchant of Venice: "And others, when the bagpipe fings i'the nofe,-.” STEEVENS. The venereal disease first appeared at the fiege of Naples. JOHNSON. |