He thought, 'twas witchcraft:-But I am much to

blame;

I humbly do befeech you of your pardon,

For too much loving you.

Отн.

I am bound to thee for ever.

IAGO. I fee, this hath a little dafh'd your fpirits. OTH. Not a jot, not a jot.

IAGO.

Trust me, I fear it has.

I hope, you will confider, what is fpoke

Comes from my love ;-But, I do fee you are mov'd:

I am to pray you, not to strain my speech
To groffer iffues, nor to larger reach,

8

Than to fufpicion.

ОTн. I will not.

LAGO.

Should you do fo, my lord,

My fpeech fhould fall into fuch vile fuccefs?
As my thoughts aim not at. Caffio's my worthy

friend:

In The Winter's Tale, Paulina fays:

"The root of his opinion, which is rotten
"As ever oak, or ftone, was found." MALONE.

To graffer iffues,] Iues, for conclufions. WARBURTON. 9 My Speech fhould fall into fuch vile fuccefs-] Success, for fucceffion, i. e. conclufion; not profperous iffue. WARBURTON.

I rather think there is a depravation, and would read:
My fpeech will fall into juch vile excefs.

If fuccefs be the right word, it feems to mean confequence or event, as fucceffo is ufed in Italian. JOHNSON.

I think fuccefs may, in this inftance, bear its common interpretation. What Iago means feems to be this: "Should you do fo, my lord, my words would be attended by such an infamous degree of fuccefs, as my thoughts do not even aim at." Iago, who counterfeits the feelings of virtue, might have faid fall into fuccefs, and vile fuccefs, becaufe he would appear to Othello, to with that the enquiry into Defdemona's guilt might prove fruitlefs and unfuccefsful. STEEVENS,

My lord, I fee you are mov'd.

Отн.

No, not much moy'd:

I do not think, but Desdemona's honeft.

LAGO. Long live the fo! and long live you to think fo!

Oтн. And yet, how nature erring from itself,IAGO. Ay, there's the point :-As,-to be bold with you,

Not to affect many propofed matches,

Of her own clime, complexion, and degree;
Whereto, we fee, in all things nature tends:
Foh! one may smell, in fuch, a will most rank ̧2
Foul difproportion, thoughts unnatural.—
But pardon me; I do not, in position,
Diftinctly speak of her: though I may fear,
Her will, recoiling to her better judgement,
May fall to match you with her country forms,
And (hapily) repent.

OTH.

Farewell, farewell:
If more thou doft perceive, let me know more;
Set on thy wife to obferve: Leave me, Iago.
LAGO. My lord, I take my leave.

[Going. OTH. Why did I marry?-This honeft creature,

doubtlefs,

Sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds. IAGO. My lord, I would, I might entreat your

honour

The following paffages will perhaps be confidered as proofs of Dr. Johnson's explanation.

"Then the poor defolate women, fearing least their cafe would forte to fome pitifull fucceffe." Palace of Pleafure, bl. 1.

"God forbyd all hys hope fhould turne to fuch fucceffe.” Promos and Caffandra, 1578. HENDERSON. ———a will moft rank,] Will, is for wilfulness. It is fo ufed by Afcham. A rank will, is felf-will overgrown and exuberant. JOHNSON.

2

To scan this thing no further; leave it to time:
And though it be fit that Caffio have his place,
(For, fure, he fills it up with great ability,)
Yet, if you please to hold him off a while,
You fhall by that perceive him and his means: 3
Note, if your lady ftrain his entertainment +
With any strong or vehement importunity;
Much will be feen in that. In the mean time,
Let me be thought too busy in my fears,
(As worthy cause I have, to fear—I am,)
And hold her free, I do befeech your honour.
Отн. Fear not my government.'
IAGO. I once more take my leave.

[Exit.

ОTH. This fellow's of exceeding honesty, And knows all qualities, with a learned fpirit," Of human dealings: If I do prove her haggard,'

3 You shall by that perceive him and his means:] You shall difcover whether he thinks his beft means, his most powerful intereft, is by the folicitation of your lady. JOHNSON.

―ftrain his entertainment-] Prefs hard his re-admiffion to his pay and office. Entertainment was the military term for admiffion of foldiers. JOHNSON.

So, in Coriolanus: “ -the centurions, and their charges, diftinctly billeted, and already in the entertainment." STEEVENS. 5 Fear not my government.] Do not distruft my ability to contain my paffion. JOHNSON.

with a learned fpirit,] Learned, for experienced.

WARBURTON. The construction is, He knows with a learned spirit all qualities of human dealings. JOHNSON.

7 — If I do prove her haggard,] A haggard hawk, is a wild bawk, a hawk unreclaimed, or irreclaimable. JOHNSON.

A baggard is a particular species of hawk. It is difficult to be reclaimed, but not irreclaimable.

From a paffage in The White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona,

Though that her jeffes were my dear heart-strings,
I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind,
To prey at fortune. Haply, for I am black;

1612, it appears that haggard was a term of reproach fometimes applied to a wanton: "Is this your perch, you haggard? fly to

the ftews."

Turbervile fays, that "haggart falcons are the most excellent birds of all other falcons." Latham gives to the baggart only the fecond place in the valued file. In Holland's Leaguer, a co medy, by Shakerly Marmyon, 1633, is the following illustrative paffage : "Before these courtiers lick their lips at her, "I'll trust a wanton haggard in the wind."

Again:

"For fhe is ticklish as any baggard,

"And quickly loft."

the

Again, in Two wife Men, and all the rest Fools, 1619: admirable conqueft the faulconer maketh in a hawk's nature; bringing the wild haggard, having all the earth and feas to four over uncontroulably, to attend and obey," &c. Haggard, however, had a popular fenfe, and was ufed for wild by thofe who thought not on the language of falconers. STEEVENS.

8 Though that her jeffes were my dear heart-firings,] Jes are fhort ftraps of leather tied about the foot of a hawk, by which the is held on the fift. HANMER.

In Heywood's comedy, called, A Woman killed with Kindness, 1617, a number of these terms relative to hawking occur together:

"Now the hath feiz'd the fowl, and 'gins to plume her;
"Rebeck her not; rather stand still and check her.
"So: feize her gets, her jesses, and her bells."

9 I'd whiffle her off, and let her down the wind,

STEEVENS.

To prey at fortune.] The falconers always let fly the hawk against the wind; if fhe flies with the wind behind her, the feldom returns. If therefore a hawk was for any reafon to be difmitled, fhe was let down the wind, and from that time fhifted for herself, and preyed at fortune. This was told me by the late Mr. Clark.

JOHNSON.

This paffage may poffibly receive illuftration from a fimilar one in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, p. 2, fect. i. mem. 3: “ As a long-winged hawke, when he is first whistled off the fijt, mounts alott, and for his pleasure fetcheth many a circuit in the ayre, ftill

And have not thofe foft parts of converfation
That chamberers' have: Or, for I am declin'd
Into the vale of years;-yet that's not much;-
She's gone; I am abus'd; and my relief

Muft be-to loath her. O curfe of marriage,
That we can call thefe delicate creatures ours,
And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad,
And live upon the vapour of a dungeon,
Than keep a corner in the thing I love,

For others' ufes. Yet, 'tis the plague of great ones;
Prerogativ'd are they lefs than the bafe:+

foaring higher and higher, till he comes to his full pitch, and in the end, when the game is fprung, comes down amaine, and stoupes upon a fudden." PERCY.

Again, in The Spanish Gipfie, 1653, by Middleton and Rowley: That young lannerd,

"Whom you have fuch a mind to; if you can whiftle her "To come to fift, make trial, play the young falconer.”

A lannerd is a fpecies of a hawk.

Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Bonduca :

66

66

he that bafely

Whistled his honour off to the wind," &c. STEEVENS.

parts of converfation-] Parts seems here to be fynonymous with arts, as in 'Tis Pity he's a Whore, Act II. speaking of finging and mufick:

"They are parts I love." REED.

3 — chamberers—] i. e. men of intrigue. So, in the Countess of Pembroke's Antonius, 1590:

"Fal'n from a fouldier to a chamberer.”

Again, in Chaucer's Romaunt of the Rofe, ver. 4935: "Only through youth the chamberere."

Thus, in the French poem:

“Par la jeunesse la chambriere." STEEVENS.

"" not in

The fenfe of chamberers may be ascertained from Rom. xiii. 13, where KOITAIE is rendered, in the common verfion, CHAMBERING." HENLEY,

Chambering and wantonnefs are mentioned together in the facred writings. MALONE.

+ Prerogativ'd are they lefs than the base:] In afferting that the bafe have more prerogative in this refpect than the great, that is, that the bafe or poor are lefs likely to endure this forked plague, our