LAGO. Poor, and content, is rich, and rich enough;" But riches, finelefs," is as poor as winter," To him that ever fears he fhall be poor:Good heaven, the fouls of all my tribe defend From jealousy! It should always be remembered, that Shakspeare's allufions fcarcely ever anfwer precisely on both fides; nor had he any care upon this fubject. Though he has introduced the word monster,— when he talk'd of its making its own food, and being begot by itself, he was ftill thinking of jealoufy only, carelefs whether there was any animal in the world that would correfpond with his defcription. That by the words, the meat it feeds on, is meant, not Desdemona herfelf, as has been maintained, but pabulum zelotypice, may be likewife inferred from a preceding paffage in which a kindred imagery is found: "That policy may either laft fo long, "Or feed upon fuch nice and waterish diet," &c. And this obvious interpretation is ftill more strongly confirmed by Daniel's Rojamond, 1592, a poem which Shak fpeare had diligently read, and has more than once imitated in Romeo and Juliet: "O Jealoufy, 66 66 Feeding upon fufpect that doth renew thee, Happy were lovers, if they never knew thee." In this and the few other places in which I have ventured to depart from the ancient copies, I have thought it my duty to ftate in the fulleft and cleareft manner the grounds on which the emendation ftands: which in fome cafes I have found not eafily accomplished, without running into greater prolixity than would otherwife be juftifiable. MALONE. 7-frongly loves!] Thus the quarto; the folio-foundly loves, STEEVENS. 8 Poor, and content, is rich, and rich enough;] So, in Doraftus and Fawnia, (the novel on which The Winter's Tale is formed,) 1592: "We are rich, in that we are poor with content." MALONE. The fame fentiment, which is fufficiently common, is amplified by Dryden in his Indian Emperor: "We to ourselves with all our wishes grant; "For nothing coveting, we nothing want.' STEEVENS. 9 But riches, finelefs,] Unbounded, endlefs, unnumbered treafures. JOHNSON. 2 as poor as winter,] Finely expreffed: winter producing no fruits. WARBURTON. Отн. Why? why is this? Think'ft thou, I'd make a life of jealoufy, With fresh fufpicions? No: to be once in doubt, Matching thy inference. 'Tis not to make me jealous, To fay-my wife is fair, feeds well, loves com pany, Is free of fpeech, fings, plays, and dances well; Where virtue is, these are more virtuous : + 3 To fuch exfufflicate and blown furmifes,] [Sir Thomas Hanmer -exfuffolate.] This odd and far-fetched word was made yet more uncouth in all the editions before Sir Thomas Hanmer's, by being printed-exfufflicate. The allufion is to a bubble. Do not think, fays the Moor, that I fhall change the noble defigns that now employ my thoughts, to fufpicions which, like bubbles blown into a wide extent, have only an empty fhow without folidity; or that, in confequence of fuch empty fears, I will clofe with thy inference against the virtue of my wife. JOHNSON. Whether our poet had any authority for the word exfufflicate, which I think is ufed in the fenfe of wollen, and appears to have been formed from fufflatus, I am unable to ascertain: but I have not thought it fafe to fubftitute for it another word equally unauthorifed. Suffolare in Italian fignifies to whistle. How then can Dr. Johnfon's interpretation of exjuffolate be fupported? The introducer of this word explains it, by "whispered, buzz'd in the ears." MALONE. -blown furmifes, Matching thy inference.] That is,-fuch as you have mentioned in defcribing the torments of jealoufy. The part of Iago's fpeech particularly alluded to, is that where he fays: But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er, "Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet ftrongly loves!" M. MASON. 5 Where virtue is, these are more virtuous:] An action in itself indifferent, grows virtuous by its end and application. JOHNSON. Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw LAGO. I am glad of this; for now I shall have reafon To show the love and duty that I bear you In Venice they do let heaven fee the pranks I know not why the modern editors, in oppofition to the first quarto and folio, read moft inftead of more. A paffage in All's well that ends well, is perhaps the beft comment on the fentiment of Othello: "I have thofe good hopes of her, education promises: his difpofition fhe inherits; which makes fair gifts fairer." Gratior e pulchro veniens et corpore virtus. Moft is the reading of the fecond folio. RITSON. STEEVENS. 6 Out of felf-bounty, be abus'd;] Self-bounty for inherent generofity. WARBURTON. 7 our country difpofition In Venice-] Here lago feems to be a Venetian. JOHNSON. There is nothing in any other part of the play, properly underftood, to imply otherwife. HENLEY. Various other paffages, as well as the prefent, prove him to have been a Venetian, nor is there any ground for doubting the poet's intention on this head. See p. 505, n. 5. MALONE. Is-not to leave undone, but keep unknown.' OTH. Doft thou say so? LAGO. She did deceive her father, marrying you; And, when the feem'd' to fhake, and fear your looks, She lov'd them moft. ΟΤΗ. IAGO. And fo fhe did. Why, go to, then; She that, fo young, could give out fuch a feeming, To feel her father's eyes up, close as oak,' • Is—not to leave undone, but keep unknown.] The folio perhaps more clearly reads: Is not to leav't undone, but keep'ɩ unknown. STEEVENS. The folio, by an evident error of the prefs, reads-kept un known. MALONE. 6 And, when she feem'd-] This and the following_argument of Iago ought to be deeply impreffed on every reader. Deceit and falfehood, whatever conveniences they may for a time promise or produce, are, in the fum of life, obftacles to happiness. Thofe, who profit by the cheat, diftruft the deceiver, and the act, by which kindnefs is fought, puts an end to confidence. The fame objection may be made with a lower degree of ftrength against the imprudent generofity of difproportionate marriages. When the first heat of paffion is over, it is eafily fucceeded by fufpicion, that the fame violence of inclination, which caufed one irregularity, may ftimulate to another; and those who have shewn, that their paffions are too powerful for their prudence, will, with very flight appearances against them, be cenfured, as not very likely to reftrain them by their virtue. JOHNSON. 1 To feel her father's eyes up, clofe as oak,] The oak is (I be lieve) the moft clofe-grained wood of general ufe in England. Clafe as oak, means, clofe as the grain of oak. To feel is an expreffion from falconry. So, in Ben Jonson's Catiline: would have kept "Both eyes and beak feel'd up, for fix fefterces." STEEVENS. To feel a hawk is to few up his eye-lids. See Vol. XII. p. 667, n. 7. He thought, 'twas witchcraft:-But I am much to blame; I humbly do befeech you of your pardon, For too much loving you. ΟΤΗ. 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 spoke Comes from my love ;-But, I do fee you are mov'd: I am to pray you, not to ftrain my speech 8 Than to fufpicion. OTH. I will not. LAGO. Should you do fo, my lord, Caffio's my worthy My fpeech fhould fall into fuch vile fuccefs' As my thoughts aim not at. friend : In The Winter's Tale, Paulina fays: "The root of his opinion, which is rotten "As ever oak, or stone, was found." MALONE. To groffer iffues,] Jues, for conclufions. WARBURTON. 9 My Speech fhould fall into fuch vile fuccefs-] Success, for fucceffion, i. e. conclufion; not profperous issue. WARBURTON. I rather think there is a depravation, and would read: My Speech will fall into fuch 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 fuch 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, because he would appear to Othello, to with that the enquiry into Defdemona's guilt might prove fruitless and unfuccefsful. STEEVENS. |