If I quench thee, thou flaming minifter, I can again thy former light restore, 31ft, 1611: (now in the library of the Earl of Shelburne, who honoured me with the ufe of it :) O foul of cunning! "Came that arch fubtilty from thy lady's counsel, "Or thine own fudden craft? confefs to me "How oft thou hast been a bawd to their close actions, "Or all thy light goes out." STEEVENS. Put out the light, and then put out the light] This is one of the paffages to which I alluded in a note on As you like it, Vol. VI. p. 175, in which, by a modern regulation, our poet's words have obtained a meaning, which in my opinion was not in his thoughts. Mr. Upton was the first perfon who introduced the conceit in this line, which has been adopted fince his book appeared, by pointing it thus: Put out the light, and then-Put out the light! &c. I entirely agree with Dr. Farmer, that this regulation gives a fpirit to this paffage that was not intended. The poet, I think, meant merely to fay," I will now put out the lighted taper which I hold, and then put out the light of life;" and this introduces his fubfequent reflection and comparifon, juft as aptly, as fuppofing the latter words of the line to be used in the fame fenfe as in the beginning of it, which cannot be done without deftroying that equivoque and play of words of which Shakspeare was fo fond. There are few images which occur more frequently in his works than this. Thus, in King Henry VI. Part III. the dying Clifford fays, "Here burns my candle out, ay, here it dies." Again, in Macbeth: "Out, out, brief candle!" Again, in King Henry VIII: "This candle burns not clear; 'tis I must snuff it; Again, in his Rape of Lucrece: "Fair torch, burn out thy light, and lend it not "To darken her, whofe light excelleth thine!" Let the words-put out her light, ftand for a moment in the place of-darken her, and then the fentence will run- -Burn out thy light, fair torch, and lend it not to put out her light, whofe light is more excellent than thine. In the very fame ftrain, fays Othello, "let me first extinguish the light I now hold, and then put out the light of life. But how different in effect and importance are these two acts! The extinguished taper can be lighted again, but the light of life, when once extinguished, can never, alas, be relumined! Should I repent me :-but once put out thine," thy rofe," When I have pluck'd I cannot give it vital growth again, It needs muft wither:-I'll fmell it on the tree. [Kiffing her. O balmy breath, that doft almost perfuade Juftice to break her fword!-One more, one more.Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee, And love thee after:- One more, and this the laft: .but The queftion is not, which regulation renders the paffage moft elegant and fpirited, but what was the poet's idea.-I believe, however, that Shakspeare wrote-and then put out thy light; and the reading of the original copy in a fubfequent line, " once put out thine," feems to me to countenance this emendation. In The Merchant of Venice the word light is used with equal ambiguity: "Let me give light, but let me not be light." MALONE. 6 put out thine,] Thus the quarto. The folio reads-put out thy light. I have chofen the former reading for the fake of measure, and to escape a useless repetition of the word-light. STEEVENS. 7 Thou cunning'ft pattern of excelling nature,] So, in Palmerin D'Oliva, 1588, p. 1: 66 1 - thofe that beheld her, efteemed her for the chiefeft piece of workmanshipp that ever nature framed.” REED. 8 That can thy light relume.] Thus the folio. The first quarto— return: the fecond quarto—relumine. STEEVENS. Our poet has illume for illuminate, in Hamlet: Had made his courfe, to illume that part of heaven, "Where now it burns.' 9thy rofe,] Thus the folio. Again, the quarto reads, 66 The folio, MALONE. The quarto reads,—the rofe. I'll fmell it on the tree." "I'll fmell thee on the tree." STEEVENS. So fweet was ne'er fo fatal. I must weep, But they are cruel tears: This forrow's heavenly;2 It ftrikes, where it doth love.-She wakes- DES. Who's there? Othello? OTH. Ay, Defdemona, DES. Will you come to bed, my lord? Отн. Have you pray'd to-night, Desdemona? DES. Ay, my lord. Orn. If you bethink yourself of any crime, Unreconcil'd as yet to heaven and grace, Solicit for it ftraight. DES. Alas, my lord, what may you mean by that? OTн. Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by: I would not kill thy unprepared fpirit; No,-Heaven forefend!—I would not kill thy foul.3 DES. Talk you of killing? Отн. DES. Ay, I do. Then, heaven 2 This forrow's heavenly;] This tendernefs, with which I lament the punishment which juftice compels me to inflict, is a holy paffion. I wish thefe two lines could be honeftly ejected. It is the fate of Shakspeare to counteract his own pathos. JOHNSON. Perhaps the poet would not have retained both thefe images, had he publifhed the play himfelf, though in the hurry of compofition he threw them both upon paper. The firft feems adopted from the fabulous hiftory of the crocodile, the fecond from a paffage in the fcripture. STEEVENS. 3 "Whom the Lord loveth, he chafteneth." M. MASON. I would not kill thy foul.] Sir W. D'Avenant has borrowed this thought in his Albovine King of Lombardy, 1629: "I am not fraught with devil's fpleen; I would "Not hurt thy foul." Othello appears to have been a favourite of his author; for he has bestowed on him that piety which he had refused to Hamlet. See p. 216, n. 7. STEEVENS. Have mercy on me! Отн. Amen, with all my heart! DES. If you fay fo, I hope you will not kill me. OTH. Humph! DES. And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then, When your eyes roll fo: Why I fhould fear, I know not, Since guiltinefs I know not; but yet, I feel, I fear.+ Отн. Think on thy fins. DES. They are loves I bear to you, ОTн. Ay, and for that thou dieft. DES. That death's unnatural, that kills for loving.' Alas, why gnaw you fo your nether lip? 4 Since guiltinefs I know not; but yet, I feel, I fear.] Read, Since guilt I know not; but yet, I feel, I fear. Guiltinefs has been already mifprinted for guilt. [See p. 627, line 2.] It is impoffible that Shakspeare fhould lengthen a word merely to fpoil his metre. RITSON. The chivalry of criticifm does not, in my opinion, require ust to defend the old copies (thofe grannams of the ftage, balba de nare locuta) when they fo grofsly offend again't the laws of metre. In the earlier part of this work I have got rid of fome of their deformities, but in this and a few of the latter plays I have been content with expofing them, being certain that their notoriety will hereafter prove the means of fecuring a privilege which, refpecting the prefent editors, may be litigated. STEEVENS. 5 That death's unnatural, that kills for loving.] This thought is likewife found in The Legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, a poem, by H. L. 16mo. 1597: "Unnatural, which kill where you fhould kiffe." Again, in our poet's King Richard III: 66 It is a quarrel most unnatural, "To be reveng'd on him that loveth thee." MALONE. Отн. Peace, and be ftill! DES. I will fo: What's the matter? OTH. That handkerchief, which I fo lov'd, and Take heed of perjury; thou'rt on thy death-bed. DES. Ay, but not yet to die. Отн. Yes, prefently: Therefore confefs thee freely of thy fin; For to deny each article with oath, Cannot remove, nor choke, the ftrong conception, That I do groan withal. Thou art to die. DES. Then, Lord have mercy on me! Отн. I fay, amen. DES. And have you mercy too!-I never did O perjur'd woman! thou doft ftone my heart, 6 A murder, which I thought a facrifice:] This line is difficult. Thou haft hardened my heart, and makeft me kill thee with the rage of a murderer, when I thought to have facrificed thee to justice with the calmness of a prieft ftriking a victim. It must not be omitted, that one of the elder quartos reads,― thou deft fone thy heart; which I fufpect to be genuine. The meaning then will be,-thou forceft me to difmifs thee from the world in the state of the murdered without preparation for death, |