Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves!3 In Act V, the word mocks occurs in a sense somewhat similar to that in the passage before us : "Emil. O mistress, villainy hath made mocks with love!" Henley. I think myself particularly indebted to Mr. Henley for the support he has given to my sentiments concerning this difficult passage; and shall place more confidence in them since they have been found to deserve his approbation. Steevens, I have not the smallest doubt that Shakspeare wrote make, and have therefore inserted it in my text. The words make and mocke (for such was the old spelling) are often confounded in these plays, and I have assigned the reason in a note on Measure for Measure, Vol. III. Mr. Steevens in his paraphrase on this passage interprets the word mock by sport; but in what poet or prose-writer, from Chaucer and Mandeville to this day, does the verb to mock signify to sport with? In the passage from Antony and Cleopatra, I have proved, I think, incontestably, from the metre, and from our poet's usage of this verb in other places, (in which it is followed by a personal pronoun) that Shakspeare must have writ ten "Being so frustrate, tell him, he mocks us by See Antony and Cleopatra, Act V, sc. i, Vol. XIII. Besides; is it true as a general position, that jealousy (as jealousy) sports or plays with the object of love (allowing this not very delicate interpretation of the words, the meat it feeds on, to be the true one)? The position certainly is not true. It is Love, not Jealousy, that sports with the object of its passion; nor can those circumstances which create suspicion, and which are the meat it feeds on, with any propriety be called the food of Love, when the poet has clearly pointed them out as the food or cause of JEALOUSY; giving it not only being, but nutriment. "There is no beast," it is urged, "that can literally be said to make its own food." It is indeed acknowledged, that jealousy is a monster which often creates the suspicions on which it feeds, but is it, we are asked, "the monster? (i. e. a well-known and conspicuous animal;) and whence has it green eyes? Yellow is the colour which Shakspeare appropriates to jealousy." To this I answer, that yellow is not the only colour which Shakspeare appropriates to jealousy, for we have in The Merchant of Venice: shuddering fear, and green-ey'd jealousy." and I suppose, it will not be contended that he was there thinking of any of the tiger kind. If our poet had written only-" It is the green-ey'd monster; beware of it;" the other objection would hold good, and some particular monster, xar x, must have been meant; but the words, "It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth," &c. in my Oth. O misery! apprehension have precisely the same meaning, as if the poet had written, " It is that green-ey'd monster, which," &c. or, "it is a green-ey'd monster." He is the man in the world whom I would least wish to meet,-is the common phraseology of the present day. When Othello says to Iago in a former passage, “By heaven, he echoes me, as if there were some monster in his thought," does any one imagine that any animal whatever was meant? The passage in a subsequent scene, to which Mr. Steevens has alluded, strongly supports the emendation which has been made: - jealousy will not be answer'd so; It is, strictly speaking, as false that any monster can be begot, or born, on itself, as it is, that any monster (whatever may be the colour of its eyes, whether green or yellow) can make its own food; but, poetically, both are equally true of that monster, JEALOUSY. Mr. Steevens seems to have been aware of this, and therefore has added the word literally: "No monster can be literally said to make its own food." It should always be remembered, that Shakspeare's allusions. scarcely ever answer precisely on both sides; nor had he ever any care upon this subject. Though he has introduced the word monster, when he talked of its making its own food, and being begot by itself, he was still thinking of jealousy only, careless whether there was any animal in the world that would correspond with this description. That the words, the meat it feeds on, is meant, not Desdemona herself, as has been maintained, but pabulum zeiotypiæ, may be likewise inferred from a preceding passage in which a kindred imagery is found: "That policy may either last so long, "Or feed upon such nice and wateristh diet," &c. And this obvious interpretation is still more strongly confirmed by Daniel's Rosamond, 1592, a poem which Shakspeare had diligently read, and has more than once imitated in Romeo and Juliet: "O Jealousy "Feeding upon suspect 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 state in the fullest and clearest manner the grounds on which the emendation stands: which in some cases I have found not. easily accomplished, without running into greater prolixity than would otherwise be justifiable. Malone. 6 Iago. Poor, and content, is rich, and rich enough; Oth. Why? why is this? Think'st thou, I 'd make a life of jealousy, To follow still the changes of the moon With fresh suspicions? No: to be once in doubt, Matching thy inference. 'Tis not to make me jealous, 3 loves. strongly loves!] Thus the quarto; the folio-soundly Steevens. 4 Poor, and content, is rich, and rich enough;] So, in Dorastus 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 same sentiment, which is sufficiently common, is amplified by Dryden in his Indian Emperor : "We to ourselves will all our wishes grant; Steevens. 5 But riches, fineless,] Unbounded, endless, unnumbered treasures. Johnson. 6 as poor as winter,] Finely expressed: winter producing no fruits. Warburton. 7 To such exsufficate and blown surmises,] [Sir Thomas Hanmer-exsuffolate.] This odd and far-fetched word was made yet more uncouth in all the editions before Sir Thomas Hanmer's, by being printed-exsufficate. The allusion is to a bubble. Do not think, says the Moor, that I shall change the noble designs that now employ my thoughts, to suspicions which, like bubbles blown into a wide extent, have only an empty show without solidity; or that, in consequence of such empty fears, I will close with thy inference against the virtue of my wife. Johnson. Whether our poet had any authority for the word exsufflicate, which I think is used in the sense of swollen, and appears to have been formed from sufflatus, I am unable to ascertain: but I have not thought it safe to substitute for it another word equally unauthorised. Suffolare in Italian signifies to whistle. How then can Dr. Johnson's interpretation of exsuffolate be supported? The introducer of this word explains it, by "whispered, buzz'd in the ears." Malone. Matching thy inference.] That is, such as you have men To say-my Iago. I am glad of this; for now I shall have reason I know our country disposition well; In Venice they do let heaven see the pranks They dare not show their husbands; their best conscience Is-not to leave undone, but keep unknown.3 tioned in describing the torments of jealousy. The part of Iago's speech particularly alluded to, is that where he says: "But O, what damned minutes tells he o'er, "Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves!" M. Mason. 9 Where virtue is, these are more virtuous :] An action in itself indifferent, grows virtuous by its end and application. Johnson. I know not why the modern editors, in opposition to the first quarto and folio, read most instead of more. A passage in All's Well that Ends Well, is perhaps the best comment on the sentiment of Othello: "I have those good hopes of her, education promises: his disposition she inherits; which makes fair gifts fairer." Gratior e pulchro veniens et corpore virSteevens. tus. Most is the reading of the second folio. Ritson. Out of self-bounty be abus'd;] Self-bounty for inherent generosity. Warburton. 2 our country disposition In Venice] Here Iago seems to be a Venetian. Johnson. There is nothing in any other part of the play, properly understood, to imply otherwise. Henley. Various other passages, as well as the present, prove him to have been a Venetian, nor is there any ground for doubting the poet's intention on this head. See p. 299, n. 6. Malone. 3 Is-not to leave undone, but keep unknown.] The folio perhaps more clearly reads: Oth. Dost thou say so? Iago. She did deceive her father, marrying you; And, when she seem'd1 to shake, and fear your looks, She lov'd them most. Oth. lago. And so she did. Why, go to, then; She that, so young, could give out such a seeming, To seel her father's eyes up, close as oak,5 He thought 'twas witchcraft:-But I am much to blame; I humbly do beseech you of your pardon, For too much loving you. Oth. I am bound to thee for ever. Trust me, I fear it has. Iago. Steevens. Is not to lear 't undone, but keep 't unknown. The folio, by an evident error of the press, reads-kept unknown. Malone. 4 And, when she seem'd-] This and the following argument of Iago ought to be deeply impressed on every reader. Deceit and falsehood, whatever conveniences they may for a time promise or produce, are in the sum of life, obstacles to happiness. Those, who profit by the cheat, distrust the deceiver, and the act by which kindness is sought, puts an end to confidence. The same objection may be made with a lower degree of strength against the imprudent generosity of disproportionate marriages. When the first heat of passion is over, it is easily succeeded by suspicion, that the same violence of inclination, which caused one irregularity, may stimulate to another; and those who have shewn, that their passions are too powerful for their prudence, will, with very slight appearances against them, be censured, as not very likely to restrain them by their virtue. Johnson. 5 To seel her father's eyes up, close as oak,] The oak is (I believe) the most close-grained wood of general use in England. Close as oak, means, close as the grain of oak. To seel is an expression from falconry. So, in Ben Jonson's Catiline: would have kept "Both eyes and beak seel'd up, for six sesterces." Steevens. To seel a hawk is to sew up his eye-lids. See Vol. XIII, p. 392, n. 2. In The Winter's Tale, Paulina says: "The root of his opinion, which is rotten |