Cas. This is the monkey's own giving out: she is persuaded I will marry her, out of her own love and flattery, not out of my promise. Oth. Iago beckons me; now he begins the story. [Aside. Cas. She was here even now; she haunts me in every place. I was, the other day, talking on the sea-bank with certain Venetians; and thither comes this bauble;1 by this hand, she falls thus about my neck; Oth. Crying, O dear Cassio! as it were: his gesture imports it. Aside. Cas. So hangs, and lolls, and weeps upon me; so hales, and pulls me ha, ha, ha! Oth. Now he tells, how she plucked him to my chamber: O, I see that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall throw it to. [Aside. Cas. Well, I must leave her company. Iago. Before me! look, where she comes. tally, or to mark out a form by indenting it on any substance. Spenser, in the first canto of his Fairy Queen, speaking of the Cross, says: "Upon his shield the like was also scor'd." Again, in Book II, c. ix: 66 why on your shield, so goodly scor'd, "Bear you the picture of that lady's head?" 66 But it was soon figuratively used for setting a brand or mark of disgrace on any one. Let us score their backs," says Scarus, in Antony and Cleopatra, and it is employed in the same sense on the present occasion. Steevens. In Antony and Cleopatra, we find: I know not "What counts harsh fortune casts upon my face," &c. But in the passage before us our poet might have been thinking of the ignominious punishment of slaves. So, in his Rape of Lucrece: "Worse than a slavish wipe, or birth-hour's blot." Malone. I suspect that-wipe, in the foregoing passage from The Rape of Lucrece, was a typographical depravation of-wispe. See Vol. X, p. 329, n. 3. 1 Steevens. this bauble;] So the quarto. The folio-the bauble. Steevens. 2 by this hand,] This is the reading of the first quarto. Steevens. Instead of which, the editor of the folio, or rather the licenser of the plays, substituted-thither comes the bauble, and falls me thus, &c. Malone. Enter BIANCA. Cas. 'Tis such another fitchew!3 marry, a perfumed one. What do you mean by this haunting of me? Bian. Let the devil and his dam haunt you! What did you mean by that same handkerchief, you gave me even now? I was a fine fool to take it. I must take out the whole work?-A likely piece of work, that you should find it in your chamber, and not know who left it there! This is some minx's token, and I must take out the work? There, give it your hobby-horse: wheresoever you had it, I'll take out no work on 't. Cas. How now, my sweet Bianca? how now? how now? Oth. By heaven, that should be my handkerchief! [Aside. Bian. An you'll come to supper to-night, you may: an you will not, come when you are next prepared for. Iago. After her, after her. [Exit. Cas. 'Faith I must, she 'll rail in the street else. Iago. Will you sup there? Cas. 'Faith, I intend so. Iago. Well, I may chance to see you; for I would very fain speak with you. Cas. Pr'ythee, come; Will you? Iago. Go to; say no more. Oth. How shall I murder him, Iago? [Bxit CAS. Iago. Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice? Oth. O, Iago! Iago. And did you see the handkerchief! Oth. Was that mine? Iago. Yours, by this hand : and to see how he prizes 3 -fitchew!] A pole-cat. Pope. Shakspeare has in another place mentioned the lust of this animal. He tells Iago, that she is as lewd as the polecat, but of better scent, the polecat being a very stinking animal. Johnson. By "another place," Dr. Johnson means- -King Lear: "The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to 't "With a more riotous appetite." A polecat therefore was anciently one of the cant terms for a strumpet. Steevens. 4 Yours, by this hand:] This speech is not in the original quarto, 1622. Malone. the foolish woman, your wife! she gave it him, and he hath given it his whore. Oth. I would have him nine years a killing A fine woman! a fair woman! a sweet woman! Oth. Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damn'd tonight; for she shall not live: No, my heart is turn'd to I strike it, and it hurts my hand. O, the world hath not a sweeter creature: she might lie by an emperor's side, and command him tasks. stone; Iago. Nay, that 's not your way. Oth. Hang her! I do but say what she is:So delicate with her needle!-An admirable musician! O, she will sing the savageness out of a bear!--Of so high and plenteous wit and invention! Iago. She's the worse for all this. Oth. O, a thousand, a thousand times: — And then, of so gentle a condition!?— Iago. Ay, too gentle. Oth. Nay, that 's certain: But yet the pity of it, Iago! -O, Iago, the pity of it, Iago! Iago. If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent to offend; for, if it touch not you, it comes near nobody. -Cuckold me! Oth. I will chop her into messes:- 5 No, my heart is turned to stone; I strike it, and it hurts my hand. This thought, as often as it occurs to Shakspeare, is sure to be received, and as often counteracts his pathos. So, in Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV, sc. viii: throw my heart "Against the flint and hardness of my fault, "Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder, "And finish all foul thoughts." Steevens. 6 O, she will sing the savageness out of a bear!] So, in Venus and Adonis : 66 when he hath sung "The tiger would be tame." Malone. 7 And then, of so gentle a condition!] i. e. of so sweet a disposition. So, in King Henry V: "Our tongue is rough, coz, and my condition is not smooth." Malone. " 8 If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent to of fend;] So, in King Edward III, a tragedy, 1596: 66 Why then give sin a passport to offend. Malone. Oth. With mine officer! Iago. That 's fouler. Oth. Get me some poison, Iago; this night:-I 'll not expostulate with her, lest her body and beauty unprovide my mind again:-this night, Iago. Iago. Do it not with poison; strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated. Oth. Good, good: the justice of it pleases; very good. Iago. And, for Cassio,-let me be his undertaker: You shall hear more by midnight. [A Trumpet within. Oth. Excellent good.-What trumpet is that same? Logo. Something from Venice, sure. 'Tis Lodovico, Come from the duke: and, see, your wife is with him. Enter LODOVICO, DESDEMONA, and Attendants. Lod. 'Save you, worthy general! Oth. [Gives him a Packet. Oth. I kiss the instrument of their pleasures. [Opens the Packet, and reads. Des. And what 's the rews, good cousin Lodovico? Iago. I am very glad to see you, signior; Welcome to Cyprus. 9 With all my heart, sir.] This does not relate to what Lodovico has just said, but is spoken by Othello while he salutes him. Malone. I know not how the meaning of this speech can be ascertained, unless by reference to the salutation of Lodovico. The distracted Othello, considering his own happiness at an end in this world, readily catches at the idea of future felicity suggested by the words "Save you, general!" In his present reply, therefore, he must be supposed to welcome the pious wish expressed on his behalf. In Measure for Measure, two replies of Angelo, equally equivocal, are derived from similar premises: "Isab. Heave keep your honour safe! 66 Ang. Amen!" Again, at the conclusion of the samé scene: "Isab. 'Save your honour! Ang. From thee: even from thy virtue!" If it be urged, that "save you" only means preserve you in this world, my sense of the passage will not be much weakened; as our protection "Even here, upon this bank and shoal of time," depends on the Almighty. Steevens. Lod. I thank you: How does lieutenant Cassio? Iago. Lives, sir. Des. Cousin, there's fallen between him and my lord An unkind breach: but you shall make all well. Oth. Are you sure of that? Des. My lord? Oth. This fail you not to do, as you will Des. Oth. Des. What, is he angry? Lod. [Reads. My lord? Are you wise? 'May be, the letter mov'd him; For, as I think, they do command him home, Deputing Cassio in his government. Des. By my troth, I am glad on 't. Lod. My lord, this would not be believ'd in Venice, Though I should swear I saw it: 'Tis very much; Make her amends, she weeps. Oth. 1 atone them,] Make them one; reconcile them. Johnson. The expression is formed by the coalescence of the words at one, the verb to set, or some equivalent being omitted. Thus, in the Acts: " he showed himself to them as they strove, and would have set them AT ONE again." And in The Beehive of the Romish Church: " - through which God is made AT ONE with us, and hath forgiven us our sins." Henley. - See Coriolanus, Act IV, sc. vi, Vol. XIII. Malone. 2 If that the earth could teem &c.] If women's tears could impregnate the earth. By the doctrine of equivocal generation, new animals were supposed producible by new combinations of matter. See Bacon. Johnson. Shakspeare here alludes to the fabulous accounts of crocodiles. Each tear, says Othello, which falls from the false DesVOL. XVI. Kk |