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365.

Trust me, I could do much."

It is not easy to guess what Desdemona was about to say she could do, or for what purpose. "I will deny thee nothing."

This, with the hemistic from Desdemona, is too much for the verse; and, as the very same words are uttered by Othello, a little further on, I suspect corruption, and would read,

Desd.

"I'll not deny thee."

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Why, this is not a boon."

"Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you

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"" warm.'

We might, perhaps, with advantage, read meats" instead of "dishes.

Oth. "

"And fearful to be granted."

I will deny thee nothing."

Here, again, some words seem to have been lost; perhaps to this effect:

Desd. "It shall be full of poize and consequence, "Of difficulty, and fearful to be granted." “Well, well, be't so; I will deny thee nothing."

Oth.

"Farewell, my Desdemona, I will come to thee straight."

66

66

Farewell" seems to have crept in here improperly, Desdemona had said, farewell," and Othello, as if to soften the idea of separation, says he will presently follow her. When the sense and spirit of the scene thus coincides with the metre, I would, without any hesitation, propose, Desd. " Farewell, my lord." 'My Desdemona, I'll come to thee straight."

Oth. 66

367. "Know of your love," &c.

The frequent attempts that are made to repair the metre, are seldom offered with a confidence that they are right, but only with a full persuasion that something is wanting, in justice to the poet, as in the following speeches, which I would regulate in this manner:

Iag.

"Did Michael Cassio, when you woo'd my lady,

"Know of your love?"

Oth. "

Iag.

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He did, from first to last.
Why dost thou ask that question?"
Only for

"A satisfaction of my thought, my lord;
"No further harm."

Oth. "

368.

Why of thy thought, Iago ?"

Indeed ?"

Oth. "Indeed! ay, indeed! discern'st thou ought in that?"

"Ay, indeed!" appears to be an interpolation encumbering the verse, and injuring the delicacy of the scene and climax of the passion :-the time and occasion of Othello's impatience is approaching, and should not be here anticipated. Iag. "Indeed !"

Oth."

Indeed-Discern'st thou ought

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Oth. "What dost thou think, though

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Jag.
Oth. "

369.

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Think, my lord ?—I—
Think,

'My lord! How's this? By heaven, he

echoes me

As if," &c.

I think, thou dost.”

More abruption and disorder, which I attempt to correct thus:

"I think, thou dost; and, for I know that thou

"Art full of love and honesty, and weigh'st

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'Thy words before thou giv'st them breath,these stops

"Of thine, Iago, do affright me the more: "For such things," &c.

"Are tricks of custom; but, in a man that's just."

This line might be rendered smoother, by reading,

"Are tricks of custom; but, in him that's just."

But the strength of the sentiment, and the opposition between the "just man" and the "disloyal knave," would be impaired; and favourable accent may give currency to the line as it stands, "Are tricks of custom; but, in a man that's just."

371. "Men should be what they seem."

The quarto, more emphatically,

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"that they

"Nay, yet there's more in this."

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More lameness and disorder. I would propose:

Nay, yet there's more in this: I pray thee, speak

"To me thy thinkings; speak to me, as thou "Dost ruminate; and give thy worst of thoughts "The worst of words."

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Speak to me to thy thinkings," is the reading of the first quarto.

372. "With meditations lawful?"

The deficiency of this line may naturally, and of choice, have been owing to the impatience of Othello.

I do beseech you,

"Though I, perchance, am vicious in my guess."

The seeming incorrectness of the expression in this passage proceeds from a non-perception of the studied change in the drift of Iago's speech"I beseech you, attend-(he seems going to say) to these suspicious circumstances;"-but, correcting himself, he interposes, though I perchance judge too severely, (as I confess, &c.) and then, after this display of candour, which is sure to operate on Othello's mind, he shifts his proposition to a request, that what he is about to disclose shall not be too implicitly relied on.

374. "Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing."

Iago delivers a broken sentiment

"Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something that I set little value upon," he was going to say; but, pausing, he strengthens the idea, and adds, "tis-nothing.-"

'Tis something, nothing."

The meaning seems to be, 'tis something to him that gains it, and nothing to me who lose it-it was mine-'tis now his," &c. B. STRUTT. 375. " By heaven, I'll know thy thought."

By heaven" appears to be an interpolation, from which the quarto 1630 is free:

"And makes me poor indeed."

Oth. "

I'll know thy thought.”

"It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock "The meat it feeds on."

Sir T. Hanmer reads "make," and the change is so slight, that the succeeding commentators are more solicitous about the sense, than tenacious of the word. Mr. Steevens remarks, that there is no animal that makes its own food, and that, therefore, Shakspeare could never have mentioned such a creature, especially as it is introduced with the definite article, whereby the reader is supposed to be already acquainted with it; but let the critical naturalist consider that a mouster is here talked of, and that general rules, of course, will not apply to it." A green-eyed monster" would nearly have satisfied Mr. Steevens; but does not "the," which here is the same as "that," more closely appropriate the monster to the object which it is meant to illustrate?-and does not the singularity of the attribute, the making his own meat, constitute the monstrosity? A tiger cannot, with any degree of propriety, be called a monster, or "the greeneyed monster," so long as there are not only multitudes of his kind, but while leopards, lions, and other animals have eyes as green as his; and,

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