Def. How unlawfully? Oth. Ay. Def. He will not fay fo. Oth. No, his mouth is stopp'd; Honeft Iago hath ta'en order for't'. Def. My fear interprets then,-What, is he dead? Oth. Had all his hairs been lives 7, my great revenge Had ftomach for them all. Def. Alas! he is betray'd, and I undone. Oth. Out, ftrumpet! Weep'st thou for him to my face? Def. Kill me to-morrow, let me live to-night. Def. But half an hour. Oth. Being done, There is no paufe 8. Def. But while I say one prayer. Oth. It is too late. 6 [He fmothers ber. Emil bath ta'en order for't.] i. e. has taken meafures. So, in Holinfhed's Reign of King John: "he took fuch order for him, that he was defpoiled of all his goods and benefices." p. 174. STEEVENS. Again, in Dido Queen of Carthage, by Marlowe and Nashe, 1594: "I will take order for that presently." MALONE. 7 Had all bis bairs been lives,-] This thought appears to have been very common, as it occurs frequently in dramatic performances prior to Shakspeare's Othello. So, in The Devil's Charter, by Barnaby Barnes, 1607: "Know, Cæfar, had I now as many lives "I would," &c. Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's King and no King but if all "My bairs were lives, I would not be engaged "In fuch a caufe." STEEVENS. King and no King, as appears from Sir Henry Herbert's papers, was produced in 1611. See Vol. I. P. II. Hiftorical Account of the English Stage. MALONE. 8 Being done, There is no paufe.] The first quarto omits this speech. STEEVENS. 9 It is too late.] After this fpeech of Othello, the elder quarto adds an invocation from Defdemona, confifting only of the facred name thrice repeated. As this must be supposed to have been uttered while VOL. IX. S s the Emil. [within.] My lord, my lord! what ho! my lord, my lord! Oth. What noise is this?-Not dead? not yet quite dead? I, that am cruel, am yet merciful; I would not have thee linger in thy pain.- So, fo. Emil. [within.] What ho! my lord, my lord! Emil. [within.] O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you. Oth. Yes;-'tis Emilia :- by and by.-She's dead. 'Tis like, fhe comes to speak of Caffio's death; The noife was high.-Ha! no more moving? Still as the grave. Shall the come in? Were't good? Methinks, it should be now a huge eclipfe Of fun and moon; and that the affrighted globe Emil. (within. I do befeech you I may speak with you, O, good my lord! Oth. I had forgot thee: O, come in, Emilia:Soft, by and by:-Let me the curtains draw.— fhe is yet ftruggling with death, I think an editor may be excufed from inferting fuch a circumftance of fapererogatory horror, especially as it is found in but one of the ancient copies. STEEVENS. This alteration was probably made in confequence of the ftatue of the 3d of James I. c. 21. which lays a penalty for the profane use of the name of God, &c. in ftage-plays, enterludes, May-games, &c. TOLLET. The statute was neceffary; for not only the ancient moralities, but the plays (thofe of Chapman in particular) abound with the most wanton and shocking repetitions of a name which never ought to be mentioned in fuch an irreverend manner on the stage. STEEVENS. The alteration was undoubtedly made by the Master of the Revels. MALONE. My wife! my wife! what wife?—I have no wife:] “Filium unicum adolefcentulum habeo: ah! quid dixi habere me ?imo habui, Chreme." Ter. Heautont. STEVENS. Where Where art thou? What's the matter with thee now?". [unlocks the door. Enter EMILIA.. Emil. O, my good lord, yonder's foul murder done. Emil. But now, my lord? Oth. It is the very error of the moon; She comes more near the earth than the was wont, Emil. Caffio, my lord, has kill'd a young Venetian, Call'd-Roderigo. Oth. Roderigo kill'd! And Caffio kill'd? Emil. No, Caffio is not kill'd. Oth. Not Caffio kill'd? Then murder's out of tune, And sweet revenge grows harsh. Def. O, falfely, falfely murder'da! Emil. 20 falfely, falfely murder'd!] It cannot be fuppofed that a perfon who had been effectually ftrangled or fmothered, could fpeak again; for if the power of breathing returned after the inftrument of fuffocation was removed, no act of violence had in reality taken place, by which the conclufion of life could be brought on. But fuch is the peculiar fate of Defdemona, that the is fuppofed to be fmothered, revives to acquaint us that he smothered berjelf, and then dies without any oftenfible caufe of death. I am of opinion that fome theatrical direction has been omitted; and that when Othello says, Not dead? not yet quite dead? I, that am cruel, am yet merciful; I would not have thee linger in thy pain : So, fo. he then stabs her, repeating the two laft words, as he repeats the blow. Thus Virgil: -fic, fic juvat ire fub umbras. After a repetition of wounds, Desdemona might speak again, with propriety, and yet very foon expire; as fays Caffio of Roderigo : even but now he spake, After long feeming dead. The first refolution of Othello was to poifon her, but from this measure he is diffuaded by the policy of Iago. He is next determined to use the poniard; but, his tenderness awaking, he cannot bear to deform thofe beauties which he had fo often approached with other fenfations and for different purposes. Therefore, fays he, Emil. Alas! what cry is that?. Oth. That! what? Emil. Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice :- Emil. O, who hath done This deed? Def. Nobody; I myfelf; farewel: Commend me to my kind lord; O, farewel. Oth. Why, how fhould fhe be murder'd? Emil. Alas, who knows? Oth. You heard her fay herself, it was not I. Emil. She faid fo; I muft needs report the truth. Oth. She's, like a liar, gone to burning hell; 'Twas I that kill'd her. Emil. O, the more angel fhe, And you the blacker devil! Oth. She turn'd to folly, and fhe was a whore 3. Emil. Thou art rafh as fire, to say That she was falfe; O, fhe was heavenly true! I'll not fhed her blood, Nor fear that whiter fkin of hers than fnow, And fmooth as monumental alabafter: [dies. And this refolution we are to imagine he would have kept, but that he was averfe to employing thofe means again, which had already appeared to be uncertain in their effect. If this apparent want of a play-houfe direction had occafioned any abfurdity in the original reprefentation of the play, probably it is glanced at by Ben Jonfon in the Alchemift, A& V.: "Did'ft hear a cry, faid't thou? Yes, fir, like unto a man that had been firangled an hour, and could not fpeak." STEEVENS. The Alchemift was first reprefented in the year 1610, and this paffage is found in the original copy printed in that year. MALONE. 3 She turn'd to folly, and she was a where.] Folly fignifies here, as in the facred writings, depravity of mind. So, in our authour's Rape of Lucrece: "Her fad behaviour feeds his vulture folly." MALONE. 4-falfe as water.] As water, that will fupport no weight, nor keep any impreffion. JOHNSON. Oth. Oth. Caffio did tup her; afk thy husband else. To this extremity; Thy hufband knew it all. Oth. Thy hufband. Emil. That he was falfe to wedlock? Oth. Ay, with Caffio. Nay, had she been true, If heaven would make me fuch another world Of one entire and perfect chryfolite, Emil. My husband? Oth. Ay, 'twas he that told me first 5; An honest man he is, and hates the flime That sticks on filthy deeds. Emil. My hufband? Oth. What needs this iteration", woman? I say, thy husband. Emil.'O miftrefs, villainy hath made mocks with love! My husband fay, that fhe was false? Oth. He, woman; I fay, thy husband; Doft understand the word? Emil. If he fay fo, may his pernicious foul first. that told me firft;] The folio reads, that told me on ber STEEVENS. iteration,] The folio reads-iterance. STEEVENS. 7 Emil.] The first quarto omits this and the following speech. STEEVENS. 8-villainy bath made mocks with love!] Villainy has taken advantage to play upon the weakness of a violent paffion. JOHNSON. I have fometimes thought that these words might mean, that "villainy hath play'd on its object under a pretence of kindness." So, in Macbeth: the furfeited grooms "Do mock their charge with fnores." But in this I have very little confidence. MALONE. Ss3 Emil |