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That can torment him much, and hold him long,
It fhall be his: You fhall clofe prisoner reft,
Till that the nature of your fault be known
To the Venetian ftate:-Come, bring him away.
Oth. Soft you; a word or too, before you go.
I have done the ftate fome fervice, and they know it;
No more of that:-I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall thefe unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor fet down aught in malice: then muft you speak
Of one, that lov'd not wifely, but too well;
Of one, not eafily jealous, but, being wrought,
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one, whofe hand,
Like the bafe Júdean, threw a pearl away

Richer than all his tribe'; of one, whofe fubdu'd eyes,
Albeit

9 Speak of me as I am;] The first quarto reads, Speak of them as they are. The prefent reading, which is the reading of the folio, has more force. JOHNSON.

I - of one, whofe band,

Like the bafe Júdean, threw a pearl away

Richer than all bis tribe ;] Thus the folio. The firft quarto, 1622, reads-Indian. Mr. Theobald therefore is not accurate in the following note, in his account of the old copies. MALONE.

I have restored Judian, from the elder quarto, as the genuine and more eligible reading. Mr. Pope thinks this was occafioned probably by the word tribe just after: I have many reafons to oppofe this opinion. In the first place, the most ignorant Indian, I believe, is fo far the reverse of the dung bill-cock in the fable, as to know the estimation of a pearl beyond that of a barley-corn. So that, in that refpect, the thought itfelf would not be juft. Then, if our author had defigned to reflect on the ignorance of the Indian without any farther reproach, he would have called him rude, and not bafe. Again, I am perfuaded, as my friend Mr. Warburton long ago obferved, the phrafe is not here literal, but metaphorical; and, by his pearl, our author very properly means a fine woman. But Mr. Pope objects farther to reading Jadian, becaufe, to make fenfe of this, we must pre-fuppofe fome particular ftory of a Jew alluded to; 'which is much lefs obvious: but has Shakfpeare never done this, but in this fingle inftance? I am fatisfied, in his Judian, he is alluding to Herod; who, in a fit of blind jealousy, threw away fuch a jewel of a wife as Mariamne was to him. What can be more parallel in circumstance, than the conduct of Herod and Othello? Nor was the ftory fo little obvious, as Mr. Pope feems to imagine: for, in the year, 1613, the lady Elizabeth Carew published

a tragedy

Albeit unused to the melting mood *,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees

Their

a tragedy called MARIAM, the fair Queen of JEWRY. I fhall only add, that our author might write Judian, or Judean, (if that should be alledged as any objection) instead of Judean, with the fame licence and change of accent, as, in his Anthony and Cleopatra, he thortens the fecond fyllable of Euphrates in pronunciation: which was a liberty likewife taken by Spenfer, of whom our author was a studious imitatori THEOBALD.

The elder quarto reads Judian, and this is certainly right. And by the Judian is meant Herod, whofe ufage to Mariamne is fo appofite to the fpeaker's cafe, that a more proper inftance could not be thought of. Befides, he was the subject of a tragedy at that time, as appears from the words in Hamlet, where an ill player is defcribed, "to out-herod Herod."

The metaphorical term of a pearl for a fine woman, is fo common as fcarce to need examples. In Troilus and Creffida, a lover fays of his mistress, There the lies a PEARL.

And again,

Why he is a pearl, whofe price," &c. WARBURTON.

I cannot join with the learned critics in conceiving this paffage to refer either to the ignorance of the natives of India, in respect of pearls, or the well-known ftory of Herod and Mariamne. The poet might juft as fairly be supposed to have alluded to that of Jeptha and his daughter.

Othello, in deteftation of what he had done, feems to compare him. felf to another perfon who had thrown away a thing of value, with fome circumstances of the meanest villainy, which the epithet bafe feems to imply in its general fenfe, though it is fometimes ufed only for low or mean. The Indian could not properly be termed bafe in the former and most common fenfe, whofe fault was ignorance, which brings its own excufe with it; and the crime of Herod furely deferves a more aggravated diftinction. For though in every crime, great as well as fmall, there is a degree of bafenefs, yet the furiis agitatus amor, fuch as contributed to that of Herod, feems to afk a ftronger word to characterize it; as there was fpirit at least in what he did, though the fpirit of a fiend, and the epithet bafe would better fuit with petty larceny than royal guilt. Befides, the fimile appears to me too appofite almoft to be used on the occafion, and is little more than bringing the fact into comparison with itself. Each through jealousy had deftroyed

- whofe fubdu'd eyes

Albeit unused to the melting mood,] So, in our poet's 30th Sonnet : "Then can I drown an eye unus'd to flow." MALONE. VOL. IX.

T t

Their med'cinable gum: Set you down this:
And fay, befides,-that in Aleppo once,

Where

deftroyed an innocent wife; circumftances fo parallel, as hardly to admit of that variety which we generally find in one allufion, which is meant to illuftrate another, and at the fame time to appear as more than a fuperfluous ornament. Of a like kind of imperfection, there is an inftance in Virgil, B. XI. where after Camilla and her attendants have been defcribed as abfolute Amazons,

"At medias inter cædes exultat Amazon

"Unum exerta latus pugnæ pharetrata Camilla.
"At circum lectæ comites," &c.

we find them, nine lines after, compared to the Amazons themselves,
to Hypolyta or Penthefilea, furrounded by their companions:
"Quales Threiciæ, cum flumina Thermodontis
"Pulfant, et pictis bellantur Amazones armis :

"Seu circum Hypoliten, feu cum fe martia curru
"Penthefilea refert."

What is this but bringing a fact into comparison with itself? Neither do I believe the poet intended to make the prefent fimile coincide with all the circumstances of Othello's fituation, but merely with the fingle act of having bafely (as he himself terms it) deftroyed that on which he ought to have fet a greater value. As the pearl may bear a literal as well as a metaphorical fenfe, I would rather choose to take it in the literal one, and receive Mr. Pope's rejected explanation, pre-fuppofing fome flory of a few alluded to, which might be well understood at that time, though now perhaps forgotten, or at leaft imperfectly remembered. I have read in fome book, as ancient as the time of Shakspeare, the following tale; though, at prefent, I am unable either to recollect the title of the piece, or the author's name.

A Jew, who had been prifoner for many years in diftant parts, brought with him at his return to Venice a great number of pearls, which he offered on the change among the merchants, and (one alone excepted) difpofed of them to his fatisfaction. On this pearl, which was the largest ever fhewn at market, he had fixed an immoderate price, nor could be perfuaded to make the leaft abatement. Many of the magnificos, as well as traders, offered him confiderable fums for it, but he was refolute in his first demand. At last, after repeated and unfuccefsful applications to individuals, he affembled the merchants

of

2 Their med'cinable gum:] Thus the folio. The original quarto, 1622, reads-medicinal. I have preferred the reading of the folio, becaufe the word occurs again in Much ado about nothing: impediment will be medicinable to me." i. e. falutary. MALONE.

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any

Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk 3
Beat a Venetian, and traduc'd the state,

I took

of the city, by proclamation, to meet him on the Rialto, where he once more expofed it to fale on the former terms, but to no purpose. After having expatiated, for the last time, on the fingular beauty and value of it, he threw it fuddenly in the fea before them all. Though this anecdote may appear inconfiftent with the avarice of a Jew, yet it fufficiently agrees with the fpirit fo remarkable at all times in the fcattered remains of that vindictive nation.

Shakspeare's feeming averfion to the Jews in general, and his conftant defire to expofe their avarice and bafeness as often as he had an opportunity, may ferve to ftrengthen my fuppofition; and as that nation, in his time, and fince, has not been famous for crimes daring and confpicuous, but has rather contented itself to thrive by the meaner and more fuccefsful arts of bafenefs, there feems to be a particular propriety in the epithet. When Falstaff is juftifying himself in Henry IV. he adds, "If what I have faid be not true, I am a Jew, an Ebrew "Jew," i. e. one of the most fufpected characters of the time. The liver of a Jew is an ingredient in the cauldron of Macbeth; and the vigilance for gain, which is defcribed in Shylock, may afford us reafon to fuppofe the poet was alluding to a story like that already quoted.

Richer than all his tribe, seems to point out the Jew again in a mercantile light; and may mean, that the pearl was richer thar all the gems to be found among a fet of men generally trading in them. Neither do I recollect that Othello mentions many things, but what he might fairly have been allowed to have had knowledge of in the courfe of his peregrinations. Of this kind are the fimilies of the Euxine fea flowing into the Propontick, and the Arabian trees dropping their gums. The rest of his fpeeches are more free from mythological and historical allufions, than almost any to be found in Shakspeare, for he is never quite clear from them; though in the defign of this character he feems to have meant it for one who had spent a greater part of his life in the field, than in the cultivation of any other knowledge than what would be of ufe to him in his military capacity. It should be obferved, that most of the flourishes merely ornamental were added after the first edition; and this is not the only proof to be met with, that the poet in his alterations fometimes forgot his original plan.

The metaphorical term of a pearl for a fine woman, may, for aught I know, be very common; but in the inftances Dr. Warburton has brought

3 Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk-] I am told that it is immediate death for a Chriftian to ftrike a Turk in Aleppo. Othello is boasting of his own audacity. ANONYMUS.

I took by the throat the circumcifed dog,

And fmote him—thus.

[Aabs himself.

Lod.

brought to prove it fo, there are found circumstances that immediate ly fhew a woman to have been meant, So, in Troilus and Creffida: "HER BED IS INDIA, there SHE lies a pearl.

"Why SHE is a pearl whofe price hath launch'd,-." &c. In Othello's fpeech we find no fuch leading expreffion; and are therefore at liberty, I think, to take the paffage in its literal meaning.

Either we are partial to difcoveries which we make for ourselves, or the spirit of controversy is contagious; for it usually happens that each poffeffer of an ancient copy of our author is led to affert the fuperiority of all such readings as have not been exhibited in the notes, or received into the text of the last edition. On this account, our prefent republication (and more especially in the celebrated plays) affords a greater number of thefe diverfities than were ever before obtruded on the publick. A time however may arrive, when a complete body of variations being printed, our readers may luxuriate in an ample feast of thats and whiches; and thenceforward it may be prophecied, that all will unite in a wifh that the selection had been made by an editor, rather than submitted to their own labour and sagacity.

To this note fhould be fubjoined (as an apology for many others which may not be thought to bring conviction with them) that the true sense of a paffage has frequently remained undetermined, till re peated experiments have been tried on it; when one commentator, making a proper ufe of the errors of another, has at laft explained it to univerfal fatisfaction. When mistakes have such effects, who would regret having been mistaken, or be forry to prove the means of directing others, by that affinity which a wrong reading or interpretation fometimes has to the right, though he has not been fo lucky as to produce at once authorities which could not be questioned, or decifions to which nothing could be added? STEEVENS.

I abide by the old text, "the bafe Judian." Shakspeare feems to allude to Herod in the play of Mariamne:

"I had but one inestimable jewel

"Yet I in fuddaine choler caft it downe,

"And dafht it all to pieces."- FARMER,

The words quoted by Dr. Warburton from Hamlet do not prove what they are adduced for. The Herod there alluded to was a character in one of the ancient Myfteries.

The laft paragraph but one in Mr. Steevens's note was added by him in his edition printed in 1778, and relates to that edition.

I once thought that the accent here given to Judean was a strong objection to this reading: and that the word must have been Judian, or Judæan, (as a derivative from Judea) which would not fuit the metre. But the objection was founded on a mistake; for derivative

words

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