As this that I have reach'd: For know, Iago, I would not my unhoused free condition Put into circumscription and confine For the sea's worth. But, look! what lights come yonder? without any further deed to heave them at all into their estimation. Unbonneted may therefore signify, without taking the cap off. We might, I think, venture to read imbonneted. It is common with Shakspeare to make or use words compounded in the same manner. Such are impawn, impaint, impale, and immask. Of all the readings hitherto proposed, that of Mr. Theobald is, I think, the best. Steevens. The objection to Mr. Steevens's explanation of unbonneted, i. e. without taking the cap off, is, that Shakspeare has himself used the word in King Lear, Act III, sc. i, with the very contrary signification, namely, for one whose cap is off: 66 Unbonneted he runs, "And bids what will take all " He might, however, have employed the word here in a different sense. Malone. Unbonneted, is uncovered, revealed, made known. In the second Act and third scene of this play we meet with an expression similar to this: ". you unlace your reputation;" and another in As you Like it, Act IV, sc. i: "Now unmuzzle your wisdom." A. C. Mr. Fuseli (and who is better acquainted with the sense and spirit of our author?) explains this contested passage as follows: "I am his equal or superior in rank; and were it not so, such are my demerits, that, unbonneted, without the addition of patrician or senatorial dignity, they may speak to as proud a fortune &c. "At Venice, the bonnet, as well as the toge, is a badge of aristocratick honours to this day." Steevens. 71 unhoused-] Free from domestick cares. A thought natural to an adventurer. Johnson. Othello talking as a soldier, unhoused may signify the having no settled house or habitation. Whalley. 8 For the sea's worth.] I would not marry her, though she were as rich as the Adriatick, which the Doge annually marries. Johnson. As the gold ring annually thrown by the Doge into the Adriatick, cannot be said to have much enriched it, I believe the common and obvious meaning of this passage is the true one. The same words occur in Sir W. D'Avenant's Cruel Brother, 1630: 66 he would not lose that privilege "For the sea's worth." Perhaps the phrase is proverbial. Enter CASSIO, at a distance and certain Officers with Torches. Iago. These are the raised father, and his friends: You were best go in. Oth. Not I: I must be found; My parts, my title, and my perfect soul, Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they? Jago. By Janus, I think no. Oth. The servants of the duke, and my lieutenant. The goodness of the night upon you, friends!" What is the news? Cas. The duke does greet you, general; And he requires your haste-post-haste appearance,1 Oth. What is the matter, think you? Cas. Something from Cyprus, as I may divine; It is a business of some heat: the gallies Have sent a dozen sequent messengers2 This very night at one another's heels; And many of the consuls, rais'd, and met, Are at the duke's already: You have been hotly call'd for; When, being not at your lodging to be found, Pliny the naturalist has a chapter on the riches of the seas for all the sun sees, or "The close earth wombs, or the profound sea hides Again, in King Henry V, Act I: As rich with praise, "As is the ooze, and bottom of the sea, "With sunken wreck, and sumless treasuries." Steevens. The goodness of the night upon you, friends!] So, in Measure for Measure: "The best and wholesomest spirits of the night 66 1-- Envellop you, good Provost !" Steevens. your haste-post haste appearance,] The comma, hitherto placed after haste, should be a hyphen. Your haste-post-haste appearance is your immediate appearance. The words " Haste, post, haste," were in our author's time usually written on the cover of packets, or letters, sent express. Ritson. 2 sequent messengers —] The first quarto reads-frequent messengers. Steevens. 3 -the consuls,] See p. 199, n. 1. Steevens: The senate hath sent about three several quests, 'Tis well I am found by you. [Exit. I will but spend a word here in the house, And go with you. Cas. Ancient, what makes he here? Iago. 'Faith, he to-night hath boarded a land carack;5 If it prove lawful prize, he 's made for ever. Cas. I do not understand. Iago. Cas. He 's married. To who?6 4 The senate hath sent about—] The early quartos, and all the modern editors, have The senate sent above three several quests, The folio The senate hath sent about &c. That is, about the city. I have adopted the reading of the folio. Johnson. Quests are, on this occasion, searches. So, in Heywood's Brazen Age, 1613: "Now, if in all his quests, he be witheld." An ancient MS. entitled The Boke of Huntyng that is cleped Mayster of Game," has the following explanation of the word quest: "This word quest is a terme of herte hunters of beyonde the see; and is thus moche to say as whan the hunter goth to fynde of the hert and to herborow him." Steevens. 5 — a land carack;] A carack is a ship of great bulk, and commonly of great value; perhaps what we now call a galleon. Johnson. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Coxcomb: 86 they'll be freighted; ་ They're made like caracks, all for strength and stowage." The first ships that came richly laden from the West Indies to Europe were those from the Caraccas, part of the Spanish settlements and some years ago a Caracca ship generally proved a very rich prize. M. Mason. A carack, or carick, (for so it was more frequently written in Shakspeare's time) is of higher origin, and was denominated from the Spanish word, caraca, which signifies a vessel of great bulk, constructed to carry a heavy burthen. The Spanish caraca, Minsheu thinks, may have been formed from the Italian carico, a lading, or freight. Malone. 6 To who?] It is somewhat singular that Cassio should ask this > question. In the 3d scene of the 3d Act, Iago says: "Did Michael Cassio, when you woo'd my lady, U 2 Re-enter OTHELLO. Iago. Marry, to― Come, captain, will you go? Have with you." Cas. Here comes another troop to seek for you. Enter BRABANTIO, RODERIGO, and Officers of night, with Torches and Weapons. Iago. It is Brabantio:-general, be advis'd; He comes to bad intent. Oth. Hola! stand there! Rod. Signior, it is the Moor. Bra. Down with him, thief! [They draw on both sides. Iago. You, Roderigo! come, sir, I am for you. Good signior, you shall more command with years, Bra. O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter? Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her: "Oth. From first to last." He who was acquainted with the object courted by his friend, could have little reason for doubting to whom he would be mar. ried. Steevens. Cassio's seeming ignorance of Othello's courtship or marriage might only be affected; in order to keep his friend's secret, till it became publickly known. Blackstone. Or he might fear that Othello had proved false to the gentle Desdemona, and married another. Malone. How far this suspicious apprehension would have become the benevolent Cassio, the intimate friend of Othello, let the reader judge. Steevens. 7 Have with you.] This expression denotes readiness. So, in the ancient Interlude of Nature, bl. 1. no date: "And saw that Glotony wold nedys begone; See Vol. XI, p. 94, n. 8. Steevens.. 3 -m be advis'd;] That is, be cool; be cautious; be discreet. Johnson. 9 The wealthy curled darlings of our nation, 9 The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,] Curled is elegantly and ostentatiously dressed. He had not the hair particularly in his thoughts. Johnson. On another occasion Shakspeare employs the same expression, and evidently alludes to the hair: "If she first meet the curled Antony," &c. Sir W. D'Avenant uses the same expression in his Just Italian, 1630: Again: "The curl'd and silken nobles of the town." "Such as the curled youth of Italy." I believe Shakspeare has the same meaning in the present instance. Thus, Turnus, in the 12th Æneid, speaking of Æneas: fœdare in pulvere crines 66 "Vibratos calido ferro, Steevens. That Dr. Johnson was mistaken in his interpretation of this line, is ascertained by our poet's Rape of Lucrece, where the hair. is not merely alluded to, but expressly mentioned, and the epithet curled is added as characteristick of a person of the highest rank: "Let him have time to tear his curled hair." Tarquin, a king's son, is the person spoken of. Edgar, when he was "proud in heart and mind,” curled his hair. Malone. 1 Of such a thing as thou; to fear, not to delight.] To fear, in the present instance, may mean-to terrify. So, in King Henry VI, P. III: "For Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all." The line spoken by Brabantio is redundant in its measure. It might originally have ran Of such as thou; to fear, not to delight. Mr. Rowe, however, seems to have selected the words I would omit, as proper to be put into the mouth of Horatio, who applies them to Lothario: "To be the prey of such a thing as thou art." Steevens. to fear, not to delight.] To one more likely to terrify than delight her. So, in the next scene (Brabantio is again the speaker): "To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on." Mr. Steevens supposes fear to be a verb here, used in the sense of to terrify; a signification which it formerly had. But fear, I apprehend, is a substantive, and poetically used for the object of fear. Malone. 2 [Fudge me the world, &c.] The lines following in erotchets are not in the first edition, [1622.] Pope. |