To do no contriv'd murder; I lack iniquity ribs. OTH. 'Tis better as it is. IAGO. Nay, but he prated,' And spoke fuch fcurvy and provoking terms Against your honour, That, with the little godlinefs I have, fir, I did full hard forbear him. But, I pray, Shakspeare in Macbeth ufes this word in the fame fenfe, and in a manner yet more harsh : "Cleanfe the ftuff'd bofom of that perilous ftuff." Macbeth. HOLT WHITE. 7 he prated,] Of whom is this faid? Of Roderigo? STEEVENS. 8 the magnifico-] "The chief men of Venice are by a peculiar name called Magnifici, i. e. magnificoes." Minfhieu's Dictionary. See too Volpone. TOLLET. 9 - a voice potential As double as the duke's :] It appears from Thomas's History of Italy, 4to. 1560, to have been a popular opinion, though a falfe one, that the duke of Venice had a double voice. "Whereas," fays he, "many have reported, the duke in ballotyng fhould have two voices; it is nothinge fo; for in giving his voice he hath but one ballot, as all others have." Shakspeare, therefore, might have gone on this received opinion, which he might have found in fome other book. Suppofing, however, that he had learned from this very paffage that the duke had not a double voice in the Council of Seven, yet as he has a vote in each of the various councils of the Venetian state, (a privilege which no other perfon enjoys,) our poet might have thought himself juftified in the epithet which he has here ufed; and this circumftance, which he might have found in a book already quoted, Contareno's Commonwealth and Government of Venice, 4to. 1599. was, I believe, here in his thoughts. Or put upon you what reftraint and grievance The law (with all his might, to enforce it on,) Will give him cable. Отн. Let him do his fpite: My fervices, which I have done the figniory, Shall out-tongue his complaints. 'Tis yet to know, (Which, when I know that boafting is an honour, "The duke himfelf alfo, if he will, may ufe the authority of an advocator or prefident, and make report to the councell of any offence, and of any amercement or punishment that is thereupon to be inflicted;-for fo great is the prince's authoritie, that he may, in whatfoever court, ADJOINE himselfe to the magiftrate therein, being prefident, as his colleague and companion, and have EQUAL POWER WITH THE OTHER PRESIDENTS, that he might fo by this means be able to look into all things." P. 41. Again, ibidem, p. 42: "Befides this, this prince [i. e. the duke,] hath in every councell equal authoritie with any of them, for one fuffrage or lotte." Thus we fee, though he had not a double voice in any one affembly, yet as he had a vote in all the various affemblies, his voice, thus added to the voice of each of the prefidents of thofe affemblies, might with ftrict propriety be called double, and potential.-Potential, Dr. Johnfon thinks, means operative, having the effect, (by weight and influence,) without the external actual property. It is ufed, he conceives," in the fenfe of science; a cauftick is called potential fire.” I question whether Shakspeare meant more by the word than operative, or powerful. MALONE. Double and fingle anciently fignified frong and weak, when applied to liquors, and perhaps to other objects. In this fenfe the former epithet may be employed by Brabantio, and the latter, by the Chief Justice fpeaking to Falftaff: "Is not your wit fingle ?" When Macbeth alfo talks of his "fingle state of man," he may mean no more than his weak and debile state of mind. may therefore only fignify that Brabantio's voice as a magnifico, was as forcible as that of the duke. See Vol. VII. p. 360, n. 5; and Vol. IX. p. 36, n. 9. STEEVENS. The DOUBLE voice of Brabantio refers to the option, which (as being a magnifico, he was no lefs entitled to, than the duke himfelf,) EITHER, of nullifying the marriage of his daughter, contracted without his confent; OR, of fubjecting Othello to fine and imprisonment, for having feduced an heirefs. HENLEY. I fhall promulgate,') I fetch my life and being (Which, when I know that boasting is an honour, reads: 'Tis yet to know "That boasting is an honour. "I fhall promulgate, I fetch," &c. The quarto, 1622, Some words certainly were omitted at the prefs; and perhaps they have been fupplied in the wrong place. Shakspeare might have "That boafting is an honour; which when I know, I am yet to learn that boafting is honourable, which when I have learned, I fhall proclaim to the world that I fetch my life &c. MALONE. I am perfectly fatisfied with the reading in the text, which appears not to have been fufpected of difarrangement by any of our predeceffors. STEEVENS. 3-men of royal fiege;] Men who have fat upon royal thrones. The quarto has-men of royal height. Siege is ufed for feat by other authors. So, in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 575: "there was fet up a throne or fiege royall for the king.” Again, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, B. II. c. vii: "A ftately fiege of foveraigne majeftye." STEEVENS. So, in Grafton's Chronicle, p. 443: "Incontinent after that he was placed in the royal fiege," &c. MALONE. and my demerits-] Demerits has the fame meaning in our author, and many others of that age, as merits : Opinion that fo fticks on Martius, may "Of his demerits rob Cominius." Coriolanus. Again, in Dugdale's Warwickshire, p. 850, edit. 1730: "Henry Conway, efq. for his fingular demerits received the dignity of knighthood." Mereo and demereo had the fame meaning in the Roman language. STEEVENS. May Speak, unbonneted,] Thus all the copies read. Should be unbonneting, i. e. without putting off the bonnet. It POPI. As this that I have reach'd: For know, Iago, I do not fee the propriety of Mr. Pope's emendation, though adopted by Dr. Warburton. Unbonnetting may as well be, not putting on, as not putting off, the bonnet. Hanmer reads e'en bonneted. JOHNSON. To fpeak unbonnetted, is to speak with the cap off, which is directly oppofite to the poet's meaning. Othello means to fay, that his birth and fervices fet him upon fuch a rank, that he may fpeak to a fenator of Venice with his hat on; i. e. without showing any marks of deference or inequality. I therefore am inclined to think Shakspeare wrote: May Speak, and, bonnetted, &c. THEOBALD. Bonneter (fays Cotgrave) is to put off one's cap. So, in Coriolanus: "Those who are fupple and courteous to the people, bonneted without any further deed to heave them at all into their eftimation.” Unbonneted may therefore fignify, 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 fame manner. Such are impawn, impaint, impale, and immask. Of all the readings hitherto propofed, 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. fc. i. with the very contrary signification, namely, for one whofe cap is off: Unbonneted he runs, "And bids what will take all." He might, however, have employed the word here in a different fenfe. MALONE. Unbonneted, is uncovered, revealed, made known. In the fecond act and third fcene of this play we meet with an expreffion fimilar to this: " you unlace your reputation;" and another in As you like it, A&t IV. sc. i: “ Now unmuzzle your wisdom." A. C. Mr. Fufeli (and who is better acquainted with the fenfe and fpirit of our author?) explains this contested paffage as follows: "I am his equal or fuperior in rank; and were it not fo, fuch are my demerits, that, unbonnetted, without the addition of patrician or fenatorial 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. I would not my unhoufed" free condition For the fea's worth. But, look! what lights come yonder? Enter CASSIO, at a distance, and certain Officers with torches. IAGO. Thefe are the raised father, and his friends: You were beft go in. Отн. Not I: I must be found; My parts, my title, and my perfect soul, IAGO. By Janus, I think no. OTH. The fervants of the duke, and my lieute nant. 6 — unhoused—] Free from domeftick cares. A thought natural to an adventurer. JOHNSON. Othello talking as a foldier, unhoused may fignify the having no fettled houfe or habitation. WHALLEY. 7 For the fea's worth.] I would not marry her, though the 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 faid to have much enriched it, I believe the common and obvious meaning of this paffage is the true one. The fame words occur in Sir W. D'Avenant's Cruel Brother, 1630: he would not lofe that privilege, "For the fea's worth." Perhaps the phrase is proverbial. Pliny the naturalift has a chapter on the riches of the fea. 66 for all the fun fees, or "The close earth wombs, or the profound fea bides "In unknown fathoms," &c. Again, in King Henry V. Act I: 66 As rich with praise, "As is the ooze, and bottom of the fea, "With funken wreck, and fumlefs treasuries." STEEVENS. |
