DES. I cannot fpeak of this. Come now your promife. So Fletcher, in The Fair Maid of the Inn. One fays, I will fend thee to Amboyna in the Eaft Indies for pepper. The other replies, To Amboyna? jo I might be pepper'd. Again, in the fame play, a failor fays, Defpife not this pitch'd canvas, the time was, we have known them lined with Spanish ducats. WARBURTON. The hiftorical obfervation is very judicious and acute, but of the emendation there is no need. She fays, that her hand gave away ber heart. He goes on with his fufpicion, and the hand which he had before called frank, he now terms liberal; then proceeds to remark, that the hand was formerly given by the heart; but now it neither gives it, nor is given by it. JOHNSON. I think, with Dr. Warburton, that the new order of baronets is here again alluded to. See The Merry Wives of Windfor, Vol. III. p. 356, and Spelman's Epigram there cited: florentis nomen honoris "Indicat in clypei fronte cruenta manus. "Non quod fævi aliquid, aut ftricto fortiter ense "Hoftibus occifis gefferit ifte cohors." BLACKSTONE. The reader will not find the epigram alluded to by Sir William Blackstone, in the page to which he has referred [in my edition], for I have omitted that part of his note, (an omiffion of which I have there given notice,) because it appeared to me extremely improbable that any paffage in that play should allude to an event that did not take place till 1611. The omitted words I add here, (diftinguishing them by Italick characters,) as they may appear to add weight to his opinion and that of Dr. Warburton. I fufpect this is an oblique reflection on the prodigality of James the first in beftowing thefe honours, and erecting a new order of knighthood called baronets; which few of the ancient gentry would condefcend to accept. See Sir Henry Spelman's epigram on them, GLoss. p. 76, which ends thus: 66 dum cauponare recufant See another ftroke at them in Othello." MALONE. My refpect for the fentiments of Sir William Blackstone might have induced me to print both them, and the epigram referred to, in both places, even if the preceding remark of Mr. Malone had not, in this fecond inftance, afforded them an apt introduction. STEEVENS. our new heraldry, &c.] I believe this to be only a figura . OTH. What promife, chuck? tive expreffion, without the leaft reference to king James's creation of baronets. The abfurdity of making Othello fo familiar with British heraldry, the utter want of confiftency as well as policy in any fneer of Shakspeare at the badge of honours inftituted by a Prince whom on all other occafions he was folicitous to flatter, and at whofe court this very piece was acted in 1613, moft ftrongly incline me to queftion the propriety of Dr. Warburton's historical explanation. STEEVENS. To almost every sentence of Dr. Warburton's note, an objection may be taken; but I have preferved it as a fpecimen of this commentator's manner. It is not true that king James created the order of baronets fam after he came to the throne. It was created in the year 1611.— The conceit that by the word hearts the poet meant to allude to the gallantry of the reign of Elizabeth, in which men diftinguished themfelves by their feel, and that by hands thofe courtiers were pointed at, who ferved her inglorious fucceffor only by their gold, is too fanciful to deserve an answer. Thus Dr. Warburton's note ftood as it appeared originally in Theobald's edition; but in his own, by way of confirmation of his notion, we are told, that "it was not uncommon for the fatirical poets of that time to fatirife the ignominy of James's reign;" and for this affertion we are referred to Fletcher's Fair Maid of the Inn. But, unluckily, it appears from the office-book of Sir Henry Herbert, a Mf. of which an account is given in Vol. II. that Fletcher's plays were generally performed at court foon after they were firft exhibited at the theatre, and we may be affured that he would not venture to offend his courtly auditors. The Fair Maid of the Inn, indeed, never was performed before King James, being the last play but one that Fletcher wrote, and not produced till the 22d of Jan. 1625-6, after the death both of its author and king James; but when it was written, he muft, from the circumftances already mentioned, have had the court before his eyes. In various parts of our poet's works he has alluded to the cuftom of plighting troth by the union of hands. So, in Hamlet: "Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands "Unite co-mutual in moft facred bands." Again, in The Tempft, which was probably written at no great diftance of time from the play before us : "Mir. My husband then? "Fer. Ay, with a heart as willing "As bondage e'er of freedom. Here's my hand. "Mir. And mine, with my heart in't." DES. I have fent to bid Caffio come speak with you. OTH. I have a falt and fullen rheum" offends me; Lend me thy handkerchief. The hearts of old, fays Othello, dictated the union of hands, which formerly were joined with the hearts of the parties in them; but in our modern marriages, hands alone are united, without hearts. Such evidently is the plain meaning of the words. I do not, however, undertake to maintain that the poet, when he ufed the word heraldry, had not the new order of baronets in his thoughts, without intending any fatirical allufion. MALONE. - falt and fullen rheum-] Thus the quarto, 1622. The folio, for fullen, has forry. MALONE. Sullen, that is, a rheum obftinately troublesome. I think this better. JOHNSON. 7 That handkerchief Did an Egyptian to my mother give;] In the account of this tremendous handkerchief, are fome particulars, which lead me to think that here is an allufion to a fact, heightened by poetical imagery. It is the practice in the caftern regions, for perfons of both fexes to carry handkerchiefs very curioufly wrought. In the MS. papers of Sir John Chardin, that great oriental traveller, is a paffage which fully defcribes the custom. "The mode of wrought handkerchiefs (fays this learned enquirer), is general in Arabia, in Syria, in Paletine, and generally in all the Turkish empire. They are wrought with a needle, and it is the amufement of the fair fex there, as among us the making tapestry and lace. The young women make them for their fathers, their brothers, and by way of preparation before hand for their spouses, beftowing them as favours on their lovers. They have them almoft conftantly in their hands in those warm countries, to wipe off fweat." But whether this VOL. XV. She was a charmer,' and could almost read The thoughts of people: fhe told her, while the kept it, 'Twould make her amiable, and subdue my father Should hold her loathly, and his fpirits fhould hunt DES. Is it poffible? circumstance ever came to Shakspeare's knowledge, and gave rife to the incident, I am not able to determine. WHALLEY. Shakspeare found in Cinthio's novel the incident of Defdemona's lofing a handkerchief finely wrought in Morifco work, which had been prefented to her by her husband, or rather of its being ftolen from her by the villain who afterwards by his machinations robbed her of her life. The eastern custom of brides prefenting fuch gifts to their hufbands, certainly did not give rise to the incident on which this tragedy turns, though Shakspeare should seem to have been apprized of it. However the preceding note is retained as illuftrative of the paffage before us. MALONE. 9 She was a charmer,] In Deut. xviii. 11. there is an injunction, "Let none be found among you that is a charmer." In Perkins's Difcourfe of the Damned Art of Witchcraft, 8vo.-1610, it is faid that "Inchantment is the working of wonders by a charme;" and a charm is afterwards defined, "a fpell or verfe, confitting of ftrange words, ufed as a figne or watchword to the Devil to caufe him to worke wonders." In this Difcourfe is an enumeration of the wonders done by inchanters, as raifing ftorms and tempefts, &c. and at the conclufion it is faid, "by witches we underfland not thofe only which kill and torment, but all diviners, charmers, jugglers, all wizzards, commonly called wife men and wife women; yea, whofoever do any thing (knowing what they do) which cannot be effected by nature or art.' REED. 2 To lofe or giv't away,] Thus the quarto, 1622. The folioTo lofe't &c. STEEVENS. OTн. 'Tis true: there's magick in the web of it: A fibyl,' that had number'd in the world The fun to make two hundred compaffes, In her prophetick fury few'd the work: The worms were hallow'd, that did breed the filk; And it was dy'd in mummy,' which the fkilful Conferv'd of maidens' hearts." 3 A fibyl, &c.] This circumftance perhaps is imitated by Ben Jonfon in The Sad Shepherd: "A Gypfan lady, and a right beldame, "Wrought it by moonshine for me, and ftar-light," &c. · number'd. STEEVENS. The fun to make &c.] Thus the quarto, 1622. The folio -to courfe. STEEVENS. That is, numbered the fun's courfes: badly expreffed. WARBURTON. The expreffion is not very infrequent: we fay, I counted the clock 10 ftrike four; so the number'd the fun to courfe, to run two hundred compaffes, two hundred annual circuits. JOHNSON. I have preferred the original reading, because we have in Hamlet: "When yon fame ftar, that's eastward from the pole, "Had made his courfe, to illume that part of heaven." MALONE. 5 And it was dy'd in mummy,] The balfamick liquor running from mummies was formerly celebrated for its anti-epileptick virtues. We are now wife enough to know, that the qualities afcribed to it are all imaginary; and yet this fanciful medicine ftill holds a place in the principal fhops where drugs are fold. So, in The Bird in a Cage, by Shirley, 1633. 66 make mummy of my flesh, and fell me to the apothe caries." Again, in The Honeft Lawyer, 1616: "That I might tear their flesh in mammocks, raise "My loffes, from their carcafes turn'd mummy." Mummy, however, is ftill much coveted by painters, as a transparent brown colour that throws a warmth into their fhadows. - which the fkilful STEEVENS. Conferv'd of maidens' bearts.] Thus the folio. The quarto reads: with the skilful Conferves, &c. STEEVENS. |
