may stimulate to another; and those who have shown, that their passions are too powerful for their prudence, will, with very slight appearances against them, be censured, as not very likely to restrain them by their virtue. JOHNSON.

P. 637, c. 2, 1 65. To seel her father's eyes up, close as oak,] The oak is the most closegrained wood of general use in England. Close as oak, means close as the grain of oak. To seel is an expression from falconry. Id. l. 77. To grosser issues,] Issues, for conclusions.

P. 638, c. 1, 7. 15. a will most rank,] Will, is for wilfulness. It is so used by Ascham. A rank will, is self-will overgrown and exuberant. Id. l. 35. You shall by that perceive him and

his means:] You shall discover whether he thinks his best means, his most powerful interest, is by the solicitation of your lady. Id. L. 36. strain his entertainment- Press hard his re-admission to his play and office. Entertainment was the military term for admission of soldiers.

Id. 1. 42. Fear not my government. ] Do not distrust my ability to contain my passion. Id. 1. 45. with a learned spirit.] The construction is, He knows with a learned spirit all qualities of human dealings. Id 1 46. —— If I do prove her haggard,] A haggard hawk, is a wild-hawk, a hawk unreclaimed or irreclaimable. Id. L. 47. Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings,] Jesses are short straps of leather tied about the foot of a hawk, by which she is held on the fist.

Id l. 48. I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind,

To prey at fortune] The falconers always let fly the hawk against the wind; if she flies with the wind behind her, she seldom returns. If therefore a hawk was for any reason to be dismissed, she was let down the wind, and from that time shifted for herself, and preyed at fortune. Id. 1. 51. chamberers-] i. e. men of intrigue. Id. 1. 62. -forked plague-] In allusion to a barbed or forked arrow, which once infixed, cannot be extracted. But perhaps the forked plague is the cuckold's horns. Id. c. 2, l. 10. — I'll have the work ta'en out,] That is, copied. Her first thoughts are, to have a copy made of it for her husband, and restore the original to Desdemona. But the sudden coming in of Iago, in a surly humour, makes her alter her resolution, to please him. Id. 1. 28. to the advantage, &c.] I being opportunely here, took it up.

Id. 1. 39. Be not you known of't;] i. e. seem as if you knew nothing of the matter. Id. I 51. nor mandragora,] The mandragoras

or mandrake has a soporific quality, and the ancients used it when they wanted an opiate of the most powerful kind.

Id. 1. 54. Which thou ow'dst yesterday.] To owe

is, in our author, oftener to possess, than to be indebted, and such is its meaning here. Id. l. 71. Pioneers and all.] That is, the most abject and vilest of the camp. Pioneers were generally degraded soldiers, appointed to the office of pioneer, as a punishment for misbehaviour.

P. 639, c. 1, 7. 17.

- abandon all remorse;]

All tenderness of nature, all pity; in which sense the word was frequently used in Shakspeare's time.

Id 1 55. Were they as prime as goats] Prime is prompt.

Id. l. 61. Give me a living reason-] Living, for speaking, manifest, actual proof. Mr. Malone reads "that she's disloyal."

Id. c. 2, 1 1. - a foregone conclusion ;] conclusion in Shakspeare's time meant an experiment or trial.

Id. 1. 23. hearted throne,] Hearted throne, is the heart on which thou wast enthroned. Id. 1. 24. swell, bosom, &c.] i. e. swell, because the draught is of poison.

Id. l. 36. ——a capable—] Capable perhaps signifies ample, capacious.

Id. 1. 44. The execution-] i. e. employment or

exercise.

P.

Id.

640, c. 1, l. 10. — cruzadoes.] A Portuguese coin, in value three shillings sterling. So called from the cross stamped upon it.

1. 31. exercise devout;] Exercise was the religious term.

Id. 1. 44. - salt and sullen rheum-] Sullen, that is, a rheum obstinately troublesome. Id. I 72. And it was died in mummy, &c.] The balsamic liquor running from mummies was formerly celebrated for its anti-epileptic virtues. We are now wise enough to know, that the qualities ascribed to it are all imaginary; and yet this fanciful medicine still holds a place in the principal shops where drugs are sold; and it is still much coveted by painters, as a transparent brown colour that throws a warmth into their shadows.

course,

To fortune's alms.] Being discarded from the military line, he purposes to confine or shut himself up, as he formerly had, within the limits of a new profession.

Id. l. 53. in favour,] In look, in countenance.
Id. 1 56. within the blank of his displeasure,]
Within the shot of his anger.
Id. l. 63. I have seen the cannon,

When it hath blown, &c] In Iago's speech something is suppressed. He means to say, I have seen his ranks blown into the air, and his own brother puff'd from his side,-and meanwhile have seen him cool and unruffled. And can he now be angry?

Id. l. 71. some unhatch'd practice,] Some treason that has not taken effect.

SON.

Id. 1. 76. For let our finger ache, and it indues-] I believe it should be rather, subdues our other healthful members to a sense of pain. JOHN641, c. 1, l. 1. -the bridal.] i. e. the nuptial feast: a Saxon word. -(unhandsome warrior as I am) Unhandsome warrior, is evidently unfair assailant.

P.
Id. 1. 2

boding to all,-] The raven was thought to be a constant attendant on a house, in which there was infection.

Id. 1. 30. Convinced or supplied them,] Dr. Farmer is of opinion that supplied has here the same meaning as supplicated. But Mr. Steevens says, that supplied is the old spelling of suppled, i. e. softened.

Id. l. 44.

To confess, and be hanged-] This is a proverbial saying. Id l. 47.

without some instruction.] Othello alludes to Cassio's dream, which had been invented and told him by Iago. When many confused and very interesting ideas pour in upon the mind all at once, and with such rapidity that it has not time to shape or digest them, if it does not relieve itself by tears (which we know it often does, whether for joy or grief), it produces stupefaction and fainting.

Othello, in broken sentences and single words, all of which have a reference to the cause of his jealousy, shows, that all the proofs are present at once to his mind, which so overpowers it, that he falls into a trance, the natural consequence. SIR J. REYNOLDS, P. 642, c. 1, 7. 4. · in those unproper beds,} Unproper, for eommon.

Id. l. 8. in a secure couch.] In a couch in which he is lulled into a false security and confidence in his wife's virtue.

Id. l. 13. ——list,] List, or lists, is barriers, bounds. Keep your temper, says Iago, within the bounds of patience.

Id 1. 20. -encave yourself,] Hide yourself in a Id. Private place

44. And his unbookish jealousy-] Unbookish, for ignorant. Id. 1. 68. Do you triumph, Roman? do you

triumph? Othello calls him Roman ironically. Triumph, which was a Roman ceremony, brought Roman into his thoughts. What (says he), you are now triumphing as great as a Roman! JOHNSON.

Id. 1. 70. a customer!] A common woman, one that invites custom.

Id 1.79. Have you skored me!] Have you made my reckoning? have you settled the term of my life? The old quarto reads-stored me? Have you disposed of me? have you laid me up?

-fitchew!]

pole-cat.

Id c. 2. 7. 21. Id 1 61. No, my heart is turned to stone: 1 strike it, and it hurts my hand.] This thought, as often as it occurs to Shakspeare, is sure to be received, and as often counteracts his pathos.

Id l. 73.

And then, of so gentle a condition!} i. e. of so sweet a disposition.

P. 644, c. 1, 7. 38. - garner'd up my heart: That is, treasured up: the garner and the fountain are improperly conjoined.

Id. l. 43. turn thy completion there! & At such an object do thou, patience, thyself change colour; at this do thou, even th rosy cherub as thou art, look as grim as hel Id. c. 2, l. 39. upon his callet.] Callet is a lewd woman; so called (says Dr. Grey from the French calotte, which was a sort of headdress worn by country girls.

Id.

63. such companions

Companion in the time of Shakspeare, was used as a word of contempt, in the same sense as felis is at this day.

Id. 1. 67. Speak within door.] Do not clamour so as to be heard beyond the house.

Id. l. 69. the seamy side without,] That is, inside out. and acquittance;] Acqui

P. 645, c. 1, 1. 38.

tance is requital.

Id. l. 67. devise engines for my life. To de vise engines, seems to mean, to contrive racks tortures, &c.

SCENE 111.

Id. c. 2, l. 57. and he, she lov'd, prov'd mad, Mad, in the present instance, ought to mat -inconstant.

Id. l. 61. I have much to do,

Id.

But to go hang my head-] I have mach ado to do any thing but hang my head 1.73. The poor soul, &c.] This song, in t is printed in Dr. Percy's collection of od Ballads; the lines preserved here differ see what from the copy discovered by the ingenious collector.

P. 646, c. 1, l. 15. I call'd my love, false love: This couplet is not in the ballad, which is the complaint, not of a woman forsaken, but of a man rejected. These lines were properly added when it was accommodated to a woman. Id. 1. 40. - for a joint-ring;] Anciently a common token among lovers.

Id. l. 54. To the vantage,] i. e. to boot, over and above.

Id. l. 60. -our former having-] Our former allowance of expense. Id. l. 74. us so."

MALONE.

speech, as a low fellow is now termed in low language a scab. To rub to the sense, is to rub to the quick. JOHNSON.

P. 646. c 2, 1. 23

that I bobb'd from him] A bob formerly

That I fool'd him out of signified a mock, or jeer. Id 1.40

in the leg,] Iago maims Cassio in the leg in consequence of what he had just heard him say, from which he supposed that his body was defended by some secret armour. 141 53. Forth of my heart, &c.] Forth signifies both out and from.

Id. 1. 58 -no passage?] No passengers? nobody going by?

14.1.65. -a heavy night:] A thick cloudy night, in which au ambush may be commodiously laid.

d. 1. 33. It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,

Let me not name it-] The abruptness of this soliloquy makes it obscure. The meaning, I think, is this:-I am here (says Othello in his mind) overwhelmed with horror. What is the reason of this perturbation? Is it want of resolution to do justice? It is the dread of shedding blood? No; it is not the action that shocks me, but it is the cause, it is the cause, my soul; let me not name it to you, ye chaste stars! it is the cause. JOHNSON.

d40. Put out the light, and then put out the light: This is one of the passages in which, by a modern regulation, our poet's words have obtained a meaning, which in my opinion was not in his thoughts. Mr. Upton was the first person who introduced the conceit in this line: which has been adopted since his book appeared, by pointing it thus:

Put out the light, and then-Put out the light! &c.

I entirely agree with Dr. Farmer, that this regulation gives a spirit to this passage that was not intended. The poet, I think, meant merely to say."I will now put out the lighted taper which I hold, and then put out the light of life;] and this introduces his subsequent reflection and comparison, just as aptly, as supposing the latter words of the line to be used in the same sense as in the beginning of it, which cannot be done without destroying that equivoque and play of words of which Shakspeare was so fond. MALONE.

d. 1. 70. I would not kill thy soul.] Othello appears to have been a favourite of his author; for he has bestowed on him that piety which he has refused to Hamlet.

2.648, c. 1, 37. A murder, which I thought a sacrifice:] This line is difficult. Thou hast hardened my heart, and makest me kill thee with the rage of a murderer, when I thought to have sacrificed thee to justice with the calmness of a priest striking a victim.

I am glad that I have ended my revisal of this dreadful scene. It is not to be endured.

JOHNSON.

Id I. 49. hath ta'en order for't] i. e. has taken measures.

Id. l. 64. It is too late ] After this speech of Othello, the elder quarto adds an invocation from Desdemona, consisting only of the sacred name thrice repeated. As this must be supposed to have been uttered while she is yet struggling with death, an editor may be excused from inserting such a circumstance of supererogatory horror, especially as it is found in but one of the ancient copies. This alteration was probably made in consequence of the statute of the 3d of James I. c. 21. which lays a peInalty for the profane use of the name of God, &c. in stage-plays, interludes, May games, &c. Such a statute was necessary; for not only the ancient moralities, but the plays (those of Chapman in particular) abound with the most wanton and shocking repetitions of a name which never ought to be mentioned in such an irreverent manner on the stage.

Id. c. 2, l. 45. She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore.] Folly siguifies here depravity of mind.

Id. 47. -false as water] As water that will support no weight, nor keep any impression. Id. l. 69

villany hath made mocks with love!] Villany hath taken advantage to play upon the weakness of a violent passion. P. 649, c. 1, l. 3. Thou hast not half the power to do me harm,

Id.

As

have to be hurt.] She means to say.I have in this cause power to endure more than thou hast power to inflict.

1. 37 I thought so then:] . e at the instant when she gave Desdemona's handkerchief to Iago; for even then Emilia appears to have suspected it was sought after for no honest purpose, and therefore asks her husbandWhat will you do with it ?" &c.

Id. 1. 73. No, I will speak as liberal-] Liberal is free, under no control. Id. c. 2. l. 16. Are there no stones in heaven,

Id

P.

But what serve for the thunder?] Shakspeare might mean, does heaven reserve its thunder only to make a noise? has it no implements of mischief to punish as well as terrify?

1. 40. -the ice-brook's temper ;] This ice

brook was the brook or rivulet callet Salo (now Xalon), near Bilbilis in Celtiberia. In this the Spaniards plunged all their swords and other weapons while hot from the forge; aud to the icy qualities of the waters they were indebted for their stubborn temper.

650, c. 1, l. 1. towards his feet;] To see if, according to the common opinion, his feet be cloven.

ld. l. 10. in the practice-] In the snare, by

the stratagem. Id. c. 2, l. 21.

of one, whose hand

Like the base Júdean, threw a pearl away, Richer than all his tribe:] The commentators are at variance on this passage, some considering it as an allusion to the story of Herod and Marianne, and others to that of a Jew who threw away a pearl of great worth, because he could not get his price for it. We shall subjoin a remark of Mr. Steevens, which vindicates the propriety of an edition like the present.

Either we are partial to discoveries which we make for ourselves, or the spirit of controversy is contagious; for it usually happens that each possessor of an ancient copy of our author is led to assert the superiority of all such readings as kave not been exhibited in the notes, or received into the text of the last edition. On this account our present repub

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