I have't;-it is engender'd:-Hell and night Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light. [Exit. ACT II. SCENE I. A Sea-port Town in Cyprus". A Platform. Enter MONTANO and Two Gentlemen. MON. What from the cape can you discern at sea ? 1 GENT. Nothing at all: it is a high-wrought flood; I cannot, 'twixt the havens and the main, 7-in CYPRUS.] All the modern editors, following Mr. Rowe, have supposed the capital of Cyprus to be the place where the scene of Othello lies during four Acts: but this could not have been Shakspeare's intention; Nicosia, the capital city of Cyprus, being situated nearly in the center of the island, and thirty miles distant from the sea. The principal sea-port town of Cyprus was Famagusta; where there was formerly a strong fort and commodious haven, the only one of any magnitude in the island; and there undoubtedly the scene should be placed. "Neere unto the haven (says Knolles,) standeth an old castle, with four towers after the ancient manner of building." To this castle, we find Othello presently repairs. It is observable that Cinthio in the novel on which this play is founded, which was first published in 1565, makes no mention of any attack being made on Cyprus by the Turks. From our poet's having mentioned the preparations against this island, which they first assaulted and took from the Venetians in 1570, we may suppose that he intended that year as the era of his tragedy; but by mentioning Rhodes as also likely to be assaulted by the Turks, he has fallen into an historical inconsistency; for they were then in quiet possession of that island, of which they became masters in December, 1522; and if, to evade this difficulty, we refer Othello to an era prior to that year, there will be an equal incongruity; MON. Methinks, the wind hath spoke aloud at land; A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements: What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them', for from 1473, when the Venetians first became possessed of Cyprus, to 1522, they had not been molested by any Turkish armament. MALone. 8 -'twixt the HEAVEN-] Thus the folio; but perhaps our author wrote the heavens. The quarto, 1622, probably by a printer's error, has-haven. STEEVENS. The reading of the folio affords a bolder image; but the article prefixed strongly supports the original copy: for applied to heaven, it is extremely aukward. Besides; though in The Winter's Tale our poet has made a Clown talk of a ship boring the moon with her mainmast, and say that "between the sea and the firmament you cannot thrust a bodkin's point," is it probable, that he should put the same hyperbolical language into the mouth of a gentleman, answering a serious question on an important occasion? In a subsequent passage indeed he indulges himself without impropriety in the elevated diction of poetry. Of the haven of Famagusta, which was defended from the main by two great rocks, at the distance of forty paces from each other, Shakspeare might have found a particular account in Knolles's History of the Turks, ad ann. 1570, p. 863. MALONE. 9 If it hath RUFFIAN'D So upon the sea,] So, in Troilus and Cressida : "But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage "The gentle Thetis-." MALOne. I — when MOUNTAINS MELT on them,] Thus the folio. The quarto reads: 66 —when the huge mountain melts." This latter reading might be countenanced by the following passage in The Second Part of King Henry IV.: 66 66 the continent, Weary of solid firmness, melt itself "Into the sea--." This phrase appears to have been adopted from the Book of Judges, chap. v. 5: "The mountains melted from before the Lord," &c. STEEVENS. The quarto is surely the better reading; it conveys a more natural image, more poetically expressed. Every man who has been on board a vessel in the Bay of Biscay, or in any very high sea, must know that the vast billows seem to melt away from the ship, not on it. M. MASON. Can hold the mortise? what shall we hear of this? Seems to cast water on the burning bear, I would not wilfully differ from Mr. M. Mason concerning the value of these readings; yet surely the mortise of a ship is in greater peril when the watry mountain melts upon it, than when it melts from it. When the waves retreat from a vessel, it is safe. When they break over it, its structure is endangered. So, in Pericles Prince of Tyre: "That almost burst the deck." STEEVENS. The quarto, 1622, reads—when the huge mountaine meslt; the letters, which perhaps belongs to mountain, having wandered at the press from its place. I apprehend, that in the quarto reading (as well as in the folio,) by mountains the poet meant not land-mountains, which Mr. Steevens seems by his quotation to have thought, but those huge surges, (resembling mountains in their magnitude,) which, "with high and monstrous main seem'd to cast water on the burning bear." So, in a subsequent scene: "And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas, Again, in Troilus and Cressida : and anon behold "The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cuts." MALONE. My remark on Mr. M. Mason's preceding note will show that I had no such meaning as Mr. Malone has imputed to me. All I aimed at was to parallel the idea in the quarto, of one mountain melting, instead of many. STEEvens. 2 the FOAMING shore,] The elder quarto reads-banning shore, which offers the bolder image; i. e. the shore that execrates the ravage of the waves. So, in King Henry VI. Part I. : "Fell, banning hag, enchantress, hold thy tongue." STEEVENS. 3 And quench the GUARDS of the ever-FIXED pole :] Alluding to the star Arctophylax. JOHNSON. I wonder that none of the advocates for Shakspeare's learning, I never did like molestation view, On th' enchafed flood. MON. If that the Turkish fleet Be not inshelter'd and embay'd, they are drown'd; It is impossible they bear it out. Enter a third Gentleman. 3 GENT. News, lords! our wars are done; The desperate tempest hath so bang'd the Turks, That their designment halts: A noble ship of Venice Hath seen a grievous wreck and sufferance On most part of their fleet. MON. How is this true? 3 GENT. The ship is here put in, A Veronesé; Michael Cassio 1, *First folio, to bear it. + Quarto, another ship. has observed that Arctophylax literally signifies-the guard of the bear. The elder quarto reads-ever-fired pole. STEEVENS. 4 The ship is here put in, A Veronesé; Michael Cassio, &c.] [Old copies-Veronessa.] Mr. Heath is of opinion, that the poet intended to inform us, that Othello's lieutenant Cassio was of Verona, an inland city of the Venetian state; and adds, that the editors have not been pleased to say what kind of ship is here denoted by a Veronessa. By a Veronessa, or Veronesé, (for the Italian pronunciation must be retained, otherwise the measure will be defective,) a ship of Verona is denoted; as we say to this day of ships in the river, such a one is a Dutch-man, a Jamaica-man, &c. I subjoin Mr. Warton's note, as a confirmation of my own. STEEVENS. The true reading is Veronesé, pronounced as a quadrisyllable : The ship is here put in, "A l'eronesé --." It was common to introduce Italian words, and in their proper pronunciation then familiar. So Spenser in The Fairy Queen, b. iii. c. xiii. 10. : "With sleeves dependant Albanesé wise.” Mr. Heath observes, that "the editors have not been pleased to inform us what kind of ship is here denoted by the name of a Veronessa." But even supposing that Veronessa is the true read Lieutenant to the warlike Moor, Othello, Is come on shore: the Moor himself's* at sea, And is in full commission here for Cyprus. MON. I am glad on't; 'tis a worthy governor. 3 GENT. But this same Cassio,-though he speak of comfort, *Old copies, himself; corrected by Mr. Rowe. ing, there is no sort of difficulty. He might just as well have inquired, what kind of a ship is a Hamburgher. This is exactly a parallel form. For it is not the species of the ship which is implied in this appellation. Our critick adds, "the poet had not a ship in his thoughts. He intended to inform us, that Othello's lieutenant, Cassio, was of Verona." We should certainly read: The ship is here put in. 66 "A Veronese, Michael Cassio, (&c.) "Is come on shore-." This regulation of the lines is ingenious. But I agree with Sir T. Hanmer, and I think it appears from many parts of the play, that Cassio was a Florentine. In this speech, the third Gentleman, who brings the news of the wreck of the Turkish fleet, returns his tale, and relates the circumstances more distinctly. In his former speech he says, A noble ship of Venice saw the distress of the Turks." And here he adds, "The very ship is just now put into our port, and she is a Veronese." That is, a ship fitted out or furnished by the people of Verona, a city of the Venetian state. T. WARTON. I believe we are all wrong. Verona is an inland city. Every inconsistency may, however,.be avoided, if we read-The Veronessa, i. e. the name of the ship is the Veronessa. Verona, however, might be obliged to furnish ships towards the general defence of Italy. STEEVENS. The emendation proposed by Mr. Steevens is acute; but Shakspeare's acquaintance with the topography of Italy (as appears from The Tempest) was very imperfect. HENLEy. In Thomases History of Italy, already quoted, the people of Verona are called the Veronesi. This ship has been already described as a ship of Venice. It is now called " a Veronesé;" that is, a ship belonging to and furnished by the inland city of Verona, for the use of the Venetian state; and newly arrived from Venice. "Besides many other towns, (says Contareno,) castles, and villages, they [the Venetians,] possess seven faire cities; as Trevigi, Padoua, Vicenza, Verona, Brescia, Bergamo, and Crema." Commonwealth of Venice, 1599. MALONE. |