Отн. Come, let's to the castle. News, friends; our wars are done, the Turks are drown'd. How do our old acquaintance of this isle ?- I prattle out of fashion, and I dote O my In mine own comforts.-I pr'ythee, good Iago, 9 Bring thou the master to the citadel: in strings and fourths," &c. So, in Skialetheia, a Collection of Satires, &c. 1598 : "Set thy wind instrument." MALONE. To "set down" has this meaning in no other part of our author's works. However, virtus post nummos: we have secured the phrase, and the exemplification of it may follow when it will. STEEVENS. To set down has the same meaning as to put down, to lower. Yet, as the phrase to let down is the usual phrase, and might be easily corrupted, it was probably the true one. BOSWELL. 6 NEWS, friends;] The modern editors read (after Mr. Rowe) Now, friends. I would observe once for all, that (in numberless instances in this play, as well as in others,) where my predecessors had silently and without reason made alterations, I have as silently restored the old readings. STEEVENS. It should be remembered that this note was written in 1773, and, therefore, refers only to his predecessors at that period; nor was it correct at that time; for Mr. Capell, in 1768, reads as the old copies. BOSWELL. 7 WELL DESIR'D in Cyprus,] i. e. much solicited by invitation. So, in The Letters of the Paston Family, vol. i. p. 299: at the whych weddyng I was with myn hostes, and also desyryd by y jentylman hymselfe." STEEVENS. 66 I prattle out of fashion,] Out of method, without any settled order of discourse. JOHNSON. 9 the MASTER] Dr. Johnson supposed, that by the master was meant the pilot of a ship, and indeed had high authority for this supposition; for our poet himself seems to have confounded them. See Act III. Sc. II. 1. 1. But the master is a distinct person, and has the principal command, and care of the He is a good one, and his worthiness Does challenge much respect.—Come, Desdemona, Once more well met at Cyprus. [Exeunt OTHELLO, Desdemona, and Attendants. 1 IAGO. Do thou meet me presently at the harbour. Come hither*. If thou be'st valiant as (they say) base men, being in love, have then a nobility in their natures more than is native to them,-list The lieutenant to-night watches on the court of guard :-First, I must tell thee this-Desdemona is directly in love with him. me. ROD. With him! why, 'tis not possible. IAGO. Lay thy finger-thus 3, and let thy soul be instructed. Mark me with what violence she first loved the Moor, but for bragging, and telling her fantastical lies: And will she love him still for prating* ? let not thy discreet heart think it. Her eye must be fed; and what delight shall she have * First folio, thither. navigation of the ship, under the captain, where there is a captain; and in chief, where there is none. The pilot is employed only in navigating the ship into or out of port. MALONE.. "The master (says Smith in his Sea-Grammar, 1627,) and his mates, are to direct the course, command all the sailors, for steering, trimming, and sailing the ship," &c. I -base men, being in love, have then a nobility in their natures] So, in Hamlet: 66 Nature is fine in love." MALONE. Dryden has imparted Iago's present sentiment to Dorax: 2 "Why love does all that's noble here below." STEEVENS. the court of guard :] i. e. the place where the guard musters. So, in The Family of Love, 1608: "Thus have I pass'd the round and court of guard.” Again, in The Beggar's Bush, by Beaumont and Fletcher: "Visit your courts of guard, view your munition." STEEVENS. 3 Lay thy finger-thus,] On thy mouth, to stop it while thou art listening to a wiser man. JOHNSON. + And will SHE love him still for prating?] The folio readsTo love him still for prating! STEEVENS. to look on the devil? When the blood is made dull with the act of sport, there should be,-again to inflame it, and to give satiety a fresh appetite,loveliness in favour; sympathy in years, manners, and beauties; all which the Moor is defective in: Now, for want of these required conveniences, her delicate tenderness will find itself abused, begin to heave the gorge, disrelish and abhor the Moor; very nature will instruct her in it, and compel her to some second choice. Now, sir, this granted, (as it is a most pregnant and unforced position,) who stands so eminently * in the degree of this fortune, as Cassio does? a knave very voluble; no further conscionable, than in putting on the mere form of civil and humane seeming, for the better compassing of his salt and most hidden loose affection? [why, none; why, none:] A slippery and subtle knave; a finder out of occasions; that has an eye can stamp and counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never present itself: A devilish knave! besides, the knave is handsome, young; and hath all those requisites in him, that folly and green minds' look after: A pestilent complete knave; and the woman hath found him already. ROD. I cannot believe that in her; she is full of most blessed condition". IAGO. Blessed fig's end! the wine she drinks is made of grapes: if she had been blessed, she would never have loved the Moor: [Bless'd pudding *First folio, eminent. + Quarto omits these four words. Quarto omits Bless'd pudding. 5 - AGAIN to inflame it,] Thus the quarto 1622. The folio reads-a game. STEEVENS. 6 and HUMANE seeming,] -- Thus the folio. The quarto 1622 reads and hand-seeming. MALONE. 7 green minds-] formed. JOHNSON. Minds unripe, minds not yet fully 8-condition.] Qualities, disposition of mind. JOHNSON. Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? [didst not mark that * ROD. Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy. LAGO. Lechery, by this hand; an index, and obscure prologue to the history of lust and foul thoughts. They met so near with their lips, that their breaths embraced together. Villainous thoughts, Roderigo! when these mutualities so marshal the way, hard at hand comes the master and main exercise, the incorporate conclusion: Pish!But, sir, be you ruled by me: I have brought you from Venice. Watch you to-night; for the command, I'll lay't upon you: Cassio knows you not ;— I'll not be far from you: Do you find some occasion to anger Cassio, either by speaking too loud, or tainting' his discipline; or from what other course you please, which the time shall more favourably minister. ROD. Well. 2 LAGO. Sir, he is rash, and very sudden in choler3; * Quarto omits these four words. 9 an INDEX, and obscure prologue, &c.] That indexes were formerly prefixed to books, appears from a passage in Troilus and Cressida, vol. viii. p. 276; and another in Hamlet, vol. vii. p. 391. MALONE. 1-tainting] Throwing a slur upon his discipline. JOHNSON. So, in Troilus and Cressida : Again, in Chapman's translation of the 22d Odyssey: 66 Ctesippus, over good Eumæus' shield "His shoulder's top did taint." To taint, in this instance, means 'to inflict a slight wound.' Again, in the 3d Iliad, 4to. 1598, by the same translator: "Eight shafts I shot 2 3 "Yet this wilde dogge, with all my aime, I have no power to taint." STEEVENS. other COURSE-] The first quarto reads-cause. STEEVENS. SUDDEN in choler;] Sudden is precipitately violent. So, Malcolm, describing Macbeth : JOHNSON. and, haply, with his truncheon may strike at you: Provoke him, that he may: for, even out of that, will I cause these of Cyprus to mutiny; whose qualification shall come into no true taste again, but by the displanting of Cassio. So shall you have a shorter journey to your desires, by the means I shall then have to prefer them; and the impediment most profitably removed, without the which there were no expectation of our prosperity. ROD. I will do this, if I can bring it to any opportunity". IAGO. I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel: I must fetch his necessaries ashore. Farewell. ROD. Adieu. [Exit. And, I dare think, he'll prove to Desdemona 4 "I grant him bloody 66 Sudden, malicious." STEEVENS. - whose QUALIFICATION shall come, &c.] Whose resentment shall not be so qualified or tempered, as to be well tasted, as not to retain some bitterness. The phrase is harsh, at least to our ears. JOHNSON. Johnson's explanation is confirmed by what Cassio says in the next scene: "I have drunk but one cup to night, and that was craftily qualified," i. e. allayed by water. M. MASON. 66 no true taste So the folio. The quarto 1622 reads-no true trust. MALONE. 5 to PREFER them;] i. e, to advance them. So, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, vol. v. p. 308. "The short and the long is, our play is preferred." MALONE. Thus the quarto MALONE. affair to oppor 6-if I can bring it to any opportunity.] 1622. The folio reads-if you can bring it, &c. The sense requires I, for lago had brought the tunity by fixing on Roderigo for one of the watch. Roderigo's part remained to be done, viz. provoking Cassio, which he promises to do if opportunity offered to give him cause. JENNENS. |