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MON.

It were well,

The general were put in mind of it.
Perhaps, he sees it not; or his good nature
Prizes the virtue that appears in Cassio,

*

And looks not on his evils; Is not this true?

Enter RODerigo.

LAGO. How now, Roderigo?

I pray you, after the lieutenant; go.

[Aside.

[Exit RODERIGO. MON. And 'tis great pity, that the noble Moor Should hazard such a place, as his own second, With one of an ingraft infirmity3:

It were an honest action, to say

So to the Moor.

IAGO.

Not I, for this fair island:

I do love Cassio well; and would do much

To cure him of this evil. But hark! what noise?

[Cry within,-Help! help!

* Quarto, praises.

"The devyl is in thorologe, nowe cheere in bowles,
"Let the devyl keepe our clockes, while God keepe our
soules."

Again, in The Devil's Charter, 1607 :

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By Sisto's horologe 'tis struck eleven." STEEVENS. 3-ingraft infirmity:] An infirmity rooted, settled in his constitution. JOHNSON.

Dr. Johnson's explanation seems to fall short of the poet's meaning. The qualities of a tree are so changed by being engrafted, that its future fruits are not such as would have naturally sprung from the stock, but derive their qualities from the graft inserted into it. Conformably to this idea, is the assertion of Hamlet concerning the same vice in his countrymen :

"They clepe us drunkards," &c.

See vol. vii. p. 277. HENLEY.

Dr. Johnson's explanation is certainly just, though it has been controverted. So, in King Lear: "then must we look to receive from his age not alone the imperfection of long ingrafted condition, but there-withal," &c. MALONE.

Re-enter CASSIO, driving in RODERIGO. CAS. You rogue! you rascal!

MON.
CAS. A knave!-teach me my duty!

What's the matter, lieutenant ?

I'll beat the knave into a twiggen bottle *.

ROD. Beat me!

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Come, come, you're drunk.

[They fight.

Or I'll knock you o'er the mazzard.
MON.

CAS. Drunk!
LAGO. Away, I say! go out, and cry—a mutiny.
[Aside to RoD. who goes out.

Nay, good lieutenant,-alas, gentlemen,—
Help, ho!-Lieutenant,-sir,-Montano,-sir ;-
Help, masters!-Here's a goodly watch, indeed!

[Bell rings.

Who's that that rings the bell ?-Diablo, ho! The town will rise: God's will, lieutenant! hold; You will be sham'd for ever.

Отн.

Enter OTHELLO, and Attendants.

What is the matter here? MON. 'Zounds, I bleed still, I am hurt to the death".

4- into a twiggen bottle.] A twiggen bottle is a wickered bottle; and so the quarto reads. STEEVENS.

5

- Diablo,] I meet with this exclamation in Marlowe's King Edward II. 1598: "Diablo? what passions call you these?"

It is, as Mr. M. Mason observes, a mere contraction of Diavolo, the Italian word for the Devil. STEEVENS.

6 'Zounds,; I bleed still, I am hurt to the death.] Thus the quarto 1622. The editor of the folio, thinking it necessary to omit

OTH. Hold, for your lives.

IAGO. Hold, hold, lieutenant 7,-sir, Montano,gentlemen,

8

Have you forgot all sense of place and duty ? Hold, hold! the general speaks to you; hold, for

shame!

OTH. Why, how now, ho! from whence ariseth this?

Are we turn'd Turks; and to ourselves do that,
Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites ?

For christian shame, put by this barbarous brawl:
He that stirs next to carve forth his own rage',

the first word in the line, absurdly supplied its place by adding at the end of the line, He dies.

I had formerly inadvertently said, that the marginal direction, He faints, was found in the quarto 1622: but this was a mistake. It was inserted in a quarto of no value or authority, printed in 1630. MALONE.

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-I am hurt to the death ;-he dies." Montano thinks he is mortally wounded, yet by these words he seems determined to continue the duel, and to kill his antagonist Cassio. So, when Roderigo runs at Cassio in the fifth Act, he says,-" Villain, thou diest." TOLLET.

He dies, i. e. he shall die. He may be supposed to say this as he is offering to renew the fight.

Thus likewise Othello himself, in his very next speech :

he dies upon his motion."

I do not therefore regard these words, when uttered by Montano, as an absurd addition in the first folio. STEEVENS.

7 Hold, hold, LIEUTENANT,] Thus the original quarto. The folio reads-Hold ho, lieutenant. MALONE.

8

all sense of place and duty?] So Sir Thomas Hanmer. The rest:

9

all place of sense and duty?" JOHNSON.

to carve FOR his own rage,] Thus the folio 1623. The quarto 1622 has forth; which, I apprehend to be little better

than nonsense.

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Το carve forth," &c. can only signify-to "cut or portion out his resentment;" whereas, the phrase I have placed in the text, affords the obvious and appropriate meaning-to supply food or gratification for his own anger.

The same phrase occurs in Hamlet :

Holds his soul light; he dies upon his motion.-
Silence that dreadful bell', it frights the isle
From her propriety 2.-What is the matter, mas-
ters ?-

Honest Iago, that look'st dead with grieving,
Speak, who began this? on thy love, I charge thee.
LAGO. I do not know;-friends all but now, even

now,

In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom

He may not, as unvalued persons do, "Carve for himself." STEEVENS.

I Silence that dreadful bell,] It was a common practice formerly, when any great affray happened in a town, to ring the alarum bell. When David Rizzio was murdered at Edinburgh, the Provost ordered the common bell to be rung, and five hundred persons were immediately assembled. See Saunderson's History of Queen Mary, p. 41.

So, in Peacham's Valley of Varietie, where he is speaking of the use of bells, "they call for helpe when houses in cities and townes are on fire; or when there is any mutinie or uproare."

MALONE. At Paris the Tocsin is still rung as often as fires or disturbances break out. STEEVENS.

2

it frights the isle

From her PROPRIETY.] From her regular and proper state.

JOHNSON.

3 In quarter,] In their quarters; at their lodging. JOHNSON. "In quarter." i. e. on our station. So, in Timon of Athens:

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to atone your fears

"With my more noble meaning, not a man

"Shall pass his quarter."

Their station or quarter in the present instance, was the guardroom in Othello's castle. In Cymbeline we have-" their quarter'd fires," i. e. their fires regularly disposed.

In quarter Dr. Johnson supposed to mean, at their lodgings; but that cannot be the meaning, for Montano and the Gentlemen who accompanied him, had continued, from the time of their entrance, in the apartment of Othello's castle, in which the carousal had been; and Cassio had only gone forth for a short time to the platform, to set the watch. On his return from the platform into the apartment, in which he left Montano and Iago, he meets Roderigo; and the scuffle, first between Cassio and Roderigo, and then between Montano and Cassio, ensues. MALONE.

Rather at peace, quiet. They had been on that very spot (the

Devesting them for bed: and then, but now,
(As if some planet had unwitted men,)
Swords out, and tilting one at other's breast,
In opposition bloody. I cannot speak
Any beginning to this peevish odds;
And 'would in action glorious I had lost
These legs, that brought me to a part of it!
OTH. How comes it, Michael, you are thus for-
got *?

CAS. I pray you, pardon me, I cannot speak. ОTH. Worthy Montano, you were wont be civil; The gravity and stillness of your youth

The world hath noted, and your name is great
In mouths of wisest censure; What's the matter,

court or platform, it is presumed before the castle,) ever since Othello left them, which can scarcely be called being in their quarters, or at their lodging. RITSON.

So, in The Dumb Knight, Act III. Sc. I. :

"Did not you hold fair quarter and commerce with all the spies of Cypres ?" REED.

It required one example, if no more, to evince that in quarter ever signified quiet, at peace. But a little attention would have shown, that the them, whom he speaks of Othello's having left, was only Cassio; who, being joined by lago, where Othello (but not on the platform) had just left him, is dissuaded from setting the watch immediately; entreated to partake of a stoop of wine, in company with a brace of Cyprus gallants, then waiting without; and prevailed upon, though reluctantly, to invite them in. In this apartment the carousal happens, and wine is repeatedly called for, till at last Cassio, finding its too powerful effects, goes out to set the watch. At the proposal of Montano, himself and lago follow Cassio towards the platform, and the latter sets on Roderigo to insult him. The scuffle ensues; an alarm is given, and Othello comes forth to inquire the cause. When, therefore, lago answers: "I do not know :-friends all but now, even now "In quarter.”

it is evident the quarter referred to, was that apartment of the castle assigned to the officers on guard, where Othello, after giving Cassio his orders, had, a little before, left him; and where lago, with his companions, immediately found him. HENley,

4 - you are thus forgot?] i. e. you have thus forgot yourself.

STEEVENS.

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