O, here it is :-Uncle, I must come forth. GRA. [Within.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear; Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer. ОTH. Look in upon me then, and speak with me, Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee. Re-enter GRATIANO. GRA. What is the matter? Behold! I have a weapon; A better never did itself sustain Upon a soldier's thigh': I have seen the day, These parts of Spain have been at all times famous for the temper of their arms. STEEVENS. I incline to read : "It is a sword of Spain, 'tis ebroes temper." If we suppose that the words ['tis ebroes] were huddled together either in transcribing or composing, thus, ['tisebroes] the compositor in running it over with his eye, might (to make it sense as he thought) add a couple of letters and divide the words thus [th'isebrokes] which is nearly as it stands in the old quarto. I doubt whether ice-brooks are usual in the climate of Spain. BLACKSTONE. 66 the ice-brook's temper." The quarto 1622 has-Isebrookes, which is only the old spelling of Ice-brooke's, the reading of the folio. Sir William Blackstone doubts whether ice-brooks are usual in the climate of Spain. How that fact may be, I know not; and I am confident Shakspeare did not inquire. MALONE. A better never did itself sustain Upon a soldier's thigh:] So, in The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Beaumont and Fletcher, 1634 : 66 -On his thigh a sword Hung by a curious baldricke, when he frowns, "To seal his will by; better, on my conscience, "Never was soldier's friend." MALONE. 2 I have made my way through more impediments Than twenty times your stop:] So, in Coriolanus, Sc. I.: Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.- Even like thy chastity. O cursed, cursed slave !-Whip me, ye devils, "Of more strong link asunder, than can ever "Appear in your impediment." STEEVENS. 3-though you do see me WEAPON'D ;] This uncommon participle is used by Sidney in his Arcadia. MALONE. O ill-starr'd WENCH!] This, and the six preceding lines, are omitted in the first quarto. Again: "O wretched wench, where may I first complayne?" "Therefore, sweet wenche, helpe me to rue my woe." The word is used without any dishonourable meaning in the Bible: "Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel; (for they might not be seen to come into the city :) and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David." 2 Sam. xvii. 17. And again, by Gawin Douglas, in his version of the Æneid: audetque viris concurrere virgo. This wensche stoutlye rencounter durst with men. Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO, CASSIO, carried in a Chair, and Officers, with IAGO, prisoner. LOD. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? OTH. That's he, that was Othello; here I am. LOD. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth. OTH. I look down towards his feet;-but that's a fable: If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee. [OTHELLO wounds IAGO. LOD. Wrench his sword from him. IAGO. I bleed, sir; but not kill'd. OTH. I am not sorry neither; I'd have thee live ; For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die ". LOD. O thou Othello, that was once so good, Отн. Why, any thing: An honourable murderer, if you will; For nought I did in hate, but all in honour. LOD. This wretch hath part confess'd his villainy : Did you and he consent in Cassio's death? Отн. Ау. CAS. Dear general, I never gave you cause3. towards his feet;] To see if, according to the common opinion, his feet be cloven. JOHNSON. 6 For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die.] The same thought has already occurred in Antony and Cleopatra: 'Tis well thou'rt gone, "If it be well to live." STEEVENS. 7in the practice-] In the snare, by the stratagem. JOHNSON. 8 Dear general, I never gave you cause.] Our poet, probably without knowing it, has used the words of The Spanish Tragedy, 1605 : 66 Hieronymo, I never gave thee cause?" OTн. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon. Will you, I pray you, demand that demi-devil, Why he hath thus ensnar'd my soul and body? LAGO. Demand me nothing: What you know, you know: From this time forth I never will speak word. Torments will ope your lips. OTн. Well, thou dost best. LOD. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n, Which, as I think, you know not: Here is a letter, And here, another: the one of them imports By Roderigo. ОTH. O villain! CAS. Most heathenish, and most gross9! LOD. Now here's another discontented paper, Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems, Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain; But that, belike, lago in the interim' Came in and satisfied him. This phrase, a very familiar one, is also employed in p. 407, 1. 10: "Alas, the day, I never gave him cause.” 9 Oth. O villain! MALONE. Cas. Most heathenish, and most gross!] Read, for the sake of both sense and metre: "Oth. O villainy! Most heathenish, and most gross." I in the interim-] The first copy has-in the nick. It was, I suppose, thought upon revisal, that nick was too familiar. JOHNSON. And he himself confess'd, but even now 2, Отн. O fool! fool! fool! CAS. There is, besides, in Roderigo's letter,How he upbraids Iago, that he made him Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came That I was cast: And even but now he spake, After long seeming dead,-Iago hurt him, Iago set him on. LOD. You must forsake this room, and us; go with That can torment him much, and hold him long, OTн. Soft you; a word or two, before you go. I have done the state some service, and they know it; No more of that:-I pray you, in your letters, 2- confess'd, but even now,] The quarto 1622 reads-confess'd it even now. The folio-confess'd it, but even now. The word it was manifestly caught by the compositor's eye glancing on the subsequent line. MALONE. 3 Speak of me as I am;] The first quarto reads,-Speak of them as they are. The present reading, which is the reading of the folio, has more force. JOHNSON. |