Good ancient, you are welcome.-Welcome, mistress. Let it not gall your patience, good Iago, [TO EMILIA. [Kissing her. Iago. Sir, would she give you so much of her lips, As of her tongue she oft bestows on me, You'd have enough. Des. Alas! she has no speech. Iago. In faith, too much; I find it still, when I have lust to sleep': Emil. You have little cause to say so. Iago. Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors, Bells in your parlours, wild cats in your kitchens, Saints in your injuries, devils being offended, Players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds. Iago. Nay, it is true, or else I am a Turk : You rise to play, and go to bed to work. Emil. You shall not write my praise. lago. No, let me not. Des. What wouldst thou write of me, if thou shouldst praise me? Iago. Oh gentle lady! do not put me to't, For I am nothing, if not critical. Des. Come on; assay.-There's one gone to the harbour? Iago. Ay, madam. Des. I am not merry; but I do beguile The thing I am, by seeming otherwise.Come; how wouldst thou praise me? 4 when I have LUST to sleep :] i. e. When I have desire to sleep: "lust" is from the corr. fo. 1632, but formerly we printed "when I have leave to sleep," as it stands in the folio, 1623, the meaning of which the Rev. Mr. Dyce professes not to understand: "when I have leave to sleep" has nothing to do with leve, lefe, or lief, as he strangely supposes, but merely means "when I have permission to sleep." The 4to, 1622, reads “when I have list to sleep," which, in fact, is the same as "when I have lust to sleep" of the corr. fo. 1632. The ordinary expression is "when I list to sleep," from A. S. listan, cupere. 5 Oh, fie upon thee, slanderer!] In the folio and 4to, 1630, this speech is assigned to Desdemona: in a hand-writing of the time, it is given to Emilia in the Duke of Devonshire's copy of the 4to, 1622, the prefix being wanting as the play was first printed. Iago. I am about it, but, indeed, my invention Comes from my pate, as birdlime does from frize, It plucks out brains and all; but my muse labours, And thus she is deliver'd. If she be fair and wise,-fairness, and wit, The one's for use, the other useth it. Des. Well prais'd! How, if she be black and witty? She'll find a white that shall her blackness fit. Emil. How, if fair and foolish ? Iago. She never yet was foolish that was fair; For even her folly help'd her to an heir. Des. These are old fond paradoxes', to make fools laugh i' the alehouse. What miserable praise hast thou for her that's foul and foolish ? Iago. There's none so foul, and foolish thereunto, But does foul pranks which fair and wise ones do. Des. Oh heavy ignorance! thou praisest the worst best. But what praise couldst thou bestow on a deserving woman indeed? one that, in the authority of her merit, did justly put on the vouch of very malice itself? Iago. She that was ever fair, and never proud; To change the cod's head for the salmon's tail'; Iago. To suckle fools, and chronicle small beer. 6 7 her blackness FIT.] The 4to, 1622, only reads hit for "fit." old FOND paradoxes,] Fond" (i. e. foolish) is in no copy but the folio. "Fond," as we have frequently seen, generally occurs in the sense of silly. To change the cod's head for the salmon's tail;] Meaning to give away an excellent dish for a bad one. According to Q. Elizabeth's Household-book, Anno 43, appositely cited by Steevens, all the salmon's tails were merely the perquisite of the cook. • See suitors following, and not look behind ;] This necessary line is wanting in the 4to, 1622. Des. Oh, most lame. and impotent conclusion!-Do not learn of him, Emilia, though he be thy husband.-How say you, Cassio? is he not a most profane and liberal censurer1? Cas. He speaks home, madam: you may relish him more in the soldier, than in the scholar. Iago. [Aside.] He takes her by the palm: ay, well said, whisper with as little a web as this, will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upon her, do; I will gyve thee in thine own courtship. You say true; 'tis so, indeed if such tricks as these strip you out of your lieutenantry, it had been better you had not kissed your three fingers so oft, which now again you are most apt to play the sir in. Very good; well kissed! an excellent courtesy! 'tis so indeed. Yet again your fingers to your lips? would, they were clyster-pipes for your sake.-[A trumpet heard.] The Moor! I know his trumpet. Cas. 'Tis truly so. Des. Let's meet him, and receive him. . Cas. Lo, where he comes! Enter OTHELLO, and Attendants. Oth. Oh, my fair warrior! Des. My dear Othello! Oth. It gives me wonder great as my content, To see you here before me. Oh, my soul's joy! May the winds blow, till they have waken'd death; Olympus-high, and duck again as low As hell's from heaven! If it were now to die, 1 a most profane and liberal CENSURER?] It is counsellor in the old editions, but that can scarcely be right: the corr. fo. 1632 supplies what we must hold to be the fit word-"censurer." In "Romeo and Juliet," A. i. sc. 4, Vol. v. p. 118, we have had "counsellor" misprinted courtier, according to the same authority, which, there as here, can scarcely be disputed. 2 He takes her by the palm:] In a hand-writing of the time, in the Duke of Devonshire's copy of the 4to, 1622, we read opposite this speech, "Aside, to him selfe." Such printed hints are almost invariably wanting. 3 come such CALMS,] The 4tos. have calmness. In Othello's next speech, the 4to, 1622, alone has "sweet power." Des. The heavens forbid, But that our loves and comforts should increase, Even as our days do grow! Oth. Amen to that, sweet powers!— I cannot speak enough of this content; [Kissing her. Iago. [Aside.] Oh! you are well tun'd now; Oth. Come, let us to the castle. News, friends; our wars are done, the Turks are drown'd. How does my old acquaintance of this isle' ?— Honey, you shall be well desir'd in Cyprus, I have found great love amongst them. Oh my sweet! In mine own comforts.-I pr'ythee, good Iago, Go to the bay, and disembark my coffers. Bring thou the master to the citadel: He is a good one, and his worthiness Does challenge much respect.-Come, Desdemona, [Exeunt OTHELLO, DESDEMONA, and Attendants. 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 me. The lieutenant to-night watches on the court of guard'.-First, I must tell thee this-Desdemona is directly in love with him. And this, and this, the greatest discords be,] Here again Mr. Singer, quoting (without acknowledgment) Steevens's note, copies also that commentator's error, in attributing to Marlowe a play that could not have been written until more than five years after that dramatist's death-" Lust's Dominion." Steevens was not to blame, because the fact had not then been discovered; but as long since as 1825, as we showed in a former note, a principal incident in "Lust's Dominion," viz. the death of Philip II., did not occur until 1598, whereas Marlowe was killed in 1593. See Dodsley's "Old Plays," Vol. ii. p. 311, last edit. HOW DOES MY old acquaintance of THIS isle?] So the folio, and the 4to, 1630: the 4to, 1622, "How do our old acquaintance of the isle ?" Come HITHER.] So both the 4tos: the folio, "Come thither." 7- the court of guard.] i. e. The place where the guard was mustered. According to Harl. MS. No. 581, an order was made by Parliament on Oct. 22, 1642, for the erection of houses for "Courts of Guard," together with posts, bars, and chains, in the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster. Rod. With him! why, 'tis not possible. Iago. Lay thy finger-thus, 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 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 farther 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 subtle slippery knave; a finder out of occasions; that has an eye can stamp and counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never presents 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! Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? didst not mark that? 8 AND WILL SHE love him still for prating?] So the 4tos, 1622 and 1630: the folio, "to love him still for prating." 9 AGAIN to inflame it,] So the 4to, 1622, and no doubt rightly: the folio, 1623, and the 4to, 1630, read, "a game to inflame it," which is altered to "again to inflame it" in the corr. fo. 1632. 1 and HUMANE seeming,] The 4to, 1622, alone reads "hand-seeming." 2 why, none; why, none:] These words are only in the folio: the 4to, 1622, just above reads, "his salt and hidden affections." Both 4tos. have "a subtle slippery knave" for "a slipper and subtle knave" of the folio. 3- bless'd pudding!] Not in either 4to, but in the folio. At the end of the speech "didst not mark that?" is in the 4to, 1630, as well as in the folio, but not in the 4to, 1622. |