I fear, the trust Othello puts him in, Will shake this island. Mon. But is he often thus? Iago. "Tis evermore the prologue to his sleep: He'll watch the horologe a double set', If drink rock not his cradle. Mon. It were well, The general were put in mind of it. Perhaps, he sees it not; or his good nature 8 And looks not on his evils. Is not this true? Enter RODERIGO. Iago. How now, Roderigo? I [Aside to him. pray you, after the lieutenant; go. [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 infirmity: 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! Re-enter CASSIO, driving in RODERIGO. Cas. You rogue! you rascal! Mon. What's the matter, lieutenant? Cas. A knave!-teach me my duty? 7 He'll watch the horologe a double set,] "Horologe" was not an uncommon word for a clock in the time of Shakespeare: to watch it "a double set," probably means to keep awake while the hands went twice round. 8 PRIZES the virtue-] The reading of the folio is here clearly to be adopted instead of that of the two quartos, which have Praises for " Prizes." 9 Cry within,-Help! help!] This stage-direction is only in the quartos. I'll beat the knave into a wicker bottle'. Iago. Away, I say! [Aside to ROD.] go out, and cry -a mutiny. [Exit ROD. Nay, good lieutenant, alas, gentlemen!- [Bell rings. Who's that that rings the bell ?-Diablo2, ho! Oth. Enter OTHELLO, and Attendants. What is the matter here? Mon. 'Zounds! I bleed still: I am hurt to the death'. Oth. Hold, for your lives! 1 a wicker bottle.] So both the quartos: the folio " The meaning is the same, a bottle made of twigs. [He faints. a twiggen bottle." 2 Diablo,] An exclamation employed by other dramatists. Monck Mason and Steevens observe, that "it is a mere contraction of Diavolo, the Italian word for the devil." We know not why we should go to the Italian, when Diablo is the ordinary Spanish word. 3 God's will!] Fie, fie! in the folio; and below it omits "Zounds!" 4 - I am hurt to the death.] We here have a different kind of proof of the value of the quarto, 1630: the folio, 1623, adds, by obvious error, "He dies," printing the two words in the ordinary type, and some modern editors have, therefore, considered them part of the text. They were, in fact, nothing more than a printer's blunder, which the editor of the folio, 1632, corrected by making Montano say, "I am hurt, but not to the death." The true stage-direction, for which "He dies" was, no doubt, intended, is found in the quarto, 1630, “He faints," and that we have inserted. VOL. VII. N n Iago. Hold, hold, lieutenant!-sir, Montano,-gen tlemen! 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? For Christian shame, put by this barbarous brawl: Speak, who began this? on thy love, I charge thee. now In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom Oth. How came it, Michael, you were thus forgot?? 5 Have you forgot all sense of place and duty?] Every old copy has a transposition here, which Sir T. Hanmer corrected: they read “Have you forgot all place of sense and duty?" G to carve FOR his own rage,] Our reading is that of the folio, 1623, confirmed by that of the quarto, 1630: the quarto, 1632, alone has “to carve forth his own rage." 7 How CAME it, Michael, you WERE thus forgot?] The commentators take no notice of a material variation here between the two quartos and the folio, the latter only reading, "How comes it, Michael, you are thus forgot?" Othello is of course referring to what has past, and ought to speak in the past tense. 8 Worthy Montano,] Montano, we may presume, had by this time somewhat recovered from his faintness. The gravity and stillness of your youth The world hath noted, and your name is great And spend your rich opinion, for the name Mon. Worthy Othello, I am hurt to danger: While I spare speech, which something now offends me, Of all that I do know; nor know I aught When violence assails us. Oth. Now, by heaven, My blood begins my safer guides to rule; Or do but lift this arm, the best of you Shall sink in my rebuke. Give me to know Yet wild, the people's hearts brimful of fear, In night, and on the court and guard of safety!! 9 my best judgment COLLIED,] So the folio: the quarto-reading cool'd seems decidedly wrong, and in order to make some sense of "collied," it is taken to mean discoloured, blackened, and so far disfigured: in "Midsummer Night's Dream," Vol. ii. p. 396, we have had "collied night" for black night. It has been suggested that "collied" was a misprint for quelled, and we own that it appears very possible. The verbs to colly and to collar, which are synonymous, and mean to blacken, as with coal-dust, are used in various parts of the North and West of England. See Holloway's General Provincial Dictionary, 8vo. 1838, where both words are found. 1 - on the court and guard of safety !] We give here the text of every old copy, which is quite intelligible, although we admit the plausibility of Malone's suggestion, that we ought to read, "on the court of guard and safety." The "Tis monstrous.-Iago, who began it?? Mon. If partially affin'd, or leagu'd in office3, Thou dost deliver more or less than truth, Thou art no soldier. Iago. Touch me not so near. I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth, Yet, I persuade myself, to speak the truth Shall nothing wrong him. Thus it is, general. There comes a fellow, crying out for help, And Cassio following him with determin'd sword The town might fall in fright: he, swift of foot, More of this matter can I not report1: But men are men; the best sometimes forget:- As men in rage strike those that wish them best, "court of guard," as we have before seen, (p. 535) was a technical expression in the art of war. 2 Iago, who began IT!] In the two quartos, "it" perhaps accidentally dropped out at the end of the verse: the folio reads, "who began't." As Malone observed, to make out the line it is necessary here, as in some other places, to read "monstrous" as a trisyllable. 3 if partially AFFIN'D, or LEAGUED in office,] For the sense of "affin'd," see p. 499, and Vol. vi. p. 28. The old copies all read "league in office." CAN I NOT report :] The folio alone, " cannot I report." 4 |