Oth. " Iag. lie Lie with her! on her!-We say, "On her, when they belie her: Lie with her! "That's fulsome.-Handkerchief,-confes sions,-han'dkerchief. "That to confess, and be háng'd for his labour. "First to be hang'd-confess :-I tremble "Nature would not invest herself in such tion. "It is not words alone that shake me thus: "Confess !-O devil!-handkerchief!" "My medicine, work!" &c. 437. " My lord." We might form the metre thus: Cas. " My lord! Othello!-how now? [Enter Cassio.] What's the matter ?" (This is) his second fit.". "This is" useless, and should be ejected: "His second fit; he had one yesterday." "And many a civil monster." We might add There you'll find.” 438. "Which they dare swear peculiar; your case is better." The reduction of this line to its due quantity will reform those that follow: "Which they dare swear peculíár; your case "Is better. O, it is the spite of hell, "The fiend's arch-mock, to lip a wanton in "A secure couch, and to suppose her chaste! "No, let me know; and, knowing what I am, "I know what I shall be." The same accent is given in Hamlet to secure :" Upon my sécure hour thy uncle stole.” 440. "All in all in spleen." I am persuaded that Dr. Johnson has pointed out the true reading, which seems to be confirmed by the context As this expression occurs in the very next sentence, I am persuaded it has slipped in improperly here. We might read, "And nothing of a man." Oth. " I tell thee, lago, "I will be found most cunning in my patience; "But yet most bloody." Iag. Well, that's not amiss." "Whose want even kills me." Something has been lost-perhaps, like this: 441. "Look, how he laughs already !" Here a foot and a half is wanting. I would read, "How quickly should you speed." Cas. " Alas! poor caitiff! "I think I should." Oth. (6 (Laugh.) Look, how he laughs already." "I marry her !" &c. This is out of measure. We might read, "" I marry her?-ha! ha! a customer! "I pr'ythee, bear some charity to my wit; "Don't think it so unwholesome. Ha! ha! ha!" So, so," &c. We might read, with due quantity, So, so, so, so! 'tis well! they laugh that win." "Have you scored me ?", The metre might thus be repaired : What, have you scor'd me? say you so! 'tis well." Of the prose that follows, until the entrance of Lodovico, little, perhaps, if any of it, can reasonably be ascribed to Shakspeare. [Enter Lodovico, Desdemona, &c.] 447. "Save you," &c. The first quarto will assist in repairing the metre here: "God save you, general." Oth. " With all my heart." "I kiss the instrument of their pleasures." We might read, I kiss the instrument of their good pleasures.' "I am very glad," &c. The metre here is sadly deranged. I would propose, 66 I am glad to see you, sir-welcome to Lod. "Thanks, sir; how does lieutenant Cassio?" Desd. " Ay, madam! are you sure of that?" "Fire and brimstone !" Fire should be spelled as it is here pronounced, and was written, a dissyllable, "fiér." "By my troth, I am glad on't." I would read, Now, by my troth, I am right glad of it." Desd. " How, sweet Othello?" Devil!" I've not desérv'd this." "Truly, an obedient lady." We might read, Truly, she is a most obedient lady." 450. “Who, I, my lord ?" I would propose, 66 Oth. " Who, I, my lord ?" Ay, sir; did you not wish, "That I would make her turn? sir, she can turn, "And turn, and yet go on, and turn again; "And she can weep, sir, marry can she, weep; "And she's obedient," &c. Sir, I obey the mandate." "Sir" should be omitted: "I'll send for you anon.-I obey the mandate." 451. “ - Goats and monkies!" Mr. Malone seems to have gone out of the way to find the force and application of these words, which seem no more than the immediate result of the speaker's reflections upon incontinence and lust. "The shot of accident, nor dart of chance, "Could neither," &c. |