Imatges de pàgina
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Caf. What noife?

357

Gent. The town is empty; on the brow o' th' fea Stand ranks of people, and they cry, a fail.

Caf. My hopes do fhape him for the Governor. Gent. They do difcharge their fhot of courtesy. Our friends, at least.

[Sound of Cannon.

Caf. I pray you, Sir, go forth,
And give us truth who 'tis that is arriv❜d.-
Gent. I fhall.

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Mont. But, good lieutenant, is your General wiv’d ? Caf. Moft fortunately: He hath atchiev'd a maid That paragons defcription and wild fame; One that excels the quirks of blaz'ning pens," And in th' effential veture of creation

3

2 Does bear all excellency

That all created
fhould be contained
earthly mortal form.

excellence within an

WARB.

I do not think the prefent reading inexplicable. The authour feems to use essential, for exiftent, real. She excels the praifes of invention, fays he, and in real qualities, with which creation has invested her, bears all ex

"And in th' ESSENTIAL vef ture of creation. Does bear all excellency] It is plain that fomething very hyperbolical was here intended. But what is there as it ftands? Why this, that in the effence of creation he bore all excellency. The expreffion is intolerable, and could never come from one who fo well understood the force of_cellency. words as our Poet. The effential vefture is the fame as effential form. So that the expreffion is nonfenfe. For the vesture of crea tion fignifies the forms in which created beings are caft. And e fence relates not to the form, but to the matter. Shakespear certainly wrote,

And in TERRESTRIAL vefure of creation. And in this lay the wonder,

2 Does bear all excellency] Such is the reading of the quar tos, for which the folio has this. And in th' effential vefture of

creation

Do's tyre the ingéniuer.
Which I explain thus,

Does tire th' ingenious verfe, This is the best reading, and that which the authour fubiti tuted in his revifal

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SCEN

Award von livion joy jon ai sen
Dead Enter Gentleman. [owe'sd jadi jua
gron woy ficl worst I and Oba
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How now? who has put in otros 1899
Gent. 'Tis one laga, Ancient to the General, b97167
and happy
Tempests themselves, high feas, and howling winds;
The gutter'd rocks, and congregated fands,
Traitors enfteep'd to clog the guiltless keel;2
As having fenfe of beauty, do omit
Their mortal natures, letting fafe go by
The divine Defdemona.

Caf. H'as had most favourable how peed;

Mont. What is fhe?

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Caf. She that I fpake of, our great Captain's Cap

tain,

TO CA

Left in the conduct of the bold Iago:
Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts, bor
A fe'nnight's speed. Great Jove, Othello guard
And fwell his fail with thine own powerful breath,
That he may blefs this bay with his tall fhip, EI
Make love's quick pants in Defdemona's arms,

Give renew'd fire to our extincted fpirits, ang sd2 “And bring all Cyprus comfort

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Enter Desdemona, Iago, Rodorigo, and Emilia.

Lebed

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O behold!
The riches of the hip is come on fhore.
Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees.
Hail to thee, lady! and the grace of heav'n
Before, behind thee, and on every hand
Enwheel thee round.

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Def. I thank you, valiant Caffio.

What tidings can you tell me of my Lord?
Caf. He is not yet arriv'd, nor know I aught
But that he's well, and will be shortly here.

Def. O, but I fear-How loft you company?
Caf. The great contention of the fea and fkieswor
Parted on fellowship But, hark, a fail Tr
Within. A falls a fail krovet Jorry Sound of Cannon.
Gent. They give this greeting to the Citadels T
This likewife is a friend, no bra „2door brotung edD
Caf. See for the hews golo or b'qafia, aroller T
Good Ancient, you are welcome. Welcome, miftrefs.
vd og sial painol 2010. [ToEmilia,
Let it not gall your patience, good fago, savdo nd E
That I extend my manners. Tis my breeding,
-That gives me this bold fhew of courtesy. [Kies her.
Iago. Sir, would she give you so much of her lips,
As of her tongue fhe oft beftows on me,
You'd have enough.

Def. Alas! he has no fpeech.
Tago In faith, too much;

I find it ftill, when I have lift to fleep.
Marry, before your ladyship, I grant,
She puts her tongue a little in her heart,
And chides with thinking.

Emil. You have little caufe to fay fo.

Iago. Come on, come on; you're pictures out of doors, H

Bells in your parlours, wild-cats in your kitchens,
Saints in your injúries, devils being offended,
Players in your housewifery, and housewives in your

beds!
Def. O, fy upon thee, flanderer!
fup

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Lago. Nay, it is true, or elfe I am a Turk; You rife to play, and go to bed to work.

bhan Visys 20 BRA 992) Dalasa (enois)

3 When you have a mind to do injuries, you put on an air of

Lanctity.

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Emil. You fhall not write my praife.

Iago. No, let me not.

Def. What wouldst thou write of me, if thou fhou'dit praise me?

Iago. Oh gentle lady, do not put me to❜t, For I am nothing, if not + critical.

Def. Come, one affay.

- harbour?

Iago. Ah, Madam.

There's one gone to the

Def. I am not merry; but I do beguile The thing I am, by feeming otherwife. -Come, how wouldft thou praise me?

Iago. I am about it; but, indeed, invention Comes from my pate, as birdlime does from freeze, It plucks out brains and all. But my mufe labours, And thus fhe is deliver'd,

If fhe be fair and wife, fairness and wit,
The one's for ufe, the other ufeth it.

Def. Well prais'd. How if fhe be black and witty?
Iago. If he be black, and thereto have a wit,

She'll find a white that shall her blackness fit.

Des. Worfe and worse.

Emil. How, if fair and foolish?

Iago. She never yet was foolish, that was fair;
For ev'n ber folly helpt her to an heir.

Def. These are old fond paradoxes, to make fools laugh i' th' alehouse. What miferable praise haft thou for her that's foul and foolish?

-critical.] That is, cen

forious.
5 She never yet was foolih, &c.]

We

e may read,

She ne'er was yet so foolish that
was fair,
But ev'n her folly help'd her to
an heir.

Yet I believe the common reading to be right: The law makes the power of cohabitation a proof that a man is not a natural; therefore, fince the foolisheft woman, if pretty, may have a child, no pretty woman is ever foolish.

Jago. There's none fo foul and foolish thereunto,

But does foul pranks, which fair and wife ones

do.

6

Def. O heavy ignorance! thou praisest the worst beft. But what praife couldft thou beftow on a deferving woman indeed? one, that in the authority of her merit, did juftly put on the vouch of very malice itself?

Jago. She that was ever fair, and never proud,

Had tongue at will, and yet was never loud;
Never lackt gold, and yet went never gay,
Fled from her wifh, and yet faid, now I may;
She that when anger'd, her revenge being nigh,
Bade her wrong ftay, and her displeasure fly;
She that in wifdom never was fo frail
To change the cod's head for the falmon's tail;

6 One, that in the authority of her merit, did jufly put on the vouch of very malice itself?] Tho' all the printed copies agree in this reading, I cannot help fufpecting it. If the text fhould be genuine, I confefs, it is above my underftanding. In what fenfe can merit be faid to put on the vouch of malice? I fhould rather think, merit was so safe in itself, as to repel and put off all that malice and envy could advance and affirm to its prejudice. I have ventur'd to reform the text to this conftruction, by writing put down, a very flight change that makes it intelligible. THEOB.

One, that in the authority of her merit, did justly put on the vouch of very malice itfelf?] The editor, Mr. Theobald, not un

derstanding the phrafe, To put on the vouch of malice, has alter'd it to put down, and wrote a deal of unintelligible ftuff to justify his blunder. To put on the vouch of any one, fignifies, to call upon any one to vouch for another. So that the fenfe of the place is this, One that was so conscious of her own merit, and of the authority her character had with every one, that she durft venture to call upon malice itself to vouch for her. This was fome commendation. And the character only of the cleareft virtue; which could force malice, even againft its nature, to do juftice. WARB

To put on the vouch of malice, is to affume a character vouched by the teftimony of malice itfelf.

She

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