In the due rev'rence of a facred vow Witness, you ever-burning lights above! To wrong'd Othello's fervice. Let him command, (37) Nor, to obey, fhall be in me Remorfe, What bloody business ever. Oth. I greet thy love, Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous, And will upon the inftant put thee to❜t: Within these three days let me hear thee say, That Caffio's not alive. Iago. My friend is dead; (38) 'Tis done at your requeft. But, let her live. (37) -Let him command, And to obey fhall be in me remorse, What bloody bufinefs ever.] Thus all the old copies, to the manifeft depravation of the Poet's fenfe Mr. Pope has attempted an emendation, but with his old luck and dexterity. Not to obey fhall be in me remorse, &c. I read, with the change only of a fingle letter; ie. Let your commands be ever fo bloody, remorfe and compaflion fhall not reftrain me from obeying them. Much to the fame tenour lady Macbeth fays; Stop up th' accefs and paffage to remorse, That no compunctious vifitings of Nature (38) Iago. My friend is dead.] i. e. I am fo firmly refolv'd to obey your commands, that you may conclude Caffio already dead. Ben Jonfon, I remember, in a like circumftance, in his Catiline, has finely express'd the impetuofity of Cethegus's character; the dialogue is about making away with Cicero. He fall die; Shall was too flowly faid: -He's dying ; that~ Is yet too flow :— He's dead.. But this, by the bye, is a copy from Seneca the tragedian, in his Her cules Furens. Lycus Creonti debitas pœnas dabit : Oth, Damn her, lewd Minx! oh, damn her, damn her! Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw To furnish me with fome fwift means of death [Exeunt. Enter Desdemona, Æmilia, and Clown. Des. Do you know, firrah, where Lieutenant Cassio lies ? Clown. I dare not fay, he lies any where. Def. Why, man? Clown. He's a foldier; and for me to fay, a foldierTM lies, 'tis ftabbing. Def. Go to; where lodges he? Clown. To tell you where he lodges, is to tell you where I lie.. D. Can any thing be made of this? Clown. I know not where he lodges; and for me to devise a lodging, and fay, he lies here, or he lies there, were to lie in mine own throat. Def. Can you enquire him out? and be edified by report? Clown. I will catechize the world for him; that is, make questions, and bid them answer. (39) Def Seek him, bid him come hither; tell him, Is have mov'd my Lord on his behalf, and hope, all will be well. wit Clown. To do this is within the compafs of man's and therefore I will attempt the doing of it. [Exit Clown. Def. Where fhould I lofe that handkerchief, Æmilia? (39) Clown. I will catechize the world for him; That is, make questions, and by them answer.]+ This clown is a fool to fome purpose. He was to go feek for one; he fays, he will ask for him, and by his own questions-make answer. Without doubt, we should read; En tod and bid them anfwer." i. e. the world; thofe, whom he questions, Mr. Warburtone Def. Believe me, I had rather have loft my puffe Full of Cruzadoes. And but my noble Moor o Is true of mind, and made of no fuch bafenefs As jealous creatures are, it were enough To put him to ill thinking. Emil. Is he not jealous? Def. Who, he? I think, the Sun, where he was born, Drew all fuch humours from him. Emil. Look, where he comes. Def. I will not leave him now, till Caffte be Call'd to him. How is it with you my Lord ? Enter Othello. Oth. Well, my good lady. Oh, hardness to diffemble !! How do you, Desdemona ? Def. Well, my Lord. Oth. Give me your hand; this hand is moist, my lady. For here's a young and sweating devil here, A frank one. Def. You may, indeed, fay fo; For 'twas that hand, that gave away my heart. Oth. A liberal hand. The hearts, of old, gave hands; (40)) But our new heraldry, is hands not hearts. -The hearts of old gave hands; But our new Leraldry is bands not hearts.] Def The fenfe of the fentence here is very clear; but, notwithstanding, I have a fufpicion, that a point of history is obliquely alluded to. Soon after King James the First came to the crown, in order to raise a- fum, he created the new dignity of Barinets each man was to pay fo much for his title. Amongst their other prerogatives of honour, they had this, viz. an addition to their paternal arms of a HAND, » gules, in an efcutcheon argent. And we are not to doubt, but this was the Low heraldry hinted at by our Author: and the fatire iss Ꮕ 6 . meft Def. I cannot speak of this; come, now your promise. Oth. What promife, chuck? {, ? F Def. I've fent to bid Caffic come speak with you. Oth. I have a falt and forry Rheum offends me; Lend me thy handkerchief. Daf. Here, my Lord. Oth. That, which I gave you. Def, I have it not about me. Def. No, indeed, my Lord. Ob. That's a fault. That handkerchief (41) Did an Ægyptian to my mother give ; She moft exquifite, plainly infinuating that fome, then created, had bands, indeed; but no bearts: that is, money to pay for the creation, but no virtue to purchase the honour. But the fineft part of the Poet's addrefs in this allufion, is, the compliment he paid by it to his old mife trefs, Elizabeth. For James's pretence for raifing this fum, by the new creation, was the reduction of Ulfter, and other provinces in Ire land; the memory of which he would perpetuate by this addition to the arms, which is the arms of Ulfter. Now the methods ufed by Elizabeth in the conqueft of that kingdom were fo different from this, (the dignities, the confer'd, being on those who had employ'd their feel, not their gold in that service) that nothing could more add to her glory than being compared to her fucceffor in this point of view. Mr. Warburton. (41). That bandkerchief Did an Ægyptian to my mother give;] Because this episode of the bandkerchief has been attack'd by fnarlers and buffoon-criticks, I am tempted to fubjoin an obfervation or two in juftification of our Author's conduct. The Poet feems to have been aware of the levity of fuch judges, as fhould account the giving away an handkerchief too flight a ground for jealoufy. He therefore obviates this, upon the very moment of the handkerchief being loft, by making lago fay; Trifles, light as air, Are, to the jealous, confirmations ftrong Befides this, let us fee how finely the Poet has made his handkerchief of fignificancy and importance. Cinthio Giraldi, from whom he has borrowed the incident, only fays, that it was the Moors gift, upon his wedding, to Defdemona; that it was most curiously wrought after the Moorish fashion, and very dear both to him and his wife; il quel Pannicello era lavorato alla Morefca fottiliffimamente, & era cariffimo alla Donna & parimente al Mura. But our Author, who wrote in a superstitious age, (when philtres were in vogue for procuring love, and amulets She was a Charmer, and could almost read The thoughts of people. She told her, while the kept it, Or made a gift of it, my father's eye To lofe't, or give't away, were fuch perdition, Def. Is't poffible? Oth. 'Tis true; there's magick in the web of it; The Sun to courfe two hundred compaffes, The worms were hallowed, that did breed the filk; amulets for preferving it) makes his handkerchief deriv'd from an inchantress; magick and myflery are in its materials and workmanskip ; its qualities and attributes are folemnly laid down; and the gift recommended to be cherish'd by its owners on the most inducing terms imaginable, viz. the making the party amiable to her husband, and the keeping his affections fteady. Such circumftances, if I know any thing of the matter, are the very foul and effence of poetry: fancy here exerts its great creating power, and adds a dignity, that furprizes, to its fubject. After this, let us hear the coarfe pleasantries of Mr. Rymer. "So much ado, fo much ftrefs, fo much paffion, and repe "tition, about an handkerchief! Why was not this call'd the Tra"gedy of the Handkerchief? What can be more abfurd, than (as" "Quintilian expreffes it) in parvis litibus has Tragedias movere ? "We have heard of Fortunatus's purse, and of the invifible cloak, long 66 ago worn thread-bare, and ftow'd up in the wardrobe of obfolete romances: one might think, that were a fitter place for this hand. "kerchief, than that it, at this time of day, be worn on the ftage, "to raise every where all this clutter and turmoil. Had it been Desdemona's garter, the fagacious Moor might have smelt a rat : "but the handkerchief is fo remote a trifle, no booby, on this fire "Mauritania, could make any confequence from it."- Whether this be from the spirit of a true critic, or from the licence of a railer, I may be too much prejudiced to determine: fo leave it to every indifferent judgment. Def. |