Lago. And fo I do too, lieutenant.

Caf. Ay, but, by your leave, not before me; the lieutenant is to be faved before the ancient. Let's have no more of this; let's to our affairs,-Forgive us our fins!-Gentlemen, let's look to our business. Do not think, gentlemen, I am drunk; this is my ancient;➡ this is my right hand, and this is my left hand :- I am not drunk now; I can ftand well enough, and speak well enough.

All. Excellent well.

Caf. Why, very well then you must not think then that I am drunk.

[Exit. Mon. To the platform, mafters; come let's fet the

watch.

Iago. You fee this fellow, that is gone before ;

He is a foldier, fit to ftand by Cæfar

And give direction: and do but fee his vice;

'Tis to his virtue a juft equinox,

The one as long as the other: 'tis pity of him.
I fear, the truft Othello puts him in,

On fome odd time of his infirmity,

Will shake this island.

Mon. But is he often thus ?

lago. 'Tis evermore the prologue to his fleep: He'll watch the horologe a double fet, If drink rock not his cradle.

Mon. It were well,

The general were put in mind of it.
Perhaps, he fees it not; or his good nature
Prizes the virtue that appears in Caffio,

And looks not on his evils; Is not this true?

8 He'll watch the horologe a double fet,] If he have no drink, he'll keep awake while the clock ftrikes two rounds, or four-and-twenty hours.

Chaucer ufes the word borologe in more places than one:

"Well fikerer was his crowing in his loge

*Than is a clock or abbey borologe." JOHNSON. So, in The Devil's Charter, 1607:

my gracious lord,

By Sitto's borologe 'tis ftruck eleven," STEEVENS.

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Enter

Enter RODERIGO.

Iago, How now, Roderigo?

I pray you, after the lieutenant; go.

[Afide. [Exit Rod.

Men. And 'tis great pity, that the noble Moor Should hazard fuch a place, as his own fecond, With one of an ingraft infirmity 9:

It were an honest action, to fay

So to the Moor.

Iago. Not 1, for this fair ifland:

I do love Caffio well; and would do much

To cure him of this evil. But, hark! what noise?

[Cry within,-Help! help!

Re-enter CASSIO, driving in RODERICO.

Caf. You rogue! you rascal!

Mont. What's the matter, lieutenant ?
Caf. A knave!-teach me my duty!

I'll beat the knave into a twiggen bottle".

Rod. Beat me!

Caf. Doft thou prate, rogue?

Mon. Nay, good lieutenant?

I pray you, fir, hold your

Caf. Let me go. fir,

hand.

Or I'll knock you o'er the mazzard.
Mon. Come, come, you're drunk.
Caf. Drunk?

[They fight.

lago. Away, I fay! go out, and cry-a mutiny.
[Afide to Rod. who goes oute

Nay, good lieutenant,-alas, gentlemen,-
Help, ho!-Lieutenant.-fir,-Montano,-fir ;-
Help, mafters !-Here's a goodly watch, indeed!

[Bell rings.

9 ingraft infirmity:] An infirmity rooted, fettled in his conftitu. tion. JOHNSON.

Dr. Johnfon's explanation is certainly juft, though it has been controverted. So, in King Lear" then muft we look to receive from his age not alone the imperfection of long ingrafted condition, but therewithal," &c. MALONE.

into a twiggen bottle.] A twiggen bottle is a wicker'd bottle; and fo the quarto reads. STEEVENS.

Who's

Who's that that rings the bell?-Diablo 2, ho!
The town will rife: God's will, lieutenant! hold;
You will be fham'd for ever.

Enter OTHELLO, and Attendants.

Oth. What is the matter here?

Mon. 'Zounds, I bleed ftill, I am hurt to the death 3, Oth. Hold, for your lives.

lago. Hold, hold, lieutenant 4,-fir, Montano,-gentle

men,

Have you forgot all fenfe of place and duty 5 ?
Hold, hold! the general fpeaks to you; hold, for shame!
Oth. Why, how now, ho! from whence arifeth this?
Are we turn'd Turks; and to ourselves do that,
Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites?
For chriftian fhame, put by this barbarous brawl;
He that firs next to carve forth his own rage,
Holds his foul light; he dies upon his motion.-
Silence that dreadful bell, it frights the ifle

From

2- Diablo,] I meet with this exclamation in Marlowe's King Edward II. " Diablo! what paffions call you thefe ?" STEEVENS. 3 'Zounds, I bleed ftill, I am burt to the death.] Thus the quarto 1622. The editor of the folio, thinking it neceffary to omit the first word in the line, abfurdly supplied its place by adding at the end of the line, He dies.

I had formerly inadvertently faid that the marginal direction, He faints, was found in the quarto, 1622: but this was a mistake. It was inferted in a quarto of no value or authority, printed in 1630.

MALONE.

-1 am burt to death-he dies.] Montano thinks he is mortally wounded; yet by these words he feems determined to continue the duel, and to kill his antagonist Caffio. So when Roderigo runs at Caffio, in the fifth act, he says,-" Villain, thou dy'ft." TOLLET. He dies, i. e. he fhall die. He may be fuppofed to fay this as he renews the fight. STEEVENS.

4 Hold, hold, lieutenant, Thus the original quarto. The folio reads-Hold bo, lieutenant. MALONE.

5- all fenfe of place and duty ? ] So Hanmer. The reft,

all place of fenfe and duty? JOHNSON.

6 Silence that dreadful bell, It was a common practice formerly, when any great affray happened in a town, to ring the alarum bell. When David Rizzio was murdered at Edinburgh, the Provost ordered

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the

From her propriety 7.- What is the matter, mafters ?—
Honeft Iago, that look'st dead with grieving,

Speak, who began this? on thy love, I charge thee.
Iago. I do not know ;-friends all but now, even now,
In quarters, and in terms like bride and groom
Devetting them for bed: and then, but now,
(As if fome planet had unwitted men,)
Swords out, and tilting one at other's breaft,
In oppofition bloody. I cannot fpeak
Any beginning to this peevish odds;
And 'would in action glorious I had loft
Thefe legs, that brought me to a part of it!

Oth. How comes it, Michael, you are thus forgot??
Caf. I pray you, pardon me, I cannot fpeak.
Oth. Worthy Montano, you were wont be civil;

The gravity and ftillness of your youth

The world hath noted, and your name is great
In mouths of wifeft cenfure; What's the matter,
That you unlace your reputation thus,

the common bell to be rung, and five hundred perfons were immediately affembled. See Saunderson's Hift. of Queen Mary, p. 41. MALONE. 7 From ber propriety.-] From her regular and proper ftate.

JOHNSON,

3 In quarter,] i. c. on our ftation. So, in Timon of Athens:

-to atone your fears

"With my more noble meaning, not a man
"Shall pafs his quarter."

Their flation or quarter in the prefent inftance, was the guard-room in Othello's caftle. In Cymbeline we have-" their quarter'd fires,” i. e. their fires regularly difpofed.

In quarter Dr. Johnson supposed to mean, at their lodgings; but that cannot be the meaning, for Montano and the gentlemen who accompanied him, had continued, from the time of their entrance, in the apart ment in Othello's caftle, in which the carousal had been; and Caffio had only gone forth for a fhort time to the platform, to fet the watch. On his return from the platform into the apartment, in which he left Montano and Iago, he meets Roderigo; and the fcuffle, first between Caffio and Roderigo, and then between Montano and Caffio, enfues. MALONE.

9-you are thus forgot ?] i. e. you have forgot yourfelf.

STEEVENS.

That you unlace-] Slacken, or loofen, Put in danger of dropp

ing; or perhaps ftrip of its ornaments. JOHNSON.

And

And spend your rich opinion 2, for the name
Of a night-brawler? give me answer to it.

Mon. Worthy Othello, I am hurt to danger;
Your officer, lago, can inform you-

While I fpare fpeech, which fomething now offends me,-
Of all that I do know: nor know I aught,

By me that's faid or done amifs this night;
Unless felf-charity 3 be fometime a vice;
And to defend ourfelves it be a fin,

When violence affails us.

Oth. Now, by heaven,

My blood begins my fafer guides to rule ;
And paffion, having my beft judgment collied",
Affays to lead the way: If I once ftir,
Or do but lift this arm, the best of you
Shall fink in my rebuke. Give me to know
How this foul rout began, who set it on ;
And he that is approv'd in this offences,
Though he had twinn'd with me, both at a birth,
Shall lcfe me.-What! in a town of war,
Yet wild, the people's hearts brimfull of fear,
To manage private and domeftick quarrel,

2-Spend your rich opinion,] Throw away and fquander a reputa tion fo valuable as yours. JOHNSON.

3-felf-charity-] Care of one's felf, JOHNSON.

4 And paffion, baving my best judgment collied,] Thus the folio reads, and I believe rightly. Othello means, that paffion has difcoloured his judgment. The word is ufed in The Midsummer-Night's Dream:

like lightning in the collied night."

To colly anciently fignified to befmut, to blacken as with coal. So, in a comedy called The Family of Love, 1608 :-" carry thy link a t'other fide the way, thou collow' ft me and my ruffe." The word (as I am aflured) is ftill ufed in the midland counties. STEEVENS.

Coles in his Dictionary, 1679, renders collow'd by denigratus :to coily," denigro.

The quarto, 1622, reads-having my beft judgment cool'd. A modern editor fuppofed that quell'd was the word intended. MALONE. 5 And be that is approv'd in this offence,] He that is convicted by proof, of having been engaged in this offence. JOHNSON.

VOL. IX.

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In