Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

The fresh ftreams ran by her, and murmur'd her mcani į Sing willow, &c.

Her falt tears fell from her, and foften'd the ftones; Lay by thefe:

Sing willow, willow, willow;

Pr'ythee, hye thee; he'll come anon.—

Sing all a green willow must be my garland.

2.

Let nobody blame him, his fcorn I approve,

Nay, that's not next.-Hark! who is it that knocks? Emil. It is the wind.

Def. I call'd my love, falfe love; but what jaid be

then?

Sing willow, &c.

If I court mo women, you'll couch with mo men.

So, get thee gone; good night. Mine eyes do itch; Doth that bode weeping?

Emil. 'Tis neither here nor there.

5 The frefn ftreams, &c.] Thefe lines are formed with fome addi. tions from two couplets of the original song :

"The cold freams ran by bim, his eyes wept apace;

"O willow, &c.

The falt tears fell from him, which drowned his face ; "O willow, &c.

The mute birds fate by him, made tame by bis mones ; "O willow, &c.

"The falt tears fell from bim, which foften'd the ftones." Let nobody blame bim, bis fcorn I approve,] In the original: "Let nobody blame me, her icorns I do prove,

"O willow, &c.

"She was born to be fair; I to die for her love." MALONE. 7 I call'd my love, falfe love;] This couplet is not in the ballad, which is the complaint, not of a woman forfaken, but of a man réjected. Thefe lines were probably added when it was accommodated to a woman. JOHNSON.

8-you'll couch with mo men.] This verb is found also in The Two Noble Kinfmen, 1634:

[ocr errors]

O, if thou couch

But one night with her,." MALONE.

Def. I have heard it said so.-O, these men, these

men!

Doft thou in confcience think,-tell me, Emilia,—
That there be women do abuse their husbands

In fuch grofs kind?

Emil. There be fome fuch, no question.

Def. Would't thou do fuch a deed for all the world? Emil. Why, would not you?

Def. No, by this heavenly light!

Emil. Nor I neither, by this heavenly light;

I might do't as well i' the dark.

Def. Would'st thou do fuch a deed for all the world? Emil. The world is a huge thing: 'Tis a great price For a small vice.

Def. Good troth, I think thou would't not.

Emil. By my troth, I think I should; and undo't, when I had done. Marry, I would not do fuch a thing for a joint-ring; nor for measures of lawn; nor for gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition: but, for the whole world,-Why, who would not make her husband a cuckold, to make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for't.

Def. Befhrew me, if I would do fuch a wrong For the whole world.

Emil. Why, the wrong is but a wrong i' the world; and, having the world for your labour, 'tis a wrong in your own world, and you might quickly make it right. Def. I do not think, there is any fuch woman.

Emil. Yes, a dozen; and as many to the vantage', as Would store the world they play'd for.

But, I do think 2, it is their hufbands' faults,

If wives do fall: Say, that they flack their duties,
And pour our treasures into foreign laps*;

9 I bave beard it faid fo.] This, as well as the following speech, is omitted in the first quarto. STEEVENS.

to the vantage,] i. e. to boot, over and above. STEEVENS. 2 But, I do think, &c.] The remaining part of this speech is omitted in the first quarto. STEEVENS.

* And pour our treasures into foreign laps;] So, in one of our aushour's poems:

"Robb'd other beds' revenues of their rents." MALONE.

[blocks in formation]

Or else break out in peevish jealoufies,

Throwing restraint upon us; or, fay, they ftrike us,
Or fcant our former having in defpight;

Why, we have galls; and, though we have fome grace,
Yet have we fome revenge. Let husbands know,
Their wives have fenfe like them: they fee, and fmell,
And have their palates both for fweet and four,
As husbands have. What is it that they do,
When they change us for others? Is it sport?
I think, it is; And doth affection breed it?
I think, it doth; Is't frailty, that thus errs?
It is fo too: And have not we affections?
Defires for sport? and frailty, as men have?
Then, let them ufe us well: elfe, let them know,
The ills we do, their ills inftruct us fo3.

Def. Good night, good night: Heaven me fuch usage

fend",

Not to pick bad from bad; but, by bad, mend!

ACT V. SCENE I.

A Street.

Enter IAGO, and RODERIGO.

[Exeunt.

Jago. Here, ftand behind this bulk; ftraight will he

come:

3 our former having-] Our former allowance of expence.

JOHNSON -bave fenfe like them] Senfe is used here, as in Hamlet, for fenfation or fenfual appetite. See p. 336. n. 2. MALONE.

s-infruct as fo.] This paffage, as has been already obferved, is not in the quarto, 1622. The reading of the text is that of the folio, 1623. The modern editors, following an alteration made by the editor of the fecond folio, read-instruct us to. Our poet, for the fake of rhyme, often ufes an uncommon phrafeology; i have therefore adhered to the authentick copy. MALONE.

6 beaven me fuch ufage fend,] Such afes is the reading of the folio, and of the fubfequent editions; but the old quarto has:

-fucb usage send,

Usage is an old word for cuftem, and, I think, better than uses.

[ocr errors]

JOHNSON.

Wear

[ocr errors]

Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home;
Quick, quick; fear nothing; I'll be at thy elbow:
It makes us, or it mars us; think on that,

And fix most firm thy refolution.

Rod. Be near at hand; I may mifcarry in't.

Iago. Here, at thy hand; be bold, and take thy [retires to a little distance.

fword.

Rod. I have no great devotion to the deed; And yet he has given me fatisfying reafons:'Tis but a man gone:-forth, my fword; he dies.

[goes to his ftand. Iago. I have rubb'd this young quat almoft to the fenfe, And he grows angry 7. Now, whether he kill Caffio, Or Caffio him, or each do kill the other,

Every way makes my gain: Live Roderigo,
He calls me to a reftitution large

Of gold, and jewels, that I bobb'd from him,

7 I have rubb'd this young quat almoft to the fenfe,

And be grows angry.] This is a pailage much controverted among the editors. Sir T. Hanmer reads quab, a gudgeon; not that a gudgeon can be rubbed to much ferfe, but that a man grofsly deceived is often called a gudgeon. Mr. Upton reads quail, which he proves, by much learning, to be a very choleric bird. Dr. Warburton retains gnat, which is found in the early quarto. Theobald would introduce knot, a small bird of that name. I have followed the text of the folio, and third and fourth quartos.

A quat in the midland counties is a pimple, which by rubbing is made to fmart, or is rubbed to fenfe. Roderigo is called a quat by the fame mode of fpeech, as a low fellow is now termed in low language a fcab. To rub to the fenfe, is to rub to the quick. JOHNSON.

So, in The Devil's Law-cafe, 1623: O young quat! incontinence is plagued in all creatures in the world."

Again, in Decker's Gul's Hornbook, 1609: "-whether he be a yong quat of the first yeeres revennew, or fome auftere and fullen-faced steward," &c.

Such another thought occurs in Ben Jonfon's Catiline:

9

[ocr errors]

must have their difgraces ftill new rubb'd,

"To make them fmart," &c. STEEVENS.

my gain:] The quartos read-my game. STEEVENS.

that I bobb'd from bim,] That I fool'd him out of. A bob formerly fignified a mock, or jeer. Coles renders it in his Dictionary, 1679, by fanna, as he does bobb'd by illufus. MALONE.

As gifts to Defdemona;

It must not be: if Caffio do remain,
He hath a daily beauty in his life,

That makes me ugly; and, befides, the Moor
May unfold me to him; there ftand I in much peril :
No, he must die:-But fo, I hear him coming.

Enter CASSIO.

Rod. I know his gait, 'tis he ;-Villain, thou dy'st. [rufbes from bis poft, and makes a país at Caffio. Caf. That thrust had been mine enemy indeed, But that my coat is better than thou think'ft; I will make proof of thine.

Rod. O, I am flain!

[draws, and wounds Roderigo.

[falls. [lago rushes from his poft, cuts Caffio behind in the leg, and exit.

Caf. I am maim'd for ever:-Help, ho! murder! murder!

Enter OTHELLO, at a distance.

Oth. The voice of Caffio:-Iago keeps his word.
Rod. O, villain that I am!

Oth. Hark! 'tis even fo.

Caf. O, help! ho! light! a furgeon!

[falls.

Oth. 'Tis he;-O brave lago, honeft, and juft, That haft fuch noble fenfe of thy friend's wrong! Thou teacheft me,-Minion, your dear lies dead, And your fate hies apace:-Strumpet, I come : Forth of my heart3 thofe charms, thine eyes, are blotted; Thy bed, luft-ftain'd, fhall with luft's blood be fpotted. [Exit OTHELLO.

Enter.

1-in the leg,] Iago maims Caffio in the leg, in confequence of what he has just heard him fay, from which he fuppofed that his body was defended by fome fecret armour. MALONE.

And your fate bies apace:] Thus the first quarto. The fecond quarto and the folio read-And your unbleft fate bies. STEEVENS. 3 Forth of my beart, &c.] Thus the first quarto. The folio reads, For of: perhaps the true reading is, For off, &c. STEEVENS. For

« AnteriorContinua »