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It is the caufe.-Yet I'll not fhed her blood;
Nor fear that whiter fkin of hers than fnow,
And fmooth as monumental alabaster.

(takes off his fword.
Yet the muft die, elfe fhe'll betray more men'.
Put out the light, and then put out the light":
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,

I can

foul be avenged on fuch as this?" In imitation of this the poet meant, if his interrupted expreffions were completed, to fay, "It is the cause, the caufe of virtue and chastity, which I am going to maintain: my foul, this is the offence thou haft to avenge: but let me not name the offence to you, ye chaste stars; it is the caufe of chastity, and the must die, elfe he'll betray more men. Justice demands it from me. ANONYMUS."

5 Yet he muft die, elfe he'll betray more men.] This is the second attempt of Othello to justify what he has undertaken. First he says, It is the caufe, i. e. his own caufe; now he is willing to fuppofe himfelf the preventer of fucceeding mischief to others. STEEVENS.

Put out the light, and then put out the light:] This is one of the paffages to which I alluded in a note on As you like it, Vol. III. p. 133, n. 5; in which by a modern regulation our poet's words have obtained a meaning, which in my opinion was not in his thoughts. Mr. Upton was the first perfon who introduced the conceit in this line, which has been adopted fince his book appeared, by pointing it thus: Put out the light, and then-Put out the light! &c.

His explanation is as follows. "I'll put out the light, and thenftrangle her, he was going to fay; but this recals a thousand tender thoughts to his troubled foul: he ftops fhort; If I quench the taper, bow eafy is it to reftore its former light; but O Desdemona, if I once put out thy light," &c.

On this Dr. Warburton grounded the following note:

"The meaning is, I will put out the light, and then proceed to the execution of my purpofe. But the expreflion of putting out the light, bringing to mind the effects of the extinction of the light of life, he breaks fhort, and questions himself about the effects of this metaphorical extinction, introduced by a repetition of his firft words; as much as to fay, But hold, let me first weigh the reflections which this expreffion fo naturally excites."

I entirely agree with Dr. Farmer, that this regulation gives a fpirit to this paffage that was not intended. The poet, I think, meant merely to fay," I will now put out the lighted taper which I hold, and then put out the light of life;" and this introduces his fubfequent reflection and comparifon, juft as aptly, as fuppofing the latter words of the line to be used in the fame fenfe as in the beginning of it, which cannot be done without deftroying that equivoque and play of words of which Shakspeare was fo fond.

There

I can again thy former light reftore,

Should I repent me :-but once put out thy light,

There are few images which occur more frequently in his works than this. Thus, in K. Henry VI. P. III. the dying Clifford fays,

"Here burns my candle out, ay, here it dies."

Again, in Macbeth:

"Out, out, brief candle!"

Again, in K. Henry VIII. :

"This candle burns not clear; 'tis I muft fnuff it;
Then out it goes

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Again, in his Rape of Lucrece :

Fair torch, burn out thy light, and lend it not "To darken her, whofe light excelleth thine!"

Let the words-put out ber light, ftand for a moment in the place of darken her, and then the fentence will run-Burn out thy light, fair torch, and lend it not to put out her light, whofe light is more excellent than thine. In the very fame ftrain, Tays Othello, let me firft extinguifh the light I now bold, and then put out the light of life. But how different in effect and importance are thefe two acts! The extinguished taper can be lighted again, but the light of life, when once extinguished, can never, alas, be relumined."

1

The question is not, which regulation renders the passage most elegant and fpirited, but what was the poet's idea.- I believe, however, that Shakspeare wrote-and then put out thy light; and the reading of the original copy in a fubfequent line, " but once put out thine,” feems to me to countenance this emendation. In The Merchant of Venice the word light is ufed with equal ambiguity "Let me give light, but let me not be light." MALONE. This has been confidered as a very difficult line. Fielding makes Betterton and Booth difpute about it with the author himself in the other world. The punctuation recommended by Dr. Warburton, gives a Spirit to it which I fear was not intended. It feems to have been only a play upon words. To put the light out was a phrase for to kill. In The Maid's Tragedy, Melantius fays,

"'Tis a juftice, and a noble one,

"To put the light out of fuch bafe offenders." FARMER. Put out the light. This phrafe is twice used in Sidney's Arcadia, for killing a lady, p. 460, and 470, edit. 1633.

Again, in an unpublished play, called The Second Maidens Tragedy, by George Chapman, licenfed by Sir George Buc, October 31st, 1611, (now in the library of the Marquis of Lanidown, who honoured me with the ufe of it):

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"Came that arch fubtilty from thy lady's counsel,

"Or thine own fudden craft? confefs to me

"How oft thou hast been a bawd to their clofe actions,
"Or all thy light goes out." STEEVENS.

6-put out thy light,] Thus the folio. The quarto reads-put out thine, STEVENS.

Thou

Thou cunning'ft pattern of excelling nature 7,

I know not where is that Promethean heat,

That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd thy

rofe9,

I cannot give it vital growth again,

It needs muft wither:-I'll fmell it on the tree.

[kiffing her.

Obalmy breath, that doft almoft perfuade
Juftice herself to break her fword!-Once more.-
Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
And love thee after :-Once more, and this the last:
So fweet was ne'er fo fatal. I must weep,

But they are cruel tears:

This forrow's heavenly
It ftrikes, where it doth love.-She wakes-
Def. Who's there? Othello?

Oth. Ay, Defde mona.

Def. Will you come to bed, my lord?

Oth. Have you pray'd to-night, Desdemona?
Def. Ay, my lord."

Oth. If you bethink yourself of any crime,

7 Thou cunning pattern of excelling nature,] So, in Palmerin D'Ofiva, 1588, P. I. thofe that beheld her, efteemed her for the chiefelt piece of workmanshipp that ever Nature framed." REED.

8 That can thy light relume.] Thus the folio. The quarto 1622, for relume has-return. The modern editors, following the quarto printed in 1630, read-relamine.

Our poet has illume, for illuminate, in Hamlet:

Had made his courfe, to illume that part of heaven, "Where now it burns." MALONE.

9thy rofe,] Thus the folio.

Again, the quarto reads,

"I'll fmell it on the tree."

The folio,

The quarto reads, -the rofe.

"I'll fmell thee on the tree." STEEVENS.

1-This forrow's beavenly;] This tenderness, with which I lament the punishment which juftice compels me to inflict, is a holy paffion. I with thefe two lines could be honeftly ejected. It is the fate of Shakspeare to counteract his own pathos. JoHNSON.

Perhaps the poet would not have retained both these images, had he published the play himfelf, though in the hurry of compofition he threw them both upon paper. The first feems adopted from the fabulous hiftory of the crocodile, the fecond from a pallage in the fcripture. STEEVENS.

"Whom the Lord loveth, he chafteneth." MASON.

Unreconcil'd

Unreconcil'd as yet to heaven and grace,
Solicit for it ftraight.

Def. Alas, my lord, what may you mean by that?
Oth. Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by:
I would not kill thy unprepared spirit ;

No,-Heaven forefend!-I would not kill thy foul”.
Def. Talk you of killing?

Oth. Ay, I do.

Def. Then, heaven

Have mercy on me!

Oth. Amen, with all my heart!

Def. If you fay fo, I hope you will not kill me.
Oth. Humph!

Def. And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then,

When your eyes roll fo: Why I should fear, I know not, Since guiltinefs I know not; but yet, I feel, I fear.

Oth. Think on thy fins.

Def. They are loves I bear to you.
Oth. Ay, and for that thou dy't.

Def. That death's unnatural, that kills for loving 3. Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip?

Some bloody paffion fhakes your very frame:

These are portents; but yet, I hope, I hope,

They do not point on me.

Oth. Peace, and be still!

Def. I will fo: What's the matter?

Oth. That handkerchief, which I fo lov'd, and gave

thee, Thou gav'ft to Caffio.

Def. No, by my life and foul;

2 I would not kill thy foul.] Sir W. D'Avenant has borrowed this thought in his Albovine, King of Lombardy, 1629:

"I am not fraught with devil's fpleen; I would

"Not hurt thy foul." STEEVENS.

3 That death's unnatural, that kills for loving.] This thought is likewife found in The Legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, a poem, by H. L. 16mo. 1597:

"Unnatural, which kill where you should kiffe."

Again, in our poet's K. Richard III.

"It is a quarrel most unnatural,

"To be reveng'd on him that loveth thee." MALONE.

Send

Send for the man, and ask him.

Oth, Sweet foul, take heed,

Take heed of perjury; thou art on thy death-bed.
Def. Ay, but not yet to die.

Oth. Yes, prefently:

Therefore confefs thee freely of thy fin;

For to deny each article with oath,

Cannot remove, nor choke, the ftrong conception
That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.
Def. Then, Lord have mercy on me!

Oth. I fay, amen.

Def. And have you mercy too!-I never did
Offend you in my life; never lov'd Caffio,
But with fuch general warranty of heaven
As I might love: I never gave him token.

Oth. By heaven, I faw my handkerchief in his hand.
O perjur'd woman! thou doft ftone my heart,
And mak'ft me call, what I intend to do,—

A murder, which I thought a facrifice:
I faw the handkerchief.

Def. He found it then;

I never gave it him :-Send for him hither,
And let him confefs a truth.

Oth. He hath confefs'd.

Def. What, my lord?

Oth. That he hath-us'd thee 5.

A murder, which I thought a facrifice:] This line is difficult. Thou haft bardened my beart, and make me kill thee with the rage of a murderer, when I thought to bave facrificed thee to juftice with the calmness of a priest striking a victim.

It must not be omitted, that one of the elder quartos reads, the deft Bone thy beart; which I fufpect to be genuine. The meaning then will be, thou forceft me to difmifs thee from the world in the ftate of the murdered without preparation for death, when I intended that thy punishment should have been a facrifice atoning for thy crime.

I am glad that I have ended my revifal of this dreadful fcene. It is not to be endured. JOHNSON.

Thy heart, is the reading of the original quarto, 1622. MALONE. 5 That be bath-us'd thee.] The quarto, 1622, exhibits this line thus:

That he hath ds death, MALONE,

Def.

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