And portance in my travel's hiftory: Wherein of antres vaft, and defarts idle, (14) Rough quarriers, rocks, and hills, whofe heads. touch heaven, It was my hint to fpeak; fuch was the procefs; (15) (14) Wherein of antres vast and defarts idle, &c.] Thus it is. in all the old editions; but Mr Pope has thought fit to change the epithet. Defarts idle; "in the former editions (fays be) doubtlefs, a corruption from wilde.”—But he must pardon me, if I do not concur in thinking this fo doubtful. I don't know whether Mr Pope has obferved it, but I know that Shakespeare, especially in his defcriptions, is fond of ufing the more uncommon word in a poetic latitude. And idle, in feveral other paffeges, he employs in thefe acceptations, wild, useless, uncultivated, &c. Crowned with rank fumitar, and furrow weeds, In our fuftaining corn. 3. e. wild and ufelefs. -The murmuring furge, That on the unnumbered idle pebbles chafes, King Lear. Ibid. i. e. ufclefs, worthlefs, nullius pretii; for pebbles, constantly. washed and chafed by the furge, can't be called idle, e. to ly ftill, in a ftate of rest. The even mead that erft brought fweetly forth Henry V. i. e. by wildness, occafioned from its lying uncultivated. And exactly with the fame liberty, if i am not mistaken, has Virgil twice ufed the word ignavus: -Hyems ignava coleno. Geor. I. v. 299. Et nemora evertit multos ignava per annos. (15) Such was the process; And of the Canibals that each other cat, Georg. II. v. 208. The Anthropophagi, and men whose beads Do grow beneath their fhoulders.] This paffage Mr Pope has thought fit to throw out of the text, as containing incredible matter, I prefume; but why, if he had any equality in his critical judgement, did he not as well caftrate the ten peft of these lines? And of the Canibals that each other eat, Who would believe that there were mountaineers Whofe heads food in their breast? I have obferved feveral times, in the course of these notes, our Author's particular defence of Sir Walter Raleigh; and both thefe paffages feem to me intended complimentally to him. Sir Walter, in his Travels, has given the following account, which I fhall fubjoin as briefly as I may. "Next unto Arvi, there are two rivers, Atoica and Caora; and on that branch which is called Caora, are a nation of people whofe heads appear not above their shoulders; which, though it may be thought a mere fable, yet, for mine own part, I am refolved it is true; because every child in the provinces of Arromania and Canuri affirm the fame. They are called Ewaipanomaws, they are reported to have their eyes in their fhoulder's, and their mouths in the middle of their breasts. It was not my chance to hear of them, till I was come away; and if I had but fpoken one word of it while I was there, I might have brought one of them with me, to put the matter out of doubt. Such a nation was written of by Mandeville, whose reports were holden for fables for many years; and yet fince the Eaft-Indies were discovered, we find his relations true of fuch things as heretofore were held incredible. Whether it be true or no, the matter is not great; for mine own part, I faw them not, but I am refolved that fo many people did not all combine, or forethink to make the report Το the west of Caroli are diverfe nations of canibals and of those Ewaipanomaws without heads." Sir Walter Raleigh made his voyage to Guiana in 1595. Mr Lawrence Keymifh, (fometime his lieutenant) who went thither the next year, and who dedicates his relation to Sir Walter, mentions the fame people; and, fpeaking of a person who gave him confiderable informations, he adds, "He certified me of the headless men, and that their mouths in their breafts are exceeding wide. Sir Walter, at the time that his travels were published, is ftyled Captain of her Majefty's guard, Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and Lieutenant-general of the county of Cornwal. If we contider the retutation, as the ingenious Martin Folkes Efq; obferved to me, any thing from fuch a perfon, and at that time Do grow beneath their fhoulders. All these to hear Would Defdemona ferioufly incline; But ftill the house affairs would draw her thence, in fuch pofts, muft come into the world with, we shall be of opinion that a paffage in Shakespeare need not be degraded for the mention of a story, which, however ftrange, was countenanced with fuch authority. Shakefare, on the otherhand, has fhewn a fine addrefs to Sir Walter, in facrificing. fo much credulity to fuch a relation. Befides, both the paffages in our Author have this further ufe; that they do in fome measure fix the chronology of his writing Othello, as well as the Tempeji; for as neither of them could be wrote hefore the year 1597; fo the mention of thefe circumftances fhould perfuade us, thev appeared before thefe Travels became ftale to the public, and their authority was too nar Lowly fcrutinized. We may be able to account, perhaps, in a few lines, for the mystery of thefe fuppofed headless people; and with that I will clofe this long note. Olearius, fpeaking of the manner of cloathing of the Samojeds, a people of northern Mufcovy, fays; "Their garments are made like those that are called cofaques, open only at the necks.. When the cold is extraordinary, they put their cofaques over their heads, and let the fleeves hang down; their faces being not to be feen, but at the cleft which is at the neck. Whence fome have taken occafion to write, that in thefe Barthern countries there are people without heads, having their faces in their breafts." She fwore," In faith, 'twas ftrange, 'twas paffing ftrange, 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful”----- She withed the had not heard it ;---yet fhe wished That Heaven had made her fuch a man :-------the thanked me, And bade me, if i had a friend that loved her, Enter DESDEMONA, IAGO, and Attendants. Duke. I think,this tale would win my daughter too-> Good Brabantio, Take up this mangled matter at the best. Bra. I pray you, hear her speak; If the confefs that fhe was half the wooer, Def. My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty; To you I'm bound for life and education: 1 How to refpect you. You're the Lord of duty; Bra. God be with you: I have done. Please it your Grace, on to the State-affairs; I had rather to adopt a child, than get it. Come hither, Moor: I here do give thee that with all my heart, Which, but thou haft already, with all my heart I would keep from thee. For your fake, jewel, I'm glad at foul I have no other child; For thy efcape would teach me tyranny, To hang clogs on them. I have done, my Lord. Duke. Let me fpeak like yourfelf; and lay a fentence, Which, as a grice, or step, may help thefe lovers When remedies are paft, the griefs are ended The robbed, that fmiles, fteals fomething from the He bears the fentence well, that nothing bears Being strong on both fides, are equivocal. (16) But words are words; I never yet did hear, That the bruifed heart was pierced through the ear.] One fuperfluous letter has for thefe hundred years quite fubverted the fenfe of this paffage; and none of the editors have ever attended to the reasoning of the context, by which |