"Iag. Go to, farewell: Rod. What say you? ... doe you heare Roderigo? Exit Roderigo. Iag. No more of drowning, doe you heare? Rod. I am chang'd. Iag. Goe to, farewell, put money enough in your purse: In the folio the passage is awkwardly cut down to, “Iago. Go too, farewell. Do you heare Roderigo? Iago. Thus do I euer make my Foole, my purse," &c. P. 26. (14) "For every minute is expectancy Of more arrivance." The folio has " Of more Arriuancie;" which Mr. Knight retains, though a manifest error caught from the "expectancie" of the preceding line. P. 26. (15) "Thanks you, the valiant of this warlike isle," &c. The quarto of 1622 has “Thankes to the valiant of this worthy Isle," &c.; and so the quarto of 1630, except that it omits "worthy."-The folio has "Thankes you, the valiant of the warlike Isle," &c.,-the transcriber or printer having repeated "the" by mistake: compare, at p. 36, "The very elements of this warlike isle," &c. P. 27. (16) "And in the essential vesture of creation The quarto of 1622 has "Does beare all excellency:" and so the quarto of 1630, except that it has "an excellency."-The folio has "Do's tyre the Ingeniuer,”—a misprint, it would seem, for “ingener,” as was first suggested by Steevens (who justly terms the readings of the quartos "flat and unpoetical"). P. 27. (17) "Has had most favourable and happy speed," &c. i.e. He has had, &c. This stands in the folio, "Ha's had most favourable," &c. (the folio having, two lines before, "How now? Who ha's put in ?").—See vol. iv. p. 525, note (35). P. 27. (18) "The gutter'd rocks, and congregated sands,— Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel,” &c. So the quarto of 1630, and the folio,-except that the folio has "enclogge" (the eye of the transcriber or printer having caught the preceding "ensteep'd"). -The quarto of 1622 has " Traitors enscerped," &c.; on which Steevens says, that "perhaps escerped was an old English word borrowed from the French escarpé;” while, according to Mr. Grant White (Shakespeare's Scholar, &c. p. 437), “it requires no very great ingenuity to discover that 'enscerp'd' was a misprint for enscarp'd."-That "ensteep'd" is the genuine reading, I agree with Boswell ad l., and with Richardson in his Dict. sub "Enstecp." P. 27. (19) 66 Great Jove, Othello guard," &c. For "this absurdity" [" Jove"] Malone has not the smallest doubt that the Master of the Revels is answerable: but see vol. iv. p. 203, note (66). P. 30. (*) "is he not a most profane and liberal counsellor ?" Altered by Theobald (and Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector) to “ surer ?" liberal cen P. 31. (21) "But I'll set down," &c. Has been altered to "But I'll let down," &c. P. 33. 66 or from what other course you please," &c. When Mr. Collier mentioned that here his Ms. Corrector alters "course" to "cause," it had escaped him that "cause" is the reading of the quarto of 1622. P. 33. (4) "I will do this, if I can bring it to any opportunity." So the quartos.-The folio has ". if you can bring it," &c. "The sense requires I; for Iago had brought the affair to opportunity by fixing on Roderigo for one of the watch. Roderigo's part remained to be done, viz. provoking Cassio, which he promises to do if opportunity offered to give him cause.” JENNENS-Mr. Knight, however, and Delius prefer the reading of the folio, and think that it is confirmed by the reply of Iago, "I warrant thee:"-which words, in fact, determine nothing; they suit equally well with either lection. P. 33. (3) "If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trash The quarto of 1622 has, "If this poore trash of Venice, whom I crush," &c. The folio, and the quarto of 1630, have, "If this poore Trash of Venice, whom I trace," &c. Warburton reads, "If this poor brach of Venice, whom I trace," &c. Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector, “If this poor brach of Venice, whom I trash,” &c.— I give the reading of Steevens (which I have no doubt is the right one): he compares what the same speaker afterwards says (p. 89) of Bianca,— "Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trash To be a party in this injury;" and he remarks, "It is scarce necessary to support the present jingle of the word trash by examples, it is so much in our author's manner, although his worst." P. 34. (26) "to what sport and revels his addiction leads him," &c. his minde leads him," his addition leads him," &c.,-which stark mis So the quarto of 1630.-The quarto of 1622 has, P. 36. (27) "Three else of Cyprus," &c. So the folio; which reading, though Mr. Collier and Mr. Singer pronounce it to be a misprint, I prefer, with Capell and Delius, to that of the quartos, "Three lads of Cyprus," &c.—(Compare King John, act ii. sc. 1, Bastards and else.").—Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes, oddly, "Three elfs of Cyprus," &c. P. 36. (28) "King Stephen was and a worthy peer," &c. So the folio-The quartos omit "und:" but compare the song with which Twelfth-Night concludes, "When that I was and a little tiny boy," &c.; and that in King Lear, act iii. sc. 2, "He that has and a little tiny wit," &c.;"and" being often used redundantly in ballad-poetry. P. 38. (29) "Cry within,- Help! help!" Mr. Knight omits this stage-direction because it is found only in the quartos. But Iago afterwards says (p. 38),— P. 39. (30) "There comes a fellow crying out for help, And Cassio following him," &c. "Help, ho!-Lieutenant,-sir,-Montano,-sir ;-" &c. “ Helpe ho, Leiutenant: Sir, Montanio, sir,” &c. But from Mr. Knight and Delius print "Sir Montano," -as a title of courtesy given by Iago to the ex-governor, with whom he is not on familiar terms. the earlier part of the scene it appears plainly enough that the ex-governor is hail-fellow-well-met with Othello's officers: "Cas. 'Fore heaven, they have given me a rouse already. Mon. Good faith, a little one; not past a pint, as I am a soldier. Mon. I am for it, lieutenant; and I'll do you justice." P. 39. (31) "You will be sham'd for ever." So the quartos.—The folio has “You'le be asham’d for euer,”—most ridiculously; and yet Mr. Knight and Delius prefer that reading. P. 39. (2) "Mon. Zounds, I bleed still; I am hurt to the death." So the quarto of 1622.-The folio has, "Mon. I bleed still, I am hurt to th' death. He dies." The quarto of 1630; “Mon. I bleed still, I am hurt to the death. he faints." The editor of the second folio substitutes, "Mon. I bleed still, I am hurt, but not to th' death." P. 39. (3) “All sense of place and duty ?” The old eds. "all place of sense, and duty ?” P. 39. (3) "Hold! the general speaks to you; hold, for shame!” So the folio.-The quartos have, "Hold, the Generall speakes to you; hold, hold, for shame." (The usual modern reading,-which both Mr. Collier and Delius silently adopt,-is, P. 40. (35) 66 'Hold, hold! the general speaks to you; hold, for shame !”) 66 on the court and guard of safety!" Has been altered to "on the court of guard and safety!" Here, if we consider "the wars" as used for war generally, the usual modern alteration "Out of their best" is unnecessary.—Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes 66 Out of our best," &c.; and Mr. Singer (Shakespeare Vindicated, &c. p. 284) says "Read Out of the best,'" &c. P. 49. (40) "Or sue to you to do a peculiar profit," &c. "Malone," says Mr. Collier, "here omits 'a,' probably for the sake of the measure," &c.:-but Malone was not the first editor who rejected it as injurious to the metre. P. 50. (41) "Farewell, my Desdemona,” &c. Qy. "Farewell, my Desdemon," &c.? as before, pp. 46, 49, and afterwards, pp. 77, 91, 97, 99. P. 50. (42) "By heaven, he echoes me, As if there were some monster in his thought Too hideous to be shown." So the quarto of 1622.-The folio has, "Alas, thou ecchos't me; As if there were some Monster in thy thought," &c. (which, though rejected even by Mr. Knight, is adopted by Delius).—The quarto of 1630 has, P. 51. (43) "why dost thou ecchoe me As if there were some monster in thy thought," &c. "who has a breast so pure, But some uncleanly apprehensions Keep leets and law days, and in session sit So the quartos.-The folio has, "who ha's that breast so pure, Wherein uncleanly Apprehensions Keepe Leetes, and Law-dayes, and in Sessions sit With meditations lawfull?" nonsensically, the transcriber or printer having perhaps by mistake omitted "do not" at the end of the second line.-Both Mr. Knight and Delius retain the "sessions" of the folio, Mr. Knight quoting as a parallel," from our author's xxth Sonnet, 66 "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought," &c.— but "session" occurs in Shakespeare oftener than "sessions" (e.g. in King Lear, act v. sc. 3, "Where you shall hold your session," and in the present play, act i. sc. 2, "course of direct session,” &c.); and there are not a few passages in the folio where the final s is erroneously added to substantives (so afterwards, p. 54, it has "Foul disproportions, thoughts unnatural," &c.,— which Mr. Knight retains; and, p. 70, "Poore Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behauiours," &c.). |