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Witness, ye ever-burning lights above!
Ye elements, that clip us round about!
Witness, that here Iago doth give up
The execution of his wit, hands, heart,
To wrong'd Othello's fervice.
And to obey, fhall be in me Remorse,
What bloody business ever,

3

-Let him command, And to obey, fhall be in me Remorfe,

What bloody business ever.] Thus all the old copies, to the manifeft depravation of the poet's fenfe. Mr. Pope has attempted an emendation, but with his old luck and dexterity,

Not to obey, fhall be in me Remorfe, &c. I read, with the change only of a fingle letter;

Nor, to obey, shall be in me Remorfe, &c.

i. e. Let your commands be ever fo bloody, Remorfe and Compaffion fhall not reftrain me from obeying them.

THEOBALD.

-Let him command,

And to obey, fhall be in me Remorfe,

What bloody business ever.] Thus the old copies read, but evidently wrong. Some editions read, Not to obey; on which the editor Mr. Theobald takes occafion to alter it to, Nor to obey; and thought he had much mended matters. But he mistook the found end of the line for the corrupt; and fo by his emendation, the deep-defigning lago is foolthly made to throw off his mafk,

3 Let him command,

Oth.

when he had moft occafion for it; and without any provocation, ftand before his Captain a villain confeffed; at a time, when, for the carrying on his plot, he fhould make the least show of it. For thus Mr. Theobald forces him to fay, I shall have no remorse to obey your commands, how bloody fever the bufinefs be. But this is not Shakespear's way of preferving the unity of character. Iago, till now, pretended to be one, who, tho' in the trade of war he had flain men, yet held it the very stuff of th confcience to do no contriv'd murder; when, of a fudden, without caufe or occafion, he owns himself a ruffian without remorse. Shakespear wrote and pointed the paffage thus, -Let him command, And to obey fhall be in me. RE

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Oth. I greet thy love,

Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous;
And will upon the inftant put thee to't.
Within these three days let me hear thee say,
That Caffio's not alive.

Iago. My friend is dead;

Tis done at your requeft. But, let her live.

Oth. Damn her, lewd Minx! oh, damn her, damn her!

Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw

To furnish me with fome fwift means of death

For the fair Devil. Now art thou my Lieutenant.Iago. I am your own for ever.

[Exeunt.

As fometimes he must vices RE- quotation the meaning of with

MORDE.

And again,

Squire, Knight, and Lord, Thus the Churche REMORDE. WARBURTON. Of these two emendations, I believe, Theobald's will have the greater number of fuffrages; it has at least mine. The objection against the propriety of the declaration in lago is a cavil; he does not say that he has no priaciple of remorse, but that it fhall not operate against Othello's commands. To obey shall be in me, for I will obey you, is a mode of expreffion not worth the pains here taken to introduce it; and the word remorde has not in the

bold, or make reluctant, but of reprove, or cenfure; nor do I know that it is used by any of the contemporaries of Shakespeare.

I will offer an interpretation, which, if it be received, will make alteration unneceffary, but it is very harsh and violent. Iaga devotes himself to wrong'd Ōthello, and fays, Let bim command whatever bloody business, and in me it shall be an act, not of cruelty, but of tenderness, to obey him; not of malice to others, but of tenderness for him. If this fenfe be thought too violent, I fee nothing better than to follow Pope's reading, as it is im proved by Theobald.

SCENE

Def.

SCENE IX.

Another Apartment in the Palace.

Enter Desdemona, Emilia, and Clown.

D

O you know, firrah, where Lieutenant Caffio lies?

Clown. I dare not fay, he lies any where.

Def. Why, man?

Clown. He's a foldier; and for me to fay a foldier lies, 'tis ftabbing.

Def. Go to; where lodges he?

Clown. To tell you where he lodges, is to tell you where I lie.

Def. Can any thing be made of this?

Clown. I know not where he lodges; and for me to devife a lodging, and say, he lies here, or he lies there, were to lie in mine own throat.

Def. Can you enquire him out? and be edified by report?

4 Clown. I will catechize the world for him; that is, make questions, and bid them answer.

Def. Seek him, bid him come hither; tell him, I have mov'd my Lord on his behalf, and hope, all will be well.

Clown. To do this is within the compass of man's wit, and therefore I will attempt the doing of it.

[Exit Clown. Def. Where fhould I lofe that handkerchief, Emilia?

Clown. I will catechize the world for bim; that is, make queftions, and by them anfwer.] This Clown is a Fool to fome purpose. He was to go feek for one; he says, he will ask for

him, and by his own questions make answer. Without doubt, we fhould read; and bid them answer: i. e. the world; thofe, whom he queftions. WARB.

Emil. I know not, Madam.

Def. Believe me, I had rather have loft my purfe Full of Cruzadoes. And but my noble Moor Is true of mind, and made of no fuch baseness As jealous creatures are, it were enough To put him to ill thinking.

Emil. Is he not jealous?

Def. Who, he? I think, the Sun, where he was born,

Drew all fuch humours from him.

Emil. Look where he comes.

Def. I will not leave him now, till Caffio be Call'd to him. How is 't with you, my Lord?

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Oth. Well, my good lady. [Afide.] Oh, hardness to diffemble!

How do you, Desdemona?

Def. Well, my Lord.

Oth. Give me your hand. This hand is moist, my lady.

Def. It yet hath felt no age, nor known no forrow,
Oth. This argues fruitfulness, and liberal heart:
Hot, hot, and moift. This hand of yours requires
A fequefter from liberty, fafting and prayer,
Much caftigation, exercife devout;

For here's a young and fweating devil here,
That commonly rebels. 'Tis a good hand,
A frank one.

Def. You may, indeed, fay fo;

For 'twas that hand, that gave away my heart.

5-Cruzadoes.] A Pertu gueze coin, in value three fhillings Sterling. Dr. GREY.

So called from the Cross ftamped upon it.

3

Oth. A liberal hand.

hands:

The hearts, of old, gave

But our new heraldry is hands,
Def. I cannot speak of this.
mife.

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The hearts, of old, gave hands But our new heraldry is hands, not hearts.] It is evident that the first line fhould be read thus,

The hands of old gave hearts: Otherwise it would be no reply to the preceding words,

For 'twas that hand, that gave

away my heart:

Not fo, fays her husband: The hands of old indeed gave hearts: But the custom now is to give bands without hearts. The expreffion of new heraldry was a fatirical allufion to the times. Soon after James the First came to the Crown, he created the new dignity of Baronets for money. Amongst their other prerogatives of honour, they had an addition to their paternal arms, of a HAND gules in an Efcutcheon argent. And we are not to doubt but that this was the new heraldry alluded to by our author: By which he infinuates, that fome then created had hands indeed, but not hearts; that is, mony to pay for the creation, but no virtue to purchase the honour. But the finest part of the poet's addrefs in this allufion, is the compliment he pays to his old mistress Elizabeth. For James's pretence for raising mony by this creation, was the reduction of Ufter, and other parts

not hearts. Come, now your pro

of Ireland; the memory of which he would perpetuate by that addition to their arms, it being the arms of Ulfer. Now the method ufed by Elizabeth in the reduction of that kingdom was fo different from this, the dignities fhe conferred being on those who employed their fteel and not their gold in this fervice, that nothing could add more to her glory, than the being compar'd to her fucceffor in this point of view; Nor was it uncommon for the dramatick poets of that time to fatirize the ignominy of James's reign. So Fletcher, in The Fair Maid of the Inn. One fays, I will fend thee to Amboyna i' th' East Indies for pepper. The other replies, To Amboyna? So I might be pepper'd. Again, in the fame play, a failor fays, Defpife not this pitch'd Canvas, the time was we have known them lined with Spanish Ducats. WARB.

The hiftorical obfervation is very judicious and acute, but of the emendation there is no need. She fays, that her hand gave away her heart. He goes on with his fufpicion, and the hand which he had before called frank, he now terms liberal; then proceeds to remark, that the hand was formerly given by the heart; but now it neither gives it, nor is given by it.

Oth.

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