Caf. There is, befides, in Rodorigo's letter, How he upbraids Iago that he made him Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came That I was caft. And even now he spake, After long feeming dead, Iago hurt him, Iago fet him on. Lod. You must forfake this room, and go with us; Your Pow'r and your Command is taken off, That can torment him much, and hold him long, Oth. Soft you; a word or two, before you go. speak Of one that loved not wifely, but too well; Richer than all his tribe; of one, whofe fubdued Albeit unused to the melting mood, know the estimation of a pearl, beyond that of a barley corn. So that, in that refpect, the thought itself would not be juft. Then, if our author had defign'd to reflect on the ignorance of the Indian without any farther reproach, he would have call'd him rude, and not bafe. Again, I am perfuaded, as my friend Mr. Warburton long ago obferv'd, the phrase is not here literal, but metaphorisal: and, by his pearl, our author very pro perly means a fine woman. But Mr. Pope objects farther to reading Judian, because, to make fenfe of this, we must pre-fuppofe Some particular ftory of a Jew alluded to; which is much less obvious: But has Shakespeare never done this, but in this fingle inftance? I am fatisfied in his Judian, he is alluding to Herod; who, in a fit of blind jealoufy, threw away fuch a jewel of a wife as Marianne was to him. What can be more parallel in circumftance, than the conduct of Herod and Othello? Nor was the ftory fo little obvious, as Mr. Pope fees to imagine: for, in the year 1613, the Lady Elizabeth Carew published a Tragedr, call'd MARIAM, the fair Queen of JEWRY. I fhall only add, that our author might write Judian, or Judean (if that should be alledg'd as any objection) inftead of Judaan, with the fame licence and change of accent, as, in his Anthony and Cleopatra, he fhortens the fecond fyllable of Euphrates in pronunciation: which was a liberty likewife taken by Spencer, of whom our author was a studious imitator. THEOBALD. Like the bafe INDIAN, threw a pearl away.] The elder quarto reads JUDIAN, and this is certainly right. And by the Judian is meant Herod, whofe ufage to Mariamne is so appofite to the fpeaker's cafe, that a more proper inftance could not be thought of. Befides, he was the fubject of tragedy at that time, as appears from the words in Hamlet, where an ill player is defcribed, -to out herod Herod. The metaphorical term of a pearl for a fine woman, is so common as scarce to need examples. In Troilus and Creffida, a lover fays of his mistress, There he lies a PEARL.And again, Why he is a PEARL whose price, &c. WARBURTON. I took by th' throat the circumcifed dog, And fmote him thus. Lod. Oh bloody period! Gra. All, that is fpoke, is marr'd. [Stabs bimfelf Oth. I kift thee, ere I kill'd thee.No way but this, [Falling upon Defdem. [dies. Killing myself, to die upon a kifs. Caf. This did I fear, but thought he had no wea pon, For he was great of heart. Lod. Oh Spartan dog! [To Iago, More fell than anguifh, hunger, or the fea! nor, Remains the cenfure of this hellish villain, The To you, lord Governor, Remains the cenfure of this bellish villain:] Rymer, who had neither vigour of imagination to make a poet, nor itrength of judgment to make a critic, as appears from his Edgar and his Remarks on Shakespeare, had yet just enough to play the buffoon and caviller. His criticifms on the Poets of the laft age, with only a mixture of trite remarks, tranfcribed from the French commentators on Ariftotle, are one continued heap of ignorance and infolence. Almoft the only remark on Shakespeare, which, I think, deferves an anfwer, is upon Iago's character, which he thus cenfures. To ens tertain the audience (fays he) with fomething new and furprifing, a gainst common sense and nature, he would pass upon us a clofe, diffembling, falfe, ungrateful rafcal, instead of an open-hearted, frank, plain-dealing foldier, a character conftantly worn by them for fome thousands of years in the world. This hath the appearance of fenfe, being founded on that rule of Nature and Ariftotle, that each character should have manners convenient to the age, fex, and condition. Etatis cujufque notandi funt tibi mores, &c. fays Horace. But how has our Hh 4 critic The time; the place; the torture; oh! inforce it. critic applied it? According to this rule it is confeffed, that a foldier fhould be brave, generous, and a man of honour. This is to be his dramatic character. But either one or more of any order may be brought in. If only one, then the character of the order takes its denomination from the manners of that one. Had therefore the only foldier in this play been lago, the rule had been tranfgreffed, and Rymer's cenfure well founded. For then this eternal villain muft have given the character of the foldiery; which had been unjust and unnatural. But if a number of the fame order be reprefented, then the character of the order is taken from the manners of the majority; and this, according to nature and common fenfe. Now, in this play there are many of the order of the foldiery, and all, excepting lago, reprefented as open, generous, and brave. From thefe, the foldier's character is to be taken; and not from Iago, who is brought as an exception to it, unless it be unnatural to fuppofe there could be an exception: or that a villain ever infinuated himself into that And thus Shakespeare ftands clear of this impertinent criticism. WARB. The beauties of this play impress themselves fo ftrongly upon the attention of the reader, that they can draw no aid from critical illuftration. The fiery openness of Othello, magnanimous, artlefs, and credulous, boundless in his confidence, ardent in his affection, inflexible in his refolution, and obdurate in his revenge; the cool malignity of Iago, filent in his refentment, fubtle in his defigns, and ftudious at once of his intereft and his vengeance; the foft fimplicity of Desdemona, confident of merit, and conscious of innocence, her artless perfeverance in her fuit, and her flowness to fufpect that she can be suspected, are fuch proofs of Shakespeare's skill in human nature, as, I fuppofe, it is vain to feek in any modern writer. The gradual progrefs which Iago makes in the Moor's conviction, and the circumftances which he employs to inflame him, are fo artfully natural, that, though it will perhaps not be faid of him as he fays of himself, that he is a man not eafily jealous, yet we cannot but pity him when at last we find him perplexed in the extreme. There is always danger left wicked nefs conjoined with abilities fhould fteal upon efteem, though it miffes of approbation; but the character of lago is fo conducted, that he is from the firft fcene to the laft hated and defpifed. Even the inferiour characters of this play would be very con fpicuous fpicuous in any other piece, not only for their juftnefs but their ftrength. Caffio is brave, benevolent, and honeft, ruined only by his want of ftubbornness to refift an infidious invitation. Rodorigo's fufpicious credulity, and impatient fubmiffion to the cheats which he fees practifed upon him, and which by perfuafion he fuffers to be repeated, exhibit a strong picture of a weak mind betrayed by unlawful defires, to a false friend; and the virtue of Emilia is fuch as we often find, worn loosely, but not caft off, eafy to commit fmall crimes, but quickened and alarmed at atrocious villanies. The Scenes from the beginning to the end are bufy, varied by happy interchanges, and regularly promoting the progreffion of the ftory; and the narrative in the end, though it tells but what is known already, yet is neceffary to produce the death of Othello. Had the scene opened in Cyprus, and the preceding incidents been occafionally related, there had been little wanting to a drama of the most exact and fcrupulous regularity. APPEN |