takes its original from the French M'Amour, which men were apt often to repeat when they were not prepared to give a direct answer. HANMER. P. 57, 1. 16. 17. What! Michael Cassio, That came a wooing with you;] And yet in the first act Cassio appears perfectly ignorant of the amour, and is indebted to Iago for the information of Othello's marriage, and of the person to whom he is married. STEEVENS. P. 57, 1. 30. of poize [i. e. of weight. STEEVENS. P. 58, 1. 7. Excellent wretch!] The meaning of the word wretch, is not generally understood. It is now, in some parts of England, a term of the softest and fondest tenderness. It expresses the utmost degree of amiableness, joined with an idea, which perhaps all tenderness includes, of feebleness, softness, and want of protection. Othello, considering Desdemona as excelling in beauty and virtue, soft and timorous by her sex, and by her situation absolutely in his power, calls her, Excellent wretch! It may be expressed: Dear, harmless, helpless excellence. P. 58, 1. 8. 9. JOHNSON. when I love thee not, Chaos is come again.] When my love is for a moment suspended by suspicion, I have nothing in my mind but discord, tumult, perturba→ tion, and confusion. JOHNSON. There is another meaning possible. When I cease to love thee, the world is at an end; i.e. there remains nothing valuable or important. The first explanation may be more elegant, the second is perhaps more easy. STEEVENS. Vol. xx. 13 P. 59, 1. 15- 20. these stops of thine fright me the more: For such things, in a false disloyal knave, Are tricks of custom; but, in a man that's just, They are close denotements, working from the heart, That passion cannot rule.] Thus the earliest quarto. But let Dr. Warburton be heard in defence of,,, cold dilations," the reading of the second folio, instead of close denotements. I should willingly, however, have adopted au emendation proposed by Dr. Johnson in the subsequent note, could I have discovered that the word-delation was ever used in its Roman sense of accusation, during the time of Shakspeare. Bacon frequently employs it, but always to signify carriage or conveyance. STEEVENS. These stops and breaks are cold dilations, or cold keeping back a secret, which men of phleg> matick constitutions, whose hearts are not swayed or governed by their passions, we find, can do: while more sanguine tempers reveal themselves at once, and without reserve. WARBURTON. The old copies give, dilations, except that the earlier quarto has denotements; which was the author's first expression, afterwards changed by him, not to dilations, but to delations; to occult and secret accusations, working involuntarily from the heart, which, though resolved to conceal the fault, cannot rule its passion of resentmen. JOHNSON. P. 59, 1. 24. 25. Men should be what they seem; Or, those that be not, 'would they might seem none!] I believe the meaning is, 'would they might no longer seem, or bear the shape of men. JOHNSON. May not the meaning be, 'Would they might not seem honest! MALONE. P. 59, last 1. I am not bound to that all slaves are free to.] I am not bound to do that, which even slaves are not bound to do. MALONE. P. 60, 1. 4 7. who has a breast so ed a pure, But some uncleanly apprehensions Keep leets, and law-days, and in session sit With meditations lawful?] Leets, and law-days, are synonymous terms: Leet (says Jacob, in his Law Dictionary) is otherwise call law-day.' They are there explained to be courts, or meetings of the hundred, to certify the King of the good manners, and government, of the inhabitants," and to enquire of all offences that are not capital. The poets meaning will now be plain. Who has a breast so little apt to form ill opinions of others, but that foul sus picions will sometimes mix with his fairest and most candid thoughts, and erect a court in his mind, to enquire of the offences apprehended. STEEVENS. Who has so virtuous à breast, that some uncharitable surmizes and impure conceptions will not sometimes enter into it; hold a session there as in a regular court, and,,bench by the side" of authorised and lawful thoughts? The leet, according to Lambard, was a court of jurisdiction above the wapentake or hundred, comprehending three or four hundreds. The juris diction of his court is now in most places merged in that of the County Court. MALONE. P. 60, F. 12-19. I do beseech you, Though I, perchance, am vicious in my guess, &c.] Not to mention that, in this reading, the sentence is abrupt and broken, it is likewise highly absurd. I beseech you give yourself no uneasiness from my unsure observance, though I am vicious in my guess. For his being an ill guesser was a reason why Othello should not be uneasy: in propriety, therefore, it should either have been, though I am not vicious, or because I am vicious. It appears then we should read: I do beseech you, Think, I, perchance, am vicious in my guess. Which makes the sense pertinent and perfect. * WARBURTON. P. 60. 1. 24-26. Good name, in man, and woman, dear my Lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: The sacred writings were here perhaps in our poet's thoughts: A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour than silver and gold." Proverbs, ch. xxii. v. 1. MALONE. P. 61, 1.3-5. O, beware, my Lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on:] i. e. loaths that which nourishes and sustains it. This being a miserable state, Iago bids him beware of it. The Qxford editor reads: which doth make The meat it feeds ́on: Implying that its suspicions are unreal and groundless, which is the very contrary to what he would here make his general think, as appears from what follows: That cuckold lives in bliss, &c. In a word, the villain is for fixing him jealous : and therefore bids him beware of jealousy, not that it was an unreasonable, but a miserable state; and this plunges him into it, as we see by his reply, which is only, O misery!" WARBURTON. I have received Hanmer's emendation; because to mock, does not signify to loath; and because, when lago bids Othello beware of jealousy, the green-ey'd monster, it is natural to tell why he should beware, and for caution he gives him two reasons, that jealousy often creates its own cause, and that, when the causes are real, jealousy is misery. JOHNSON. In this place, and some others, to mock seems the same with to mammock. FARMER. I have not the smallest doubt that Shakspeare wrote make, and have therefore inserted it in my text. The words make and mocke (for such was the old spelling) are often confounded in these plays. MALOne. P. 61, 1. 11. But riches, fineless, is as poor as winter,] Riches, Unbounded, endless, unnumbered fineless, as poor as winter,—] Finely expressed: winter producing no fruits. WARBURTON. P. 61, 1. 19-22. — - Exchange me for a goat, [When I shall turn the business of my soul ་་ To such exsufflicate and blown surmises, |