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time of the marriage or the opening of the piece. She would with more propriety refer to the be ginning of the acquaintance and intimacy between the married couple, which might extend beyond that period. STEEVENS.

P. 75, last but one 1. the duty of my heart.] This is the reading of the elder quarto. The anthor nsed the more proper word, and then changed it I suppose, for fashionable diction; ["the office of my heart," the reading of the folio; but, as fashion is a very weak protectress, the old word is now ready to resume its place. JOHNSON.

Office may be the true reading. STEEVENS.
P. 76, 1. 6-8. So shall I clothe me in a forc'd

one.

content,

in some other course, Shoot is the reading of JOHNSON.

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And shut myself up To fortuue's alms.] one of the early quartos. I cannot help thinking this reading to be the true The idea seems taken from the confinement of a monastick life. The words, fore'd content, help to confirm the supposition. The meaning will therefore be, "I will put on a constrained appearance of being contented, and shut myself up in a different course of life, no longer to depend on my own efforts, but to wait for relief from the accidental hand of charity." STEEVENS.

To fortune's alms means, waiting patiently for whatever bounty fortune or chance may bestow upon me. MALONE.

I cannot agree with Steevens in approving of the present reading, nor of course, in bis explanation of this passage, but think the quarto right, which reads shoot instead of shut. - To say that a man will shut himself up in a course of life, is language such as Shakspeare would never make use

of, even in his most whimsical or licentious mo

ments.

One of the meanings of the verb to shoot, is to push suddenly, or to push forward; and in that sense it is used in this place. Cassio means to say, that if he finds he has no chance of regaining the favour of the general, he will push forward into some other line of life, and seek his fortune; but I think it probable we ought to read:

one. --

And shoot myself upon some other course, instead of up in some other course. M. MASON. Mr. M. Mason's explanation is a very forced It appears from the information of lago, that Cassio bad not long been a soldier. Before Othello promoted him, for his good offices in respect to Desdemona, he was a great arithmétician, a countercaster;" and now, being discarded. from the military line, he purposes to confine or shut himself up, as he formerly had, within the limits of a new profession. HENLEY..

P. 76, 1. 12. in favour-] In look, in countenance. JOHNSON.

P. 76, 1. 15.

within the blank of his displea¬ sure,] Within the shot

of his anger. JOHNSON.

P. 76, 1. 22-25.

I have seen the cannon,

When it hath blown his ranks into the

air,

And, like the devil, from his very arm Puff'd his own brother; And can he be wangry?] In Iago's speech something is suppressed. He means to say, - I have seen his ranks blown into the air, and his own brother puff'd from his side, and mean while have seen him quite cool and unruffled. And can be now be angry? MALONE.

P. 76, 1.31.

some unhatch'd practice,] Some

treason that has not taken effect. JOHNSON.

P. 76, last 1. & P. 77. 1. 1. 2. For let our finger ach, and it indues

Our other healthful members ev'n to that

sense

Of pain:] I believe it should be rather, Subdues our other healthful members to a sense of pain. JOHNSON.

To indue appears to have signified in Shakspeare's time, to tincture, or embrue, and is so used here. MALone.

How a member is to be tinctured or embrewed to any particular sensation, I am glad it is not my office to explain. STEEVENS.

P. 77, 1. 4. the bridal. —] i. e. the nuptial feast; a Saxon word. STEEVENS.

P. 77, 1.5. Unhandsome warrior,] is evidently unfair assailant. JOHNSON.

P. 78, 1. 5. A more continuate time] is time less interrupted, time which I can call more my own. It gives a more distinct image than convenient. JOHNSON.

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P. 78, 1. 8. Take me this work out. The meaning is not, "Pick out the work, and leave the ground plain," but, "Copy this work in another handkerchief." JoHNSON.

P. 79, 1. 3.

I must be circumstanc'd.] Your civility is now grown conditional,

WARBURTON.

Rather, I must give way to circumstances.

M. MASON. Particular circumstances and your own conve nience have, I see, more weight with you thau Bianca has. I must be postponed to these cousiderations. MALONE.

P. 79, 1. 17. It is hypocrisy against the devil:] This observa→ tion seems strangely abrupt and unoccasioned. We must suppose that Iago had, before they appeared in this scene, been applying cases of false comfort to Othello; as that though the parties had been even found in bed together, there might be no harm done; it might be only for the trial of their virtue; as was reported of the Romish saint, Robert D'Arbrissel and his nuns: To this we must suppose Othello here replies; and like a good protestant. For so the sentiment does but suit the character of the speaker, Shakspeare little heeds how these sentiments are circumstanced.

WARBURTON

Hypocrisy against the devil, means hypocrisy to cheat the devil. As common hypocrites cheat meu, by seeming good, and yet living wickedly, these men would cheat the devil, by giving him flattering hopes, and at last avoiding the crime which he thinks them ready to commit. JOHNSON. P. 79, 1. 19. The devil their virtue tempts,

and they tempt heaven.] The true key to the explanation of this passage may be found in St. Matthew, iv. 7. The poet's idea, is, that the devil tempts their virtues, by stirring up their passions, and they tempt heaven, by placing themselves in such a situation as makes it scarcely possible to avoid falling by the gratifica→ tion of them. HENLEY.

As the devil makes a trial of their virtue by often throwing temptation in their way, so they presumptuously make a trial whether the divine goodness will enable them to resist a temptation which they have voluntarily created for them-

selves, or abandon them to the government of their passions. Malone.

Shakspeare had probably in view a very popu→ lar book of his time, The Beehive of the Roman Church. "There was an old wife, called Julia, which would take the young men and maides, and lay them together in a bed. And for that they should not one byte another, nor kicke backewardes with their heeles, she did lay a cruci fix between them. FARMER.

P. 80, 1. 1-3.

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it comes o'er my memory, As doth the raven o'er the infected house, Boding to all,] Thus all the old copies. The moderus less grammatically,

JOHNSON.

Boding to illThe raven was thought to be a constant attendant on a house, in which there was infection. MALONE. P. 80, I. 11. Convinced or supplied them,] Dr. Farmer is of opinion that supplied has here the same meaning as supplicated. STEEVENS. P. 80, 1. 18. 'Faith, that he did, I know not what de did. ] I believe that the line should be pointed thus: 'Faith, that he did I know not what; he did. M. MASON. P. 80, 1. 27. To confess, and be hang'd—} This is a proverbial saying. STEEVENS.

3

AP. 80, 1. 29-31. Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion, without some instruction. It is not words, that shake me thus:] The modern editions have left out passion. JOHNSON.

The starts and broken reflections in this speech have something very terrible, and shew the mind of the speaker to be in inexpressible agonies. But

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