Sayfadaki görseller
PDF
ePub

5

I'll pour this pestilence into his ear,

That she repeals him for her body's lust;
And, by how much she strives to do him good,
She shall undo her credit with the Moor.

So will I turn her virtue into pitch :

And out of her own goodness make the net,
That shall enmesh them all'.-How now, Roderigo?

Enter RODERIGO.

ROD. I do follow here in the chace, not like a hound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry. My money is almost spent ; I have been to-night exceedingly well cudgelled; and, I think, the issue will be I shall have so much experience for my pains and so, with no money at all, and a little more wit, return to Venice.

LAGO. How poor are they, that have not patience!

What wound did ever heal, but by degrees ? Thou know'st, we work by wit, and not by witchcraft;

And wit depends on dilatory time.

Does't not go well? Cassio hath beaten thee,
And thou, by that small hurt, hast cashier'd Cassio:
Though other things grow fair against the sun,
Yet fruits, that blossom first, will first be ripe 9:

5 I'll pour this PESTILENCE] Pestilence, for poison,

WARBURTON.

6 That she REPEALS him-] That is, recalls him. JOHNSON, So it is explained both in the Alphabet of Hard Words, 1604, and by Bullokar, 1616. MALOne.

7 That shall enmesh them all.] A metaphor from taking birds in meshes.

POPE.

Why not from the taking fish, for which purpose nets are more frequently used? M. MASON.

8

a little more wit,] Thus the folio. The first quarto reads -and with that wit. STEEVENS.

9 Though other things grow fair against the sun,

Yet fruits, that blossom first, will first be ripe:] Of many

Content thyself a while.-By the mass, 'tis morn

ing1;

Pleasure, and action, make the hours seem short.Retire thee; go where thou art billeted:

Away, I say; thou shalt know more hereafter:
Nay, get thee gone. [Exit RoD.] Two things are
to be done,-

My wife must move for Cassio to her mistress;
I'll set her on;

Myself, the while, to draw2 the Moor apart,
And bring him jump when he may Cassio find

3

different things, all planned with the same art, and promoted with the same diligence, some must succeed sooner than others, by the order of nature. Every thing cannot be done at once; we must proceed by the necessary gradation. We are not to despair of slow events any more than of tardy fruits, while the causes are in regular progress, and the fruits grow fair against the sun. Sir Thomas Hanmer has not, I think, rightly conceived the sentiment; for he reads:

"Those fruits which blossom first, are not first ripe."

I have therefore drawn it out at length, for there are few to whom that will be easy which was difficult to Sir T. Hanmer, JOHNSON.

The blossoming, or fair appearance of things, to which lago alludes, is, the removal of Cassio. As their plan had already blossomed, so there was good ground for expecting that it would soon be ripe. Iago does not, I think, mean to compare their scheme to tardy fruits, as Dr. Johnson seems to have supposed. MALONE.

I

- BY THE MASS, 'tis morning;] Here we have one of the numerous arbitrary alterations made by the Master of the Revels in the playhouse copies, from which a great part of the folio was printed. It reads-In troth, 'tis morning. See The Historical Account of the English Stage, vol. iii. MALONE.

2

-To draw-] Thus the old copies; and this reading is consistent with the tenor of the present interrupted speech. Iago is still debating with himself concerning the means to perplex Othello. STEEVENS.

66

Myself, the while, to draw." The old copies have awhile. Mr. Theobald made the correction.

The modern editors read-Myself, the while, will draw. But the old copies are undoubtedly right. An imperfect sentence was intended. Iago is ruminating on his plan. MALONE.

Soliciting his wife :-Ay, that's the way;
Dull not device by coldness and delay.

[Exit.

ACT III. SCENE I.

Before the Castle.

Enter Cassio, and some Musicians.

CAS. Masters, play here, I will content your

pains,

Something that's brief; and bid-good-morrow, [Musick.

general *.

Enter Clown.

CLO. Why, masters, have your instruments been at Naples, that they speak i'the nose thus "?

5

3- bring him JUMP when] Unexpectedly:-an expression taken from the bound, or start, with which we are shocked, at the sudden and unlooked-for appearance of any offensive object.

HENLEY. Jump when, I believe, signifies no more than just at the time when. Se, in Hamlet, vol. vii. p. 177, n. 7:

"Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour." STEEVENS.

4- and bid-good-morrow, general.] It is the usual practice of the waits, or nocturnal minstrels, in several towns in the North of England, after playing a tune or two, to cry, "Good-morrow, maister such a one, good-morrow, dame," adding the hour, and state of the weather. It should seem to have prevailed at Stratford-upon-Avon. They formerly used hautboys, which are the wind-instruments here meant. RITSON.

5 Why, masters, have your instruments been at Naples, that they SPEAK I'THE NOSE thus ?] So, in The Merchant of Venice: "And others, when the bagpipe sings i'the nose—.” Rabelais somewhere speaks of a blow over the nose with a Naples cowl-staff." STEEVENS.

66

The venereal disease first appeared at the siege of Naples.

JOHNSON.

1 Mus. How, sir, how!

CLO. Are these, I pray you, called wind instruments?

1 Mus. Ay, marry, are they, sir. CLO. O, thereby hangs a tail.

1 Mus. Whereby hangs a tale, sir?

CLO. Marry, sir, by many a wind instrument that I know. But, masters, here's money for you and the general so likes your musick, that he desires you, of all loves, to make no more noise with it. 1 Mus. Well, sir, we will not.

CLO. If you have any musick that may not be heard, to't again: but, as they say, to hear musick, the general does not greatly care.

1 Mus. We have none such, sir.

CLO. Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I'll away: Go; vanish into air; away.

[Exeunt Musicians. CAS. Dost thou hear, my honest friend? CLO. No, I hear not your honest friend; I hear you.

CAS. Pr'ythee, keep up thy quillets. There's a poor piece of gold for thee: if the gentlewoman that attends the general's wife, be stirring, tell her, there's one Cassio entreats her a little favour of speech: Wilt thou do this?

CLO. She is stirring, sir; if she will stir hither, I shall seem to notify unto her.

Enter IAGO.

[Exit.

CAS. Do, good my friend.-In happy time, Iago.

6 of all loves,] The folio reads-for love's sake. The phrase in the text occurs also in The Merry Wives of Windsor. See vol. viii. p. 82. STEEVENS.

7 FOR I'LL away :] Sir T. Hanmer reads-and hie away.

8

JOHNSON.

vanish INTO AIR ;] So, the folio and one of the quartos. The eldest quarto reads-Vanish away. STEEvens. thy QUILLETS.] See vol. vii. p. 469. MALONE.

9

LAGO. You have not been a-bed then?
CAS. Why, no; the day had broke
Before we parted. I have made bold, Iago,
To send in to your wife: My suit to her
Is, that she will to virtuous Desdemona
Procure me some access.

LAGO.

I'll send her to you presently;

And I'll devise a mean to draw the Moor
Out of the way, that your converse and business
May be more free.

[Exit. CAS. I humbly thank you for't. I never knew A Florentine more kind and honest 1.

Enter EMILIA.

EMIL. God morrow, good lieutenant: I am sorry For your displeasure 2; but all will soon be well. The general, and his wife, are talking of it; And she speaks for you stoutly: The Moor replies, That he, you hurt, is of great fame in Cyprus, And great affinity; and that, in wholesome wisdom,

[blocks in formation]

A Florentine more kind and honest.] In consequence of this line, a doubt has been entertained concerning the country of lago. Cassio was undoubtedly a Florentine, as appears by the first scene of the play, where he is expressly called one. That lago was a Venetian, is proved by a speech in the third scene of this Act, and by what he says in the fifth Act, after having stabbed Roderigo:

66

Iago. Alas, my dear friend and countryman, Roderigo!

"Gra. What, of Venice?

66

"Iago. Yes."

All that Cassio means to say in the passage before us is, I never experienced more honesty and kindness even in any one of my own countrymen, than in this man.

Mr. Steevens had made the same observation in another place. MALONE.

[blocks in formation]

2 For YOUR DISPLEASURE ;] i. e. the displeasure you have incurred from Othello. STEEVENS.

« ÖncekiDevam »