of grapes: if she had been blessed, she would never have loved the Moor: Blessed pudding! Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? didst not mark that? Rod. Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy. Iago. Lechery, by this hand; an index, and obscure prologue to the history of lust and foul thoughts.5 They met so near with their lips, that their breaths embraced together. Villanous thoughts, Roderigo! when these mutualities so marshal the way, hard at hand comes the master and main exercise, the incorporate conclusion: Pish! -But, sir, be you ruled by me: I have brought you from Venice. Watch you to-night; for the command, I'll lay 't upon you: Cassio knows you not;-I'll not be far from you: Do you find some occasion to anger Cassio, either by speaking too loud, or tainting his discipline; or from what other course you please, which the time shall more favourably minister. Rod. Well. Iago. Sir, he is rash, and very sudden in choler; and, haply, with his truncheon may strike at you: Provoke him, that he may: for, even out of that, will I cause these of Cyprus to mutiny; whose qualification shall come into no true taste again, but by the displanting of Cassio. So 3 an index and obscure prologue &c.] That indexes were formerly prefixed to books, appears from a passage in Troilus and Cressida. See Vol. XII, p. 54, n. 2; and Hamlet, Act III, sc. iv, Vol. XV. Malone. 6 7 8 tainting] Throwing a slur upon his discipline. Johnson. other course ➡] The first quarto reads-cause. Steevens. sudden in choler,] Sudden, is precipitately violent. So, Malcolm, describing Macbeth: "I grant him bloody, 66 Sudden, malicious." 9 Steevens. Johnson. whose qualification shall come &c.] Whose resentment shall not be so qualified or tempered, as to be well tasted, as not to retain some bitterness. The phrase is harsh, at least to our ears. Johnson. Johnson's explanation is confirmed by what Cassio says in the next scene: 66 I have drunk but one cup to night, and that was craftily qualified," i. e. allayed by water. M. Mason. no true taste] So the folio. The quarto, 1622, reads no true trust. Malone. shall you have a shorter journey to your desires, by the means I shall then have to prefer them; and the impediment most profitable removed, without the which there were no expectation of our prosperity. Rod. I will do this, if I can bring it to any opportunity.2 Iago I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel: I must fetch his necessaries ashore. Farewel. Rod. Adieu. And, I dare think, he 'll prove to Desdemona But partly led to diet my revenge, For that I do suspect the lusty Moor Hath leap'd into my seat: the thought whereof Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards; Till I am even with him, wife for wife; Or, failing so, yet that I put the Moor 1 to prefer them;] i. e. to advance them. So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "The short and the long is, our play is preferred." Malone. See Julius Cæsar, Act V, sc. v, Vol. XIV. Steevens. 2 if I can bring it to any opportunity.] Thus the quarto, 1622. The folio reads-if you can bring it, &c. Malone. 3 like a poisonous mineral,] This is philosophical. Mineral poisons kill by corrosion. Johnson. 4 Till I am even with him,] Thus the quarto, 1622; the first folio reads: Till I am even'd with him. i. e. Till I am on a level with him by retaliation. So, in Heywood's Iron Age, 1632, Second Part: "The stately walls he rear'd, levell'd, and even'd.” Again, in Tuncred and Gismund, 1592: "For now the walls are even'd with the plain." Again, in Stanyhurst's translation of the first Book of Virgil's Eneid, 1582-" numerum cum navibus æquat. -." with the ships the number is even'd." Steevens, That judgment cannot cure. Which thing to do If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trash For his quick hunting, stand the putting on,] The quarto, 1622, has-crush, the folio reads-trace, an apparent corruption of trash; for as to the idea of crushing a dog, to prevent him from quick hunting, it is too ridiculous to be defended. To trash, is still a hunter's phrase, and signifies (See Vol. II. p. 17, n. 5,) to fasten a weight on the neck of a dog, when his speed is superior to that of his companions. Thus, says Caratach, in The Bonduca of Beaumont and Fletcher, (the quotation was the late Mr. T. Warton's, though misunderstood by him as to its appropriate meaning): 66 I fled too, "But not so fast; your jewel had been lost then, 66 Young Hengo there: he trash'd me, Nennius, i. e. he was the clog that restrained my activity. This sense of the word-trash has been so repeatedly confirmed to me by those whom I cannot suspect of wanting information relative to their most favourite pursuits, that I do not hesitate to throw off the load of unsatisfactory notes with which the passage before us has hitherto been oppressed. The same idea occurs also in the epistle dedicatory to Dryden's Rival Ladies: "Imagination in a poet is a faculty so wild and lawless, that, like a high-ranging spaniel, it must have clogs tied to it, lest it outrun the judgment.” Trash, in the first instance, (though Dr. Warburton would change it into-brach,) may be used to signify a worthless hound, as the same term is afterwards employed to describe a worthless female: "Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trash." It is scarce necessary to support the present jingle of the word -trash, by examples, it is so much in our author's manner, although his worst. Stand the putting on, may mean-does not start too soon after Desdemona, and so destroy my scheme by injudicious precipitation. But I rather think, these words have reference to the enterprize of provoking Cassio, and will then imply,—if he has courage enough for the attempt to which I have just incited, or put him on. For an example of the latter phrase, see p. 268, n. 4. Steevens. That Mr. Steevens has given the true explanation of—to trash is fixed by the succeeding authority from Harrington, where it unquestionably means to impede the progress: - prolongation of magistracy, trashing the wheel of rotation, destroys the life or natural motion of a commonwealth." Works, p. 303, fol. 1747. H. White. 66 I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip; Make the Moor thank me, love me, and reward me, And practising upon his peace and quiet Even to madness. 'Tis here, but yet confus'd; SCENE II. A Street. Exit. Enter a Herald, with a Proclamation; People following. Her. It is Othello's pleasure, our noble and valiant general, that, upon certain tidings now arrived, importing the mere perdition' of the Turkish fleet, every man put himself into triumph; some to dance, some to make I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip,] A phrase from the art of wrestling. Johnson. 7 in the rank garb,] Thus the quarto, and I think, rightly. Rank garb, I believe means grossly, i. e. without mincing the matter. So, in Marston's Dutch Courtezan, 1604: Whither, in the runk name of madness, whither?" The term-garb (mployed perhaps in the sense here required) occurs in the eighteenth Book of Homer's Odyssey, as translated by Chapman : "But here you must take confidence to prate "To prove your native garb, your tongue will strike The folio reads-in the right garb. Rank, perhaps means not only gross, but lascivious. So, in The Merchant of Venice: 8 66 the ewes, being rank, "In end of autumn," &c. Malone. Knavery's plain face is never seen,] An honest man acts upon. a plan, and forecasts his designs; but a knave depends upon temporary and local opportunities, and never knows his own purpose, but at the time of execution. Johnson. 9 mere perdition -- Mere in this place signifies entire. So, in Hamlet: 1 put himself into triumph;] This whimsical phraseology occurs again in Pericles, Prince of Tyre: So puts himself into the shipman's toil." Stecvens bonfires, each man to what sport and revels his addiction' leads him; for, besides these beneficial news, it is the celebration of his nuptials: So much was his pleasure should be proclaimed. All offices are open ;3 and there is full liberty of feasting, from this present hour of five, till the bell hath told eleven. Heaven bless the isle of Cyprus, and our noble general, Othello! [Exeunt. SCENE III. A Hall in the Castle. Enter OTHELLO, DESDEMONA, CASSIO, and Attendants. Cas. Iago hath direction what to do; But, notwithstanding, with my personal eye Oth. Iago is most honest. Michael, good night: To-morrow, with our earliest, Good night. [Exeunt OтH. DES. and Attend. Enter IAGO. Cas. Welcome, Iago: We must to the watch. Iago. Not this hour, lieutenant; 'tis not yet ten o'clock : Our general cast us5 thus early, for the love of his Des 2 his addiction -] The first quarto reads-his mind. Steevens. 3 All offices are open ;] i. e. all rooms, or places, in the castle, at which refreshments are prepared, or served out. So, in Macbeth: "Sent forth great largess to your offices." See Vol. VII, p. 78, n. 3. Steevens. 4 of feasting,] These words are not in the original quarto 1622. Malone. 5 Our general cast us-] That is, appointed us to our stations. To cast the play, is, in the style of the theatres, to assign to every actor his proper part. Johnson. We have just now been assured by the Herald, that there was full liberty of feasting &c. till eleven." Perhaps therefore cast us only means dismissed us, or got rid of our company. So, in one of the following scenes: "You are |