demona: whom let us not therefore blame; he hath not yet made wanton the night with her: and she is sport for Jove. Cas. She's a most exquisite lady. Iago. And, I'll warrant her, full of game. Cas. Indeed, she is a most fresh and delicate creature. Iago. What an eye she has! methinks it sounds a parley of provocation." Cas. An inviting eye; and yet methinks right modest. Iago. And, when she speaks, is it not an alarm to love? Cas. She is, indeed perfection." Iago. Well, happiness to their sheets! Come, lieutenant, I have a stoop of wine; and here without are a brace of Cyprus gallants, that would fain have a measure to the health of the black Othello. Cas. Not to-night, good Iago; I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking: I could well wish courtesy would invent some other custom of entertainment. Iago. O, they are our friends; but one cup: I'll drink for you. Cas. I have drunk but one cup to-night, and that was craftily qualified' too, and, behold, what innovation it but now cast in his mood;" i. e. turned out of your office in his anger; and in the first scene it means to dismiss. So, in The WITCH, a MS. tragi-comedy, by Middleton: "She cast off 6 My company betimes to-night, by tricks," &c. Steevens. a parley of provocation.] So the quarto, 1622. Folioto provocation. Malone. 7 an alarm - The voice may sound an alarm more properly than the eye can sound a parley. Johnson. The eye is often said to speak. Thus we frequently hear of the language of the eye. Surely that which can talk may, without any violent stretch of the figure, be allowed to sound a parley. The folio reads-parley to provocation. Ritson. So, in Troilus and Cressida : "There's language in her eye," &c. See Vol. XII. p. 145, n. 4. Steevens. 8 is it not an alarm to love?] The quartos read-'tis an alarm to love. Steevens. 9 She is, indeed, perfection.] In this and the seven short speeches preceding, the decent character of Cassio is most powerfully contrasted with that of the licentious Iago. Steevens. 1 - craftily qualified -] Slily mixed with water. Johnson. makes here: I am unfortunate in the infirmity, and dare not task my weakness with any more. Iago. What, man! 'tis a night of revels; the gallants desire it. Cas. Where are they? Tago. Here at the door; I pray you, call them in. [Exit CAS. As my young mistress' dog. Now, my sick fool, Rode: rigo, Whom love has turn'd almost the wrong side outward, Potations pottle deep; and he 's to watch: And they watch too. Now, 'mongst this flock of drunkards, That may offend the isle :-But here they come: My boat sails freely, both with wind and stream. 2 Three lads of Cyprus,] The folio reads-Three else of Cyprus. Steevens. 3 The very elements ] As quarrelsome as the discordia semina rerum; as quick in opposition as fire and water. Johnson. 4 If consequence do but approve my dream,] Every scheme subsisting only in the imagination may be termed a dream. Johnson. 5 ·given me a rouse &c.] A rouse appears to be a quantity of liquor rather too large. So, in Hamlet: and in The Christian turn'd Turk, 1612: - our friends may tell "We drank a rouse to them." See Hamlet, Act I, sc. iv, Vol. XV. Steevens. 6 As I am a soldier.] If Montano was Othello's predecessor in the government of Cyprus, (as we are told in the Persone Dra-` matis) he is not very characteristically employed in the present Iago. Some wine, ho! And let me the canakin" clink, clink; And let me the canakin clink: A soldier's a man; A life's but a span;8 Why then, let a soldier drink. Some wine, boys! [Sings. [Wine brought in. Cas. 'Fore heaven, an excellent song. Iago. I learned it in England, where (indeed) they are most potent in potting: your Dane, your German,1 and your swag-bellied Hollander,-Drink, ho!—are nothing to your English. Cas. Is your Englishman so expert in his drinking?? Iago. Why, he drinks you, with facility, your Dane dead drunk; he sweats not to overthrow your Almain; he gives your Hollander a vomit, ere the next pottle can be filled. Cas. To the health of our general. Mon. I am for it, lieutenant; and I'll do you justice.3 scene, where he is tippling with people already flustered, and encouraging a subaltern officer who commands a midnight guard, to drink to excess. Steevens. 7 the canakin;] So, in Barclay's Ship of Fools, fol. 229: some quafes ye canakin halfe full" &c. Steevens. - 8 9 A life's but a span;] Thus the quarto. The folio reads- in England, where (indeed) they are most potent in potting:] Les meilleurs buveurs en Angleterre, is an ancient French proverb. Steevens. 1 — most potent in potting: your Dane, your German, &c.] "Enquire at ordinaries: there must be sallets for the Italian, tooth-picks for the Spaniard, pots for the German!" Prologue to Lyly's Midas, 1592. Malone. your Dane,] See Hamlet, Act I, sc. iv, Vol. XV. Steevens. 2 — so expert in his drinking?] Thus the quarto, 1622. Folio-so exquisite. This accomplishment in the English is likewise mentioned by Beaumont and Fletcher in The Captain: "Lod. Are the Englishmen 3 "Such stubborn drinkers? "Can suck more liquor; you shall have their children "Christe..'d in mull'd sack, and at five years old "Able to knock a Dane down." Steevens. I'll do you justice.] i. e. drink as much as you do. See Vol. IX, p. 173, n. 5. Steevens. Iago. O sweet England! King Stephen was a worthy peer,5 And thou art but of low degree: Then take thine auld cloak about thee. Some wine, ho! Cas. Why, this is a more exquisite song than the other. Iago. Will you hear it again? Cas. No; for I hold him to be unworthy of his place, that does those things.-Well,-Heaven 's above all; and there be souls that must be saved, and there be souls must not be saved. Iago. It's true, good lieutenant. Cas. For mine own part,-no offence to the general, nor any man of quality,—I hope to be saved. Iago. And so do I too, lieutenant. Cas. Ay, but, by your leave, not before me; the lieutenant is to be saved before the ancient. Let's have no more of this; let 's to our affairs.-Forgive us our sins! -Gentlemen, let's look to our business. Do not think, gentlemen, I am drunk; this is my ancient;-this is my right hand, and this is my left hand:-I am not drunk now; I can stand well enough, and speak well enough. 4 King Stephen &c.] These stanzas are taken from an old song, which the reader will find recovered and preserved in a curious work lately printed, entitled, Relicks of Ancient Poetry, consisting of old heroick ballads, songs, &c. 3 vols. 12mo. Johnson. So, in Greene's Quip for an Upstart Courtier,: "King Stephen wore a pair of cloth breeches of a noble a pair, and thought them passing costly." Steevens. 5 a worthy peer,] i. e. a worthy fellow. In this sense peer, fere, pheere, are often used by the writers of our earliest romances. Steevens. A worthy peer is a worthy lord, a title frequently bestowed upon kings in our old romances. So, in Amadis de Gaule, 1619: "Sir, although you be a king and a great lord." Spenser constantly uses the word peer in this sense. Pheere is in every respect a very different word. Ritson. 6 lown.] Sorry fellow, paltry wretch. Johnson. All. Excellent well. Cus. Why, very well, then: you must not think then that I am drunk. [Exit. Mon. To the platform, masters; come, let 's set the watch. Iago. You see this fellow, that is gone before;— He is a soldier, fit to stand by Cæsar And give direction: and do but see his vice; The one as long as the other: 'tis pity of him. On some odd time of his infirmity, Will shake this island. Mon. But is he often thus? Iago. 'Tis evermore the prologue to his sleep: He'll watch the horologe a double set,7 If drink rock not his cradle. Mon. It were well, Perhaps, he sees it not; or his good nature Enter RODERIGO. Iago. How now, Roderigo? I pray you, after the lieutenant; go. [Aside. [Exit ROD. Mon. And 'tis great pity, that the noble Moor Should hazard such a place, as his own second, With one of an ingraft infirmity: He'll watch the horologe a double set, &c.] If he have no drink, he 'll keep awake while the clock strikes two rounds, or four-and-twenty hours. Chaucer uses the word horologe in more places than one. "Well sickerer was his crowing in his loge "Than is a clok or any abbey horloge." Johnson. So, Heywood, in his Epigrams on Proverbs, 1562: 8 "The divell is in thorologe, the houres to trye, "Searche houres by the sunne, the devyl's dyal wyll lye: ingraft infirmity:] An infirmity rooted, settled in his constitution. Johnson. Dr. Johnson's explanation seems to fall short of the poet's meaning. The qualities of a tree are so changed by being en |