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What, do you shak
Bian. He supp'

not.

Iago. O, did he s Emil. Fy, fy upo Bian. I am no sti As you that thus abi

Emil.

Iago. Kind gent
dress'd:-

Come, mistress, you
Emilia, run you to t
And tell my lord and
Will you go on, I pr
That either makes i

Go know of Cassi scene of the preceding was to sup with Bianca house, and would take tween twelve and one. Act IV, sc. i, that he w mised to meet him at 1. chose to appear ignor way-laid Cassio, and th rant of his motions duri

Yet, how happens it, supp'd &c. did not answ Wh

He supp'd &c

The former line being in been omitted. Or perha ea should say in the pre been of Cassio's suppersistency. Steevens.

1 —or fordoes me q destroy. So, in Hamlet: did, with d

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"Fordo its own li

Again, in the Interlude of

If God were so

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ild I repent me :-but once put out thine,
u cunnign'st pattern of excelling nature,"
>w not where is that Promethean heat,
can thy light relume.

rose,9

When I have pluck'd thy

not give it vital growth again,

in King Henry VIII:

"This candle burns not clear; 'tis I must snuff it; "Then out it goes."

in his Rape of Lucrece:

"Fair torch, burn out thy light, and lend it not "To darken her, whose light excelleth thine!"

the words-put out her light, stand for a moment in the of darken her, and then the sentence will run-Burn out t, fuir torch, and lend it not to put out her light, whose more excellent than thine. In the very same strain, says "let me first extinguish the light I now hold, and then the light of life. But how different in effect and imporre these two acts! The extinguished taper can be lightin, but the light of life, when once extinguished, can alas, be relumined!

question is not, which regulation renders the passage egant and spirited, but what was the poet's idea.—I beowever, that Shakspeare wrote-and then put out thy and the reading of the original quarto in a subsequent but once put out thine," seems to me to countenance endation.

He Merchant of Venice the word light is used with equal ity:

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Let me give light, but let me not be light." Malone. put out thine,] Thus the quarto. The folio readsthy light. I have chosen the former reading for the sake ure, and to escape a useless repetition of the word-light. Steevens.

66

u cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,] So, in Palmerin at 1588, p. 1: those that beheld her, esteemed her chiefest piece of workmanshipp that ever nature framed."

Reed.

at can thy light relume-] Thus the folio. The first -return: the second quarto-relumine. Steevens.

poet has illume for illuminate, in Humlet:

"Had made his course, to illume that part of heaven, "Where now it burns." Malone.

thy rose,] Thus the folio. The quarto reads, the rose. the quarto reads:

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olio:

I'll smell it on the tree."

"I'll smell thee on the tree." Steevens.

If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,

of life, he breaks short, and questions himself about the effects of this metaphorical extinction, introduced by a repetition of his first words, as much as to say,-But hold, let me first weigh the reflections which this expression so naturally excites.

Warburton.

This has been considered as a very difficult line. Fielding makes Betterton and Booth dispute about it with the author himself in the other world. The punctuation recommended by Dr. Warburton, gives a spirit to it which I fear was not intended. It seems to have been only a play upon words. To put the light out was a phrase for to kill. In The Maid's Tragedy, Melantius

says:

'Tis a justice, and a noble one,

"To put the light out of such base offenders." Farmer. This phrase is twice used in Sidney's Arcadia, for killing a lady, p. 460 and 470, edit. 1633.

Again, in an unpublished play called The Second Maiden's Tragedy, by George Chapman, licensed by Sir George Buc, October 31st, 1611: (now in the library of the Marquis of Lansdowne, who honoured me with the use of it :)

66

O soul of cunning!

"Came that arch subtilty from thy lady's counsel,

"Or thine own sudden craft? confess to me

"How oft thou hast been a bawd to their close actions, "Or all thy light goes out." Steevens.

Put out the light, and then put out the light:] This is one of the passages to which I alluded to in a note on As you Like it, Vol. V, p. 148, in which, by a modern regulation, our poet's words have obtained a meaning, which in my opinion was not in his thoughts. Mr. Upton was the first person who introduced the conceit in this line, which has been adopted since his book appeared, by pointing it thus:

Put out the light, and then-Put out the light! &c.

I entirely agree with Dr. Farmer, that this regulation gives a spirit to this passage that was not intended. The poet, I think, meant merely to say," I will now put out the lighted taper which I hold, and then put out the light of life," and this introduces his subsequent reflection and comparison, just as aptly, as supposing the latter words of the line to be used in the same sense as in the beginning of it, which cannot be done without destroying that equivoque and play of words of which Shakspeare was so fond.

There are few images which occur more frequently in his. works than this. Thus, in King Henry VI, P III, the dying Clifford says:

"Here burns my candle out, ay, here it dies." Again, in Macbeth:

66 Out, out, brief candle !"

Should I repent me :-but once put out thine,
Thou cunnign'st pattern of excelling nature,7
I know not where is that Promethean heat,
That can thy light relume.

rose,9

When I have pluck'd thy

I cannot give it vital growth again,

Again, in King Henry VIII:

"This candle burns not clear; 'tis I must snuff it;
"Then out it goes."

Again, in his Rape of Lucrece:

"Fair torch, burn out thy light, and lend it not

"To darken her, whose light excelleth thine!"

Let the words-put out her light, stand for a moment in the place of darken her, and then the sentence will run-Burn out thy light, fair torch, and lend it not to put out her light, whose light is more excellent than thine. In the very same strain, says Othello, "let me first extinguish the light I now hold, and then put out the light of life. But how different in effect and importance are these two acts! The extinguished taper can be lighted again, but the light of life, when once extinguished, can never, alas, be relumined!

The question is not, which regulation renders the passage most elegant and spirited, but what was the poet's idea.-I believe, however, that Shakspeare wrote-and then put out thy light; and the reading of the original quarto in a subsequent line, " but once put out thine," seems to me to countenance this emendation.

In The Merchant of Venice the word light is used with equal ambiguity:

"Let me give light, but let me not be light." Malone. 6 put out thine,] Thus the quarto. The folio readsput out thy light. I have chosen the former reading for the sake of measure, and to escape a useless repetition of the word-light. Steevens.

7 Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,] So, in Palmerin D'Olivia 1588, p. 1: 66 those that beheld her, esteemed her for the chiefest piece of workmanshipp that ever nature framed." Reed.

8 That can thy light relume ] Thus the folio. The first quarto-return: the second quarto―relumine. Our poet has illume for illuminate, in Hamlet :

9

Steevens.

"Had made his course, to illume that part of heaven,
"Where now it burns." Malone.

thy rose,] Thus the folio. The quarto reads, the rose. Again, the quarto reads:

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It needs must wither:--I'll smell it on the tree.-

[Kissing her.

O balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword!-One more, one more.--
Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
And love thee after:-One more, and this the last :
So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,

But they are cruel tears: This sorrow 's heavenly;1
It strikes where it doth love. She wakes-
Des. Who's there? Othello?

Oth.

Ay, Desdemona.
Des. Will you come to bed, my lord?
Oth. Have you pray'd to-night, Desdemona?
Des.

Ay, my lord.
Oth. If you bethink yourself of any crime,
Unreconcil'd as yet to heaven and grace,
Solicit for it straight.

Des. Alas, my lord, what may you mean by that?
Oth. Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by:
I would not kill thy unprepared spirit;

No,-Heaven forefend!--I would not kill thy soul.e
Des. Talk you of killing?

Oth.

Ay, I do.

1 This sorrow's heavenly;] This tenderness, with which I lament the punishment which justice compels me to inflict, is a holy passion.

I wish these two lines could be honestly ejected. It is the fate of Shakspeare to counteract his own pathos. Johnson.

Perhaps the poet would not have retained both these images, had he published the play himself, though in the hurry of composition he threw them both upon paper. The first seems adopted from the fabulous history of the crocodile, the second from a passage in the scripture. Steevens.

"Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth." M. Mason.

2 I would not kill thy soul.] So, in the First Part of the Straunge and Wonderful Adventures of Don Simonides, &c. bl. I. 4to. 1581: " for that her Master would putte her Mistris to shrifte, before he destroyed her bodie, yet to the savegarde of her soule."

Sir W. D'Avenant has also borrowed this thought in his Albovine King of Lombardy, 1629:

"I am not fraught with devil's spleen; I would

"Not hurt thy soul."

Othello appears to have been a favourite of his author; for he has bestowed on him that piety which he had refused to Hamlet. See Hamlet, Act III, sc. iii, Vol. XV. Steevens.

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