And she did gratify his amorous works went between them; for she, who could find means to elude the vigilance of her father in respect of Othello, might have done so in respect of Cassio, when there was time enough for the occurrence supposed to have happened. A jealous person will aggravate all he thinks, or speaks of; and might use a thousand for a much less number, only to give weight to his censure: nor would it have answered any purpose to have made Othello a little nearer or further off from truth in his calculation. We might apply the poet's own words in Cymbeline: 66 spare your arithmetick; The latter is a proverbial expression, and might have been introduced with propriety, had they been married only a day or two. Emilia's reply perhaps was dictated by her own private experience; and seems to mean only, "that it is too soon to judge of a husband's disposition; or that Desdemona must not be surprised at the discovery of Othello's jealousy, for it is not even a year or two that will display all the failings of a man." Mr. Tollet, however, on this occasion has produced several instances in support of Dr. Johnson's opinion; and as I am unable to explain them in favour of my own supposition, I shall lay them before the public. Act III, sc. iii, Othello says "What sense had I of her stolen hours of lust? "On Othello's wedding night he and Cassio embarked from Venice, where Desdemona was left under the care of Iago. They all meet at Cyprus; and since their arrival there, the scenes include only one night, the night of the celebration of their nuptials. Iago had not then infused any jealousy into Othello's mind, nor did he suspect any former intimacy between Cassio and Desdemona, but only thought it apt and of great credit that she loved him.' What night then was there to intervene between Cassio's kisses and Othello's sleeping the next night well? Iago has said, 'I lay with Cassio lately, which he could not have done, unless they had been longer at Cyprus than is represented in the play; nor could Cassio have kept away, for the space of a whole week, from Bianca." Steevens. In confirmation of Johnson's observation, that this and several other passages tend to prove that a larger space of time is comprized in the action of this play than the scenes include, we may cite that in which Emilia says, "That her husband had a hundred times woo'd her to steal Desdemona's handkerchief." M. Mason. It was a handkerchief, an antique token Emil. O heaven! O heavenly powers! Iago. Come, hold your peace. Emil. "Twill out, 'twill out:-I hold my peace, sir? no; No, I will speak as liberal as the air;3 2 It was a handkerchief, &c.] Othello tells his wife, Act III, sc. iv : And here he says: It was a handkerchief. My father gave my mother. This last passage has been censured as an oversight in the poet; but perhaps it exhibits only a fresh proof of his art. The first account of the handkerchief, as given by Othello, was purposely ostentatious, in order to alarm his wife the more. When he mentions it a second time, the truth was sufficient for his purpose. This circumstance of the handkerchief is perhaps ridiculed by Ben Jonson, in his Poetaster: you shall see me do the Moor; master, lend me your scarf." Steevens. I question whether Othello was written early enough to be ridiculed by The Poetaster. There were many other Moors on the stage. It is certain at least, that the passage: "Our new heraldry is hands, not hearts," could not be inserted before the middle of the year, 1611. Farmer. If the allusion in The Poetaster (which was printed in 1601) were to Othello, it would fix its date much earlier than I conceive it to have been written.-But the allusion in the passage quoted, is not to Othello, but to an old play called The Battle of Alcazar, 1594-In The Poetaster, Pyrgus, who says, you shall see me do the Moor," proceeds in the same scene, and repeats an absurd speech of the Moor's, in The Battle of Alcazar, beginning with this line: "Where art thou, boy? where is Calipolis?" 66 which ascertains the allusion to be to that play. Malone. 3 No, I will speak as liberal as the air;] The folio reads: I'll be in speaking liberal as the north. Liberal is free, under no control. So, in Hamlet : "Which liberal shepherds give a grosser name." This quality of the North wind is also mentioned in The White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona, 1612: "And let th' irregular North wind sweep her up." Again, in Jeronymo, i. c. the first part of The Spanish Tragedy, 1605: Let heaven, and men, and devils, let them all, Emil. I will not. [IAGO offers to stab his Wife. Your sword upon a woman? Fy! Emil. O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou I found by fortune, and did give my husband; (More than, indeed, belong'd to such a trifle,) Iago. Villainous whore! Emil. She give it Cassio! no, alas; I found it, And I did give 't my husband. Iago. Filth, thou liest. O murd'rous coxcomb! what should such a fool "Now let your bloods be liberal as the sea." Steevens. No, I will speak as liberal as the air;] The quarto, 1622, reads: I'll be in speaking liberal as the air. The text is formed out of the two copies. 4 Are there no stones in heaven, D9% Malone. But what serve for the thunder?] Othello does not demand a thunderbolt for lago. He only asks, if there are no lesser degrees of chastisement more proportioned to the guilt of mortals ready to drop down on such villains as lago, though Omnipotence withholds its thunder, as too noble an instrument for the punishment of crimes like his? The same thought occurs in The Revenger's Tragedy, 1609 : "Is there no thunder left? or is 't kept up "In stock, for heavier vengeance?" Shakspeare might, however, mesa, does heaven reserve its thunder only to make a noise has it no implements of mischief to punish as well as terrify? 66 66 quum fulmina torques, Necquicquam horremus? cacique in nubibus ignes "Terrificant animes, et inania murmura miscent?" Steevens. Steevens's last explanation of this passage appears to be just, his first was unnatural. We cannot suppose that Othello in the paroxysm of resentment, agitation, and despair, should think Gra. The woman falls; sure, he has kill'd his wife. Mon. 'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon Oth. [Exeunt MoN. and GRA. I am not valiant neither, But every puny whipster gets my sword:- So speaking as I think, I die,—I die. Oth. I have another weapon in this chamber, [Dies. any crimes more heinous than that of Iago.-It is difficult indeed to conceive a crime that demanded a heavier vengeance. M. Mason. The meaning, I think, is,-Has not Heaven one supernumerary bolt, to hurl directly at the head of this atrocious villain? Must all the stores of its arsenal be reserved for common and ordinary thunder, which, though sometimes destructive, is in the usual course of nature not specifically pointed at a particular object? 5 Magne regnator deûm, "Tam lentus audis scelera? tam lentus vides? "Si nunc serenum est ?- "Cur dextra, divûm rector atque hominum, vacat "Tua, nec trisulcâ mundus ardescit face} "In hunc tones, hunc figas ?" Malone. I will play the swan, And die in musick; &c.] This, and the two former lines of the speech, are wanting in the first quarto. The same thought has already occurred in The Merchant of Venice: This pale faint swan, "Who chants a woful hymn to his own death." Steevens. It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper ;6- Gra. [within] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear; 6 the ice-brook's temper;] In the first edition it is-Isebrooke's temper. Thence corrupted to Ice-brook's. Ebro's temper : the waters of that river of Spain are particularly famous for tempering of steel. The finest arms in the world, the Catalonian fusees. Pope. I believe the old reading changed to ice-brook is right. Steel is hardened by being put red-hot into very cold water. Johnson. The particular name of the ice-brook may be determined by the following passage in Martial. It was undoubtedly the brook or rivulet called Salo (now Xalon) near Bilbilis in Celtiberia. In this the Spaniards plunged all their swords and other weapons while hot from the forge; and to the icy quality of the waters, they were indebted for their stubborn temper: Again: Again: "Sævo Bilbilin optimam metallo "Et ferro Plateam suo sonantem, “Quibus remissum corpus astringes brevi "Pugio, quem curvis signat brevis orbita venis, "Stridentem gelidis hunc Salo tinxit aquis." Again, in Justin, 1. 44: " Præcipua his quidem ferri materia sed aqua ipsa ferro violentior; quippe temperamento ejus ferrum acrius redditur; nec ullum apud eos telum probatur quod non aut in Bilbili fluvio aut Chalybe tingatur. Unde etiam Chalybes fluvii hujus finitimi appellati, ferroque cæteris præstare dicuntur." These parts of Spain have been at all times famous for the temper of their arms. Steevens. I incline to read: It is a sword of Spain, 'tis ebroes temper. If we suppose that the words ['tis ebroes] were huddled together either in transcribing or composing, thus, ['tisebroes] the compositor in running it over with his eye, might (to make it sense as he thought) add a couple of letters and divide the words thus [th'isebrokes] which is nearly as it stands in the old quarto. I doubt whether ice-brooks are usual in the climate of Spain. Blackstone. -the ice-brook's temper;] The quarto, 1622, has-Ise brookes, which is only the old spelling of Ice-brooke's, the reading of the folio. Sir William Blackstone doubts whether ice brooks, are usual in the climate of Spain. How that fact may be, I know not; and I am confident Shakspeare did not inquire. VOL XVI. 00 Malone. |