More than a spinfter; unless the bookish theoric', "O my Anthonio, I do know of thofe Wherein "If they should speak, would almost damn those ears, "Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools." And there the allufion is evident to the gofpel-judgment against thofe, who call their brothers fools. I am therefore inclined to believe, that the true reading here is, A fellow aloft damn'd in a fair life; and that Shakspeare alludes to the judgment denounced in the gofpel against thofe of whom all men Speak well. The character of Caffio is certainly fuch, as would be very likely to draw upon him all the peril of this denunciation, literally underflood. Well-bred, eafy, fociable, good-natured; with abilities enough to make him agreeable and ufeful, but not fufficient to excite the envy of his equals, or to alarm the jealoufy of his fuperiors. It may be obferved too, that Shakspeare has thought it proper to make Iago, in feveral other paffages, bear his teftimony to the amiable qualities of his rival. In act v. fc. 1. he fpeaks thus of him: -If Caffio do remain, He hath a daily beauty in his life, That makes me ugly. I will only add, that, however hard or farfetch'd this allufion (whether Shakspeare's, or only mine) may feem to be, archbifhop Sheldon had exa&ly the fame conceit, when he made that fingular compliment, as the writer calls it, [Biog. Britan. Art. TEMPLE] to a nephew of fir William Temple, that " he had the curfe of the gospel, because all men fpoke well of him.” TYRWHITT. Mr. Tyrwhitt's ingenious emendation is fupported by a paffage in the Merry Wives of Windfor, where good life is ufed for a fair charater: "Defend your reputation, or bid farewell to your good life for ever." MALONE. The poct, I think, does not appear to have meant Iago to be a Florentine, which has hitherto been inferred from the following paffage in act iii. fc. 1. where Caffio, fpeaking of Iago, fays, I 9-theoric, Theoric for theory. So in the Proceedings againft Garnet on the Powder Plot, "as much deceived in the Theorice of truft, as the lay difciples were in the practicke of conspiracie.” STEEVENS. Wherein the toged confuls can propofe As mafterly as he mere prattle, without practice, Is. I never knew A Florentine more kind and honeft. It is furely not uncommon for us to fay in praife of a foreigner, that we never knew one of our own countrymen of a more friendly difpofition. This, I believe, is all that Caffio meant by his obfervation. From the already-mentioned paffage in act iii. fc. 3. it is certain (as fir T. Hanmer has obferved, that Iago was a Vene tian: Again, I know our country difpofition well, In Venice they do let heaven fee the pranks Alas, my friend and my dear countryman Gra. What of Venice? lago. Even he, &c. That Caffio, however, was married, is not fufficiently implied in the words, a fellow almot damn'd in a fair swife, ince they may mean, according to Iago's licentious manner of expreffing himself, no more than a man very near being married. This feems to have been the cafe in refpect to Caffio, act iv. fc 1. lago, fpeaking to him of Bianca, fays-Why the ery goes that you fall marry her. Caffio acknowledges that fuch a report has been raifed, and adds, This is the monkey's own giving out: She is perfuaded I will marry her out of her own love and felf-flattery, not out of my promife. Iago then, having heard this report before, very naturally circulates it in his prefent converfation with Ro derigo. If Shakspeare, however, defigned Bianca for a curtezan of Cyprus (where Caffio had not yet been, and had therefore never feen her) Iago cannot be fuppofed to allude to the report concerning his marriage with her, and confequently this part of my argument must fall to the ground. Had Shakspeare, confiftently with Iago's character, meant to make him fay that Caffio was actually damn'd in being married to a handsome woman, he would have made him fay it outright, and not have interpofed the palliative alma. Whereas what he fays at prefent amounts to no more than that (however near his mar riage) he is not yet completely damn'd, becaule he is not abfolutely married. The fucceeding parts of Iago's converfation fufficient, ly evince, that the poet thought no mode of conception or expreffion too brutal for the character. STEEVENS. Wherein the tongued confuls--] So the generality of the im preflions Is all his foldiership. But he, fir, had the election : calm'd By debtor and creditor, this counter-cafter '; He preffions read; but the oldest quarto has it toged; the fenators, that affifted the duke in council, in their proper gowns.-But let me explain why I have ventured to fubftitute counsellors in the room of confuls: the Venetian nobility conftitute the great countil of the fenate, and are a part of the administration; and fummoned to affift and counfel the Doge, who is prince of the fe nate. So that they may very properly be called Counsellers. Though the government of Venice was democratic at first, under confuls and tribunes; that form of power has been totally abrogated, fince Doges have been elected. THEOBALD. Wherein the toged confuls-] Confuls, for counsellors. WARBURTON. Rather, the rulers of the fate or civil governors. The word is ufed by Marlowe, in the fame fenfe, in Tamburlaine, a tragedy, 1591: "Both we will raigne as confuls of the earth." MALONE. By toged perhaps is meant peaceable, in oppofition to the warlike qualifications of which he had been fpeaking. He might have formed the word, in allution to the Latin adage-Cedant arma toga. STEEVENS 2 - must be led and calm'd] So the old quarto. The first folio reads be-lce'd: but that fpoils the meafure. I read let, hindered. WARBURTON. Be-lee'd fuits to calm'd, and the meafure is not lefs perfect than in many other places. JOHNSON. Be-lee'd and be-calm'd are terms of navigation. I have been informed that one veffel is faid to be in the Lee of another when it is fo placed that the wind is intercepted from it. Jago's meaning therefore is, that Caffio had get the wind of him, and be-calm'd him from going on. To be-calm (as I learn from Falconer's Marine Dictionary) is likewife to obftruct the current of the wind it its paffage to a fhip, by any contiguous object. STEEVENS. 3-this counter-cafter ;] It was anciently the practice to reckon up fums with counters. To this Shakspeare alludes again in Cymbeline, aft v. it fums up thoufands in a trice: you have no true debtor and creditor, but it: of what's past, is, and to come, the difcharge. Your neck, fir, is pen, book, and coun He, in good time, muft his lieutenant be, And I, God bless the mark! his Moor-fhip's " ancient. Rod. By heaven, I rather would have been his. hangman. Jago. But there's no remedy, 'tis the curfe of fer vice; Preferment goes by letter, and affection, "Not by the old gradation, where each fecond Stood heir to the firft. Now, fir, be judge yourself, 8 Whether I in any juft term am affin'd To love the Moor. Rod. I would not follow him then. him: I follow him to ferve my turn upon ters," &c. Again, in Acolaftus, a comedy, 1540: "I wyl caft my counters, or with counters, make all my reckenynges." STEEVENS. 3 And I, god bless the mark!] So the quarto. The folio, to avoid the penalty of the ftatute, reads, "And I, blefs the mark." MALONE. blef's the mark!] Kelly, in his comments on Scots proverbs, obferves, that the Scots, when they compare perfon to perfon, ufe this exclamation. STEEVENS. 5 bis Moorship's-] The first quarto reads-his worships STEEVENS. by letter. By recommendation from powerful friends. JOHNSON. 7 Not by the old gradation,-] Old gradation, is gradation eltablished by ancient practice. JoHNSON. If I in any just term am affin'd.] Affined is the reading of the third quarto and the first folio. The fecond quarto and all the modern editions have affign'd. The meaning is, Do I ftand within any fuch terms of propinquity or relation to the Moor, as that it is my duty to love him? JOHNSON, For For nought but provender, and, when he's old, cafhier'd; Whip me fuch honeft knaves: Others there are, Do themfelves homage: thefe fellows have fome foul; And fuch a one do I profefs my felf. It is as fure as you are Roderigo, If he can carry't thus ! Tago. Call up her father, Roufe him make after him, poifon his delight, -bone knaves.-] Knave is here for fervant, but with a mixture of fly contempt. JOHNSON. In compliment extern,-] In that which I do only for an outward fhew of civility. JOHNSON. So, in fir W. D'Avenant's Albovine, 1629: that in fight extern "A patriarch feems." STEEVENS. 2 For daws-] The first quarto reads, for doves- STEEVENS. What a full fortune dees the thick-lips owe?] Full fortune is, I believe, a complete piece of good fortune, as in another fcene of this play a full foldier is put for a complete foldier. To owe, is in ancient language, to own, to poffefs. STEEVENS. Proclaim |