Complete Works of Samuel Johnson, page 574
I.iii.290 (391,6) If virtue no delighted beauty lack] [W: belighted] Hanmer reads, more plausibly, delighting. I do not know that belighted has any authority. I should rather read,
If virtue no delight or beauty lack.
Delight, for delectation, or power of pleasing, as it is frequently used.
I.iii.299 (391,8) best advantage] Fairest opportunity.
I.iii.317 (392,9) a Guinea-hen] A showy bird with fine feathers.
I.iii.346 (392,1) defeat thy favour with an usurped beard] [W: disseat] It is more English, to defeat, than disseat. To defeat, is to undo, to change.
I.iii.350 (393,2) It was a violent commencement in her, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration] There seems to be an opposition of terms here intended, which has been lost in transcription. We may read, It was a violent conjunction, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration; or, what seems to me preferable, It was a violent commencement, and thou shalt see an answerable sequel.
I.iii.363 (393,4) betwixt an erring Barbarian] [W: errant] Hanmer reads, errant. Erring is as well as either.
II.i.15 (396,1) And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole] Alluding to the star Arctophylax.
II.i.48 (397,3)
His bark is stoutly timber’d, and his pilot
Of very expert and approv’d allowance;
Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,
Stand in bold cure]
I do not understand these lines. I know not how hope can be surfeited to death, that is, can be encreased, till it is destroyed; nor what it is to stand in bold cure; or why hope should be considered as a disease. In the copies there is no variation. Shall we read
Therefore my fears, not surfeited to death,
Stand in bold cure?
This is better, but it is not well. Shall we strike a bolder stroke, and read thus?
Therefore my hopes, not forfeited to death,
Stand bold, not sure.
II.i.49 (398,4) Of very expert and approv’d allowance] I read, Very expert, and of approv’d allowance.
II.i.64 (308,5) And in the essential vesture of creation/Does bear all excellency; We in terrestrial] I do not think the present reading inexplicable. The author seems to use essential, for existent, real. She excels the praises of invention, says he, and in real qualities, with which creation has invested her, bears all excellency.
Does bear all excellency —— ] Such is the reading of the quartos, for which the folio has this,
And in the essential vesture of creation
Do’s tyre the ingeniuer.
Which I explain thus,
Does tire the ingenious verse.
This is the best reading, and that which the author substituted in his revisal.
II.i.112 (401,9) Saints in your injuries] When you have a mind to do injuries, you put on an air of sanctity.
II.i.120 (402,1) I am nothing, if not critical] That is, censorious.
II.i.137 (402,2) She never yet was foolish] We may read,
She ne’er was yet so foolish that was fair,
But even her folly help’d her to an heir.
Yet I believe the common reading to be right; the lay makes the power of cohabitation a proof that a man is not a natural; therefore, since the foolishest woman, if pretty, may have a child, no pretty woman is ever foolish.
II.i.146 (403,3) put on the vouch of very malice itself] To put on the vouch of malice, is to assume a character vouched by the testimony of malice itself.
II.i.165 (404,5) profane] Gross of language, of expression broad and brutal. So Brabantio, in the first act, calls Iago profane wretch.
II.i.165 (404,6) liberal counsellor.] Counsellor seems to mean, not so much a man that gives counsel, us one that discourses fearlessly and volubly. A talker.
II.i.177 (405,8) well kiss’d! an excellent courtesy!] [ — well kissed, and excellent courtesy; — ] This I think should be printed, well kiss’d! an excellent courtesy! Spoken when Cassio kisses his hand, and Desdemona courtesies. [The old quarto confirms Dr. Johnson’s emendation. STEEVENS.]
II.i.208 (406,1) I prattle out of fashion] Out of method, without any settled order of discourse.
II.i.211 (406,2) the master] The pilot of the ship.
II.i.223 (406,3) Lay thy finger thus] On thy mouth, to stop it while thou art listening to a wiser man.
II.i.252 (407,5) green minds] Minds unripe, minds not yet fully formed.
II.i.254 (408,6) she is full of most bless’d condition] Qualities, disposition of mind.
II.i.274 (408,7) tainting his discipline] Throwing a slur upon hie discipline.
II.i.279 (408,8) sudden in choler] Sudden, is precipitately violent.
II.i.283 (408,9) whose qualification shall come into no true taste again] 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.
II.i.306 (409,1) like a poisonous mineral] This is philosophical. Mineral poisons kill by corrosion.
II.i.314 (411,4) I’ll have our Michael Cassio on the hip] A phrase from the art of wrestling.
II.i.321 (411,6) 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.
II.iii.14 (413,8) Our general cast us] That is, appointed us to our stations. To cast the play, is, in the stile of the theatres, to assign to every actor his proper part.
II.iii.26 (413,9) And when she speaks, is it not an alarum to love?] The voice may sound an alarm more properly than the eye can sound a parley.
II.iii.46 (413,1) I have drunk but one cap to-night, and that was carefully qualified too] Slily mixed with water.
II.iii.59 (414,2) The very elements; As quarrelsome as the as the discordia semina rerum; as quick in opposition as fire and water.
II.iii.64 (414,3) If consequence do but approve my dream] [T: my deer] This reading is followed by the succeeding editions. I rather read,
If consequence do but approve my scheme.
But why should dream be rejected? Every scheme subsisting only in the imagination may be termed a dream.
II.iii.93-99 (416,6) King Stephen was a worthy peer] These stanzas are taken from an old song, which the reader will find recovered and preserved in a curious work lately printed, intitled, Relicks of Ancient Poetry, consisting of old heroic ballands, songs, &c. 3 vols. 12.
II.iii.95 (416,7) lown] Sorry fellow, paltry wretch.
II.iii.135 (417,8) He’ll watch the horologe a double set] If he have no drink, he’ll keep awake while the clock strikes two rounds, or four and twenty hours.
Chaucer uses the ward horologe in more places than one.
“Well skirer was his crowing in his loge
“Than is a clock or abbey horologe.”]
The bracketed part of Johnson’s note is taken verbatim from Zacbary Gray, Critical ... Notes on Shakespeare, 1754, II, 316.] (see 1765, VIII, 374, 6) (rev. 1778, I, 503, 9)
II.iii.145 (418,9) ingraft infirmity; An infirmity rooted, settled in his constitution.
II.iii.175 (419,3) it frights the isle/From her propriety] From her regular and proper state.
II.iii.180 (419,4) In quarter] In their quarters; at their lodging.
II.iii.194 (420,5) you unlace your reputation thus] Slacken, or loosen. Put in danger of dropping; or perhaps strip of its ornaments.
II.iii.195 (420,6) spend your rich opinion] Throw away and squander a reputation as valuable as yours.
II.iii.202 (420,7) self-charity] Care of one’s self.
II.iii.211 (421,9) he that is approv’d in this offence] He that is convicted by proof, of having been engaged in this offence.
II.iii.274 (423,1) cast in his mood] Ejected in his anger.
II.iii.343 (425,4) this advice is free] This counsel has an appearance of honest openness, of frank good-will.
II.iii.348 (425,5) free elements] Liberal, bountiful, as the elements, out of which all things are produced.
II.iii.355 (425,6) to this parallel course] i.e. a course level, and even with his design.
II.iii.363 (425,8) That she repeals him] That is, recalls him.
II.iii.382 (426,1)
Though ether things grew fair against the sun,
Yet fruits, that blossom first, will first be ripe]
Of many different things, all planned with the same art, and promoted with the same diligence, some must succeed sooner than others, by the order of nature. Every thing cannot be done at once; we must proceed by the necessary gradation. We are not to despair of slow events any more than of tardy fruits, while the causes are in regular progress, and the fruits grow fair against the sun. Hanmer has not, I think, rightly conceived the sentiment; for he reads,
Those fruits which blossom first, are not first ripe.
I have therefore drawn it out at length, for there are few to whom that will be easy which was difficult to Hanmer.
III.i.3 (427,2) Why, masters, have your instruments been in Naples, that they speak i’ the nose thus?] The venereal disease first appeared at the siege of Naples.
III.iii.14 (430,6)
That policy may either last so long,
Or feed upon such nice and waterish diet,
Or breed itself so out of circumstance,
That I, being absent, and my place supplied,
My general will forget my love and service]
He may either of himself think it politic to keep me out of office so long, or he may be satisfied with such slight reasons, or so many accidents may make him think my re-admission at that time improper, that I may be quite forgotten.
III.iii.23 (431,7) I’ll watch him tame] It is said, that the ferocity of beasts, insuperable and irreclaimable by any other means, is subdued by keeping them from sleep.
III.iii.47 (431,8) His present reconciliation take] [W: make] To take his reconciliation, may be to accept the submission which he makes in order to be reconciled.
III.iii.65 (432,1) the wars must make examples/Out of their best] The severity of military discipline must not spare the best men of the army, when their punishment nay afford a wholesome example.
III.iii.90 (433,2) Excellent wretch! — Perdition catch my soul,/But I do love thee!] The meaning of the word wretch, is not generally understood. It is now, in some parts of England, a term of the softest and fondest tenderness. It expresses the utmost degree of amiableness, joined with an idea, which perhaps all tenderness includes, of feebleness, softness, and want of protection. Othello, considering Desdemona as excelling in beauty and virtue, soft and timorous by her sex, and by her situation absolutely in his power, calls her Excellent wretch! It may be expressed,
Dear, harmless, helpless Excellence.
III.iii.91 (433,3) when I love thee not,/Chaos is come again] When my love is for a moment suspended by suspicion, I have nothing in my mind but discord, tumult, perturbation, and confusion.
III.iii.123 (435,4) They are close delations working from the heart,/ That passion cannot rule] They are cold dilations working from the heart,/That passion cannot rule.] I know not why the modern editors are satisfied with this reading, which no explanation can clear. They might easily have found, that it is introduced without authority. The old copies uniformly give, close dilations, except that the earlier quarto has close denotements; which was the author’s first expression, afterwards changed by him, not to cold dilations, for cold is read in no ancient copy; nor, I believe, to close dilations, but to close delations; to occult and secret accusations, working involuntarily from the heart, which, though resolved to conceal the fault, cannot rule its passion of resentment.
III.iii.127 (435,5) Or, those that be not, ‘would they might seem none!] [W: seem knaves] I believe the meaning is, would they might no longer seem, or bear the shape of men.
III.iii.140 (436,6) Keep leets and law-days] [i.e. govern. WARBURTON.] Rather visit than govern, but visit with authoritative intrusion.
III.iii.149 (437,8) From one that so improbably conceits] — imperfectly conceits,] In the old quarto it is,
— improbably conceits,
Which I think preferable.
III.iii.166 (437,9) the green-ey’d monster, which doth make/The meat it feeds on] which doth mock The meat it feeds on.] I have received Hanmer’s emendation [“make”]; because to mock, does not signify to loath; and because, when Iago bids Othello beware of jealousy, the green-eyed monster, it is natural to tell why he should beware, and for caution he gives him two reasons, that jealousy often creates its own cause, and that, when the causes are real, jealousy is misery.
III.iii.173 (438,1) But riches, fineless] Unbounded, endless, unnumbered treasures.
III.iii.180 (438,3)
Exchange me for a goat,
When I shall turn the business of my soul
To such exsuffolate and blown surmises,
Matching thy inference]
This odd and far-fetched word was made yet more uncouth in all the editions before Hanmer’s, by being printed, exsufflicate. The allusion is to a bubble. Do not think, says the Moor, that I shall change the noble designs that now employ my thoughts, to suspicions which, like bubbles blown into a wide extent, have only an empty shew without solidity, or that in consequence of such empty fears, I will close with thy inference against the virtue of my wife.
III.iii.188 (439,4) Where virtue is, those are most virtuous] An action in itself indifferent grows virtuous by its end and application.
III.iii.201 (439,6)
I know our country disposition well;
In Venice they do let heaven see the pranks]
Here Iago seems to be a Venetian.
III.iii.207 (440,7) And, when she seem’d to shake, and fear your looks,/She lov’d them most] This and the following argument of Iago ought to be deeply impressed on every reader. Deceit and falsehood, whatever conveniencies they may for a time promise or produce, are, in the sum of life, obstacles to happiness. Those, who profit by the cheat, distruat the deceiver, and the act, by which kindness was sought, puts an end to confidence.
The same objection may be made with a lower degree of strength against the imprudent generosity of disproportionate marriages. When the first heat of passion is over, it is easily succeeded by suspicion, that the same violence of inclination, which caused one irregularity, may stimulate to another; and those who have shown, that their passions are too powerful for their prudence, will, with very alight appearances againat them, be censured, as not very likely to restrain them by their virtue. (see 1765, VIII, 397, 1)
III.iii.210 (440,8) To seel her father’s eyes up, close as oak] There is little relation between eyes and oak. I would read,
She seel’d her father’s eyes up close as owl’s.
As blind as an owl, is a proverb.
III.iii.222 (441,1) My speech would fall into such vile success] [Success, far succession, i.e. conclusion; not prosperous issue. WARB.] I rather think there is a depravation, and would read,
My speech would fall into such vile excess.
If success be the right word, it seems to mean consequence or event, as successo is used in Italian.
III.iii.232 (441,2) will most rank] Will, is for wilfulness. It is so used by Ascham. A rank will, is self-will overgrown and exuberant.
III.iii.249 (442,3) You shall by that perceive him, and his means] You shall discover whether he thinks his best means, his most powerful interest, is by the solicitation of your lady.
III.iii.250 (442,4) strain his entertainnent] Press hard his re-admission to his pay and office. Entertainment was the military term for admission of soldiers.
III.iii.256 (442,5) Fear not my government] Do not distrust ay ability to contain my passion.
III.iii.259 (442,6) knows all qualities, with a learned spirit,/Of human dealings] The construction is, He knows with a learned spirit all qualities of human dealings.
III.iii.260 (442,7) If I do prore her haggard] A haggard hark, is a wild hawk, a hawk unreclaimed, or irreclaimable.
III.iii.262 (443,8) I’d whistle her off, and let her down the wind,/ To prey at fortune] The falconers always let fly the hawk against the wind; if she flies with the wind behind her, she seldom returns. If therefore a hawk was for any reason to be dismissed, she was let down the wind, and from that time shifted far herself, and preyed at fortune. This was told me by the late Mr. Clark.
III.iii.276 (443,9) forked plague] In allusion to a barbed or forked arrow, which, once infixed, cannot be extracted.
III.iii.312 (445,2) And, to the advantage, I, being here, took it up] I being opportunely here, took it up.
III.iii.319 (445,3) Be not you known on’t] Should it not rather be read,
Be not you known in’t?
The folio reads,
Be not unknown on’t.
The sense is plain, but of the expression I cannot produce any example.
III.iii.332 (446,5) that sweet sleep,/Which thou owedst yesterday] To owe is, in our author, oftener to possess, than to be indebted, and such was its meaning here; but as that sense was growing less usual, it was changed unnecessarily by the editors to hadst; to the sane meaning, more intelligibly expressed.
III.iii.351 (447,6)
Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife]
Dr. Warburton has offered fear-spersing, for fear-dispersing. But ear-piercing is an epithet so eminently adapted to the fife, and so distinct from the shrillness of the trumpet, that it certainly ought not to be changed. Dr. Warburton has been censured for this proposed emendation with more noise than honesty, for he did not himself put it in the text.
III.iii.369 (449,8) abandon all remorse] [Remorse, for repentance. WARBURTON.] I rather think it is, Let go all scruples, throw aside all restraints.
III.iii.429 (451,4) Oth. ’tis a shrewd doubt] [The old quarto gives this line, with the two following, to Iago; and rightly. WARB.] I think it more naturally spoken by Othello, who, by dwelling so long upon the proof, encouraged Iago to enforce it.
III.iii.448 (452,8) hearted throne] [W: parted] Hearted throne, is the heart on which thou wast enthroned. Parted throne has no meaning.
