Line 620. I do agnize-] i. e, acknowledge, confess, avow: -625. I crave fit disposition for my wife; STEEVENS. Due reference of place, and exhibition; &c.] I desire, that proper disposition be made for my wife, that she may have precedency and revenue, accommodation and company, suitable to her rank. JOHNSON. Exhibition is allowance. The word is at present used only at the universities. STEEVENS. Line 637. —a charter in your voice,] Let your favour privilege me. JOHNSON. Line 641. My downright violence and storm of fortunes—] Violence is not violence suffered, but violence acted. Breach of com. mon rules and obligations. JOHNSON. Line 644. I saw Othello's visage in his mind;] It must raise no wonder, that I loved a man of an appearance so little engaging; I saw his face only in his mind; the greatness of his character reconciled me to his form. JOHNSON. Line 662. when light-wing'd toys Of feather'd Cupid seel with wanton dulness My speculative and active instruments,] Speculative instruments, in Shakspeare's language, are the eyes; and active instruments, the hands and feet. Wanton dulness is dulness arising from wanton indulgences. MALONE. Line 751. as luscious as locusts,- -as bitter as coloquintida.] An anonymous correspondent informs me, that the fruit of the locust-tree, (which, I believe, is here meant,) is a long black pod, that contains the seeds, among which there is a very sweet luscious juice of much the same consistency as fresh honey. STEEVENS. ACT II. SCENE I. Line 17. And quench the guards of the ever fixed pole:] Alluding to the star Arctophylax. JOHNSON. Line 42. Like a full soldier.] Like a complete soldier. MALONE. 74. And in the essential testure of creation, Does bear all excellency.] 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. JOHNSON. Line 130. Saints in your injuries, &c.] When you have a mind to do injuries, you put on an air of sanctity. JOHNSON. In Puttenham's Art of Poesie, 1580, I meet with almost the same thoughts: "We limit the comely parts of a woman to consist in four points; that is, to be a shrew in the kitchen, a saint in the church, an angel at board, and an ape in the bed; as the chronicle reports by mistress Shore, paramour to king Edward the Fourth." Line 141. critical.] That is, censorious. STEEVENS. 161. She never yet was foolish &c.] The law 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. JOHNSON. Line 171.onc, that, in the authority of her merit, did justly put on the vouch of very malice itself?] To put on the couch of malice, is to assume a character vouched by the testimony of malice itself. JOHNSON. 1 Line 180. To change the cod's head for the salmon's tail ;] i. e. to exchange a delicacy for coarser fare. STEEVENS. Line 185. To suckle fools, and chronicle small beer.] After enumerating the perfections of a woman, Iago adds, that if ever there was such a one as he had been describing, she was, at the best, of no other use, than to suckle children, and keep the accounts of a household. STEEVENS. Line 189. profane-] Gross of language, of expression broad and brutal. Line 195. 200. JOHNSON. I will gyve thee—] i. e. catch, shackle. POPE. well kissed! an excellent courtesy !] Spoken when Cassio kisses his hand, and Desdemona courtsies. JOHNS. Line 238. I prattle out of fashion,] Out of method, without any settled order of discourse. Line 249. guard musters. JOHNSON. -the court of guard :] i. e. the place where the STEEVENS. Line 253. Lay thy finger-thus,] On thy mouth, to stop it while thou art listening to a wiser man. JOHNSON. Line 302. cipline. Line 310. -tainting-] Throwing a slur upon his dis JOHNSON. whose qualification shall come &c.] Whose resentment shall not be so qualified or tempered, as to be well tasted, as not to retain some bitterness. Line 334. JOHNSON. like a poisonous mineral,] This is philosophical. Mineral poisons kill by corrosion. Line 339. Which thing to do, If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trash JOHNSON. For his quick hunting, stand the putting on,] To trash, is still a hunter's phrase, and signifies to fasten a weight on the neck of a dog, when his speed is superior to that of his companions. STEEVENS Line 342. I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip;] A phrase from the art of wrestling. JOHNSON. Line 349. 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. JOHNSON. ACT II. SCENE II. Line 352. entire. -mere perdition-] Mere in this place signifies. STEEVENS. ACT II. SCENE III. Line 377. Our general cast us-] That is, appointed us to our stations. To cast the play, is, in the style of the theatres, to assign to every actor his proper part. Line 404. JOHNSON. craftily qualified-] Slily mixed with water. JOHNSON. 424. The very elements-] As quarrelsome as the discordia semina rerum; as quick in opposition as fire and water. JOHNSON. Line 430. If consequence do but approve my dream,] Every scheme subsisting only in the imagination may be termed a dream. JOHNSON. Line 432. -given me a rouse &c.] A rouse appears to be a STEEVENS. quantity of liquor rather too large. Line 458. King Stephen &c.] These stanzas are taken from an old song, which the reader will find preserved in the Relicks of Ancient Poetry. Line 458. 461. JOHNSON. -a worthy peer,] i. e. a worthy fellow. STEEV. -lown.] Sorry fellow, paltry wretch. JOHNS. 501. 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. JOHNSON. Line 512. -ingraft infirmity :] An infirmity rooted, settled in his constitution. JOHNSON. Line 521. into a twiggen bottle.] A twiggen bottle is a wickered bottle. STEEVENS. Line 553. Silence that dreadful bell,] It was a common prac tice formerly, when any great affray happened in a town, to ring the alarum bell. MALONE. Line 553. state. it frights the isle From her propriety.] From her regular and proper JOHNSON. spend your rich opinion,] Throw away and Line 576. squander a reputation so valuable as yours. Line 584. JOHNSON. JOHNSON. self-charity-] Care of one's self. 589. And passion, having my best judgment collied,] To colly anciently signified to besmut, to blacken as with coal. STEEV. Line 594. —he that is approv'd in this offence,] He that is convicted by proof, of having been engaged in this offence. JOHNS. Line 659. -cast in his mood,] Ejected in his anger. JOHNSON. 666. —and speak parrot ?] A phrase signifying to act foolishly and childishly. WARBURTON. Line 730. Probal-] A contraction of the word probable. STEEVENS. 743. When devils will their blackest sins put on, men to commit the most atrocious crimes. MALONE. Line 748. I'll pour this pestilence-] Pestilence, for poison. WARBURTON, 749. That she repeals him-] That is, recalls him. JOHNSON. Line 754. That shall enmesh them all.] A metaphor from taking birds in meshes. Line 770. Though other things grow fair against the sun, POPE. Yet fruits, that blossom first, will first be ripe:] The blossoming, or fair appearance of things, to which Iago alludes, is, the removal of Cassio. As their plan had already blossomed, so there was good ground for expecting that it would soon be ripe. MALONE. ACT III. SCENE I. Line 6. Why, masters, have your instruments been at Naples, that they speak the nose thus?] The venereal disease first appeared at the siege of Naples. JOHNSON. ACT III. SCENE III. Line 91. That policy may either last so long.] He may either of himself think it politick 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. JOHNSON. Line 100. 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. JOHNSON. Line 154. the wars must make examples Out of their best,] The severity of military dis cipline must not spare the best men of their army, when their punishment may afford a wholesome example. Line 159. suspense. JOHNSON. so mammering on.] To hesitate, to stand in HANMER. Line 184. Excellent wretch !—Perdition catch my soul, But I do love thee! &c.] 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. JOHNSON. Line 236. Or, those that be not, 'would they might seem none !] |