As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practice,9
Is all his soldiership. But, he, sir, had the election:
And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof,
At Rhodes, at Cyprus; and on other grounds
Christian and heathen,-must be be-lee'd and calm'd1

qualifications of which he had been speaking. He might have formed the word in allusion to the Latin adage,―Cedant arma toga. Steevens.

2 More than a spinster; unless the bookish theorick,

Wherein the toged consuls can propose

As masterly as he: mere prattle, without practice,] This play has many redundant lines, like the first and third of the foregoing. I cannot help regarding the words distinguished by the Roman character, as interpolations. In the opening scene of King Henry V, Shakspeare thought it unnecessary to join an epithet to theorick; and if the monosyllables-as he, were omitted, would Iago's meaning halt for want of them? Steevens.

3must be be-lee'd and calm'd —] The old quarto-led. The first folio reads, be-lee'd: but that spoils the measure. I read, let, hindered. Warburton.

Be-lee'd suits to calm'd, and the measure is not less perfect than in many other places. Johnson.

Be-lee'd and be-calm'd are terms of navigation.

I have been informed that one vessel is said to be in the lee of another, when it is so placed that the wind is intercepted from it. Iago's meaning therefore is, that Cassio had got the wind of him, and be-calm'd him from going on.

To be-calm (as I learn from Falconer's Marine Dictionary) is likewise to obstruct the current of the wind in its passage to a ship, by any contiguous object. Steevens.

The quarto, 1622, reads:

must be led and calm'd-.

I suspect therefore that Shakspeare wrote-must be lee'd and calm'd. The lee-side of a ship is that on which the wind blows. To lee, or to be lee'd, may mean, to fall to leeward, or to lose the advantage of the wind.

The reading of the text is that of the folio. I doubt whether there be any such sca-phrase as to be-lee; and suspect the word be was inadvertently repeated by the compositor of the folio.

Mr. Steevens has explained the word be-calm'd, but where is it found in the text? Malone.

Mr. Malone is unfortunate in his present explanation. The leeside of a ship is directly contrary to that on which the wind blows, if I may believe a skilful navigator whom I have consulted on this occasion.

Mr. Malone asks where the word be-calm'd is to be found in the text. To this question I must reply by another. Is it not evident, that the prefix-be is to be continued from the former naval phrase to the latter? Shakspeare would have written be-calm'd as well

By debitor and creditor, this counter-caster;5
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,

And I, (God bless the mark !6) his Moor-ship's ancient. Rod. By heaven, I rather would have been his hang

man.

Iago. But there's no remedy, 'tis the curse of service; Preferment goes by letter, and affection,

9

Not by the old gradation, where each second

as be-lee'd, but that the close of his verse would not admit of a dissyllable. Should we say that a ship was lee'd, or calm'd, we should employ a phrase unacknowledged by sailors. Steevens.

4 By debitor -] All the modern editors read-By debtor; but debitor (the reading of the old copies) was the word used in Shakspeare's time. So, in Sir John Davies's Epigrams, 1598:

"There stands the constable, there stands the whore,"There by the serjeant stands the debitor."

See also the passage quoted from Cymbeline, n. 5.

5—

Malone.

this counter-caster;] It was anciently the practice to reckon up sums with counters. To this Shakspeare alludes again in Cymbeline, Act V: "-it sums up thousands in a trice: you have no true debitor and creditor, but it; of what 's past, is, and to come, the discharge. Your neck, sir, is pen, book, and counters;" &c. Again, in Acolastus, a comedy, 1540: "I wyl cast my counters, or with counters make all my reckenynges." Steevens.

So, in The Winter's Tale: "-fifteen hundred shorn,-What comes the wool to?—I cannot do 't without counters." Malone.

6 - bless the mark!] Kelly, in his comments on Scots proverbs, observes, that the Scots, when they compare person to per. son, use this exclamation.

I find, however, this phrase in Churchyard's Tragicall Discourse of a dolorous Gentlewoman, &c. 1593:

"Not beauty here I claime by this my talke,

"For browne and blacke I was, God blesse the marke!
"Who calls me fair dooth scarce know cheese from chalke:
"For I was form'd when winter nights was darke,
"And nature's workes tooke light at little sparke;
"For kinde in scorne had made a moulde of jette,
"That shone like cole, wherein my face was set."

It is singular that both Churchyard and Shakspeare should have used this form of words with reference to a black person. Steevens.

7 his Moor-ship's ] The first quarto reads-his wor. hip's.

Steevens.

- by letter,] By recommendation from powerful friends.

Johnson.

9 Not by the old gradation,] Old gradation, is gradation established by ancient practice. Johnson.

Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge yourself,
Whether I in any just term am affin'd1

To love the Moor.

Rod.

I would not follow him then.

Iago. O, sir, content you;

I follow him to serve my turn upon him:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doating on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For nought but provender; and, when he's old, cashier'd;2
Whip me such honest knaves: 3 Others there are,
Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves;
And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,
Do well thrive by them, and, when they have lin❜d their
coats,

Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul;
And such a one do I profess myself.

For, sir,4

It is as sure as you are Roderigo,

Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:

In following him, I follow but myself;

Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart

5

In compliment extern, 'tis not long after

Whether I in any just term am affin'd-] Affind is the reading of the third quarto and the first folio. The second quarto and all the modern editions have assign'd. The meaning is,-Do I stand within any such terms of propinquity, or relation to the Moor, as that it is my duty to love him? Johnson.

The original quarto, 1622, has assign'd, but it was manifestly an error of the press. Malone.

2 For nought but provender; and, when he 's old, cashier'd;] Surely, this line was originally shorter. We might safely read— For nought but provender; when old, cashier'd. Steevens.

3

honest knaves:] Knave is here for servant, but with a sly mixture of contempt. Johnson.

4 For, sir,] These words, which are found in all the ancient copies, are omitted by Mr. Pope, and most of our modern editors.

Steevens.

But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.

Rod. What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe,7
If he can carry 't thus!

Iago.

Call up her father,

Rouse him make after him, poison his delight,
Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen,
And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,

5 In compliment extern,] In that which I do only for an outward show of civility. Johnson.

So, in Sir W. D'Avenant's Albovine, 1629:

66

that in sight extern

"A patriarch seems." Steevens.

For daws &c.] The first quarto reads,─For doves

Steevens.

I have adhered to the original copy, because I suspect Shakspeare had in his thoughts a passage in Lyly's Euphues and his England, 1580: "As all coynes are not good that have the image of Cæsar, nor all gold, that is coyned with the kings stampe, so all is not truth that beareth the shew of godlinesse, nor all friends that beare a faire face. If thou pretend such love to Euphues, carry thy heart on the backe of thy hand, and thy tongue in thy palme, that I may see what is in thy minde, and thou with thy finger claspe thy mouth.-I can better take a blister of a nettle, than a pricke of a rose; more willing that a raven should peck out mine eyes, than a turtle peck at them." Malone.

I read with the folio. Iago certainly means to say, he would expose his heart as a prey to the most worthless of birds, i. e. daws, which are treated with universal contempt. Our author would scarcely have degraded the amiable tribe of doves to such an office; nor is the mention of them at all suitable to the harsh turn of Iago's speech. Steevens.

7 What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe,] Full fortune is, I believe, a complete piece of good fortune, as in another scene of this play, a full soldier is put for a complete soldier. So, in Cymbeline:

"Our pleasure his full fortune doth confine." Again, in Chapman's version of the fourth Book of Homer's Odyssey, we have

"Jove did not only his full fate adorn,

"When he was wedded."

To owe, is in ancient language, to own, to possess. Steevens. So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

not the imperious show

"Of the full-fortun'd Cæsar -"

Full is used by Chaucer in the same sense in his Troilus, B. L: "Sufficeth this, my full friend Pandare,

"That I have said."

See also, Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, sc. xi, Vol. XIII. Malone.

Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,
Yet throw such changes of vexation on 't,
As it may lose some colour.

Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud.
Iago. Do; with like timorous accent, and dire yell,
As when, by night and negligence, the fire
Is spied in populous cities.

Rod. What, ho! Brabantio! signior Brabantio, ho! Iago. Awake! what, ho! Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves!

Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags!
Thieves! thieves!

BRABANTIO above, at a Window.

Bra. What is the reason of this terrible summons? What is the matter there?

Rod. Signior, is all your family within?

Iago. Are your doors lock'd?9

Bra.

Why? wherefore ask you this?

Iago. 'Zounds, sir, you are robb'd: for shame, put on

your gown;

Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul;
Even now, very now, an old black ram
Is tupping your white ewe.2 Arise, arise;

8 As when, by night and negligence, the fire

Is spied in populous cities.] The particle is used equivocally; the same liberty is taken by writers more correct:

"The wonderful creature! a woman of reason!
"Never grave out of pride, never gay out of season."

Johnson. By night and negligence means, during the time of night and negligence. M. Mason.

The meaning, as Mr. Edwards has observed, is, "not that the fire was spied by negligence, but the fire, which came by night and negligence, was spied. And this double meaning to the same word is common to Shakspeare with all other writers, especially where the word is so familiar a one, as this is in question. Ovid seems even to have thought it a beauty instead of a defect." Malone.

9 Are your doors lock'd?] The first quarto readsAre all doors lock'd? Steevens.

1

is burst,] i. e. broken. Burst for broke is used in our author's King Henry IV, P. II: " and then he burst his head for crouding among the marshal's men.” See Vol. IX, p. 110, n. 2

See also Vol. VI, p. 12, n. 5. Malone.

Steevens.