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49. —without some instruction.-] The starts and broken reflections in this speech have something very terrible, and shew the mind of the speaker to be in inexpressible agonies. But the words we are upon, when set right, have a sublime in them that can never be enough admired. The ridiculous blunder of writing instruction for induction (for so it should be read) has indeed sunk it into arrant nonsense. Othello is just going to fall into a swoon; and, as is common for people in that circumstance, feels an unusual mist and darkness, accompanied with horror, coming upon him. This, with vast sublimity of thought, is compared to the season of the sun's eclipse, at which time the earth becomes shadowed by the induction, or bringing over of the moon between it and the sun. This being the allusion, the reasoning stands thus: "My nature "could never be thus overshadowed, and falling, as it "were, into dissolution, for no cause. There must "be an induction of something; there must be a real "cause. My jealousy cannot be merely imaginary. "Ideas, words only, could not shake me thus, and "raise all this disorder. My jealousy therefore must "be grounded on matter of fact." Shakspere uses this word in the same sense, in Richard III.

"A dire induction am I witness to."

Marston seems to have read it thus in some copy, and to allude to it in these words of his Fame :

"Plots ha' you laid ? inductions dangerous !"

WARBURTON.

This is a noble conjecture, and, whether right or wrong, does honour to its author. Yet I am in doubt whether there is any necessity of emendation. There has always prevailed in the world an opinion, that when any great calamity happens at a distance, notice is given of it to the sufferer by some dejection or perturbation of mind, of which he discovers no ex-ternal cause. This is ascribed to that general communication of one part of the universe with another, which is called sympathy and antipathy; or to the secret monition, instruction, and influence of a superior Being, which superintends the order of nature and of life. Othello says, Nature could not invest herself in such shadowing passion without instruction. It is not words that shake me thus. This passion, which spreads its clouds over me, is the effect of some agency more than the operation of words; it is one of those notices which men have of unseen calamities. JOHNSON.

However ingenious Dr. Warburton's note may be, it is certainly too forced and far-fetched. Othello alludes only to Cassio's dream, which had been invented and told him by Iago. When many confused and very interesting ideas pour in upon the mind all at once, and with such rapidity that it has not time to shape or digest them, if it does not relieve itself by tears (which we know it often does, whether for joy or grief) it produces stupefaction and fainting.

Othello, in broken sentences and single words, all of which have a reference to the cause of his jealousy, shews, that all the proofs are present at once to his

mind, which so overpowers it, that he falls into a trance, the natural consequence. Sir J. REYNOLDS.

50. Noses, ears, and lips :] Othello is imagining to himself the familiarities which he supposes to have passed between Cassio and his wife. So, in the Winter's Tale:

"Cheek to cheek,-meeting noses—

Kissing with inside lip," &c.

If this be not the meaning, we must suppose he is meditating a cruel punishment for Desdemona and her suspected paramour:

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"Auribus, et truncas inhonesta vulnere nares STEEVENS.

73. A horned man- -] In Much Ado about Nothing, I omitted to attempt the illustration of a passage where Benedick says "there is no staff more honourable than one tipt with horn." Perhaps he alludes to the staff which was anciently carried before a challenger. Thus, in Stowe's Chronicle, edition 1615, p. 669: "-his baston (a staffe of an elle long, made taperwise, tipt with horne) &c. was borne before him."

STEEVENS.

80. in those unproper beds,] Unproper, for common. WARBURTON.

So, in The Arcadia, by Shirley, 1610:

"Ever woman shall be common.-
"Every woman common! what shall we do with

all the proper women in Arcadia?

"They shall be common too."

STEEVENS.

88.list.] The obvious meaning of list, is bounds. Keep your temper, says Iago, within the bounds of patience.

So, in King Henry V. act v. sc. 2:

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COLLINS.

-you and I

cannot be confined within the weak list of a country fashion."

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Again, in King Henry IV. Part I.

"The very list, the very utmost bound,

"Of all our fortunes."

Again, in All's Well that Ends Well, act ii. sc. 1. have restrain'd yourself within the list of too cold an adieu." STEEVENS.

-you

89. -ere while, mad with your grief,] Thus the first quarto. The folio reads:

STEEVENS.

-o'erwhelmed with your grief. 94.encave yourself.] Hide yourself in a private

place.

JOHNSON.

101. Or shall I say, your're all in all in spleen,] I read:

Or shall I say, you're all in all a spleen.
I think our author uses this expression elsewhere.
JOHNSON.
A hair-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen. The
old reading, however, is not inexplicable. We still say,
such one is in wrath, in the dumps, &c. The sense
therefore is plain. Again, in The Midsummer Night's
Dream:

"That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and
STEEVENS.

earth.".

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116. And his unbookish jealousy-] Unbookish, for ignorant. WARBURTON.

135. Do you triumph, Roman? do you triumph?] Othello calls him Roman ironically. Triumph, which was a Roman ceremony, brought Roman into his thoughts. What (says he) you are now triumphing as great as a Roman ?

136.

JOHNSON.

-] A common woman, one

a customer!

that invites custom.

So, in All's Well that Ends Well:'

JOHNSON.

"I think thee now some common customer."

STEEVENS.

143. Have you scor'd me?-] Have you made my reckoning? have you settled the term of my life? The old quarto reads, stored me. Have you disposed of me? have you laid me up? JOHNSON To score originally meant no more than to cut a notch upon a tally, or to mark out a form by indenting it on any substance. Spenser, in the first Canto of his Fairy Queen, speaking of the cross, says:

"Upon his shield the like was also scor'd." Again, b. ii. c. 9:

-why on your shield, so goodly scor'd,

"Bear you the picture of that lady's head ?”

"Let us score their

But it was soon figuratively used for setting a brand or mark of disgrace on any one. backs," says Scarus, in Antony and Cleopatra; and it is employed in the same sense on the present occasion. STEEVENS.

151. by this hand-] This is the reading of the first quarto.

STEEVENS.

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