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683. -our former having-] Our former allowance

of expence.

JOHNSON. 696. -heaven me such uses send,] Such is the reading of the folio, and of the subsequent editions; but the old quarto has :

-such usage send.

Usage is an old word for custom, and, I think, better JOHNSON.

than uses.

ACT V.

Line 11.

I'VE rubb'd this young quat almost to the

sense,

And he grows angry.] A quat, in the midland counties, is a pimple, which by rubbing is made to smart, or is rubbed to sense. Roderigo is called a quat by the same mode of speech, as a low fellow is now termed in low language a scab. To rub to the sense, is to rub to the quick.

JOHNSON. So, in The Devil's Law-Case, 1623: "O young quat! incontinence is plagued in all creatures in the world."

Again, in Deckar's Gul's Hornbook, 1609: "whether he be a yong quat of the first yeers revennew, or some austere and sullen-fac'd steward," &c.

Such another thought occurs in Ben Jonson's Catiline:

"-must

"must have their disgraces still new rub'd, "To make them smart," &c.

STEEVENS.

14. my gain:] The quartos read-my game.

STEEVENS.

36. And your fate hies apace:] Thus the first quarto. The second quarto and the folio read-" And your "unblest fate hies." STEEVENS.

37. Forth of my heart, &c.] Thus the first quarto. The folio reads, "For of" perhaps the true reading For off, &c.

But Mr. Whalley observes to me, that the reading of the quarto may be the true one. Forth signifies

both out and from. So in Hamlet:

"Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep."

Again, in Jonson's Volpone:

"Forth the resolved corners of his eyes."

Mr. Henley had also made the same observation, and in proof of it produced the following passages.

Richard III.

"I clothe my naked villany

"With old odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ." Again,

39.

by?

"Humphrey Hoare that called upon your grace, "To breakfast once forth of my company.

REED.

-no passage?] No passengers? nobody going

So, in the Comedy of Errors:

JOHNSON.

"Now in the stirring passage of the day."

STEEVENS.

44.

a heavy night;] A thick cloudy night, in which

an ambush may be commodiously laid.

So, in Measure for Measure:

JOHNSON.

"Upon the heavy middle of the night."

STEEVENS.

89. Lend me a garter, &c.] This speech is omitted in the first quarto. STEEVENS.

96. Alas! my friend, my dear countryman!] This passage incontestably proves that Iago was meant for a Venetian.

114.

good gentlemen.] Thus the folio.

quartos read, gentlewoman.

115. the ghastness,] So the folio.

read, jestures.

116. Nay, if you stare,] So the folio. read, stirre.

STEEVENS.

The

STEEVENS.

The quartos

STEEVENS.

The quartos

STEEVENS.

139. -or fordoes me quite.] To fordo, is to undo, to ruin, to destroy. See Midsummer Night's Dream, act v. line 374. and note.

STEEVENS.

140. It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul

Let me not name it- -] The abruptness of this soliloquy makes it obscure. The meaning, I think, is this: "I am here (says Othello in his mind) overwhelmed with horror. What is the reason of this perturbation? Is it want of resolution to do justice? Is it the dread of shedding blood? No; it is not the action that shocks me, but it is the cause, it is the cause, my soul; let me not name it to you, ye chaste stars! it is the cause !"

JOHNSON.

Othello,

Othello, full of horror at the cruel action which he is about to perpetrate, seems at this instant to be seeking his justification, from representing to himself the cause, i. e. the greatness of the provocation he had received. STEEVENS

145. Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.] This is the second attempt of Othello to justify what he has undertaken. First, he says, It is the cause; i. e. his own cause; now he is willing to suppose himself the preventer to succeeding mischief to others.

STEÈVENS.

146. Put out the light, and then-Put out the light!] So it should be printed. The meaning is, I will put out the light, and then proceed to the execution of my purpose. But the expression of putting out the light, bringing to mind the effects of the extinction of the light of life, he breaks short, and questions himself about the effects of this metaphorical extinction, introduced by a repetition of his first words, as much as to say, but hold, let me first weigh the reflections which this expression so naturally excites.

WARBURTON.

This has been considered as a very difficult line. Fielding makes Betterton and Booth dispute about it with the author himself in the other world. The punctuation recommended by Dr. Warburton, gives a spirit to it which I fear was not intended. It seems to have

been only a play upon words. To put the light out was a phrase for to kill. In the Maid's tragedy, Melantius says,

-'Tis a justice, and a noble one,
"To put the light out of such base offenders."

FARMER.

Put out the light. This phrase is twice used in Sidney's Arcadia for killing a lady, p. 460 and 470. edition 1633.

Again, in an unpublished play, called The Second Maiden's Tragedy, by George Chapman, licensed by Sir George Buc, October 31, 1611:

66 O soul of cunning!

"Came that arch subtilty from thy lady's counsel,
"Or thine own sudden craft? confess to me
"How oft thou hast been a bawd to their close
actions,

"Or all thy light goes out."

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STEEVENS.

The

STEEVEN'S.

149. put out thy light,] Thus the folio.

quarto reads put out thine.

150. Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,] So in Palmerin D'Oliva, 1588, p. 1

-those that be

held her esteemed her for the chiefest piece of workmanshippe that ever nature framed."

REED.

152. relumine.] The folio reads-relume. first quarto return: the second quarto-relumine.

The

STEEVENS.

thy rose,] Thus the folio. The quarto reads,

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