551 * May speak, unbonnetted, to as proud a fortune 5 For the fea's worth. But, look! what lights come yonder ? Iago. +-speak, unbonneted,-] Thus all the copies read. fhould be unbonneting, i. e. without putting off the bonnet. POPE. It -and my demerits May Speak unbonnetted to as proud a fortune As this that I have reach'd.] Thus all the copies read this paffage. But, to speak unbonnetted, is to speak with the cap off, which is directly oppofite to the poet's meaning. Othello means to fay, that his birth and services set him upon fuch a rank, that he may fpeak to a fenator of Venice with his hat on; i, e. without fhewing any marks of deference or inequality. I therefore am inclined to think Shakspeare wrote: "May fpeak, and bonnetted, &c. THEOBALD. I do not fee the propriety of Mr. Pope's emendation, though adopted by Dr. Warburton. Unbonnetting may as well be, not putting on, as not putting off, the bonnet. Hanmer reads c'en bonneted. JOHNSON. nus: Bonneter (fays Cotgrave) is to put off one's cap. So, in Coriola"Thofe who are fupple and courteous to the people, bonneted without any farther deed to heave them at all into their eftimation." Unbonneted may therefore fignify, without taking the cap off. We might, I think, venture to read imbonneted. It is common with Shakspeare to make or ufe words compounded in the fame manner. Such are impawn, impaint, impale, and immask. Of all the readings hitherto propofed, that of Theobald is, I think, the beft. STEEVENS. sunboufed-] Free from domeftic cares. A thought natural to an adventurer. JOHNSON. Unhoufed, as explained by Dr. Johnfon, means free from domeftic cares. But, Othello talking as a foldier, unhoused may fignify the having no fettled houfe or habitation. WHALLEY, For the fea's worth.] I would not marry her, though fhe were as rich as the Adriatic, which the Doge annually marries. JOHNSON. I believe the common and obvious meaning is the true one. The Enter Caffio, with others. Iago. These are the raised father, and his friends: You were beft go in. Oth. Not I: I must be found; My parts, my title, and my perfect soul, Iago. By Janus, I think no. Oth. The fervants of the duke, and my lieutenant. The goodness of the night upon you, friends! What is the news? Caf. The duke does greet you, general; And he requires your hafte, poft-hafte appearance, Even on the inftant. Oth. What is the matter, think you? Caf. Something from Cyprus, as I may divine; It is a bufinefs of fome heat: the gallies Have fent a dozen fequent meffengers 7 This very night, at one another's heels: And many of the confuls, rais'd, and met, Are The fame words occur in Sir W. D'Avenant's Cruel Broth ", 1630: 66 "" -he would not lofe that privilege "For the fea's worth Perhaps the phrafe is proverbial. Pliny the naturalift has a chapter on the riches of the fea Again, in the Winter' Tale: "for all the fun fees, or "The clofe earth wombs, or the profound fea hides Again, in King Henry V. act i: 66 As rich with praise, "As is the oufe, and bottom of the fea, "With funken wreck, and fumlefs treafuries." STEEVENS. 7-fequent meffengers] The first quarto reads-frequent mesfengers. STEEVENS. confuls,] Hanmer reads, council. Theobald would have us read counsellors. Venice was originally governed by conful and confuls feems to have been commonly used for counsellors, as before Are at the duke's already: You have been hotly call'd for ; When, being not at your lodging to be found, 9 The fenate hath fent about three feveral quefts, To fearch you out. Oth. 'Tis well I am found by you. I will but spend a word here in the house, [Exit. Caf. Ancient what makes he here? Iago. 'Faith, he to-night hath boarded a landcarrack; If it prove lawful prize, he's made for ever. Re in this play. In Albion's Triumph, a mafque, 1631, the emperor Albanact is faid to be attended by fourteen confuls:-again, the habits of the confuls were after the fame manner. Geoffery of Monmouth and Matthew Paris after him, call both dukes and earls, confuls. STEEVENS. 9 The Senate hath sent out-] The early quartos, and all the modern editors, have, The fenate fent above three feveral quefts. The folio, The fenate hath fent about, &c. that is, about the city. I have adopted the reading of the folio. JOHNSON. Quefts are, on this occafion, fearches. So, in Heywood's Brazen Age, 1613: Now, if in all his quests, he be witheld.". STEEVENS. -a land carrack ;— A carrack is a fhip of great bulk, and commonly of great value; perhaps what we now call a galleon. JOHNSON So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Coxcomb: 66 ▬▬▬▬▬ they'll be freighted; "They're made like carracks, all for strength and stowage.' STEEVENS. The first ships that came richly laden from the West Indies to Europe were those from the Caraccas part of the Spanish fettlements and fome years ago a Caracca fhip generally proved a very rich prize. MONCK MASON. To who?] It is fomewhat fingular that Caffio fhould ask this queftion. In the 3d scene of the 3d act, Iago says : Re-enter Othello. $ Jago. Marry, to-Come, captain, will you go Oth. Have with you 3. Caf. Here comes another troop to feek for you. Enter Brabantio, Roderigo, with Officers. lago. It is Brabantio:-general, * be advis'd; He comes to bad intent. Oth. Hola! ftand there! Rod. Signior, it is the Moor. [They draw on both fides. Iago. You, Roderigo! come, fir, I am for you. Oth. Keep up your bright fwords, for the dew will ruft them. Good fignior, you shall more command with years, Than with your weapons. Bra. O thou foul thief! where haft thou ftow'd Damn'd as thou art, thou haft enchanted her : Would "Did Michael Caffio, when you woo'd my lady, "Oth. From firft to laft." He who was acquainted with the object courted by his friend, could have little reafon for doubting to whom he would be married. STEEVENS. Caffio's feeming ignorance of Othello's courtship or marriage might only be affected; in order to keep his friend's fecret, till it become publickly known. BLACKSTONE. 3 Have with you. This expreffion denotes readiness. See vol. vii. p. 84. STEEVENS. 4-be advis'd;] That is, be cool; be cautions; be difcreet. JOHNSON. The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,] Curled is elegantly Would ever have, to incur a general mock, Run from her guardage to the footy bofom Of fuch a thing as thou; to fear, not to delight. [Judge me the world, if 'tis not grofs in fenfe, That thou haft practis'd on her with foul charms; 'Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs, or minerals, That and oftentatiously dreffed. He had not the hair particularly in his thoughts. JOHNSON. On another occafion Shakspeare employs the fame expreffion, and evidently alludes to the hair. "If the first meet the curled Antony, &c." Sir W. D'Avenant ufes the fame expreffion in his Juft Italien, 1630: "The curl'd and filken nobles of the town." Again, "Such as the curled youth of Italy." I believe Shakspeare has the fame meaning in the present inftance. STEEVENS. 6 to fear,] i. e. to terrify See vol. ii. p. 33. vol. iii. p. 164, &c. STEEVENS. 7 Judge me the world, &c.] The lines following in crotchets are not in the first edition. POPE. 8 Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs, or minerals, That weaken motion:] Brabantio is here accufing Othello of having used fome foul play, and intoxicated Desdemona by drugs and potions to win her over to his love. But why, drugs to weaken motion? How then could he have run away with him voluntarily from her father's house? Had he been averse to choofing Othello, though he had given her medicines that took away the ufe of her limbs, might the not ftill have retained her fenfes, and oppofed the marriage? Her father, it is evident, from feveral of his fpeeches, is pofitive, that the must have been abused in her rational faculties; or fhe could not have made fo prepofterous a choice, as to wed with a Moor, a Black, and refuse the finest young gentlemen in Venice. What then have we to do with her motion being weakened? If I understand any thing of the poet's meaning here, I cannot but think he must have wrote: Abus'd ber delicate youth with drugs, or minerals,, That weaken notion. i.e. her apprehenfion, right conception and idea of things, under fanding, judgment, &c. THEOBALD. Hanmer reads with probability: That weaken motion. JOHNSON. |
