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Who art fo lovely fair, and fmell'ft fo fweet,

That the fenfe aches at thee,-'Would, thou had' ne'er been born!

Def. Alas, what ignorant fin have I committed?
Oth. Was this fair paper, this moft goodly book,
Made to write whore upon? What committed!
Committed!-0 thou public commoner!
I should make very forges of my cheeks,
That would to cinders burn up modeity,
Did I but speak thy deeds.-What committed!
Heaven ftops the nose at it, and the moon winks;
The bawdy wind, that kiffes all it meets
Is hufh'd within the hollow mine of earth,
And will not hear it: What committed!—
Impudent ftrumpet!

Had this epithet, black, been admitted, there would ftill have remained an incomplete verfe in the speech: no additional beauty would have been introduced; but instead of it, a paltry antithefis between the words black and fair. STEEVENS.

The quarto, 1622, reads:

O thou black weed, why art fo lovely fair?

"Thou fmell'ft fo fweet, that the fenfe aches at thee," &c.

MALONE.

6 Was this fair paper, &c.] Maflinger has imitated this paffage in The Emperor of the Eaft:

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can you think,

"This masterpiece of heaven, this precious vellum
"Of fuch a purity and virgin whiteness,

"Could be defign'd to have perjury and whoredom
"In capital letters writ upon't?" STEEVENS.

7 Committed!] This, and the three following lines, are omitted in the first quarto. STEEVENS.

This word in Shakspeare's time, befide its general fignification, feems to have been applied particularly to unlawful acts of love. Hence perhaps it is fo often repeated by Othello. So, in Sir Thomas Overbury's CHARACTERS, (A Very Woman) 1614: "She commits with her ears for certain; after that, the may go for a maid, but the has been lain with in her understanding." The word is used in the fame fenfe in King Lear: "Commit not with man's fworn spouse." Again, in Decker's Honeft Whore, P. I.

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if all committers stood in a rank, "They'd make a lane, in which your fhame might dwell." MALONE.

The bawdy wind, that kiffes all it meets,] So, in The Merchant of Venice:

"Hugg'd and embraced by the ftrumpet wind." MALONE.

Def. By heaven, you do me wrong.
Oth. Are not you a ftrumpet?
Def. No, as I am a christian:
If to preferve this veffel for my lord,
From any other foul unlawful touch,
Be-not to be a ftrumpet, I am none.
Oth. What, not a whore?
Def. No, as I fhall be faved.
Oth. Is it poffible?

Def. O, heaven forgive us!
Oth. I cry you mercy, then;

I took you for that cunning whore of Venice,
That married with Othello.-You, miftrefs,

Re-enter EMILIA.

That have the office oppofite to Saint Peter,
And keep the gate of hell; You! you! ay, you!
We have done our courfe; there's money for your pains;
I pray you, turn the key, and keep our counfel. [Exit.
Emil. Alas, what does this gentleman conceive?—
How do you, madam? how do you, my good lady?
Def. 'Faith, half asleep.

Emil. Good madam, what's the matter with my lord?
Def. With who?

Emil. Why, with my lord, madam?

Def. Who is thy lord?

Emil. He that is yours, fweet lady.

Def. I have none: Do not talk to me, Emilia;

I cannot weep; nor anfwer have I none,

But what should go by water. Pr'ythee, to-night
Lay on my bed my wedding fheets,-remember;-
And call thy husband hither.

Emil. Here is a change indeed!

[Exit.

8 If to preferve this veffel for my lord,] This expreffion, as well as many others, our authour has borrowed from the facred writings: -to poffefs his veffel in fanctification."-1 Theff. iv. 4. MALONE. any other-] Thus the folio. The quarto reads-any bated. STEEVENS.

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Who is thy lord ?] This, and the following fpeech, are omitted in the first quarto. STEEVENS.

Def.

Del. 'Tis meet I fhould be us'd fo, very meet. How have I been behav'd, that he might flick The fmall'ft opinion on my great't abuse?

Re-enter EMILIA, with IAGO.

Iago. What is your pleafure, madam? How is it with you?

Def. I cannot tell. Thofe, that do teach young babes, Do it with gentle means, and eafy tasks:

He might have chid me fo; for, in good faith,
I am a child to chiding.

Iago. What is the matter, lady?

Emil. Alas, lago, my lord hath fo bewhor'd her, Thrown fuch defpight and heavy terms upon her, As true hearts cannot bear.

Def. Am I that name, Iago?

lago. What name, fair lady?

Def. Such as, the fays, my lord did fay I was. Emil. He call'd her, whore; a beggar, in his drink, Could not have laid fuch terms upon his callet 3. Iago. Why did he fo?

2 on my great ft abufe?] This is the reading of the quarto, 1622, which Dr. Johnfon thought preferable to the reading of the folio-on my leaft mifufe. MALONE.

3-upon his callet.] Callet is a lewd woman; fo called (fays Dr. Grey) from the French calote, which was a fort of head-dress worn by country girls. This head-drefs is mentioned by Ben Jonfon in his Magnetick Lady:

"The wearing the callot, the politic hood."

The word is likewife found in Cocke Lorelles Bote, a fatyre, bl. 1. printed by Wynkyn de Worde; no date:

Vf he call her talet, the calleth hym knave agayne.”

STEEVENS

This word is of great antiquity in the English language. Chaucer has it in his Remedy of Love:

"C, for calet, for of, we have O,

t

"L, for leude, D, for demeanure," &c. PERCY.

I meet this word in The Tranflation of Ariosto, 1591:

"And thus this old ill-favour'd fpiteful callet-."

Harrington, in a note on that line, fays that callet is a nickmame ufed to a woman," and that in Irish it fignifies a witch." I have no faith in Dr. Grey's etymology of this word, Calote is a coif or light cap, worn by others befide country girls. MALONE.

Def

Def. I do not know; I am fure, I am none fuch.
Iago. Do not weep, do not weep; Alas, the day!
Emil. Has fhe forfook so many noble matches,
Her father, and her country, and her friends,
To be call'd-whore? would it not make one weep?
Def. It is my wretched fortune.

Iago. Befhrew him for it!

How comes this trick upon him?
Def. Nay, heaven doth know.

Emil. I will be hang'd, if some eternal villain,
Some bufy and infinuating rogue,

Some cogging cozening flave, to get fome office,
Have not devis'd this flander; I'll be hang'd elfe.
Iago. Fie, there is no fuch man; it is impoffible.
Def. If any fuch there be, heaven pardon him!

Emil. A halter pardon him! and hell gnaw his bones!
Why fhould he call her, whore? who keeps her company?
What place? what time? what form? what likelihood?
The Moor's abus'd by fome moft villainous knave +,
Some base notorious 5 knave, fome fcurvy fellow :-
O, heaven, that fuch companions thou'dit unfold;
And put in every honeft hand a whip,

To lafh the rafcal' naked through the world,
Even from the east to the weft!

Jago. Speak within door 3.

4-fome moft villainous knave,] Thus the folio. The quarto 1622, reads fome outrageous knave. MALONE.

5

-notorious-] For grofs, not in its proper meaning for known. JOHNSON. 6-fuck companions-] Companion, in the time of Shakspeare, was used as a word of contempt, in the fame fenfe as fellow is at this day. So, in The Widow's Tears, by Chapman, 1612: "How now, bale companion ?" Again, in The Spanish Tragedy, 1605:

And better 'tis, that bafe companions die,

"Than by their life to hazard our good haps." MALONE. 7-the rafcal] Thus the quarto, 1622; folio-rafcals. Emilia first wishes that all bafe fellows were detected, and then that heaven would put a whip in every honeft hand to punish in a fignal manner that villainous knave, particularly in her thoughts, who had abused the too credulous Moor. MALONE.

8 Speak within door.] Do not clamour fo as to be heard beyond the houfe. JOHNSON.

Emil. O, fie upon him! fome fuch squire he was, That turn'd your wit the feamy fide without, And made you to fufpect me with the Moor. Iago. You are a fool; go to.

Def. O good Iago,

What fhall I do to win my lord again?

Good friend, go to him; for, by this light of heaven,
I know not how I loft him. Here I kneel':-

If e'er my will did trefpafs 'gainst his love,
Either in difcourfe of thought, or actual deed;
Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense,
Delighted them in any other form;
Or that I do not yet, and ever did,

And ever will,-though he do fhake me off
To beggarly divorcement,-love him dearly,
Comfort forfwear me! Unkindness may do much ;
And his unkindness may defeat my life,
But never taint my love. I cannot fay, whore;
It does abhor me, now I fpeak the word;
To do the act that might the addition earn,
Not the world's mafs of vanity could make me.

lago. I pray you, be content; 'tis but his humour; The bufinefs of the ftate does him offence,

And he does chide with you 3.

Def. If 'twere no other,

lago. It is but fo, I warrant you.

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[Trumpets

the feamy fide without :] That is, infide out. JOHNSON. Here I kneel, &c.] Thefe words, and the following lines of this fpeech, are omitted in the quarto, 1622. MALONE.

2 Either in difcourfe of thought, or actual deed;] Thus the old copies. So, in Hamlet:

"O heaven! a beaft, that wants discourse of reason,
"Would have mourn'd longer."

The modern editors, following Mr. Pope, read-discourse, or thought.

MALONE.

3 And be does chide with you.] This line is from the quarto, 1622,

STEEVENS.

To chide with was the phrafeology of the time. We have, I think, the fame phrafe in one of our poet's Sonnets. MALONE.

Hark,

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