149. For thus deluding you.] The first quarto reads, For this delusion. STEEVENS

. 157. To be produc'd] The folio reads, producted. STEEVENS

159. -some check,] Some rebuke. JOHNSON. 160. -cast him:~] That is, dismiss him; reje&· him. We still say, a cast coat, and a cast servingJOHNSON, 172. And what's to come of my despised time,] Despised time, is time of no value; time in which

man.

"There's nothing serious in mortality,

"The wine of life is drawn, and the mere dregs "Are left this vault to brag of."

Again, in Romeo and Juliet

expire the term

JOHNSON.

"Of a despised life clos'd in my breast."

176.

-O, thou deceiv'st me

STEEVENS.

Past thought!] Thus the quarto, 1622,

The folio 1623, and the quartos 1630 and 1655, read,

O, she deceives me.

Past thought!

I have chosen the apostrophe to his absent daughter as the most spirited of the two readings. STEEVENS, 183. By which the property of youth and maidhood

May be abus'd.-] By which the faculties of 3 young virgin may be infatuated, and made subject to illusions and to false imagination: Thus, in Macbeth, & "Wicked dreams abuse

« The curtain'd sleep.”

Bij

JOHNSON. 183.

183 and maidhood-] The quartos read-and manhoodSTEEVENS.

192. Pray you, lead on.] The first quarto reads, Pray lead me on. STEEVENS. 194 of might.] The first quarto reads-of night. STEEVENS.

197. -stuff o' the conscience] This expression to common readers appears harsh. Stuff of the conscience is, substance, or essence of the conscience. Stuff is a word of great force in the Teutonick language. The elements are called in Dutch, Hoefd stoffen, or head stuffs. JOHNSON.

Again, in King Henry VIII.

"You're full of heavenly stuff," &c.

Frisch's German Dictionary gives this explanation of the word stoff, "-materies ex qua aliquid scieri poterit.” STEEVENS.

Stuff o' the conscience may be explained by the common phrase a matter of conscience.

208. -the magnifico] "The chief men of Venice are by a peculiar name called Magnifici, i. e. magnificoes." Minshew's Dictionary. See too Volpone.

TOLLET.

210. As double as the duke's :-] Double has here its natural sense. The president of every deliberative assembly has a double voice. In our courts, the chief justice and one of the inferior judges prevail over the other two, because the chief justice has a double voice.

Brabantio

Brabantio had, in his effect, though not by law, yet by weight and influence, a voice not a&tual and formal, but potential and operative, as double, that is, a voice that when a question was suspended, would turn the balance as effectually as the duke's. Potential is used in the sense of science; a caustick is called potential fire. JOHNSON

I believe here is a mistake. The chief justice, and one of the inferior judges, do not prevail over the other two. The lord-mayor in the court of aldermen has a double voice. TOLLET.

The chief justice has no double voice. If the court is equally divided, nothing is done. BLACKSTONE.

The DOUBLE voice of Brabantio refers to the option, which (as being a magnifico, he was no less entitled to, than the duke himself) EITHER, of nullifying the marriage of his daughter, contracted without his consent; OR, of subjecting Othello to fine and imprison, ment, for having seduced an heiress. HENLEY,

219 -men of royal siege;-] Men who have sat upon royal thrones. The quarto has,.

-Men of royal height.

Siege is used for seat by other authors. So, in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 575; "there was set up a throne or siege royall for the king." See Comedy of Errors. STEEVENS.

219, and my demerits] Demerits has the same meaning in our author, and many others of that age, as merits: See Coriolanus. STEEVENS.

220, sprak, unbonneted,-]. Bonneter (says Cot grave) is to put off one's cap. So, in Coriolanus: Biij

"Those

"Those who are supple and courteous to the people, bonneted without any further deed to heave them at all into their estimation."

Unbonneted may therefore signify, without taking the cap off. STEEVENS.

223. unhoused-,] Free from domestick cares. thought natural to an adventurer.

A

JOHNSON.

Unhoused, as explained by Dr. Johnson, means free from domestick cares. But, Othello talking as a soldier, unhoused may signify the having no settled house or habitation. WHALLEY.

225. For the sea's worth.] The same words occur in Sir W. D'Avenant's Cruel Brother, 1630:

-he would not lose that privilege

"For the sea's worth."

Perhaps the phrase is proverbial.

Pliny the naturalist has a chapter on the riches of

the sea.

Again, in the Winter's Tale :

"-for all the sun sees, or

The close earth wombs, or the profound sea

hides

"In unknown fathoms, &c."

Again, in King Henry V. act i.

"As rich with praise,

"As is the ouse and bottom of the sea,

"With sunken wreck, and sumless treasuries."

STEEVENS.

241. sequent messengers] The first quarto reads

-frequent messengers.

STEEVENS.

243 consuls,] Hanmer reads, council. Theobald would have us read counsellors. In Albion's Triumph, a masque, 1631, the emperor Albanact is said to be attended by fourteen consuls:-again, the habits of the consuls were after the same manner. Geoffery of Monmouth, and Matthew Paris after him, call both dukes and earls, consuls. STEEVENS.

246. The senate hath sent out-] The early quartos, and all the modern editors, have,

The senate sent above three several quests.

The folio,

The senate hath sent about, &c. that is, about the city. I have adopted the reading of the folio.

JOHNSON. Quests are, on this occasion, searches. So, in Hey. wood's Brazen Age, 1613:

"Now, if in all his quests, he be witheld."—

STEEVENS.

252. —a land carrack ;-] A carrach is a ship of great bulk, and commonly of great value; perhaps what we now call a galleon.

So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Coxcomb:

"they'll be freighted;

JOHNSON.

"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 settlements: and some years ago a Caracca ship generally proved a very rich prize.

MONCK MASON.