By debitor and creditor, this counter-cafter ';
He, in good time, mut his lieutenant be,

And I, (God blefs the mark!) his Moor-fhip's 3 ancient. Rod. By heaven, I rather would have been his hang

man.

Iago. But there's no remedy, 'tis the curfe of fervice; Preferment goes by letter 4, and affection,

Not by the old gradation 5, where each fecond

Stood heir to the firft. Now, fir, be judge yourself, Whether I in any just term am affin'd

To love the Moor.

Rod. I would not follow him then.

Iago. O, fir, content you;

I follow him to ferve my turn upon him:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters

The lee-fide of a ship is that on which the wind blows. To lee, or to be lee'd, may mean, to fall to leeward, or to lose the advantage of the wind.

The reading of the text is that of the folio. I doubt whether there be any fuch fea-phrase as to be-lee; and fufpect the word be was inadvertently repeated by the compofitor of the folio.

Mr. Steevens has explain'd the word becalm'd, but where is it found in the text? MALONE.

1 - this counter-cafter;] It was anciently the practice to reckon up fums with counters. To this Shakspeare alludes again in Cymbeline, A& V. " it fums up thousands in a trice: you have no true debitor and creditor, but it; of what's paft, is, and to come, the difcharge. Your neck, fir, is pen, book, and counters ;" &c. Again, in Acolaftus, a comedy, 1540: "I wyl caft my counters, or with counters make all my reckenynges." STEEVENS.

So, in The Winter's Tale :-" fifteen hundred fhorn,-What comes the wool to ?-I cannot do't without counters." MALONE.

2

•blefs the mark!] Kelly, in his comments on Scots proverbs, obferves, that the Scots, when they compare perfon to perfon, use this exclamation. STEEVENS.

4

3-bis Moorship's-] The first quarto reads-his worship's. STE. by letter,] By recommendation from powerful friends. JOHNS. 5 Not by the old gradation,-] Old gradation, is gradation eftablished by ancient practice. JOHNSON

Whether I in any just term am affin'd-] Affin'd is the reading of the third quarto and the firft folio. The fecond quarto and all the modern editions have affign'd. The meaning is, Do I ftand within any fuch terms of propinquity or relation to the Moor, as that it is my duty to love bim? JOHNSON.

The original quarto, 1622 has affign'd; but it was manifeftly an error of the prefs. MALONE.

Cannot

Cannot be truly follow'd. You fhall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doting on his own obfequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his mafter's afs,
For nought but provender, and, when he's old, cashier'd;
Whip me fuch honeft knaves: Others there are,
Who, trimm'd in forms and vifages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves;
And, throwing but fhows of fervice on their lords,
Do well thrive by them, and, when they have lin'd their

coats,

Do themselves homage: thefe fellows have fome foul; And fuch a one do I profefs myfelf.

For, fir,

It is as fure as you are Roderigo,

Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:

In following him, I follow but myself;

Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But feeming fo, for my peculiar end:
For when my outward action doth demonftrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my fleeve
For doves to peck at 9: I am not what I am.

7

boneft knaves:] Knave is here for fervant, but with a mix ture of fly contempt. JOHNSON.

8 In compliment extern,] In that which I do only for an outward fhew of civility. JOHNSON.

So, in Sir W. D'Avenant's Albovine, 1629: 66 - that in fight extern

"A patriarch feems." STEEVENS.

9 But I will wear my heart upon my fleeve

For doves to peck at:] Thus the quarto, 1622. The folio readsFor daws, &c. I have adhered to the original copy, because I suspect Shakspeare had in his thoughts a passage in Lily's Euphues and bis England, 1580: "As all coynes are not good that have the image of Cæfar, nor all gold, that is coyned with the kings ftampe, fo all is not truth that beareth the fhew of godlinefie, nor all friends that beare a faire face. If thou pretend fuch love to Euphues, carry thy heart on the backe of thy band, and thy tongue in thy palme, that I may fee what is in thy minde, and thou with thy finger clafpe thy mouth.-I can better take a blifter of a nettle, than a pricke of a rofe; more willing that a raven fhould peck out mine eyes, than a turtle peck at them." MALONE.

Rod.

Rod. What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe*, If he can carry't thus!

Iago. Call up her father,

Roufe him: make after him, poifon his delight,
Proclaim him in the ftreets; incenfe her kinfmen,
And, though he in a fertile climate dwell,
Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,
Yet throw fuch changes of vexation on't,
As it may lose some colour.

Rod. Here is her father's houfe; I'll call aloud. Iago. Do; with like timorous accent, and dire yell, As when, by night and negligence, the fire Is fpy'd in populous cities 2.

Rod. What ho! Brabantio! fignior Brabantio, ho! Iago. Awake! what, ho! Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves!

Look to your houfe, your daughter, and your bags!
Thieves! thieves!

BRABANTIO, above, at a window.

Bra. What is the reafon of this terrible fummons? What is the matter there?

What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe,] Full fortune is, believe, a complete piece of good fortune, as in another fcene of this play a full foldier is put for a complete foldier. To owe is in ancient language, to own, to poffefs. STEEVENS,

So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

not the imperious fhew

"Of the full-fortun'd Cæfar-."

Full is ufed by Chaucer in the fame fenfe in his Troilus, B. L. "Sufficeth this, my full friend Pandare,

"That I have faid-,"

See alfo Vol. VII. p. 534, n. 5. MALONE.
2 As when, by night and negligence, the fire

Is spy'd in populous cities. The meaning, as Mr. Edwards has ob ferved, is, "not that the fire was fpied by negligence, but the fire, which came by night and negligence, was fpied.-And this double meaning to the fame word is common to Shakspeare with all other writers, efpecially where the word is fo familiar a one, as this in queftion. Ovid feems even to have thought it a beauty instead of a defect." MALONE. The particle is ufed equivocally; the fame liberty is taken by writers more correct.

The wonderful creature! a woman of reafon!

Never grave out of pride, never gay out of feafon. JOHNSON

Rod

Rod. Signior, is all your family within ?

Iago. Are your doors lock'd3?'

Bra. Why? wherefore afk you this?

Iago. 'Zounds, fir, you are robb'd; for shame, put on

your gown;

foul;

Your heart is burst, you have loft half your
Even now, very now, an old black ram
Is tupping your white ewes. Arife, arise;
Awake the fnorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandfire of you:
Arife, 1 fay.

Bra. What, have loft
you

your

wits?

Rod. Moft reverend fignior, do you know my voice? Bra. Not I; What are you?

Rod. My name is-Roderigo.

Bra. The worfe welcome:

I have charg'd thee, not to haunt about my doors:
In honeft plainnefs thou haft heard me fay,

My daughter is not for thee; and now, in madnefs,
Being full of fupper, and diftempering draughts",
Upon malicious bravery, doft thou come

To ftart my quiet.

Rod. Sir, fir, fir,—

Bra. But thou must needs be fure,

My fpirit, and my place, have in them power
To make this bitter to thee.

Rod. Patience, good fir.

Bra. What tell'it thou me of robbing? this is Venice;

3 Are your doors lock'd?] The first quarto reads, Are all doors lock'd? STEEVENS.

4 - is burft,] i. e. broken. King Henry IV. P. II: «

among

the marshal's men."

Burft for broke is ufed in our author's and then he burft his head for crowding STEEVENS.

See alfo Vol. III. p. 244, n. 6, and p. 312, n. I. MALONE. 5- tupping your wbite ewe.] In the north of England a ram is called a tup. MALONE.

6 distempering draughts,-] To be diffempered with liquor, was, in Shakspeare's age, the phrafe for intoxication. In Hamlet, the king is faid to be "marvellous diffempered with wine." MALONE.

My

My houfe is not a grange?.

Rod. Moft grave Brabantio,

In fimple and pure foul I come to you.

Iago. 'Zounds, fir, you are one of thofe, that will not ferve God, if the devil bid you. Because we come to do you fervice, you think we are ruffians: You'll have your daughter cover'd with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you: you'll have courfers for coufins, and gennets for germans 2. Bra. What profane wretch art thou * ? .

7- - this is Venice:

I

Iago.

My boufe is not a grange.] That is, you are in a populous city, not in a lone boufe, where a robbery might eafily be committed." Grange is strictly and properly the farm of a monaftery, where the religious repofited their corn. Grangia, Lat. from Granum. But in Lincolnshire, and in other northern counties, they call every lone house, or farm which ftands folitary, a grange. WARTON,

So, in Daniel's Complaint of Rofamond, 1599:

66 foon was I train'd from court

"To a folitary grange," &c.

Again, in Measure for Meafure:

"At the moated grange refides this dejected Mariana."

STEEVENS.

8 -your nephews neigh to you :] Nephew, in this inftance, has the power of the Latin word nepos, and fignifies a grandfon, or any lineal defcendant, however remote. So, in Spenfer:

"And all the fons of thefe five brethren reign'd

"By due fuccefs, and all their nephews late,

"Even thrice eleven defcents the crown obtain'd.”

Again, in Chapman's verfion of the Odyfiey, B. 24, Laertes fays of Telemachus, his grandfon:

to behold my fon

"And nephew clofe in fuch contention."

Sir W. Dugdale very often employs the word in this fenfe; and without it, it would not be very easy to fhew how Brabantis could have nephews by the marriage of his daughter. Ben Jonfon likewise ufes it with the fame meaning. The alliteration in this paffage caufed Shakspeare to have recourfe to it. STEEVENS.

See Vol. VI. p. 555, n. 7. MALONE.

9 gennets for germans.] A jennet is a Spanish horfe. STEEVENS. What profane wretch art thou?] That is, what wretch of grofs and licentious language? In that fenfe Shakspeare often ufes the word profane. JOHNSON.

VOL. IX.

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