Rod. Signior, it is the Moor.

Bra. Down with him, thief!

[They draw on both fides. Iago. You, Rodorico! come, Sir, I am for youOth. Keep up your bright fwords, for the dew will

ruft 'em.

Good Signior, you shall more command with years,
Than with your weapons.

[daughter;
Bru. O thou foul thief! where hath thou ftow'd my
Damn'd as thou art, thou haft enchanted her;
For I'll refer me to all things of fenfe,

If fhe in chains of magick were not bound,
Whether a maid, fo tender, fair and happy,
So oppofite to marriage, that she fhunn'd (9)

(9) -that fhe fhun'd

The wealthy curled darlings of our nation.] Tho' I have not difturb'd the text here, I ought to fubjoin a very probable conjecture which Mr. Warberton propos'd to me.

The wealthy culled darlings of our nation.

i. e. pick'd, felect, chofen, from the common fuitors. For the epithet curled, as he obferves, was no mark of diftinction or difference between a Venetian and a Moor; which latter people are remarkably curl'd by Nature. And tho' culled now, when our ears are nicer than our understandings, may not fo frequently find a place in the Drama; the fame objection did not lie to the found of it in Shakespeare's days.

Of all complexions the cull'd fov'reignty.
Call for our chiefeft men of difcipline

Love's Labour Loft.

To cull the plots of beft advantages.

And cull'd these fiery fpirits from the world
To out-look conqueft.

For who is he, whofe chin is but enrich'd

With one appearing hair, that will not follow
Thefe cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?
Now ye familiar fpirits, that are cull'd
Out of the pow'rful regions under earth.
And here's a lord, come knights from eaft to weft,
And cull their flow'r, Ajax fhall cope the best.
No, Madam; we have cull'd fuch neceffaries -
As are behovefull for our ftate to-morrow..
In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows,
Culling of fimples.

&c. &c. &c.

King John.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Henry V.

1 Henry VI.

Troil, and Creff.

Rom. and Jul.

Ibid.

The

The wealthy culled darlings of our nation,
Would ever have, t'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 gross in sense, (10)
That thou haft practis'd on her with foul charms,
Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs or minerals,

(10) Judge me the world, if 'tis not grofs in fenfe,

That thou baft practis'd on her with foul charms,
Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs, or minerals,

That

That weaken motion.] Brabantio is here accufing Othello of having us'd fome foul play, and intoxicated Defdemona 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 houfe? Had he been averfe to chufing Othello, tho' he had given her medicines that took away the use of her limbs, might she not ftill have retai'd her tenfes, and oppos'd the marriage? Her father, 'tis evident, from feveral of his fpeeches, is pofitive that she must have been abused in her rational faculties; or the could not have made fo prepofterous a choice, as to wed with a Moor, a black, and refuse the fineft young gentlemen in Venice. What then have we to do with her motion being weaken'd? If I understand any thing of the Poet's meaning here, I cannot but think, he muft have wrote;

Abus'd ber delicate youth with drugs, or minerals,

That weaken notion.

The

i. e. her apprehenfion, right conception and idea of things, understanding,
judgment, &c. is ufual with us to fay, we bave no notion of a thing,
when we would mean, we don't very clearly understand it.
Roman Clafficks ufed the word in the fame manner; and Cicero has
thus defin'd it for us. NOTIONEM appello, quod Græc. tùm žvvelav tùm
goan. Dei notionem nullum animal eft quod babeat præter bomi-
nem. Idem 1. de Legibus. Cujus rei rationem notionemque eodem vo-
lumine tradidit. Plin. lib. 17. cap. 28, c. Nor is our Author infre
quent in the usage of this term.

Does Lear walk thus? fpeak thus? Where are his eyes?
Either his notion weakens, his difcernings

Are lethargied, &c.

-Your judgments, my grave Lords,

Muft give this cur the le; and his own notion,

Who wears my stripes, &c.

And all things elle, that might

To half a foul, and to a notion craz'd

Say, thus did Banquo.

King Lear.

Coriolanus.

Macbeth.

And,

That weaken Notion.- -I'll hav't difputed on ;
'Tis probable, and palpable to thinking.
I therefore apprehend and do attach thee
For an abufer of the world, a practiser
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant ;
Lay hold upon him; if he do resist,
Subdue him at his peril

Orr. Hold your hands,

Both you of my inclining, and the reft.

Were it my cue to fight,

fhould have known it

Without a prompter. Where will you I go

To answer this your charge?

Bra. To prifon, 'till fit time

Of law, and coarse of direct feffion
Call thee to answer.

Oth. What if I do obey?

How may

the Duke be therewith fatisfied,

Whose meffengers are here about my fide,
Upon fome prefent business of the state,
To bring me to him?

Off. True, moft worthy fignior.

The Duke's in Council; and your noble self,
I'm fure, is fent for.

Bra. How! the Duke in Council?

In this time of the night? bring him away;
Mine's not an idle caufe. The Duke himself,
Or any of my brothers of the State,

Cannot but feel this wrong, as 'twere their own;
For if fuch actions may have paffage free, (1)
Bond-flaves, and Pageants, fhall our Statesmen be.

[Exeunt.

And, in Cymbeline, he has exprefs'd the fame idea by an equivalent

term.

The drug he gave me, which he said was precious

And cordial to me, have I not found it

Murtb' rous to th' fenfes ?

I made this emendation in the Appendix to my SHAKESPEARE Reftor'd, and Mr. Pope has adopted it in his laft edition.

Ehions may bave paffage free,

pagans fhall our flatefmen be. ] I have long had a fuspicion of pagans here. Would Brabantio infer, if his private in

jury

SCENE changes to the Senate Houfe.

Duke and Senators, fet at a table with lights, and

D.ke.

T

attendants.

HERE is no compofition in these news,
That gives them credit.

1 Sen. Indeed, they're difproportion'd;
My letters fay, a hundred and feven gallies.
Buke. And mine a hundred and forty.
2 Sen. And mine, two hundred;

But though they jump not on a juít account,
(As in thefe cafes, where they aim reports,
'Tis oft with diff'rence ;) yet do they all confirm
A Turkish Fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus.

Duke. Nay, it is poffible enough to judgment;
I do not fo fecure me in the error,

But the main article I do approve

In fearful fense.

Sailors within.] What hoa! what hoa! what hoa! Enter Sailors.

Offi. A meffenger from the gallies.

jury were not redrefs'd, the fenate fhould no longer pretend to call themselves chriftians? But pagans are as ftrict and moral, we find, ail the world over, as the moft regular chriftians, in the preservation of private property. The difference of faith is not at all concern'd, but mere human policy, in afcertaining the right of meum and tuum. I have ventur'd to imagine, that our Author wrote,

Bondflaves and pageants fhall our fatefmen be.

i. e. if we'll let fuch injurious actions go unpunish'd, our statesmen must be flaves, cyphers in office, and have no power of redreffing; be things of meer fhow, and gaudy appearance only.

So, in Meafure for Measure;

Mine were the very cypber of a function,

To fine the faults, whofe fine ftands in record,
And let go by the actor.

And, fo, in King Henry VIII.

-if we ftand ftill in fear

Our motion will be mock'd or carped at,
We fhould take root here where we fit:
Or fit fate-ftatues only.

Duke.

Duke. Now!-what's the business ?

Sail. The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes,
So was I bid report here to the State.

Duke. How fay you by this change?
I Sen. This cannot be,

By no affay of reafon. 'Tis a pageant,
To keep us in false gaze; when we confider
Th' importancy of Cyprus to the Turk,

And let ourselves again but understand,
That as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,
So may he with more facile queftion bear it; (12)
For that it ftands not in fuch warlike brace,

But altogether lacks th' abilities

That Rhodes is drefs'd in. If we make thought of this, We must not think the Turk is fo unskilful,

To leave that latest, which concerns him first ;

Neglecting an attempt of ease and gain,

To wake, and wage, a danger profitless.

Duke. Nay, in all confidence he's not for Rhodes.
Offi. Here is more news.

Enter a Messenger.

Mef. The Ottomites, (reverend and gracious,) Steering with due courfe toward the Ifle of Rhodes, Have there injoin'd them with an after-fleet

1 Sen. Ay, fo I thought; how many, as you guess ? Mef. Of thirty fail; and now they do re-stem Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance Their Purposes toward Cyprus. Signior Montano, Your trusty and most valiant Servitor,

(12) So may be with more fertile question bear it ;] This is Mr. Pope's reading; but upon what authorities, I am yet to learn. All the old impreffions, quarto's and folio's, I know, have it;

So may be with more facile queftion bear it.

i. e. He may with a more eafy ftruggle, with lefs ftrength, carry Cyprus; and the Poet fubjoins this reafon for it, becaufe Cyprus was not near fo well fortified, nor in the condition to oppofe, as Rhodes was. I ought to mention, to the praife of my friend Mr. Warburton's fagacity, that tho' he had none of the old editions to collate or refer to, he fent me word by letter, that the context abfolutely requir'd facile queftion.

VOL. VIII.

M

With