His bark is stoutly timber'd, and his pilot
Of very expert and approv'd allowance;
Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,
Stand in bold cure]
I do not understand these lines. I know not how _hope_ can be _surfeited
to death_, that is, _can be encreased, till it is destroyed_; nor what
it is _to stand in bold cure_; or why _hope_ should be considered as a
disease. In the copies there is no variation. Shall we read
Therefore my fears, not surfeited to death,
Stand in bold cure?
This is better, but it is not well. Shall we strike a bolder stroke, and
read thus?
_Therefore my hopes, not_ forfeited _to death_,
_Stand_ bold, not sure.
II.i.49 (398,4) Of very expert and approv'd allowance] I read, _Very
expert, and of approv'd allowance_.
II.i.64 (308,5) And in the essential vesture of creation/Does bear all
excellency; We in terrestrial] I do not think the present reading
inexplicable. The author seems to use _essential_, for _existent, real_.
She excels the praises of invention, says he, and in _real qualities_,
with which _creation_ has _invested_ her, _bears all excellency_.
_Does bear all excellency_----] Such is the reading of the quartos, for
which the folio has this,
_And in the essential vesture of creation_
Do's tyre the ingeniuer.
Which I explain thus,
_Does tire the_ ingenious verse.
This is the best reading, and that which the author substituted in his
revisal.
II.i.112 (401,9) Saints in your injuries] When you have a mind to do
injuries, you put on an air of sanctity.
II.i.120 (402,1) I am nothing, if not critical] That is, _censorious_.
II.i.137 (402,2) _She never yet was foolish_] We may read,
She ne'er was yet so foolish that was fair,
But even her folly help'd her to an heir.
Yet I believe the common reading to be right; the lay makes the power of
cohabitation a proof that a man is not a _natural_; therefore, since the
foolishest woman, if _pretty_, may have a child, no _pretty woman_ is
ever foolish.
II.i.146 (403,3) put on the vouch of very malice itself] _To put on the
vouch of malice_, is to assume a character vouched by the testimony of
malice itself.
II.i.165 (404,5) profane] Gross of language, of expression broad and
brutal. So Brabantio, in the first act, calls Iago _profane_ wretch.
II.i.165 (404,6) liberal counsellor.] _Counsellor_ seems to mean, not so
much a man that _gives counsel_, us one that discourses fearlessly and
volubly. A talker.
II.i.177 (405,8) well kiss'd! an excellent courtesy!] [--_well kissed_,
and _excellent courtesy_;--] This I think should be printed, _well
kiss'd_! an _excellent courtesy_! Spoken when Cassio kisses his hand,
and Desdemona courtesies. [The old quarto confirms Dr. Johnson's
emendation. STEEVENS.]
II.i.208 (406,1) I prattle out of fashion] Out of method, without any
settled order of discourse.
II.i.211 (406,2) the master] The pilot of the ship.
II.i.223 (406,3) Lay thy finger thus] On thy mouth, to stop it while
thou art listening to a wiser man.
II.i.252 (407,5) green minds] Minds unripe, minds not yet fully formed.
II.i.254 (408,6) she is full of most bless'd condition] Qualities,
disposition of mind.
II.i.274 (408,7) tainting his discipline] Throwing a slur upon hie
discipline.
II.i.279 (408,8) sudden in choler] _Sudden_, is precipitately violent.
II.i.283 (408,9) whose qualification shall come into no true taste
again] Whose resentment shall not be so _qualified_ or _tempered_, as to
be _well tasted_, as not to retain _some bitterness_. The phrase is
harsh, at least to our ears.
II.i.306 (409,1) like a poisonous mineral] This is philosophical.
Mineral poisons kill by corrosion.
II.i.314 (411,4) I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip] A phrase from
the art of wrestling.
II.i.321 (411,6) Knavery's plain face is never seen] An honest man acts
upon a plan, and forecasts his designs; but a knave depends upon
temporary and local opportunities, and never knows his own purpose, but
at the time of execution.
II.iii.14 (413,8) Our general cast us] That is, _appointed us to our
stations_. To _cast the play_, is, in the stile of the theatres, to
assign to every actor his proper part.
II.iii.26 (413,9) And when she speaks, is it not an alarum to love?] The
voice may _sound_ an _alarm_ more properly than the _eye_ can _sound_ a
_parley_.
II.iii.46 (413,1) I have drunk but one cap to-night, and that was
carefully qualified too] Slily mixed with water.
II.iii.59 (414,2) The very elements; As quarrelsome as the as the
_discordia semina rerum_; as quick in opposition as fire and water.
II.iii.64 (414,3) If consequence do but approve my dream] [T: my deer]
This reading is followed by the succeeding editions. I rather read,
_If consequence do but approve my scheme_.
But why should _dream_ be rejected? Every scheme subsisting only in the
imagination may be termed a _dream_.
II.iii.93-99 (416,6) _King Stephen was a worthy peer_] These stanzas are
taken from an old song, which the reader will find recovered and
preserved in a curious work lately printed, intitled, _Relicks of
Ancient Poetry_, consisting of old heroic ballands, songs, &c. 3 vols.
12.
II.iii.95 (416,7) _lown_] Sorry fellow, paltry wretch.
II.iii.135 (417,8) He'll watch the horologe a double set] If he have no
drink, he'll keep awake while the clock strikes two rounds, or four and
twenty hours.
Chaucer uses the ward _horologe_ in more places than one.
"Well skirer was his crowing in his loge
"Than is a clock or abbey _horologe_."]
The bracketed part of Johnson's note is taken verbatim from Zacbary
Gray, _Critical ... Notes on Shakespeare_, 1754, II, 316.] (see 1765,
VIII, 374, 6) (rev. 1778, I, 503, 9)
II.iii.145 (418,9) ingraft infirmity; An infirmity _rooted, settled_ in
his constitution.
II.iii.175 (419,3) it frights the isle/From her propriety] From her
regular and _proper state_.
II.iii.180 (419,4) In quarter] In their quarters; at their lodging.
II.iii.194 (420,5) you unlace your reputation thus] Slacken, or
_loosen_. Put in danger of dropping; or perhaps strip of its ornaments.
II.iii.195 (420,6) spend your rich opinion] Throw away and squander a
reputation as valuable as yours.
II.iii.202 (420,7) self-charity] Care of one's self.
II.iii.211 (421,9) he that is approv'd in this offence] He that is
convicted by proof, of having been engaged in this offence.
II.iii.274 (423,1) cast in his mood] Ejected in his anger.
II.iii.343 (425,4) this advice is free] This counsel has an appearance
of honest openness, of frank good-will.
II.iii.348 (425,5) free elements] Liberal, bountiful, as the elements,
out of which all things are produced.
II.iii.355 (425,6) to this parallel course] i.e. a course level, and
even with his design.
II.iii.363 (425,8) That she repeals him] That is, recalls him.