I know our country disposition well;
In Venice they do let heaven see the pranks]
Here Iago seems to be a Venetian.
III.iii.207 (440,7) And, when she seem'd to shake, and fear your
looks,/She lov'd them most] This and the following argument of Iago
ought to be deeply impressed on every reader. Deceit and falsehood,
whatever conveniencies they may for a time promise or produce, are, in
the sum of life, obstacles to happiness. Those, who profit by the cheat,
distruat the deceiver, and the act, by which kindness was sought, puts
an end to confidence.
The same objection may be made with a lower degree of strength against
the imprudent generosity of disproportionate marriages. When the first
heat of passion is over, it is easily succeeded by suspicion, that the
same violence of inclination, which caused one irregularity, may
stimulate to another; and those who have shown, that their passions are
too powerful for their prudence, will, with very alight appearances
againat them, be censured, as not very likely to restrain them by their
virtue. (see 1765, VIII, 397, 1)
III.iii.210 (440,8) To seel her father's eyes up, close as oak] There is
little relation between _eyes_ and _oak_. I would read,
_She seel'd her father's eyes up close as_ owl's.
_As blind as an owl_, is a proverb.
III.iii.222 (441,1) My speech would fall into such vile success]
[_Success_, far succession, i.e. conclusion; not prosperous issue.
WARB.] I rather think there is a depravation, and would read,
_My speech would fall into such vile_ excess.
If _success_ be the right word, it seems to mean _consequence_ or
_event_, as _successo_ is used in Italian.
III.iii.232 (441,2) will most rank] _Will_, is for wilfulness. It is so
used by Ascham. A _rank will_, is _self-will_ overgrown and exuberant.
III.iii.249 (442,3) You shall by that perceive him, and his means] You
shall discover whether he thinks his best _means_, his most powerful
_interest_, is by the solicitation of your lady.
III.iii.250 (442,4) strain his entertainnent] Press hard his
re-admission to his pay and office. _Entertainment_ was the military
term for admission of soldiers.
III.iii.256 (442,5) Fear not my government] Do not distrust ay ability
to contain my passion.
III.iii.259 (442,6) knows all qualities, with a learned spirit,/Of human
dealings] The construction is, He knows with a learned spirit all
qualities of human dealings.
III.iii.260 (442,7) If I do prore her haggard] A _haggard_ hark, is a
_wild_ hawk, a _hawk unreclaimed_, or _irreclaimable_.
III.iii.262 (443,8) I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind,/ To
prey at fortune] The falconers always let fly the hawk against the wind;
if she flies with the wind behind her, she seldom returns. If therefore
a hawk was for any reason to be dismissed, she was _let down the wind_,
and from that time shifted far herself, and _preyed at fortune_. This
was told me by the late Mr. Clark.
III.iii.276 (443,9) forked plague] In allusion to a _barbed_ or _forked_
arrow, which, once infixed, cannot be extracted.
III.iii.312 (445,2) And, to the advantage, I, being here, took it up] I
being _opportunely_ here, took it up.
III.iii.319 (445,3) Be not you known on't] Should it not rather be read,
_Be not you known_ in't?
The folio reads,
_Be not_ unknown _on't_.
The sense is plain, but of the expression I cannot produce any example.
III.iii.332 (446,5) that sweet sleep,/Which thou owedst yesterday] To
_owe_ is, in our author, oftener to _possess_, than _to be indebted_,
and such was its meaning here; but as that sense was growing less usual,
it was changed unnecessarily by the editors to _hadst_; to the sane
meaning, more intelligibly expressed.