Let him command,
And to obey, shall be in me remorse,
What bloody business ever]
[Pope: Not to obey] [T: Nor, to obey.] [W: me. Remord] Of these two
emendations, I believe, Theobald's will have the greater number of
suffrages; it has at least mine. The objection against the propriety of
the declaration in Iago is a cavil; he does not say that he has no
principle of remorse, but that it shall not operate against Othello's
commands. _To obey shall be in me_, for _I will obey you_, is a mode of
expression not worth the pains here taken to introduce it; and the word
_remords_ has not in the quotation the meaning of _withhold_, or _make
reluctant_, but of _reprove_, or _censure_; nor do I know that it is
used by any of the contemporaries of Shakespeare.
I will offer an interpretation, which, if it be received, will make
alteration unnecessary, but it is very harsh and violent. Iago devotes
himself to wronged Othello, and says, _Let him command whatever bloody
business_, and in me it shall be an act, not of cruelty, but _of
tenderness, to obey him_; not of malice to other, but of _tenderness_
for him. If this sense be thought too violent, I see nothing better than
to follow Pope's reading, as it is improved by Theobald.
III.iv.26 (457,5) cruzadoes] [A Portugueze coin, in value three
shillings sterling. Dr. GREY.] So called from the cross stamped upon it.
III.iv.46 (458,6) The hearts, of old, gave hands] [Warburton explains
this is an allusion to James the First's practice of creating baronets
for money and emends to "The hands of old gave hearts"] The historical
observation is very judicious and acute, but of the emendation there is
no need. She says, that her hand gave away _her heart_. He goes on with
his suspicion, and the hand which he had before called _frank_, he now
terms _liberal_; then proceeds to remark, that _the hand was formerly
given by the heart_; but now it neither gives it, nor is given by it.
III.iv.51 (459,7) salt and sullen rheum]--_salt and_ sorry rheum] The
old quarto has,
--_salt and_ sullen _rheum_---
That is, a _rheum obstinately troublesome_. I think this better.