Oth. "Well, do it and be briefe; I will walk by:
I would not kill thy unprepared spirit,

No (Heavens fore-fend), I would not kille thy soule."
Des. "Then Heaven have mercy upon me."

2 Cor. v. 20-"That yee be reconciled to God."

Ps. ix. 13-" Have mercie upon mee: O Lord: consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me."

Matt. x. 28-" And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soule: but rather feare him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

Act V. ii. 47-Othello. "Peace, and be still."

This phrase used only by Tyndale and Genevan Version. Mark iv. 39-" And He rose up and rebuked the winde, and sayd unto the sea, Peace and be still. So the winde ceased and it was a great calme.”

But with such general warrantie of Heaven
As I might love."

I John iii. 11-"For this is the message, that yee heard from the beginning that we should love one another."

Luke vi. 27-35-"Love your enemies."

I Thess. iv. 9-"Yee are taught of God to love one another." Rom. xiii. 8-"Owe nothing to any man, but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law."

Act V. ii. 136-Othello. "She was false as water."

The figure of the falseness of water seems to be derived from the expression used by Jacob to his son Reuben for the sin of unchastity

Gen. xlix. 4-"Thou wast light as water: thou shalt not be excellent, because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, then diddest thou defile my bed, thy dignitie is gone."

Act V. ii. 199

Emilia. "Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak;
Tis proper I obey him, but not now."

I Peter iii. 5, 6-" Subject to their husbands, as Sara obeyed Abraham."

Ephes. v. 24-" In subjection-even so let the wives be to their husbands in everything."

Act V. ii. 211-"Yea curse his better Angell from his side." Heb. i. 14.

Act V. ii. 224-Emilia. "No, I will speak as liberal as the northLiberal unrestrained, unchecked.

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The Biblical usage is to make the North the quarter whence sweeping winds and floods proceed.

Jer. xlvii. 2-"Behold waters rise up out of the North, and shall be as a swelling flood and shall overflow the land." Job xxxvii. 9-"The cold commeth from the North winde."

Genevan Note-"In Ebrewe it is called the scattering winde, because it driveth away the cloudes and purgeth the ayre."

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Ezek. i. 4-" A whirlewind came out of the North."

Job xxxvii. 21, 22-" The brightnesse commeth out of the North."

Act V. ii. 276: Othello—

When we shall meet at compt,

This looke of thine will hurle my soule from heaven,

And Fiends will snatch at it."

Reference to the judgment and fate of murderers.

2 Cor. v. 10-"For wee must all appeare before the Judgment seate of Christ, that every man may receive the things which are done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or evill."

Ps. ix. 12-"For when hee maketh inquisition for blood, he remembreth it, and forgetteth not the complaint of the poore."

Rev. xxi. 8-" Murtherers shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone."

Act V. ii. 345

Othello. "Then must you speake,

Of one that lov'd not wisely, but too well.
Of one, not easily jealous, but being wrought

Perplexed in the extreme: Of one, whose hand
(Like the base Judean) threw a Pearle away
Richer than all his Tribe."

The Quarto of 1622 gives "Like the base Indian," and this reading is generally followed.

Theobald proposed "Judian," adding, "I am satisfied in his Judian he is alluding to Herod, who, in a fit of blind jealousie, threw away such a jewel of a wife as Mariamne was to him."

But Herod was not a Judean although King of Judea—In support of "base Indian" it has been pointed out in explanation of its meaning, that Boswell quotes from Habington's "Castara❞—

"So the unskilful Indian those bright gems

Which might add majesty to diadems

'Mong the waves scatters."

But surely there is a difference between "unskilful" and "base."

A pearl fisher who carelessly flung away a rich pearl might be foolish or ignorant, but hardly base in the sense in which Othello applies the term to himself. The words "like the base Judean" rather point to one of universal infamy, and there is no character in history more aptly described by them than Judas Iscariot.

Our Lord sprang out of the royal tribe of Judah, and Judas among all the disciples was the only Judean. He was of Kerioth, a town on the southern border of the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 24), while the other disciples were Galileans. His name has become a synonym for baseness and treachery, and it is true of him to say that "he threw a pearl away richer than all his tribe." Othello's final words before he committed suicide (as Judas did) recall the traitorous action in the Garden of Gethsemane

Othello. "I kiss'd thee, ere I kill'd thee."

Matt. xxvi. 49-" And forthwith he came to Jesus, and saide, God save Thee, Master, and kissed Him."

For these reasons the reading of the Folio, "Like the base
Judean," seems to be the correct one.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

The play was produced at Whitehall, December 26th, 1605, but was not printed in Shakespeare's lifetime.

Act I. i. 32: Duke

"Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do,

Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike

As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd

But to fine issues: nor Nature never lends

The smallest scruple of her excellence

But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor

Both thanks and use."

I Cor. iv. 2-"It is required of the disposers, that every man be found faithfull."

Matt. xxv. 15-" And unto one he gave five talents and to another two and to another one, to every man after his own ability." 19-"But after a long season, the master of those servants came and reckoned with them."

Act I. ii. 7-Lucio. "Thou concludest like the Sanctimonious Pirate, that went to sea with the Ten Commandments, but scraped one out of the Table."

2nd Gentleman. "Thou shalt not steale."

Exod. xxxiv. 28-"Wrote in the Tables the wordes of the Covenant, even the Ten Commandments."

Exod. xx. 15-"Thou shalt not steale."

The Genevan Bible usually speaks of the Commandments as the Tables.

Act I. ii. 55-Lucio. "So sound as things that are hollow; thy bones are hollow: Impiety hath made a feast of thee."

Ezek. xxxii. 27-"Their iniquitie shalbe upon their bones."

Prov. xii. 4-"Is as corruption in his bones."

Job xx. 11-"His bones are full of the sinne of his youth."

Act I. iii. 8

Claudio. "The wordes of heaven: on whom it will, it will
On whom it will not (soe) yet still tis just."

Rom. ix. 14, 15-"What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For He saith to Moses, I wil have mercy on him to whom I wil shew mercy, and wil have compassion on him on whom I wil have compassion."

Act I. iii. 11

Claudio. "As surfeit is the father of much fast,

So every scope by the immoderate use
Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue,
Like rats that ravin down their proper bane
A thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die."

Isa. xxvi. 9-"Seeing thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learne righteousnesse."

Job xxxvi. 8-10-" He openeth also their eare to discipline." Jer. ii. 19-"Thine owne wickednesse shall correct thee, and thy turnings backe shall reprove thee."

Job iv. 8-"As I have seene, they that plow iniquitie and sowe wickednesse, reap the same."

Prov. xi. 19-"As righteousness leadeth to life: so he that followeth evil seeketh his owne death."

Ecclus. xxxvii. 28-30-" Be not greedie in al delites, and be not too hasty upon all meates. By surfeit have many perished."

Act I. iv. 52

Duke. "Or that his appetite

Is more to bread than stone."

Figure drawn from the words in

Matt. vii. 9-"Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone."

Luke iv. 3-"Command this stone, that it be made bread."

Act I. v. 15-Isabella. "Peace and prosperity."

Ps. cxxii. 7—“Peace be within thy walles, and prosperitie within thy palaces."

Lam. iii. 17—“ Farre off from peace I forgot prosperitie."