OTHELLO
I.i.20 (358,4)
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife]
This is one of the passages which must for the present be resigned to
corruption and obscurity. I have nothing that I can, with any approach
to confidence, propose. I cannot think it very plain from Act 3. Scene
1. that Cassio was or was not a Florentine.
I.i.30 (361,6) must be belee'd and calm'd] [--_must be_ LED _and
calm'd_. So the old quarto. The first folio reads _belee'd_: but that
spoils the measure. I read LET, hindered. WARBURTON.] _Belee'd_ suits to
_calm'd_, and the measure is not less perfect than in many other places.
I.i.36 (361,7) Preferment goes by letter] By _recommendation_ from
powerful friends.
I.i.37 (361,8) And not by old gradation] [W: Not (as of old)] _Old
gradation_, is _gradation_ established by_ancient_ practice. Where is
the difficulty?
I.i.39 (361,9) If I in any just term am affin'd] _Affine_ is the reading
of the third quarto and the first folio. The second quarto and all the
modern editions have _assign'd_. The meaning is, _Do I stand_ within
_any such_ terms _of propinquit_ or _relation to the Moor, as that it is
my duty to love him_?
I.i.49 (362,1) honest knaves] _Knave_ is here for _servant_, but with a
mixture of sly contempt.
I.i.63 (362,2) In compliment extern] In that which I do only for an
outward shew of civility.
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