1 The modern editors of Shakspere, without regard to these circumstances, speak of the quarto edition of Othello as the first edition-the more ancient copy. We can understand how they have attached, and, in some instances very properly, great importance to an edition which has been printed in the author's lifetime. They have, indeed, in our opinion, not allowed sufficient importance to the fact, that the editors of the folio explicitly declare that those plays which have been printed before the folio are in that edition offered to the reader's view "cured, and perfect of their limbs, and all the rest absolute in their numbers as he (Shakspere) conceived them ;" and, further, they have resolved to overlook their affirmation that they printed from manuscript :-" what he thought he uttered with that easiness that we have scarce received from him a blot in his papers." But in some cases, such as The Merchant of Venice, and The Midsummer-Night's Dream, the quarto and the folio editions vary so slightly, that we can scarcely doubt that each was printed from the author's unaltered copy. In the case before us the differences are most startling. The stationer who publishes the quarto copy tells us that the author is dead, and that he has ventured to print the play; but he does not tell from what copy he printed it, nor how he obtained the copy. The editors of the folio distinctly tell us that they have printed from the author's manuscript-that other copies are stolen and surreptitious, maimed and deformed. There must surely, then, have been some very strong reason for inducing the later and more authoritative editors, Steevens and Malone, to make the quarto the basis of their text of Othello, instead of the folio. Speaking without the least desire beyond that of wishing to present our readers with the most genuine text, we cannot call their preference of the quarto to the folio, in this instance, by any other name than judicial blindness; and we have, therefore, after the most careful examination, but without the slightest doubt, adopted the text of the folio. The folio edition is regularly divided into acts and scenes; the quarto edition has not a single indicatior of any subdivision in the acts, and omits the division between Acts II. and III. The folio edition contains 163 lines which are not found in the quarto, and these some of the most striking in the play; namely, 35 in Act I.; 6 in Act II.; 20 in Act III.; 75 in Act Iv.; and 27 in Act v.: the number of lines found in the quarto which are not in the folio do not amount to 10. The quarto, then, has not the merit of being the fuller copy. But is it more accurate in those parts which are common to both copies? This is a question which we cannot here enter upon in detail. In our foot-notes we have set forth every deviation from the current text which we have made upon the authority of the folio, and each reading must be judged upon its own merits. We venture to think that in some remarkable instances we have restored Shakspere to what he really was. With an old author it sometimes happens as with an old picture-what is genuine lies beneath dirt and varnish. There is a quarto edition of 1630, which differs in some readings from both of the previous editions, but which is generally held as of no value. The date of the first production of Othello is settled as near as we can desire it to be. The play certainly belongs to the most vigorous period of Shakspere's intellect "at its very point of culmination." Chalmers, upon the very questionable belief that the expression new heraldry refers to the creation by James I. of the order of baronets, gave it to 1814; Malone, in the early editions of his 'Essay,' to 1611; Drake, to 1612. In the later edition of Malone's 'Essay,' published by Boswell, in 1821, Malone says, without any explanation, "we know it was acted in 1604, and I have therefore placed it in that year." Mr. Peter Cunningham confirms this, by having found an entry in the Revels at Court of a performance of Othello in 1604. Mr. Collier has attempted to place it two years earlier, upon the authority of detailed accounts preserved at Bridgewater House, in the handwriting of Sir Arthur Maiuwaring, of the expenses incurred by Sir Thomas Egerton, afterwards Lord Ellesmere, in entertaining Queen Elizabeth and her court three days at Harefield. Amongst the entries in these accounts is the following: "6 Aug. 1602. Rewardes to the Vaulters Players and Dauncers. Of this 64 18 10." Without venturing an opinion ourselves, we are bound to observe that Mr. Grant White says, "this document, which will be found reprinted in full at p. 342 of 'The Egerton Papers,' edited by Mr. Collier, and published by the Cainden Society, is one of those, his discovery of which at Bridge. water House, Mr. Collier announced in 1835; and all of which, with one exception, have been pronounced forgeries by various competent authorities." Mr. Staunton also says," the suspicion long entertained that the Shaksperian documents in that collection are modern fabrications, having now doopened almost into certainty, the extract in question is of no historical value." SUPPOSED SOURCE OF THE PLOT Of the novel of Cinthio. T Moro di Venezia,' from which the general notion of Othello was unquestionably derived, we have given an extract in our Supplementary Notice. It is not improbable that the tale is of Oriental origin; for the revenge of the Moor, as described by Cinthio, is of that fierce and barbarous character which is akin to the savage manner in which supposed incontinence is revenged amongst the Arabs. The painfully affecting tale of the 'Three Apples,' in 'The Thousand and One Nights,' is an example of this; and, further, there is a similarity between the stolen apple and the stolen handkerchief. The malignity of the slave in the Arabian tale, too, is almost as motiveless as that of Iago. We extract the main incidents of the tale from the beautiful translation of Mr. Lane. "Know, O Prince of the Faithful, that this damsel was my wife, and the daughter of my uncle; this sheykh was her father, and is my uncle. I married her when she was a virgin, and God blessed me with three inale children by her; and she loved me and served me, and I saw in her no evil. At the commencement of this month she was attacked by a severe illness, and I brought to her the physicians, who attended her until her health returned to her; and I desired them to send ber to the bath; but she said to me, I want something before I enter the bath, for I have a longing for it. What is it? said I. She answered, I have a longing for an apple, to smell it, and take a bite from it. So I went out immediately into the city, and searched for the apple, and would have bought it had its price been a piece of gold; but I could find not one. I passed the next night full of thought, and when the morning came I quitted my house again, and went about to all the gardens, one after another, yet I found none in them. There met me, however, an old gardener, of whom I inquired for the apple, and he said to me, O my son, this is a rare thing, and not to be found here, nor anywhere excepting in the garden of the Prince of the Faithful at El-Basrah, and preserved there for the Khaleefen. I returned therefore to my wife, and my love for her so constrained me that I prepared myself and journeyed fifteen days, by night and day, in going and returning, and brought her three apples, which I purchased of the gardener at El-Basrah for three pieces of gold; and, going in, I handed them to her; but she was not pleased by them, and left them by her side. She was then suffering from a violent fever, and she continued ill during a period of ten days. "After this she recovered her health, and I went out and repaired to my shop, and sat there to sell and buy; and while I was thus occupied, at mid-day there passed by me a black slave, having in his hand an apple, with which he was playing; so I said to him, Whence didst thou get this apple, for I would procure one like it!-upon which he laughed, and answered, I got it from my sweetheart. I had been absent, and came and found her ill, and she had three apples; and she said to me, my unsuspecting husband journeyed to El-Basrah for them, and bought them for three pieces of gold; and I took this apple from her. When I heard the words of the slave, O Prince of the Faithful, the world became black before my face, and I shut up my shop, and returned to my house, deprived of my reason by excessive rage. I found not the third apple, and said to her, Where is the apple! she answered, I know not whither it is gone. I was convinced thus that the slave had spoken the truth, and I arose, and took a knife, and, throwing myself upon her bosom, plunged the knife into her; I then cut off her head and limbs, and put them in the basket in haste, and covered them with the izár, over which I laid a piece of carpet; then I put the basket in the chest, and, having locked this, conveyed it on my mule, and threw it with my own hands into the Tigris." PERIOD OF THE ACTION, AND LOCALITY. The republic of Venice became the virtual sovereigns of Cyprus, in 1471; when the state assumed the guardianship of the son of Catharine Cornaro, who had married the illegitimate son of John III., of Lusignan, and, being left a widow, wanted the protection of the state to maintain the power which her husband had usurped. The island was then first garrisoned by Venetian troops. Catharine, in 1489, abdicated the sovereignty in favour of the republic. Cyprus was retained by the Venetians till 1570, when it was invaded by a powerful Turkish force, and was finally subjected to the dominion of Selim II., in 1571. From that period it has formed a part of the Turkish empire. Leikosia, the inland capital of the island, was taken by storm; and Famagusta, the principal sea-port, capitulated after a long and gallant defence. It is evident, therefore, that we must refer the action of Othello to a period before the subjugation of Cyprus by the Turks. The locality of the scenes after the first Act must be placed at Famagusta, which was strongly fortified, a fact which Shakspere must have known, when in the second Scene of the third Act he says, "I will be walking on the works." The interesting series of sketches, of which we have been fortunate in obtaining copies from the portfolio of Mr. Arundale, exhibit to us the principal remains of the old fort and town of Famagusta, in which the towers and colonnades of the Venetians are mingled with the minarets of the Turks, and where the open space in which stands the half ruin of a fine old Christian church is now called "the Place of the Mosque." TRAGEDIES.-VOL. I. S 257 The general costume of Venice, both male and female, as well as the official habits of the doge and senators, at the close of the sixteenth century, having been described in the prefatory notice to The Merchant of Venice, we have now but to speak of the military costume of the republic at that period, to which also belongs the tragedy of Othello. To commence with its dusky hero. There has been much difference of opinion concerning the proper habit of this character, some contending that as general of the Venetian army he should wear a Venetian dress, and others, that the Moorish garb was the most correct, as well as the most effective. To decide this point it must first be ascertained whether Othello is a Christian or a Mohammedan; and his marriage with a lady of the former persuasion would be alone sufficient to prove that he had renounced the creed of his ancestors, had we not the express testimony of lago as to the fact: "And then for her, To win the Moor-were 't to renounce his baptism, All seals and symbols of redeemed sin His soul is so enfetter'd to her love," &c.-ACT II. Sc. III. There ought, therefore, to be no question as to which habit is the more correct of the two, as the convert would indubitably put off his turban with his faith, and assume the dress of that republic whose religion he had adopted, and whose officer he had become. Indeed, from the commencement of the second act, there can be neither doubt nor choice allowed on the subject, as the general of the Venetian forces, to whatever nation he might trace his birth (and it was always a foreigner who was selected for that office, "Lest," as Paulus Jovius says, "any one of their own countrymen might be puffed up with pride, and grow too ambitious "), assumed, on the day of his election, a peculiar habit, consisting of a full gown of crimson velvet with loose sleeves, over which was worn a mantle of cloth of gold, buttoned upon the right shoulder with massy gold buttons. The cap was of crimson velvet, and the baton of office was of silver,t ensigned with the winged lion of St. Mark. The figure engraved at p. 255 is from Vecellio's often quoted work, and represents the identical dress worn by prince Veniero, when he was raised to that dignity on the very occasion which Shakspere has selected for the like appointment of his "valiant Moor," namely, the Turkish war, A. D. 1570. § Another portrait of prince Veniero is engraved in a work entitled, 'Habiti d' Huomini e Donne Venetiane,' 4to. Ven. 1609, representing him in armour, but still wearing the mantie and bearing the baton aforesaid. In one part of the play, it may be remembered, Othello speaks of "his helm," and the last-mentioned portrait shows that in absolute action he would have worn the armour of the period, which was nearly the same all over Christian Europe. Howell states that Venice had in perpetual pay "600 men of arms," who were for the most part gentlemen of Lombardy; these served on horseback, and were armed cap-à-pié. None of these, however, were in Cyprus at the period alluded to in this tragedy, as appears by the following passages : We take this opportunity of mentioning that the cuts representing "a Venetian Clarissimo," and "a Doctor of Laws of Padua," in the notice of the Costume of the Merchant of Venice, were by accident transposed in part of the impression. The figure with his back turned to the spectators is that of the Paduan LL.D. The other exhibits the gown with sleeves "a comito," or "a gomito," which may be rendered elbowed sleeves, and was the general out-of-door's habit of the nobility of Venice, the official gown of the members of the Council, the Savi, Proveditore, &c., having large open sleeves hanging almost to the ground. +"Portando in mano il baston d'argente."-C. Vecellio, edit. 1590 1 Vide Portrait of Prince Veniero- Habiti d' Huomini e Donne Venetiane."-4to. Ven. 1609. "Io ho cavato questo da un rittratto del Principe Veniero, dipinto in quell' habito che gli porte quando fu creais generale della Republica Venetiana nell ultima guerra che ella hebbe con Selino Gran Turco."-C. Vecellio, edit. 1500. "The ordinary garrison of the island was about 2,000 Italian foot, and some thousand recruits sent from the firm land with Martinenjo, &c. For cavalry there were but 500 Stradiots, which were upon the pay of the republic." Of the "Italian foot," Vecellio gives us a specimen. His defensive armour consists of a back and breast-plate, mail sleeves, and that peculiar species of headpiece called a morion. A splendidly embossed Italian morion of this period is engraved here from the original in the armoury at Goodrich Court, and the figures upon it are additional authorities for the military costume of the time. The Stradiots (Estradiots, or Stratigari), mentioned by Howell, were Greek troops, first employed by the Venetians, and afterwards by Charles VIII. of France. Philip de Comines thus speaks of them: "Estradiots sont gens comme Genetaires, vestus à pied et à cheval comme Turcs, sauf la teste, où ils ne portent cette toile qu'ils appellent turban, et sont durs gens, et couchent dehors tout l'an, et leurs cheyaux; ils étoient tous Grecs," &c.-Liv. 8, c. 5. The figure of one of these picturesque auxiliaries is engraved at p. 286 from Boissard's 'Habitus Variarum Orbis Gentium,' 1581. The sabre of an Estradiot is engraved in Skelton's 'Specimens,' from an original at Goodrich Court. "The lads of Cyprus,"-"the very elements of that warlike isle," may with great probability be supposed to have belonged to their body of Greek cavalry, Vecellio presents us with the costume of a "soldato disarmato," which would be that of Cassio and Iago when off guard. Its characteristics are the buff jerkin and the scarf of company. To the first It is that Cassio alludes when he says and not to any "That thrust had been my enemy indeed, But that my coat is better than thou think'st; I will make proof of thine" secret armour." The second was the only uniform then known amongst officers, who wore a silken scarf of the colours of the captain under whom they served,† the origin of the modern sash. This figure is engraved below. Plate 90 of Skelton's 'Specimens of the Armour at Goodrich Court' contains four varieties of Venetian halberds; and plate 85 of the same work presents us with the blade of a very beautiful glaive carried by the guards of the doge, 1556. (See p. 321.) Howell's Survey of the Signory of Venice.-London, 1651. "A traverso del petto una banda di ormesino di diversa colori, secondo la divisa del suo capitano."-C. Ficellio, edit. 1590. In a later edition, 1598, the hat is said to have been usually white-"la maggior parte di color argentiao." |