Star.
London, England, 1818-03-28 00:00:00

ERRONEOUS iEADING IN OTHE.LLO.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR.
SIR—In reading the Play of Othello, many years
ago, I was struck by a remarkable error in the first
scene, in ascribing to Roderigo one of the principal
speeches instead of lago, to whom it seems evidently
to belong. At first I considered it as an error in the
particular edition from which I was then reading,
but, upon referring to various other editions, I find
the same name prefixed to the speech ; nor can I dis-
cover in any of the Commentators, the slightest sug-
gestion of inaccuracy in this respect. The first part
of the Scene is between Ingo and Roderigo only ;
afterwards, Braba,itio appears at a window, and en-
ters into the dialogue, which is chiefly carried on be-
tween him and lap, the feeble and insignificant
Roderigo throwing us from time to time short and
unmeaning sentences, and beginnings of sentence—
" Sir, Sir, Sit, Sir"—" Most grave Brabentio, in sim-
ple and pure soul I come to you." For some time
after this last sentence, the dialogue proceeds be-
tween logo and BrabanSio only, .till at length Bra-
bantio says to lago—" Thou art a villain. lago,
" You are—a Senator." Brnbantio, " This thou shalt
answer ; I know thee, Roderigo." Then follows the
Speech given by all the editions to
Rod.—. Sir, I will answer any thing. But I beseech you
If 't be your pleasure and most wise consent
(As partly, I find It is,) that your fair daughter,
M this odd-even and dull watch o' the night,
Transported—with so worse nor better guard,
Dtt with a knave of common hire, a gondaller,—.
To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor,—
If this be known to you, and your allowance,
We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs ;
Bet, if you know not this, my manners tell me,
We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe,
'I hat; from the sense of all civility,
I thus would play and trifle with your reverence :
':our daughter,—if you have not given her leave,
I say again, Lath made a gross revolt ;
Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortune,
In an extravagant and wheeling stranger,
Of here and every where straight satisfy yourself :
If she be in her chamber or your home,
Let loose on me the justice of the state
l'or thus deluding you.
The slightest attention to this speech must enable
the Reader to perceive that it breathes throughout the
haughtiness and strong sense (mixed with coarse-
Less) which belong to 'ago, hut are wholly incpnsis-
tent with the light and frivolous character of Rode-
rigo. It is also in the very same tone with the other
se:etches of the same personage throughout this very
c:eiie, and repeats, and insists upon the same topics
which he himself had already urged.
4 " Your daughter,—if you have not Oven her leave
I say again, bath Made a gross revolt."
And concludes in a strain of dignified confidence of
which Roderigo was utterly incapable. Nor is this
all. We have seen that the dialogue had proceeded
be some time between Brabardio and logo only, and
the words—" This thou shalt answer," are evidently
addressed to logo, through Brabantio immediately
afterwards addressing. Roderigo, adds—" I know
thee, Rodlrigo." Is it .not evident then that the
words---" Sir, I will answer any thing," by which the
speech in question commences are spoken, not by
hrods,rigo, but by logo, in answer to what had imme-
diately before been addressed to him—" This ,thou
shalt niaiwer ?" Besides this, such a mistake in a
copyist (and the remark would apply with equal force
tp the original author) is the most natural that can
be conceived, for as the name of Roderign concludes
the preceding speech of Brabanfio, its immediate
presence to the transcriber's mind might easily cause
him to place it erroneously at the head of the follow-
i, speech.
My conclusion then is, from the vigorous tone of
the speech, from the general matter of it, from the
particular words with which it begins, and from the
oovioos facility of the supposed error, that the name
of /ago; 'and not that of Roderigo, should be prefixed
to It. In addition to this, the emendation is recom-
mended by its Simplicity, since it does not carry with
it the necessity of any other alteration in the teat, nor
is ;t, I believe, in the slightest degree opposed by any
thing which either ?secedes or follows it.
Pllll.O-SHAKSPEARE.

The fight betreon Painter and Spring, for 200 gs.
Rill take place next 'Wednesday, a considerable dis-
tai.ce from London.

Air. 'toward completed his 26th day of the match
of 1090 milts in 1000 hours, on Tuesday, and was
going on welL
Wednesday, a person named Coleman, undertook,
for a wager of One Hundteii Guineas, to run from
tht. Fountain Inn, Dever, to Deal Market-place, and
k again, a distance of eighteen miles, in two hours
and three sinuLers ; he accomplished the distance in
t -.vo hours and a half, having fifteen minutes to spare,
and went at the rate of seven miles, one furlong, and
twenty lour poles an hour.
There is a wrangle on the late foot race betweep
Appleton and Brazier. It is ascertained that they
did not 'run fur a shilling, and that there was not
even an umpire.
CURIOUS IVIA-ecm.—lces, the Pedestrian, and a
mare, the property of Thomas Crooks, junior, sheep-
dealer, of Chelmsford, commenced their undertaking
911 Monday afternoon, to perform two hundred miles
au 24 hours. The mare and-the pedestrian started at
I quarter past one o'clock, from the Red Lion, at
Seringfield ; the former travelling six miles and the
latter one, on the Colchester road. The mare per-
fOrmed 60 milts by ten o'clock at night, when she
was taken into the stable, and rested four hours ; after
Which she resumed her task, and had completed 132
miles by 43 minutes past twelve o'clock the next
day. The pedestrian, in the course of the night,
rated three hours, and by half past twelve the next
day had made good 70 miles, which, added to the
other performed by the mare, made 202 miles in 23
hours and 28 minutes, leaving 32 minutes to spare,
and two hours over. The mare was led throughout
her journies by the proprietor, and some of his
fiends, who occasionally relieved each other ; and.
at the termination of her performance, appeared but
very little, if at all, distressed, considering the ex-
traordinary number of miles she had travelled. The
pedestrian accomplished his task with apparent ease,
and there is no doubt but they could have effected
many miles in addition, within the given time. An
immense number of people assembled on the road,
on the forenoon of Tuesday, to witness the result of
this Herculean undertaking ; and at the conclusion,
the victors were escorted into town by a consider-
able body of horsemen and a band of music,

ASSIZES.

MAIDSTONE, MARCH 96.

Alexander, Gardiner, William Brown, Jo4n Bar-
rett -Thomas Jones, George Smith, and Charles Wil-
liams, a desperate gang of sheep-stealers, were in-
dicted for stealing, on the 29th of October last, at
Swanscomb, in this county, a sheep, the property of
Mr. John Russell.—The prosecution was principAly
supported by the testimony of George Robinson, an
accomplice, whose evidence was confirmed by other
proof of a less questionable character.—The prisoners
were all tound Guilty—Death.