Note II.
I. 1. 20, 21. Theobald marks 'Certes ... officer,' and 'the Florentine's ... wife' with inverted commas, to indicate that they are Iago's report of Othello's speeches, and supposes Iago to be the 'fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife.' 'The Poet means,' he adds, 'Iago had so beautiful a Wife, that she was his Heaven on Earth; that he idoliz'd her; and forgot to think of Happiness in an After-state, as placing all his Views of Bliss in the single Enjoyment of her. In this sense, Beauty, when it can so seduce and ingross a Man's Thoughts, may be said almost to damn him.' Warburton's explanation agrees substantially with that of Theobald.
Note III.
I. 3. 370-374. The reading in the text is that of the second and third Quartos. The first Quarto has:
'Iag. Go to, farewell:—doe you heare Roderigo?
Rod. what say you?
Iag. No more of drowning, doe you heare?
Rod. I am chang'd. Exit Roderigo.
Iag. Goe to, farewell, put money enough in your purse:
Thus doe I euer make my foole my purse:'