Emil. Good madam, what's the matter with my ] And put in every honest hand a whip, lord? Des. With who? Emil. Why, with my lord, madam, To lash the rascal naked through the world, He that is yours, sweet lady. Emil. Here is a change indeed! [Exit. Des. 'Tis meet I should be us'd so, very meet. How have I been behav'd, that he might stick The small'st opinion on my great'st abuse ?3 Re-enter EMILIA, with IAGO. lago. What is your pleasure, madam? How is it with you? Des. I cannot tell. Those that do teach young Do it with gentle means, and easy tasks: Des. Am I that name, Iago? What name, fair lady? Des. I do not know; I am sure, I am none such. How comes this trick Beshrew him for it! upon him? Some cogging cozening slave, to get some office, Why should he call her, whore? who keeps her What place? what time? what form? what likeli hood? 5 The Moor's abus'd by some most villanous knave, ; O, good Iago, Good friend, go to him; for, by this light of heaven, If 'twere no other,- Iago. It is but so, I warrant you. How now, Roderigo? Rod. I do not find, that thou deal'st justly with me. Iago. What in the contrary? Rod. Every day thou doff'st me with some device, Iago; and rather, (as it seems to me now,) keep'st from me all conveniency, than suppliest me with the least advantage of hope. I will, indeed, no longer endure it: Nor am I yet persuaded, to put up in peace what already I have foolishly suffered. Iago. Will you hear me, Roderigo ? Rod. 'Faith, I have heard too much; for your words and performances, are no kin together. Iago. You charge me most unjustly. Rod. With nought but truth. I have wasted myself out of my means. The jewels you have had corrupted a votarist: You have told me she has from me, to deliver to Desdemona, would half have comforts of sudden respect and acquittance;11 but received them, and returned me expectations and I find none. 9 Iago, in a former scene, speaks of Roderigo as of 1 This and the following speech are not in the quarto. one Whom love hath turn'd almost the wrong side 2 There are some lines on the death of Queen Eliza-outward.' beth, in Camden, also to be found in Decker's Wonder- 10 The quarto omits the rest of this speech. 'I think the barge-men might with easier thighs 3 This is the reading of the quarto: which Dr. Johnson thought preferable to the reading of the folio-on my least misuse. 4 A callet is a trull, a drab. The word is of great antiquity in the English language. Chaucer has it in his Remedy of Love. Harington uses it in his translation of Ariosto, 1591: 'And thus this old ill-favour'd spiteful callet.' In a note he says, 'Callet is a nick-name used to a woman; and that in Irish it signifies a witch. The ety mology of the word is yet to seek. 5 The quarto has, 'some outrageous knave.' 6 Some notorious knave is here used for some knave worthy to be noted, or branded to everlasting infamy. 7 It has been already observed that companion was a term of contempt. 8 'Do not clamour so as to be heard beyond the Bouse' ' 11 Discourse of thought' is the discursive range of thought.' Pope changed it to discourse or thought.' I have shown in a former page that the old reading is the poet's mode of expression. So in Davies's Epigrams, v. In Plurimos :”— 'But since the divell brought them thus togither, To my discoursing thoughts it is a wonder, Why presently, as soone as they came thither, The selfe same divell did them part asunder.' Steevens thought Pope's alteration defensible, because the Liturgy mentions three modes of committing sinin thought, word, and deed.' 12 This was the phraseology of the time. To complaine, to make a quarrel, to chide with one for a thing Expostulare et queri. Again :-'Is it best to chide with him or take him up for this displeasure or wrong?' Baret. So Shakspeare's 111th Sonnet : 'O for my sake do you with fortune chide.' 13 Thus the quarto. The folio poorly reads:'The messengers of Venice stay the meat.' 14 The folio reads acquaintance. Acquittance is re quital So in King Henry V.: ' And shall forge the office of our hand Sooner than 'quittance of desert and merit' Iago. Well; go to; very well. Rod. Very well! go to! I cannot go to, man; nor 'tis not very well: By this hand, I say, it is very scurvy; and begin to find myself fobbed in it. Iago. Very well. Rod. I tell you, 'tis not very well. I will make myself known to Desdemona: If she will return me my jewels, I will give over my suit, and repent my unlawful solicitation; if not, assure yourself, I will seek satisfaction of you. Iago. You have said now. Rod. Ay, and I have said nothing, but what I protest intendment of doing. Iago. Why, now I see there's mettle in thee; and even, from this instant, do build on thee a better opinion than ever before. Give me thy hand, Roderigo: Thou hast taken against me a most just exception; but yet I protest I have dealt most directly in thy affair. Rod. It hath not appeared. Iago. I grant, indeed, it hath not appeared; and your suspicion is not without wit and judgment. But, Roderigo, if thou hast that within thee, indeed, which I have greater reason to believe now than ever, I mean, purpose, courage, and valour,this night show it: if thou the next night following enjoyest not Desdemona, take me froin this world with treachery, and devise engines for my life.2 Rod. Well, what is it? is it within reason, and compass? Iago. Sir, there is especial commission come from Iago. O, no; he goes into Mauritania, and takes away with him the fair Desdemona, unless his abode be linger'd here by some accident; wherein none can be so determinate, as the removing of Cassio. Rod. How do you mean-removing of him? Iago. Why, by making him uncapable of Othello's place; knocking out his brains. Rod. And that you would have me do? Iago. Ay; if you dare do yourself a dare do yourself a profit, and a right. He sups to-night with a harlot, and thither will I go to him; he knows not yet of his honourable fortune: if you will watch his going | thence, (which I will fashion to fall out between twelve and one,) you may take him at your plea'sure; I will be near to second your attempt, and he shall fall between us. Come, stand not amazed at it, but go along with me; I will show you such a necessity in his death, that you shall think yourse'f bound to put it on him. It is now high suppertime, and the night grows to waste :4 about it. Rod. I will hear further reason for this. Iago. And you shall be satisfied. [Exeunt. SCENE III. Another Room in the Castle. Enter OTHELLO, LODOVICO, Desdemona, Emilia, and Attendants. Lod. I do beseech you, sir, trouble yourself no further. Oth. O, pardon me; 'twill do me good to walk. Lod. Madam, good night; I humbly thank your ladyship. 1 'Shakspeare knew well that most men like to be flattered on account of those endowments in which they are most deficient. Hence Iago's compliment to this snipe on his sagacity and shrewdness. Malone. 2 To devise engines seems to mean to contrive instrunents of torture,' &c. So in King Lear : like an engine, wrench'd my frame of nature.' 3 The folio reads 'a harlotry. Shakspeare has the expression, 'a peevish self-will'd harlotry,' in two other plays. 4 i. e. the night is wasting apace. So in Julius Cesar: Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.' 5 The quarto of 1622 reads 'good faith.' 6 Mad must here be accepted as meaning wild, unruly, fickle. As a constant mind meant a firm or sound one, inconstancy would of course be considered a species of madness. Oth. Get you to bed on the instant, I will be returned forthwith: dismiss your attendant there; look, it be done. Des. I will, my lord. [Exeunt OTH. LOD. and Attendants. Emil. How goes it now? he looks gentler than he did. Des. He says he will return incontinent Dismiss me. Des. It was his bidding; therefore, good Emilia Emil. I would you had never seen him! him, That even his stubbornness, his checks, and frowns, the bed. Des. All's one :-Good father!5 how foolish are If I do die before thee, 'pr'ythee, shroud me And he speaks well. Emil. I know a lady in Venice, who would have walked barefoot to Palestine, for a touch of his nether lip. Des. The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree. Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee, moans; Sing willow, &c. Her salt tears fell from her, and soften'd the stones . Lay by these: Sing willow, willow, willow; Sing all a green willow must be my gar- Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve,— 7 From I have much to do, to Nay, that's not next, was inserted after the first edition in quarto, 1622, as was likewise the remaining part of the song. Desdemona means to say-I have much udo to do any thing but hang my head, &c. This (says Dr. Johnson) is perhaps the only insertion made in the latter editions which has improved the play the rest seem to have been added for the sake of amplification or ornament. When the imagination had subsided, and the mind was no longer agitated by the horror of the action, it became at leisure to look round for specious additions. This addition is natural. Desdemona can at first hardly forbear to sing the song; she endeavours to change her train of thought, but her imagination at last prevails, and she sings it.'-The ballad, in two parts, printed from the original in black letter in the Pepy's collection is to be found in Dr. Percy's Reliques of Aurient Eng lish Poetry, vol. i. p. 192. Emil. It is the wind. It is so too; And have not we affections? Des. I call'd my love, false love; but what said Desires for sport? and frailty, as men have? he then? Sing willow, &c. If I court mo women, you'll couch with mo men.1 So, get thee gone; good night. Mine eyes do itch? Dost thou in conscience think,-tell me, Emilia,- Emil. Why, would not you? No, by this heavenly light! I might do't as well i' the dark. 'Then, let them use us well: else, let them know, The ills we do, their ills instruct us to. Des. Good night, good night; Heaven me such Not to pick bad from bad; but, by bad, mend' usage send, ACT V. [Exeunt SCENE I. A Street. Enter IAGO and RODERIGO. Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home : sword. Rod. Be near at hand; I may miscarry in't. Iago. Here, at thy hand; be bold, and take thy [Retires to a little distance. Rod. I have no great devotion to the deed; Emil. The world is a huge thing: "Tis a great Tis but a man gone :-forth, my sword; he dies. And yet he has given me satisfying reasons: price Des. Would'st thou do such a deed for all the world? For a small vice. Des. Good troth, I think thou would'st not. Emil. By my troth, I think I should; and undo't, when I had done. Marry, I would not do such a thing for a joint-ring; nor for measures of lawn; nor for gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition: but, for the whole world,-Why, who would not make her husband a cuckold, to make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for't. Des. Beshrew me, if I would do such a wrong for the whole world. 1 This couplet is not in the original ballad, which is the complaint not of a woman forsaken, but of a man rejected. These lines were properly added when it was accommodated to a woman. 2 This as well as the following speeth is omitted in the first quarto. 3 A joint-ring was anciently a common token among lovers. See Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, ed. 1632, 544. Their nature will be best understood bya passage in Dryden's Don Sebastian : p. a curious artist wrought them, With joints so close as not to be perceived; Yet are they both each other's counterpart: and, in the midst, A heart divided in two halves was placed.' [Goes to his stand. Iago. I have rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense,10 And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio, Enter CASSIO. Rod. I know his gait, 'tis he ;-villain, thou diest. Cas. That thrust had been mine enemy indeed, Rod. [Draws and wounds RODERIGO Enter OTHELLO, at a distance. Oth. 9 'Such uses' is the reading of the folio; but the first quarto has such usage,' which Dr. Johnson prefers, ↓ think, without reason. 10 A quat, in the midland counties, is still used for a pimple, which by rubbing is made to smart, or rubbed to sense. Roderigo is called a quat by the same mode of speech as a low fellow is now termed in low language a scab. To rub to the sense is to rub to the quick. This explanation by Dr. Johnson had previously appeared in the British Magazine, 1749, p. 425. So in The Devil's Law Case, 1623:-O yong quat! incontinence is plagued in all the creatures of the world' The word is also used in Decker's Gul's Hornbook. 11 The quartos read my game.' 12 That I fool'd him out of. To bob is to cheat o 4 i. e. to boot, over and above. The remaining part deceive with a false tale. So in Turberville's Songs and Sonnets: of this speech is omitted in the first quarto. 5 So in Shakspeare's 142d Sonnet : 'Robb'd other beds' revenues of their rents." 6 Our fornier allowance of expense. 7 Sense is here used, as in Hamlet, for sensation, or sensual appetites. 8 The old copy reads, 'their ills instruct us so." 'When wedding day was doon, To play her pranks, and bob the foole, 13 Iago maims Cassio in tne leg, in consequence of what he had just heard him say; from which he supposed that his body was defended by some secret armour Lod. Hark! Gra. Here's one comes in his shirt, with light and weapons. Iago. Who's there? whose noise is this, that cries on murder ?5 Lod. We do not know. Iago. Did you not hear a cry not hear a cry? Cas. Here, here; for heaven's sake, help me. Iago. What's the matter? Gra. This is Othello's ancient, as I take it. Lod. The same, indeed; a very valiant fellow. Iago. What are you here that cry so grievously? Cas. Iago? O, I am spoil'd, undone by villains! Give me some help. Iago. O me, lieutenant! what villains have done this? Cas. I think that one of them is hereabout, And cannot make away. O, treacherous villains! Iago. What are you there? come in, and give some help. [To LODOVICO and GRATIANO. Rod. O, help me here! Cas. That's one of them. lago. O, murderous slave! O, villain! [IAGO stabs Roderigo. Rod. O, damn'd Iago! O, inhuman dog!— O! O! O! Iago. Kill men i' the dark!-Where be these bloody thieves? How silent is this town!-Ho! murder! murder! Lod. He, sir. Signior Lodovico? Iago. I cry you mercy; Here's Cassio hurt By villains. Gra. Iago. Iago. Cassio? How is it, brother? Cas. My leg is cut in two. Marry, heaven forbid! Light, gentlemen; I'll bind it with my shirt. 1 Thus the first quarto. The second quarto and the folio read' And your unblest fate hies.' 2 The folio reads for of; the quarto reads forth of, ime. out of. So in King Richard III. : 'I clothe my naked villany With odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ.' And in Hamlet : 'Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep.' Again, in Jonson's Volpone : • Forth the resoived corners of his eyes.' 3'No passengers? nobody going by? So in the Comedy of Errors: Now in the stirring passage of the day.' A passenger anciently signified a passage-boat or vessel, and could not therefore be used in its modern sense without an equivoque. 4 i. e. a thick cloudy night. Enter BIANCA. Bian. What is the matter, ho? who is't that cry'd? Iago. Who is't that cry'd? Bian. O, my dear Cassio! my sweet Cassio! O, Cassio! Cassio! Cassio! Iago. O, notable strumpet!-Cassio, may you suspect Who they should be, that have thus mangled you? Cas. No. Gra. I am sorry, to find you thus: I have been to seek you. Iago. Lend me a garter: So.-O, for a chair, To bear him easily hence! Bian. Alas, he faints:-0, Cassio! Cassio! Cassio! Iago. Gentlemen' all, I do suspect this trash To be a party in this injury." Patience awhile, good Čassio.-Come, come; Lend me a light.-Know we this face, or no? Alas! my friend, and my dear countryman, Roderigo? no :-Yes, sure; O, heaven! Roderigo. Gra. What, of Venice? Iago. Even he, sir; did you know him? Gra. Know him, ay. Iago. Signior Gratiano? I cry you gentle pardon; These bloody accidents must excuse my manners, That so neglected you. Gra. I am glad to see you. Iago. How do you, Cassio ?-O, a chair, a chair! Gra. Roderigo? Iago. He, he, 'tis he:-O, that's well said;-the chair: [A Chair brought in. Some good man bear him carefully from hence; I'll fetch the general's surgeon.-For you, mistress, [TO BIANCA. Save you your labour. He that lies slain here, Cassio, Was my dear friend: What malice was between you? Cas. None in the world; nor do I know the man. Iago. [To BIAN.] What, look you pale?-0, bear him out o' the air. [CASSIO and ROD. are borne off. Stay you, good gentlemen :-Look you pale, mistress? Do you perceive the gastness of her eye Enter EMILIA. Emil. 'Las, what's the matter; what's the matter, husband? Iago. Cassio hath here been set on in the dark, By Roderigo, and fellows that are 'scap'd; He's almost slain, and Roderigo dead. Emil. Alas, good gentleman! alas, good Cassio! Iago. This is the fruit of whoring.-'Pr'ythee, Emilia, Go know of Cassio where he supp'd to-night:12— What, do you shake at that? 9 Thus the folio. The quarto reads-Stay you, good gentlewoman. It seems probable that Iago addresses Lodovico and Gratiano, who are going away to assist Cassio, and to see him properly taken care of. The subsequent appeal and address of Iago to them appears to confirm this supposition. Malone follows the quarto, and defends the reading of it. 10 The quarto, instead of gastness, reads jestures, and instead of stare, in the next line, has stirre. 11 So in Hamlet : 'For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak, With most miraculous organ.' 12 In the second scene of the preceding act lago in forms Roderigo that Cassio was to sup with Bianca; that he would go to him there, and bring him away between twelve and one. Indeed Cassio had himself told Iago that he would sup with Bianca, and Iago had 5 This phrase, to cry on, for cry out on, has already | promised to meet him at her house. We must suppose, occurred in Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2. 6 This speech is not in the first quarto. therefore, that this consummate villain thought it more secure to waylay him, as we find he does, without 7 Thus the folio. The quarto 1622 reads-to bear a | actually joining him at supper time. Otherwiɛe Biance part in this. 8 This passage incontestably proves that Iago was meant for a Venciar would surely have answered : 'Why, you well know He supp'd,' &c. Bian. He supp'd at my house; but I therefore shake not. Iago. O, did he so? I charge you, go with me. Emil. Fie, fie upon thee, strumpet! Bian. I am no strumpet; but of life as honest, As you that thus abuse me. Émil. As I? foh! fie upon thee! lago. Kind gentlemen, let's go see poor Cassio dress'd: Come, mistress, you must tell us another tale.-- And tell my lord and lady what has happ'd.- [Exeunt. [Takes off his Sword. Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men. Put out the light, and then-Put out the light!3 If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, I can again thy former light restore, Should I repent me :-but once put out thine,4 Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Promethean heat, That can thy light relume. thy rose, When I have pluck'd I cannot give it vital growth again, It needs must wither:--I'll smell it on the tree. [Kissing her. Send for the man, and ask him. Take heed of perjury; Thou'rt on thy death-bed. O, balmy breath, that dost almost persuade Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee, Ay, Desdemona. Steevens suggests that as the former line is imperfect, some such words may have been accidentally omitted. His other supposition, perhaps the poet was unwilling that Bianca should say, in the presence of Iago's wife, that he too had been of the supper party,' is much less probable. 1 To fordo is to undo, to ruin, to destroy. So in [Iamlet: Did with desperate hand 2.Othello, full of horror at the cruel action which he is about to perpetrate, seems at this instant to be seeking his justification, from representing to himself the cause, i. e. the greatness of the provocation he had received. 3 The old copy gives this line thus : 'Put out the light, and then put out the light.' The present regulation of the passage, by which so much beauty and spirit is added to it, was proposed by Mr. Upton, but it is to be found in Ayre's Life of Pope; it may therefore have originated with Warburton, who thus explains it-The meaning is, I will put out the light, and then proceed to the execution of my purpose. But the expression of putting out the light, bringing to mind the effects of the extinction of the light of life, he breaks short, and questions himself about the effects of this metaphorical extinction, introduced by a repetition of nis first words, as much as to say,-But hold, let me first weigh the reflection which this expression naturally excites. Dr. Farmer treats this as a refinement of Warburton's, observing that to put out the light was a phrase for to kill. Malone stoutly combats on the same side, but his arguments have not convinced me, and I have therefore followed Warburton's arrangement. Mr. Boswell would have done so if he could have used his own discretion. I have felt bound, (says he) to prin: That I do groan withal. Thou art to die. Oth. By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in his hand. O, perjur'd woman! thou dost stone my heart, A murder which I thought,)-a sacrifice the text according to Mr. Malone's opinion; but if Warburton's explanation be an error, it is demptus per vim, I for one am very sorry to part with it. Broken sentences, as Mr. Malone has more than once observed, are very much in our poet's manner, and are surely natural in the perturbed state of Othello's mind. I am unwilling to persuade myself that a regulation of the text which contains so much beauty could be merely the refinement of a critic, and that our great author, in one of his most highly-wrought scenes, instead of it, intended nothing but a cold conceit.' 4 Thus the quarto. The folio reads-put out thy light. Steevens adopted the present reading for the sake of the measure, and to avoid the useless repetition of the word light. 5 Thus the folio. The first quarto-returne: the second quarto-relumine. 6 This image seems to be derived from Scripture :Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. 7 Davenant has borrowed this thought in mis Law of Lombardy :- 'I am not fraught with the devil's spleen; I would not hurt thy soul.' Othello seems to have been a favourite with his author ; for he has bestowed on him that piety he has refused to Hamlet.-Steevens. 8 This thought is likewise found in The Legend of Orpheus and Euridice, by H. L. 1597 :—— 'Unnatural, that kill where you should kiss.' And in King Richard III. : 9 'It is a quarrel most unnatural, To be reveng'd on him that loveth thee.' This line is difficult. Thou hast hardened my heart, and makest me kill thee with the rage of a mur derer, when I thought to har sacrificed thes to justion |