Oth. [Coming forward.]

Ha ha! false to me? to me??

Iago. Why, how now, general! no more of that.

Oth. Avaunt! be gone! thou hast set me on the rack.I swear, 'tis better to be much abus'd,

Than but to know't a little.

Iago.

How now, my lord!

Oth. What sense had I of her stolen hours of lust?
I saw it not, thought it not, it harm'd not me:
I slept the next night well, was free and merry3;
I found not Cassio's kisses on her lips.

He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stolen,
Let him not know't, and he's not robb'd at all.
Iago. I am sorry to hear this.

Oth. I had been happy, if the general camp,
Pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet body,
So I had nothing known. Oh! now, for ever,
Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content:
Farewell the plumed troop', and the big wars,
That make ambition virtue: oh, farewell!
Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,

Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
And oh! you mortal engines, whose rude throats
Th' immortal Jove's dread clamours counterfeit,
Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone.
Iago. Is it possible ?-My lord,-

5

2 to me?] This expressive repetition, "to me?" is in the two 4tos, but not in the folio. In the previous line, "ow'dst" is ownedst, a sense of the verb "owe," of which we have had so many previous examples, that it is unnecessary here to do more than refer to them.

3 I slept the next night well, was free and merry ;] So the perfect line stands in the 4tos. of 1622 and 1630: the folio absurdly thrusts the words fed well into the middle of it,

"I slept the next night well, fed well, was free and merry

as if Othello meant to say that he had fed well in the night, while he was "free and merry," a corruption of the verse for which however it is not difficult to account. In the first line of this speech, the folio, 1623, has in for "of," "What sense had I in her stolen hours of lust;" but, as we have several times remarked, the use of prepositions in the time of Shakespeare was much more arbitrary than at present. Both the 4tos. have "of."

Farewell the plumed TROOP,] Thus the 4tos, 1622 and 1630: the folio "plumed troops." So generally attentive was the old corrector of the folio, 1632, even to minute mistakes, that he strikes out the s at the end of troops.

5 — whose RUDE throats] The two 4tos. read "wide throats," and in the next line great for "dread."

Oth. Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore; Be sure of it give me the ocular proof,

[Seizing him by the throat.

Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul,
Thou hadst been better have been born a dog,
Than answer my wak'd wrath.

Iago.

Is it come to this?

Oth. Make me to see't; or, at the least, so prove it, That the probation bear no hinge, nor loop,

To hang a doubt on, or woe upon thy life!

Iago. My noble lord,

Oth. If thou dost slander her, and torture me, Never pray more: abandon all remorse;

On horror's head horrors accumulate;

Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amaz'd,
For nothing canst thou to damnation add,
Greater than that.

Iago.

[Releasing Iago".

Oh grace! Oh heaven defend me!
Are you a man? have you a soul, or sense?—

God be wi' you; take mine office.-Oh wretched fool,
That liv'st to make thine honesty a vice!-

Oh monstrous world! Take note, take note, oh world!
To be direct and honest is not safe.-

I thank you for this profit; and, from hence,

I'll love no friend, since love breeds such offence.
Oth. Nay, stay.-Thou shouldst be honest.
Iago. I should be wise; for honesty's a fool,
And loses that it works for.

By the world',

Oth.
I think my wife be honest, and think she is not;
I think that thou art just, and think thou art not.
I'll have some proof: her name, that was as fresh
As Dian's visage, is now begrim'd and black
As mine own face, If there be cords, or knives,
Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams,

6 of MINE eternal soul;] The folio has "mine," the 4to, 1630, my: the 4to, 1622, "man's eternal soul."

7 Releasing lago.] Modern, as well as ancient, editors never released Iago.

8 Oh heaven DEFEND me!] The folio substitutes "forgive me" for "de

fend me

" of both the 4tos.

9 By the world,] This speech is not in the 4to, 1622: our text is that of the 4to, 1630, which agrees with the folio, excepting that the former corrects an error of the latter by reading "her name" for "my name." It is amended to "her name" in the corr. fo. 1632.

I'll not endure it.-Would I were satisfied!

10

Iago. I see, sir, you are eaten up with passion 1o: I do repent me that I put it to you.

You would be satisfied?

Oth.

Would! nay, I will.

Iago. And may; but how? how satisfied, my lord? Would you the supervision'? grossly gape on?

Behold her topp'd?

Oth.

Death and damnation! Oh!

Iago. It were a tedious difficulty, I think,

To bring them to that prospect'. Damn them then,
If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster,

More than their own! What then? how then?
What shall I say? Where's satisfaction?
It is impossible you should see this,

Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys,
As salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross
As ignorance made drunk: but yet, I say,
If imputation, and strong circumstances,
Which lead directly to the door of truth,
Will give you satisfaction, you may have it 3.
Oth. Give me a living reason she's disloyal.
Iago. I do not like the office;

But, sith I am enter'd in this cause so far,
Prick'd to't by foolish honesty and love,
I will go on. I lay with Cassio lately,
And being troubled with a raging tooth,
I could not sleep.

There are a kind of men, so loose of soul,
That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs:
One of this kind is Cassio.

In sleep I heard him say,-" Sweet Desdemona,

Let us be wary'; let us hide our loves."

And then, sir, would he gripe, and wring my hand,
Cry,-"Oh, sweet creature!" and then kiss me hard,

10 I see, SIR, you are eaten up with passion:] The folio omits "sir," necessary to the regular construction of the line. Two lines lower it reads, "nay, and I will," obviously a syllable too much.

1 Would you the SUPERVISION?] The 4to, 1622, has "the supervisor," the two other authorities "the supervision."

2 To bring THEM to that prospect.] The corr. fo. 1632 has it for them.

3 -you MAY have it.] The folio alone, "you might have it."

Let us be WARY;] So the folio, and the 4to, 1630: the 4to, 1622, “Let us

be merry," arising chiefly out of the mistake of m for w.

As if he pluck'd up kisses by the roots,

5

That grew upon my lips: then, laid his leg
Over my thigh, and sigh'd, and kiss'd; and then.
Cried,-"Cursed fate, that gave thee to the Moor!"
Oth. Oh monstrous! monstrous!

Iago.

Nay, this was but his dream.

Oth. But this denoted a foregone conclusion:
'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.
Iago. And this may help to thicken other proofs,
That do demonstrate thinly.

Oth.

I'll tear her all to pieces.
Iago. Nay, but be wise: yet we see nothing done;
She may be honest yet. Tell me but this:
Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief,
Spotted with strawberries, in your wife's hand?
Oth. I gave her such a one: 'twas my first gift.
Iago. I know not that; but such a handkerchief,
(I am sure it was your wife's) did I to-day
See Cassio wipe his beard with.

Oth.

If it be that,

Iago. If it be that, or any that was her's',

It speaks against her with the other proofs.

Oth. Oh, that the slave had forty thousand lives! One is too poor, too weak for my revenge.

Now do I see 'tis true.-Look here, Iago;

then, LAID his leg] Thus the 4to. copies. The folio prints and regulates the passage as follows:

:

"Laid his leg o'er my thigh,

And sigh, and kiss; and then cry, 'Cursed fate,

That gave thee to the Moor.""

It omits" then " before "laid his leg," as well as " and "two lines earlier-in both instances without regard to the measure. The corr. fo. 1632, on the other hand, is made to correspond with the 4tos.

6 "Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.] The commentators have disputed whether this line belong to Iago or Othello, as in the 4to, 1622, it is given to the former, and in the folio to the latter. In such cases a third contemporary authority is of much value, but nobody seems to have thought of referring to the 4to, 1630, or they would have found that it confirms the distribution of the dialogue in the folio.

7

or any THAT was her's,] The folio and the two 4tos. read, "it was her's," and Malone altered it to "that was her's:" no doubt in the MS. "that" was written yt, a common abbreviation, which the compositor misread yt: it was then sometimes spelt yt. The editor of the second folio printed "if 'twas her's," and Steevens reluctantly admitted, that Malone's correction was better than the alteration in the second folio.

8 Now do I see 'tis TRUE.] The 4to, 1622, reads " 'tis time;" which we might admit, if the fo. 1623, and the 4to. 1630, did not concur in “true."

All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven":
"Tis gone.

Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell'!
Yield up, oh love! thy crown, and hearted throne,
To tyrannous hate! swell, bosom, with thy fraught,
For 'tis of aspics' tongues!

Iago. Pray, be content".

Oth.

Iago. Patience, I say;

Oh, blood, Iago, blood!
your mind, perhaps, may change.
Oth. Never, Iago. Like to the Pontick sea,
Whose icy current and compulsive course
Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
To the Propontick, and the Hellespont:
Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,
Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love,
Till that a capable and wide revenge

Swallow them up.-Now, by yond' marble heaven,
In the due reverence of a sacred vow

I here engage my words.

[Kneeling.

Do not rise yet.

[Kneeling.

Iago.
Witness, you ever-burning lights above!
You elements that clip us round about!

9 All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven:] Malone quoted the following line from what, in his time, was supposed to be Marlowe's tragedy of "Lust's Dominion:"

"Are these your fears? thus blow them into air." Steevens also referred to the same play as the original of another passage in this play, (p. 43,) as if Shakespeare had copied Marlowe in both places. Mr. Singer takes the same course, and repeats the same quotations, not being aware, as has been previously stated, that a full quarter of a century ago it was established that Marlowe could not have been the author of 66 Lust's Dominion," because that poet was killed in 1593, and one of the main incidents in the tragedy did not happen until 1598. Hence it is, at least, clear that Shakespeare did not copy Marlowe, which is all we are anxious to establish. The Rev. Mr. Dyce, most properly, refused to include "Lust's Dominion" in his "Marlowe's Works," 3 Vols. 8vo, published six years before the date of Mr. Singer's Shakespeare.

1 from THY hollow CELL!] The two 4tos. concur in this reading; the folio, "from the hollow hell."

2 PRAY, be content.] The folio alone reads, "Yet be content;" and in the next speech of lago it omits " perhaps," required by the measure, and in the two 4tos. 3 Never,] What follows, to the words "Now by yond' marble heaven," inclusive, is in the folio, and in the 4to, 1630; but not in the 4to, 1622.

* Ne'er FEELS retiring ebb,] The folio (where alone, Malone tells us, this passage is found, never having examined the 4to, 1630) has it, "Ne'er keeps retiring ebb." Pope altered keeps to "feels." This conjecture was a happy one as is proved by the 4to, 1630, which has exactly the same word, "Ne'er feels retiring ebb." The later folios all repeat "keeps," but Southern altered the word, in his copy of the edition of 1685, to knows, and it is knows in the corr. fo. 1632.