Oth. A horned man's a monster, and a beast.

Iago. There's many a beast, then, in a populous city, And many a civil monster.

Oth. Did he confess it ?

Iago.

Good sir, be a man;

Think, every bearded fellow, that's but yok'd,
May draw with you: there's millions now alive,
That nightly lie in those unproper beds,

Which they dare swear peculiar: your case is better.
Oh! 'tis the spite of hell, the fiend's arch-mock,

To lip a wanton in a secure couch,

And to suppose her chaste. No, let me know;
And, knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.
Oth. Oh! thou art wise; 'tis certain.

Iago. Stand you awhile apart;

Confine yourself but in a patient list.

Whilst you were here, o'erwhelmed with your grief',
(A passion most unfitting such a man)
Cassio came hither: I shifted him away,
And laid good 'scuse upon your ecstasy;
Bade him anon return, and here speak with me;
The which he promis'd. But encave yourself,
And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns,
That dwell in every region of his face;
For I will make him tell the tale anew,
Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when
He hath, and is again to cope your wife:

I say, but mark his gesture.-Marry, patience!
Or I shall say, you are all in all in spleen,
And nothing of a man.

Oth.

Dost thou hear, Iago?

I will be found most cunning in my patience;
But (dost thou hear ?) most bloody.

Iago.
But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?

That's not amiss;

[OTHELLO retires.

9 Confine yourself but in a patient LIST.] i. e. In a patient limit or boundary. O'ERWHELMED with your grief,] So, the folio, and the 4to, 1630: the 4to, 1622, "ere while mad with your grief;" probably a typographical blunder. In the next line, the 4to, 1622, has unsuiting, the 4to, 1630,"unfitting," and the folio, resulting. That "unfitting was the word usually recited on the stage, we may, perhaps, infer from the fact, that in the corr. fo. 1632 resulting is altered to "unfitting:" we therefore adopt "unfitting." Lower down, the folio reads, "Do but encave yourself," injuriously as regards the metre.

Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,

A housewife, that by selling her desires

Buys herself bread and clothes: it is a creature,
That dotes on Cassio, as 'tis the strumpet's plague,
To beguile many, and be beguil'd by one.
He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain'
From the excess of laughter.-Here he comes.-
Re-enter CASSIO.

As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad;
And his unbookish jealousy must construe
Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behaviour,
Quite in the wrong.-How do you now, lieutenant ?
Cas. The worser, that you give me the addition,
Whose want even kills me.

Iago. Ply Desdemona well, and you are sure on't.
Now, if this suit lay in Bianca's power 3, [Speaking lower.
How quickly should you speed?

Cas.

Alas, poor caitiff!

[Aside.

Oth. Look, how he laughs already!

Iago. I never knew woman love man so.

Cas. Alas, poor rogue! I think, i'faith, she loves me.
Oth. Now he denies it faintly, and laughs it out. [Aside.
Iago. Do you hear, Cassio?

Oth.

Now he importunes him

To tell it o'er.-Go to; well said, well said.

Iago. She gives it out, that you shall marry her: Do you intend it ?

2

[Aside.

Oth. Do you triumph, Roman*? do you triumph? [Aside. Cas. I marry her!-what! a customer'? I pr'ythee, bear

cannot REFRAIN] The folio misprints it restrain. Just below, it has conserve for "construe " of the 4tos. and of the corr. fo. 1632. It also omits "now" in the question, "How do you now, lieutenant?"

3 in Bianca's POWER,]

The letter d having been turned in the folio, "power" there became dower: the 4tos. both have "power."

Do you triumph, ROMAN?] The corrector of the folio, 1632, here informs us that a singular error has crept into the text, and that for "Roman we ought to substitute o'er me. This may be so, and the reason for "Roman," in reference to "triumph," is not obvious; but as the change is somewhat violent, and in no respect compulsory, we do not make it.

- a CUSTOMER?] So, in "All's Well that Ends Well," Vol. ii. p. 626,

"I think thee now some common customer."

"Customer" also sometimes meant a person who was in the habit of visiting women of bad character, and was familiar with them.

some charity to my wit; do not think it so unwholesome. Ha, ha, ha!

Oth. So, so, so, so. They laugh that win.

[Aside.

Iago. 'Faith, the cry goes,

that you

shall marry

her.

Cas. Pr'ythee, say true.

Iago. I am a very villain else.

Oth. Have you scored me? Well.

[Aside.

Cas. This is the monkey's own giving out: she is persuaded I will marry her, out of her own love and flattery, not out of my promise.

Oth. Iago beckons me'; now he begins the story. [Aside. Cas. She was here even now; she haunts me in every place. I was, the other day, talking on the sea-bank with certain Venetians, and thither comes this bauble; and, by this hand, she falls me thus about my neck;

Oth. Crying, Oh dear Cassio! as it were: his gesture imports it. [Aside. Cas. So hangs, and lolls, and weeps upon me; so hales, and pulls me: ha, ha, ha!

Oth. Now he tells, how she plucked him to my chamber. Oh! I see that nose of your's, but not that dog I shall throw it to.

Cas. Well, I must leave her company.
Iago. Before me! look where she comes.

Enter BIANCA.

Cas. 'Tis such another fitchew'

[Aside.

marry, a perfumed one.

What do you mean by this haunting of me?

Bian. Let the devil and his dam haunt you! What did you mean by that same handkerchief, you gave me even now? I was a fine fool to take it. I must take out the work?-A likely piece of work, that you should find it in your chamber, and know not who left it there: this is some minx's token, and I must take out the work? There, give it

6 Have you SCORED me?] It is difficult to decide what sense ought to be gathered from these words; and indeed, as the old copies all read stor'd, we cannot be by any means sure that "scored" is the true lection: possibly, some other word ought to be substituted. The sense usually attached to "Have you scored me?" has been, Have you marked me like a beast, which you have made me by giving me horns? The words are struck out in the corr. fo. 1632.

7 lago BECKONS me :] i. e. Makes signs: the folio alone has, “Iago becomes me." SO HALES, and pulls me :] The folio has shakes for "hales."

'Tis such another FITCHEW!] i. e. What a polecat it is, though perfumed!

your hobby-horse: wheresoever you had it, I'll take out no work on't. [Casting it to him. Cas. How now, my sweet Bianca! how now, how now! Oth. By heaven! that should be my handkerchief.

[Aside. Bian. An you'll come to supper to-night, you may: an you will not, come when you are next prepared for. [Exit BIANCA. Iago. After her, after her.

Cas. 'Faith, I must; she'll rail in the street else.

Iago. Will you sup there?

Cas. 'Faith, I intend so.

Iago. Well, I may chance to see you, for I would very fain speak with you.

Cas. Pr'ythee, come: will you?

Iago. Go to; say no more.

[Exit CASSIO 10.

Oth. [Advancing.] How shall I murder him, Iago?

Iago. Did you perceive how he laughed at his vice?

Oth. Oh, Iago!

Iago. And did you see the handkerchief?

Oth. Was that mine?

Iago. Your's, by this hand': and to see how he prizes the foolish woman your wife! she gave it him, and he hath given it his whore.

Oth. I would have him nine years a killing.-A fine woman a fair woman! a sweet woman!

Iago. Nay, you must forget that.

Oth. Ay, let her rot, and perish, and be damned to-night, for she shall not live. No, my heart is turned to stone; I strike it, and it hurts my hand.-Oh! the world hath not a sweeter creature: she might lie by an emperor's side, and command him tasks.

Iago. Nay, that's not your way.

Oth. Hang her! I do but say what she is.-So delicate with her needle!-An admirable musician! Oh! she will sing the savageness out of a bear.-Of so high and plenteous wit and invention !

Iago. She's the worse for all this.

Oth. Oh! a thousand thousand times 2.-And then, of so gentle a condition.

10 Exit Cassio.] Cassio's exit, though mentioned in the two 4tos, is omitted in the folio. "Casting it to him," above, is in no old copy.

Your's, by this hand :] This answer is only in the folio.

2 Oh! a thousand thousand times.] In the folio, this vast accumulation of

Iago. Ay, too gentle.

Oth. Nay, that's certain :-but yet the pity of it, Iago!— Oh, Iago! the pity of it, Iago!

Iago. If you are so fond over her iniquity, give her patent to offend; for if it touch not you, it comes near nobody. Oth. I will chop her into messes.—Cuckold me!

Iago. Oh! 'tis foul in her.

Oth. With mine officer!

Iago. That's fouler.

Oth. Get me some poison, Iago; this night :-I'll not expostulate with her, lest her body and beauty unprovide my mind again. This night, Iago.

Iago. Do it not with poison; strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated.

Oth. Good, good: the justice of it pleases; very good! Iago. And for Cassio, let me be his undertaker. You shall hear more by midnight. [A trumpet within. Oth. Excellent good!-What trumpet is that same? Iago. Something from Venice, sure. "Tis Lodovico, Come from the duke; and, see, your wife is with him3.

Enter LODOVICO, DESDEMONA, and Attendants.

Lod. 'Save you, worthy general!
Oth.
Lod. The duke and senators of Venice greet you.

With all my heart, sir.

[Giving him a packet.

Oth. I kiss the instrument of their pleasures.

[Opens the packet, and reads.

Des. And what's the news, good cousin Lodovico ?
Iago. I am very glad to see you, signior:

Welcome to Cyprus.

Lod. I thank you. How does lieutenant Cassio?
Iago. Lives, sir.

Des. Cousin, there's fallen between him and my lord

An unkind breach, but you shall make all well.

guilt is made a poor repetition,-“a thousand, a thousand times." Our text is that of both the 4tos.

3

Something from Venice, sure. "Tis Lodovico,

Come from the duke; and, see, your wife is with him.] For these lines in the two 4tos, the folio has the following imperfect verses :

"I warrant, something from Venice:

'Tis Lodovico this, comes from the duke.
See, your wife's with him."