will watch his going thence, (which I will fashion to fall out between twelve and one) you may take him at your pleasure: 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 yourself bound to put it on him. It is now high suppertime, and the night grows to waste: about it.

Rod. I will hear farther 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 farther.
Oth. Oh! pardon me; 'twill do me good to walk.

Lod. Madam, good night; I humbly thank your ladyship.
Des. Your honour is most welcome.

Oth.

Oh!-Desdemona,

Des.

My lord.

Will you walk, sir?

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 OTHELLO, LODOVICO, and Attendants. Emil. How goes it now? he looks gentler than he did. Des. He says, he will return incontinent;

He hath commanded me to go to bed,

And bade me to dismiss you.

Emil.

Dismiss me!

Des. It was his bidding; therefore, good Emilia, Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu:

We must not now displease him.

Emil. I would you had never seen him.

Des. So would not I: my love doth so approve him, That even his stubbornness, his checks, and frowns,Pr'ythee, unpin me,-have grace and favour in them.

you

bade me on the bed.

Emil. I have laid those sheets

5

Des. All's one.-Good faith! how foolish are our minds '!If I do die before thee, pr'ythee, shroud me

In one of those same sheets.

Come, come, you talk.

Emil.
Des. My mother had a maid call'd Barbara:
She was in love; and he she lov'd prov'd mad,
And did forsake her: she had a song of-" willow,"
An old thing 'twas, but it express'd her fortune,
And she died singing it. That song, to-night,
Will not go from my mind; I have much to do,
But to go hang my head all at one side,
And sing it like poor Barbara. Pr'ythee, dispatch.
Emil. Shall I go fetch your night-gown?

Des.

This Lodovico is a proper man.

Emil. A very handsome man.

Des. He speaks well.

No, unpin me here.—

Emil. I know a lady in Venice would have walked barefoot

to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip.

Des. The poor soul sat sighing' by a sycamore tree,

Sing all a green willow;

Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,
Sing willow, willow, willow:

[Singing.

5 All's one.-Good FAITH! how foolish are our minds !] Such is the line in the 4to, 1622, while the folio and the later 4to. read "Good father!" It was, doubtless, as we learn from the corr. fo. 1632, a mere misprint for "Good faith!" and as such we have treated it.

6

- I have much to do,] In the 4to, 1622, these words and all that follows them, including the song, down to Desdemona's question, "Hark! who is it that knocks?" are not in the 4to, 1622, but in the folio, and in the 4to, 1630. It may be mentioned that the corr. fo. 1632 reads, "I have much to do, not to go hang my head;" but though "but" and not were often confounded, there seems here no sufficient reason for change.

7 The poor soul sat SIGHING] Singing in the folio, (the Duke of Devonshire's copy has it sining,) but the original ballad, inserted in Percy's Reliques, i. p. 212, (edit. 1812,) has "sighing," and such is the reading of the 4to, 1630. In the corr. fo. 1632 the first line is

"A poor soul sat sighing," &c.,

and on some accounts the indefinite article may seem preferable. Several old songs are extant, of which the burden is "willow, willow, willow :" one of these is by old John Heywood, each stanza ending, "For all the green willow is my garland," and is contained in a very valuable manuscript of the time, formerly in the possession of Mr. B. H. Bright. Like the original ballad in Percy's Reliques, it is the lamentation of a man for a woman's infidelity.

The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur'd her moans ;
Sing willow, willow, willow:

Her salt tears fell from her, and soften'd the stones;

Lay by these,

Sing willow, willow, willow.

Pr'ythee, hie thee; he'll come anon.—

Sing all a green willow must be my garland.

Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve,

Nay, that's not next.-Hark! who is it that knocks?
Emil. It is the wind.

Des. I call'd my love, false love; but what said he then?
Sing willow, willow, willow:

If I court mo women, you'll couch with mo men.

So, get thee gone; good night. Mine eyes do itch;
Doth that bode weeping?

Emil.

"Tis neither here nor there.

Des. I have heard it said so.-Oh, these men, these

men!

Dost thou in conscience think,-tell me, Emilia,

That there be women do abuse their husbands

In such gross kind?

Emil.

There be some such, no question.

Des. Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?

Emil. Why, would not you?

Des.

No, by this heavenly light.

Emil. Nor I neither by this heavenly light:

I might do't as well i' the dark.

Des. Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world? Emil. The world is a huge thing: 'tis a great price For a small vice.

Des. In troth, I think thou wouldst not. Emil. In 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,

8 I have heard it said so-] This, as well as the following speech, is omitted in the 4to, 1622, but both are found in the folio, and in the 4to, 1630.

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.

Emil. Why, the wrong is but a wrong i' the world; and, having the world for your labour, 'tis a wrong in your own world, and you might quickly make it right.

Des. I do not think there is any such woman.

Emil. Yes, a dozen; and as many

To the vantage, as would store the world they play'd for.
But, I do think', it is their husbands' faults,

If wives do fall. Say, that they slack their duties,

And pour our treasures into foreign laps;

Or else break out in peevish jealousies,

Throwing restraint upon us; or, say, they strike us,
Or scant our former having in despite,

Why, we have galls; and, though we have some grace,
Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know,
Their wives have sense like them: they see, and smell,
And have their palates, both for sweet and sour,
As husbands have. What is it that they do,
When they change us for others? Is it sport?
I think it is; and doth affection breed it ?
I think it doth. Is't frailty that thus errs?
It is so too and have not we affections,
Desires for sport, and frailty, as men have?
Then, let them use us well; else, let them know,
The ills we do, their ills instruct us to 2.

Des. Good night, good night: heaven me such uses send3, Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend! [Exeunt.

9 -WHY, who would not] The 4to, 1622, "Od's pity, who would not," &c. 1 But, I do think,] These words and all the rest of the speech are wanting in the 4to, 1622. This part of the scene, from "Wouldst thou do such a deed" down to "the world they play'd for," is struck out with a pen in the corr. fo. 1632, as if not acted in the time of the old annotator.

2 The ills we do, their ills instruct us To.] This is the reading of the second folio, for "their ills instruct us so" of the older impressions.

3 - HEAVEN me such USES send,] The 4to, 1622, reads, "God me such usage send." We follow the folio, and the 4to, 1630, but ntay almost suspect that neither "uses" nor usage was the word of the poet: perhaps "uses" ought to be issues, i. e. results; and in the first scene of "Timon of Athens," Vol. v. p. 212. we have seen "issues" (as we may conjecture) misprinted uses. In Beaumont and Fletcher's "Knight of Malta" (Dyce's edit. v. 185) there is a strange error in the old copies, which has been allowed to disfigure all subsequent impressions, where Montferrat addresses Zanthia as "Thou sinful usher," when the correct

ACT V. SCENE I.

A Street.

Enter LAGO and RODERIGO.

Iago. Here, stand behind this bulk; straight will he come : Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home.

Quick, quick; fear nothing; I'll be at thy elbow.

It makes us, or it mars us; think on that,

And fix most firm thy resolution.

Rod. Be near at hand; I may miscarry in't.

Iago. Here, at thy hand: be bold, and take thy stand‘.

[Retiring to a little distance.

Rod. I have no great devotion to the deed; And yet he has given me satisfying reasons.'Tis but a man gone :-forth, my sword; he dies.

[Going to his stand. Iago. I have rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense,

5

And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio,

Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,

Every way makes my game: live Roderigo,
He calls me to a restitution large

Of gold, and jewels, that I bobb'd from him
As gifts to Desdemona;

It must not be: if Cassio do remain,

He hath a daily beauty in his life,

reading must be, "Thou sinful issue."

"Issue" was misheard usher, for there

is not the slightest pretext for calling the heroine an usher; and how so many editors could have passed over the nonsense is inexplicable.

4

take thy STAND.] The 4to, 1622, "take thy sword." The folio alone has bark for bulk" in the first line of the scene; and bark is altered to "balk," not "bulk," in the corr. fo. 1632.

5

this young QUAT] The word "quat" of the folio, and 4to, 1630, is printed gnat in the 4to, 1622; but no doubt "quat" is the true reading: it means a pimple or scab, and it is met with in "The Devil's Law Case," 1623; but the Rev. Mr. Dyce does not explain it farther, than by quoting this passage from "Othello," (Webster's Works, vol. ii. p. 36.) The word "quat" also occurs in Dekker's "Gull's Horn Book," 1609, referred to by Steevens, with the epithet "young" prefixed to it, as in Shakespeare and Webster-"Whether he be a young quat of the first yeare's revenew, or some austere and sullen-fac'd steward," &c.

• Every way makes my GAME:] The 4tos. have game for "gain" of the folio.