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He was a wight of high renown,
And thou art but of low degree:
'Tis pride that pulls the country down,
Then take thine auld cloak about thee.

Some wine, ho!

Cas. Why, this is a more exquisite song than the other. Iago. Will you hear it again?

Cas. No; for I hold him to be unworthy of his place, that does those things.-Well, heaven's above all; and there be souls must be saved, and there be souls must not be saved 3. Iago. It is true, good lieutenant.

Cas. For mine own part,-no offence to the general, nor any man of quality,-I hope to be saved.

Iago. And so do I too, lieutenant.

Cas. Ay; but, by your leave, not before me: the lieutenant is to be saved before the ancient.-Let's have no more of this; let's to our affairs.-Forgive us our sins!—Gentlemen, let's look to our business. Do not think, gentlemen, I am drunk this is my ancient ;-this is my right hand, and this is my left hand.-I am not drunk now; I can stand well enough, and speak well enough.

All. Excellent well.

Cas. Why, very well, then; you must not think, then, that I am drunk.

[Exit. Mon. To the platform, masters: come, let's set the watch. Iago. You see this fellow, that is gone before:

He is a soldier, fit to stand by Cæsar

And give direction; and do but see his vice.

"Tis to his virtue a just equinox,

The one as long as th' other: 'tis pity of him.

I fear, the trust Othello puts him in,

there the king complained, not that his breeches were "all too dear," but that they did not cost enough: Camden quotes Robert of Gloucester. Steevens refers to a passage in Greene's " Quip for an upstart Courtier," 1592, where it is said that King Stephen wore a pair of cloth breeches, and "thought them passing costly:" no doubt, Shakespeare and Greene were obliged to the same balladauthority. The folio, and 4to, 1630, read, “ and a worthy peer;" but the 4to, 1622, and the original ballad, as our text. Respecting this particle see "Hamlet," Vol. v. p. 588, and "King Lear," Vol. v. p. 675.

3 and there be souls must NOT be saved.] Mr. Singer says that the 4to. omits the words that precede the above, viz. " and there be souls must be saved." This is a mistake: those words are in the 4to, 1622: the words not in the 4to. are "and there be souls must not be saved." If Mr. Singer be correct, the 4to. he consulted differs from all others we have seen.

On some odd time of his infirmity,

Will shake this island.

Mon.

But is he often thus ?

Iago. 'Tis evermore the prologue to his sleep: He'll watch the horologe a double set",

If drink rock not his cradle.

Mon.

It were well,
The general were put in mind of it.

Perhaps, he sees it not; or his good nature
Prizes the virtue' that appears in Cassio,
And looks not on his evils. Is not this true?

Enter RODERIGO.

Iago. How now, Roderigo?

I pray you, after the lieutenant; go.

[Aside to him.

[Exit RODERIGO.

Mon. And 'tis great pity that the noble Moor Should hazard such a place as his own second, With one of an ingraft infirmity:

It were an honest action to say

So to the Moor.

Iago.

Not I, for this fair island:

I do love Cassio well, and would do much

To cure him of this evil. But hark! what noise?

[Cry within,-"Help! Help!"

Re-enter CASSIO, driving in RODERIGO.

Cas. You rogue! you rascal!

Mon.

Cas. A knave!-teach me my duty? I'll beat the knave into a wicker bottle'.

What's the matter, lieutenant ?

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6 He'll watch the HOROLOGE a double set,] "Horologe" was not an uncommon word for a clock in the time of Shakespeare: to watch it " a double set," probably means to keep awake while the hands go twice round.

7 PRIZES the virtue] The reading of the folio is here clearly to be adopted, instead of that of the two 4tos, which have Praises for "Prizes."

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Cry within,-" Help! Help!"] This stage-direction is only in the 4tos.

— a WICKER bottle.] So both the 4tos: the folio, "a twiggen bottle." The meaning is the same, a bottle made of twigs, or "wicker."

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Iago. Away, I say! [Aside to ROD.] go out,

mutiny.

Nay, good lieutenant,—alas, gentlemen!

Help, ho!-Lieutenant,―sir,-Montano,—sir ;

[They fight.

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Help, masters!-Here's a goodly watch, indeed! [Bell rings. Who's that that rings the bell?— Diablo', ho!

The town will rise: God's will! lieutenant, hold!

You will be sham'd for ever.

Oth.

Enter OTHELLO, and Attendants.

What is the matter here?

Mon. 'Zounds! I bleed still: I am hurt to the death3.

Oth. Hold, for your lives!

[He faints.

Iago. Hold, hold, lieutenant!—sir, Montano, gentlemen!— Have you forgot all sense of place and duty'?

Hold, hold! the general speaks to you: hold, for shame!
Oth. Why, how now, ho! from whence ariseth this?
Are we turn'd Turks, and to ourselves do that,
Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites?
For Christian shame, put by this barbarous brawl:
He that stirs next to carve for his own rage',
Holds his soul light; he dies upon his motion.-

1 DIABLO,] An exclamation employed by other dramatists. Monck Mason and Steevens observe, that "it is a mere contraction of Diavolo, the Italian word for the devil." We know not why we should go to a contraction of the Italian, when Diablo is the ordinary Spanish word.

2

GOD'S WILL!] Fie, fie! in the folio; and below it omits "Zounds!" 3 - I am hurt to the death.] We here have a different kind of proof of the value of the 4to, 1630: the folio, 1623, adds, by obvious error, "He dies," printing the two words in the ordinary type; and some modern editors have, therefore, considered them part of the text. They were, in fact, nothing more than a printer's blunder, which the folio, 1632, corrects by making Montano say, "I am hurt, but not to the death." The true stage-direction, for which "He dies" was, no doubt, intended, is found in the 4to, 1630, "He faints," and that we have willingly inserted.

4 Have you forgot all SENSE of PLACE and duty?] Every old copy has a transposition here, which Sir T. Hanmer, as well as the corr. fo. 1632, reformed: the 4tos. and folios read, “Have you forgot all place of sense and duty?"

5 to carve For his own rage,] Our reading is that of the folio, 1623, confirmed by that of the 4to, 1630: the 4to, 1622, alone has "to carve forth his own rage," which can hardly be right.

Silence that dreadful bell! it frights the isle

From her propriety.-What is the matter, masters ?—
Honest Iago, that look'st dead with grieving,

Speak, who began this? on thy love, I charge thee.

Iago. I do not know :-friends all but now, even now
In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom
Divesting them for bed; and then, but now,
(As if some planet had unwitted men °)
Swords out, and tilting one at other's breast,
In opposition bloody. I cannot speak
Any beginning to this peevish odds;
And would in action glorious I had lost
Those legs, that brought me to a part of it.

Oth. How came it, Michael, you were thus forgot??
Cas. I pray you, pardon me; I cannot speak.
Oth. Worthy Montano, you were wont be civil;

The gravity and stillness of your youth
The world hath noted, and your name is great
In mouths of wisest censure: what's the matter,
That you unlace your reputation thus,

And spend your rich opinion, for the name
Of a night-brawler? give me answer to it.

Mon. Worthy Othello, I am hurt to danger:

Your officer, Iago, can inform you,

While I spare speech, which something now offends me,
Of all that I do know; nor know I aught
By me that's said or done amiss this night,
Unless self-charity be sometime a vice,
And to defend ourselves it be a sin,

When violence assails us.

Oth.

Now, by heaven,

My blood begins my safer guides to rule;

And passion, having my best judgment quelled 3,

❝ (As if some planet had unwitted MEN)] The corr. fo. 1632 has them for "men," and "men" and them were now and then confounded, owing perhaps to some similarity of sound. Iago seems referring to the particular individuals engaged in the brawl; but as the allusion may have been to the effects of planets on mankind in general, we do not disturb the old text.

7 How CAME it, Michael, you WERE thus forgot?] The commentators take no notice of a material variation here between the two 4tos. and the folio, the latter only reading, "How comes it, Michael, you are thus forgot?"

And passion, having my best judgment QUELLED,] It is collied for "quelled " in the folio, and cool'd in the 4tos. It has been usual to take collied in the sense of blackened or darkened, but nobody has rashly advocated the claims of cool'd.

Assays to lead the way. If I once stir,
Or do but lift this arm, the best of you
Shall sink in my rebuke. Give me to know
How this foul rout began, who set it on;
And he that is approv'd in this offence,
Though he had twinn'd with me, both at a birth,
Shall lose me.-What! in a town of war,
Yet wild, the people's hearts brimful of fear,
To manage private and domestic quarrel,

In night, and on the court of guard and safety' !
'Tis monstrous.-Iago, who began it1?

Mon. If partially affin'd, or leagu'd in office',
Thou dost deliver more or less than truth,
Thou art no soldier.

Iago.

Touch me not so near.

I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth,
Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio;

Yet, I persuade myself, to speak the truth
Shall nothing wrong him.—Thus it is, general.
Montano and myself being in speech;

There comes a fellow crying out for help,
And Cassio following him with determin'd sword
To execute upon him. Sir, this gentleman
Steps in to Cassio, and entreats his pause:
Myself the crying fellow did pursue,
Lest by his clamour (as it so fell out)

The town might fall in fright: he, swift of foot,
Outran my purpose; and I return'd, the rather

"Quelled," i. e. subdued or conquered, is precisely the word wanted, and we find it in the margin of the corr. fo. 1632. In our former edition we conjectured that "quelled" might be the language of the poet; and it is to be remarked that, if short-hand were employed in obtaining the copy of "Othello" for the publisher, the very same letters which spell "quelled" would also spell collied and even cool'd. See "Macbeth," A. v. sc. 5, Vol. v. p. 457, where, for the same reason, "quail'd" has always been misprinted cool'd.

9 on the court oF guard AND safety !] Such was Malone's emendation of "the court and guard of safety" of the old copies, and such we find it in the corr. fo. 1632: we have, therefore, now no hesitation in adopting this technical military expression.

Iago, who began IT?] In the two 4tos, "it" perhaps accidentally dropped out at the end of the verse: the folio reads, “who began't." As Malone observed, to make out the line it is necessary here, as in some other places, to read "monstrous" as a trisyllable.

2- if partially AFFIN'D, OF LEAGUED in office,] For "affin'd," i. e. related, see "Troilus and Cressida,” Vol. iv. p. 494, and this play, p. 12. The old copies all read "league in office."

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