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My general will forget my love and service.'

Des. Do not doubt that; before Emilia here,
I give thee warrant of thy place assure thee,
If I do vow a friendship, I'll perform it

To the last article: my lord shall never rest;
I'll watch him tame,' and talk him out of patience;
His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift;
I'll intermingle every thing he does

With Cassio's suit: Therefore be merry, Cassio;
For thy solicitor shall rather die,

Than give thy cause away.

Enter OTHELLO and IAGO, at distance.

Emil. Madam, here comes

My lord.

Cas. Madam, I'll take my leave.

Des. Why, stay,

And hear me speak.

Cas. Madam, not now; I am very ill at ease,

Unfit for mine own purposes.

Des. Well, well,

Do your discretion.

lago. Ha! I like not that.

Oth. What dost thou say ?

[Exit CASSIO.

lago. Nothing, my lord: or if I know not what. Oth. Was not that Cassio, parted from my wife? lago. Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it, That he would steal away so guilty-like,

Seeing you coming.

Oth. I do believe 'twas he.

Des. How now, my lord?

I have been talking with a suitor here,

A man that languishes in your displeasure.

Oth. Who is't, you mean?

Des. Why, your lieutenant Cassio. Good my lord, If I have any grace, or power to move you,

His present reconciliation take;

For, if he be not one that truly loves you,
That errs in ignorance, and not in cunning,
I have no judgment in an honest face:

I pr'ythee, call him back.

[8] He may either of himself think it politic to keep me out of office so long, or he may be satisfied with such slight reasons, or so many accidents may make him think my re-admission at that time improper, that I may be quite forgotten. JOHNSON. [4] It is said that the ferocity of beasts, insuperable and irreclaimable by any other means, is subdued by keeping them from sleep. JOHNSON.

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VOL. X.

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Oth. Went he hence now?

Des. Ay, sooth; so humbled,

That he hath left part of his grief with me ;

I suffer with him. Good love, call him back.

Oth. Not now, sweet Desdemona; some other time.
Des. But shall't be shortly?

Oth. The sooner, sweet, for you.
Des. Shall't be to-night at supper?
Oth. No, not to-night.

Des. To-morrow dinner then?
Oth. I shall not dine at home;

I meet the captains at the citadel.

Des. Why then, to-morrow night; or Tuesday morn ; Or Tuesday noon, or night; or Wednesday morn ;— I pray thee, name the time; but let it not Exceed three days: in faith, he's penitent; And yet his trespass, in our common reason,

(Save that, they say, the wars must make examples
Out of their best,) is not almost a fault

To incur a private check: When shall he come ?
Tell me, Othello. I wonder in my soul,

What you could ask me that I should deny,

Or stand so mammering on. What! Michael Cassio,
That came a wooing with you; and many a time,
When I have spoke of you dispraisingly,

Hath ta'en your part; to have so much to do

To bring him in! Trust me, I could do much,—
Oth. Pr'ythee, no more: let him come when he will;

I will deny thee nothing.

Des. Why, this is not a boon;

"Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves,

Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm;

Or sue to you to do peculiar profit

To your own person: Nay, when I have a suit,
Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed,
It shall be full of poise and difficulty,

And fearful to be granted.

Oth. I will deny thee nothing:

Whereon, I do beseech thee, grant me this,

To leave me but a little to myself.

› Des. Shall I deny you? No: Farewell, my lord. Oth. Farewell, my Desdemona: I will come to thee straight.

[5] The severity of military discipline must not spare the best men of the army, when their punishment may afford a wholesome example. JOHNSON.

Des. Emilia, come :-Be it as your fancies teach you; Whate'er you be, I am obedient. [Exit, with EMIL.

Oth. Excellent wretch ! Perdition catch my soul, But I do love thee! and when I love thee not, Chaos is come again."

Iago. My noble lord,

Oth. What dost thou say, Iago?

Iago. Did Michael Cassio, when you woo'd my lady, Know of your love?

Oth. He did, from first to last. Why dost thou ask? lago. But for a satisfaction of my thought;

No further harm.

Oth. Why of thy thought, Iago ?

lago. I did not think, he had been acquainted with her. Oth. O, yes; and went between us very

Iago. Indeed?

oft.

Oth. Indeed! ay, indeed :-Discern'st thou aught in that?

Is he not honest ?

Iago. Honest, my lord?

Oth. Ay, honest.

lago. My lord, for aught I know.

Oth. What dost thou think?

lago. Think, my lord?

Oth. Think, my lord!

By heaven, he echoes me,

As if there were some monster in his thought

Too hideous to be shown.-Thou dost mean something;

I heard thee say but now,-Thou lik'st not that,
When Cassio left my wife; What didst not like?
And, when I told thee-he was of my counsel
In my whole course of wooing, thou cry'dst, Indeed?
And didst contract and purse thy brow together,
As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain
Some horrible conceit: If thou dost love me,
Show me thy thought.

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[6] The meaning of the word wretch is not generally understood. It is now, in some parts of England, a term of the softest and fondest tenderness. It expresses the utmost degree of amiableness, joined with an idea, which perhaps all tenderness includes, of feebleness, softness, and want of protection. Othello considering Desdemona as excelling in beauty and virtue, soft and timorous by her sex, and by her situation absolutely in his power, calls her, excellent wretch! It may be expressed, Dear, harmless, helpless excellence. JOHNSON.

[7] When my love is for a moment suspended by suspicion, I have nothing in my mind but discord, tumult, perturbation and confusion. JOHNSON.

There is another meaning possible: When I cease to love thee, the world is at an end; i. e. there remains nothing valuable or important.

STEEVENS.

He means I think, to say, and ere I cease to love thee, the world itself shall be reduced to its primitive chaos. MALONE.

!

lago. My lord, you know I love you.

Oth. I think, thou dost ;

And, for I know thou art full of love and honesty,

And weigh'st thy words before thou giv'st them breath,— Therefore these stops of thine fright me the more :

For such things, in a false disloyal knave,

Are tricks of custom; but, in a man that's just,
They are close denotements, working from the heart,
That passion cannot rule.

Jago. For Michael Cassio,

I dare be sworn, I think that he is honest.

Oth. I think so too.

lago. Men should be what they seem;

Or, those that be not, 'would they might seem none !
Oth. Certain, men should be what they seem.
lago. Why then,

I think that Cassio is an honest man.

Oth. Nay, yet there's more in this :

I pray thee, speak to me as to thy thinkings,

As thou dost ruminate; and give thy worst of thoughts The worst of words.

lago. Good my lord, pardon me ;

Though I am bound to every act of duty,

I am not bound to that all slaves are free to.

Utter my thoughts? Why, say, they are vile and false,— As where's that palace, whereinto foul things

Sometimes intrude not? who has a breast so pure,

But some uncleanly apprehensions

Keep leets, and law-days, and in session sit
With meditations lawful."

Oth. Thou dost conspire against thy friend, lago,
If thou but think'st him wrong'd, and mak'st his ear
A stranger to thy thoughts.

Iago. I do beseech you,——

Though I, perchance, am vicious in my guess,

As, I confess, it is my nature's plague

To spy into abuses; and, oft, my jealousy

Shapes faults that are not,-I entreat you then,
From one that so imperfectly conjects,

You'd take no notice; nor build yourself a trouble
Out of his scattering and unsure observance :-

[8] Leet (says Jacob, in his Law Dictionary) is otherwise called a law-day. The poet's meaning appears plainly to be: Who has a breast so little apt to form ill opinions of others, but that foul suspicion will sometimes mix with his fairest and Bost candid thoughts, and erect a court in his mind, to inquire of the offences prehended. STEEVENS.

It were not for your quiet, nor your good,
Nor for my manhood, honesty, or wisdom,
To let you know my thoughts.

Oth. What dost thou mean?

Iago. Good name, in man, and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls :

Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands ;
But he, that filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that, which not enriches him,

And makes me poor indeed.

Oth. By heaven, I'll know thy thought. Jago. You cannot, if my heart were in Nor shall not, whilst 'tis in my custody. Oth. Ha!

lago. O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;

your hand;

It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss,
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;
But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er,

Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves!
Oth. O misery!

lago. Poor, and content, is rich, and rich enough ; But riches, fineless, is as poor as winter,'

To him that ever fears he shall be poor :

Good heaven, the souls of all my tribe defend
From jealousy!

Oth. Why? why is this?

Think'st thou, I'd make a life of jealousy,

To follow still the changes of the moon

With fresh suspicions? No: to be once in doubt,
Is-once to be resolv'd: Exchange me for a goat,
When I shall turn the business of my soul
To such exsufflicate and blown surmises,*

Matching thy inference. 'Tis not to make me jealous,
To say my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company,
Is free of speech, sings, plays, and dances well;
Where virtue is, these are more virtuous :
Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw
The smallest fear, or doubt of her revolt;
For she had eyes, and chose me: No, lago;
I'll see, before I doubt; when I doubt, prove;

[9] Unbounded, endless, unnumbered treasures.

Finely expressed: winter producing no fruits.

JOHNSON.
WARBURTON.

2 Ecsufficate I think is used in the sense of swollen, and appears to have been

formed from sufflatus. MALONE.

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