Des. Then 'would to heaven, that I had never seen it. Oth. Ha! wherefore? Des. Why do you speak so startingly and rash? Oth. Is't lost? is't gone? speak, is it out of the way? Des. Heaven bless us! Oth. Say you? Des. It is not lost; But what an if it were? Des. I say it is not lost. Oth. Fetch't, let me see it. Des. Why, so I can, sir, but I will not now; This is a trick, to put me from my suit; I pray, let Cassio be receiv'd again. Oth. Fetch me that handkerchief: my mind misgives. Des. Come, come; You'll never meet a more sufficient man. Oth. The handkerchief, Des. I Oth. The handkerchief, Des. pray, talk me of Cassio9. A man that, all his time, Hath founded his good fortune on your love; Shar'd dangers with you; Oth. Des. In sooth, You are to blame. Oth. Emil. The handkerchief, Is not this man jealous? Des. I ne'er saw this before. Sure, there's some wonder in this handkerchief: Emil. Tis not a year or two shows us a man: 9 This and the following short speech are omitted in all the ancient editions but the first quarto. The singular phraseology, talk me of Cassio,' is illustrated in vol. iii. p. 363, note 1. They are all but stomachs, and we all but food; Enter IAGO and CASSIO. Iago. There's is no other way; 'tis she must do't; And, lo, the happiness! go, and importune her. Des. How now, good Cassio? what's the news with you? Cas. Madam, my former suit: I do beseech you, That, by your virtuous means, I may again Exist, and be a member of his love, Whom I, with all the duty 10 of my heart, Entirely honour; I would not be delay'd: offence be of such mortal kind, If my That neither service past, nor present sorrows, Can ransome me into his love again, But to know so must be benefit11; my So shall I clothe me in a forc'd content, And shut myself up 12 in some other course, 10 The folio reads the office of my heart:' the words were, however, synonymous. Thus Baret:- Dutie, office, dutie of behaviour in honestie and reason: officium.' So in Antony and Cleopatra: - his goodly eyes-now turn The office and devotion of their view,' &c. 11 'Si nequeo placidas affari Cæsaris aures, Saltem aliquis veniat, qui mihi dicat, abi.' 12 Here again is a strange discordance of opinion in the commentators on the meaning of shut myself p, which evidently signifies no more than confine myself. One of the old quartoś reading'shoot myself up,' by mistake, Mason absurdly contends for that reading. To fortune's alms' means waiting patiently for whatever bounty fortune, or chance, may bestow upon me. We have the same uncommon phrase in King Lear: Let your study Be to content your lord, who hath receiv'd you Des. Alas! thrice gentle Cassio, My advocation is not now in tune; My lord is not my lord; nor should I know him, As I have spoken for you all my best; And stood within the blank 14 of his displeasure, For my free speech! You must a while be patient: What I can do, I will; and more I will, Than for myself I dare: let that suffice you. Iago. Is my lord angry? Emil. He went hence but now, And, certainly, in strange unquietness. Iago. Can he be angry? I have seen the cannon, When it hath blown his ranks into the air; And, like the devil, from his very arm Puff'd his own brother;-And can he be angry? Something of moment, then: I will go meet him; There's matter in't indeed, if he be angry. Des. I pr'ythee, do so.-Something, sure, of state,[Exit IAGO. Either from Venice; or some unhatch'd practice 15, Made démonstrable here in Cyprus to him,Hath puddled his clear spirit: and, in such cases, Men's natures wrangle with inferior things, Though great ones are their object. 'Tis even so: For let our finger ache, and it indues 16 13 i. e. in countenance. See Act i. Sc. 3, note 53. 14 To stand within the blank is to stand in the direct range or in the immediate course; to have his displeasure directed toward her. See vol. iv. p. 38, note 1. 15 Some undeveloped treason. 16 I have elsewhere observed that to indue was used formerly where we now use to imbue. Ophelia, in Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 7, is said to be indued unto that element.' See p. 314, ante. Malone has well explained the meaning of the passage:-' Let but our finger ache, and this sensation so gets possession of, and Our other healthful members ev'n to that sense Of pain: Nay, we must think, men are not gods; Nor of them look for such observances As fit the bridal 17.-Beshrew me much, Emilia, I was (unhandsome warrior as I am), 18 Arraigning his unkindness with my soul; Emil. Pray heaven, it be state matters, as you think; And no conception, nor no jealous toy, Concerning you. Des. Alas, the day! I never gave him cause. Emil. But jealous souls will not be answer'd so; They are not ever jealous for the cause, But jealous for they are jealous: 'tis a monster, Des. Heaven keep that monster from Othello's mind! Emil. Lady, amen. Des. I will go seek him.-Cassio, walk hereabout: If I do find him fit, I'll move your suit, And seek to effect it to my uttermost. [Exeunt DESDEMONA and EMILIA. Enter BIANCA. Bian. Save you, Cas. friend Cassio! What make you from home? How is it with you, my most fair Bianca? I'faith, sweet love, I was coming to your housę. is so infused into the other members, as to make them all participate of the pain.' totumque infusa per artus, Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.' 17 i. e. the nuptial feast. 18 See Act ii. Sc. 1, note 26. Bian. And I was going to your lodging, Cassio. What! keep a week away? seven days and nights? Eight score eight hours? and lovers' absent hours, More tedious than the dial eight score times? O weary reckoning! Cas. Pardon me, Bianca; I have this while with leaden thoughts been press'd; But I shall, in a more continuate time, Strike off this score of absence. Sweet Bianca, [Giving her DESDEMONA'S Handkerchief. Take me this work out 19. Bian. O, Cassio, whence came this? This is some token from a newer friend. Cas. Go to! woman, Throw your vile guesses in the devil's teeth, From whence you have them. You are jealous now, That this is from some mistress, some remembrance: No, in good troth, Bianca. Bran. Why, whose is it? Cas. I know not, sweet: I found it in my chamber. I like the work well; ere it be demanded, (As like enough, it will), I'd have it copied : Take it, and do't; and leave me for this time. Bian. Leave you! wherefore? Cas. I do attend here on the general; And think it no addition, nor my wish, To have him see me woman'd. 19 i. e. copy this work in another handkerchief. See Act iii. Sc. 3, note 42. So in Middleton's Women beware Women:she intends To take out other works in a new sampler.' Again in the Preface to Holland's Pliny, 1601 :-' Nicophanes (a famous painter) gave his mind wholly to antique pictures, partly to exemplify and take out patterns, after that in long continuance of time they were decayed.' |