To kiss, and talk to. I'll have the work ta'en out,'

And give it Iago:

What he'll do with it, heaven knows, not I;

I nothing, but to please his fantasy.

Enter IAGO.

Iago. How now! what do you here alone?

Emil. Do not you chide; I have a thing for you.
Jago. A thing for me ?—It is a common thing.
Emil. Ha!

Iago. To have a foolish wife.

Emil. O, is that all? what will you give me now For that same handkerchief?

Iago. What handkerchief?

Emil. What handkerchief?

Why, that the Moor first gave to Desdemona ;
That which so often you did bid me steal.
Iago. Hast stolen it from her ?

Emil. No, faith; she let it drop by negligence;
And, to the advantage, I, being here, took't up.
Look, here it is.

Iago. A good wench; give it me.

[earnest

Emil. What will you do with it, that you have been so To have me filch it?

Iago. Why, what's that to you ?

[Snatching it.

Emil. If it be not for some purpose of import, Give it me again: Poor lady! she'll run mad, When she shall lack it.

Iago. Be not you known of't: I have use for it. Go, leave me.

[Exit EMILIA.

I will in Cassio's lodging lose this napkin,
And let him find it: Trifles, light as air,
Are, to the jealous, confirmations strong
As proofs of holy writ. This may do something.
The Moor already changes with my poison :-
Dangerous conceits are, in their natures, poisons,
Which, at the first, are scarce found to distaste;
But, with a little act upon the blood,

Burn like the mines of sulphur.--I did say so :--
Enter OTHEllo.

Look, where he comes! Not poppy, nor mandragora,*

[3] That is copied. Her first thoughts are to have a copy made of it for her husband, and restore the original to Desdemona. But the sudden coming in of Iago, in a surly humour, makes her alter her resolution, to please him. The same phrase occurs between Cassio and Bianca, sc. iv. BLACKSTONE.

[4] The mandragoras or mandrake has a soporific quality, and the ancients used it when they wanted an opiate of the most powerful kind.

VOL. X.

STEEVENS.

H

Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,

Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou ow'dst yesterday.

Oth. Ha ha! false to me?

To me?

Iago. Why, how now, general? no more of that. Oth. Avaunt! begone! thou hast set me on the rack :-I swear, 'tis better to be much abus'd,. Than but to know't a little.

Iago. How now, my lord?

Oth. What sense had I of her stolen hours of lust?
I saw it not, thought it not, it harm'd not me.
I slept the next night well, was free and merry
I found not Cassio's kisses on her lips :

He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stolen
Let him not know it, and he's not robb'd at all.
Tago. I am sorry to hear this.

Oth. I had been happy, if the general camp,
Pioneers and all," had tasted her sweet body,
So I had nothing known: O now, for ever,
Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!
Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars,
That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!
Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner; and all quality,

Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
And O, you mortal engines, whose rude throats
The immortal Jove's dread clamours counterfeit,
Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone!

Iago. Is it possible ?My lord,

Oth. Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore;

Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof; [Taking him by Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul,

Thou hadst been better have been born a dog,

Than answer my wak'd wrath.

Iago. Is it come to this?

the throat.

Oth. Make me to see it; or (at the least) so prove it, That the probation bear no hinge, nor loop,

To hang a doubt on: or, woe upon thy life!

Iago. My noble lord,

Oth. If thou dost slander her, and torture me,

[5] That is, the most abject and vilest of the camp. Pioneers were generally degraded soldiers, appointed to the office of pioneer, as a punishment for misconduct.

GROSE.

Never pray more abandon all remorse;
On horror's head horrors accumulate :

Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amaz'd,
For nothing canst thou to damnation add,

Greater than that.

Iago. O grace! O heaven defend me!

Are you a man? have you a soul, or sense?

God be wi' you; take mine office.-O wretched fool, That liv'st to make thine honesty a vice !

O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world,
To be direct and honest, is not safe.-

I thank you for this profit; and, from hence,
I'll love no friend, since love breeds such offence.
Oth. Nay, stay :-Thou should'st be honest.
Iago. I should be wise; for honesty's a fool,
And loses that it works for.

Oth. By the world,

I think my wife be honest, and think she is not;
I think that thou art just, and think thou art not;
I'll have some proof: Her name, that was as fresh
As Dian's visage, is now begrim'd and black

As mine own face.-If there be cords, or knives,
Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams,

I'll not endure it.--'Would, I were satisfied!

Iago. I see, sir, you are eaten up with passion : I do repent me, that I put it to you.

You would be satisfied?

Oth. Would? nay, I will.

Jago. And may: But, how? how satisfied, my lord? Would you, the supervisor, grossly gape on?

Behold her tupp'd?

Oth. Death and damnation! O!

Iago. It were a tedious difficulty, I think,

To bring them to that prospect: Damn them then,
If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster,
More than their own! What then? how then?
What shall I say? Where's satisfaction?

It is impossible, you should see this,

Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys,
As salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross
As ignorance made drunk. But yet, I say,
If imputation, and strong circumstances,--
Which lead directly to the door of truth,--
Will give you satisfaction, you may have it.
[6] Prime is prompt, from the Celtick or British prim.

HANMER.

1

Oth. Give me a living reason she's disloyal.
Iago. I do not like the office :

But, sith I am enter'd in this cause so far,-
Prick'd to it by foolish honesty and love,-
I will go on. I lay with Cassio lately;
And, being troubled with a raging tooth,
I could not sleep.

There are a kind of men so loose of soul,
That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs;
One of this kind is Cassio :

In sleep I heard him say,-Sweet Desdemona,
let
wary, us hide our loves!

Let us be

And then, sir, would he gripe, and wring my hand,
Cry,-O, sweet creature! and then kiss me hard,
As if he pluck'd up kisses by the roots,
That grew upon my lips: then laid his leg
Over my thigh, and sigh'd, and kiss'd; and then
Cry'd,--Cursed fate! that gave thee to the Moor!
Oth. O monstrous! monstrous !

Iago. Nay, this was but his dream.

Oth. But this denoted a foregone conclusion;
'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.
Iago. And this may help to thicken other proofs,
That do demonstrate thinly.

Oth. I'll tear her all to pieces.

Iago. Nay, but be wise: yet we see nothing done;
She may be honest yet. Tell me but this,-
Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief,
Spotted with strawberries, in your wife's hand?
Oth. I gave her such a one; 'twas my first gift.
lago. I know not that: but such a handkerchief,
(I am sure it was your wife's,) did I to-day
See Cassio wipe his beard with.

Oth. If it be that,

--

Lago. If it be that, or any that was hers,
It speaks against her with the other proofs.
Oth. O, that the slave had forty thousand lives;
One is too poor, too weak for my revenge!
Now do I see 'tis true.-Look here, Iago;
All my fond love thus I do blow to heaven:
'Tis gone.-

Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell!
Yield
up, O love, thy crown, and hearted throne,"

Night

Hearted throne, is the heart on which thou wast enthroned. So in Twelfth
"It gives a very echo to the seat,
"Where love is thron'd."

MALONE.

To tyrannous hate! swell, bosom, with thy fraught,
For 'tis of aspicks' tongues!

Iago. Pray, be content.

Oth. O, blood, Iago, blood!

Iago. Patience, I say; your mind, perhaps, may change
Oth. Never, Iago. Like to the Pontick sea,
Whose icy current and compulsive course
Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
To the Propontick, and to the Hellespont ;
Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,
Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love,
Till that a capable and wide revenge

Swallow them up.-Now, by yond' marble heaven,
In the due reverence of a sacred vow
I here engage my words.

Iago. Do not rise yet.

Witness, you ever-burning lights above!
You elements that clip us round about!
Witness, that here lago doth give up
The execution of his wit, hands, heart,

To wrong'd Othello's service! let him command,
And to obey shall be in me remorse,

What bloody work soever.

Oth. I greet thy love,

[Kneels.

[Kneels.

Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,
And will upon the instant put thee to't:

Within these three days let me hear thee say,

That Cassio's not alive.

Iago. My friend is dead; 'tis done, at your request :

But, let her live.

Oth. Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her!
Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw,
To furnish me with some swift means of death
For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.
Iago. I am your own for ever.

The same.

SCENE IV.

[Exeunt.

Enter DESDEMONA, EMILIA, and Clown.

Des. Do you know, sirrah, where lieutenant Cassio lies? Clown. I dare not say, he lies any

Des. Why, man?

where.

[8] Iago devotes himself to wronged Othello, and says, Let him command whatever bloody business, and in me it shall be an act, not of cruelty, but of tenderness to obey him ; not of malice to others, but of tenderness for him. JOHNSON.