I thought so then :-I'll kill myself for grief.-
O villainy, villainy!

Iago. What are you mad? I charge you, get you

home.

Emil. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak: "Tis proper I obey him, but not now.Perchance, Iago, I will ne'er go home. Oth. O! O! O! Emil. For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent,

[Falling on the Bed.

Nay, lay thee down and roar,

That e'er did lift up eye.

Oth. I scarce did know you, uncle: there lies your niece, Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp'd. I know, this act shows terrible and grim1o.

O! she was foul.- [Rising.

Gra. Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father's dead. Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now, This sight would make him do a desperate turn, Yea, curse his better angel from his side,

And fall to reprobation'.

Oth. "Tis pitiful; but yet Iago knows,
That she with Cassio hath the act of shame

A thousand times committed: Cassio confess'd it;
And she did gratify his amorous works

With that recognizance and pledge of love
Which I first gave her. I saw it in his hand;
It was a handkerchief, an antique token

My father gave my mother.

10

Emil. O heaven! O heavenly powers!
Iago.

Come, hold your peace.

Emil. "Twill out, 'twill out:-I hold my peace, sir?

no2;

shows terrible and grim.] The folio alone has horrible for " terrible."

1 And fall to REPROBATION.] Here also the folio is singular in reading reprobance for "reprobation." Like iterance, p. 621, we have no other authority for the word reprobance.

2 "Twill out, 'twill out:-I hold my peace, sir? no ;] So the quarto, 1630 : the folio, imperfectly as regards metre, ""Twill out, 'twill out: I peace!"

No, I will speak as liberal as the north".
Let heaven, and men, and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.
Iago. Be wise, and get you home.

Emil. O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou

speak'st of,

I found by fortune, and did give my husband;

For often, with a solemn earnestness,

(More than, indeed, belong'd to such a trifle) He begg❜d of me to steal it.

Iago.

Emil. She give it Cassio!

And I did give 't my husband.

Villainous whore!

no, alas! I found it,

Filth, thou liest.

Iago.
Emil. By heaven, I do not; I do not, gentlemen.
O murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool
Do with so good a woman*?

Oth.

[IAGO stabs EMILIA, then runs out3. Are there no stones in heaven,

But what serve for the thunder?-Precious villain"! Gra. The woman falls: sure, he has kill'd his wife.

3 No, I will speak as liberal as the NORTH.] Our reading is here that of the folio the quartos differ from each other, as well as from the folio, but that of 1630 substantially supports the folio: it is,

"I'll be in speaking liberal as the north."

while the line in the quarto, 1622, runs thus:

"I'll be in speaking liberal as the air."

This instance among others, may serve to show that all three copies were printed from different manuscripts.

4 Do with so good a WOMAN?] "Do with so good a wife," only in the folio. 5 Iago stabs Emilia, then runs out.] The old stage-direction in the quartos is (for there is none in the folio), "The Moor runs at Iago: Iago kills his wife," but his exit is not marked until after Emilia's next speech. It appears afterwards that Montano disarms Othello.

PRECIOUS villain !] This is a place where the quarto, 1630, affords a different and an inferior reading to the two older editions: it has “pernicious villain." At all events, pernicious does not suit the measure.

Emil. Ay, ay. O, lay me by my mistress' side!
Gra. He's gone, but his wife's kill'd.

Mon. "Tis a notorious villain. Take you this weapon,
Which I have here recover'd from the Moor'.
Come, guard the door without: let him not pass,
But kill him rather. I'll after that same villain,
For 'tis a damned slave.

Oth.

[Exeunt MONTANO and GRATIANO.
I am not valiant neither,

But every puny whipster gets my sword.
But why should honour outlive honesty?
Let it go all.

Emil.
What did thy song bode, lady?
Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan,
And die in music:- Willow, willow, willows.—
Moor, she was chaste; she lov'd thee, cruel Moor:
So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;
So speaking as I think, I die,-I die.

Oth. I have another weapon in this chamber,
It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper.-
O! here it is.-Uncle, I must come forth.

[Dies.

Gra. [Within.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear:

Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.

Oth. Look in upon me, then, and speak to me3, Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.

Re-enter GRATIANO.

Gra. What is the matter?

Oth.

Behold! I have a weapon;

A better never did itself sustain

7 Which I have here recover'd from the Moor.] This line shows that Othello had " run at Iago," according to the old stage-direction of the quartos, and that Montano, interposing, had "recovered” his sword of him. "Here" in this line is omitted in the folio only.

8

Willow, willow, willow.-] These words and the preceding part of the speech, are not in the quarto, 1622. In the last line of it, the folio reads “Alas! I die," instead of "I die-I die," of the quartos.

and speak to me,] The folio alone, "and speak with me."

VOL. VII.

S S

Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day,
That, with this little arm, and this good sword,
I have made my way through more impediments
Than twenty times your stop.-But, O vain boast!
Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.—
Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd;
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast,
And he retires.-Where should Othello go?-
Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench'!
Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl;
Even like thy chastity.-O, cursed slave'!-
Whip me, ye devils,

From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead? O! O! 03!

Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO, CASSIO1, and Officers, with IAGO, prisoner.

Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? Oth. That's he, that was Othello: here I am.

1 Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench!] This and the six previous lines are not in the quarto, 1622, but are in the folio and quarto, 1630 : the latter, however, omits "Now," in this line.

2 Even like thy chastity.-0, cursed slave !] So the two quartos: the folio repeats "cursed," to the detriment of the metre.

3 O Desdemona, Desdemona! dead? O! O! O!] Our reading is here that of both the quartos; the folio has the line thus, with an injurious, though by no means unprecedented abridgment of the name :—

"O Desdemon? dead? Desdemon! dead! O! O!"

4 Enter Lodovico, Montano, Cassio,] The stage-direction of the quartos, informs us that Cassio was "carried in a chair," but as the words are not in the folio, we may infer that the practice of our old stage in this respect was not uniform. In modern times Cassio walks in lame, and supported, with the handkerchief about his leg.

Lod. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth. Oth. I look down towards his feet';-but that's a

fable:

If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee.

[OTHELLO wounds IAGO.

I bleed, sir; but not kill'd.

Lod. Wrench his sword from him.

Iago.
Oth. I am not sorry neither: I'd have thee live;
For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die.

Lod. O thou Othello! that wert once so good,

Fall'n in the practice of a damned slave,
What shall be said to thee?

Oth.

Why, any thing:

An honourable murderer, if you will;

For nought I did in hate, but all in honour.
Lod. This wretch hath part confess'd his villainy.
Did you
and he consent in Cassio's death?

Oth. Ay.

Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause.
Oth. I do believe it, and I ask you pardon'.

Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil,

Why he hath thus ensnar'd my soul and body?
Iago. Demand me nothing: what you know, you know.
From this time forth I never will speak word.

Lod. What! not to pray?

Gra.

Torments will ope your lips.

Oth. Well, thou dost best.

Lod. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n, Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter, Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo;

And here another: the one of them imports

5

towards his feet;] To see (observes Johnson) if, according to the common opinion, his feet were cloven.

6 - of a DAMNED slave,] The folio reads "of a cursed slave," in opposition to the two other authorities.

7 I ask you pardon.] The folio alone has " I ask your pardon," and in this part of the scene there are some other trifling variations not requiring especial notice, and not at all affecting the sense.