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 poize2 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.

Des. Emilia, come:- Be it as your fancies teach you; Whate'er you be, I am obedient. [Exit, with EMILIA. Oth. Excellent wretch3! 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? Iago. But for a satisfaction of my thought;

No further harm.

Oth.

Why of thy thought, Iago?

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

2 — full of poize-] i. e. of weight.

3 Excellent wretch !] 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.

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

By heaven, he echoes me,

As if there were some monster in his thought

Too hideous to be shown. Thou dost mean some

thing:

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

Iago. 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.1

Iago.

For Michael Cassio,

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

+"Honest? aye, honest."-MALONE.

4 They are close denotements, working from the heart,

That passion cannot rule,] i. e. indications, or discoveries, not openly revealed, but involuntarily working from the heart, which cannot rule and suppress its feelings.

Oth. I think so too.

Iago.

Men should be what they seem; Or, those that be not, 'would they might seem none ! Oth. Certain, men should be what they seem. Iago.

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,

Why then,

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

Iago.

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.5

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, Iago,
If thou but think'st him wrong'd, and mak'st his ear
A stranger to thy thoughts.

I do beseech you,

Iago.
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, 6

You'd take no notice; nor build yourself a trouble
Out of his scattering and unsure observance :-
It were not for your quiet, nor your good,

+"Why, then, I think Cassio's an honest man." MALONE.

5

to that all slaves are free to.] I am not bound to do that which even slaves are not bound to do.

6

conjects,] To conject, i. e. to conjecture, is a word used by other writers.

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.

Iago. You cannot, if my heart were in your hand; Nor shall not, whilst 'tis in my custody.

Oth. Ha!
Iago. O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green ey'd monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on:7 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!

Iago. 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,

The meat it feeds on:] i. e. loaths that which nourishes and sustains it. But Mr. Malone reads,

"which doth make

The meat it feeds on:"

Implying that its suspicions are unreal and groundless, which is the very contrary to what he would here make his general think. 8 But riches, fineless,] Unbounded, endless, unnumbered.

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 exsufflicate9 and blown surmises,

Matching thy inference.1 '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 : 2
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, Iago;
I'll see, before I doubt; when I doubt, prove;
And, on the proof, there is no more but this, —
Away at once with love, or jealousy.

Iago. I am glad of this; for now I shall have reason
To show the love and duty that I bear you
With franker spirit: therefore, as I am bound,
Receive it from me:-I speak not yet of proof.
Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio;
Wear your eye—thus, not jealous, nor secure :
I would not have your free and noble nature,
Out of self-bounty3 be abus'd; look to't:

I know our country disposition well;

In Venice they do let heaven see the pranks

They dare not show their husbands; their best conscience

Is-not to leave undone, but keep unknown.

9 To such exsufflicate-] Whether our poet had any authority for the word exsufflicate, which I think is used in the sense of swollen, and appears to have been formed from sufflatus, I am unable to ascertain: but I have not thought it safe to substitute for it another word equally unauthorised. MALONE. Mr. Nares explains it by contemptible, abominable.

blown surmises,

Matching thy inference.] That is, such as you have mentioned in describing the torments of jealousy.

2 Where virtue is, these are more virtuous :] An action in itself indifferent, grows virtuous by its end and application.

3 Out of self-bounty,] Self-bounty for inherent generosity.