Puslapio vaizdai
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Distinctly speak of her: though I may fear,
Her will, recoiling to her better judgment,
May fall to match you with her country forms,
And (happily) repent.

Oth.

Farewell, farewell :

If more thou dost perceive, let me know more;
Set on thy wife to observe: Leave me, Iago.
Iago. My lord, I take my leave.

[Going.

Oth. Why did I marry? - This honest creature,

doubtless,

Sees and knows more, much more, than he unfolds. Iago. My lord, I would, I might entreat your honour

To scan this thing no further; leave it to time:
And though it be fit that Cassio have his place
(For, sure, he fills it up with great ability),
Yet, if you please to hold him off a while,
You shall by that perceive him and his means
Note, if your lady strain his entertainment 34
With any strong or vehement importunity;
Much will be seen in that. In the mean time,
Let me be thought too busy in my fears
(As worthy cause I have, to fear-I am),
And hold her free, I do beseech your honour.

33:

[Exit.

Oth. Fear not my government 35. Iago. I once more take my leave. Oth. This fellow's of exceeding honesty, And knows all qualities, with a learned spirit 36, Of human dealings: If I do prove her haggard 37,

33 You shall discover whether he thinks his best means, his most powerful interest, is by the solicitation of your lady.'

34 i. e. press hard his readmission to his pay and office. Entertainment was the military term for the admission of soldiers. 35 Do not distrust my ability to contain my passion. 36 Learned for experienced. The construction is, 'He knows with an experienced spirit all qualities of human dealings.' 37 Haggard is wild, and therefore libertine. A haggard falcon

VOL. X.

QQ

:

Though that her jesses 38 were my dear heart-strings,
I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind,
To prey at fortune. Haply, for I am black;
And have not those soft parts of conversation
That chamberers have 39:-Or, for I am declin'd
Into the vale of years;-yet that's not much;—
She's gone; I am abus'd; and my relief
Must be to loathe her. O curse of marriage,
That we can call these delicate creatures ours,
And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad,
And live upon the vapour of a dungeon,

was a wild hawk that had preyed for herself long before she was taken; sometimes also called a ramage falcon. From a passage in The White Devil, or Vittoria Corombona, 1612, it appears that haggard was a term of reproach, sometimes applied to a wanton:--' Is this your perch, you haggard? fly to the stews.' So in Shakerley Marmion's Holland's Leaguer, 1633 :

'Before these courtiers lick their lips at her,
I'll trust a wanton haggard in the wind.'

Again:

'For she is ticklish as any haggard,
And quickly lost.'

38 Jesses are short straps of leather tied about the foot of a hawk, by which she is held on the fist. The falconers always let fly the hawk against the wind; if she flies with the wind behind her, she seldom returns. If therefore a hawk was for any reason to be dismissed, she was let down the wind, and from that time shifted for herself and preyed at fortune.' This was told to Dr. Johnson by Mr. Clark. So in the Spanish Gipsie, 1653 :

That young lannerd (i. e. hawk)

Whom you have such a mind to; if you can whistle her
To come to fist, make trial, play the young falconer.'

Again in Bonduca, by Beaumont and Fletcher:-
he that basely

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Whistled his honour off to the wind,' &c.

And in Dryden's Annus Mirabilis :--
'Have you not seen, when whistled from the fist,
Some falcon stoops at what her eye design'd,

And with her eagerness the quarry miss'd,

Straight flies at cheek, and clips it down the wind.'

39 Men of intrigue. Chambering and wantonness are mentioned together in the Scriptures. με ΚΟΙΤΑΙΣ is rendered not in chambering in the common version..

Than keep a corner in the thing I love,
For others' uses. Yet, 'tis the plague of great ones ;
Prerogativ'd are they less than the base;
'Tis destiny unshunnable, like death;

Even then this forked 40 plague is fated to us,

When we do quicken 41. Desdemona comes:

Enter DESDEMONA and EMILIA.

If she be false, O, then heaven mocks itself!

I'll not believe it.

Des.

How now, my dear Othello?

Your dinner, and the generous 42 islanders
By you invited, do attend your presence.
Oth. I am to blame.

Des. Why is your speech so faint? are you not well?

Oth. I have a pain upon my forehead here.

Des. 'Faith, that's with watching; 'twill away

again:

Let me but bind it hard, within this hour

It will be well.

Oth.

Your napkin 43 is too little;

[He puts the Handkerchief from him, and it drops.

Let it alone. Come, I'll go in with you.

40 One of Sir John Harington's Epigrams will illustrate this forked plague :

'Actæon guiltless unawares espying
Naked Diana bathing in ber bowre

Was plagued with HORNES; his dogs did him devoure;
Wherefore take heed, ye that are curious, prying,
With some such forked plague you be not smitten,

And in your foreheads see your faults be written.' 41 i. e. when we begin to live.

42 ، The generous islanders' are the islanders of rank, distinction: generosi, Lat. See vol. ii. p. 92, note 4. This explanation however (as Steevens observes) may be too particular; for generous also signified valiant, of a brave spirit.

43 In the north of England this term for a handkerchief is still used. The word occurs in Macbeth, Julius Cæsar, and other of these plays.

Des. I am very sorry that you are not well.

[Exeunt Отн. and DES.

Emil. I am glad I have found this napkin; This was her first remembrance from the Moor: My wayward husband hath a hundred times Woo'd me to steal it: but she so loves the token (For he conjur'd her, she would ever keep it), That she reserves it evermore about her,

To kiss, and talk to. I'll have the work ta'en out 44,
And give 't 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.
Iago. A thing for me?-it is a common thing.
Emil. Ha!

Iago. To have a foolish wife.

44 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 afterwards occurs between Cassio and Bianca, in Sc. iv.

'This scheme of getting the work of this valued handerchief copied, and restoring the original to Desdemona, was probably introduced by the poet to render Emilia less unamiable. It is remarkable that when she perceives Othello's fury on the loss of this token, though she is represented as affectionate to her mistress, she never attempts to relieve her from her distress; which she might easily have done by demanding the handkerchief from her husband, or divulging the story if he refused to restore it. But this would not have served the plot.-In Cinthio's Novel, while the artless Desdemona is caressing the child of Othello's ancient, the villain steals the handkerchief which hung at her girdle without the knowledge of his wife.'-Malone.

'This observation is very just; it is particularly striking in the representation; neither is the concluding apology to be admitted, as there is no reason why Emilia should be present when Othello demands the handkerchief.'-Pye.

Emil. O, is that all? What will you give me now

For that same handkerchief?

Iago.

Emil. What handkerchief?

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 45, I, being here, took 't up. Look, here it is.

Iago.

A good wench; give it me.

Emil. What will you do with it, that you have

been so earnest

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 46; 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;

45 That is, I being opportunely here, took it up.

46 Seem as if you knew nothing of the matter.' The folio reads, Be not acknown on't.'--This word occurs in the Life of Ariosto, subjoined to Sir John Harington's translation of the Orlando Furioso, p. 418, ed. 1607 :-' Some say he was married to her privilie, but durst not be acknowne of it.' Again in Cornelia, a tragedy, by Thomas Kyd, 1594 :

'Our friend's misfortune doth increase our own.
Cic. But ours of others will not be acknown.'

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