But I'll set down the pegs that make this music,

As honest as I am.

Oth.

News, friends; our wars are done; the Turks are

drowned.

How do our old acquaintance of this isle?—

Honey, you shall be well desired' in Cyprus;

I have found great love amongst them. O my sweet,
I prattle out of fashion, and I dote

In mine own comforts.-I pr'ythee, good Iago,
Go to the bay, and disembark my coffers.

Bring thou the master to the citadel;

He is a good one, and his worthiness

Does challenge much respect.-Come, Desdemona ; Once more, well met at Cyprus.

[Exeunt OTHELLO, Desdemona, and

Attendants.

Iago. Do thou meet me presently at the harbor. Come hither. If thou be'st valiant,-as (they say) base men, being in love, have then a nobility in their natures more than is native to them,-list me. The lieutenant to-night watches on the court of guard.3-First, I must tell thee this-Desdemona is directly in love with him. Rod. With him! why, 'tis not possible.

4

lago. Lay thy finger-thus, and let thy soul be instructed. Mark me with what violence she first loved the Moor, but for bragging, and telling her fantastical lies; and will she love him still for prating? Let not thy discreet heart think it. Her eye must be fed; and what delight shall she have to look on the devil? When the blood is made dull with the act of sport, there should be-again to inflame it, and to give satiety a fresh appetite-loveliness in favor; sympathy in years, manners, and beauties; all which the Moor is defective in. Now, for want of these required conveniences, her delicate tenderness will find itself abused,

1 i. e. much solicited by invitation.

2 Out of method, without any settled order of discourse.

3 That is, the place where the guard musters.

4 On thy mouth to stop it, while thou art listening to a wiser man.

begin to heave the gorge, disrelish and abhor the Moor; very nature will instruct her in it, and compel her to some second choice. Now, sir, this granted, (as it is a most pregnant and unforced position,) who stands so eminently in the degree of this fortune, as Cassio does? a knave very voluble; no further conscionable, than in putting on the mere form of civil and humane seeming, for the better compassing of his salt and most hidden, loose affection? Why, none; why, none. A slippery and subtle knave: a finder out of occasions; that has an eye can stamp and counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never present itself: a devilish knave! besides, the knave is handsome, young; and hath all those requisites in him, that folly and green minds1 look after a pestilent, complete knave; and the woman hath found him already.

Rod. I cannot believe that in her; she is full of most blessed condition.2

Iago. Blessed fig's end! the wine she drinks is made of grapes; if she had been blessed, she would never have loved the Moor. Blessed pudding! Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? didst not mark that?

3

Rod. Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy. Iago. Lechery, by this hand; an index, and obscure prologue to the history of lust and foul thoughts. They met so near with their lips, that their breaths embraced together. Villanous thoughts, Roderigo! when these mutualities so marshal the way, hard at hand comes the master and main exercise, the incorporate conclusion. Pish!-But, sir, be you ruled by me. I have brought you from Venice. Watch you to-night; for the command, I'll lay't upon you. Cassio knows you not;-I'll not be far from you. Do you find some occasion to anger Cassio, either by speaking too loud, or tainting his discipline; or from what other

4

1 Minds unripe, minds not yet fully formed.

2 Qualities, disposition of mind.

3 Indexes were formerly prefixed to books.
4 Throwing a slur upon his discipline.

VOL. VII.

55

course you please, which the time shall more favorably minister.

Rod. Well.

2

Iago. Sir, he is rash, and very sudden' in choler; and, haply, with his truncheon may strike at you. Provoke him, that he may; for, even out of that, will I cause these of Cyprus to mutiny; whose qualification shall come into no true taste again, but by the displanting of Cassio. So shall you have a shorter journey to your desires, by the means I shall then have to prefer them; and the impediment most profitably removed, without the which there were no expectation of our prosperity.

3

Rod. I will do this, if I can bring it to any opportunity.

Iago. I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel; I must fetch his necessaries ashore. Farewell. Rod. Adieu. [Exit.

Jago. That Cassio loves her, I do well believe it; That she loves him, 'tis apt, and of great credit. The Moor-howbeit that I endure him notIs of a constant, loving, noble nature; And, I dare think, he'll prove to Desdemona A most dear husband. Now I do love her too; Not out of absolute lust, (though, peradventure, I stand accountant for as great a sin,) But partly led to diet my revenge,

For that I do suspect the lusty Moor

Hath leaped into my seat; the thought whereof
Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards;
And nothing can or shall content my soul,

4

Till I am even with him, wife for wife;

Or, failing so, yet that I put the Moor

At least into a jealousy so strong

That judgment cannot cure.

1 Sudden is precipitately violent.

Which thing to do,—

2 Qualification, in our old writers, signifies appeasement, pacification,

assuagement of anger.

3 To advance them.

4 Thus the quarto 1622; the folio-till I am evened with him.

If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trace1
For his quick hunting, stand the putting on,
I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip;
Abuse him to the Moor in the rank garb,2
For I fear Cassio with my nightcap too;

Make the Moor thank me, love me, and reward me,
For making him egregiously an ass,

And practising upon his peace and quiet,

Even to madness. 'Tis here, but yet confused;
Knavery's plain face is never seen, till used.

SCENE II. A Street.

[Exit.

Enter a Herald, with a proclamation; People following. Her. It is Othello's pleasure, our noble and valiant general, that, upon certain tidings now arrived, importing the mere 3 perdition of the Turkish fleet, every man put himself into triumph; some to dance, some to make bonfires, each man to what sport and revels his addiction leads him; for, besides these beneficial news, it is the celebration of his nuptials. So much was his pleasure should be proclaimed. All offices are open; and there is full liberty of feasting, from this present hour of five, till the bell hath told eleven. Heaven bless the isle of Cyprus, and our noble general, Othello! [Exeunt.

1 "If this poor trash of Venice, whom I trace
For his quick hunting, bear the putting on," &c.

4

This is the reading of the folio; the quarto of 1622 reads crush, which the commentators altered to trash, signifying to impede, to keep back; a meaning the very converse of that required by the context: to trace means neither more nor less than to follow, the appropriate hunting term; the old French tracer, tracher, trasser, and the Italian tracciare, having the same meaning. 2 "In the rank garb," is "in the right down or straight forward fashion." The folio reads "in the right garb."

3 Mere is entire.

4 All rooms or places in the castle, at which refreshments are prepared or served out.

SCENE III. A Hall in the Castle.

Enter OTHELLO, DESDEMONA, CASSIO, and Attendants.

Oth. Good Michael, look you to the guard to-night. Let's teach ourselves that honorable stop,

Not to outsport discretion.

Cas. Iago hath direction what to do;

But, notwithstanding, with my personal eye

Will I look to't.

Michael, good night; to-morrow, with our earliest, Let me have speech with you.-Come, my dear love, The purchase made, the fruits are to ensue;

[To DESDEMONA. That profit's yet to come 'twixt me and you.—

Good night.

[Exeunt OтH., DES., and Attend.

Enter IAGO.

Cas. Welcome, Iago; we must to the watch. Iago. Not this hour, lieutenant; 'tis not yet ten o'clock. Our general cast us thus early, for the love of his Desdemona; whom let us not therefore blame; he hath not yet made wanton the night with her; and she is sport for Jove.

Cas. She's a most exquisite lady.

Iago. And, I'll warrant her, full of game.

Cas. Indeed, she is a most fresh and delicate

creature.

Iago. What an eye she has! Methinks it sounds a parley of provocation.

Cas. An inviting eye; and yet, methinks, right modest.

Iago. And, when she speaks, is it not an alarm to love?

Cas. She is, indeed, perfection.

1 i. e. dismissed us.