Thou doft deliver more or less than truth,

Thou art no foldier.

LAGO.

Touch me not so near:

I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth,
Than it should do offence to Michael Caffio;
Yet, I perfuade myself, to speak the truth
Shall nothing wrong him.-Thus it is, general.
Montano and myself being in fpeech,

There comes a fellow, crying out for help;
And Caffio following him with determin'd fword,
To execute upon him: Sir, this gentleman
Steps in to Caffio, and entreats his pause;
Myfelf the crying fellow did pursue,
Left, by his clamour, (as it fo fell out,)
The town might fall in fright: he, fwift of foot,
Outran my purpofe; and I return'd the rather
For that I heard the clink and fall of fwords,
And Caffio high in oath; which, till to-night,
I ne'er might fay before: When I came back,
(For this was brief,) I found them close together,
At blow, and thrust; even as again they were,
When you yourself did part them.

More of this matter can I not report :

But men are men; the beft fometimes forget:-
Though Caffio did fome little wrong to him,-
As men in rage strike those that with them bet‚—

fhip; but here it means related by nearness of office. In the fra fcene it is ufed in the former of these fenfes :

"If I, in any juft term, am affin'd

"To love the Moor."

STEEVENS.

-leagu'd in office,] Old copies-league. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

7 — cut from my mouth,] Thus the folio. The quarto, 1522, reads-this tongue cut from my mouth. MALONE.

8 And Caffio following him-] The word him in this line seems to have crept into it from the compofitor's eye glancing on that be low. MALONE.

Yet, furely, Caffio, I believe, receiv'd,
From him that fled, fome ftrange indignity,
Which patience could not pafs.

Отн.

I know, Iago,

Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter, Making it light to Caffio:-Caffio, I love thee; But never more be officer of mine.

Enter DESDEMONA, attended.

Look, if my gentle love be not rais'd up;-
I'll make thee an example.

DES.

What's the matter, dear?

OTH. All's well now, fweeting; Come away to

bed.

Sir, for your hurts,

Myfelf will be your furgeon: Lead him off."

[TO MONTANO, who is led off.

Iago, look with care about the town;

And filence those whom this vile brawl distracted.—

Come, Defdemona; 'tis the foldiers' life,

To have their balmy flumbers wak'd with ftrife.

[Exeunt all but IAGO and CASSIO.

LAGO. What, are you hurt, lieutenant?

CAS. Ay, paft all furgery.

LAGO. Marry, heaven forbid!

CAS. Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have loft my reputation! I have loft the immortal

?Sweeting] This furfeiting vulgar term of fondnefs originates from the name of an apple diftinguished only by its infipid fweetnefs. STEEVENS.

2 Lead him off.] I am perfuaded, thefe words were originally a marginal direction. In our old plays all the stage-directions were couched in imperative terms:-Play mufick-Ring the bell-Lead him off. MALONE.

part, fir, of myself, and what remains is beftial.My reputation, Iago, my reputation.

2

IAGO. As I am an honest man, I thought you had received fome bodily wound; there is more offence in that, than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and moft falfe impofition; oft got without merit, and loft without deferving: You have loft no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a lofer. What, man! there are ways to recover the general again: You are but now caft in his mood,❜ a punishment more in policy than in malice; even fo as one would beat his offenceless dog, to affright an imperious lion: fue to him again, and he's yours.

CAS. I will rather fue to be defpifed, than to deceive fo good a commander, with fo flight, fo drunken, and fo indiscreet an officer. Drunk? and speak parrot? and fquabble? fwagger? fwear? and difcourfe fuftian with one's own fhadow?-O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou haft no name to be known by, let us call thee-devil!

2

there is more offence &c.] Thus the quartos. The folio reads there is more fenfe, &c. STEEVENS.

3

caft in his mood,] Ejected in his anger. JOHNSON. -fo flight,] Thus the folio. The quarto, 1622, reads fo light. MALONE.

4

and fpeak parrot?] A phrafe fignifying to act foolist'y and childishly. So Skelton:

"Thefe maidens full mekely with many a divers flour,
"Freshly they dress and make sweete my boure,

"With Spake parrot I pray you full courteously thei faye.”
WARBURTON.

So, in Lyly's Woman in the Moon, 1597:

"Thou pretty parrot, Speak a while."

Thefe lines are wanting in the first quarto. STEEVENs. From Drunk, &c. to shadow, inclufively, is wanting in the quarto, 1622. By "Speak parrot," furely the poet meant, idly," and not, as Dr. Warburton fuppofes, ac foolishly."

" talk

MALONE

LAGO. What was he that you follow'd with your fword? What had he done to you?

CAS. I know not.

Iaco. Is it poffible?

CAS. I remember a mafs of things, but nothing diftinctly; a quarrel, but nothing wherefore.-O, that men fhould put an enemy in their mouths, to fteal away their brains! that we fhould, with joy, revel, pleasure, and applaufe, transform ourfelves into beafts!

LAGO. Why, but you are now well enough; How came you thus recover'd?

CAS. It hath pleafed the devil, drunkennefs, to give place to the devil, wrath: one unperfectness hows me another, to make me frankly defpife myself.

LAGO. Come, you are too fevere a moraler: As the time, the place, and the condition of this country ftands, I could heartily with this had not befallen; but, fince it is as it is, mend it for your own good.

CAS. I will ask him for my place again; he fhall tell me, I am a drunkard! Had I as many mouths as Hydra, fuch an anfwer would ftop them all. To be now a fenfible man, by and by a fool, and presently a beaft! O ftrange!-Every inordinate cup is unbless'd, and the ingredient is a devil.

LAGO. Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well ufed; exclaim no more against it. And, good lieutenant, I think, you think I love you.

Cas. I have well approved it, fir.—I drunk!

LAGO. You, or any man living, may be drunk at some time, man. I'll tell you what you fhall VOL. XV.

K k

do. Our general's wife is now the general;-I may fay fo in this refpect, for that he hath devoted and given up himself to the contemplation, mark, and denotement of her parts and graces: 5-confefs yourself freely to her; importune her; fhe'll help to put you in your place again: fhe is of fo free, fo kind, fo apt, fo bleffed a difpofition, that the holds it a vice in her goodness, not to do more than fhe is requested: This broken joint, between you and her husband, entreat her to fplinter; and, my fortunes against any lay' worth naming, this crack of your love fhall grow stronger than it was before. CAS. You advife me well.

IAGO. I proteft, in the fincerity of love, and honeft kindness.

CAS. I think it freely; and, betimes in the morning, will I befeech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me: I am defperate of my fortunes, if they check me here.

-for that he hath devoted and given up himself to the com templation, mark, and denotement of her parts and graces:] [Old copies devotement.] I remember, it is faid of Antony, in the beginning of his tragedy, that he who ufed to fix his eyes altoge ther on the dreadful ranges of war:

66

now bends, now turns,

"The office and devotion of their view

Upon a tawny front.”

This is finely exprefled; but I cannot perfuade myself that our poet would ever have faid, any one devoted himself to the devote ment of any thing. All the copies agree; but the mistake certainly arofe from a fingle letter being turned upfide down at prefs.

THEOBALD. The fame mistake has happened in Hamlet, and in feveral other places. See Vol. III. p. 474, n. 3. MALONE.

6

This broken joint,] Thus the folio. The original copy reads-This brawl. MALONE.

7

any lay-] i. e. any bet, any wager. RITSON.

So, in Cymbeline: "I will have it no lay." STEEVENS.