LAGO. You are in the right. Good night, lieutenant; I must to the watch.

Cas. Good night, honeft Iago.

[Exit CASSIO.

LAGO. And what's he then, that fays,-I play the

villain?

8

When this advice is free, I give, and honeft,
Probal to thinking, and (indeed) the courfe
To win the Moor again? For 'tis moft cafy
The inclining Defdemona2 to fubdue

In any honeft fuit; fhe's fram'd as fruitful3
As the free elements. And then for her
To win the Moor,-were't to renounce his bap-
tism,

All feals and fymbols of redeemed fin,-
His foul is fo enfetter'd to her love,

That she may make, unmake, do what fhe lift,
Even as her appetite fhall play the god

With his weak function. How am I then a villain,
To counsel Caffio to this parallel courfe,'

8 this advice is free,] This counfel has an appearance of honeft openness, of frank good-will. JOHNSON.

Rather gratis, not paid for, as his advice to Roderigo was.

HENLEY.

9 Probal -] Thus the old editions. There may be such a contraction of the word probable, but I have not met with it in any other book. Yet abbreviations as violent occur in our ancient writers, and efpecially in the works of Churchyard. STEEVENS

The inclining Defdemona - Inclining here fignifies compliant.
MALONE.

3 - fruitful-] Corresponding to benignus, aQovos.

as fruitful

HENLEY.

As the free elements.] Liberal, bountiful, as the elements, out of which all things are produced. JOHNSON.

to this parallel courfe,] Parallel, for even; becaufe parallel lincs run even and equidiftant. WARBURTON.

Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!
When devils will their blackest fins put on,
They do fuggeft at first with heavenly fhows,
As I do now: For, while this honeft fool
Plies Defdemona to repair his fortunes,
And the for him pleads ftrongly to the Moor,
I'll pour this peftilence' into his ear,—

8

That the repeals him for her body's luft;
And, by how much fhe ftrives to do him good,
She fhall undo her credit with the Moor.
So will I turn her virtue into pitch;

And out of her own goodness make the net,
That shall enmesh them all."-How now, Roderigo?

Enter RODERIGO.

ROD. I do follow here in the chace, not like a hound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry. My money is almost spent; I have been to-night

So, in our author's 70th Sonnet:

"Time doth transfix the flourish fet on youth,

"And delves the parallels in beauty's brow." MALONE. Parallel courfe; i. e. course level, and even with his defign. JOHNSON.

6 When devils will their blackeft fins put on, They do fuggeft] When devils mean to inftigate men to commit the most atrocious crimes. So, in Hamlet:

"Of deaths put on by cunning and forc'd caufe." To put on, has already occurred twice in the prefent play, in this fenfe. To fuggeft in old language is to tempt.

See Vol. III. p. 220, n. 4. MALONE.

I'll pour this peftilence-] Peftilence, for poifon.

WARBURTON.

8 That he repeals him—] That is, recalls him. JOHNSON. 9 That shall enmesh them all.] A metaphor from taking birds in meshes. РОРЕ.

Why not from the taking fifh, for which purpose nets are more frequently ufed? M. MASON.

exceedingly well cudgell'd; and, I think, the iffue will be-I fhall have fo much experience for my pains: and fo, with no money at all, and a little more wit, return to Venice.

LAGO. How poor are they, that have not patience!

What wound did ever heal, but by degrees? Thou know'ft, we work by wit, and not by witchcraft;

And wit depends on dilatory time.

Does't not go well? Caffio hath beaten thee,
And thou, by that small hurt, haft cashier'd Caffio:
Though other things grow fair against the fun,
Yet fruits, that blossom first, will first be ripe : 3
Content thyfelf a while.-By the mafs, 'tis morn-
ing; +

2

a little more wit,] Thus the folio. The first quarto reads -and with that wit. STEEVENS.

3 Though other things grow fair against the fun,

Yet fruits, that blossom first, will first be ripe:] Of many different things, all planned with the fame art, and promoted with the fame diligence, fome must fucceed fooner than others, by the order of nature. Every thing cannot be done at once; we must proceed by the neceffary gradation. We are not to defpair of flow events any more than of tardy fruits, while the causes are in regular progrefs, and the fruits grow fair against the fun. Sir Thomas Hanmer has not, I think, rightly conceived the fentiment; for he reads:

Thofe fruits which bloffom first, are not first ripe.

I have therefore drawn it out at length, for there are few to whom that will be eafy which was difficult to Sir Thomas Hanmer. JOHNSON.

The blooming, or fair appearance of things, to which Iago alludes, is, the removal of Caffio. As their plan had already blossomed, fo there was good ground for expecting that it would foon be ripe. Iago does not, I think, mean to compare their scheme to tardy fruits, as Dr. Johnfon feems to have fuppofed. MALONE.

4-By the mafs, 'tis morning;] Here we have one of the numerous arbitrary alterations made by the Mafter of the Revels in the

Pleasure, and action, make the hours feem fhort.-
Retire thee; go where thou art billeted:
Away, I fay; thou fhalt know more hereafter:
Nay, get thee gone. [Exit ROD.] Two things are

to be done,

My wife must move for Caffio to her mistress;
I'll fet her on;

Myfelf, the while, to draw the Moor apart,
And bring him jump when he may Caffio find
Soliciting his wife:-Ay, that's the way;
Dull not device by coldness and delay.

[Exit.

playhoufe copies, from which a great part of the folio was printed. It reads-In troth, 'tis morning., See The Hiftorical Account of the English Stage, Vol. II. MALONE.

5 to draw-] Thus the old copies; and this reading is confiftent with the tenor of the prefent interrupted fpeech. lago is ftill debating with himfelf concerning the means to perpicx Othello. STEEVENS.

Myfelf, the while, to draw] The old copies have aokile. Mr. Theobald made the correction.

The modern editors read-Myfelf, the while, will draw. But the old copies are undoubtedly right. An imperfect fentence was intended. Iago is ruminating on his plan. MALONE.

-bring him jump when] Unexpectedly :-an expreffion taken from the bound, or start, with which we are shocked, at the fudden and unlooked-for appearance of any offenfive object. HENLEY.

Jump when, I believe, fignifies no more than juft at the time when. So, in Hamlet:

"Thus twice before, and jump at this dead hour." See p. 11 and 12, n. 7. STEEVENS.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

Before the Castle.

Enter CASSIO, and fome Musicians.

CAS. Mafters, play here, I will content your

pains,

Something that's brief; and bid-good-morrow, [Mufick.

general.'

Enter Clown.

CLO. Why, mafters, have your inftruments been at Naples, that they speak i'the nose thus? 8 1. Mus. How, fir, how!

CLO. Are these, I pray you, call'd wind inftruments?

1. Mus. Ay, marry, are they, sir. CLO. O, thereby hangs a tail.

1. Mus. Whereby hangs a tale, sir?

7—and bid-good-morrow, general.] It is the ufual practice of the waits, or nocturnal minstrels, in feveral towns in the North of England, after playing a tune or two, to cry "Good-morrow, maister such a one, good-morrow dame," adding the hour, and state of the weather. It fhould feem to have prevailed at Stratfordupon-Avon. They formerly ufed hautboys, which are the windinftruments here meant. RITSON.

8 Why, mafters, have your inftruments been at Naples, that they fpeak i'the nofe thus?] So, in The Merchant of Venice:

"And others, when the bagpipe fings i'the nofe,-.”

STEEVENS.

The venereal disease first appeared at the fiege of Naples.

JOHNSON.