you

Iago. You, or any man living, may be drunk at some time, man. I'll tell you what shall do. Our general's wife is now the general;-I may say so in this respect for that he hath devoted and given up himself to the contemplation, mark, and denotement1 of her parts and graces:-Confess yourself freely to her; importune her; she'll help to put you in your place again; .she is of so free, so kind, so apt, so blessed a disposition, that she holds it a vice in her goodness, not to do more than she is requested. This broken joint2 between you and her husband, entreat her to splinter; and, my fortunes against any lay3 worth naming, this crack of your love shall grow stronger than it was before.

Cas. You advise me well.

Iago. I protest, in the sincerity of love, and honest

kindness.

Cas. I think it freely; and betimes in the morning, I will beseech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me. I am desperate of my fortunes, if they check me

here.

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

Cas. Good night, honest Iago.

[Exit CASSIO. Iago. And what's he, then, that says,-I play the

villain?

When this advice is free, I give, and honest,
Probal to thinking, and (indeed) the course
To win the Moor again? for, 'tis most easy
The inclining Desdemona to subdue
In any honest suit; she's framed as fruitful
As the free elements. And then for her
To win the Moor,-were't to renounce his baptism,
All seals and symbols of redeemed sin,-

6

1 The old copies read devotement. Theobald made the correction.

2 Thus the folio. The quarto 1622 reads, this brawl.

3 Bet or wager.

4 i. e. liberal; such as honest openness or frank good will would give. There may be such a contraction of the word probable as that in the next line, but it has not yet been met with elsewhere.

5 Inclining here signifies compliant.

Bountiful as the elements, out of which all things were produced.

His soul is so enfettered to her love,

That she may make, unmake, do what she list,
Even as her appetite shall play the god

With his weak function. How am I then a villain,
To counsel Cassio to this parallel course,1
Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!
When devils will their blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
As I do now; for while this honest fool
Plies Desdemona, to repair his fortunes,
And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,
I'll pour this pestilence into his ear,—
That she repeals 3 him for her body's lust;
And, by how much she strives to do him good,
She shall 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 chase, not like a hound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry. My money is almost spent; I have been to-night exceedingly well cudgelled; and, I think, the issue will be-I shall have so much experience for my pains; and so, with no money at all, and a little more wit, return to Venice.

Iago. How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?

Thou know'st we work by wit, and not by witchcraft; And wit depends on dilatory time.

Does't not go well? Cassio hath beaten thee,

And thou, by that small hurt, hath cashiered Cassio;
Though other things grow fair against the sun,
Yet fruits that blossom first, will first be ripe."

1 Parallel course for course level or even with his design.

2 Pestilence for poison.

3 i. e. recalls him, from the Fr. rappeler.

4 The blossoming to which Iago alludes, is the removal of Cassio. There was good ground for expecting that the fruits of it would soon be ripe.

Content thyself awhile.-By the mass,' 'tis morning;
Pleasure, and action, make the hours seem short.—
Retire thee; go where thou art billeted.

Away, I say; thou shalt know more hereafter;
Nay, get thee gone. [Exit ROD.]

to be done,

Two things are

My wife must move for Cassio to her mistress;
I'll set her on ;

Myself, the while, to' draw the Moor apart,
And bring him jump3 when he may Cassio find
Soliciting his wife. Ay, that's the way;
Dull not device by coldness and delay.

[Exit.

ACT III.

SCENE I. Before the Castle.

Enter CASSIO and some Musicians.

Cas. Masters, play here, I will content your pains, Something that's brief; and bid-good morrow, gen[Music.

eral.1

Enter Clown.

Clo. Why, masters, have your instruments been at Naples, that they speak i' the nose thus ?

1 Mus. How, sir, how!

Clo. Are these, I pray you, called wind instruments? 1 Mus. Ay, marry, are they, sir.

Clo. O, thereby hangs a tail.

1 The folio reads, In troth; an alteration made in the playhouse copy by the interference of the master of the revels.

2 Some modern editions read, " Myself the while will draw."

3 i. e. just at the time.

4 It was usual for friends to serenade a new-married couple on the morning after the celebration of the marriage, or to greet them with a morning-song to bid them good-morrow.

1 Mus. Whereby hangs a tale, sir?

Clo. Marry, sir, by many a wind-instrument that I know. But, masters, here's money for you; and the general so likes your music, that he desires you of all loves,' to make no more noise with it.

1 Mus. Well, sir, we will not.

Clo. If you have any music that may not be heard,

to't again; but, as they say, to hear music, the general does not greatly care.

1 Mus. We have none such, sir.

Clo. Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I'll away. Go; vanish into air; away.

[Exeunt Musicians. Cas. Dost thou hear, my honest friend? Clo. No, I hear not your honest friend; I hear you. Cas. Pr'ythee, keep up thy quillet. There's a poor piece of gold for thee; if the gentlewoman that attends the general's wife be stirring, tell her there's one Cassio entreats her a little favor of speech. Wilt thou do this? Clo. She is stirring, sir; if she will stir hither, I shall seem to notify unto her. [Exit.

Enter LAGO.

Cas. Do, good my friend.-In happy time, Iago.
Iago. You have not been abed, then?
Cas. Why, no; the day had broke

Before we parted. I have made bold, Iago,
To send in to your wife. My suit to her
Is, that she will to virtuous Desdemona

Procure me some access.

Iago.

I'll send her to you presently;

And I'll devise a mean to draw the Moor
Out of the way, that your converse and business
May be more free.

[Exit.

Cas. I humbly thank you for't. I never knew

A Florentine more kind and honest.3

1 i. e. for love's sake. We have this adjuration again in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

2 See Hamlet, Act v. Sc. i. p. 371.

3 Cassio was, undoubtedly, a Florentine, as appears by the first scene

of the play, where he is expressly called one. Iago was a Venetian.

Enter EMILIA.

Emil. Good morrow, good lieutenant; I am sorry For your displeasure; but all will soon be well. The general, and his wife, are talking of it; And she speaks for you stoutly. The Moor replies, That he you hurt, is of great fame in Cyprus,

And great affinity; and that, in wholesome wisdom, He might not but refuse you. But, he protests, he loves you;

And needs no other suitor, but his likings,

To take the saf'st occasion by the front,

To bring you in again.

If

Cas.

Yet, I beseech you,—

you think fit, or that it may be done,Give me advantage of some brief discourse With Desdemona alone.

Emil.

'Pray you, come in;

I will bestow you where you shall have time

To speak your bosom freely.

Cas.

I am much bound to you.3

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. A Room in the Castle.

Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Gentlemen.

Oth. These letters give, lago, to the pilot;
And, by him, do my duties to the state."
That done, I will be walking on the works;
Repair there to me.

Iago.
Well, my good lord, I'll do't.
Oth. This fortification, gentlemen,-shall we see't?
Gent. We'll wait upon your lordship.

[Exeunt.

Cassio means to say, I never experienced more honesty and kindness

even in one of my own countrymen.

1 i. e. the displeasure you have incurred from Othello.

2 This line is wanting in the folio.

3 This speech is omitted in the first quarto.

4 Thus the quarto 1622; folio, "to the senate."