Trust me, I fear it has.,, Than keep a corner in the thing I love,

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;
But, with a little act upon the blood,

Burn like the mines of sulphur.—I did say so :-
Enter Othello.

Look, where he comes! Not poppy, nor mandragora,'
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou ow'dst? yesterday.

Oth. To me?

Ha ha! false to me?

lago. Why, how now, general? no more of that.
Oth. Avaunt! be gone! thou hast set me on the
rack:-

I swear, 'tis better to be much abus'd,
Than but to know't a little.

Iago.
How now, my lord?
Oth. What sense had I of her stolen hours of lust?
I saw it not, thought it not, it harm'd not me:
I slept the next night well, was free and merry;
I found not Cassio's kisses on her lips:
He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stolen,
Let him not know it, and he's not robb'd at all.
lago. I am sorry to hear this.

Oth. I had been happy, if the general camp,
Pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet body,
So I had nothing known: O now, for ever,
Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!
Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars,
That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!
Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner; and all quality,

Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
And O you mortal engines, whose rude throats
The immortal Jove's dread clamours counterfeit,
Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone!

lago. Is it possible !-My lord,

And loses that it works for.

By the world,

Oth.
I think my wife be honest, and think she is not;
I think that thou art just, and think thou art not;
I'll have some proof: Her name, that was as fresh
As Dian's visage, is now begrim'd and black
As mine own face.-If there be cords, or knives,
Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams,
I'll not endure it.-Would, I were satisfied!

Iago. I see, sir, you are eaten up with passion:
I do repent me, that I put it to you.
You would be satisfied?
Oth.

Would? nay, I will.

Jago. And may but, how? how satisfied, my

lord?

Would you, the supervisor, grossly gape on?
Behold her tupp'd?

Oth.

Death and damnation! O!
lago. It were a tedious difficulty, I think,
To bring them to that prospect: Damn them then,
If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster,
More than their own! What then? how then?
What shall I say? Where's satisfaction?
It is impossible, you should see this,
Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkies,
As salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross
As ignorance made drunk. But yet, I say,
If imputation, and strong circumstances,---
Which lead directly to the door of truth,-
Will give you satisfaction, you may have it.

Oth. Give me a livings reason she's disloyal.
Iago. I do not like the office:

But, sith I am enter'd in this cause so far,-
Prick'd to it by foolish honesty and love,-
I will go on. I lay with Cassio lately;
And, being troubled with a raging tooth,
I could not sleep.

There are a kind of men so loose of soul,
That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs;
One of this kind is Cassio:

In sleep I heard him say,-Sweet Desdemona,
Let us be wary, let us hide our loves!

And then, sir, would he gripe, and wring my hand, throat.||Cry,-O, sweet creature! and then kiss me hard, As if he pluck'd up kisses by the roots,

Oth. Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore;
Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof;
[Taking him by the
Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul,
Thou hadst been better have been born a dog,
Than answer my wak'd wrath.
Iago.
Is it come to this?
Oth. Make me to see it; or (at the least) so
prove it,

That the probation bear no hinge, nor loop,
To hang a doubt on: or, wo upon thy life!
Iago. My noble lord,-

Oth. If thou dost slander her, and torture me,
Never pray more: abandon all remorse ;4
On horror's head horrors accumulate:

Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amaz'd,
For nothing canst thou to damnation add,
Greater than that.

Iago.
O grace! O heaven defend me!
Are you a man? have you a soul, or sense?—
God be wi' you; take mine office.-O wretched fool,
That liv'st to make thine honesty a vice!-

O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world,||
To be direct and honest, is not safe.-
I thank you for this profit; and, from hence,
I'll love no friend, since love breeds such offence.
Oth. Nay, stay:-Thou should'st be honest.
Iago. I should be wise; for honesty's a fool,

(1) The mandrake has a soporific quality.
(2) Possessedst.

(3) The vilest of the camp. Pioneers were generally degraded soldiers.

That grew upon my lips: then laid his leg
Over my thigh, and sigh'd, and kiss'd; and then
Cried,--Cursed fate! that gave thee to the Moor!
Oth. O monstrous! monstrous!

Iago.

Nay, this was but his dream.
Oth. But this denoted a foregone conclusion;
'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.
Iago. And this may help to thicken other proofs,
That do demonstrate thinly.

(I

Oth.
I'll tear her all to pieces.
Iago. Nay, but be wise: yet we see nothing
done;

She may be honest yet. Tell me but this,--
Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief,
Spotted with strawberries, in your wife's hand?
Oth. I gave her such a one; 'twas my first gift.
Jago. I know not that: but such a handkerchief
am sure it was your wife's,) did I to-day
See Cassio wipe his beard with.
If it be that,-
Iago. If it be that, or any that was hers,
It speaks against her with the other proofs.
Oth. O, that the slave had forty thousand lives,
One is too poor, too weak for my revenge!
Now do I see 'tis true.-Look here, Iago;
All my fond love thus I do blow to heaven:

Oth.

change.

Oth. Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic sea,
Whose icy current and compulsive course
Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
To the Propontic, and the Hellespont; →
Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,
Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love,
Till that a capable3 and wide révenge
Swallow them up.-Now, by yond' marble heaven,||
In the due reverence of a sacred vow [Kneels.
I here engage my words.
Iago.
Do not rise yet.-

[Kneels.

Witness, you ever-burning lights above!
You elements that clip us round about!
Witness, that here lago doth give up
The execution of his wit, hands, heart,
To wrong'd Othello's service! let him command,
And to obey shall be in me remorse,5
What bloody work soever.
Oth.

I greet thy love,

Emil.

Look, where he comes.
Des. I will not leave him now, till Cassio
Be call'd to him.-How is't with you, my lord?
Enter Othello.

Oth. Well, my good lady:-[Aside.] O, hard-
ness to dissemble
How do you, Desdemona?
Des.
Well, my good lord.
Oth. Give me your hand: This hand is moist,
my lady.

Des. It yet has felt no age, nor known no sorrow.
Oth. This argues fruitfulness, and liberal heart;—
Hot, hot, and moist: This hand of yours requires
A sequester from liberty, fasting and prayer,
Much castigation,7 exercise devout;
For here's a young and sweating devil here,
That commonly rebels. 'Tis a good hand,
A frank one.

Des. You may, indeed, say so;

Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance boun-For 'twas that hand that gave away my heart.

Oth. Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her!
Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw,
To furnish me with some swift means of death
For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant.
Iago. I am your own for ever. [Exeunt.
SCENE IV.-The same. Enter Desdemona,
Emilia, and Clown.

Des. Do you know, sirrah, where lieutenant
Cassio lies?

Clo. I dare not say, he lies any where.

Des. Why, man?

Clo. He is a soldier; and for me to say a soldier

lies, is stabbing.

Des. Go to Where lodges he?

Oth. A liberal hand: The hearts of old, gave
hands;

But our new heraldry is-hands, not hearts.
Des. I cannot speak of this.

promise.

Oth. What promise, chuck?

Come now, your

Des. have sent to bid Cassio come speak with

Did an Egyptian to my mother give;
She was a charmer, and could almost read
The thoughts of people: she told her, while she
kept it,

'Twould make her amiable, and subdue my father

Clo. To tell you where he lodges, is to tell you Entirely to her love; but if she lost it, where I lie.

Des. Can any thing be made of this? Clo. I know not where he lodges; and for me to devise a lodging, and say-he lies here, or he] fies there, were to lie in my own throat.

Des. Can you inquire him out, and be edified by report?

Clo. I will catechize the world for him; that is, make questions, and by them answer.

Or made a gift of it, my father's eye
Should hold her loathly, and his spirits should hunt
After new fancies: She, dying, gave it me;
And bid me, when my fate would have me wive,
To give it her. I did so: and take heed of 't,
Make it a darling like your precious eye;
To lose or give't away, were such perdition,
As nothing else could match.

Des.
Is it possible?
Oth. 'Tis true: there's magic in the web of it:

Des. Seek him, bid him come hither: tell him,
I have moved my lord in his behalf, and hope, all||A sybil, that had number'd in the world
will be well.

Clo. To do this, is within the compass of man's wit; and therefore I will attempt the doing it. [Ex. Des. Where should I lose that handkerchief, Emilia?

Emil. I know not, madam.

The sun to make two hundred compasses,
In her prophetic fury sew'd the work:
The worms were hallow'd, that did breed the silk;
And it was died in mummy, which the skilful
Conserv'd of maidens' hearts.

Des. Heaven bless us!

Oth.

Say you?

And, certainly, in strange unquietness.

Iago. Can he be angry? I have seen the cannon,
When it hath blown his ranks into the air;
And, like the devil, from his very arm
Puff'd his own brother;-And can he be angry?
Something of moment, then: I will go meet him;

state.

Des. Why do you speak so startingly and rash?1||
Oth. Is't lost? is't gone? speak, is it out of the There's matter in't indeed, if he be angry.
way?
Des. I pr'ythee, do so.-Something, sure, of
[Exit Iago.
Either from Venice; or some unhatch'd practice,
Made démonstrable here in Cyprus to him,--
Hath puddled his clear spirit: and, in such cases,
Men's natures wrangle with inferior things,
Though great ones are their object. "Tis even so;
For let our finger ache, and it indues

Des. It is not lost; But what an if it were?
Oth. Ha!

Des. I say,

it is not lost.

Oth.

Fetch't, let me see it.

Des. Why, so I can, sir; but I will not now:

This is a trick, to put me from my suit;

I pray, let Cassio be receiv'd again.

Our other healthful members ev'n to that sense
Of pain: Nay, we must think, men are not gods;

Oth. Fetch me that handkerchief: my mind Nor of them look for such observances

Iago. There is no other way; 'tis she must do't;
And, lo, the happiness! go, and impórtune her.
Des. How now? good Cassio? what's the news
with you?

Cas. Madam, my former suit: I do beseech you,
That, by your virtuous means, I may again
Exist, and be a member of his love,
Whom I, with all the duty of my heart,
Entirely honour; I would not be delay'd:

If my offence be of such mortal kind,

That neither service past, nor present sorrows,
Nor purpos'd merit in futurity,

Can ransom me into his love again,
But to know so must be my benefit;

So shall I clothe me in a forc'd content,

And shut myself up in some other course,
To fortune's alms.

Des.

Alas! thrice-gentle Cassio,

My advocation is not now in tune;

My lord is not my lord; nor should I know him,
Were he in favour,2 as in humour, alter'd.
So help me, every spirit sanctified,

As I have spoken for you all my best;
And stood within the blank3 of his displeasure,

For my free speech! You must a while be patient:
What I can do, I will; and more I will,
Than for myself I dare: let that suffice you.
lago. Is my lord angry?
Emil.

He went hence but now,||

(1) Vehement, violent. (2) In countenance. (3) Within the shot of his anger.

(4) Treason. (5) The nuptial feast.

As fit the bridal.5-Beshrew me much, Emilia,
I was (unhandsome warrior as I am,)
Arraigning his unkindness with my soul;
But now I find, I had suborn'd the witness,
And he's indited falsely.

Emil. Pray heaven, it be state-matters, as you
think;

And no conception, nor no jealous toy,
Concerning you.

Des. Alas, the day! I never gave him cause.
Emil. But jealous souls will not be answer'd so;
They are not ever jealous for the cause,
But jealous for they are jealous: 'tis a monster,
Begot upon itself, born on itself.

Des. Heaven keep that monster from Othello's

mind!

Emil. Lady, amen.

Des. I will go seek him.-Cassio, walk hereabout:
If I do find him fit, I'll move your suit,
And seek to effect it to my uttermost.
Cas. I humbly thank your ladyship.

[Exeunt Desdemona and Emilia.
Enter Bianca.

Bian. Save you, friend Cassio!
Cas.
What make you from home?
How is it with you, my most fair Bianca?
I'faith, sweet love, I was coming to your house.

Bian, And I was going to your lodging, Cassio.
What! keep a week away? seven days and nights?
Eight score eight hours? and lovers' absent hours
More tedious than the dial eight score times?
O weary reckoning!

Cas.

Pardon me, Bianca;

SCENE I-The same. Enter Othello and Iago. This is his second fit; he had one yesterday.

lago. Why then 'tis hers, my lord; and, being And many a civil monster.

Oth. Did he confess it?
Iago.
Good sir, be a man;
Think, every bearded fellow, that's but yok'd,
May draw with you: there's millions now alive,
That nightly lie in those unproper1 beds,
Which they dare swear peculiar; your case is better.
O, 'tis the spite of hell, the fiend's arch-mock,
for-To lip a wanton in a secure couch,