The death of Cassio to be undertook

By Roderigo.

Oth. O villain!

Cas.

Most heathenish, and most gross!

Lod. Now, here's another discontented paper, Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems, Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain; But that, belike, Iago in the interim3

Came in and satisfied him.

Oth.

O, the pernicious caitiff!—

I found it in my chamber;

How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief,
That was my wife's?

Cas.

And he himself confess'd, but even now,
That there he dropp'd it, for a special purpose,
Which wrought to his desire.

Oth.

O fool! fool! fool!
Cas. There is, besides, in Roderigo's letter,
How he upbraids Iago, that he made him
Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came
That I was cast and even but now he spake,
After long seeming dead,-Iago hurt him,
Iago set him on.

Lod. You must forsake this room, and go with us: Your power and your command is taken off,

And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,

If there be any cunning cruelty,

That can torment him much, and hold him long,
It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,
Till that the nature of your fault be known
To the Venetian state.-Come; bring him away'.

8 in the INTERIM] "Interim" is the word in the folio and in the quarto, 1630 it is nick in the quarto, 1622. In the next line the folio reads, "O thou pernitious caitiff!"

" And he himself confess'd, but even now,] The folio and quarto, 1630, read "confess'd it but even now," and the quarto, 1622, "confess'd it even now." The sense clearly requires the omission of it.

1

copies.

Come; bring HIM away.] The folio omits "him," found in the other old

Oth. Soft you; a word or two, before you go.

I have done the state some service, and they know it;
No more of that.-I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am2; nothing extenuate,

Nor set down aught in malice: then, must you speak
Of one that lov'd, not wisely, but too well:
Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought,
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one, whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away3,
Richer than all his tribe; of one, whose subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,

Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees

Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;
And say, besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian, and traduc'd the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him-thus.

Lod. O bloody period!
Gra.

[Stabs himself.

All that's spoke is marr'd. Oth. I kiss'd thee, ere I kill'd thee:-no way but

this,

[Falling upon Desdemona.

2 Speak of me as I am;] Thus the folio and quarto, 1630: the earlier quarto, "Speak of them as they are."

3 Like the base INDIAN, threw a pearl away,] The folio has Iudean, and the quarto, 1622, Indian, and to these authorities the commentators referred; but they left unnoticed the quarto, 1630, which, like the earlier quarto, has Indian. Theobald, Warburton, and Malone, are at variance whether the quarto, 1622, reads Judean or Indian, but there can be no doubt that Indian is there the word. The meaning is very clear, the allusion obscure; and the probability is that Shakespeare referred to some known fable of the time, now lost. Theobald contended for a reference to the story of Herod and Mariamne. It was formerly thought that the balance of the old texts was equal, the folio being Iudean, and the quarto, 1622, Indian, and it is somewhat surprising that in a question of the kind, no resort was ever had to the other contemporary authority, differing in many places from the folio, 1623, and from the quarto, 1622, and printed from some separate manuscript. Had Iudean of the folio, 1623, been right, the word would hardly have been printed Indian, in the quarto, 1630, supposing the editor to have referred to the folio.

Their MEDICINAL gum.] Here again the quarto, 1630, comes to our aid, the folio reading medicinable, and the quarto, 1622, "medicinal :" the quarto, 1630, has "medicinal."

Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

[Dies.

Cas. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon,

For he was great of heart.

[To IAGO.

Lod.
O Spartan dog!
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea,
Look on the tragic loading of this bed3;
This is thy work: the object poisons sight;
Let it be hid.-Gratiano, keep the house,
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
For they succeed on you.-To you, lord governor,
Remains the censure of this hellish villain;
The time, the place, the torture:-0, enforce it!
Myself will straight aboard, and to the state
This heavy act with heavy heart relate.

[Exeunt.

5 Look on the tragic LOADING of this bed ;] Here the text of the folio is evidently preferable to that of the two quartos, which have lodging for "loading :" below also we adopt from it "succeed on you" instead of "succeed to you.”

[Exeunt.] It appears from Mr. P. Cunningham's "Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court," (printed for the Shakespeare Society) p. 203, that a play, called "The Moor of Venis," no doubt, "Othello," was acted at Whitehall on Nov. 1, 1604. The tragedy seems to have been always so popular as to remain what is termed "a stock piece;" and it was performed again before King Charles and his Queen at Hampton Court on Dec. 8, 1636. Ibid. Introd. p. xxv.

END OF VOL. VII.

LONDON:

GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.