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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.

Cas.

Yet, I beseech you,—

If 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 were you shall have time
To speak your bosom freely.

Cas.

I am much bound to you. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

A Room in the Castle.

Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Gentlemen.

Oth. These letters give, Iago, to the pilot;

this Act, and by what he says in the fifth Act, after having stabbed Roderigo :

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Iago. Alas, my dear friend and countryman, Roderigo! "Gra. What, of Venice ?

"Iago. Yes."

All that Cassio means to say in the passage before us is, I never experienced more honesty and kindness even in one of my own countrymen, than in this man.

Mr. Steevens has made the same observation in another place. Malone.

It was made in edit. 1778. Steevens.

7 For your displeasure;] i. e. the displeasure you have incurred from Othello. Steevens.

To take the safst occasion by the front,] This line is wanting in the folio. Steevens.

9 I

am much bound to you.] This speech is omitted in the first quarto. Steevens.

And, by him, do my duties to the state :1
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.

SCENE III.

Before the Castle.

[Exeunt.

Enter DESDEMONA, CASSIO, and EMILIA.

Des. Be thou assur'd, good Cassio, I will do All my abilities in thy behalf.

Emil. Good madam, do; I know it grieves my husband,

As if the case were his.2

Des. O, that's an honest fellow.-Do not doubt, Cassio, But I will have my lord and you again

As friendly as you were.

Cas.

Bounteous madam,

Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio,

He 's never any thing but your true servant.

Des. O, sir, I thank you:3 You do love my lord: You have known him long; and be you well assur'd, He shall in strangeness stand no further off

Than in a politick distance.

Cas.

Ay, but, lady,
That policy may either last so long,1
Or feed upon such nice and waterish diet,
Or breed itself so out of circumstance,
That, I being absent, and my place supplied,
My general will forget my love and service.

1

senate.

to the state:] Thus the quarto, 1622. Folio, to the

Malone.

2 As if the case were his.] The folio reads-As if the cause were his. Steevens.

3 O, sir, I thank you:] Thus the quarto, 1622. The folio reads-I know 't, I thank you. Malone.

4 That policy may either last so long,] He may either of himself think it politick to keep me out of office so long, or he may be satisfied with such slight reasons, or so many accidents may make him think my re-admission at that time improper, that T may be quite forgotten. Johnson.

Des. Do not doubt that; before Emilia here,
I give thee warrant of thy place: assure thee,
If I do vow a friendship, I 'll perform it

To the last article: my lord shall never rest;
I'll watch him tame, and talk him out of patience;
His bed shall seem a school, his board a shrift;
I'll intermingle every thing he does

With Cassio's suit: Therefore be merry, Cassio;
For thy solicitor shall rather die,

Than give thy cause away.

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And hear me speak.

Cas. Madam, not now; I am very ill at ease,

Unfit for mine own purposes.

Des.

Do your discretion.

Iago.

Well, well,

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Oth. What dost thou say?

Iago. Nothing, my lord: or if-I know not what. Oth. Was not that Cassio, parted from my wife? Iago. Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it, That he would steal away so guilty-like,

Seeing you coming.

Oth.

I do believe 'twas he.

Des. How now, my lord?

I have been talking with a suitor here,
A man that languishes in your displeasure.
Oth. Who is 't, you mean?

5 I'll watch him tame,] It is said, that the ferocity of beasts, insuperable and irreclaimable by any other means, is subdued by keeping them from sleep. Johnson.

Hawks and other birds are tamed by keeping them from sleep, and it is to the management of these that Shakspeare alludes. So, in Cartwright's Lady Errant :

66

- we 'll keep you,

"As they do hawks, watching until you leave

"Your wildness."

Steevens.

6 Well, well,] The adverb-well, has been repeated for the sake of measure. Steevens.

Des. Why, your lieutenant Cassio. Good my lord,

If I have any grace, or power to move you,
His present reconciliation take;7

For, if he be not one that truly loves you,
That errs in ignorance, and not in cunning,
I have no judgment in an honest face:
I pr'ythee, call him back.

Oth.

Went he hence now?

Des. Ay, sooth; so humbled,

That he hath left part of his grief with me;
I suffer with him. Good love, call him back.

Oth. Not now, sweet Desdemona; some other time.
Des. But shall 't be shortly?
Oth.

The sooner, sweet, for you.

Des. Shall 't be to-night at supper?
Oth.

Des. To-morrow dinner then?
Oth.

No, not to-night.

I shall not dine at home;

I meet the captains at the citadel.

Des. Why then, to-morrow night; or Tuesday morn; Or Tuesday noon, or night; or Wednesday morn;I pray thee, name the time; but let it not Exceed three days: in faith, he 's penitent; -And yet his trespass, in our common reason, (Save that, they say, the wars must make examples Out of their best,1) is not almost a fault

7

His

present reconciliation take;] Cassio was to be reconciled to his general, not his general to him, therefore take cannot be right. We should read-make. Warburton.

To take his reconciliation, may be to accept the submission which he makes in order to be reconciled. Johnson.

8 and not in cunning,] Cunning, for design, or purpose, simply. Warburton.

Perhaps rather for knowledge, the ancient sense of the word. So, in Measure for Measure: "In the boldness of my cunning I will lay myself in hazard.” The opposition which seems to have been intended between cunning and ignorance, favours this interpretation. Malone.

9 I suffer with him.]

Thus the quarto, 1622. The folio reads -To suffer with him. Malone.

1 the wars must make examples

Out of their best,] The severity of military discipline must not spare the best men of the army, when their punishment may afford a wholesome example. Johnson.

To incur a private check: When shall he come?
Tell me, Othello. I wonder in my soul,

What you could ask me, that I should deny,

Or stand so mammering on.2 What! Michael Cassio, That came a wooing with you ;3 and many a time,1 When I have spoke of you dispraisingly,

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Hath ta'en your part; to have so much to do
To bring him in! Trust me, I could do much,
Oth. Pr'ythee, no more: let him come when he will;
I will deny thee nothing.

Des.

Why, this is not a boon;
'Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves,
Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm;
Or sue to you to do peculiar profit

To your own person: Nay, when I have a suit,
Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed,
It shall be full of poizes and difficulty,

And fearful to be granted.

The old copies read-her best. sary emendation. Malone.

Mr. Rowe made this neces

2 —so mammering on.] To hesitate, to stand in suspense. The word often occurs in old English writings, and probably takes its original from the French M’Amour, which men were apt often to repeat when they were not prepared to give a direct answer. Hanmer.

I find the same word in Acolastus, a comedy, 1540: "I stand in doubt, or in a mamorynge between hope and fear.”

Again, in Thomas Drant's translation of the third satire of the second Book of Horace, 1567:

"Yea, when she daygnes to send for him, then mameryng he doth doute."

3 What! Michael Cassio,

Steevens.

That came a wooing with you;] And yet in the first Act, Cassio appears perfectly ignorant of the amour, and is indebted to Iago for the information of Othello's marriage, and of the person to whom he is married. Steevens.

See the notes on the passage alluded to, p. 217, n. 6. Malone. 4 many a time,] Old copies, redundantly, and without the least improvement of the sense, so many a time. The compositor, had accidentally repeated—so, from the preceding line. Steevens.

5 - full of poize —] i. e. of weight. So, in The Dumb Knight, "They are of poize sufficient

1633:

Again:

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"But we are all prest down with other poize." Steevens

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