Who having, by their own importunate suit
Or voluntary dotage of some mistress,
Convinced or supplied them,o cannot choose
But they must blab-
Oth.

Hath he said any thing?
Iago. He hath, my lord; but be

you

well assur’d, No more than he'll unswear. Oth.

What hath he said ? lago. 'Faith, that he did, -I know not what he

did. Oth. What? what? Jago. LieOth. With her? lago. With her, on her; what you

will. Oth. Lie with her! lie on her!-We say, lie on her, when they belie her: Lie with her! that's fulsome.-Handkerchief, - confessions,-handkerchief.—To confess, and be hanged' for his labour.

- First, to be hanged, and then to confess:-I tremble at it. Nature would not invest herself in such shadowing passion, without some instruction.” It is not words, that shake me thus:--Pish!

7

8

• Conrinced or supplied them,] Dr. Farmer is of opinion that supplied has here the same meaning as supplicated. But Mr. Steevens says that Supplied is the old spelling of suppled, i. e. softened.

To confess, and be hanged - This is a proverbial saying.

without some instruction.] Othello alludes to Cassio's dream, which had been invented and told him by Iago. When many confused and very interesting ideas pour in upon the mind all at once, and with such rapidity that it has not time to shape or digest them, if it does not relieve itself by tears (which we know it often does, whether for joy or grief) it produces stupefaction and fainting.

Othello, in broken sentences and single words, all of which have a reference to the cause of his jealousy, shows, that all the proofs are present at once to his mind, which so over-powers it, that he falls into a trance, the natural consequence.

Sir J. REYNOLDS.

Noses, ears, and lips :-Is it possible?-Confess! Handkerchief!-0 devil! [Falls in a Trance.

Iago. Work on, My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are

caught; And many worthy and chaste dames, even thus, All guiltless meet reproach.—What, ho! my lord!

Enter CASSIO.
My lord, I say! Othello!-How now, Cassio?

Cas. What is the matter?

lago. My lord is fallen into an epilepsy; This is his second fit; he had one yesterday.

Cas. Rub him about the temples.
lago.

No, forbear:
The lethargy must have his quiet course:
If not, he foams at mouth; and, by and by,
Breaks out to savage madness. Look, he stirs :
Do you withdraw yourself a little while,
He will recover straight; when he is gone,
I would on great occasion speak with you.-

[Exit Cassio. How is it, general ? have you not hurt your

head? Oih. Dost thou mock me? Iago.

I mock you! no, by heaven: 'Would, you would bear your fortunes like a man.

Oth. A horned man's a monster, and a beast.

Iago. There's many a beast then in a populous city, And many a civil monster.

Oth. Did he confess it? lago.

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 unproper beds,

' — in those unproper beds,] Unproper, for common.

Which they dare swear peculiar; your case is better.
O, 'tis the spite of hell, the fiend's arch-mock,
To lip a wanton in a secure couch,
And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know;
And, knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.

Oth. O, thou art wise; 'tis certain.
lago.

Stand

you

awhile apart; Confine yourself but in a patient list.” Whilst you were here, ere while mad with your

grief,
(A passion most unsuiting such a man,)
Cassio came hither: I shifted him away,
And laid good 'scuse upon your ecstasy;
Bade him anon return, and here speak with me;
The which he promis’d. Do but encave yourself,
And mark the feers, the gibes, and notable scorns,
That dwell in every region of his face;
For I will make him tell the tale anew,-
Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when
He hath, and is again to cope your wife;
I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience;
Or I shall say, you are all in all in spleen,
And nothing of a man.
Oth.

Dost thou hear, Iago?
I will be found most cunning in my patience;
But (dost thou hear?) most bloody.
Iago.

That's not amiss; But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?

[Othello withdraws. Now will I question Cassio of Bianca, A housewife, that, by selling her desires, Buys herself bread and clothes: it is a creature,

2

in a secure couch,] In a couch in which he is lulled into a false security and confidence in his wife's virtue.

list.] List, or lists, is barriers, bounds. Keep your temper, says Iago, within the bounds of patience.

encave yourself,) Hide yourself in a private place.

3

That dotes on Cassio,—as 'tis the strumpet's plague,
To beguile many, and be beguild by one;-
He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain
From the excess of laughter :-Here he comes:-

Re-enter Cassio.

As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad;
And his unbookish jealousy* must construe
Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behaviour,
Quite in the wrong.--How do you now,

you now, lieutenant? Cas. The worser, that you give me the addition, Whose want even kills ine.

Iago. Ply Desdemona well, and you are sure of't. Now, if this suit lay in Bianca's power,

[Speaking lower: How quickly should you speed? Cas.

caitiff! Oth. Look, how he laughs already! [ Aside. Iago. I never knew a woman love man so. Cas. Alas, poor rogue! I think i'faith, she loves

Alas, poor

me.

Oth. Now he denies it faintly, and laughs it out.

[ Aside. Iago. Do you hear, Cassio? Oth.

Now he importunes him To tell it o'er: Go to; well said, well said. [Aside. Iago. She gives it out, that you

shall
marry

her: Do Cas.

Ha, ha, ha! Oth. Do you triumph, Roman? do you triumph?

[Àside.

you intend it?

4 And his unbookish jealousy -] Unbookish, for ignorant.

Do you triumph, Roman? do you triumph?] Othello calls him Roman ironically. Triumph, which was a Roman ceremony, brought Roman into his thoughts. What (says he) you are now triumphing as great as a Roman? Johnson.

you shall

Cas. I marry her!—what? a customer ! I proythee, bear some charity to my wit; do not think it so unwholesome. Ha, ha, ha! Oth. So, so, so, so: They laugh that win.

[ Aside. Iago. 'Faith, the cry goes, that you marry

her. Cas. Pr’ythee, say true. Iago. I am a very villain else. Oth. Have you scored me? Well. [ Aside.

Cas. This is the monkey's own giving out: she is persuaded I will marry her, out of her own love and flattery, not out of my promise. Oth. Iago beckons me; now he begins the story.

[ Aside. Cas. She was here even now; she haunts me in every place. I was, the other day, talking on the sea-bank with certain Venetians; and thither comes this bauble; by this hand, she falls thus about my neck;

Oth. Crying, O dear Cassio! as it were: his gesture imports it.

[Aside. Cas. So hangs, and lolls, and weeps upon me; so hales, and pulls me: ha, ha, ha!

Oth. Now he tells, how she plucked him to my chamber: 0, I see that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall throw it to.

[ Aside. Cas. Well, I must leave her company. lago. Before me! look, where she comes.

Enter BIANCA. Cas. 'Tis such another fitchew!% marry, a per

6

a customer!] A common woman, one that invites custom.

7 Hare you scored me?] Have you made my reckoning? have you settled the term of my life? The old quarto reads-stored me? Have you disposed of me? have you laid me up?

fitchew! A pole-cat.