Oth. Get you to bed on th' inftant. I will be return'd forthwith. Difmifs your attendant there. Look, it be done. Def. I will, my Lord. [Exit. Emil. How goes it now? He looks gentler than he did. Def. He fays, he will return incontinent; And hath commanded me to go to bed, And bid me to difmifs you. Emil. Difmifs me? Def. It was his bidding; therefore, good Emilia, Give me my nightly Wearing, and adieu. We must not now displease him. Emil. I would, you had never seen him! Def. So would not I; my love doth so approve him, That ev'n his ftubbornness, his checks, and frowns,Pr'ythee, unpin me, have grace and favour in them. Emil. I have laid thofe fheets you bade me on the bed. Def. All's one. Good Father! how foolish are our minds? If I do die before thee, pr'ythee, shroud me Emil. Come, come; you talk. Def. My mother had a maid call'd Barbara, 3 and be, fhe lov'd, prov'd mad, And did forfake ber:] We hould read, —and be, fhe lov'd, forfook ber, And he prov'd mad :— WARBURTON. I believe that mad only fignifies, wild, frantick, uncertain. Will Will not go from my mind, I've much ado, But to go bang my head all at one fide, And fing it like poor Barbara. Pr'ythee, defpatch. Def. No, unpin me bere. This Lodovico is a proper man. Emil. A very bandsom man. Emil. I know a lady in Venice would have walk'd barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip. Def. The poor foul fat finging by a sycamore-tree, Sing all a green willow: [Singing. • Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee, Sing willow, willow, willow: The fresh ftreams ran by her, and murmur'd her " moans; 'Sing willow, &c. Her falt tears fell from her, and foft'ned the ftones; (Prythee, bye thee, be'll come anon) Sing all a green willow muft be my garland. 'Let no body blame him, his fcorn I approve. Nay that's not next-Hark, who is it that knocks? Emil. It's the wind. 4 -I've much ado, - But to go hang my head. -] I have much ado to do any thing but hang my head. We might read, Not to go hang my head. This is perhaps the only infer tion made in the latter editions which has, improved the play. The reft feem to have been add ed for the fake of amplification or of ornament. When the imagination had fubfided, and the mind was no longer agitated by the horror of the action, it became at leifure to look round for fpecious additions. This addition is natural. Defdemona can at firft hardly forbear to fing the fong; the endeavours to change her train of thoughts, but her imagination at laft prevails, and the fings it. 5 This fong, in two parts, is printed in a late collection of old ballads; the lines preferved here differ fomewhat from the copy difcovered by the ingenious collector. Def. Def. I call'd my love falfe love; but what faid he then? Sing willow, &c. If I court more women, you'll couch with more men. ། So get thee gone. Good night. Mine Emil. 'Tis neither here nor there. ་ Def. I have beard it faid fo. Ob these men, thefe men! Doft thou in confcience think, tell me, Emilia, Emil. There be fome fuch, no question. Def. Wouldst thou do fuch a deed for all the world? ? Def. No, by this heavenly light. Emil. Nor I neither, by this heavenly light: Def. Wouldst thou do fuch a deed for all the world? It is a great price, for a fmall vice. Def. In troth, I think, thou wouldst not. Emil. In troth, I think, I fhould; and undo't, when I had done. Marry, I would not do such a thing for a joint-ring, nor for measures of lawn, nor for gowns, petticoats, nor caps; nor any petty exhibition. But for all the whole world; why, who would not make her husband a cuckold, to make him a monarch? I thould venture purgatory for't. Def. Befhrew me, if I would do fuch a wrong For the whole world. Emil. Why, the wrong is but a wrong i' th' world; (6 I call'd my love falfe love ;-] This couplet is not in the ballad, which is the complaint, not of a woman for faken, but of a man rejected. Thefe lines were pro- and and having the world for your labour, 'tis a wrong in your own world, and you might quickly make it right. Def. I do not think, there is any fuch woman.. Emilia. Yes, a dozen; and as many to th' vantage, as would ftore the world they play'd for. But, I do think, it is their husbands' faults, If wives do fall. Say, that they flack their duties Throwing reftraint on us; or fay, they ftrike us ; Why, we have galls, and though we have fome grace, usage fend, heaven me fuch Not to pick bad from bad; but by bad, mend! ACT V. SCENE I. A Street before the Palace. Enter Iago and Roderigo. I AGO. ERE, ftand behind this bulk. Straight will he HER come : Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home; Rod. Be near at hand; I may mifcarry in't. lago. Here, at thy hand. Be bold and take thy ftand. Rod. I have no great devotion to the deed, Yet he hath giv'n me fatisfying reafons. 'Tis but a man gone. Forth, my fword. He dies. [Stands apart. Iago. I've rubb'd this young Quat almost to the 9 fenfe, And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Caffio, 9 In fome editions, I've rubb'd this young Gnat almoft to the fenfe, And he grows angry.] The rubbing a Gnat to fenfe, is, I believe, an experiment that never even was communicated to the Royal Society. The leaft frication, on the contrary, would not only VOL. VIII. |