SCENE II.

A Room in the Castle.

Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Gentlemen.
Oth. These letters give, Iago, to the pilot;
And, by him, do my duties to the state 3:
That done, I will be walking on the works,
Repair there to me.

lago. Well, my good lord, I'll do't.

Orb. This fortification, gentlemen,-fhall we fee't? Gent. We'll wait upon your lordship.

SCENE III.

Before the Cafle.

[Exeunts

Enter DESDEMONA, CASSIO, and EMILIA.

Def. Be thou affur'd, good Caffio, I will do

All my abilities in thy behalf.

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

As if the cafe were his 4.

Def. O, that's an honeft fellow.-Do not doubt, Caffio, But I will have my lord and you again

As friendly as you were.

Caf. Bounteous madam,

Whatever fhall become of Michael Caffio,

He's never any thing but your true fervant.

Def. O, fir, I thank you : You do love my lord;
You have known him long; and be you well affur'd,
He shall in ftrangeness stand no farther off
Than in a politick distance.

Caf. Ay, but lady,

3 to the ftate :] Thus the quarto, 1622. Folio: to the fenate.

MALONE

4 As if the cafe were bis.] The folio reads-as if the cause were his. STEEVENS.

5 O, fir, I thank you :] Thus the quarto, 1622. The folio reada I know't, I thank you." MALONE.

That

That policy may either laft fo long,
Or feed upon fuch nice and waterish diet,
Or breed itself to out of circumftance,
That, I being abfent, and my place fupply'd,
My general will forget my love and fervice.

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

To the last article: my lord fhall never reft;
I'll watch him tame 7, and talk him out of patience;
His bed fhall feem a fchool, his board a fhrift;
I'll intermingle every thing he does

With Caffio's fuit: Therefore be merry, Caffio;
For thy folicitor fhall rather die,

Than give thy cause away.

Enter OTHELLO and IAGO, at a distance:

Emil. Madam, here comes my lord.

Caf. Madam, I'll take my leave.

Def. Why, ftay, and hear me speak.

Caf. Madam, not now; I am very ill at eafe,

Unfit for mine own purposes.

Def. Well, do your difcretion.

Iago. Ha! I like not that.

Oth. What doft thou fay?

[Exit Caffio.

That policy may either laft fo long,] He may either of himself think it politick to keep me out of office to long, or he may be satisfied with fuch flight reafons, or fo many accidents may make him think my re-admiflion at that time improper, that I may be quite forgotten.

JOHNSON

7 I'll watch bim tame,—] It is said, that the ferocity of beasts, infuperable and irreclaimable by any other means, is fubdued by keeping them from fleep. JOHNSON.

Hawks and other birds are tamed by keeping them from fleep, and it is to the management of thofe Shakipeare alludes. So in Cart. wright's Lady Errant :

- we'll keep you,

"As they do hawks, watching, untill you leave
"Your wildness."

Again, in Sir W. D'Avenant's Juft Italian, 1630:

"They've watch'd my hardy violence fo tame."

Again in the Booke of Haukyng, Huntyng, &c. bl. 1. no date: "Wake her all nyght, and on the morrowe all daye, and then she will be previ enough to be reclaymed." STEEVENS.

M m 2

Iago.

Iago. Nothing, my lord: or if I know not what.
Oth. Was not that Caffio, parted from my wife?
Iago. Caffio, my lord? No, fure, I cannot think it,
That he would fteal away fo guilty-like,
Seeing you coming.

Oth. I do believe, 'twas he.
Def. How now, my lord?

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

Def. Why, your lieutenant Caffio.

Good my lord,

If I have any grace, or power to move you,
His prefent reconciliation take

8 ;

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?

Def. Ay, footh; fo humbled,

That he hath left part of his grief with me;

I fuffer with him. Good love, call him back.

Oth. Not now, fweet Defdemona; fome other time.
Def. But fhall't be shortly?

Oth. The fooner, fweet, for you.
Def. Shall't be to-night at fupper?
Oth. No, not to-night.

Def. To-morrow dinner then?
Oth. 1 fhall not dine at home;

I meet the captains at the citadel.

Def. Why then, to-morrow night; or tuesday morn; 8 His prefent reconciliation take;] To take bis reconciliation, may be, to accept the fubmission which he makes in order to be reconciled. JOHNSON. 9 and not in cunning,] Cunning, for defign, or purpose, fimply. WARBURTON.

Perhaps rather for knowledge, the ancient fenfe of the word. So, in Meafure for Measure: "In the boldness of my cunning I will lay myfelf in hazard." The oppofition which feems to have been intended between cunning and ignorance, favours this interpretation. MALONE.

I fuffer with bim.] Thus the quarto, 1622. The folio readsTo fuffer with him. MALONE.

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 trefpafs, in our common reason,
(Save that, they fay, the wars must make examples
Out of their best,) is not almost a fault
To incur a private check: When shall he come ?
Tell me, Othello. I wonder in my foul,
What you could ask me, that I fhould deny,

Or ftand fo mammering on 3. What! Michael Caffio,
That came a wooing with you ; and fo many a time,
When I have spoke of you difpraifingly,

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

Def. Why, this is not a boon;

'Tis as I fhould entreat you wear your gloves,
Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm ;
Or fue to you to do a peculiar profit

To your own perfon: Nay, when I have a fuit,
Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed,

2 the wars must make examples

Out of their beft,] The feverity of military difcipline must not spare the beft men of the army, when their punishment may afford a wholefome example. JOHNSON.

The old copies read-ber beft. Mr. Rowe made this neceffary emendation. MALONE.

3-fo mammering on.] To hefitate, to ftand in fufpenfe. 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 fame word in Acolaftus, a comedy, 1540: "Iftand in doubt, or in a mamorynge between hope and fear." STEEVENS.

Again in Lily's Eupbues, 1580 :-" neither fand in a mamering whether it be beft to depart or not." The quarto, 1622, reads muttering. Mammering is the reading of the folio. MALONE.

4- What! Michael Caffic,

That came a wooing with you ;] And yet in the first act Caffio 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 paffage alluded to, p. 459, n. 3. MALONE.

M m 3

It

It fhall be full of poize and difficulty,
And fearful to be granted.

Oth. I will deny thee nothing:
Whereon, I do befeech thee, grant me this,
To leave me but a little to myielf.

Def. Shali I deny you? no: Farewel, my lord.

Oth. Farewel, my Defdcmona: I will come to thee ftraight.

Def. Emilia, come :-Be it as your fancies teach you; Whate'er you be, I am obedient.

[Exit, with Emil.

Oth. Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my foul, But I do love thee ! and when I love thee not, Chaos is come again 7.

Iago. My noble lord,

Oth.

5 - full of poize—] i. c. of weight. So, in The Dumb Knight, 1633:

"But we are all preft down with other poize." STEEVENS. 6 Excellent wretch !-Perdition catch my foul,

But I do love thee! &c.] The meaning of the word wretch, is not generally understood. It is now, in fome parts of England, a term of the foftest and fondeft tenderness. It expreffes the utmost degree of amiablenefs, joined with an idea, which perhaps all tenderness includes, of feebleness, foftnefs, and want of protection. Othello, confidering Defdemona as excelling in beauty and virtue, foft and timorous by her fex, and by her fituation abfolutely in his power, calls her-Excellent wretch! It may be expreffed:

Dear, barmless, belpless excellence. JOHNSON.

Sir W. D'Avenant ufes the fame expreflion in his Cruel Brother, 1630, and with the fame meaning. It occurs twice: "— Excellent quretch! with a timorous modesty the ftifleth up her utterance." STEEV. 71 when I love thee not,

Chaos is come again.] When my love is for a moment suspended by fufpicion, I have nothing in my mind but difcord, tumult, perturbation, and confufion. JOHNSON.

when I love thee not,

Chaos is come again.] There is another meaning poffible. When I ceafe to love thee, the world is at an end; i. e. there remains nothing valuable or important. The first explanation may be elegant, the fecond is perhaps more easy. Shakspeare has the fame thought in his Venus and Adonis:

"For he being dead, with him is beauty flain,

"And, beauty dead, black Chaos comes again." STEEVENS. This paffage does not ftrike me in the fame light in which it appeared to Dr. Johnfon; as Othello had not yet any experience of that pertur bation and difcord, by which he afterwards is fo fatally agitated. He

means