Iago. But for a fatisfaction of my thought, i No farther harm.

Oth. Why of thy thought, Iago?

36CT

Iago. I did not think, he had been acquainted with

it.

Oth. Oh, yes, and went between us very oft.
Iago. Indeed!

10

Oth. Indeed! ay, indeed. Difcern'ft thou aughtin

that?

Is he not honeft?

Iago. Honeft, my Lord?

Oth. Honeft? ay, honest.

Tago. My Lord, for aught I know,
Oth. What doft thou think?

Iago. Think, my Lord!-

Oth. Think, my Lord! why doft thou echo

me;

As if there were fome monfter in thy thought,
Too hideous to be fhewn? Thou doft mean fome-

thing:

I heard thee fay but now, thou lik'dft not that,-
When Coffio left my wife. What did'ft not like?
And when I told thee, he was of my counsel,
In my whole courfe of wooing, thou cry'dft, indeed?
And didft contract and purse thy brow together,
As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain
Some horrible conceit. If thou doft love me,
Shew me thy thought.

Iago. My Lord, you know, I love you.
Oth. I think, thou doft:

And for I know, thou art full of love and honesty,
And weigh'ft thy words before thou giv'ft them

breath,

Therefore these ftops of thine fright me the more.
For fuch things, in a falfe difloyal knave,

Are tricks of cuftom; but, in a man that's juft,

1

They're

They're close dilations working from the heart, That paffion cannot rule.

Iago. For Michael Caffio,

I dare be sworn, I think, that he is honeft,
Oth. I think so too.

lago. Men fhould be what they seem;

& Or, thofe that be not, 'would they might feem none!
Oth. Certain, men fhould be what they feem.
Iago. Why, then, I think, Caffio's an honest man,
Oth. Nay, yet there's more in this;

pray thee, speak to me as to thy thinkings, As thou doft ruminate; and give thy worst of thoughts

The worst of words.

Iago. Good my Lord, pardon me.

Though I am bound to every act of duty,

I am not bound to that, all flaves are free to.

Why, fay, they're vile and

tions, except that the earlier quarto has close denotements; which was the authour's first expreffion, afterwards changed by him, not to cold dilation, for cold is read in no ancient copy; nor, I believe, to clofe dilations, butto close delations; to eccult and Secret accufations, working involuntarily from the heart, which tho' refolved to conceal the fault, cannot rule its paffion of resentment.

8 Or, thofe that be not, would

they might feem NONE!] There is no fenfe in this reading. I fuppofe Shakespear wrote,

KNAVES.

'would they might feem WARB. I believe the meaning is, would they might no longer feem, or bear the shape of men. As

As where's that Palace, whereinto foul things Sometimes intrude not? Who has a breaft fo pure, But fome uncleanly apprehenfions

"Keep leets and law-days, and in feffions fit With meditations lawful?

Oth. Thou doft confpire against thy friend, Iago, If thou but think'ft him wrong'd, and mak'ft his ear A ftranger to thy thoughts.

Iago. I do befeech you,

Though, Iperchance, am vicious in my guess, As, I confefs, it is my nature's plague

To fpy into abufe; and oft my jealoufy

Shapes faults that are not; I intreat you then,
From one that fo 2 improbably conceits,
Your wisdom would not build yourself a trouble
Out of my scattering and unfure observance.
It were not for your quiet, nor your good,
Nor for my manhood, honefty, and wisdom,
To let you know my thoughts.

Oth. What doft thou mean?

Iago. Good name in man and woman, dear my Lord,

Is the immediate jewel of their fouls.

9 Keep leets and law-days,-] i.e. govern. A metaphor, wretchedly forced and quaint. WARB. Rather vifit than govern, but vifit with authoritative intrufion.

I THOUGH I, perchance, am vicious in my guefs,] Not to mention that, in this reading, the fentence is abrupt and broken, it is likewife highly abfurd. I befeech you give yourself no uneafinefs from my unfure obfervance, though I am vicious in my guess. For his being an ill gueffer was a reafon why Othello fhould not be

Who fteals my purfe, fteals trash; 'tis fomething, no

thing;

'Twas mine, 'tis his; and has been flave to thousands; But he, that filches from me my good name,

Robs me of that, which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.

Oth. I'll know thy thoughts

Iago. You cannot, if my heart were in your hand; Nor fhall not, whilft 'tis in my cuftody.

Oth. Ha!

Iago. Oh, beware, my Lord, of jealousy;
It is a green-ey'd monster, which doth make
The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in blifs,

Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;
But, oh, what damned minutes tells he o'er,

Who doats, yet doubts; fufpects, yet ftrongly loves!
Oth. Oh mifery!

lago. Poor, and content, is rich, and rich enough; 4 But riches finelefs is 5 as poor as winter,

To him that ever fears he fhall be poor.

Good heaven! the fouls of all my tribe defend

Think'ft thou, I'd make a life of jealoufy? * 200.
To follow ftill the changes of the moon
With fresh fufpicions? No; to be once in doubt,
Is once to be refolv'd. Exchange me for a goat,
When I shall turn the business of my foul
To fuch exfuffolate and blown furmises,

Matching thy inference. 'Tis not to make me jealous,
To fay, my wife is fair, feeds well, loves company,
Is free of fpeech, fings, plays, and dances well;
"Where virtue is, these are moft virtuous.
Nor from mine own weak merits will I draw
The fmalleft fear, or doubt of her revolt;
For fhe had eyes, and chofe me. No, Iago,
I'll fee, before I doubt; when I doubt, prove:
And, on the proof, there is no more but this,
Away at once with love, or jealousy.

6

Iago. I am glad of this

To fuch exfuffolate and blown Jurmijes, ] This odd and far-fetch'd word was made yet more uncouth in all the editions before Hanmer's, by being printed, efufficate. The allufion is to a bubble.. Do not think, fays the Moor, that I fhall change the noble defigns that now employ my thoughts, to fofpicions which, like bubbles blown into a wide extent, have only an empty fhew without folidity, or that in confequence of fuch empty fears, I will chefe with thy inference again ft the virtue of my wife.

7 Where virtue is, thefe ARE MOST virtuous.] But how can a virtuous conduct make the indifferent actions of fuch a character, virtuous, or most virtu

for now I fhall have reafon