Def. Ay, footh, fo humbled,

That he hath left part of his grief with me,

To fuffer with him. Good love, call him back.
Oth. Not now, fweet Desdemona; fome other time.
Def. But fhall't be shortly?

Oth. The fooner, fweet, for you.
Def. Shall't be to-night at fupper?
Oth. Not to-night.

Def. To-morrow dinner then ?
Oth. I fhall not dine at home;
I meet the Captains at the citadel.

Def. Why then to-morrow night, or Tuesday

morn,

Or Tuesday noon, or night, or Wednesday morn:
I pr'ythee 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 fay, the wars must make examples
Out of their best), is not almost a fault

Tincur a private check. When shall he come?
Tell me, Othello. I wonder in my foul,
What you would ask me, that I would deny,
Or stand fo mutt'ring on? what? Michael Caffio!---
That came a-wooing with you, and 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? trust 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 meats, or keep you warmn; Or fue to you, to do peculiar profit

To your own person. Nay, when I have suit
Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed,
VOL. XII.

X

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 myself.

Def. Shall I deny you? no: Farewel, my Lord.
Oth. Farewel, my Defdemona, I'll come ftrait.
Def. Emilia, come; be, as your fancies.teach you.
Whate'er you be, I am obedient.
[Exeunt.

Manent OTHELLO and 1AGO.

Oth. Excellent wench !-----Perdition catch my foul, (32)

But I do love thee; and when I love thee not,
Chaos is come again.

Iago. My noble Lord,-----

Oth. What doft thou fay, Iago?

Iago. Did Michael Caffio, when you wooed my Know of your love?

(32) Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my foul,

[Lady,

But I do love thes, &c.] Though all the printed copies concur in this reading, I think it is very reasonably to be fufpected. Othello is exclaiming here with admiration and rapturous fondnefs; but wretch can fcarce be admitted to be used, unless in compaffion or contempt. I make no quef tion but the Poet wrote;

Excellent wench!Perdition catch my foul, &c.

It is to be observed, that, in Shakespeare's time, wench, lafs, and girl were not used in that low and vulgar accepta tion as they are at this time of day; but very frequently with dignity. To appeal to a few inftances:

-Oh ill-ftarred wench!

Pale as thy fmock!

Agrip. -Royal wench!

She made great Cæfar lay his fword to bed, &c.

Othello.

Antony and Cleopatra.

Now boast thee, Death, in thy poffeffion lyes

A lafs unparagoned

What, girl though gray

Ibid

Do fomething mingle with our younger brown, &c. Ibid.

Oth. He did, from first to laft; why doft thou ask? Iago. But for a fatisfaction of my thought,

No farther harm.

1

Oth. Why of thy thought, Iago?

Iago. I did not think he'd been acquainted with it. Uth. Oh yes, and went between us very oft. lago. Indeed!

Oth. Indeed! ay, indeed. Difcerneft thou aught Is he not honest?

lago. Honeft, my Lord?

Oth. Honeft? ay, honest.

Iago. My Lord, for aught I know..

Oth. What doft thou think?

Iago. Think, my Lord!----

[in that?

Oth. Think, my Lord! why, by Heaven, thou echoeft me;

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

thing;

I heard thee fay but now,
When Caffio left my wife.

thou lik'dft not that----What did ft not like ?

And when I told thee, he was of my counfel,

In my whole courfe of wooing; thou criedft, indeed?
And didit contract and purfe thy brow together,
As if thou then hadt fhut 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 weigheft thy words before thou giveft them. breath,

Therefore thefe 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,

They're cold dilations working from the heart, (33) That paffion cannot rule.

lago. For Michael Caffio,

I dare be fworm, I think, that he is honeft.

.

Oth. I think fo 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. Lago. Why, then, I think Caffio's an honest man. Oth. Nay, yet there's more in this;

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

The worst of words.

Lago. Good my Lord, pardon me.. Tho' I am bound to every act of duty,

I am not bound to that all flaves are free to; Utter my thoughts!---Why, fay, they're vile and falfe;

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, lago,

(33)

-but, in a man that's juft,

They're clofe denotements working from the heart.

That pofion cannot rule. I cannot fee why this readingfhould be preferred into the text; and another degraded, which makes the fentiment admirably fine:

They're cold dilations working from the heart,

That paffion cannot rule.

"Thefe ftops and breaks which thou makest, (says Othello)_ are cold dilations, or the cold keeping back a fecret, which men of phlegmatic conflitutions, whofe hearts are not ruled or governed by their pashions, we find, can do; while more fanguine tempers reveal themfelves at once, and without referve." Mr Warburton.

If thou but think'ft him wronged, and mak'st his ear A ftranger to thy thoughts.

lago. I do befeech you,

Though I, perchance, am vicious in my gues
(As, I confefs, it is my nature's plague
To fpy into abufe; and oft my jealoufy
Shapes faults that are not;) I entreat you then,
From one that fo imperfectly conceits,

Your wisdom would not build yourself a trouble
Out of my scattering and unfure obfervance:
It were not for your quiet, nor your good,
Nor for my manhood, honesty and wiidom,.
To let you know my thoughts.

Oth. What doft thou mean?

Iago. Good name in man and woman, dear my Is the immediate jewel of their fouls. [Lord, Who ffeals my purfe, fteals trash; 'tis fomething, nothing; (34)

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

(34) Who Steals my pur fe, Beals trah; 'tis fomething, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his; and has been flave to thousands;]

Of riches, and other temporal poffeffions, being uncertain,. and often changing their mafters, we meet with feveral paffages in the claffics, which might have given our Author a. hint for this fentiment:

Nunc ager Umbreni fub nomine, nuper Ofelli
Ditus, erit null proprius; fed cedet in ufum
Nunc mihi, nunc alii.

Horat. Serm. lib. ii. 24

This Lucian feems to have imitated in an epigram:
̓Αγρός ̓Αχαιμενίδα γενόμεν πολέ, νῦν δὲ Μενίππη
Καὶ πάλιν ἐξ ἑτέρα βήσομαι εἰς ἕτερον.
Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεινος ἔχειν με πολύ μελος καὶ πάλιν ἔτος
· Οτελα, εἰμὶ δ ̓ ὅλως ἐδένας ἀλλὰ τύχης.

Nil proprium dicas, quod mutarier patch.

Ουκ εἶδ' ὅτω πέπαιθας ἀργυρίω, πάτερ,
«Ο καιρὸς ὁ τυχῶν τοῖς μὲν ἐκεκλημένοις
Εδωκε, τῶν κεκλημένων δ ̓ ἀφείλειο.
Χρήματα δ' ἀνθρώπων ἄλλοτε ἄλλος έχει

Publ. Syruss

Apollodorus..
Solony.