Desd. " 'Oth. "No, by my life and soul; Sweet soul! take heed "Of perjury; thou'rt now on thy deathbed." 496. "Let him confess a truth." It surely ought to be "the truth;" but further regulation is wanting: "Let him confess the truth." That he hath us'd thee." Ay." He will not say só." Unlawfully?" Oth. Why, no; not now; his mouth is stopp'd: Iago, "Honest Iago, hath ta'en order for it.' "O banish me, my lord," &c. 497. The banishment of " my lord" from the text would restore the metre: "O banish me, but kill me not." Oth. " Down, strumpet. 498. "It is too late." The exuberance, here, might thus be reduced: "It is too late." Emil. (without) "My lord! what ho, my lord! "The noise was high." The first quarto reads "was here," and perhaps rightly-the sense appears to be, 'tis like she comes to speak, &c. the noise that was here prevented my hearing her words, perhaps he was about to say." The noise was here," for "the noise that was here" is an ellipsis not at all un common: "The noise was here.-Ha! no more moving! still! "Still as the grave," &c. 499. "Should yawn at alteration." I would regulate the text thus: "Should yawn at alteration." Emil." I beseech you, "That I may speak with you.-O, good, my lord." "O, good my lord, yonder's foul murder Oth. "Said'st thou! what! murder! now?" 500. "And makes men mad." Emil. " Cassio, my lord, hath kill'd "A young Venetián call'd Roderigo." Oth. Oth. "Cassio's not kill'd." Not Cassio kill'd? then murder "Is out of tune; and sweet revenge grows harsh." Desd. "O falsely murder'd." Emil. " Ha! what cry was that?" The words set down to Othello here," that! what?" have been put in to disturb the measure, by some actor; they are of no use, and were better dismissed; for Emilia's alarm would not wait for them; and Othello preserves a sullen silence till his terrible fury is rouzed by the gentle absolution of the dying Desdemona. 502. "And you, the blacker devil." Some words seem to have been lost: perhaps, Alas! sweet lady!" "She was false as water." This, with what follows, requires regulation: "She was false as water." Emil. " Thou art rash as fire, "To say she was false.-O, she was heavenly true." "To this extremity; thy husband knew it all." "All" is superfluous, and loads the verse:the succeeding lines might thus be regulated : "My husband!" Oth. Ay, thy husband, woman; he." Emil. "That she was false to wedlock! said'st thou?" "With Cassio, mistress; nay, had she been true," &c. 503. "I'd not have sold her for it." The measure, here, might thus be reclaimed: "I'd not have sold her for't." Emil. " 66 Ay, Thy husband; he it was that told me first." "That sticks on filthy deeds." Something is wanting here to order: "That sticks on filthy deeds." Emil. " Oth. Emil. " My husband!" How now! "What needs this iteration, woman? I say Thy' húsband." O, sweet mistress! villany "That she was false! my husband!" Oth. Gra. "What is the matter?" Something is wanting; perhaps like this: "What is the matter? Murder, say you? where?" 505. “Speak, for my heart is full.” Another fragment, to which, perhaps, belonged some words like these: Iag. "But did you ever tell him she was false?" "I did." "Ever" might well be omitted, and Iago's answer finish the verse. 506. " My mistress, here," &c. The lines between this and Iago's speech:"What are you, man?" which are not in the first quarto, appear to be a worthless interpola tion. 507. "And fall to reprobation." This hemistic was probably preceded by some words like these: 509. "In spleen; and fall to reprobatíón." As liberal as the air.” Liberal," unrestrained; as in K. Henry V. "The air a charter'd libertine is still." And in As You Like It: "A charter like the wind, 510. "Your sword upon a woman!" Hold! for shame!” "Are there no stones in heaven "But what serve for the thunder.” Nobody, I suppose, will be satisfied with Mr. Steevens's explanation of this passage-the thunder, according to the poetic, as well as vulgar notion, does more than "make the noise," it effects the devastation. "Are there no stones in |