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Enter BIANCA.

Bian. What is the matter, ho? who is't that cry'd? Iago. Who is't that cry'd!

Bian. O my dear Cassio! my sweet Cassio! O Cassio, Cassio, Cassio!

Iago. O notable strumpet!-Cassio, may you suspect Who they should be, that have thus mangled you? Cas. No.

Gra. I am sorry, to find you thus: I have been to seek you.

Iago. Lend me a garter:-so.-O, for a chair, To bear him easily hence"!

Bian. Alas! he faints.-O Cassio! Cassio! Cassio!
Iago. Gentlemen all, I do suspect this trash
To be a party in this injury3.—

Patience a while, good Cassio.-Come, come.
Lend me a light.-Know we this face, or no?
Alas! my friend, and my dear countryman,
Roderigo? no:-yes, sure. O heaven! Roderigo.
Gra. What, of Venice?

Iago. Even he, sir; did you know him?

Gra.

Know him? ay.

Iago. Signior Gratiano? I cry you gentle pardon: These bloody accidents must excuse my manners, That so neglected you.

Gra.
I am glad to see you.
Iago. How do you, Cassio?-O, a chair, a chair!
Gra. Roderigo!

Iago.

He, he, 'tis he.-O! that's well said ';-the chair.[A Chair brought in.

Some good man bear him carefully from hence;

7 To bear him easily hence !] This speech is wanting in the quarto, 1622. To be a party in this injury.] So the folio: the quarto, 1622, reads, “To

bear a part in this;" the quarto, 1630, "To bear a part in this injury."

9 O! that's well said;] Another out of many examples to show that "well said" was often of old used for "well done." See Vol. iii. p. 39; Vol. iv. p. 330; Vol. vi. p. 337.

I'll fetch the general's surgeon.-For you, mistress,

[TO BIANCA. Save you your labour.-He that lies slain here, Cassio, Was my dear friend. dear friend. What malice was between you? Cas. None in the world; nor do I know the man. Iago. What, look you pale ?-O, bear him out o' the [CASSIO and ROD. are borne off. Stay you, good gentlemen'.-Look you pale, mistress? Do you perceive the gastness of her eye?Nay, an you stir2:-we shall hear more anon.— Behold her well; I pray you, look upon her:

air.

Do you see, gentlemen? nay, guiltiness will speak,
Though tongues were out of use.

Enter EMILIA.

Emil. Alas! what's the matter? what's the matter,

husband?

Iago. Cassio hath here been set on in the dark By Roderigo, and fellows that are scap'd:

He's almost slain, and Roderigo dead.

Emil. Alas, good gentleman! alas, good Cassio! Iago. This is the fruit of whoring.—Pr'ythee, Emilia, Go know of Cassio where he supp'd to-night.

What! do you shake at that?

As

Bian. He supp'd at my house; but I therefore shake

not.

Iago. O! did he so? I charge you, go with me.
Emil. O, fie upon thee, strumpet!

Bian. I am no strumpet; but of life as honest,
you that thus abuse me.

Emil.

As I? fie upon thee!

Iago. Kind gentlemen, let's go see poor Cassio

dress'd.

Come, mistress, you must tell's another tale.—

1 Stay you, good GENTLEMEN.] Gentlewoman is the quarto reading; and in the next line, gestures for "gastness."

2 Nay, AN you STIR:] Thus the quartos, addressed to Bianca: the folio, "Nay, if you stare." Below, the folio alone reads, " and Roderigo quite dead."

Emilia, run you to the citadel,

And tell my lord and lady what hath happ'd.-
Will you go on, I pray?—This is the night,
That either makes me, or fordoes me quite.

[Aside. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

A Bedchamber.

DESDEMONA in bed asleep. A Light burning.

Enter OTHELLO.

Oth. It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul3,-
Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!-
It is the cause.-Yet I'll not shed her blood;
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.

Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then-put out the light'?
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,

I can again thy former light restore,

Should I repent me; but once put out thy lights,
Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,

I know not where is that Promethean heat,

3 it is the cause, my soul,-] Othello enters reasoning with himself on his justification for killing Desdemona, viz., her infidelity; and he refuses to name it to the stars, because they are "chaste:" hence the peculiar propriety of the epithet, for which Steevens informs us there is "no classical authority."

✦ Put out the light, and then—put out the light?] Warburton recommended this mode of pointing the line, excepting that he placed a mark of admiration after "put out the light!" It seems rather a question which Othello asks himself, when the reflection comes across him. Some of the commentators have contended that the old pointing is right-" Put out the light, and then put out the light;" alleging that Warburton's change "gave a spirit to the passage which was not intended;" but what right have we to say that Shakespeare did not intend to give the line all the spirit of which it was susceptible? The punctuation we have adopted is in accordance with what immediately follows.

5 - but once put out THY LIGHT,] Thus the folio: the quartos merely," but once put out thine." The folio, and the quarto, 1630, both read "cunning'st" in the next line, and not cunning, as in the quarto, 1622.

That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd thy rose, I cannot give it vital growth again,

It needs must wither:-I'll smell it on the tree.

[Kissing her.

O balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword!-One more, one more.-
Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
And love thee after.-One more, and this the last :
So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,

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But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly;
It strikes, where it doth love. She wakes-
Des. Who's there? Othello?

Oth.

Ay, Desdemona.

Des. Will you come to bed, my lord?
Oth. Have you pray'd to-night, Desdemona ?
Des.

Ay, my lord.
Oth. If you bethink yourself of any crime,
Unreconcil'd as yet to heaven and grace,
Solicit for it straight.

Des. Alas, my lord! what may you mean by that? Oth. Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by:

I would not kill thy unprepared spirit;

No,-heaven forefend-I would not kill thy soul.
Des. Talk you of killing?

Oth.

Des.

Have mercy on me!

Oth.

Ay, I do.

Then, heaven

Amen, with all my heart!

Des. If you say so, I hope you will not kill me.

Oth. Humph!

Des. And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then, When your eyes roll so. Why I should fear, I know not, Since guiltiness I know not; but yet, I feel I fear. Oth. Think on thy sins.

That can thy light RELUME.] "Relume" is the word in the folio: in the quarto, 1622, it is return; and in the quarto, 1630, relumine. Two lines lower the folio reads, "I'll smell thee on the tree."

Des.

They are loves I bear to you.

Oth. Ay, and for that thou diest.

Des. That death's unnatural, that kills for loving.

Alas! why gnaw you so your nether lip?
Some bloody passion shakes your very frame:
These are portents; but yet, I hope, I hope',
They do not point on me.

Oth.

Des. I will so.

Peace, and be still!

What's the matter?

Oth. That handkerchief, which I so lov'd, and gave

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Take heed of perjury; thou'rt on thy death-bed.

Des. Ay, but not yet to die.

Oth.

Yes, presently:

Therefore, confess thee freely of thy sin;

For to deny each article with oath,

Cannot remove, nor choke, the strong conception,
That I do groan withal. Thou art to die.

Des. Then, Lord, have mercy on me!

Oth.

I say, amen. Des. And have you mercy too!—I never did

Offend

in my you life; never lov'd Cassio, But with such general warranty of heaven

As I might love: I never gave him token.

Oth. By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in's hand. O perjur'd woman! thou dost stone my heart,

And mak'st me call, what I intend to do,

A murder, which I thought a sacrifice:

I saw the handkerchief.

7

Des.

He found it then;

but yet, I hope, I hope,] The quartos both omit the repetition of “I hope," which is necessary to the line: lower down, the folio omits "Yes" before "presently," which is equally necessary, and is found in the quartos.

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