SCENE III.

Before the Caftle.

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 husband, As if the cafe were his.

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

As friendly as you were.

Bounteous madam,

Caf.
Whatever shall 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 strangenefs ftand no further off

Than in a politick distance.

Caf.

Ay, but lady,
That policy may either last so long,

Or feed upon fuch nice and waterish diet,
Or breed itself fo out of circumstance,
That, I being abient, and my place fupplied,
My general will forget my love and service.

Def. Do not doubt that; before Emilia here,
I give thee warrant of thy place: assure 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, and talk him out of patience;
His bed fhall feem a fchool, his board a thrift;

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.

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

Unfit for mine own purposes.

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 steal away fo guilty-like,

Seeing you coming.

Oth.

Def. How now, my

I do believe, 'twas he.

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 present reconciliation take;

For, if he be not one that truly loves you,
That errs in ignorance, and not in cunning,

E 3

I have

I have no judgement in an honest face:
I pr'ythee, call him back.

Oth.

Went he hence now?

Def. Ay, footh; so 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

Def. To-morrow dinner then?
Oth.

I meet the captains at the citadel.

No, not to-night.

I fhall not dine at home;

Def. Why then, to-morrow night; or tuesday morn ;
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 trespass, 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 soul,

What you could ask me, that I should deny,

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

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 dishes, or keep you warm;
Or fue to you to do peculiar profit

To your own perfon: Nay, when I have a fuit,
Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed,
It shall 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: Farewell, my lord.

Oth. Farewell, my Desdemona: 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 EMILIA.

Oth. Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my foul,

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 woo'd my lady,
Know of your love?

Oth. He did, from first to last: Why dost thou ask ?
Iago. But for a fatisfaction of my thought;

No further harm.

Oth.

Why of thy thought, Iago?

Iago. I did not think, he had been acquainted with her. Oth. O, yes; and went between us very oft.

Iago. Indeed?

Oth. Indeed! ay, indeed :-Difcern'st thou aught in

As if there were some monster in his thought

Too hideous to be shown.-Thou doft mean something:

I heard thee say but now,-Thou lik’dst not that,
When Caffio left my wife; What did❜st not like ?
And, when I told thee-he was of my counsel
In my whole course of wooing, thou cry'dft, Indeed?
And did'ft contract and purfe thy brow together,
As if thou then had'st shut up in thy brain

Some horrible conceit: If thou doft love me,
Show me thy thought.

Jago. 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 stops of thine fright me the more:

For fuch things, in a false disloyal knave,

Are tricks of cuftom; but, in a man that's just,
They are close denotements, working from the heart,
That paffion cannot rule.

Iago.

For Michael Caffio,

I dare be fworn, I think that he is honest.

Oth. I think fo too.

Iago.

Men should be what they feem;

Or, those that be not, 'would they might seem none !
Oth. Certain, men should be what they seem.
Iago.

I think that Caffio is an honest man.

Oth. Nay, yet there's more in this :

I pray thee, fpeak to me as to thy thinkings,

Why then,

As