Des. I have heard it said so.'-O, these men, these

men!

Dost thou in conscience think,-tell me, Emilia,-
That there be women do abuse their husbands

In such gross kind?

Emil.

There be some such, no question. Des. Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world?

Emil. Why, would not you?

Des.

No, by this heavenly light! Emil. Nor I neither by this heavenly light;

I might do't as well i' the dark.

Des. Wouldst thou do such a deed for all the world? Emil. The world is a huge thing. 'Tis a great price For a small vice.

Des. Good troth, I think thou wouldst not.

Emil. By my troth, I think I should; and undo't, when I had done. Marry, I would not do such a thing for a joint-ring;2 nor for measures of lawn; nor for gowns, petticoats, nor caps, nor any petty exhibition: but, for the whole world,-why, who would not make her husband a cuckold, to make him a monarch? I should venture purgatory for't.

Des. Beshrew me, if I would do such a wrong for the whole world.

Emil. Why, the wrong is but a wrong i' the world; and, having the world for your labor, 'tis a wrong in your own world, and you might quickly make it right. Des. I do not think there is any such woman. Emil. Yes, a dozen; and as many

To the vantage,3 as would store the world they played for.

But I do think, it is their husbands' faults

If wives do fall. Say, that they slack their duties,
And pour our treasures into foreign laps;

Or else break out in peevish jealousies,

Throwing restraint upon us; or, say they strike us,

1 This, as well as the following speech, is omitted in the first quarto. 2 A joint-ring was anciently a common token among lovers.

3 i. e. to boot, over and above. The remaining part of this speech is omitted in the first quarto.

Or scant our former having1 in despite :

Why, we have galls; and, though we have some grace,
Yet we have some revenge. Let husbands know
Their wives have sense 2 like them: they see, and smell,
And have their palates both for sweet and sour,
As husbands have. What is it that they do,
When they change us for others? Is it sport?
I think it is; and doth affection breed it?
I think it doth; is't frailty, that thus errs?
It is so too; and have not we affections?
Desires for sport? and frailty, as men have?
Then let them use us well; else, let them know,
The ills we do, their ills instruct us to.3

Des. Good night, good night; Heaven me such

usage send,

Not to pick bad from bad; but, by bad, mend!

ACT V.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I. A Street.

Enter IAGO and RODERIGO.

Iago. Here, stand behind this bulk; straight will he

come;

Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home.

Quick, quick; fear nothing; I'll be at thy elbow.
It makes us, or it mars us; think on that,

And fix most firm thy resolution.

Rod. Be near at hand; I may miscarry in't. Iago. Here, at thy hand, be bold, and take thy [Retires to a little distance.

sword.

1 Our former allowance of expense.

2 Sense is here used, as in Hamlet, for sensation, or sensual appetites.

3 The old copy reads, "their ills instruct us so."

4 "Such uses

"such usage."

VOL. VII.

"is the reading of the folio; but the first quarto has

63

Rod. I have no great devotion to the deed; And yet he has given me satisfying reasons. 'Tis but a man gone;-forth, my sword; he dies.

[Goes to his stand.

Iago. I have rubbed this young quat almost to the

sense,1

And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio, Or Cassio him, or each do kill the other,

Every way makes my gain.

Live Roderigo,

He calls me to a restitution large

Of gold and jewels that I bobbed3 from him,
As gifts to Desdemona;

It must not be; if Cassio do remain,

He hath a daily beauty in his life,

That makes me ugly; and, besides, the Moor

May unfold me to him; there stand I in much peril : No, he must die.-But so, I hear him coming.

Enter CASSIO.

Rod. I know his gait; 'tis he ;-villain, thou diest. [Rushes from his post, and makes a pass at

CASSIO.

Cas. That thrust had been mine enemy indeed, But that my coat is better than thou think'st;

I will make proof of thine.

Rod.

[Draws, and wounds RODERIGO. O, I am slain !

[IAGO rushes from his post, cuts CASSIO behind in the leg,* and exit.

Cas. I am maimed forever:-Help, ho! murder!

murder!

[Falls.

1 A quat, in the midland counties, is still used for a pimple, which by rubbing is made to smart, or rubbed to sense. To rub to the sense is to rub to the quick.

2 The quartos read "my game."

3 "That I fooled him out of." To bob is to cheat or deceive with a false tale.

4 Iago maims Cassio in the leg, in consequence of what he had just heard him say; from which he supposed that his body was defended by

some secret armor.

Enter OTHELLO, at a distance.

Oth. The voice of Cassio.-Iago keeps his word. Rod. O, villain that I am!

Oth.

Hark! 'Tis even so. Cas. O, help! ho! light! a surgeon!

Oth. 'Tis he;-O brave Iago, honest, and just, That hast such noble sense of thy friend's wrong! Thou teachest me,―minion, your dear lies dead And your fate hies' apace.-Strumpet, I come. Forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted; Thy bed, lust-stained, shall with lust's blood be spotted. [Exit OTHELLO.

2

Enter LODOVICO and GRATIANO, at a distance. Cas. What, ho! no watch! no passage?3 murder! murder!

Gra. 'Tis some mischance; the cry is very direful. Cas. O, help!

Lod.

Rod.

Hark!

O wretched villain! Lod. Two or three groans ;-it is a heavy night. These may be counterfeits; let's think't unsafe

To come into the cry without more help.

Rod. Nobody come? then shall I bleed to death.

Lod. Hark!

Enter IAGO, with a light.

Gra. Here's one comes in his shirt, with light and

weapons.

Iago. Who's there? whose noise is this, that cries on murder ? 5

1 Thus the first quarto. The second quarto and the folio read " And your unblest fate hies."

2 The folio reads "for of;" the quarto reads forth of, i. e. out of.

3 No passengers? nobody going by?

4 i. e. a thick, cloudy night.

5 This phrase, to cry on, for cry out on, has already occurred in Hamle. Act v. Sc. 2.

Lod. We do not know.

Iago.

Did you not hear a cry?

Cas. Here, here; for Heaven's sake, help me.
Iago.
What's the matter?

Gra. This is Othello's ancient, as I take it.
Lod. The same, indeed; a very valiant fellow.
Iago. What are you here that cry so grievously?
Cas. Iago! O, I am spoiled, undone by villains!
Give me some help.

Iago. O me, lieutenant! what villains have done this? Cas. I think that one of them is hereabout,

And cannot make away.

Iago.

O treacherous villains!

What are you there? come in, and give some help.

Rod. O, help me here!

[To LODOVICO and GRATIANO.

Cas. That's one of them.

O murderous slave! O villain!

[IAGO stabs RODERIGO.

Iago.

Rod. O damned Iago! O inhuman dog!

O! O! O!

Iago. Kill men i' the dark!-Where be these bloody thieves?

How silent is this town!-Ho! murder! murder!

What may you be? are you of good, or evil?

Lod. As you shall prove us, praise us.

Iago.

Seignior Lodovico!

Iago.

Cas. My leg is cut in two.

Light, gentlemen; I'll bind it with my shirt.

Enter BIANCA.

Bian. What is the matter, ho? who is't that cried?

Iago. Who is't that cried?

Marry, Heaven forbid !—