Of gold, and jewels, that I bobb'd3 from him, It must not be: if Cassio do remain, He hath a daily beauty in his life, That makes me ugly; and besides, the Moor 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 4, and exit. Cas. I am maim'd for ever:-Help, ho! mur der! murder! Enter OTHELLO, at a distance. [Falls. 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, 3 That I fool'd him out of.' To bob is to cheat or deceive with a false tale. So in Turberville's Songs and Sonnets:'When wedding day was doon, To play her pranks, and bob the foole, 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 armour. That hast such noble sense of thy friend's wrong! Thou teachest me,-Minion, your dear lies dead, And your fate hies 5 apace;-Strumpet, I come: Forth of my heart those charms, thine eyes, are blotted; Thy bed, lust-stain'd, shall with lust's blood be spotted. [Exit OTHELLO. Enter LODOVICO and GRATIANO, at a distance. Cas. What, ho! no watch! no passage?? 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 heavy3 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. 5 Thus the first quarto. The second quarto and the folio read And your unblest fate hies.' 6 The folio reads 'for of;' the quarto reads forth of, i. e. out of. So in King Richard III. : 'I clothe my naked villany With odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ.' And in Hamlet: Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep.' Again in Jonson's Volpone : 'Forth the resolved corners of his eyes.' 7 No passengers? nobody going by?' So in the Comedy of Errors: Now in the stirring passage of the day.' A passenger anciently signified a passage-boat or vessel, and could not therefore be used in its modern sense without an equivoque. 8 i. e. a thick cloudy night. Enter IAGO, with a Light. Lod. Hark! Gra. Here's one comes in his shirt, with light and weapons. Iago. Who's there? whose noise is this, that cries on murder 9 ? Lod. We do not know. Iago. Did you not hear a cry? Cas. Here, here; for heaven's sake, help me. Lod. The same, indeed; a very valiant fellow. Iago. What are you here that cry so grievously? Cas. Iago? O, I am spoil'd, 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. O murderous slave! O villain! Cas. That's one of them. Iago. [IAGO stabs RODERIGO. Rod. O damn'd 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 Lod. As you shall prove us, praise us. 9 This phrase, to cry on, for cry out on, has already occurred in Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2. See p. 347, ante. Light, gentlemen; I'll bind it with my shirt. 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 10: So.-O, for a chair, To bear him easily hence! Bian. Alas,he faints:-O Cassio! Cassio! Cassio! Patience awhile, good Cassio.-Come, come; 10 This speech is not in the first quarto. this. Thus the folio. The quarto 1622 reads-to bear a part in 12 This passage incontestably proves that Iago was meant for a Venetian. Iago. Even he, sir; did you know him? 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? chair: Iago. He, he, 'tis he:-O, that's well said;-the [A Chair brought in. Some good man bear him carefully from hence; 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: What malice was between you? Cas. None in the world; nor do I know the man. Iago. [To BIAN.] What, look you pale?—0, bear him out o'the air. [CASSIO and ROD. are borne off. Stay you, good gentlemen 13:-Look you pale, mistress? Do you perceive the gastness of her eye 14?- 15 13 Thus the folio. The quarto reads-Stay you, good gentlewoman. It seems probable that Iago addresses Lodovico and Gratiano, who are going away to assist Cassio, and to see him properly taken care of. The subsequent appeal and address of Iago to them appears to confirm this supposition. Malone follows the quarto, and defends the reading of it. 14 The quarto, instead of gastness, reads jestures, and instead of stare, in the next line, has stirre. 15 So in Hamlet: For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak, |