Emil. Difmifs me!

Def. It was his bidding; therefore, good Æmilia, Give me my nightly wearing, and adieu : We must not now difplease him.

Emil. I would you had never seen him!

Def. So would not I; my love doth fo approve him, That even his ftubbornness, his checks, and frowns— (Pr'ythee unpin me)-have grace and favour in them. Emil. I have laid thofe fheets you bade me on the bed.

Def. All's one. Good father! how foolish are our minds?

If I do die before thee, pr'ythee shroud me
In one of those fame fheets.

Emil. Come, come, you talk.

Def. My mother had a maid called Barbara; She was in love; 2 and he, fhe lov'd, prov'd mad, And did forfake her. She had a fong of willow, An old thing 'twas, but it exprefs'd her fortune, And fhe dy'd finging it. That fong to-night Will not go from my mind; [3 I have much to do, But to go hang my head all o' one fide, And fing it like poor Barbara. Pr'ythee dispatch. Emil. Shall I go fetch your night gown?

2

-and he, she lov'd, prov'd mad,

And did forfake her.] We fhould read,

and be, fhe lov'd, forfook ber,

And he prov'd mad.

WARBURTON.

Def.

I believe that mad only fignifies wild, frantick, uncertain.

I've much ado,

JOHNSON.

But to go bang my head-] I bave much ado to do any thing but hang my head. We might read,

Not to go bang my head.

This is perhaps the only infertion made in the latter editions which has improved the play. The reft feem to have been added for the fake of amplification, or of ornament. When the imagination had fubfided, and the mind was no longer agitated by the horror of the action, it became at leifure to look round for specious additions. This addition is

natural.

Emil. A very handsome man.
Def. He speaks well.

Emil. I know a lady in Venice would have walk'd barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip.] Def. 4" The poor foul fat finging by a fycamore

66

tree,

Sing all a green willow;

[Singing. "Her hand on her bofom, her head on her knee, Sing willow, willow, willow:

66

"The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur'd her 66 moans;

"Her falt tears fell from her, and soft'ned the "ftones;"

Lay by these :

Sing willow, &c.

"Willow, willow," &c.

Pr'ythee, hye thee; he'll come anon.

"Sing all a green willow must be my garland.

2.

"Let no body blame him, his fcorn I approve." Nay that's not next-Hark, who is it that knocks? Emil. It is the wind.

Def. 5" I call'd my love falfe love; but what faid "he then?

Sing willow, &c.

"If I court more women, you'll couch with more "men."

natural. Defdemona can at firft hardly forbear to fing the fong; fhe endeavours to change her train of thoughts, but her imagination at laft prevails, and the fings it. JOHNSON.

4 This fong, in two parts, is printed in a late collection of old ballads; the lines preferved here differ fomewhat from the copy discovered by the ingenious collector. JoHNSON.

I call'd my love falfe love ;-] This couplet is not in the ballad, which is the complaint, not of a woman forfaken, but of a man rejected. Thefe lines were probably added when it was accommodated to a woman. JOHNSON.

So

So get

thee gone. Good night. Mine eyes do itch, Doth that bode weeping?

Emil. 'Tis neither here nor there.

Def. [I have heard it faid fo.-Oh these men, these
men!

Doft thou in confcience think, tell me, Æmilia,
That there be women do abuse their husbands

In fuch grofs kind?

Emil. There be fome fuch, no question.]

Def. Wouldft thou do fuch a deed for all the world?
Emil. Why, would not you?

Def. No, by this heavenly light.

Emil. Nor I neither, by this heavenly light: I might do't it as well i' the dark.

Def. Would thou do fuch a deed for all the world? Emil. The world is a huge thing,

It is a great price for a small vice.

Def. In troth, I think, thou wouldst not.

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

Def. Befhrew me, if I would do fuch a wrong

For the whole world.

Emil. Why, the wrong is but a wrong i' the world; and having the world for your labour, 'tis a wrong in your own world, and you might quickly make it right.

Def. I do not think there is any fuch woman.

Emil. Yes, a dozen; and as many to the vantage, as would ftore the world they play'd for.

But, I do think, it is their husbands' faults,
If wives do fall. Say, that they flack their duties,
And pour our treafures into foreign laps;
Or elfe break out in peevish jealoufies,

Throwing

Throwing restraint upon us; or, fay, they strike us;
Or fcant our former having in despight:

Why, we have galls; and though we have fome grace,
Yet have we some revenge. Let husbands know,
Their wives have sense like them; they see and smell,
And have their palates both for fweet and four,
As husbands have. What is it that they do,
When they change us for others? Is it fport?
I think it is; and doth affection breed it?
I think it doth: Is't frailty that thus errs?
It is fo too. And have not we affections?
Defires for sports? and frailty, as men have?
Then let them ufe us well: else let them know,
The ills we do, their ills inftruct us to.

Def. Good night, good night: 7 heaven me fuch ufage fend,

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

[Exeunt.

6 -our former having-] Our former allowance of expence. JOHNSON.

7-heaven me fuch ufes fend,] Such is the reading of the folio, and of the fubfequent editions; but the old quarto has, fuch ufage fend.

Usage is an old word for custom, and, I think, better than uses. JOHNSON.

ACT

ACT V. SCENE I

H

A Street.

Enter Iago and Roderigo.

IAGO.

ERE, ftand 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
ftand.

Rod. I have no great devotion to the deed; Yet he hath given me fatisfying reafons:--'Tis but a man gone.-Forth, my fword. He dies. [Stands apart.

Iago. I have rubb'd this young quat almoft to the

fense,

And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Caffio,

In fome editions,

I've rubb'd this young gnat almost to the fenfe,

And he grows angry.] This is a paffage much controverted among the editors. Sir T. Hanmer reads quab, agudgeon; not that a gudgeon can be rubbed to much fenfe, but that a man grofsly deceived is often called a gudgeon. Mr. Upton reads quail, which he proves, by much learning, to be a very choleric bird. Dr. Warburton retains gnat, which is found in the early quarto. Theobald would introduce knot, a fmall bird of that name. I have followed the text of the folio, and third and fourth quartos.

A quat in the midland counties is a pimple, which by rubbing is made to fmart, or is rubbed to fenfe. Roderigo is called a quat by the fame mode of fpeech, as a low fellow is now termed in low language a fcab. To rub to the fenfe, is to rub to the quick. JOHNSON.

Or