Will not go from my mind; I have much to-do,2 Pr'ythee, despatch. Emil. Shall I go fetch your night-gown? No, unpin me here. This Lodovico is a proper man. Emil. A very handsome man. Des. He speaks well. Emil. I know a lady in Venice, would have walk'd barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip. Des. [Sings.] The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree, Sing all a green willow; Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee, Sing willow, willow, willow: The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur'd her moans; Sing willow, willow, willow: Her salt tears fell from her, and soften'd the stones;Lay by these. Sing willow, willow, willow: Pr'ythee, hie thee; he'll come anon. — Sing all a green willow must be my garland. Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve, — Nay, that's not next. - Hark! who is it that knocks? Emil. It's the wind. Des. [Sings.] I call'd my love, false love; but what said he then? 2 That is, I have much ado to do any thing, but to go, &c. To-do was, and still is, often used thus in the sense of ado. What follows, beginning with, "I have much to-do," including the song, and ending with, "Nay, that's not next," is wanting in the quarto of 1622. The other quarto and the folio have the text complete. H. Sing willow, willow, willow: If I court mo women, you'll couch with mo men.3. So, get thee gone; good night. Emil. Mine eyes do itch; 'Tis neither here nor there. 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?* 3 This part of the song also is wanting in the first quarto. These lines sung by Desdemona are from an old ballad, entitled "A Lover's Complaint, being forsaken of his Love." The ballad may be found entire in Bishop Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry. It is there the lament of a man: Shakespeare adapted it to the sex of "poor Barbara." We subjoin the four stanzas from which he borrowed: "A poore soule sat sighing under a sicamore tree; O willow, willow, willow! With his hand on his bosom, his head on his knee : O willow, willow, willow! Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garland. "The cold streams ran by him, his eyes wept apace; The salt tears fell from him, which drowned his face : Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garland. "The mute birds sat by him, made tame by his mones; The salt tears fell from him, which soften'd the stones: Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garland. "Let nobody blame me, her scornes I do prove; O willow, willow, willow! She was borne to be faire; I to die for her love: Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garland." H. 4 This speech and the next are also wanting in the quarto of 1622.The pathos of this scene, O, who can describe it! H. Emil. There be some such, no question. Des. Would'st 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. Would'st 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. 5 In troth, I think thou would'st not. Emil. In troth, I think I should, and undo't, when I had done. Marry, I would not do such a thing for a joint-ring, 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 labour, 'tis a wrong in your own world, and you might quickly make it right. A joint-ring was anciently a token of troth-plight between lovers, like the piece of broken gold in the Bride of Lammermoor. Dryden has a minute description of it in his Don Sebastian : "A curious artist wrought them With joints so close as not to be perceiv'd; (You know these names are theirs,) and in the midst H. Des. I do not think there is any such woman. Emil. Yes, a dozen; and as many to the vantage, as would store the world they play'd for. But I do think it is their husbands' faults, If wives do fall. Say, that they slack their duties, Throwing restraint upon us; or, say, they strike us, Why, we have galls; and, though we have some 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 sweet and sour, Des. Good night, good night: Heaven me such uses send, Not to pick bad from bad, but by bad mend! 6 To the vantage is the same in sense as to boot. lows of this speech not in the first quarto. [Exeunt. ACT V. 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: stand. 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. 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 rubb'd this young quat almost to the sense,1 And he grows angry. Now, whether he kill Cassio, Of gold and jewels, that I bobb'd from him,2 It must not be: if Cassio do remain, 1 A quat, in the midland counties, is still used for a pimple, which by rubbing is made to smart, or rubbed to sense. Roderigo is called a quat by the same mode of speech as a low fellow is now termed in low language a scab. To rub to the sense is to rub to the quick. In the third line after, the quartos have game for gain. 2 That is, fool'd him out of. To bob is to cheat or deceive with a false tale. |