He might not but refuse you: but, he protests, he loves you; And needs no other suitor, but his likings, To take the saf'st occasion by the front To bring you in again. CAS. Yet, I beseech you, If you think fit, or that it may be done,— EMIL Pray you, come in; I will bestow you where you shall have time To speak your bosom freely. CAS. I am much bound to you *. SCENE II. A Room in the Castle. [Exeunt. Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Gentlemen. OTH. These letters give, Iago, to the pilot; And, by him, do my duties to the state 5: That done, I will be walking on the works, Repair there to me. IAGO. Well, my good lord, I'll do't. OTH. This fortification, gentlemen,-shall we see't? GENT. We'll wait upon your lordship. [Exeunt. 3 To take the saf'st occasion by the front,] This line is wanting in the folio. STEEVENS. 4 I am much bound to you.] This speech is omitted in the first quarto. STEEvens. 5 -to the STATE:] Thus the quarto 1622. Folio,—to the senate. MALONE. SCENE III. Before the Castle. Enter DESDEMONA, CASSIO, and EMILIA. DES. Be thou assur'd, good Cassio, I will do All my abilities in thy behalf. EMIL. Good madam, do; I know it grieves my husband, As if the case were his ". DES. O, that's an honest fellow.-Do not doubt, Cassio, But I will have my lord and you again As friendly as you were. CAS. Bounteous madam, Whatever shall become of Michael Cassio, He's never any thing but your true servant. DES. O, sir, I thank you' : You do love my lord: You have known him long; and be you well assur'd, He shall in strangeness stand no further off Than in a politick distance. CAS. Ay, but, lady, 8 , That policy may either last so long 6 As if the CASE were his.] The folio reads-As if the cause were his. STEEVENS. 7 O, SIR, I thank you :] Thus the quarto 1622. The folio reads-I know't, I thank you. MALONE. 8 That policy may either last so long,] He may either of himself think it politick to keep me out of office so long, or he may be satisfied with such slight reasons, or so many accidents may make him think my re-admission at that time improper, that I may be quite forgotten. JOHNSON. DES. Do not doubt that; before Emilia here, To the last article: my lord shall never rest; With Cassio s suit: Therefore be merry, Cassio; Than give thy cause away. Enter OTHELLO and IAGO, at a distance. And hear me speak. CAS. Madam, not now: I am very ill at ease, Unfit for mine own purposes. DES. Do your discretion. Well, well', 9 I'll watch him tame,] It is said, that the ferocity of beasts, insuperable and irreclaimable by any other means, is subdued by keeping them from sleep. JOHNSON. Hawks and other birds are tamed by keeping them from sleep, and it is to the management of these that Shakspeare alludes. So, in Cartwright's Lady Errant : 66 we'll keep you, "As they do hawks, watching until you leave "Your wildness." Again, in Monsieur D'Olive, 1606: “ your only way to deal with women and parrots, is to keep them waking." Again, in Sir W. D'Avenant's Just Italian, 1630: 66 They've watch'd my hardy violence so tame." Again, in The Booke of Haukynge, Huntyng, &c. bl. 1. no date: "Wake her all nyght, and on the morrowe all daye, and then she will be previ enough to be reclaymed." STEEVENS. 1 Well, WELL,] The adverb-well, has been repeated for the sake of measure. STEEVENS. IAGO. Ha! I like not that. OTH. What dost thou say? IAGO. Nothing, my lord: or if-I know not what. OTH. Was not that Cassio, parted from my wife? LAGO. Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it, That he would steal away so guilty-like, Seeing you coming. Отн. I do believe 'twas he. DES. How now, my lord? I have been talking with a suitor here, A man that languishes in your displeasure. DES. Why, your lieutenant Cassio. Good my lord, If I have any grace, or power to move you, 2 For, if he be not one that truly loves you, I pr'ythee, call him back. Отн. Went he hence now? DES. Ay, sooth; so humbled, That he hath left part of his grief with me; 2 His present reconciliation TAKE ;] Cassio was to be reconciled to his general, not his general to him, therefore take cannot be right. We should read-make. WARBURTON. To take his reconciliation, may be to accept the submission which he makes in order to be reconciled. JOHNSON. 3 and not in CUNNING.] Cunning, for design, or purpose simply. WARBurton. Perhaps rather for knowledge, the ancient sense of the word. So, in Measure for Measure: "In the boldness of my cunning I will lay myself in hazard." The opposition which seems to have been intended between cunning and ignorance, favours this interpretation. MALONE. 4 I suffer with him.] Thus the quarto 1622. The folio reads -To suffer with him. MALone. OTH. Not now, sweet Desdemona; some other time. DES. But shall't be shortly? Отн. The sooner, sweet, for you. DES. Shall't be to-night at supper? DES. To-morrow dinner then? No, not to-night. I shall not dine at home; I meet the captains at the citadel. DES. Why then, to-morrow night; or Tuesday morn; Or Tuesday noon, or night; or Wednesday morn; To incur a private check: When shall he come ? What you could ask me, that I should deny, Cassio, 5 the wars must make examples What! Michael Out of THEIR BEST,] The severity of military discipline must not spare the best men of their army, when their punishment may afford a wholesome example. JOHNSON. The old copies read-her best. Mr. Rowe made this necessary emendation. MALONE. SO MAMMERING on.] To hesitate, to stand in suspense. The word often occurs in old English writings, and probably takes its original from the French M'Amour, which men were apt often to repeat when they were not prepared to give a direct answer. HANMER. I find the same word in Acolastus, a comedy, 1540: “I stand in doubt, or in a mamorynge between hope and fear." Again, in Thomas Drant's translation of the third satire of the second book of Horace, 1567 : 66 Yea, when she daygnes to send for him, then mameryng he doth doute." Again, Henry Wotton's address "to the favourable and well |