EMIL. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil ОTH. She was false as water 2. EMIL. Thou art rash as fire, to say That she was false: O, she was heavenly true!

Отн. Cassio did tup her; ask thy husband else.
O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell,
But that I did proceed upon just grounds

To this extremity; Thy husband knew it all.
EMIL. My husband?

OTH. Thy husband.

EMIL. That she was false to wedlock?

Отн.

Nay, had she been true,

Ay, with Cassio.

If heaven would make me such another world

Of one entire and perfect chrysolite *,

I'd not have sold her for it.

EMIL. My husband?

Отн.

Ay, 'twas he that told me first 5:

An honest man he is, and hates the slime

That sticks on filthy deeds.

EMIL.

My husband?

So, in Deuteronomy, xxii. 21: "-she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore," &c. STEEVENS.

2

false as water.] As water that will support no weight, nor keep any impression. JOHNSON.

In Genesis, chap. 49, old translation, v. 3, Jacob applies a similar term to Reuben: "Thou wast light as water." MALONE.

3-this EXTREMITY;] Perhaps our author wrote-to this extreme. The measure demands a shorter word than the former. Thus, in Romeo and Juliet:

""Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife

"Shall play the umpire." STEEvens.

4-chrysolite,] Pliny, in his Natural History, book xxxvii. ch. 8. informs us, that Ptolemy Philadelphus had a statue of his wife Arsinoe, made of one topaz, four cubits in length. He used topaz and chrysolite (says Dr. Clarke, in his lectures on mineralogy) as synonymous terms. Perhaps Shakspeare alluded to this story. PLUMPTRE.

- that told me first;] The folio reads-that told me on her first. STEEVens.

OTH. What needs this iterance, woman? I say,

thy husband.

EMIL. O mistress, villainy hath made mocks with love!

My husband say, that she was false?

Отн. He, woman; I say, thy husband; Dost understand the word? My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.

EMIL. If he say so, may his pernicious soul Rot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart; She was too fond of her most filthy bargain. OTH. Ha!

This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven,
Than thou wast worthy her.

Отн.

Peace, you were best. EMIL. Thou hast not half the power to do me

harm,

As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!
As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed,-
I care not for thy sword; I'll make thee known,

5 iterance.] Thus the folio. The quarto reads-iteration. STEEVENS.

6 Emil.] The first quarto omits this and the following speech. STEEVENS.

7- VILLAINY hath made mocks with love!] Villainy has taken advantage to play upon the weakness of a violent passion. JOHNSON.

s Thou hast not half the power to do me harm, As I have to be hurt.] She means to say, I have in this cause power to endure more than thou hast power to inflict.' JOHNSON.

This sentiment is more expanded in King Henry VIII. :

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Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer."

Again, in King Henry VI. Part II. :

"More can I bear than you dare execute."

Of this last line there is no trace in the old play on which Shakspeare formed The Second Part of King Henry VI. MALONE.

Though I lost twenty lives :-Help! help, ho! help! The Moor has kill'd my mistress; Murder! murder!

Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, and IAGO.

MON. What is the matter?-How now, general? EMIL. O, are you come, Iago? you have done well,

That men must lay their murders on your neck.
GRA. What is the matter?

EMIL. Disprove this villain, if thou be'st a man:
He says, thou told'st him that his wife was false:
I know, thou didst not, thou'rt not such a villain;
Speak, for my heart is full.

LAGO. I told him what I thought; and told no

more

Than what he found himself was apt and true. EMIL. But did you ever tell him, she was false? IAGO. I did.

EMIL. You told a lie; an odious, damned lie; Upon my soul, a lie; a wicked lie :

She false with Cassio!-Did you say with Cassio? LAGO. With Cassio, mistress; Go to, charm your tongue 9.

9

- charm your

charm your tongue.] By this expression, tongue," the poet meant no more than to make lago say, 'Apply some power, strong as a charm would be, to your tongue; for nothing less can stop its volubility.' So, in King Henry VI. Part III.:

"Peace, wilful boy, or I will charm your tongue."

Again, Ben Jonson, in Cynthia's Revels:

66

charm your skipping tongue."

Again, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, b. v. c. ix. :

"That well could charm his tongue, and time his speech." Again, in The Yorkshire Tragedy, 1608:

"The surest way to charm a woman's tongue,

"Is-break her neck :-a politician did it."

The same phrase is also employed by Chapman in his version of the fifth Iliad :

EMIL. I will not charm my tongue; I am bound

to speak;

1

My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed.

ALL. O heavens forefend!

EMIL. And your reports have set the murder on. Отн. Nay, stare not, masters: it is true, indeed. GRA. 'Tis a strange truth.

MON. O monstrous act!

EMIL.

Villainy, villainy, villainy !—

I think upon't. I think, I smell't;-O villainy! I thought so then 2;-I'll kill myself for grief.O villainy, villainy!

LAGO. What, are you mad? I charge you, get you home.

EMIL. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to

speak;

'Tis proper I obey him, but not now:
Perchance, Iago, I will ne'er go home.

OTH. O! O! O!
EMIL
For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent,
That e'er did lift up eye.

[Hanging over his Wife. Nay, lay thee down, and roar;

Отн.

O, she was foul!

[Rising.

"Downe from the chariot he fell, his gay arms shin'd and

rung,

"The swift horse trembled, and his soule for ever charm'd his

tongue."

Pliny informs us, that favete linguis was the constant exclamation before any religious charm was applied. From this circumstance the phrase, to charm a tongue, might have originated. STEEVENS.

My mistress, &c.] This line, and the following six speeches, are wanting in the first quarto. STEEVENS.

2 I thought so THEN;] i. e. at the instant when she gave Desdemona's handkerchief to Iago: for even then Emilia appears to have suspected it was sought after for no honest purpose, and therefore asks her husband

What will you do with it?" &c. See p. 376. STEEVENS.

I scarce did know you, uncle: There lies your

niece,

Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp'd:

I know, this act shows horrible and grim.

GRA. Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father's dead;

Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now,
This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
Yea, curse his better angel from his side,

3

And fall to reprobation 9.

OTH. "Tis pitiful: but yet Iago knows, That she with Cassio hath the act of shame A thousand times committed; Cassio confess'd it:

3 Yea, curse HIS BETTER ANGEL FROM HIS SIDE,

And fall to reprobation.] So, in our author's 144th Sonnet: my female evil

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"Tempteth my hetter angel from my side." MALONE. "-reprobation." Both the first and second folio read-reprobance. STEEVENS.

4 A thousand times committed;] This is another passage which seems to suppose a longer space comprised in the action of this play than the scenes include. JOHNSON.

"That she with Cassio hath the act of shame

"A thousand times committed

And again :

""Tis not a year or two shows us a man." I am not convinced from these passages only, that a longer space is comprised in the action of this play than the scenes include.

What Othello mentions in the first instance, might have passed still more often, before they were married, when Čassio went between them; for she, who could find means to elude the vigilance of her father in respect of Othello, might have done so in respect of Cassio, when there was time enough for the occurrence supposed to have happened. A jealous person will aggravate all he thinks, or speaks of; and might use a thousand for a much less number, only to give weight to his censure: nor would it have answered any purpose to have made Othello a little nearer or further off from truth in his calculation. We might apply the poet's own words in Cymbeline: