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Ay, good my lord. Ham. An earnest conjuration from the king,As England was his faithful tributary; As love between them like the palm might flourish; As peace should still her wheaten garland wear, And stand a comma 'tween their amities; And many such like as's of great charge,That, on the view and knowing of these contents, Without debatement further, more, or less, He should the bearers put to sudden death, Not shriving-time allow'd.

Hor.

How was this seal'd? Ham. Why, even in that was heaven ordinant; I had my father's signet in my purse, Which was the model of that Danish seal: Folded the writ up in form of the other; Subscrib'd it; gave't the impression; plac'd it safely,

The changeling never known: Now, the next day Was our sea-fight: and what to this was sequent Thou know'st already.

Hor. So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to't. Ham. Why, man, they did make love to this

employment;

They are not near my conscience; their defeat Does by their own insinuation grow:

"Tis dangerous, when the baser nature comes Between the pass and fell incensed points

Of mighty opposites.

Hor. Why, what a king is this! Ham. Does it not, think thee, stand me now upon? [ther; He, that hath kill'd my king, and whor'd my moPopp'd in between the election and my hopes; Thrown out his angle for my proper life, And with such cozenage; is't not perfect conscience, To quit him with this arm? and is't not to be damn'd, To let this canker of our nature come In further evil?

Hor. No, my good lord.

Ham. Thy state is the more gracious; for 'tis a vice to know him: He hath much land, and fertile; let a beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at the king's mess: 'Tis a chough; but, as I say, spacious in the possession of dirt.

Osr. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I should impart a thing to you from his majesty. Ham. I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of spirit: Your bonnet to his right use; 'tis for the head. Osr. I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot.

Ham. No, believe me, 'tís very cold; the wind is northerly.

Osr. It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed. Ham. But yet, methinks, it is very sultry and hot; or my complexion

Osr. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry,as 'twere,-I cannot tell how.-My lord, his majesty bade me signify to you, that he has laid a great wager on your head: Sir, this is the matter,Ham. I beseech you, remember

(Hamlet moves him to put on his hat.) Osr. Nay, good my lord; for my ease, in good faith. Sir, here is newly come to court, Laertes: believe me, an absolute gentleman, full of most excellent differences, of very soft society, and great shewing: Indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card or calendar of gentry, for you shall find in him the continent of what part a gentleman would see.

Ham. Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you;-though, I know, to divide him inventorially, would dizzy the arithmetic of memory; and yet but raw neither, in respect of his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of great article; and his infusion of such dearth and rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his semblable is his mirror; and, who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more.

Osr. Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him. Ham. The concernancy, sir? why do we wrap the gentleman in our more rawer breath? Osr. Sir?

Hor. Is't not possible to understand in another tongue? You will do't, sir, really.

Ham. What imports the nomination of this genOsr. Of Laertes? [tleman? Hor. His purse is empty already; all his golden words are spent.

Ham. Of him, sir.

Osr. I know, you are not ignorant

Ham. I would you did, sir; yet, in faith, if you did, it would not much approve me;-Well, sir. Osr. You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is

Ham. I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with him in excellence; but, to know a man well, were to know himself.

Osr. I mean, sir, for his weapou; but in the imputation laid on him by them, in his meed he's

Hor. It must be shortly known to him from unfellowed.

England,

What is the issue of the business there.

Ham. It will be short: the interim is mine;

And a man's life's no more than to say, one.
But I am very sorry, good Horatio,

That to Laertes I forgot myself;

For by the image of my cause, I see

The portraiture of his: I'll count his favours:

But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me Into a towering passion.

Hor,

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Peace; who comes here?
Enter OSRIC.

Osr. Your lordship is right welcome back to
Denmark.

Ham. I humbly thank you, sir.-Dost know this water-fly?

Ham. What's his weapon?
Osr. Rapier and dagger.

Ham. That's two of his weapons: but, well. Osr. The king, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary horses: against the which he has impawned, as I take it, six French rapiers and po niards, with their assigns, as girdle, hangers, and so: Three of the carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very responsive to the hilts, most delicate carriages, and of very liberal conceit.

Ham. What call you the carriages? Hor. I knew, you must be edified by the margent, ere you had done.

Osr. The carriages, sir, are the hangers. Ham. The phrase would be more german to the matter, if we could carry a cannon by our sides; I would, it might be hangers till then. But, on:

Six Barbary horses against six French swords, their assigns, and three liberal-conceited carriages; that's the French bet against the Danish: Why is this impawned, as you call it?

Osr. The king, sir, hath laid, that in a dozen passes between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you three hits: he hath laid, on twelve for nine; and it would come to immediate trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the answer.

Ham. How, if I answer, no?

Osr. I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in trial.

Ham. Sir, I will walk here in the hall: If it please his majesty, it is the breathing time of day with me: let the foils be brought, the gentleman willing, and the king hold his purpose, I will win for him, if I can; if not, I will gain nothing but my shame, and the odd hits.

Osr. Shall I deliver you so?

Ham. To this effect, sir; after what flourish your nature will.

Osr. I commend my duty to your lordship. [Exit. Ham. Yours, yours.-He does well, to commend it himself; there are no tongues else for's tarn. Hor. This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.

Ham. He did comply with his dug, before he sucked it. Thus has he (and many more of the same breed, that, I know, the drossy age dotes on,) only got the tune of the time, and outward habit of encounter; a kind of yesty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out.

Enter a Lord.

Lord. My lord, his majesty commended him to you by young Osric, who brings back to him, that you attend him in the hall: He sends to know, if your pleasure hold to play with Laertes, or that you will take longer time.

Ham. I am constant to my purposes, they follow the king's pleasure: if his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now, or whensoever, provided I be so able as now.

Lord. The king, and queen, and all are coming Ham. In happy time. [down. Lord. The queen desires you, to use some gentle entertainment to Laertes, before you fall to play. Ham. She well instructs me. [Exit Lord. Hor. You will lose this wager, my lord. Ham. I do not think so; since he went into France, I have been in continual practice; I shall win at the odds. But thou would'st not think, how ill all's here about my heart: but it is no matter. Hor. Nay, good my lord,

Ham. It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of gain-giving, as would, perhaps, trouble a woman. Hor. If your mind dislike any thing, obey it: I will forestal their repair hither, and say, you are not fit.

Ham. Not a whit, we defy augury; there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all: Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows, what is't to leave betimes? Let be. Enter King, Queen, LAERTES, Lords, OSRIC, and Attendants, with foils, &c.

King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.

(The King puts the hand of Laertes into that of Hamlet.)

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How I am punish'd with a sore distraction.
What I have done,
That might your nature, honour, and exception,
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never, Hamlet:
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,
And, when he's not himself, does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.
Who does it then? His madness: If't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Sir, in this audience,

Laer.

Let my disclaiming from a purpos'd evil
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot my arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.
I am satisfied in nature,
Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most
To my revenge: but, in my terms of honour,
I stand aloof; and will no reconcilement,
Till by some elder masters, of known honour,
I have a voice and precedent of peace,
To keep my name ungor'd: But till that time,
I do receive your offer'd love like love,
And will not wrong it.

Ham.

I embrace it freely; And will this brother's wager frankly play.Give us the foils; come on. Laer. Come, one for me. Ham. I'll be your foil, Laertes; in mine igno

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You know the wager? Ham.

Very well, my lord; Your grace hath laid the odds o'the weaker side. King. I do not fear it: I have seen you bethBut since he's better'd, we have therefore odds. Laer. This is too heavy, let me see another. Ham. This likes me well: These foils have all length? (They prepare to play.) Osr. Ay, my good lord. King. Set me the stoups of wine upon that table:

If Hamlet give the first or second hit,
Or quit in answer of the third exchange,
Let all the battlement their ordnance fire;
The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath;
And in the cup an union shall he throw,
Richer than that which four successive kings
In Denmark's crown have worn: Give me the caps.
And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,
The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth,
Now the king drinks to Hamlet.-Come, begia;—
And you, the judges, bear a wary eye.
Ham. Come on, sir,
Laer. Come, my lord,
Ham.

Laer.

Ham.

(They play)

One.

No.

Judgment.

Well,-g

Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit.
Laer.
King. Stay, give me drink: Hamlet, this pen

is thine;

Here's to thy health.-Give him the cup.

(Trumpets sound; and cannon shot off within.) Ham. I'll play this bout first, set it by awhile. Come.-Another hit; What say you? (They play) Laer. A touch, a touch, I do confess. King. Our son shall win. Queen. He's fat, and scant of breath.— Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows; This presence knows, and you must needs have The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.

Ham. Give me your pardon, sir: I have done you wrong;

But pardon it, as you are a gentleman.

heard,

Ham. Good madam,

King.

Gertrude, do not drink. Queen. I will, my lord ;-I pray you, pardon me. King. It is the poison'd cup; it is too late.

(Aside.) Ham. I dare not drink yet, madam; by and by. Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face. Laer. My lord, I'll hit him now. King.

I do not think it. Laer. And yet it is almost against my conscience. (Aside.)

Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes: You do but dally;

I pray you, pass with your best violence;
I am afeard, you make a wanton of me.
Laer. Say you so? come on.
Osr. Nothing neither way.
Laer. Have at you now.

(They play.)

(Laertes wounds Hamlet; then, in senfting,
they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds
Laertes.)

King.
Part them, they are incens'd.
Ham. Nay, come again. (The Queen falls.)
Osr.
Look to the queen there, ho!
Hor. They bleed on both sides :-How is it, my
lord?

Osr. How is't, Laertes?

Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own springe,
Osrie;

I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery.
Ham. How does the queen?
King.
She swoons to see them bleed.
Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink,-O my dear
Hamlet!-

The drink, the drink ;-I am poison'd! (Dies.)
Ham. O villany!-Ho! let the door be lock'd:
Treachery! seek it out.
(Laertes falls.)
Laer. It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art
slain;

No medicine in the world can do thee good,
In thee there is not half an hour's life;
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated, and envenom'd: the foul practice
Hath turn'd itself on me; lo, here I lie,
Never to rise again. Thy mother's poison'd;
I can no more; the king, the king's to blame.
Ham. The point

Envenom'd too!-Then, venom to thy work.
(Stabs the King.)
Osr.& Lords. Treason! treason!
King. O, yet defend me, friends, I am but hurt.
Ham. Here, thou incestuous, murd'rous, damned
Dane,

Drink off this potion:-Is the union here?
Follow my mother.

Luer.

(King dies.) He is justly serv'd; It is a poison temper'd by himself.Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet: Mine and my father's death come not upon thee; Nor thine on me! (Dies.) Ham, Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.

I am dead, Horatio :-Wretched queen, adieu :-
You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time, (as this fell sergeant, death,
Is strict in his arrest,) O, I could tell you,-
But let it be:-Horatio, I am dead;
Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.

Hor.
Never believe it;
I am more an antique Roman than a Dane,
Here's yet some liquor left.

Ham.
As thou'rt a man,—
Give me the cup; let go; by heaven I'll have
it.-

O God!-Horatio, what a wounded name,

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If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity awhile,

And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.-(March afar off, and shot within.)
What warlike noise is this?

Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from
Poland,

To the ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.
Ham.

O, I die, Horatio;
The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit;
I cannot live to hear the news from England:
But I do prophesy, the election lights"
On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more or less,
Which have solicited,-The rest is silence. (Dies.)
Hor. Now cracks a noble heart;-Good night,
sweet prince;

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
Why does the drum come hither? (March within.)
Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and
others.

Fort. Where is this sight?

Hor.

What is it, you would see? If aught of woe, or wonder, cease your search. Fort. This quarry cries on havock!-O proud death!

What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
That thou so many princes, at a shot,
So bloodily hast struck?

1 Amb.

The sight is dismal; And our affairs from England come too late: The ears are senseless, that should give us hearing, To tell him, his commandment is fulfill'd, That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead: Where should we have our thanks?

Hor.

Not from his mouth, Had it the ability of life to thank you; He never gave commandment for their death. But since, so jump upon this bloody question, You from the Polack wars, and you from England, Are here arriv'd; give order, that these bodies High on a stage be placed to the view; And let me speak, to the yet unknowing world, How these things come about: So shall Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts; Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters; Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd cause; And, in this upshot, purposes mistook Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I Truly deliver.

Fort.

you

hear

Let us haste to hear it, And call the noblest to the audience. For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune; I have some rights of memory in this kingdom, Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.

Hor. Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more:
But let this same be presently perform'd,
Even while men's minds are wild; lest more mis-
chance,

On plots, and errors, happen.
Fort.
Let four captains
Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;
For he was likely, had he been put on,

To have prov'd most royally: and, for his passage,
The soldiers' music, and the rites of war,

Speak loudly for him.

Take up the bodies:-Such a sight as this Becomes the field, but here shews much amiss. Go, bid the soldiers shoot. (A dead march.) [Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies; after which, a peal of ordnance is shot off.

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PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Act V. Scene £

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GRATIANO, Brother to Brabantio.

LODOVICO, Kinsman to Brabantio.

OTHELLO, the Moor:

CASSIO, his Lieutenant;

IAGO, his Ancient.

RODERIGO, a Venetian Gentleman.

MONTANO, Othello's predecessor in the Government of Cyprus.

Clown, Servant to Othello.-Herald.

DESDEMONA, Daughter to Brabantio, and Wife to

Othello.

EMILIA, Wife to lago.

BIANCA, a Courtezan, Mistress to Cassio.

Officers, Gentlemen, Messengers, Musicians, Sailors,
Attendants, &c.

SCENE,-for the First Act, in Venice; during the rest of the Play, at a Sea-port in Cyprus.

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kindly,

That thou, Iago,-who hast had my purse,
As if the strings were thine,-should'st know of this.
Iago. 'Sblood, but you will not hear me :--
If ever I did dream of such a matter,
Abhor me.

[hate. Rod. Thou told'st me, thou didst hold him in thy Iago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city,

In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Oft capp'd to him;-and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place :
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance,
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion, nonsuits

My mediators; for, certes, says he,
I have already chose my officer.

And what was he?

Forsooth, a great arithmetician,

One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,

A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife;
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows

More than a spinster; unless the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged consuls can propose
As masterly as he mere prattle, without practice,
Is all his soldiership. But he, sir, had the election:
And I,-of whom his eyes had seen the proof,
At Rhodes, at Cyprus; and on other grounds,
Christian and heathen, -must be be-lee'd and

calm'd

By debitor and creditor, this counter-caster;
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,
And I, (God bless the mark!) his Moor-ship's
ancient.

Rod. By heaven, I rather would have been his
hangman.
[service:
Iago. But there's no remedy, 'tis the curse d
Preferment goes by letter, and affection,
Not by the old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to the first. Now, sir, be judge yourself,
Whether I in any just term am affin'd
To love the Moor.

Rod.

I would not follow him the Iago. O, sir, content you;

I follow him to serve my turu upon him:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For nought but provender; and, when he's old,
cashier'd;

Whip me such honest knaves: Others there are,
Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves;
And, throwing but shews of service on their lords,
Do well thrive by them, and, when they have find
their coats,
-[soul:
Do themselves homage: these fellows have some
And such a one do I profess myself.
For, sir,

It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be fago:
In following him I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and daty,
Bat seeming so, for my peculiar end:

For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.

Rod. What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe, If he can carry't thus!

Iago, Call up her father; Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight, Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kinsmen, And, though he in a fertile climate dwell, Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy, Yet throw such changes of vexation on't, As it may lose some colour.

Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud. Jago. Do; with like timorous accent, and dire yell,

As when, by night and negligence, the fire
Is spied in populous cities.

[ho! Rod. What, ho! Brabantio! signior Brabantio, Iago. Awake! what, ho! Brabantio! thieves! thieves! thieves!

Look to your house, your daughter, and your bags! Thieves! thieves!

BRABANTIO, above, at a window.

Bra. What is the reason of this terrible summons? What is the matter there?

Rod. Signior, is all your family within?
Iago. Are your doors lock'd?
Bra.

Why? wherefore ask you this? Iago, 'Zounds, sir, you are robb'd; for shame, put on your gown;

Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul;
Even now, very now, an old black ram
Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise;
Awake the snorting citizens with the bell,
Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you:
Arise, I say.

Bra.
Rod. Most reverend signior, do you know my
voice?

What, have you lost your wits?

Bra. Not I; What are you?

Rod. My name is-Roderigo.

Bra.

The worse welcome : I have charg'd thee not to haunt about my doors: In houest plainness thou hast heard me say, My daughter is not for thee; and now, in madness, Being full of supper and distempering draughts, Upon malicious bravery, dost thou come

To start my quiet.

Rod. Sir, sir, sir, sir,-
Bra.

But thou must needs be sure, My spirit, and my place, have in them power To make this bitter to thee.

Patience, good sir.

Rod.
Bra. What tell'st thou me of robbing? this is
Venice;

My house is not a grange.
Rod.

Most grave Brabantio, In simple and pure soul I come to you. Iago. 'Zounds, sir, you are one of those, that will not serve God, if the devil bid you. Because we come to do you service, you think we are ruffians: You'll have your daughter covered with a barbary horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you; you'll have coursers for cousins, and gennets for germans.

Bra. What profane wretch art thou? Iago. I am one, sir, that comes to tell you, your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs,

Bra. Thou art a villain. Iago.

You are a senator.

Bra. This thou shalt answer; I know thee, Roderigo. [you, Rod. Sir, I will answer any thing. But I beseech If't be your pleasure, and most wise consent (As partly, I find, it is,) that your fair daughter,

At this odd-even and dull watch o'the night,
Transported-with no worse nor better guard,
But with a knave of common hire, a gondolier,-
To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor,-
If this be known to you, and your allowance,
We then have done you bold and saucy wrongs;
But, if you know not this, my manners tell me,
We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe,
That, from the sense of all civility,

I thus would play and trifle with your reverence:
Your daughter, if you have not given her leave,-
say again, hath made a gross revolt;
Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes,
In an extravagant and wheeling stranger,
Of here and every where: Straight satisfy yourself:
If she be in her chamber, or your house,
Let loose on me the justice of the state
For thus deluding you.

Bra.

Strike on the tinder, ho Give me a taper ;-call up all my people :— This accident is not unlike my dream, Belief of it oppresses me already :Light, I say! light! [Exit from above. Iago. Farewell; for I must leave you: It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place, To be produc'd (as, if I stay, I shall,) Against the Moor: For, I do know, the state,— However this may gall him with some check,Cannot with safety cast him; for he's embark'd With such loud reason to the Cyprus' wars, (Which even now stand in act,) that, for their souls, Another of his fathom they have not, To lead their business in which regard, Though I do hate him as I do hell pains, Yet, for necessity of present life,

:

I must shew out a flag and sign of love,
Which is indeed but sign. That you shall surely
find him,

Lead to the Sagittary the rais'd search;
And there will I be with him. So, farewell. [Exit.

Enter, below, BRABANTIO, and Servants, with torches.

Bra. It is too true an evil: gone she is; And what's to come of my despised time, Is nought but bitterness.-Now, Roderigo, Where didst thou see her?-O, unhappy girl!With the Moor, say'st thou ?-Who would be a father?

[me How didst thou know 'twas she?-O, thou deceiv'st Past thought! What said she to you?-Get more tapers; [you? Raise all my kindred.-Are they married, think Rod. Truly, I think, they are.

Bra. O heaven!-How got she out?-O treason of the blood!

Fathers, from hence trust not your daughters' minds
By what you see them act.-Are there not charms,
By which the property of youth and maidhood
May be abus'd? Have you not read, Roderigo,
Of some such thing?

Rod.
Yes, sir; I have indeed.
Bra. Call up my brother.-O, that you had had
her!-

Some one way, some another.-Do you know
Where we may apprehend her and the Moor?
Rod. I think, I can discover him; if you please
To get good guard, and go along with me.

Bra. Pray you, lead on. At every house I'll call;
I may command at most;-Get weapons, ho!
And raise some special officers of night.—
On, good Roderigo ;-I'll deserve your pains.
[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The same. Another Street. Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Attendants. Iago. Though in the trade of war I have slain men, Yet do I hold it very stuff o'the conscience, To do no contriv'd murder; I lack iniquity

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