But I find
it almost impossible to believe that Shakespeare _ever_ wrote the
passage without the words about the Pontic Sea. It seems to me almost an
imperative demand of imagination that Iago's set speech, if I may use
the phrase, should be preceded by a speech of somewhat the same
dimensions, the contrast of which should heighten the horror of its
hypocrisy; it seems to me that Shakespeare must have felt this; and it
is difficult to me to think that he ever made the lines,
In the due reverence of a sacred vow
I here engage my words,
follow directly on the one word 'Never' (however impressive that word in
its isolation might be). And as I can find no _other_ 'omission' in Q1
which appears to point to a subsequent addition, I conclude that this
'omission' _was_ an omission, probably accidental, conceivably due to a
stupid 'cut.' Indeed it is nothing but Mr. Swinburne's opinion that
prevents my feeling certainty on the point.
Finally, I may draw attention to certain facts which may be mere
accidents, but may possibly be significant. Passages (_b_) and (_c_)
consist respectively of six and seven lines; that is, they are almost of
the same length, and in a MS. might well fill exactly the same amount of
space. Passage (_d_) is eight lines long; so is passage (_e_).
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