Of my whole courfe of love; what drugs, what

charms,

What conjuration, and what mighty magic,
(For fuch proceeding I am charg'd withal)
I won his daughter with.

Bra. A maiden never bold;

Of spirit fo ftill and quiet, that her motion
Blush'd at herself; And the,-in spite of nature,
Of years, of country, credit, every thing,-
To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on?
It is a judgment maim'd, and most imperfect,
That will confefs-perfection so could err
Against all rules of nature; and must be driven
To find out practices of cunning hell,
Why this fhould be. I therefore vouch again,
That with fome mixtures powerful o'er the blood,
Or with fome dram conjur'd to this effect,
He wrought upon her.

Duke. To vouch this, is no proof;
Without more certain and more overt test',
Than these thin habits, and poor likelihoods
Of modern seeming, do prefer against him.
1 Sen. But, Othello, fpeak;-

Did you by indirect and forced courses
Subdue and poison this young maid's affections?
Or came it by request, and such fair question
As foul to foul affordeth?

Oth. I do befeech you,

Send for the lady to the Sagittary 2,

And let her speak of me before her father:

If you do find me foul in her report,

The truft, the office, I do hold of you,

Not only take away, but let your sentence
Even fall upon my life.

Duke. Fetch Desdemona hither.

Wherein I fpake of most disastrous chances,

Of moving accidents, by flood and field;
Of hair-breadth fcapes i' the imminent deadly
Of being taken by the infolent foe,
[breach;

5 And fold to flavery; of my redemption thence,
And portance in my travel's hiftory:
Wherein of antres 3 vaft, and defarts idle 4,
Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch
heaven,

It was my hint to speak, fuch was the process;
And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their fhoulders 5. These things
to hear,

Would Desdemona seriously incline:

But ftill the house affairs would draw her thence;
Which ever as he could with haste dispatch,
She'd come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour up my discourse: Which I observing,
20 Took once a pliant hour; and found good means
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
Whereof by parcels she had fomething heard,
But not intentively: I did confent;

25 And often did beguile her of her tears,

30

35

When I did speak of some distressful stroke
That my youth fuffer'd. My ftory being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of fighs:
She fwore,-In faith, 'twas ftrange, 'twas paffing
ftrange;

'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful:

She wifh'd, the had not heard it; yet the wish'd
That heaven had made her fuch a man: fhe

thank'd me;

And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her,

I fhould but teach him how to tell my story,

And that would woo her. Upon this hint, I fpake:
She lov'd me for the dangers I had past;
And I lov'd her, that he did pity them.
40 This only is the witchcraft I have us'd;
Here comes the lady, let her witness it.

Enter Defdemona, lago, and Attendants.
Duke. I think, this tale would win my daughter

too.

45 Good Brabantio,'

Take up this mangled matter at the best:
Men do their broken weapons rather use,
Than their bare hands.

Bra. I pray you, hear her speak;

If the confefs, that he was half the wooer,

i. e. open proofs, external evidence. 2 This means the fign of the fictitious creature fo called, i. e. an animal compounded of man and horfe, and armed with a bow and quiver. 3 i. c. caves, dens. Dr. Warburton remarks, that " Difcourfes of this nature made the fubject of the politeft converfations, when voyages into, and discoveries of, the new world were all in vogue. So when the Baftard Faulconbridge, in King John, describes the behaviour of upstart greatness, he makes one of the effential circumstances of it to be this kind of table-talk. The fashion then running altogether in this way, it is no wonder a young lady of quality fhould be ftruck with the hiftery of an adventurer." Dr. Johnfon adds, that "Whoever ridicules this account of the progrefs of love, thews his ignorance, not only of history, but of nature and manners. It is no wonder that, in any age, or in any nation, a lady, reclufe, timorous, and delicate, fhould defire to hear of events and fcenes which the could never sec, and should admire the man who had endured dangers, and performed actions, which, however great, were yet magnified by her timidity." 4 i. e. wild, useless, uncultivated.

5 Dr. Jolinfon fays, book of that time."

"Of thefe men there is an account in the interpolated travels of Mandeville, a Intention and attention were once fynonymous.

Defruction

1

the place is best known to you: And though we have there a fubstitute of most allow'd fufficiency, yet opinion, a fovereign mistress of effects, throws a more fafe voice on you: you must therefore be 5 content to flubber 4 the glofs of your new fortunes, with this more stubborn and boisterous expedition. Oth. The tyrant custom, moft grave fenators, Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war My thrice-driven 5 bed of down: I do agnize

I am hitherto your daughter: But here's my 10 A natural and prompt alacrity,

1 Grize, from degrees. A grife is a step. 2 Meaning, the moral precepts of confolation, which are liberally bestowed on occafion of the fentence. 3 Dr. Johnson obferves, that the confequence of a bruife is sometimes matter collected, and this can no way be cured without piercing, or letting it out. 4 To flubber here means to obfcure. 5 A driven bed, is a bed for which the feathers are felected, by driving with a fan, which separates the light from the heavy. i. e. acknowledge, confefs, avow. 7 i. e. precedency suitable to her rank. 8 Exbibition is allowance, and here implies revenue. Let your favour privilege me. 10 i. e. The greatness of his character reconciled me to his form, 11 Affects ftands in this paffage not for love, but for paffions, for that by which any thing is affected. I afk it not, says Othello, to please appetite, or fatisfy loofe defires, the paffions of youth which I have now outlived, or for any particular gratification of myself, but merely that I may indulge the wishes of my wife. 12 To defend, is to forbid, from defendre, Fr. 13 All these words mean no more than this: When the pleasures and idle toys of love make me unfit either for feeing the duties of my office, or for the ready performance of them.

If virtue no delighted beauty lack,
Your fon-in-law is far more fair than black.
Sen. Adieu, brave Moor! ufe Desdemona well.
Bra. Look to her, Moor; have a quick eye
to fee;

She has deceiv'd her father, and may thee.
[Exeunt Duke and Senators.
Oth. My life upon her faith.-Honest Iago,
My Desdemona muft I leave to thee:
I pr'ythee, let thy wife attend on her;
And bring them after in the best advantage 2.-
Come, Desdemona; I have but an hour
Of love, of worldly matter and direction,
To fpend with thee: we muft obey the time.
[Exeunt Othello, and Defdemona.

Rod. Iago,

lago. What fay'ft thou, noble heart? Red. What will I do, think'ft thou?

Iago. Why, go to bed, and fleep.

Red. I will incontinently drown myself. Jago. Well, if thou doft, I shall never love thee after it. Why, thos filly gentleman!

Rod. It is fillinefs to live, when to live is a torment: and then have we a prefcription to die when death is our physician.

5

shame to be fo fond; but it is not in my virtue tó amend it.

Lago. Virtue? a fig! 'tis in ourfelves, that we are thus, or thus. Our bodies are our gardens ; to the which, our wills are gardeners: fo that if we will plant nettles, or fow lettuce; fet hyffop, and weed up thyme; fupply it with one gender of herbs, or diftract it with many; either have it fteril with idleness, or manur'd with industry; why, the 10 power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills. If the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the blood and bafenefs of our natures would conduct us to moft prepofterous conclufions: But we have rea 15 fon, to cool our raging motions, our carnal ftings, our unbitted lufts; whereof I take this, that you call-love, to be a sector scyon.

25

Rod. It cannot be.

Iago. It is merely a luft of the blood, and a 20 permiffion of the will. Come, be a man: Drown thyfelf? drown cats, and blind puppies. I have profefs'd me thy friend, and I confefs me knit to thy deferving with cables of perdurable toughness; I could never better steed thee than now. Put money in thy purfe: follow thou these wars; defeat 5 thy favour with an ufurped beard: I fay, put money in thy purse. It cannot be, that Def demona fhould long continue her love to the Moor, -put money in thy purfe;-nor he his to her: it 30 was a violent commencement in her, and thou fhalt fee an answerable fequestration ";-put but money in thy purfe.-Thefe Moors are changeable in their wills;-fill thy purfe with money: the food that to him now is as luscious as locufts, shall 35 be to him fhortly as bitter as coloquintida. She muft change for youth: when she is fated with his body, fhe will find the error of her choice.She muft have change, the muft: therefore put money in thy purse.-If thou wilt needs damn 40 thyfelf, do it a more delicate way than drowning. Make all the money thou canft: If fanctimony and a frail vow, betwixt an erring Barbarian and a fuper-fubtle Venetian, be not too hard for my wits, and all the tribe of hell, thou fhalt enjoy her; 45 therefore make money. A pox of drowning thy. felf! it is clean out of the way: seek thou rather to be hang'd in compaffing thy joy, than to be drown'd and go without her.

Iago. O villainous! I have look'd upon the world for four times feven years: and fince I could 50 diftinguish betwixt a benefit and an injury, I never found man that knew how to love himself. Ere 1 would fay, I would drown myfelf for the love of a Guinea hen3, I would change my humanity with a baboon.

Rod. Wilt thou be fast to my hopes, if I depend on the iffue?

Iago. Thou art fure of me;-Go, make money: I have told thee often, and I re-tell thee again and again, I hate the Moor: My cause is hearted; thine hath no lefs reafon: Let us be conjunctive 55 in our revenge against him: if thou canst cuckold Rod. What should I do? I confefs, it is my him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, and me a sport.

Delighted, for delighting, or delightful. Shakspeare often ufes the active and paffive participles indifcriminately. 2 i. e. faireft opportunity. 3 A Guinea-ben was anciently the cant term for a prostitute. 4 A fect is what the more modern gardeners call a cutting. 5 To defeat, is to undo, to change. 6 The poet probably here ufes fequeftration for fequel. Sequeftration, however, may mean no more than feparation. 7 The fruit of the locuft-tree is a long black pod, which contains the reeds, among which there is a very sweet luscious juice of much the fame confiftency as fresh honey.

There

Do you hear, Roderigo?|

A CT

1 Gent. Nothing at all: it is a high-wrought 35 I cannot, 'twixt the heaven and the main, Defcry a fail.

Be not infhelter'd, and embay'd, they are drown'd;}
It is impoffible they bear it out.

3 Gent. News, lords! our wars are done : The defperate tempeft hath fo bang'd the Turks, That their defignment halts: A noble thip of

2 By a Veronese a fhip of Verona is denoted. 3 Expert and approv'd allowance is put for allow'd and approv'd expertnifs. 4 The meaning, Mr. Steevens thinks, is, Therefore, my hopes, not being deftroy'd by their own excefs, but being reafonable and moderate, are likely to be fulfilled.

1052

Caf. What noife?

Gent. The town is empty; on the brow o' the fea
Stand ranks of people, and they cry—a fail.

Caf. My hopes do shape him for the governor.
Gent. They do discharge their shot of courtesy; 5
Our friends, at least.
[Guns beard.

Caf. I pray you, fir, go forth,

And give us truth who 'tis that is arrived.

[Exit.

Iago. Sir, would she give you so much of her

lips,

As of her tongue she oft bestows on me,
You'd have enough.

Def. Alas, she has no speech.
Iago. In faith, too much;

I find it still, when I have lift to sleep;
Marry, before your ladyship, I grant,
She puts her tongue a little in her heart,

Gent. I fhall.
Mont. But, good lieutenant, is your general 10 And chides with thinking.

wiv'd?

Caf. Moft fortunately: he hath atchiev'd a maid
That paragons description, and wild fame;
One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens,
And, in the effential vefture of creation,

Æmil. You have little cause to say so.

Lago. Come on, come on; you are pictures out of doors,

Bells in your parlours, wild cats in your kitchens, 15 Saints in your injuries, devils being offended,

Does bear all excellency'. How now? who has Players in your housewifery, and housewives in put in?

Re-enter Gentleman.

Gent. 'Tis one Iago, ancient to the general.

your beds.

Def. O, fie upon thee, flanderer!

Iago. Nay, it is true, or else I am Turk;

Caf. He has had most favourable and happy 20 You rise to play, and go to bed to work.

speed:

Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds,
The gutter'd rocks, and congregated fands,—
Traitors enfteep'd to clog the guiltless keel,-
As having fenfe of beauty, do omit
Their mortal natures, letting go fafely by
The divine Desdemona.

Mont. What is she?

[captain,

Cas. She that I spake of, our great captain's
Left in the conduct of the bold Iago;
Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts,
A fe'nnight's speed.-Great Jove, Othello guard,
And fwell his fail with thine own powerful breath ;|
That he may bless this bay with his tall ship,
Make love's quick pants in Defdemona's arms,
Give renew'd fire to our extinc&ted spirits,
And bring all Cyprus comfort!-O, behold,

Enter Defdemona, Iago, Roderigo, and Æmilia.
The riches of the ship is come on shore!-
Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees:
Hail to thee, lady! and the grace of heaven,
Before, behind thee, and on every hand,
Enwheel thee round!

Def. I thank you, valiant Caffio.
What tidings can you tell me of my lord?

Caf. He is not yet arriv'd; nor know I aught
But that he's well, and will be shortly here.

Des. O, but I fear ;-How loft you company?
Caf. The great contention of the fea and skies
Parted our fellowship: But, hark! a fail.
Within.] A fail, a fail!

[Guns beard.

Gent. They give this greeting to the citadel; This likewife is a friend.

Caf. See for the news.- [An attendant goes out. Good ancient, you are welcome ;

mistress.

50

Welcome, 55

[To Emilia.
Let not it gall your patience, good Iago,
That I extend my manners; 'tis my breeding
That gives me this bold fhew of courtesy.

If the be fair and wife,-fairness, and wit,
The one's for ufe, the other ufeth it.
Daf. Well prais'd! How if the be black and

witty?

Iago. If the be black, and thereto have a wit, She'll find a white that shall her blackness fit.

Def. Worfe and worse.

mil. How, if fair and foolish?

Iago. She never yet was foolish that was fair; For even her folly help'd her to an heir. Def. These are old fond paradoxes, to make fools laugh i' the alehouse. What miserable praise haft thou for her that's foul and foolish?

Iago. There's none fo foul, and foolish thereunto, But does foul pranks which fair and wife ones do.

Def. O heavy ignorance!-thou praifeft the worst beft. But what praise couldst thou bestow on a deferving woman indeed? one, that, in the authority of her merit, did justly put on the vouch [Kiffes ber. 60 of very malice itself 3 ?

That is, She excels the praises of invention, and in real (the author seeming to use essential for real) qualities, with which creation has invefted her; bears all excellency. Johnfon fays, To put on the vouch of malice, is to affume a character vouched by the teftimony of malice itfelf.