Orl. If this be so, why blame you me to love you? Ros. Pray you, no more of this; 'tis like the howling of Irish wolves against the moon.-I will help you, [to SILVIUS,] if I can :-I would love you, [to PHEBE,] if I could.-To-morrow meet me all together. I will marry you, [to PHEBE,] if ever I marry woman, and I'll be married to-morrow :-I will satisfy you, [to ORLANDO,] if ever I satisfied man, and you shall be married to morrow:-I will content you, [to SILVIUS,] if what pleases you contents you, and you shall be married to-morrow.-As you [to ORLANDO] love Rosalind, meet; -as you [to SILVIUS] love Phebe, meet; And as I love no woman, I'll meet. So, fare you well; I have left you commands. Sil. I'll not fail, if I live. Phe. Nor I. Orl. Nor I. SCENE IV.-Another Part of the Forest. Enter DUKE Senior, AMIENS, Jaques, Orlando, OLIVER, and CELIA. Orl. I sometimes do believe, and sometimes do not; Enter ROSALIND, SILVIUS, and PHEBE. Ros. Patience once more, whiles our compact is urg'd:- Orl. That would I, were I of all kingdoms king. Ros. You say, that you'll have Phebe, if she will? [Exeunt. Duke S. That would I, had I kingdoms to give with her. [To the DUKE. [TO ORLANDO. [TO PHEBE. [TO SILVIUS. Sil. Though to have her and death were both one thing. To make these doubts all even. [Exeunt ROSALIND, and Celia Duke S. I do remember in this shepherd-boy Orl. My lord, the first time that I ever saw him, Enter TOUCHSTONE, and Audrey. Jaq. There is, sure, another flood toward, and these couples are coming to the ark! Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called fools. Touch. Salutation and greeting to you all! Jaq. Good my lord, bid him welcome; This is the motley-minded gentleman, that I have so often met in the forest: he hath been a courtier he swears. Touch. If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation. I have trod a measure; I have flattered a lady; I have been politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy; I have undone three tailors; I have had four quarrels, and like to have fought one. Jaq. And how was that ta'en up? Touch. 'Faith, we met, and found the quarrel was upon the seventh cause. Jaq. How seventh cause? Good my lord, like this fellow. Touch. Sir, I desire you of the like. I press in here, sir, amongst the rest of the country folks, to swear, and to forswear: according as inarriage binds, and blood breaks :-A poor virgin, sir, an ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own; a poor humor of mine, sir, to take that that no man else will: Rich honesty dwells like a miser, sir, in a poor-house; as your pearl, in your foul oyster. Duke S. By my faith, he is very swift and sententious. Touch. According to the fool's bolt, sir. Jaq. But for the seventh cause; how did you find the quarrel on the seventh cause? Touch. Upon a lie seven times removed;-Bear your body more seeming, Audrey :-as thus, sir. I did dislike the cut of a certain courtier's beard; he sent me word, if I said his beard was not cut well, he was in the mind it was: This is called the Retort courteous. If I sent him word again, it was not well cut, he would send me word, he cut it to please himself: This is called the Quip modest. If again, it was not well cut, he disabled my judgment: This is call'd the Reply churlish. If again, it was not well cut, he would answer, I spake not true: This is called the Reproof valiant. If again, it was not well cut, he would say I lie: This is call'd the Countercheck quarrelsome: and so to the Lie circumstantial, and the Lie direct. Jaq. And how oft did you say, his beard was not well cut? Touch. I durst go no further than the Lie circumstantial, nor he durst not give me the Lie direct; and so we measured swords, and parted. Jaq. Can you nominate in order now the degrees of the lie ? Touch. O, sir, we quarrel in print, by the book: as you have books for good manners: I will name you the degrees. The first, the Retort courteous; the second, the Quip modest; the third, the Reply churlish; the fourth, the Reproof valiant; the fifth, the Countercheck quarrelsome; the sixth, the Lie with circumstance; the seventh, the Lie direct. All these you may avoid, but the lie direct; and you may avoid that too, with an If. I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel; but when the parties were met themselves, one of them thought but of an If, as, If you said so, then I said so; And they shook hands, and swore brothers. Your If is the only peace-maker; much virtue in If. Jaq. Is not this a rare fellow, my lord? he's as good at any thing, and yet a fool. Duke S. He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that, he shoots his wit. Enter ROSALIND in woman's clothes; and CELIA. Ros. To you I give myself, for I am yours. Duke S. If there be truth in sight, you are my daughter. [TO DUKE S. [TO ORLANDO. Ros. I'll have no father, if you be not he :- Duke S. O my dear niece, welcome art thou to me; Phe. I will not eat my word, now thou art mine; Thy faith my fancy to thee doth combine. [TO DUKE S. [TO ORLANDO. [TO PHEBE. [TO SILVIUS. Enter JAQUES de Bois. Jaq. de B. Let me have audience for a word or two; His crown bequeathing to his banish'd brother, Duke S. Welcome, young man; Play, music--and you brides and bridegrooms all, Jaq. Sir, by your patience; if I heard you rightly, Jaq. To him will I: out of these convertites [TO DUKE S. Your patience, and your virtue, well deserves it :- I am for other than for dancing measures. Duke S. Stay, Jaques, stay. Jaq. To see no pastime, I: what you would have I'll stay to know at your abandon'd cave. Duke S. Proceed, proceed: we will begin these rites, And we do trust they'll end, in true delights. [Exit. [A dance. OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE. "The Plot is taken from the Hecatommithi, or 'Hundred Tales' of Giraldo Cinthio, an Italian novelist and dramatist of the second class, in the sixteenth century." But although Shakspeare was indebted for the general plan of his plot to the Italian novelist, yet many of the characters are entirely of his own creation, and all of them owe to him that individuality which Shakspeare, of all dramatic poets, seems to possess the power of transfusing into all the personages he introduces into his Dramas. Bishop Lowth says of this Play, that—“the passion of jealousy, its causes, progress, incidents, and effects, have been more truly, more acutely, more copiously, and more impressively delineated, than has been done by all the disquisitions of all the philosophers who have treated on this dark argument." But it may well be added, that the beauties of this immortal Drama are so conspicuous as to need no aid of critical illustration. PERSONS REPRESENTED. DUKE OF VENICE. BRABANTIO, a Senator. GRATIANO, brother to Brabantio. OTHELLO, the Moor: CASSIO, his lieutenant; RODERIGO, a Venetian Gentleman. MONTANO, Othello's predecessor in the government of Cyprus. Herald. DESDEMONA, daughter to Brabantio, and wife to Othello. 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. |