When, being not at your lodging to be found,
The Senate fent above three several quefts,

To fearch you out.

Oth. Tis well I am found by you:

I will but spend a word here in the house,

And go with you.

Caf. Ancient, what makes he here?

[Exit Othello.

lago. Faith, he to night hath boarded a land-carrack; If it prove lawful prize, he's made for ever.

Caf. I do not understand.

Iago. He's married.

Caf. To whom ?

Iago. Marry to-Come, Captain, will you go?

Enter Othello.

Oth. Have with you.

Caf. Here comes another tropp to feek for you.

Enter Brabantio, Rodorigo, with officers and torches. Iago. It is Brabantio: General, be advis'd;

He comes to bad intent.

Oth. Holla! ftand there.

Rod. Signior, it is the Moor.

Bra. Down with him, thief!

[They draw on both fides.

Iago. You, Roderigo! come, Sir, I am for you-
Oth. Keep up your bright fwords, for the dew will

ruft 'em.

Good Signior, you fhall more command with years,
Than with your weapons.

Bra. O thou foul thief! where haft thou ftow'd my daughter?

Damn'd as thou art, thou haft enchanted her;
For I'll refer me to all things of fenfe,

If fhe in chains of magick were not bound,
Whether a maid, so tender, fair, and happy,
So oppofite to marriage, that the fhunn'd (5)

(5) that the fhunn'd

The

The wealthy curled Darlings of our Nation.] I have a

dopted

The wealthy culled darlings of our nation,
Would ever have, t'incur a general mock,
Run from her guardage to the footy bosom
Of fuch a thing as thou, to fear, not to delight?
Judge me the world, if 'tis not grofs in fenfe, (6)
That thou haft practis'd on her with foul charms,
Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs or minerals,
That weaken Notion.- -I'll hav't difputed on;

dopted a very probable Conjecture, which Mr. Warburton propos'd to me.

The wealthy culled Darling of our Nation.

i. e. pick'd, select, chofen, from the common Suitors. For the Epithet curled, as he obferves, was no Mark of Distinction or Difference between a Venetian and a Moor; which latter People are remarkably curl'd by Nature. And tho' culled now, when our ears are nicer than our Understandings, may not fo frequently find a Place in the Drama; the fame objection did not lie to the Sound of it in Shakespeare's Days, who chufes to use it wherever he can.

(6) Judge me the World, if 'tis not gross in Sense,

That thou haft practis'd on her with foul Charms,

Abus'd her delicate Youth with Drugs, or Minerals,

That weaken Motion.] Brabantio is here accufing Othelle of having us'd some foul Play, and intoxicated Desdemona by Drugs and Potions to win her over to his Love. But why, Drugs to weaken Motion? How then could he have run away with him voluntarily from her Father's Houfe? Had the been averse to chufing Othellə, tho' he had given her Medicines that took away the Ufe of her Limbs, might the not still have retain'd her Senses, and oppos'd the Marriage? Her Father, 'tis evident, from several of his Speeches, is pofitive that she must have been abused in her rational Faculties; or the could not have made fo prepofterous a Choice, as to wed with a Moor, a Black, and refuse the fineft young Gentlemen in Venice. What then have we to do with her Motion being weaken'd? If I understand any thing of the Poet's Meaning here, I cannot bur think, he must have wrote;

Abus'd her deluare Youth with Drugs, or Minerals,
That weaken Notion.

i. e. her Apprehenfion, right Conception and Idea of Things, V derstanding, Judgment, &c.

VO L. VIII.

L

'Tis

'Tis probable, and palpable to thinking.
I therefore apprehend and do attach thee
For an abufer of the world, a practicer.
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant;
Lay hold upon him; if he do refikt,
Subdue him at his peril.

Oth. Hold your hands,

Both you of my inclining, and the rest.
Were it my cue to fight, I fhould have known it
Without a prompter. Where will you I go
To answer this your charge?

Bra. To prifon, 'till fit time

Of law, and courfe of direct Seffion
Call thee to answer.

Oth. What if I do obey ?

How may the Duke be therewith fatisfied,
Whose messengers are here about my fide,
Upon fome prefent bufinefs of the State,
To bring me to him?

Offi. True, moft worthy fignior,

The Duke's in Council; and your noble self,
I'm fure, is fent for.

Bra. How! the Duke in Council?

In this time of the night? bring him away;
Mine's not an idle caufe. The Duke himself,
Or any of my Brothers of the State,

Cannot but feel this wrong, as 'twere their own;
For if fuch actions may have paffage free, (7)

(7) For if fuch Actions may have Passage free,

Bond

Bondflaves and Pagans shall our Statesmen be.] I have long had a Sufpicion of Pagans here. Would Brabantio infer, if his private Injury were not redrefs'd, the Senate should no longer pretend to call themselves Christians? But Pagans are as ftrict and moral, we find, all the World over, as the most regular Christians, in the Prefervation of private Property. The Difference of Faith is not at all concern'd, but mere human Policy, in afcertaining the Right of meum and tuum. I have ventur'd to imagine, that our Author wrote,

Bondlaves and Pageants shall our Statesmen be.

i. c. if

Bond-flaves, and Pageants, fhall our Statesmen be.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to the Senate House.

Duke and Senators, fet at a table with lights, and

Duke.

T

attendants.

HERE is no compofition in these news,
That gives them credit.

I Sen. Indeed, they're difproportion'd;
My letters fay, a hundred and seven Gallies.
Duke. And mine a hundred and forty.

2 Sen. And mine, two hundred;

But though they jump not on a juft account,
(As in these cafes, where they aim reports,
'Tis oft with diff'rence ;) yet do they all confirm
A Turkish Flect, and bearing up to Cyprus.

Duke. Nay, it is poffible enough to judgment;
I do not fo fecure me in the error,

But the main article I do approve

In fearful fenfe.

Sailors within.] What hoa! what hoa! what hoa! Enter Sailors.

Offi. A meffenger from the Gallies.

Duke. Now! -what's the bufinefs?

Sail. The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes,
So was I bid report here to the State.
Duke. How fay you by this change?

1 Sen. This cannot be,

By no affay of reason. 'Tis a pageant,

i. e. if we'll let such injurious Actions go unpunish'd, our Statesmen must be Slaves, Cyphers in Office, and have no Pow'r of redreffing; be Things of meer Show, and gaudy Appearance only. Nor could Pagans, include any Reflexion on Othello, confidering him as a Moor: for unless he had been turn'd Chriftian, he never could have had any Commiffion under the Venetian State.

To keep us in falfe gaze; when we confider
Th' importancy of Cyprus to the Turk,
And let our felves again but understand,
That as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,
So may he with more facile question bear it ;
For that it ftands not in fuch warlike brace,
But altogether lacks th' abilities

That Rhodes is drefs'd in. If we make thought of this,
We must not think the Turk is fo unskilful,

To leave that lateft, which concerns him first;

Neglecting an attempt of ease and gain,

To wake, and wage, a danger profitless.

Duke. Nay, in all confidence he's not for Rhodes. Offi. Here is more news.

Enter a Messenger. ·

Mef. The Ottomites, (reverend and gracious,) Steering with due courfe toward the Ifle of Rhodes, Have there injoin'd them with an after-fleet

1 Sen. Ay, fo I thought; how many, as you guess?
Mef. Of thirty fail; and now they do re-ftem
Their backward courfe, bearing with frank appearance
Their Purposes toward Cyprus. Signior Montano,
Your trufty and most valiant Servitor,

With his free duty, recommends you thus,
And prays you to believe him.

Duke. 'Tis certain then for Cyprus: Marcus Luccicos, Is he not here in town?

1 Sen. He's now in Florence.

Duke. Write from us, to him, poft, poft-hafte, difpatch. 1 Sen. Here comes Brabantio, and the valiant Moor. To them, enter Brabantio, Othello, Caffio, Iago, Rodorigo, and Officers.

Duke. Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you, Against the general enemy Ottoman.

I did not fee you; welcome, gentle fignior:

[To Braban. We lack'd your counfel, and your help to night. Bra. So did I yours; good your Grace, pardon me;

Neither