That will confess-perfection so could err
Against all rules of nature; and must be driven
To find out practices of cunning hell,
Why this should be. I therefore vouch again,
That with some mixtures powerful o'er the blood,
Or with some dram conjur'd to this effect,
He wrought upon her.

Duke.
To vouch this, is no proof;
Without more certain and more overt test,i
Than these thin habits, and poor likelihoods
Of modern seeming,2 do prefer against him.
1 Sen. But, Othello, speak;-

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 soul to soul allordeth?

Oth.

I do beseech you,
Send for the lady to the Sagittary,3
And let her speak of me before her father:
If you do find me foul in her report,
The trust, the office, I do hold of you,
Not only take away, but let your sentence
Even fall upon my life.

Duke.

Fetch Desdemona hither.
Oth. Ancient, conduct them; you best know the
place.- [Exeunt lago and Attendants.
And, till she come, as truly as to heaven
I do confess the vices of my blood,

So justly to your grave ears I'll present
How I did thrive in this fair lady's love,
And she in mine.

Duke. Say it, Othello.

Oth. Her father lov'd me; oft invited me;
Still question'd me the story of my life,

From year to year; the battles, sieges, fortunes,
That I have pass'd.

I ran it through, even from my boyish days,
To the very moment that he bade mne tell it.

Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents, by flood, and field;

'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful:

She wish'd, she had not heard it; yet she wish'd That heaven had made her such a man: she thank'd me;

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

I should but teach him how to tell my story,
And that would woo her. Upon this hint, I spake :
She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd;
And I lov'd her, that she did pity them.
This only is the witchcraft I have us'd;
Here comes the lady, let her witness it.

Enter Desdemona, Iago, and Attendants. Duke. I think this tale would win my daughter too.

Good Brabantio,

And so much duty as my mother show'd
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor, my lord.

Bra.
God be with you!-I have done:-
Please it your grace, on to the state-affairs;
I had rather to adopt a child, than get it.-
Come hither, Moor:

Of hair-breadth 'scapes i'the imminent deadly I here do give thee that with all my heart,

breach;

It was my hint to speak, such was the process;
And of the cannibals that each other eat,

The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads

Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart

I would keep from thee-For your sake, jewel,
I am glad at soul I have no other child;
For thy escape would teach me tyranny,
To hang clogs on them.-I have done, my lord.
Duke. Let me speak like yourself; and lay a
sentence,

Which, as a grise, or step, may help these lovers
Into your favour.

When remedies are past, the griefs are ended,

Do grow beneath their shoulders. These things to By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.

hear,

Would Desdemona seriously incline:

But still the house-affairs would draw her thence;
Which ever as she could with haste despatch,
She'd come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour up my discourse: Which I observing,
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 something heard,
But not intentively; I did consent;
And often did beguile her tears,

When I did speak of some distressful stroke,
That my youth suffer'd. My story being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:
She swore,-In faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing
strange;

To mourn a mischief that is past and gone,
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserv'd, when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.
The robb'd, that smiles, steals something from the
thief;

He robs himself, that spends a bootless grief.
Bra. So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile;
We lose it not, so long as we can smile.
He bears the sentence well, that nothing bears
But the free comfort which from thence he hears:
But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow,
That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow.
These sentences, to sugar, or to gall,
Being strong on both sides, are equivocal:
But words are words; I never yet did hear,
That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear."

(7) Intention and attention were once synonymous.
(8) Grise from degrees.

(9) i. e. That the wounds of sorrow were ever cured by the words of consolation.

I humbly beseech you, proceed to the affairs of state. With such things else of quality and respect, Duke. The Turk with a most mighty preparation As doth import you. makes for Cyprus :-Othello, the fortitude of the Oth. Please your grace, my ancient; place is best known to you: And though we have A man he is of honesty and trust: there a substitute of most allowed sufficiency, yet To his conveyance I assign my wife, opinion, a sovereign mistress of effects, throws a With what else needful your good grace shall think more safer voice on you: you must therefore be To be sent after me. content to slubber' the gloss of your new fortunes Duke. Let it be so.with this more stubborn and boisterous expedition. Good night to every one.-And, noble signior, [To Brabantio. If virtue no delighted beauty lack, Your son-in-law is far more fair than black. 1 Sen. Adieu, brave Moor! use Desdemona well. Bra. Look to her, Moor; have a quick eye to see; She has deceiv'd her father, and may thee.

Jago. It is merely a lust of the blood, and a permission of the will. Come, be a man: Drown thyself? drown cats, and blind puppies. I have professed me thy friend, and I confess me knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable toughness; I could never better stead thee than now. money in thy purse; follow these wars; defeat thy favour with an usurped beard; I say, put money in thy purse. It cannot be, that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor,-put money in

Descry a sail.

Mon. Methinks, the wind hath spoke aloud at land:

thy purse;-nor he his to her: it was a violent com- 1 Gent. Nothing at all: it is a high-wrought flood; mencement, and thou shalt see an answerable I cannot, 'twixt the heaven and the main, sequestration ;-put but money in thy purse.— These Moors are changeable in their wills;-fill thy purse with money: the food that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida. She must change for youth: when she is sated with his body, she will find the error of her choice.-She must have change, she must therefore put money in thy purse.-If thou wilt needs damn thyself, do it a more delicate way than drowning. Make all the money thou canst: If sanctimony and a frail vow, betwixt an erring barbarian and a supersubtle Venetian, be not too hard for my wits, and all the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her; therefore make money. A pox of drowning thyself! it is clean out of the way; seek thou rather to be hanged in compassing thy joy, than to be drowned and go without her.

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

lago. Thou art sure 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 less reason: Let us be conjunctive in our revenge against him if thou canst cuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, and me a sport. There are many events in the womb of time, which will be delivered. Traverse; go; provide thy money. We will have more of this to-morrow. Adieu.

Rod. Where shall we meet i'the morning?
Iago. At my lodging.

Rod. I'll be with thee betimes.

Iago. Go to; farewell. Do you hear, Roderigo?
Rod. What say you?

your purse.

Iago. No more of drowning, do you hear?
Rod. I am changed. I'll sell all my land.
Iago. Go to; farewell: put money enough in
[Exit Roderigo.
Thus do I ever make my fool my purse:
For I mine own gain'd knowledge should profane,
If I would time expend with such a snipe,
But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor:
And it is thought abroad, that 'twixt my sheets
He has done my office: I know not if't be true;
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,

Will do, as if for surety. He holds me well;.
The better shall my purpose work on him.
Cassio's a proper man: Let me see now;
To get his place, and to plume up my will;
A double knavery,-How? how?-Let me see :-
After some time, to abuse Othello's ear,
That he is too familiar with his wife :-
He hath a person, and a smooth dispose,
To be suspected; fram'd to make women false.
The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so;
And will as tenderly be led by the nose,
As asses are.

I have't;-it is engender'd :-Hell and night
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light.

A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements :
If it hath ruffian'd so upon the sea,
What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them,
Can hold the mortise? what shall we hear of this?
2 Gen. A segregation of the Turkish fleet:
For do but stand upon the foaming shore,
The chiding billow seems to pelt the clouds ;
The wind-shak'd surge, with high and monstrous
main,
Seems to cast water on the burning bear,
And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole:
I never did like molestation view
On th' enchafed flood.
Mon.
If that the Turkish fleet
Be not inshelter'd and embay'd, they are drown'd;
It is impossible they bear it out.

Cas. What noise!

4 Gent. The town is empty: on the brow o' the sea Stand ranks of people, and they cry-a sail.

Cas. My hopes do shape him for the governor.
2 Gent. They do discharge their shot of courtesy;
[Guns heard.

(5) The constellation near the polar star.
(6) Complete.

(7) Allowed and approved expertness.

Our friends, at least.
Cas.
I pray you, sir, go forth,
And give us truth who 'tis that is arriv'd.

2 Gent. I shall.
[Exit.
Mon. But, good lieutenant, is your general wiv'd?
Cas. Most fortunately: he hath achiev'd a maid
That paragons description, and wild fame;
One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens,
And, in the essential vesture of creation,
Does bear all excellency.-How now ? who has put
in?

Re-enter second Gentleman.

2 Gent. 'Tis one lago, ancient to the general.
Cas. He has had most favourable and happy speed:
Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds,
The gutter'd rocks, and congregated sands,-
Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless knell,-
As having sense of beauty, do omit

Their mortal' natures, letting go safely by
The divine Desdemona.

Mon.

What is she?

Iago. Ay, madam.

Des. I am not merry; but I do beguile
The thing I am, by seeming otherwise.-
Come, how would'st thou praise me?

lago. I am about it; but, indeed, my invention
Comes from my pate, as birdlime does from frize,
It plucks out brains and all: But my muse labours,
And thus she is delivered.

Cas. She that I spake of, our great captain's If she be fair and wise,-fairness, and wit,

captain,

Left in the conduct of the bold Iago;

Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts,

A se'nnight's speed. -Great Jove, Othello guard,
And swell his sail with thine own powerful breath;
That he may bless this bay with his tall ship,
Make love's quick pants in Desdemona's arms,
Give renew'd fire to our extincted spirits,
And bring all Cyprus comfort!-O, behold,
Enter Desdemona, Emilia, Iago, Roderigo,
Ittendants.

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!

The one's for use, the other useth it.

Des. Well prais'd! How if she be black and witty!
Iago. If she be black, and thereto have a wit,
She'll find a white that shall her blackness fit.
Des. Worse and worse.

Emil. How, if fair and foolish?

Iago. She never yet was foolish that was fair;
For even her folly help'd her to an heir.

Des. These are old fond paradoxes, to make and fools laugh i'the alehouse. What miserable praise

Des.
I thank you, valiant Cassio.
What tidings can you tell me of my lord?
Cas. 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 lost you company?
Cas. The great contention of the sea and skies
Parted our fellowship: But, hark! a sail.

[Cry anithia, A sail, a soil! Then guns heard. 2 Gent. They give their greeting to the citadel; This likewise is a friend.

Cas.

See for the news.-
[Exit Gentleman.
Good ancient, you are welcome ;-Welcome, mis-
tres:-
[To Emilia.
Let it not well your patience, good lago,
That I extend my manners; 'tis my breeding
That gives me this bold show of courtesy.

[Kissing her.
Iago. Sir, would she give you so much of her lips,
As of her tongue she oft bestows on me,
You'd have enough.

DES.

Alas, she has no speech.

Jago. In faith, too much;
I find it sell, when I have list? to sleep,
Marry, before your ladyship, I grant,
She puts her tongue a little in her heart,
And chides with thinking.

Emil.
You have little cause to say so.
Iago. Come on, come on; you are pictures out
of doors,

Bells in your parlours, wild cats in your kitchens,

(1) Deadly, destructive. (3) Censorious.

(5) Licentious, free-spoken.

(2) Desire.

(4) Foolish.

hast thou for her that's four and foolish }

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

Des. O heavy ignorance!-thou praisest the worst best. But what praise could'st thou bestow on a deserving woman indeed? one that, in the authority of her merit, did justly put on the vouch of very malice itself?

Iago. She that was ever fair, and never proud;
Had tongue at will, and yet was never loud;
Never lack'd gold, and yet went never gay;
Fled from her wish, and yet said,-now I may;
She that, being anger'd, her revenge being nigh,
Bade her wrong stay, and her displeasure fly;
She, that in wisdom never was so frail,

To change the cod's head for the salmon's tail;
She that could think, and ne'er disclose her mind,
See suitors following, and not look behind;
She was a wight,-if ever such wight were,-
Des. To do what?

Jago. To suckle fools, and chronicle small beer. Des. Omost lame and impotent conclusion!-Do not learn of him, Emilia, though he be thy husband. -How say you, Cassio! is he not a most profane and liberal counsellor?

Cas. He speaks home, madam; you may relish him more in the soldier, than in the scholar.

Iago. [Aside.] He takes her by the palm: Ay, well said, whisper: with as little a web as this, will I ensnare as great a fly as Cassio. Ay, smile upon her, do; I will gyve thee in thine own courtship. You say true; 'tis so, indeed: if such tricks as these strip you out of your lieutenantry, it had been better you had not kissed your three fingers so oft, which now again you are most apt to play the sir in. Very good; well kissed! an excellent courtesy! 'tis so, indeed. Yet again, your fingers to

(7) Your good-breeding and gallantry. (8) Courtesy, in the sense of obeisance, was ap(6) Shackle, fetter.plied to men as well as women.

Des. Let's meet him, and receive him.
Cas. Lo, where he comes!

Enter Othello, and Attendants.

Oth. O my fair warrior!
Des.

My dear Othello!
Oth. It gives me wonder great as my content,
To see you here before me. O my soul's joy!
If after every tempest come such calms,

May the winds blow till they have waken'd death!
And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas,
Olympus-high; and duck again as low
As hell's from heaven! If it were now to die,
'Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear,
My soul hath her content so absolute,
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.

Des.

The heavens forbid, But that our loves and comforts should increase, Even as our days do grow!

Oth.

to some second choice. Now, sir, this granted (as it is a most pregnant and unforced position,) who stands so eminently in the degree of this fortune, as Cassio does? a knave very voluble; no further conscionable, than in putting on the mere form of civil and humane seeming, for the better compass ing of his salt and more hidden loose affection? why, none; why, none: A slippery and subtle knave; a finder out of occasions; that has an eye can stamp and counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never present itself: A devilish knave! besides, the knave is handsome, young; and hath all those requisites in him, that folly and green minds look after: A pestilent complete knave; and the woman hath found him already.

Rod. I cannot believe that in her; she is full of most blessed condition."

Iago. Blessed fig's end! the wine she drinks is made of grapes: if she had been blessed, she would never have loved the Moor: Blessed pudding! Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? didst not mark that?

Rod. Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy.
Iago. Lechery, by this hand; an index, and ob-

Amen to that, sweet powers!-scure prologue to the history of lust and foul I cannot speak enough of this content, It stops me here; it is too much of joy: And this, and this, the greatest discords be,

That e'er our hearts shall make!
Iago.

[Kissing her.

O, you are well tun'd now!
But I'll set down the pegs that make this music,
As honest as I am.
[Aside.
Oth.
Come, let's to the castle.-
News, friends; our wars are done, the Turks are
drown'd.

How do our old acquaintance of this isle?
Honey, you shall be well desir'd' in Cyprus,
I have found great love amongst them. O my sweet,
I prattle out of fashion,2 and I dote

In mine own comforts.-I pr'ythee, good Iago,
Go to the bay, and disembark my coffers:
Bring thou the master to the citadel;
He is a good one, and his worthiness
Doth challenge much respect.-Come, Desdemona,
Once more well met at Cyprus.

[Exeunt Othello, Desdemona, and Attendants. Iago. Do thou meet me presently at the harbour. Come hither. If thou be'st valiant,-as (they say) base men, being in love, have then a nobility in their natures more than is native to them,-list me. The lieutenant to-night watches on the court of guard:-First, I must tell thee this-Desdemona is directly in love with him.

thoughts. They met so near with their lips, that their breaths embraced together. Villanous thoughts, Roderigo! when these mutualities so marshal the way, hard at hand comes the master and main exercise, the incorporate conclusion:-Pish!-But, sir, be you ruled by me: I have brought you from Venice. Watch you to-night; for the command, I'll lay't upon you: Cassio knows you not:-I'll not be far from you: Do you find some occasion to anger Cassio, either by speaking too loud, or tainting his discipline; or from what other course you please, which the time shall more favourably min

ister.

Rod. Well.

Iago. Sir, he is rash, and very sudden in choler; and, haply," with his truncheon, may strike at you! Provoke him, that he may: for, even out of that, will I cause these of Cyprus to mutiny; whose qualification shall come into no true taste again, but by the displanting of Cassio. So shall you have a shorter journey to your desires, by the means I shall then have to prefer them; and the impediment most profitably removed, without the which there were no expectation of our prosperity.

Rod. I will do this, if I can bring it to any opportunity.

Iago. I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel: I must fetch his necessaries ashore. Farewell.

Rod. Adieu.

[Exit.

Rod. With him? why, 'tis not possible. Iago. Lay thy finger-thus, and let thy soul be Iago. That Cassio loves her, I do well believe it; instructed. Mark me, with what violence she first That she loves him, 'tis apt, and of great credit: loved the Moor, but for bragging, and telling her The Moor-how beit that I endure him notfantastical lies: And will she love him still for Is of a constant, loving, noble nature; prating? let not thy discreet heart think it. Her And, I dare think, he'll prove to Desdemona eye must be fed; and what delight shall she have A most dear husband. Now I do love her too; to look on the devil? When the blood is made dull with the act of sport, there should be,-again to inflame it, and to give satiety a fresh appetite, loveliness in favour; sympathy in years, manners, and beauties; all which the Moor is defective in: Now, for want of these required conveniences, her delicate tenderness will find itself abused, begin to heave the gorge, disrelish and abhor the Moor; very nature will instruct her in it, and compel her

(1) Much solicited by invitation.
(2) Out of method, without order.

(3) Listen to me. (4) Minds unripe.

Not out of absolute lust (though, peradventure,
I stand accountant for as great a sin,)
But partly led to diet my revenge,
For that I do suspect the lusty Moor
Hath leap'd into my seat: the thought whereof
Doth, like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards;
And nothing can or shall content my soul,
Till I am even with him, wife for wife;
Or, failing so, yet that I put the Moor

(5) Qualities, disposition of mind.
(6) Throwing a slur upon his discipline.
(7) Perhaps. (S) To advance them.