From men of royal siege1; and my demerits For the sea's worth. But, look! what lights come Enter Cassio, with others. Iago. These are the raised father, and his friends; You were best go in. Oth. Not I: I must be found; My parts, my title, and my perfect soul, Oth. The servants of the duke, and my lieutenant. Cas. The duke does greet you, general; Oth. What is the matter, think you? Cas. Something from Cyprus, as I may divine; Are at the duke's already: You have been hotly When, being not at your lodging to be found, Oth, 'Tis well I am found by you. [Exit. Cas. Ancient, what makes he here? If it prove lawful prize, he's made for ever. 1i. e. men who have sat upon royal thrones. turer. 5 Bra. Down with him, thief! [They draw on both sides. Iago. You, Roderigo! come, sir, I am for you. Oth. Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.Good signior, you shall more command with years, Than with your weapons, Bra. O thou foul thief! where hast thou stow'd my daughter? 10 Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her: If she in chains of magic were not bound, Oth. Hold your hands, 30 Both you of my inclining, and the rest: Bra. To prison; 'till fit time 35 Of law, and course of direct session, Oth. What if I do obey? How may the duke be therewith satisfied; 45 Offi. 'Tis true, most worthy signior, Bra. How! the duke in council! In this time of the night!-Bring him away; Mine's not an idle cause: the duke himself, Or any of my brothers of the state, Cannot but feel this wrong, as 'twere their own: 50 For if such actions may have passage free, Bond-slaves, and pagans, shall our statesmen be. [Exeunt. * Demerits, here has the same meaning as merits. 3 i. e. without taking the cap off. * i. e. free from domestic cares: a thought natural to an adven "Consuls seems to have been commonly used for counsellors; as before in this play. * Quests are searches. 'A carrack is a ship of great bulk, and commonly of great value; perhaps what we now call a galleon. This expression denotes readiness. 'i.e. be cautious; be discreet. 10 Curled, is elegantly and ostentatiously dressed. 11 i. e. to terrify. 12 Theobald proposes, and we think justly, to read, "That weaken notion, instead of motion; i. e. that weaken her apprehension, right conception and idea of things, understanding, judgement, &c."-Hanmer would read, perhaps with equal probability, "That waken motion:" and it is to be observed, that motion, in a subsequent scene of this play, is used in the very sense in which Hanmer would employ it: " But we have rea son to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts." SCENE Duke and Senators, sitting. Duke. There is no composition' in these news, 5 That gives them credit. 1 Sen. Indeed, they are disproportion'd; My letters say, a hundred-and-seven galleys. Duke. And mine, a hundred-and-forty. 2 Sen. And mine, two hundred : Duke. Write from us; wish him, post, posthaste: dispatch. [Moor. Sen. Here comes Brabantio, and the valiant Enter Brabantio, Othello, Iago, Roderigo, and Officers. Duke. Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you Against the general enemy Ottoman.— I did not see you;welcome,gentle signior; [ToBrab. 10 We lack'd your counsel and your help to-night. Bra. So did I yours: Good your grace, pardon But though they jump not on a just account, Sailor [within.] What ho! what ho! what ho! Offi. A messenger from the galleys. Sail. The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes;| By signior Angelo. Duke. How say you by this change? 1 Sen. This cannot be, By no assay of reason; 'tis a pageant, To keep us in false gaze: When we consider 3 That Rhodes is dressed in:-if we make thought| We must not think the Turk is so unskilful, Enter a Messenger. Mes. The Ottomites, reverend and gracious, Steeringwith due course toward the isle of Rhodes, Have there injointed them with an after-fleet. 1 Sen. Ay, so I thought:-How many, as you guess? Mes. Of thirty sail: and now they do re-stem Their backward course, bearing with frank ap 20 She is abus'd, stol'n from me, and corrupted 25 By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks: For nature so preposterously to err, 30 Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense, Duke. Whoe'er he be, that, in this foul pro- Hath thus beguil'd your daughter of herself, 140 45 Bra. Humbly I thank your grace. Here is the man, this Moor; whom now, it seems, All. We are very sorry for it. Duke. What, in your own part, can you say to this? Bra. Nothing, but this is so. [To Othello. Oth. Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors, My very noble and approv'd good masters, That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter, It is most true; true, I have married her; The very head and front of my offending Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech, 50 And little blest with the set phrase of peace; For since these arms of mine had seven years pith, 'Till now, some nine moons wasted, they have Their dearest action in the tented field; [us'd And little of this great world can I speak, 55 More than pertains to feats of broil and battle; And therefore little shall I grace my cause, In speaking for myself: Yet, by your gracious patience, will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver 2 To aim is to conjecture. 3 i. e. more easy 1 Composition, for consistency, concordancy. endeavour. i. e. State of defence. To arm was called to brace on the armour. To wage i. e. were the man here, as in many other places in Shakspeare, signifies to fight, to combat. That is, dear for which much is paid, whether money or exposed to your charge or accusation. labours. Dear action, is action performed at great expence, either of ease or safety. Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms, What conjuration, and what mighty magic, (For such proceeding I am charg'd withal) I won his daughter with. Bra. A maiden never bold; Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion Duke. To vouch this, is no proof; Oth. I do beseech you, Send for the lady to the Sagittary 2, And let her speak of me before her father: Not only take away, but let your sentence Duke. Fetch Desdemona hither. [Exeunt Two or Three. Oth. Ancient, conduct them; you best know the place.[Exit lago. 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 did I thrive in this fair lady's love, And she in mine, 1i. e. open proofs, external evidence. Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances, Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch 10It was my hint to speak, such was the procesa; 15 Would Desdemona seriously incline: But still the house affairs would draw her thence; 20 Took once a pliant hour; and found good means 25 And often did beguile her of her tears, 30 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful: She wish'd, she had not heard it; yet she wish'd 35 And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her, Enter Desdemona, lago, and Attendants. too.. 45 Good Brabantio, Take up this mangled matter at the best; Bra. I pray you, hear her speak; 150 If she confess, that she was half the wooer, 2 This means the sign of the fictitious creature so called, i. e. an animal compounded of man and horse, and armed with a bow and quiver. 3 i. e. caves, dens. Dr. Warburton remarks, that "Discourses of this nature made the subject of the politest conversations, when voyages into, and discoveries of, the new world were all in vogue. So when the Bastard Faulconbridge, in King John, describes the behaviour of upstart greatness, he makes one of the essential 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 should be struck with the history of an adventurer." Dr, Johnson adds, that "Whoever ridicules this account of the progress of love, shews 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, recluse, tumorous, and delicate, should desire to hear of events and scenes which she could never see, and should admire the man who had endured dangers, and performed actions, which, however great, were yet magnified by her timidity," * i. e. wild, useless, uncultivated. ' Dr. Johnson says, "Of these men there is an account in the interpolated travels of Mandeville, a book of that time." • Intention and attention were once synonymous. Destruction I do perceive here a divided duty: And so much duty as my mother shew'd : Bra. God be with you!-I have done :- I here do give thee that with all my heart, sentence, a Which, as a grise', or step, may help these lovers When remedies are past, the griefs are ended, He robs himself, that spends a bootless grief. Bra. So let the Turk, of Cyprus us beguile; He bears the sentence well, that nothing bears state. Duke. The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for Cyprus:-Othello, the fortitude of the place is best known to you: And though we have there a substitute of most allow'd sufficiency, yet opinion, a sovereign mistress of effects, throws a more safe voice on you: you must therefore be 5 content to slubber the gloss of your new fortunes, with this more stubborn and boisterous expedition. Oth. The tyrant custom, most grave senators, I find in hardness; and do undertake 13 Due reverence of place, and exhibition"; 25 Duke. If you please, Be 't at her father's. Bra. I will not have it so. Des. Nor I; I would not there reside, Duke. What would you, Desdemona? Des. That I did love the Moor to live with him, I saw Othello's visage in his mind 10; 2 40 By his dear absence: Let me go with him. Oth. Your voices, lords :-I do beseech you, let Vouch with me, heaven, I therefore beg it not, 10 'Grize, from degrees. A grise is a step. Meaning, the moral precepts of consolation, which are liberally bestowed on occasion of the sentence. Dr. Johnson observes, that the consequence of a bruise is sometimes matter collected; and this can no way be cured without piercing, or letting it out. To slubber, here means to obscure. A driven bed, is a bed for which the feathers are selected, by driving with a fan, which separates the light from the heavy. i. e. acknowledge, confess, avow. i. e. precedency suitable to her rank. Exhibition is allowance, and here implies revenue. i. e. Let your favour privilege me. 1o i. e. The greatness of his character reAffects, stands in this passage, not for love, but for passions; for that, by which any thing is affected.—I ask it not, says Othello, to please appetite, or satisfy loose desires, the passions 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 seeing the duties of my office, or for the ready performance of them. conciled me to his form. That That my disports corrupt and taint my business, Duke. Be it as you shall privately determine, 5 Duke. This night. heart. [again. Duke. At nine i' the morning here we'll meet Othello, leave some officer behind, And he shall our commission bring to you; Oth. Please your grace, my ancient; A man he is of honesty, and trust: With what else needful your good grace shall think Duke. Let it be so. Good night to every one.-And, noble signior, [To Brab. If virtue no delighted' beauty lack, see; shame to be so fond; but it is not in my virtue to amend it. Iago. Virtue? a fig! 'tis in ourselves, that we are thus, or thus. Our bodies are our gardens; to the which, our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce; set hyssop, and weed up thyme; supply it with one gender of herbs, or distract it with many; either have it sterile 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 baseness of our natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions: But we have rea15son, to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts; whereof I take this, that you call-love, to be a sect or scyon. 25 Rod. It cannot be. 5 Iago. It is merely a lust of the blood, and a 20 permission of the will. Come, be a man: Drown thyself? drown cats, and blind puppies. I have profess'd me thy friend, and I confess me knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable toughness; I could never better stead thee than now. Put money in thy purse: follow thou 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 thy purse;-nor he his to her: it [Exeunt Duke and Senators. 30 was a violent commencement in her, and thou Oth. My life upon her faith.-Honest lago, My Desdemona must I leave to thee: I pr'ythee, let thy wife attend on her; And bring them after in the best advantage2. Come, Desdemona; I have but an hour Of love, of worldly matter and direction, To spend with thee: we must obey the time. [Exeunt Othello, and Desdemona. She has deceiv'd her father, and may thee. Rod. Iago,- Rod. I will incontinently drown myself. Rod. It is silliness to live, when to live is a torment: and then have we a prescription to die when death is our physician. shalt see an answerable 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 35 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 40 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 super-subtle Venetian,be not too hard for my wits, and all the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her; 45 therefore make money. A pox of drowning thyself! it is clean out of the way: seek thou rather to be hang'd in compassing thy joy, than to be drown'd and go without her. Jugo. O villainous! I have look'd upon the world for four times seven years: and since I could 50 distinguish betwixt a benefit and an injury, I never found man that knew how to love himself. Ere 1 would say, I would drown myself for the love of a Guinea hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon. Rod. What should I do? I confess, it is my 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 55 in our revenge against him: if thou canst cuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, and me a sport. 1 Delighted, for delighting, or delightful.-Shakspeare often uses the active and passive participles indiscriminately. for a prostitute. is to undo, to change. i. e. fairest opportunity. 3A Guinea-hen was anciently the cant term however, may mean no more than separation. which contains the reeds, among which there is a very sweet luscious juice, of much the same consistency as fresh honey. There |