In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,
I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver

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
Blush'd at herself; and she,-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 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,
These are thin habits, and poor likelihoods
Of modern seeming, you prefer against him ".
1 Sen. But, Othello, speak:

10

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 affordeth?

Oth.

I do beseech you,

Send for the lady to the Sagittary,

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',

"I won his daughter WITH.] The preposition is from the folio, 1632. 10 - you prefer against him.] Our reading of this speech is that of the 4to, 1630, and not of the folio, 1623, where it is strangely made part of what Brabantio says, and where the second line is thus misprinted :—

"Without more wider and more over test."

The 4to, 1622, supports the 4to, 1630, excepting that it absurdly misprints "vouch" youth. The folio, 1632, corrects the blunder of the folio, 1623, in assigning the speech to Brabantio, and the old corrector puts the line, above quoted, as follows: "Without more evidence and overt test," a degree of violence which under the circumstances is not required.

The trust, the office, I do hold of you,] This necessary line is not in the 4to, 1622, but is in that of 1630, as well as in the folio.

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 IAGO 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 me tell it :
Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents, by flood, and field;

Of hair-breadth scapes i' th' imminent deadly breach;
Of being taken by the insolent foe,

And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,

And portance in my travel's history2:

Wherein of antres vast, and deserts idle,

Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven,

It was my hint to speak, such was the process;

And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders. This to hear',
Would Desdemona seriously incline:

But still the house affairs would draw her thence;
Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,
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

2 And PORTANCE in my TRAVEL'S history:] This is the reading of the 4to,

1630, and no doubt the true text. The 4to, 1622, has,

and the folio,

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"And with it all my travel's history;"

"And portance in my traveller's history."

and deserts IDLE,] So all the old copies, anterior to the folio, 1632, where wild is substituted for "idle."

Do grow beneath their shoulders. THIS to hear,] The folio, 1623, omits "Do," and reads "These things to hear." Our text is that of the 4to, 1622.

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 of 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; '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,

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 she confess that she was half the wooer, Destruction on my head, if my bad blame

Light on the man.-Come hither, gentle mistress:

3 But not INTENTIVELY :] i. e. Attentively; for so the word “ intentively." was used by authors of Shakespeare's time. Thus, in the novel of "Apollonius, Prince of Tyre" (the foundation of " Pericles "), sign. H 2, we read, "And long time he stood amazed, with his eyes intentively fixed on the ground." We now often use intently for "intentively." "Intentively" is the reading of the 4tos, 1622 and 1630: the folio, 1623, has instinctively, and the folio, 1632, distinctirely, which was retained in the two later impressions.

6 - a world of SIGHS:] The folio has kisses, for "sighs" of the 4tos, 1622 and 1630; an extraordinary variation. It stood "kisses" in the later folios, and Southern, in his copy of that of 1685, altered it in manuscript to thanks. Kisses is amended to "sighs" by the old corrector of the folio, 1632.

7 Upon this HINT I spake :] No doubt the folio, 1623, here gives the true word, "hint," and not heat, as it is misprinted in the 4tos.

* Destruction ON MY HEAD,] The 4tos, "Destruction light on me," and Shakespeare may have meant the repetition of the word "light."

Do you perceive in all this noble company,
Where most you owe obedience?

Des.

I do perceive here a divided duty.

My noble father,

To you, I am bound for life, and education:
My life, and education, both do learn me

How to respect you; you are the lord of duty;
I am hitherto your daughter: but here's my husband;
And so much duty as my mother show'd
Το you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor, my lord.

God be with you!-I have done.-

Bra.
Please it your grace, on to the state affairs:
I had rather to adopt a child, than get it.-
Come hither, Moor:

I here do give thee that with all my heart,
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

By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.

To mourn a mischief that is past and gone

Is the next way to draw more 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.

? Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart] This line is in the folio, 1623, and 4to, 1630, but not in the 4to, 1622.

1 Which, as a GRISE, or step, may help these lovers

Into your favour.] The words "Into your favour" are in both 4tos, but not in the folio. The word "grise" is explained by "step" which follows it: respecting the previous use of " grise" by Shakespeare, see Vol. ii. p. 686, and Vol. v. p. 262.

2 to draw MORE mischief on.] "More mischief," in both the 4tos: in the folio, it is "new mischief."

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 ear3.
Beseech you, now to the affairs of 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 allowed sufficiency, yet opinion, a sovereign mistress of effects, throws a more safer voice on you: you must, therefore, be content to slubber the gloss of your new fortunes with this more stubborn and boisterous expedition '.

Oth. The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war'
My thrice-driven bed of down: I do agnize
A natural and prompt alacrity,

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I find in hardness; and do undertake
These present wars against the Ottomites.
Most humbly, therefore, bending to your state,
I crave fit disposition for my wife;
Due reference of place, and exhibition,
With such accommodation, and besort,
As levels with her breeding.

3 was pierced through the ear.] This is the reading of all the old copies, and Warburton suggested that " we "ought to read pieced for "pierced;" but "pierced," as Malone remarked, means penetrated or reached; and in Marlowe's “Tamburlaine,” 1590, as quoted by Malone, we have the corresponding expression, "my heart to be with gladness pierc'd."

Beseech you, now to the affairs of state.] So the two 4tos. of 1622 and 1630 the folio, prosaically, and probably therefore corruptly, "I humbly beseech you, proceed to the affairs of the state."

5 yet opinion, a sovereign mistress of effects,] So the 4tos; the printer of the folio, 1623, caught more from the line below, and inserted it also before sovereign:""more" is altered to most in the corr. fo. 1632.

6 and boisterous expedition.] As this speech is the only one in this part of the scene printed as prose, it may be doubted, especially from the rhythm of some of the passages, whether it was not originally verse. It would not be difficult to render it metrical.

- STEEL COUCH of war] The folio, 1623, has "coach of war," and so it remained in the later folios, but Southern corrected his copy of 1685 to couch, and it stands so amended in the corr. fo. 1632. In the 4tos. it is printed cooch. I do AGNIZE] i. e. Acknowledge or recognize: it only occurs here.

8