First Sen. He's now in Florence.

Duke. Write from us to him; post-post-haste despatch.

First Sen. Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor.

Enter BRABANTIO, OTHELLO, IAGO, RODERIGO, and Officers.

Duke. Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you

Against the general enemy Ottoman, 63—— [To BRA.] I did not see you; welcome, gentle signior;

We lack'd your counsel and your help to-night.

Bra. So did I yours. Good your grace, pardon me; Neither my place, nor aught I heard of business, Hath rais'd me from my bed; nor doth the general

saying that such a termination as Luccicos is unknown in the Italian. But who is the duke inquiring after? Most probably a Greek soldier of Cyprus-an Estradiot-one who from his local knowledge was enabled to give him information. Is it necessary that the Greek should bear an Italian name? and does not the termination in cos better convey the notion which we believe the poet to have had?"

63. Against the general enemy Ottoman. It was part of the policy of the Venetian state to employ strangers, and even Moors, in their wars. In Thomas's "History of Italye" there occurs this illustrative passage:-" By lande they are served of straungers, both for generals, for capitaines, and for all other men of warre, because theyr lawe permitteth not any Venetian to be capitaine over an armie by lande; fearing, I thinke, Cæsar's example."

64. The bloody book of law. By the Venetian law the giving love-potions was highly criminal; as appears in the "Coda della Promission del Malefico." Among the edicts of King James I. are those which refer to the same subject,

speech,

66

And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace ;
For since these arms of mine had seven years'
pith,
Till now some nine moons wasted, they have us'd
Their dearest 67 action in the tented field;
And little of this great world can I speak,
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,

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.68

Bra.
A maiden never bold;
Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion
Blush'd at herself; 69 and she,-in spite of nature,
Of years, of country, credit, everything,-
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 wider and more overt test Than these thin habits 70 and poor likelihoods

65. Though our proper son, &c. Though our own son were the subject of your accusation.'

66. Till now some nine moons wasted. months ago.'

"Until about nine

67. Dearest. Here used to express combinedly most effectual,' most strenuous,' and also 'favourite,' 'most dear' to the speaker. We have repeatedly pointed out the varied and inclusive meaning with which Shakespeare uses the words "dear," dearer," dearest," and "dearly." See Note 45, Act iv., "King Lear."

68. I won his daughter. 'With' is elliptically understood after "daughter." See Note 38 of the present Act.

69. Her motion blush'd at herself. According to the practice among writers in Shakespeare's time, the personal pronoun is here used instead of the neutral pronoun,-" herself" for itself. See Note 59, Act ii., "Much Ado ;" and Note 10, Act i., "Julius Cæsar."

70. Thin habits. Here used for 'slender assumptions.'

Of modern 71 seeming do prefer against him.
First Sen. But, Othello, speak:
Did you by indirect and forced courses
Subdue and poison this young maid's affections?
Or came it by request,72 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,
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,73____

[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;

And portance in my travel's history:
Wherein of antres75 vast and deserts idle,76
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 heads77
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 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: 78 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: 79

She swore, 80-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: 81 she

thank'd me;

breach;

Of being taken by the insolent foe,

And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,

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.

72. This young maid's affections? or came it by, &c. Here "it" is used in reference to "affections" as if the word were in the singular-affection.' See Note 71, Act i., “Macbeth."

73. You best know the place. This confirms our belief that some private house bearing the name (and possibly a fresco or relievo representing the figure) of "the Sagittary" is meant. Had the arsenal of Venice been intended, the ducal messengers could have had no difficulty in finding "the place," and there would have been no need to bid Iago "conduct them," as "best knowing" whereabouts it was. See Note 32 of the present Act. We think not only that Iago, as here indicated, is specially cognisant of the place, and therefore, having been entrusted by Othello with the secret of where the house is to which he has taken his bride, is doubly treacherous in discovering the marriage to her father, but that also it denotes Iago's wife, Emilia, having been the lady-attendant appointed to receive Desdemona at this newly-engaged house, "the Sagittary;" which is evidently in some retired quarter of the city. 74. Portance. 'Conduct,' 'carriage,' 'bearing.' See Note 100, Act ii., Coriolanus." 73. Antres.

'Caverns' Latin, antrum.

mentions the Amazons, the cannibals, and the "nation of people whose heads appear not above their shoulders;" and perhaps also an account given by Pliny of "other Scythians called Anthropophagi, where is a country named Abarimon, within a certain vale of the mountain Imaus, wherein are found savage and wild men, living and conversing usually among the brute beasts, who have their feet growing backward, and turned behind the calves of their legs, howbeit they run most swiftly. The former Anthropophagi, or eaters of man's flesh, whom we have placed above the north pole, tenne daies journey by land above the river Borysthenes, used to drinke out of the sculs of mens heads, and to weare the scalpes, haire and all, insteed of mandellions or stomachers before their breasts... Beyond the Sciopodes westward, some there be without heads standing upon theire neckes who carrie cies in their shoulders."

78. Intentively. The Quarto word here; while the Folio gives 'instinctively.' "Intentively" means 'attentively,' 'intently.' Bullokar, in his "Expositor" (1616), has-“Intentive, which listeneth well and is earnestly bent to a thing."

79. Sighs. The Folio misprints 'kisses' for "sighs" in this passage; given correctly in the Quartos.

80. Store. Formerly used for 'averred,' 'affirmed.'

81. She wish'd that heaven had made her such a man. 'For' is elliptically understood before "her." We point this out, because it has been strangely questioned whether the meaning might not be, she wish'd that heaven had made herself such a man.'

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

Des.

My noble father,
I do perceive here a divided duty:
To you I am bound for life and education;
My life and education both do learn 82 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
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:

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 83 would teach me tyranny,
To hang clogs on them.-I have done, my lord.
Duke. Let me speak like yourself; 84 and lay a
sentence,

Which, as a grise 85 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

82. Learn. Sometimes formerly, as here, used for 'teach.' See Note 26, Act i., "As You Like It."

83. Escape. Besides its meaning of getting forth,' 'flight,' 'elopement,' we think it probable that "escape" here includes the sense of 'sally,' 'prank;' as shown to be derived from the French word, escapade. See Note 53, Act iii., "Winter's Tale." 84. Let me speak like yourself. This has been variously interpreted; but we take it to mean, 'Let me speak in a strain of resignation to that which is irretrievably past and gone, like yours, when you say, "I have done."

85. Grise. Degree,' 'step.' See Note 19, Act iv., "Timon of Athens."

Is the next 86 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; 87
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 88 through the

ear.

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 89 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: 90 I do agnise 91 A natural and prompt alacrity

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 ; 92
With such accommodation and besort 93
As levels with her breeding.
Duke.

Be 't at her father's.
Bra.
Oth. Nor I.
Des.

If you please,

I'll not have it so.

Nor I; I would not there reside,

line to the one commented upon in Note 153, Act v., Labour's Lost."

"Love's

89. To slubber the gloss, &c. "Slubber" is 'smear,' 'sully,' pollute.' The word "slubber," as here used, seems to have the same origin as "slobbery" (see Note 73, Act iii., "Henry V."); but as used by Shakespeare elsewhere (see Note 95, Act ii., "Merchant of Venice", it seems rather allied to 'sloven.' In fact, all of these words are derived from the same source, implying dirty,' ' neglectful.'

90.

Thrice-driven bed of down. A bed made of feathers which have been driven by a fan, in order to separate the downier portions from the coarser portions.

91. Agnise. 'Acknowledge,' 'recognise,' 'confess,' 'avow.' 92. Exhibition. 'Provision,' 'allowance.' See Note 66, Act i., "King Lear."

93. Besort. Befitting attendance,'' suitable companionship, 'proper retinue.' Shakespeare uses this word in " King Lear," Act i., sc. 4, as a verb, to express 'befittingly consort with,' 'suitably attend upon.'

Des. That I did love the Moor to live with him,95 My downright violence and storm of fortunes 96 May trumpet to the world: my heart's subdu'd Even to the very quality 97 of my lord: I saw Othello's visage in his mind; And to his honours and his valiant parts Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate. So that, dear lords, if I be left behind, A moth of peace, and he go to the war, The rites for which I love him are bereft me, And I a heavy interim shall support

By his dear absence.98 Let me go with him.

Oth. Your voices, lords: beseech you, let her will Have a free way.

Vouch with me, Heaven, I therefore beg it not,
To please the palate of my appetite;
Nor to comply with heat (the young affects 99
In me defunct) 100 and proper satisfaction;
But to be free and bounteous to her mind:
And Heaven defend your good souls, that you
think

I will your serious and great business scant
For she is with me: no, when light-wing'd toys
Of feather'd Cupid seel 101 with wanton dulness
My speculative and offic'd instruments,102
That my disports corrupt and taint my business,
Let housewives make a skillet 103 of my helm,
And all indign and base adversities
Make head against my estimation ! 104

94. Prosperous. Here used for 'propitious,' 'prospering.' 95. That I did love the Moor to live with him, &c. Here is a notable instance of the way in which Shakespeare makes his most gentle women speak out firmly and eloquently when stress of need comes. See Note 12, Acti., "Midsummer Night's Dream." Desdemona, since her entrance, has remained silent, save when directly appealed to by her father; when seconding her husband's fiat, by echoing his "Nor I;" and now when replying to the duke's question. Desdemona is gentle even to timidity; but, like many women whose gentleness of nature has been wrought into timidity by a too rigid strictness on the part of those who bring them up, she is capable of singularly bold action and self-assertion on rare occasions. Her independent act in leaving her father's house, and marrying the man of her choice, is precisely characteristic of the one and her present speech is an eminent specimen of the other. Encouraged by loving treatment, she is capable of exerting moral strength; chilled by severity, she is a moral coward. Desdemona has the virtues of a gentle-natured woman; but, alas! she also has the faults of a timid woman. This we shall take occasion to point out as the story proceeds.

96. My downright violence and storm of fortunes. 'The downright violence and storm of fortunes which I have voluntarily encountered in order to marry him.' We have frequently pointed out the elliptical mode in which Shakespeare often uses the possessive case. See Note 2, Act v.," Richard III: " Note 100, Acti., "Troilus and Cressida; " Note 73, Act iv., “King Lear;" and Note 104 of the present Act and play. We point this out in

the present instance, because the passage has been much discussed; and, we think, by many discussers misunderstood.

97. Quality. Here used to express individual nature,' 'moral and mental identity.' It has been asserted that here "quality" is used in its sense of profession' (see Note 75, Act ii., "Hamlet"); but we think that the words, "I saw Othello's visage in his mind," prove that our interpretation is right. Shakespeare uses the words " quality" and "qualities" with large variety of signification.

98. His dear absence. 'His intensely-felt absence.' We have heretofore pointed out the effect of intensity, whether in a pleasant or painful sense, that "dear" bears in Shakespeare's employment of the word. See Note 61, Act i., "As You Like It;" and Note 67 of the present Act.

99. Affects. An abbreviated form of 'affections.' See Note 94, Act i.," Richard II."

100. In me defunct. The old copies have 'my' instead of me." Rann's correction.

101. Seel. Blind,'' close up ;' 'incapacitate.' See Note 47, Act iii., "Macbeth."

102. My speculative and offic'd instruments. My organs of sight and action,' 'my visual and active powers.'

103. Skillet. A small kettle or boiler; old French, escuelle. 104. My estimation. 'The estimation in which I am held.' See Note 96 of this Act. The Quartos have 'reputation' instead of the Folio word, "estimation."