thus washing her hands; I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour. Lady M. Yet here's a spot. Doct. Hark! she speaks: I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly. Lady M. Out, damned spot! out, I say!-One; two; why, then, 'tis time to do't:Hell is murky !*-Fie; my lord, fie! a soldier and afear'd? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?-Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? Doct. Do you mark that? Lady M. The thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now ?- -What, will these hands ne'er be clean ?-No more o' that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with this starting. Doct. Go to, go to; you have known what you should not. Gent. She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that Heaven knows what she has known. Lady M. Here's the smell of the blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! oh! oh! Doct. What a sigh is there! The heart is sorely charged. Gent. I would not have such a heart in my bosom for the dignity of the whole body. Doct. Well, well, well, Gent. 'Pray God it be, sir. Doct. This disease is beyond my practice: yet I have known those which have walked in their sleep, who have died holily in their beds. Lady M. Wash your hands, put on your night * Dark. gown; look not so pale :-I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he cannot come out of his grave. Doct. Even so ? Lady M. To bed, to bed; there's knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand; what's done, cannot be undone to bed, to bed, to bed. Despised old Age. I have liv'd long enough: my way of life Is fallen into the sear,* the yellow leaf; And that which should accompany old age, As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have; but in their stead, Curses, not loud, but deep, mouth-honour, breath, Which the poor heart would fain deny, but dare not. Diseases of the Mind Incurable. Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd; Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow; Raze out the written troubles of the brain; And with some sweet oblivious antidote, Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff, Which weighs upon the heart? Reflections on Life. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle? Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more; it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. * Dry. OTHELLO. ACT I. Preferment. "Tis the curse of service; Preferment goes by letter, and affection, Iago's Dispraise of Honesty. We cannot all be masters, nor all masters Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave, Whip me such honest knaves. Others there are Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves; And, throwing but shows of service on their lords, Do well thrive by them, and, when they have lined their coats, Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul, And such a one do I profess myself. For, sir, It is as sure as you are Roderigo, Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago: Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve But that I love the gentle Desdemona, Othello's Description to the Senate of his winning the Affections of Desdemona. Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors, Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech, Of my whole course of love: what drugs, what charms, What conjuration, and what mighty magic, (For such proceeding I am charged withal) I won his daughter with. 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, [breach; Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly Of being taken by the insolent foe, And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence, * These things to hear, * Would Desdemona seriously incline : * But still the house affairs would draw her thence; me; And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her, My behaviour. + Parts. Intention and attention were once synonymous. |