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And prays you to believe him.

Duke. "Tis certain then for Cyprus.Marcus Lucchesé, is he not in town? 1 Sen. He's now in Florence.

Duke. Write from us; wish him' post-post-haste: despatch.

1 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.

I did not see you; welcome, gentle signior;

[TO BRABANTIO. 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

care

Take hold on me; for my particular grief
Is of so flood-gate and o'erbearing nature,
That it engluts and swallows other sorrows,
And it is still itself.

Duke.

Why, what's the matter? Bra. My daughter! O, my daughter?

Sen.

Bra.

Dead?

Ay, to me;

She is abus'd, stol'n from me, and corrupted

By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks:
For nature so preposterously to err,

Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense,
Sans witchcraft could not-

·wish him- i, e. recommend, desire him.

تا

Duke. Whoe'er he be, that, in this foul pro

ceeding,

Hath thus beguil'd your daughter of herself,
And you of her, the bloody book of law
You shall yourself read in the bitter letter,
After your own sense; yea, though our proper son
Stood in your action.2

Bra.

Humbly I thank your grace. Here is the man, this Moor; whom now, it seems, Your special mandate, for the state affairs,

Hath hither brought.

Duke & Sen.

We are very sorry for it.

[TO OTHELLO.

Duke. What, in your own part, can you say to

this?

Bra. Nothing, but this is so.

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 offending3
Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my
speech,

And little bless'd with the set 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 action1 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

2 Stood in your action.] Were the man exposed to your charge

or accusation.

The very head and front of my offending-] The main, the whole, unextenuated.

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* Their dearest action- i. e. their most important action,

Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what

charms,

What conjuration, and what mighty magick,
(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,"

Than these thin habits, and

5

poor likelihoods

Of modern seeming," 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 affordeth?

Oth.
I do beseech you,
Send for the lady to the Sagittary,7
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

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7

you,

overt test,] Open proofs, external evidence.

Of modern seeming,] Weak show of slight appearance.

the Sagittary,] The Sagittary 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.

Not only take away, but let your sentence

Even fall
Duke.

upon my

life.

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 spoke of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents, by flood, and field;
Of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach;
Of being taken by the insolent foe,

And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,
And portance in my travel's history:

8

Wherein of antres9 vast, and desarts 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

1

Do grow beneath their shoulders. These things to hear,

• And portance] and behaviour.

9

1

Do

antres-] Caves and dens.

men whose heads

grow beneath their shoulders,] Of these men there is an account in the interpolated travels of Mandeville, a book of that

VOL. IX.

A A

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 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,

time. Raleigh also has given an account of men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders, in his Description of Guiana, published in 1596, a book that without doubt Shakspeare had read.

2 But not intentively:] i. e. with attention to all its parts.

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