But kill him rather; I'll after that same villain,
For 'tis a darnned slave,

Exeunt MONTANO and GRATIANO. Oth.

I am not valiant neither, But every puny whipster gets my sword: But why should honour outlive honesty ? Let it

go

all. Emil. What did thy song bode, lady? Hark, can'st thou hear me? I will play the swan, And die in musick ;-Willow, willow, willow.Moor, she was chaste; she lov'd thee, cruel Moor; So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true; So speaking as I think, I die,—I die. [Dies.

Oth. I have another weapon in this chamber, It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper; 4 O, here it is :

-Uncle, I must come forth, Gra. [1Vithin.] If thou attempt it, it will cost

thee dear; Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.

Oth. Look in upon me then, and speak with me, Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.

Re-enter GRATIANO.

Gra. What is the matter :
Oth.

Behold! I have a weapon ;
A better never did itself sustain
Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day,
That, with this little arm, and this good sword,
I have made my way through more impediments
Than twenty times your stop:-But, О vain boast !
Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.-

4

the ice-brook's temper ;] This ice-brook was the brook or rivulet called Salo (now Xalon,) near Bilbilis in Celtiberia. In this the Spaniards plunged all their swords and other weapons while hot from the forge; and to the icy qualities of the waters, they were indebted for their stubborn temper.

Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd;
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
Do you go back dismay'd ? 'tis a lost fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast,
And he retires ;-Where should Othello go?-
Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench!
Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl ?
Even like thy chastity.
O cursed, cursed slave!Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds ! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!-
O Desdemona! Desdemona ! dead?
Dead? O! O! O!

Enter Lodovico, MONTANO, Cassio, carried in a

Chair, and Officers, with Iago, prisoner.
Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate

man?
Oth. That's he, that was Othello; here I am.
Lod. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth.
Oth. I look down towards his feet;:--but that's

a fable:
If that thou be’st a devil, I cannot kill thee.

[OTHIELLO wounds LAGO. Lod. Wrench his sword from him. Iago.

I bleed, sir; but not kill'd. Oth. I am not sorry neither; I'd have thee live : For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die.

Lod. © thou Othello, that was once so good,

towards his feet;] To see if, according to the common opinion, his feet be cloven.

you will;

Fall'n in the practice of a cursed slave,
What shall be said to thee?
Oth.

Why, any thing:
An honourable murderer, if
For nought I did in hate, but all in honour.

Lod. This wretch hath part confess'd his villainy: Did you

and he consent in Cassio's death?
Oth. Ay.
Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause.

Oth. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
Will you, I pray you, demand that demi-devil,
Why he hath thus ensnar'd my soul and body ?

Iago. Demand me nothing: What you know,

you know :

From this time forth I never will speak word.

Lod. What ? not to pray?
Gra.

Torments will ope your lips.
Oth. Well, thou dost best.

Lod. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall’n,
Which, as I think, you know not: Here is a letter,
Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo ;
And here, another: the one of them imports.
The death of Cassio to be undertook
By Roderigo.

Oth. O villain !
Cas.

Most heathenish, and most gross !
Lod. Now here's another discontented

paper,
Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems,
Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain
But that, belike, Iago in the interim
Came in and satisfied him.
Oth.

O the pernicious caitiff!-
How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief
That was my wife's ?
Cas.

I found it in my chamber :

6 - in the practice --] In the snare, by the stratagem

And he himself confess'd, but even now,
That there he dropp'd it, for a special purpose,
Which wrought to his desire.
Oth.

O fool! fool! fool!
Cas. There is, besides, in Roderigo's letter,
How he upbraids Iago, that he made him
Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came
That I was cast : And even but now he spake,
After long seeming dead,—Iago hurt him,
Iago set him on.
Lod. You must forsake this

room,

and
go

with

us ;

Your power and

your command is taken off, And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For th

For this slave, If there be any cunning cruelty, That can torment him much, and hold him long, It shall be his: You shall close prisoner rest, Till that the nature of your fault be known To the Venetian state :--Come, bring him away.

Oth. Soft you; a word or two, before you go. I have done the state some service, and they know

it; No more of that :- I pray you, in your letters, When

you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am ; nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak Of one, that lov'd not wisely, but too well; Of one, not easily jealous, but being wrought, Perplex'd in the extreme; of one, whose hand, Like the base Júdean, threw a pearl away, Richer than all his tribe;' of one, whose subdu'd

eyes,

of one, whose hand, Like the base Judean, threw a pearl away, Richer than all his tribe ;] The commentators are at variance

this passage, some considering it as an allusion to the story of Herod and Mariamne, and others to that of a Jew who threw away

VOL, IX.

on

Hн

Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicínal gum: Set you down this :
And say, besides,—that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turband Turk
Beat a Venetian, and traduc'd the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote himthus.

[Stabs himself.
Lod. O bloody period !
Gra.

All, that's spoke, is marrd. Oth. I kiss'd thee, ere I kill'd thee;-No way but

this, [Falling upon DESDEMONĄ. Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

[Dies. Cas. This did I fear, but thought he had no

weapon; For he was great of heart. Lod.

O Spartan dog, More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea ! Look on the tragick loading of this bed ;

[TO LAGO,

a pearl of great worth, because he could not get his price for it. We shall subjoin a remark of Mr. Steevens, which vindicates the propriety of an edition like the present.

Either we are partial to discoveries which we make for ourselves, or the spirit of controversy is contagious ; for it usually happens that each possessor of an ancient copy of our author is led to assert the superiority of all such readings as have not been exhibited in the notes, or received into the text of the last edition. On this account, our present republication* (and more especially in the celebrated plays) affords a greater number of these diversities than were ever before obtruded on the publick. A time however may arrive, when a complete body of variations being printed, our readers may luxuriate in an ample feast of thats and whiches; and thenceforward it may be prophecied, that all will unite in a wish that the selection had been made by an editor, rather than submitted to their own labour and sagacity.

se Spartan dog, ] The dogs of Spartan race were reckoned among those of the most fierce and savage kind.

* The edition of 1803 in 21 volumes.

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