Def. The heaven's forbid,

But that our loves and comforts fhould encrease,
Even as our days do grow!

Oth. Amen to that, fweet Powers!
I cannot speak enough of this content,
It ftops me here, it is too much of joy,

And this, and this, the greatest difcords be [Kiffing her. That e'er our hearts fhall make!

lago. Oh, you are well-tun'd now;

But I'll let down the pegs that make this mufic,.

As honeft as I am.

Oth. Come let's to the caftle.

[Afide

Now, friends, our wars are done; the Turks are

drown'd.

How do our old acquaintance of this ifle!
Honey, you fhall be well defir'd in Cyprus,
I've found great love amongst them. Oh my fweet,
(3) I prattle out of fashion, and I dote
In mine own comfort, Pr'ythee, good lago,
Go to the bay, and difembark my coffers;
Bring thou (4) the master to the citadel,
He is a good one, and his worthiness

Does challenge much refpect.

Once more well met at Cyprus.

Come, Desdemona,

[Exeunt Othello and Defdemona.

SCENE VII.

Manent Iago and Rodorigo.

lago. Do you meet me prefently at the harbour. Come thither, if thou be'ft valiant; as, they fay, base men, being in love, have then a nobility in their natures, more than is native to them. Lift me, the lieutenant to-night watches on the Court of Guard. First, I must tell thee, this Defdemona is directly in love with him.

Rod. With him? why, 'tis not poffible?

(3) I prattle out of fashion,-] Out of method, without any settled order of difcourfe.

(4)—the mafter-1 The pilot of the ship.

Iago. (5) Lay thy finger thus; and let thy foul be inftructed. Mark me with what violence fhe firft lov'd the Moor, but for bragging, and telling her fantastical lies. And will she love him ftill for prating? let not thy discreet heart think it. Her eye muft be fed. And what delight fhall fhe have to look on the Devil? (6) When the blood is made dull with the act of fport, there should be again to inflame it, and to give Satiety a fresh appetite, lovelinefs in favour, fympathy in years, manners, and beauties: all which the Moor is defective in. Now, for want of these required conveniences, her delicate tenderness will find itself abus'd, begin to heave the gorge, difrelish and abhor the Moor; very nature will inftruct her in it, and compel her to fome second choice. Now, Sir, this granted, as it is a moft pregnant and unforc'd pofition, who stands fo eminent in the degree of this fortune, as Caffio does? a knave very voluble; no farther confcionable, than in putting on the mere form of civil and humane Seeming, for the better compaffing of his falt and most hidden loose affection; a flippery and fubtle knave, a finder of warm occasions, that has an eye can ftamp and counterfeit advantages, though true advantage never prefent itself. A devilish knave! befides, the knave is handfome, young, and *hath all those requifites in him, that folly and (7) green minds look after. A peftilent compleat knave! and the woman hath found him already.

(5) Lay thy finger thus ;] On thy mouth, to ftop it while thou art listening to a wifer man.

(6) When the blood is made dull with the act of sport, there should be a game to inflame it, and to give fatiety a fresh appetite; lovelinefs in favour, fympathy in years, manners, and beauties:] This, 'tis true, is the reading of the generality of the copies: but, me. thinks, 'tis a very peculiar experiment, when the blood and fpirits are dull'd and exhausted with fport, to raise and recruit them by fport for fport and game are but two words for the fame thing. I have retriev'd the pointing and reading of the elder quarto, which certainly gives us the poet's fenfe; that when the blood is dull'd with the exercise of pleasure, there fhould be proper incentives on each fide to raise it again, as the charms of beauty, equality of years, and agreement of manners and difpofition: which are wanting in Othello to rekindle Defdemona's paffion. THEOB. (7) green minds-] Minds unripe, minds not yet fully formed.

Rod.

Rod. I cannot believe that of her, the's full of most blefs'd (8) condition.

Iago. Blefs'd figs' end! the wine fhe drinks is made of grapes. If fhe had been blefs'd, fhe would never have lov'd the Moor. Blefs'd pudding! Didft thou not fee her paddle with the palm of his hand? didft not mark that?

Rod. Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy.

Iago. Letchery, by this hand; an index, and obfcure prologue to the hiftory of luft, and foul thoughts. They met fo near with their lips, that their breaths embrac'd together. Villainous thoughts, Rodorigo! when these mutualities fo marfhal the way, hard at hand comes the main exercise, the incorporate conclufion. Pish -But, Sir, be you rul'd by me. I have brought you from Venice. Watch you to-night. For the command, I'll lay't upon you. Caffio knows you not: I'H not be far from you. Do you find fome occafion to anger Caffio, either by speaking too loud, or (9) tainting. his difcipline, or from what other courfe you please, which the time shall more favourably minifter.

Rod. Well.

Iago. Sir, he's rafh, and very fudden (1) in choler: and, haply, may ftrike at you. Provoke him, that he may; for even out of that will I caufe thofe of Cyprus to mutiny, (2) whofe qualification shall come into no true tafte again, but by difplanting of Caffio. So fhall you have a fhorter journey to your defires, by the means I fhall then have to prefer them, and the impediments moft profitably removed, without which there were no expectation of our profperity.

(8) condition.] Qualities, difpofition of mind.

(9) tainting Throwing a flur upon his difcipline.

If the fenfe in this place was not fufficiently clear, I fhould have thought taunting his difcipline might have been the word, fince it was more likely for Rodorigo, from his general foolish character, to be able to throw out fomething in contempt of what he did not understand, than to say any thing which might really. fully it, which tainting feems to imply. Mr. STEEVENS.

(1) fudden in choler: Sudden, is precipitately violent. (2) whofe qualification fhall come, &c] Whofe refentment fhall not be fo qualified or tempered, as to be well tafled, as not to retain fome bitterness. The phrafe is harsh at least to our ears.

Rod.

335

Rod. I will do this, if you can bring it to any opportunity.

Iago. I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel. I must fetch his neceffaries afhore. Farewel. Rod. Adieu.

[Exit.

SCENE VIII.

Manet Iago.

Iago. That Caffio loves her, I do well believe:
That the loves him, 'tis apt, and of
great credit,
The Moor, howbeit that I endure him not,
Is of a conftant, loving, noble nature;
And, I dare think, he'll prove to Desdemona
A most dear husband. Now I love her too,
Not out of abfolute luft, though, peradventure,
I stand accountant for as great a fin;

But partly led to diet my revenge,

For that I do fufpect, the lufty Moor

Hath leapt into my feat. The thought whereof

Doth, (3) like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my inwards,

And nothing can, or fhall content my foul,

Till I am even with him, wife for. wife.
Or failing fo, yet that I put the Moor

At laft into a jealoufy fo strong,

That judgment cannot cure. (4) Which thing to do,

If

(3)-like a poisonous mineral,-] This is philofophical. Mineral poifons kill by corrosion.

(4)

-Which thing to do,

If this poor Trash of Venice, whom I trace

For bis quick bunting, fand the putting on,] A trifling, infignificant fellow may, in fome refpects, very well be call'd tra: but the metaphor is not preferved. For what agreement is there betwixt trafh and quick bunting, and flanding the putting on? The allufion to the cbafe, Shakespeare feems to be fond of applying to Rodrigo, who fays of himself towards the conclufion of this A;

I follow ber in the chafe, not like a hound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry.

I fuppofe therefore that the poet wrote.

If this poor brach of Venice, which is a low fpecies of bounds of the chafe, and a term generally us'd in contempt: and this compleats and perfects the metaphorical allufion, and makes it much

more

If this

poor trash of Venice, (5) whom I trace For his quick hunting, ftand the putting on, (6) I'll have our Michael Caffio on the hip,

more fatirical. Vlitius, in his notes on Gratius, fays, Racha Saxonibus canem fignificabat, unde Scoti bodie Rache pro cane femina babent, quod Anglis eft Brache. Nos verò (he speaks of the Hollanders) Brach non quemvis canem fed fagacem vocamus. French, Braque, efpece de chien de chaffe. Menage Etimol

So the

WARBURTON.

The old reading was trash, which Dr. Warburton judiciously turned into brach. But it seems to me, that trash belongs to another part of the line, and that we ought to read trash for trace. To trafo a bound, is a term of hunting ftill ufed in the North, and perhaps elsewhere; i. e. to correct, to rate. The fenfe is, "If this hound Rodorigo, whom I rate for quick bunting, ❝for over running the fcent, will but fand the putting on, will but "have patience to be properly and fairly put upon the scent, "&c." The context and fenfe is nothing if we read trace. This very hunting-term, to trafb, is metaphorically used by Shakespeare in the Tampeft, act i. fc. ii.

"Pro. Being once perfected how to grant fuits,

"How to deny them; whom t' advance, and whom "To trash for overtopping.". - To trash for overtopping; i. e. "what fuitors to check for their too great forwardnefs." 99 Το overtop, is when a hound gives his tongue, above the reft, too loudly or too readily; for which he ought to be trash'd or rated. Topper, in the good fenfe of the word, is a common name for a hound, in many parts of England. Shakespeare is fond of allufions to hunting, and appears to be well acquainted with its language. Mr. WARTON.

(5)

nubem I do TRACE

For bis quick bunting,

-] Juft the contrary. He did not trace bim, he put him on, as he fays immediately after. The old Quarto leads to the true reading,

whom I do CRUSH

For bis quick bunting,

Plainly corrupted from CHERISH.

WARBURTON.

whom I do TRACE-] It is a term of hunting or field-fport; to trace fometimes fignifies to follow, as Hen. VIII. A&t. iii. fcene 2. Now all joy trace the conjunction;

and a dog or man traces a bare; but to trace a dog, in those sports, is to put a trace, or pair of couples, upon him, and fuch a dog is faid to be traced. The fenfe, then, of

whom I do trace

For bis quick bunting

is this, Whom I do affociate to me for the purpose of ruining Caf fio the fooner.

T. Row.

(6) I'll bave our Michael Caffio on the bip,] A phrafe from the art of wrestling.

Abufe