Oth. I look down tow'rds his feet; but That's a

fable.

If that thou beest a Devil, I cannot kill thee.

[Othello wounds Iago.

Lod. Wrench his fword from him.
lago. I bleed, Sir, but not kill'd.
Oth. I am not forry, neither: I'd have thee live;
For, in my fenfe, 'tis happiness to die.

Lod. Oh thou, Othello, that waft once so good,
Fal'n in the practice of a curfed flave,
What fhall be faid to thee?

Oth. Why, any thing;

An honourable murth'rer, if you will:
For nought I did in hate, but all in honour.
Lod. This wretch hath part confeft his villany:
Did you and he confent in Caffio's death?

Oth. Ay.

Caf. Dear General, I never gave you Caufe. Oth. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon: Will you, I pray, demand that demy-devil, Why he hath thus enfnar'd my foul 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 fhall understand what hath befal'n,
Which, as I think, you know not; here's a letter,
Found in the pocket of the flain Rodrigo,
And, here, another; one of them imports
The death of Caffio to be undertook
By Rodorigo.

Oth. Oh villain!

Caf. Moft heathenish and moft grofs!
Lod. Now, here's another difcontented paper,
Found in his pocket too; and this, it feems,
Rodorigo meant t'have fent this damned villain;
But that, belike, Iago in the interim
Came in and fatisfy'd him.

P2

Oth.

Oth. Oh thou pernicious caitiff!
How came you, Caffio, by that handkerchief
That was my wife's?

Caf. I found it in my chamber;
And he himself confeft it but even now,
That there he dropt it for a special purpose,
Which wrought to his defire.

Oth. Oh fool, fool, fool!

Caf. There is, befides, in Rodorigo's letter,
How he upbraids lago that he made him
Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came
That I was caft; and even now he spake,
After long feeming dead, Iago hurt him,
Iago fet him on.

Lod. You must forfake this room, and go with us;
Your Pow'r and your Command is taken off,
And Caffio rules in Cyprus. For this flave,
If there be any cunning cruelty,

That can torment him much, and hold him long,
It shall be his. You fhall clofe 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've done the State fome fervice, and they know't;
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 fet down aught in malice. Then muft you fpeak
Of one that lov'd not wifely, but too well;
Of one, not eafily jealous; but being wrought,
Perplex'd in the extream; of one, whofe hand, (30)

Like

of One, whofe hand,

Like the bafe Indian, threw a Pearl away

Richer than all his Tribe.] I have reftor'd, Judian, from the Elder Quarto, as the genuine and more eligible Reading. Mr. Pope thinks, this was occafion'd probably by the Word Tribe just after I have many Reasons to oppole to this Opinion. In the first Place, the most ignorant Indian, I believe, is fo far

the

(30)

Like the bafe Judian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one, whose eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as faft as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum. Set you down this:
And fay befides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian, and traduc'd the State,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And fmote him thus.

[Stabs himself.

Lod. Oh bloody period!

Gra. All, that is fpoke, is marr'd.
Oth. I kist thee, ere I kill'd thee.—No

Killing myself, to die upon a kifs.

the Reverse of the Dunghil-Cock in the Fable, as to know the Eftimation of a Pearl, beyond that of a Barley-corn. So that, in that refpect, the Thought itself would not be just. Then, if our Author had defign'd to reflect on the Ignorance of the Indian without any farther Reproach, he would have call'd him rude, and not, bafe. Again, I am perfwaded, as my Friend Mr. Warburton long ago obferv'd, the Phrafe is not here lite ral, but metaphorical: and, by his Pearl, our Author very properly means a fine Woman. But Mr. Pope objects farther to reading Judian, because, to make Sense of This, we must prefuppofe fome particular Story of a Jew alluded to; which is much lefs obvious: But has Shakespeare never done this, but in this fingle Inftance? I am fatisfied, in his Judian, he is alluding to Herod; who, in a Fit of blind Jealousy, threw away fuch a Jewel of a Wife as Mariamne was to him. What can be more parallel in Circumftance, than the Conduct of Herod and Othello? Nor was the Story fo little obvious, as Mr. Pope feems to imagine: For, in the Year 1613, the Lady Elizabeth Carew publish'd a Tragedy, call'd MARIAM, the fair Queen of JEWRY. I fhall only add, that our Author might write Judian, or Judean, (if that should be alledg'd as any Objection) instead of Judaan, with the fame License and Change of Accent, as, in his Antony and Cleopatra, he fhortens the second Syllable of Euphrates in Pronunciation: which was a Liberty likewife taken by Spencer, of whom our Author was a ftudious Imitator.

Caf.

P 3

way
but this,
[To Defdem.
[dies.

Caf. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon, For he was great of heart. Lod. Oh Spartan dog!

[To Lago.

More fell than anguish, hunger, or the fea!
Look on the tragick loading of this bed;
This is thy work; the object poifons fight,
Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house,
And feize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
For they fucceed to you. To you, lord Governor,
Remains the cenfure of this hellish villain :
The time, the place, the torture, oh! inforce it.
My felf will straight aboard; and to the State
This heavy act, with heavy heart, relate.

[Exeunt.

A TA