Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now,
This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
And fall to reprobation.

Oth. 'Tis pitiful: but yet Iago knows,
That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
A thousand times committed; Cassio confess'd it :
And she did gratify his amorous works

With that recognizance and pledge of love
Which I first gave her; I saw it in his hand ;
It was a handkerchief, an antique token

My father gave my mother.

Emil. O heaven! O heavenly powers!

Jago. Come, hold your peace.

Emil. "Twill out, 'twill out ;-I hold my peace, sir? no:

No, I will speak as liberal as the air;

Let heaven, and men, and devils, let them all,

All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.

lago. Be wise, and get you home.

Emil. I will not.

Gra. Fye!

Your sword upon a woman?

[IAGO offers to stab his wife.

Emil. O thou dull Moor! That handkerchief thou speak'st of,

I found by fortune, and did give my husband;

For often, with a solemn earnestness,

(More than, indeed, belong'd to such a trifle,)

He begg'd of me to steal it.

Iago. Villanous whore !

Emil. She give it Cassio! no, alas; I found it,

And I did give't my husband.

lago. Filth, thou liest.

Emil. By heaven, I do not; I do not, gentlemen : O murd'rous coxcomb! what should such a fool

Do with so good a wife? [IAGO stabs EMI. then runs out.
Oth. Are there no stones in heaven,

But what serve for the thunder ?-Precious villain!
Gra. The woman falls; sure, he has kill'd his wife.
Emil. Ay, ay; O, lay me by my mistress' side!
Gra. He's gone, but his wife's kill'd.

Mont. 'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this
Which I have here recover'd from the Moor:
Come, guard the door without; let him not pass,
But kill him rather; I'll after that same villain,

weapon,

For 'tis a damned slave.

[Exeunt MoN. and GRA.

Oth. I am not valiant neither,
But every 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 music ;-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.

Oth. I have another weapon in this chamber,

It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper ;9

O, here it is :—Uncle, I must come forth.

[Dies.

Gra. [within.] 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, Ở vain boast
Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.
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!-

[9] See Illustrations, Vol. X.

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.

[OTHELLO wounds IAGO.

Lod. Wrench his sword from him.

lago. 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. O thou Othello, that was once so good, Fall'n in the practice of a cursed slave,

What shall be said to thee?

Oth. Why, any thing:

An honourable murderer, if you will;

For nought I did in hate, but all in honour.

Lod. This wretch hath part confess'd his villany. 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,

[1] To see if, according to the common opinion, his feet be cloven. JOHNSON.

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 :

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 lago, 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 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
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 turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian, and traduc'd the state,
[S] See Illustrations, Vol. X.
VOL. X.

14

I took by the throat the circumcised dog,

And smote him-thus.

Lod. O bloody period!

Gra. All, that's spoke, is marr'd.

[Stabs himself.

Oth. I kiss'd thee, ere I kill'd thee;-No way but this,

[Falling upon Desdemona.

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 tragic loading of this bed;

This is thy work: the object poisons sight ;-
Let it be hid.-Gratiano, keep the house,
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,

[TO IAGO.

For they succeed to you.-To you, lord governor,
Remains the censure of this hellish villain;
The time, the place, the torture,--O enforce it!
Myself will straight aboard; and, to the state,
This heavy act with heavy heart relate.

[Exeunt.