Duke. Why, what's the matter? Dead? Bra. My daughter! O, my daughter! Sen. Bra. She is abus'd, stol'n from me, and corrupted Ay, to me; By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks: Being not deficient, blind, or lame of sense, Sans witchcraft could not Duke. Whoe'er he be, that, in this foul proceeding, 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 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. Duke. What, in your own part, can you say to this? Bra. Nothing, but this is so. [TO OTHELLO. Oth. Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors, Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech, More than pertains to feats of broil and battle; h Stood in your action.] Were the man exposed to your charge or accusation. JOHNSON. The very head and front of my offending-] The main, the whole, unextenuated. JOHNSON. Their dearest action-] i. e. Their most important action.-MALONL. In speaking for myself: Yet, by your gracious patience, I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver 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; To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on? Why this should be. I therefore vouch again, He wrought upon her. Duke. Did you by indirect and forced courses Subdue and poison this young maid's affections? Oth. I do beseech you, Send for the lady to the Sagittary," Not only take away, but let your sentence Duke. Fetch Desdemona hither. overt test,] i. e. Open proofs, external evidence.-JOHNSON. 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.-STEEVENS. Oth. Ancient, conduct them: you best know the [Exeunt IAGO and Attendants. And, till she come, as truly as to heaven place.— I do confess the vices of my blood, So justly to your grave ears I'll present Duke. Say it, Othello. Oth. Her father lov'd me; oft invited me; From year to year; the battles, sieges, fortunes, I ran it through, even from my boyish days, Of hair-breadth scapes i'the imminent deadly breach; And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence, And portance in my travel's history: Wherein of antresP vast, and desarts wild, q 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 Do grow beneath their shoulders. These things to hear, 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 -portance-] i. e. Behaviour. antres-] Cuves and dens. desarts wild,] Thus the second folio; which was followed by Pope. The first folio reads desarts idle, i. e. barren, unprofitable; the reading of the text is adopted by the recommendation of Gifford; see notes to Ben Jonson, vol. iii. p. 14, 15. hint-] i. e. Cause, subject.-NARES. men whose heads Do grow beneath their shoulders.] Of these men there is an account in the interpolated travels of Mandeville, a book of that 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.-JOHNSON and MALONE. Devour up my discourse: Which I observing, And often did beguile her of her tears, When I did speak of some distressful stroke, 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 : 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, Take up this mangled matter at the best : Men do their broken weapons rather use, I pray you, hear her speak; Bra. Destruction on my head, if my bad blame Light on the man!—Come hither, gentle mistress; Where most you owe obedience? Des. My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty : t intentively:] i. e. With attention to all its parts. How to respect you; you are the lord of duty, Bra. I here do give thee that with all my heart, X Duke. Let me speak like yourself;" and lay a sentence, Which, as a grise, or step, may help these lovers Into your favour. When remedies are past, the griefs are ended, By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended. The robb'd, that smiles, steals something from the thief; Bra. So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile; We lose it not, so long as we can smile. He bears the sentence well, that nothing bears Being strong on both sides, are equivocal : " Let me speak like yourself;] i. e. Let me speak as yourself would speak, were you not too much heated with passion. Sir J. REYNOLDS. X a grise,] Grize from degrees. A grise is a step.-STEEVENS. But the free comfort which from thence he hears:] But the moral precepts of consolation, which are liberally bestowed on occasion of the sentence.-JOHNSON. |