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. Iago. I bleed, Sir, but not kill'd. Oth. I am not forry, neither: I'd have thee live; Lod. Oh thou, Othello, that waft once fo good, Oth. Why, any thing; An honourable murth❜rer, if you will: Caf. Dear General, I never gave you Caufe. Iago. Demand me nothing; what you know, you know; From this time forth I never will speak word, 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 Rodorigo, And, here, another; one of them imports By Rodorigo. Oth. Oh villain ! Caf. Moft heathenish and moft grofs! Lod. Now, here's another discontented 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. Oth. Oh thou pernicious caitiff! How came you, Caffio, by that handkerchief Caf. I found it in my chamber; And he himself confeft it but even now, Caf. There is, befides, in Rodorigo's letter, Lod. You must forfake this room, and go with us; That can torment him much, and hold him long, (30) of One, whofe hand, Like the bafe Indian, threw a Pearl away Like 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 juft after I have many Reasons to oppole to this Opinion. in the first Place, the most ignorant Indian, I believe, is fo far the Like the bafe Judian, threw a pearl away Lod. Oh bloody period! Gra. All, that is fpoke, is marr'd. [Stabs himself. Oth. I kift thee, ere I kill'd thee.-No way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kifs. [To Defdem. [dies. 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, base. Again, I am perfwaded, as my Friend Mr. Warburton long ago observ'd, the Phrase is not here litaral, 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 preSuppose 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 Circumstance, 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 fhould be alledg'd as any Objection) inftead of Judaan, with the fame License and Change of Accent, as, in his Antony and Cleopatra, he fhortens the fecond Syllable of Euphrates in Pronunciation: which was a Liberty likewise taken by Spencer, of whom our Author was a ftudious Imitator. Caf. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon, For he was great of heart. Lod. Oh Spartan dog! [To Iago. More fell than anguish, hunger, or the fea! [Exeunt. A TA |