4 Wherein of antres vaft, and defarts idle, Rough quarries, rocks, and hills, whofe heads touch heav'n,

It was my hint to speak; fuch was the process;

And of the Canibals that each other eat,

The Anthropophagi; and 7 men whofe heads
Do grow beneath their fhoulders. All thefe to hear
Would Defdemona feriously incline;

-But ftill the houfe-affairs would draw her thence,
Which ever as she could with hafte dispatch,
She'd come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour up my difcourfe: which I obferving,
Took once a pliant hour, and found good means
To draw from her a pray'r of earnest heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate;
Whereof by parcels fhe had fomething heard,
But not intentively. I did confent,
And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did speak of fome diftressful stroke
That my youth fuffer'd. My ftory being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of fighs:
She wore, "In faith, 'twas ftrange, 'twas paffing
ftrange,

8

"'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful"

She wifh'd, fhe had not heard it ;-yet fhe wifh'd,
That heav'n had made her fuch 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. On this hint I spake,
She lov'd me for the dangers I had past,
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.

SCEN E IX.

Enter Defdemona, 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,
Than their bare hands.

Bra. I pray you, hear her speak;

If the confefs that fhe was half the wooer,
Destruction on my head, if my bad blame
Light on the man! Come hither, gentle mistress,
Do you perceive in all this noble company,
Where you moft owe obedience?

Def. My noble father,

I do perceive here a divided duty;

To you I'm bound for life and education,
My life and education both do learn me

How to refpect you. You're the Lord of duty;
I'm hitherto your daughter. But here's my husband;
And fo much duty as my mother fhew'd
To you, preferring you before her father;
So much I challenge, that I may profess
Due to the Moor, my Lord.

Bra. God be with you. I have done.
Please it your Grace, on to the State-affairs;
I had rather to adopt a child, than get it.
Come hither, Moor;

I here do give thee that with all my heart,
Which, but thou haft already, with all my heart,
I would keep from thee. For your fake, jewel,
I'm glad at foul I have no other child;

For thy escape would teach me tyranny,

To hang clogs on them. I have done, my Lord. Duke.? Let me fpeak like yourself; and lay a fen

tence,

Which, as a grife, or ftep, may help these lovers "Into your favour".

*

When remedies are paft, the griefs are ended
By seeing the worft, which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone,
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preferv'd when Fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.

The robb'd, that fmiles, fteals fomething fromthethief;
He robs himself, that spends a bootless grief.
Bra. So, let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile,

We lofe it not, fo long as we can fmile;
He bears the fentence well, that nothing bears
But the free comfort which from thence he hears;
But he bears both the fentence, and the forrow,
That, to pay grief, muft of poor patience borrow.
These fentences, to fugar or to gall,
Being strong on both fides, are equivocal.

9 Let me Speak like YOUR felf;] It should be, like OUR felf, i, e. Let me meditate between you as becomes a prince and common father of his people: For the prince's opinion, here delivered, was quite contrary to Brabantio's fentiment. WARBURTON.

Hanmer reads,
Let me now fpeak more like
your felf.

Dr. Warburton's emendation is
fpecious; but I do not fee how

Hanmer's makes any alteration. The Duke feems to mean, when he fays he will speak like Brabantio, that he will speak fententiofly.

The paffages marked thus (") are wanting in the folio, but found in the quarto.

But the free comfort which from thence he hears ;] But the moral precepts of confolation, which are liberally beftowed on occafion of the fentence.

But

2 But words are words; I never yet did hear, That the bruis'd heart was pieced through the ear, Beseech you, now to the affairs o' th' State.

Duke. The Turk with a mighty preparation makes for Cyprus. Othello, the fortitude of the place is best known to you; and though we have there a fubftitute of moft allowed fufficiency; yet opinion, a fovereign mistress of effects, throws a more fafe voice on you; you must therefore be content to flubber the glofs of your new fortunes, with this more ftubborn and boifterous expedition.

Oth. The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down. I do agnize
A natural and prompt alacrity

I find in hardnefs; and do undertake
This prefent war against the Ottomites.

Moft humbly therefore bending to your State,
+ I crave fit difpofition for my wife,
Due reference of place, and exhibition,

2 But words are words; I never yet did hear,

That the bruis'd heart was

pierced through the ear.] The Duke had by fage fentences been exhorting Brabantio to patience, and to forget the grief of his daughter's ftol'n marriage, to which Brabantio is made very pertinently to reply to this effect: My lord, I apprehend very well the wisdom of your advice; but tho' you would comfort me, words are but words; and the heart, already bruis'd, was never pierc'd, or wounded, through the ear. It is obvious that the text must be reftor'd thus,

With

That the bruis'd beart was

pieced through the ear. i, e. That the wounds of forrow were ever cur'd, or a man made heart-whole meerly by words of confolation. WARBURTON.

3-thrice-driven bed of down.] A driven bed, is a bed for which the feathers are felected, by driving with a fan, which feparates the light from the heavy.

4 I crave fit difpofition for my wife,

Due reference of place, and ex

bibition, &c.] I defire that a proper difpofition be made for my wife, that the may have precedency, and revenue, accom modation,