2

swerable sequestration ;'-put but money in thy purse. -These Moors are changeable in their wills :--fill thy purse with money; the food that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida. She must change for youth; when she is sated with his body, she will find the error of her choice. She must have change, she must; therefore put money in thy purse.-If thou wilt needs damn thyself, do it a more delicate way than drowning. Make all the money thou canst. If sanctimony and a frail vow, betwixt an erring3 barbarian and a supersubtle Venetian, be not too hard for my wits, and all the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her; therefore make money. A pox of drowning thyself! it is clean out of the way; seek thou rather to be hanged in compass ing thy joy, than to be drowned and go without her.

Rod. Wilt thou be fast to my hopes, if I depend on the issue?

4

Iago. Thou art sure of me.-Go, make money; -I have told thee often, and I retell thee again and again, I hate the Moor. My cause is hearted; thine hath no less reason. Let us be conjunctive in our revenge against him; if thou canst cuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, and me a sport. There are many events in the womb of time, which will be delivered. Traverse; 5 go; provide thy money. We will have more of this to-morrow.--Adieu.

Rod. Where shall we meet i' the morning?
Iago. At my lodging.

Rod. I'll be with thee betimes.

Iago. Go to; farewell. Do you hear, Roderigo? Rod. What say you?

Iago. No more of drowning; do you hear?

Rod. I am changed. I'll sell all my land.

1 Sequestration is defined to be "a putting apart, a separation of a thing

from the possession of those that contend for it."

2 The quarto reads “as acerb as coloquintida."

3 Erring is the same as erraticus in Latin.

4 This adjective occurs again in Act iii. :-"hearted throne.”

purse.

Iago. Go to; farewell; put money enough in your
[Exit RODERIGO.
Thus do I ever make my fool my purse;
For I mine own gained knowledge should profane,
If I would time expend with such a snipe,
But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor;
And it is thought abroad, that 'twixt my sheets
He has done my office. I know not if't be true;
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
Will do, as if for surety.' He holds me well;
The better shall my purpose work on him.
Cassio's a proper man. Let me see now;
To get his place, and to plume 2 up my will;
A double knavery,-How? how?-Let me see.-
After some time, to abuse Othello's ear,

That he is too familiar with his wife.-
He hath a person; and a smooth dispose

To be suspected; framed to make women false.
The Moor is of a free and open nature,

That thinks men honest, that but seem to be so;
And will as tenderly be led by the nose,

As asses are.

I have't; it is engendered.--Hell and night

Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light

[Exit.

ACT II.

SCENE I. A Seaport town in Cyprus. A
Platform.

Enter MONTANO and Two Gentlemen.

Mon. What from the cape can you discern at sea?
1 Gent. Nothing at all. It is a high-wrought flood;

1 That is, I will act as if I were certain of the fact.

well," is, he entertains a good opinion of me.

2 The first quarto reads "to make up.”

"He holds me

I cannot, 'twixt the heaven' and the main,
Descry a sail.

Mon. Methinks the wind hath spoke aloud at land;
A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements.

If it hath ruffianed so upon the sea,

What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them,2
Can hold the mortise? what shall we hear of this?
2 Gent. A segregation of the Turkish fleet.
For do but stand upon the foaming shore,3
The chiding billow seems to pelt the clouds;
The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous main,
Seems to cast water on the burning bear,4

And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole.
I never did like molestation view

On the enchafed flood.

Mon.

If that the Turkish fleet

Be not ensheltered and embayed, they are drowned;
It is impossible they bear it out.

Enter a third Gentleman.

3 Gent. News, lords! our wars are done;
The desperate tempest hath so banged the Turks,
That their designment halts. A noble ship of Venice
Hath seen a grievous wreck and sufferance

On most part of their fleet.

Mon.

How is this true?

3 Gent. The ship is here put in, A Veronesé;5 Michael Cassio,

1 The quarto reads :

66

'twixt the haven and the main;”

and Malone adopts that reading.

2 The quarto of 1622 reads, "when the huge mountaine meslt," the letter s, which, perhaps, belongs to mountaine, having wandered, at press, from its place. In Troilus and Cressida we have:—

"The strong-ribbed bark through liquid mountains cuts.”

3 The elder quarto reads "the banning shore."

4 The constellation near the polar star. The next line alludes to the star Arctophylax, which literally signifies the guard of the bear. The 4to. 1622 reads "ever-fired pole."

66

5 The old copy reads “a Veronessa;" whether this signified a ship fitted out by the people of Verona, who were tributary to the Venetian republic, or designated some particular kind of vessel, is not yet establish d

Lieutenant to the warlike Moor, Othello,

Is come on shore; the Moor himself's at sea,
And is in full commission here for Cyprus.

Mon. I am glad on't; 'tis a worthy governor.
3 Gent. But this same Cassio,-though he speak of
comfort,

Touching the Turkish loss,-yet he looks sadly,
And prays the Moor be safe; for they were parted
With foul and violent tempest.

Mon.
'Pray Heaven, he be;
For I have served him, and the man commands
Like a full1 soldier. Let's to the seaside, ho!
As well to see the vessel that's come in,
As to throw out our eyes for brave Othello;
Even till we make the main, and the aerial blue,
An indistinct regard.

3 Gent.

Come, let's do so;

For every minute is expectancy

Of more arrivance.

Enter CASSIO.

Cas. Thanks to the valiant of this warlike isle,
That so approve the Moor. O, let the Heavens
Give him defence against the elements,

For I have lost him on a dangerous sea!
Mon. Is he well shipped?

Cas. His bark is stoutly timbered, and his pilot
Of very expert and approved allowance; 2
Therefore my hopes, not surfeited to death,
Stand in bold cure.3

[Within.]

A sail, a sail, a sail!

Enter another Gentleman.

Cas. What noise?

4 Gent. The town is empty; on the brow o' the sea Stand ranks of people, and they cry-A sail.

1 A full soldier is a complete one. See Acti. Sc. 1.

2 i. e. of allowed and approved expertness.

3 Stand in confidence of being cured.

Cas. My hopes do shape him for the governor. 2 Gent. They do discharge their shot of courtesy;

Our friends, at least.

Cas.

I

[Guns heard.

pray you, sir, go forth, And give us truth who 'tis that is arrived.

2 Gent. I shall.

[Exit.

Mon. But, good lieutenant, is your general wived? Cas. Most fortunately. He hath achieved a maid That paragons description, and wild fame;

One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens,

And in the essential vesture of creation,

Does bear all excellency.'-How now? who has put in ?

Re-enter second Gentleman.

2 Gent. "Tis one lago, ancient to the general. Cas. He has had most favorable and happy speed. Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds, The guttered rocks, and congregated sands,Traitors ensteeped 2 to clog the guiltless keel,

As having sense of beauty, do omit

3

Their mortal natures, letting go safely by

The divine Desdemona.

Cas. She that I spake of, our great captain's captain,

Left in the conduct of the bold Iago;

Whose footing here anticipates our thoughts,

A se'nnight's speed.-Great Jove, Othello guard,
And swell his sail with thine own powerful breath ;
That he may bless this bay with his tall ship,

1 This is the reading of the quartos: the folio has :--

"And in the essential vesture of creation

Do's tyre the Ingeniuer'

If the reading of the folio be adopted, the meaning would be this:-She is one who excels all description; and, in real beauty, or outward form, goes beyond the power of the inventive pencil of the artist.

2 "Traitors ensteeped" are merely traitors concealed under the water. 3 Deadly, destructive.