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 [TO OTHELLO.

this?

Bra. Nothing but this is so.

Oth. Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors, My very noble and approv'd good masters, That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter, It is most true; true I have married her;

The

very head and front of my offending

Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech,
And little bless'd with the set phrase of peace;
For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith,
Till now some nine moons wasted, they have us❜d
Their dearest action in the tented field;
And little of this great world can I speak,
More than pertains to feats of broil and battle;
And therefore little shall I grace my cause,

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.

A maiden never bold;

Bra. Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion Blush'd at herself; And she,—in spite of nature, Of years, of country, credit, every thing,To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on?

2 Best exertion.

It is a judgment maim'd, and most imperfect,
That will confess-perfection so could err
Against all rules of nature; and must be driven
To find out practices of cunning hell,

Why this should be. I therefore vouch again,
That with some mixtures powerful o'er the blood,
Or with some dram conjur❜d to this effect,
He wrought upon her.

Duke.
To vouch this, is no proof
Without more certain and more overt test,3
Than these thin habits, and poor likelihoods
Of modern seeming +, do prefer against him.
1 Sen. But, Othello, speak :-

Did you by indirect and forced courses

Subdue and poison this young maid's affections ?
Or came it by request, and such fair question
As soul to soul affordeth?

Oth.

I do beseech you,
Send for the lady to the sagittary,5

And let her speak of me before her father:
If you do find me foul in her report,
The trust, the office, I do hold of you,
Not only take away, but let your sentence
Even fall upon my life,

Duke.

Fetch Desdemona hither.

Oth. Ancient, conduct them; you best know the

place. [Exeunt IAGO and Attendants.

And, till she come, as truly as to heaven

I do confess the vices of my blood,
So justly to your grave ears I'll present
How I did thrive in this fair lady's love,
And she in mine..

Duke. Say it, Othello,

3 Open proof.

+ Weak show.

The sign of the fictitious creature so called.

Oth. Her father lov'd me; oft invited me
Still question'd me the story
of my life,
From year to year; the battles, sieges, fortunes
That I have pass'd.

I ran it through, even from my boyish days,
To the very moment that he bade me tell it.
Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents, by flood, and field;

Of hair-breadth scapes i'the imminent deadly breach;

Of being taken by the insolent foe,

And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,
And portance in my travel's history:

Wherein of antres 7 vast, and desarts idle,
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
Devour up my discourse: Which I observing,
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 & she had something heard,
But not intentively9: I did consent;
And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did speak of some distressful stroke,

7 Caves and dens.

8 Parts.

6 My behaviour.
9 Intention and attention were once synonymous.

That my youth suffer'd. My story being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:
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:
She lov'd me for the dangers I had pass'd;
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,
Than their bare hands.

Bra.

I pray you, hear her speak. If she confess that she 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 most you owe obedience?

Des.

I do perceive here a divided duty:

My noble father,

To you, I am bound for life, and education;
My life, and education, both do learn me
How to respect you; you are the lord of duty,
I am hitherto your daughter: But here's my hus-
band;

And so much duty as my mother show'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 hast already, with all my heart
I would keep from thee. -For your sake, jewel,
I am glad at soul I have no other child;
For thy escape would teach me tyranny,

To hangs clogs on them.-I have done, my lord. Duke. Let me speak like yourself; and lay a sentence,

Which, as a grise1, 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.
To mourn a mischief that is past and gone,

Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserv'd when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.

The robb'd, that smiles, steals something from the thief;

He robs himself that spends a bootless grief,
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
But the free comfort which from thence he hears:
But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow,
That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow、
These sentences, to sugar, or to gall,

1 Grise from degrees,