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SCENE, changes to another STREET, before the Sagittary.

Enter Othello, Iago, and Attendants with Torches.

Iago. THO

HO' in the trade of war I have flain men,
Yet do I hold it very stuff o'th' confcience

To do no contriv'd murder: I lack iniquity
Sometimes to do me fervice.

-Nine or ten times

I thought to've jerk'd him here under the ribs.
Oth. It's better as it is.

Iago. Nay, but he prated,

And fpoke fuch fcurvy and provoking terms
Against your honour;

That, with the little godlinefs I have,

I did full hard forbear him. But I pray, Sir,
Are you faft married? for, be fure of this,
That the magnifico is much belov❜d,
And hath in his effect a voice potential

As double as the Duke's: he will divorce you,
Or put upon you what restraint or grievance
The law (with all his might t'enforce it on)
Will give him capable.

Oth. Let him do his fpight:

My fervices, which I have done the fignory,

Shall out-tongue his complaints. 'Tis yet to know, (Which, when I know that boafting is an honour, I fhall promulgate) I fetch my life and being (3)

(3)

I fetch my Life and Being

From Men of royal Siege; and my Demerits
May peak unbonneted to as proud a Fortune

As this that I have reach'd.] Thus all the Copies read this Paffage. But, to speak unbonnetted, is to fpeak with the Cap off, which is directly oppofite to the Poet's Meaning. Othello means to fay, that his Birth and Services, fet him upon fuch a Rank, that he may fpeak to a Senator of Venice with his Hat on; i. e. without fhewing any marks of Deference, or Inequality. I, therefore, am inclin'd to think, Shakespeare wrote;

May Speak, and bonnetted, &c.

Form

From men of royal fiege; and my demerits
May speak, and bonnetted, to as proud a fortune
As this that I have reach'd. For know, Iago.
But that I love the gentle Defdemona,

I would not my unhoufed free condition
Put into circumfcription and confine,"

For the fea's worth. But look! what lights come yonder? Enter Caffio, with torches.

Iago. Thofe are the raised father, and his friends: You were beft go in.

Oth. Not I: I must be found.

My parts, my title and my perfect foul

Shall manifeft me rightly.

Is it they?

-Iago. By Janus, I think, no.

λ

Oth. The Servants of the Duke, and my lieutenant: The goodness of the night upon you, friends!

What is the news?

Caf. The Duke does greet you, general;

And he requires your hafte, poft-hafte, appearance,

Ev'n on the inftant.

Oth. What is the matter, think you?

Caf. Something from Cyprus, as I may divine; It is a bufinefs of fome heat. The Gallies Have fent a dozen fequent meffengers

This very night, at one another's heels:

And many of the couns'lors, rais'd and met, (4)
Are at the Duke's already. You have been hotly call'd for,
When, being not at your lodging to be found,
The Senate fent above three feveral quefts,

To search you out.

Oth. Tis well I am found by you:

I will but fpend a word here in the house,

And go with you.

(4) And many of the Confuls rais'd and met,

[Exit Othello.

Are at the Duke's already] Thus all the Editions concur in reading; but there is no fuch Character as a Conful appears in any Part of the Play. change it to, Counsellors; i. e. the Grandees that conftitute the great Council at Venice. The Reason I have already given, above, in the Ciofe of the fecond Note.

Caf.

Caf. Ancient, what makes he here?

Iago. 'Faith, he to-night hath boarded a land-carrack; If it prove lawful prize, he's made for ever.

Caf. I do not understand.

lago. He's married.

Caf. To whom?

Iago. Marry, to-Come, Captain, will you go?

Enter Othello.

Oth. Have with you.

Caf. Here comes another troop to feek for you.
Enter Brabantio, Rodorigo, with Officers and torches.
Iago. It is Brabantio: General, be advis'd;
He comes to bad intent.

Oth. Holla! ftand there.
Rod. Signior, it is the Moor.

Bra. Down with him, thief!

[They draw on both fides.

Iago. You, Rodorigo! come, Sir, I am for you— Oth. Keep up your bright fwords, for the dew will

ruft 'em.

Good Signior, you fhall more command with years, Than with your weapons.

Bra. O thou foul thief! where haft thou ftow'd my daughter?

Damn'd as thou art, thou haft enchanted her;
For I'll refer me to all things of fense,

If the in chains of magick were not bound,
Whether a maid, fo tender, fair, and happy,
So oppofite to marriage, that the fhunn'd (5)

(5)

that she hunn'd

The

The wealthy curled Darlings of our Nation.] I have adopted a very probable Conjecture, which Mr. Warburton propos'd to me.

The wealthy culled Darlings of our Nation.

i. e. pick'd, felect, chofen, rom the common Suitors. For the Epithet curled, as he obferves, was no Mark of Diftinction or Difference between a Venetian and a Moor; which latter People

are

The wealthy culled darlings of our nation,
Would ever have, t'incur a general mock,
Run from her guardage to the footy bofom
Of fuch a thing as thou, to fear, not to delight?
Judge me the world, if 'tis not grofs in fenfe, (6)
That thou haft practis'd on her with foul charms,
Abus'd her delicate youth with drugs or minerals,
That weaken Notion.- -I'll hav't difputed on;
'Tis probable, and palpable to thinking.
I therefore apprehend and do attach thee
For an abufer of the world, a practifer
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant;
Lay hold upon him; if he do refift,
Subdue him at his peril.

Oth. Hold your hands,

Both you of my inclining, and the reft.
Were it my cue to fight, I fhould have known it

are remarkably curl'd by Nature. And tho' culled now, when our ears are nicer than our Understandings, may not fo frequently find a Place in the Drama; the fame objection did not lie to the Sound of it in Shakespear's Days, who chufes to use it wherever he can.

(6) Fudge me the World, if'tis not grefs in Sense,

That thou haft practis'd on her with foul Charms,
Abus'd ber delicate Youth with Drugs, or Minerals,

That weaken Motion.] Brabantio is here accufing Othello of having us'd fome foul Play, and intoxicated Defdemona by Drugs and Potions to win her over to his Love, But why, Drugs to weaken Motion? How then could he have run away with him voluntarily from her Father's Houfe? Had he been averfe to chufing Othello, tho' he had given her Medicines that took away the Ufe of her Limbs, might the not ftill have retain'd her Senfes, and oppos'd the Marriage? Her Father, 'tis evident, from several of his Speeches, is pofitive that she must have been abused in her rational Faculties, or the could not have made fo prepofterous a Choice, as to wed with a Moor, a Black, and refufe the fineft young Gentlemen in Venice What then have we to do with her Motion being weaken'd? If I underftand any thing of the Poet's Meaning here, I cannot but think, he must have wrote;

Abus'd ber delicate Youth with Drugs, or Minerals,

That weaken Notion.

i. e. her Apprehenfion, right Conception and Idea of Things, UnderAanding, Judgment, &c.

VOL. VIII.

L

Without

Without a prompter. Where will you I go
To answer this your charge?

Bra. To prifon, 'till fit time

Of law, and course of direct feffion
Call thee to answer.

Oth. What if I do obey?

How may the Duke be therewith fatisfied,
Whofe meffengers are here about my fide,
Upon fome prefent bufinefs of the State,
To bring me to him?

Offi. True, moft worthy fignior,
The Duke's in Council; and

I'm fure, is fent for.

your noble felf,

Bra. How! the Duke in Council?

In this time of the night? bring him away;
Mine's not an idle caufe. The Duke himself,
Or any of my brothers of the State,

Cannot but feel this wrong, as 'twere their own;
For if fuch actions may have paffage free, (7)
Bond-flaves, and Pageants, fhall our Statefmen be.
[Exeunt.

(7) For if fuch Actions may have Paffage free,

Bondlaves and Pagans fhall our Statesmen be.] I have long had a Sufpicion of Pagans here. Would Brabantio infer, if his private Injury were not redrefs'd, the Senate fhould no longer pretend to call themselves Chriftians? But Pagans are as ftrict and moral, we find, all the World over, as the moft regular Chriftians,. in the Preservation of private Property. The Difference of Faith is not at all concerned, but mere human Policy, in afcertaining the Right of meum and tuum. I have ventured to imagine, that our

Author wrote,

Bondflaves and Pageants shall our Statefmen be.

e. if we'll let fuch injurious Actions go unpunished, our Statesmen must be Slaves, Cyphers in Office, and have no Pow'r of redreffing; be Things of mere Show, and gaudy Appearance only. Nor could Pagans, include any Reflexion on Othello, confidering him as a Moor: for unless he had been turned Chriftian, he never could have had any Commiffion under the Venetian State.

SCENE

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