By which he did afcend: fo Cafar may: Then, left he may, prevent: and, fince the quarrel Will bear no colour, for the thing he is, /Fashion it thus, that, what He is', augmented, • Would run-on to thefe and these extremities;' And therefore think him, as a ferpent's egg, Which hatch'd would (as his kind) grow mifchievous;

And kill him in the shell.

Shakespear, Julius Cæfar, A&t II.

OTHELLO'S DEFENCE before the SENATE.

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
head and front of my offending
Hath this extent; no more.

Rude am I in my speech,

And little blefs'd with the fet phrafe of peace: For fince these arms of mine had feven years pith (Till now fome nine moons wafted)

They have us'd

Their dearest action in the tented field;
And little of this great world can I speak,
More than partains to feats of broils and battle;
And therefore little fhall I grace my cause,
In fpeaking for my-felf. Yet, by your patience,
I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver,

Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms,

What conjuration, and what mighty magic, (For fuch proceedings I am charg'd withal,), I won his daughter with.

Her father lov'd me, oft invited me ;
Still question'd me the ftory of my life,
From year to year; the battles, fieges, fortunes,
That I have past.

I ran it through; ev'n from my boyish days,
To th' very moment that he bad me tell it.
Wherein I speak of most disastrous chances;
Of moving accidents by flood and field,

Of hair-breadth fcapes in th' imminent deadly breach ;

Of being taken by the infolent foe,

And fold to flavery; of my redemption thence;
And with it, all my travel's hiftory.
All which to hear

Would Desdemona feriously incline:

But ftill the house affairs would draw her hence;
Which ever as fhe could with hafte dispatch,
She'd come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour-up my discourse :. which I obferving,
Took once a pliant hour, and found good means
To draw from her a prayer of earneft heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate;
'Whereof by parcels the had fomething heard,
'But not distinctively.'-I did confent;
And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did speak of some distressful stroke
That my youth fuffer'd. My story being done,,
She gave me for my pains a world of fighs

She fwore, In faith 'twas ftrange, 'twas paffing Strange;

'Twas pitiful, 'twas wonderous pitiful.

She wifh'd, she had not heard it ;-yet fhe wifh'd, That Heav'n had made Her fuch a man.-fhe thank'd me;

And told me, if I had a friend that lov'd her,
I need but teach Him how to tell My story,
And That would wooe her. On this hint I fpake-
She lov'd Me, for the dangers I had past;
And I lov'd Her, that fhe did pity them.
This only is the witchcraft I have us❜d:
Here comes the lady, let her witness it.

Shakespear, Othello, A& I. Sc. 3.

BELIAL'S SPEECH to the Rebel Hoft.
I Should be much for open war, O Peers,
As not behind in hate; if what was urg'd,
Main reason to perfuade immediate war,
Did not diffuade me most, and seem to caft
Omnious conjecture on the whole fuccefs:
When He who most excels in fact of arms,
In what he counfels and in what excels,
Mistrustful, grounds his courage on difpair
And utter diffolution, as the fcope

Of all his aim, after fome dire revenge.

Firft, what revenge? The tow'rs of Heav'n are With armed watch, that render all accefs (fill'd Impregnable; oft' on the bord'ring deep Incamp their legions, or with obfcure wing

Scout far and wide into the realm of night,
Scorning furprife. Or could we break our way
By force, and at our heels all hell should rife
With blackest insurrection, to confound
Heav'n's pureft light, yet our great enemy
All incorruptible would on his throne
Sit unpolluted, and the ethereal mould
Incapable of stain would foon expel
Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire
Victorious. Thus repuls'd, our final hope
In flat despair: we muft exafperate

Th' Almighty Victor to spend all his rage,
And that muft end us. That must be our cure.

To be no more!-Sad cure! for who would lofe,
Though full of pain, this intellectual Being,
Those thoughts which wander through eternity,
To perifh rather, fwallow'd up and loft
In the wide womb of uncreated night,
Devoid of fenfe and motion? And who knows,
Let this be good, whether our angry foe
Can give it, or will ever? How he can
Is doubtful; that He never will is fure.
Will He, fo wife, let loose at once his ire,
Belike through impotence, or unaware,
To give his enemies their wifh, and end
Them in his anger, whom his anger faves
To punish endless?—'Wherefore cease we then?
Say they who counsel war, 'we are decreed,
Referv'd and deftin'd to eternal woe;
Whatever doing, what can we fuffer more,
What can we suffer worse? Is this then worst,
Thus fitting, thus confulting, thus in arms?

What when we fled amain, purfu'd and ftruck.
With heav'n's afflicting thunder, and befought
The deep to shelter us? this hell then feem'd
A refuge from those wounds: or when we lay
Chain'd on the burning lake? that fure was worse.
What if the breath that kindled thofe grim fires.
Awak'd fhould blow them into fevenfold rage
And plunge us in the flames? or from above
Shou'd intermitted vengeance arm again
His red right-hand to plague us? what if all.
Her ftores were open'd, and this firmament
Of hell should spout her cataracts of fire,
Impendent horrors, threatning hideous fall
One day upon our heads; while we perhaps
Defigning or exhorting glorious war
Caught in a fiery tempeft shall be hurl'd
Each on his rock transfixt, the fport and prey.
Of racking whirlwinds, or for ever funk
Under yon boiling ocean, wrapt in chains
There to converse with everlasting groans,
Unrefpited, unpitied, unrepriev'd,
Ages of hopeless end; this would be worse..
War therefore, open or conceal'd, alike

My voice diffuade; for what can force or guile. With him, or who deceive his mind, whofe eye. Views all things at one view? he from heav'n's

height

All these our motions vain, fees and derides;
Not more Almighty to refift our might
Than wife to fruftrate all our plots and wiles.
Shall we then live thus vile, the race of heav'n
Thus trampl'd, thus expell'd to fuffer here