Even fall upon my life.
Duke. Fetch Desdemona hither.
Oth. Ancient, conduct them, you best know the place.
And 'till the come, as truly as to heav'n
I do confefs the vices of my blood,
So juftly to your grave ears I'll present
How I did thrive in this fair Lady's love,
And fhe in mine.
Duke. Say it, Othello.
Oth. Her father lov'd me, oft invited me;
Still queftion'd me the ftory of my life,
From year to year; the battels, 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 spoke of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents by flood and field;
Of hair-breadth 'fcapes i'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:
Wherein of antres vaft, and defarts wild,
Rough quarries, rocks and hills, whofe heads touch heav'n, It was my hint to fpeak. All these to hear,
Would Defdemona feriously incline;
But ftill the houfe-affairs would draw her thence,
Which ever as fhe could with hafte difpatch,
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 prayer of earnest heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
(a) It was my hint to fpeak; fuch was the process; And of the Canibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi; and men whofe heads
Do grow beneath their fhoulders. Thefe to hear,
Would Desdemona, &c.
Whereof by parcels fhe had fomething heard,
But not diftinctively: I did confent,
And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did fpeak 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, 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful
She wifh'd fhe had not heard it, yet the wifh'd
That heav'n had made her fuch a man- fhe thank'd me,
And bad me, if I had a friend that lov'd her,
I should but teach him how to tell my ftory,
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 fhe did pity them:
This only is the witchraft I have us❜d.
Here comes the Lady, let her witness it..
CENE IX.
Enter Desdemona, Iago, and Attendants.
Duke. I think this tale would win my daughter too
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 miftrefs,
Do you perceive in all this noble company,
Where you moft owe obedience?
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
I'm hitherto your daughter.
the lord of duty,
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 my heart
I would keep from thee.
And 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. 7'Let me now fpeak more like felf; and lay
A fentence in, which, like a grife or step,
May help thefe lovers here into your favour.
When remedies are past, the griefs are ended;
By feeing 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 preferv'd when fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.
The robb'd that fmiles, fteals fomething from the thief;
He robs himself, that spends a bootless grief.
Bra. So, let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile,
We lose it not fo long as we can fmile.
He bears the fentence well, that nothing 9 'cares`
For the falfe comforts which from thence he bears;
But be heaps 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.
But words are words; I never yet did hear,
That the bruiz'd heart was 'pieced through the ear.
7 Let me fpeak like your felf; and lay a sentence,
3 pierced... old edit. Warb.
I humbly beseech you proceed to th' affairs of state.
Duke. The Turk with a moft mighty preparation make for Cyprus: Othello, the fortitude of the place is best known to you. And though we have there a fubftitute of most allowed fufficiency; yet opinion, a more fovereign mistress of effects, throws a more fafe voice on you; you muft therefore be content to flubber the glofs of your new fortunes with this more stubborn and boisterous expedition. Oth. The tyrant cuftom, moft grave fenators,
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 reverence of place and exhibition,
With fuch accommodation and befort
As levels with her breeding.
Duke. Why, at her father's.
Bra. I will not have it fo.
Oth. Nor I.
Def. Nor would I there refide,
To put my father in impatient thoughts
By being in his eye. Moft gracious Duke,
To my unfolding lend your gracious ear,
And let me find a charter in your voice
T'affift my fimpleness.
Duke. What would you, Desdemona?
Def. That I did love the Moor to live with him,
My down-right violence and ftorm of fortunes
May trumpet to the world. My heart's fubdu'd
Ev'n to the very quality of my lord;
I faw Othello's vifage in his mind,
And to his honours and his valiant parts
Did I my foul and fortunes confecrate.
So that, dear Lords, if I be left behind,
A moth of peace, and he go to the war,
The rites for which I love him are bereft me:
And I a heavy interim fhall fupport
By his dear abfence. Let me go with him.
Oth. Your voices, Lords; befeech you, let her will
Have a free way. I therefore beg it not
-To please the palate of my appetite;
Nor to comply with heat affects the young,`
In my 'diftinct and proper fatisfaction;
But to be free and bounteous to her mind.
And heav'n defend your good fouls, that you think
I will your ferious and great business scant
For fhe is with me-No, when light-wing'd toys.
Of feather'd Cupid foil with wanton dulnefs
My fpeculative and offic'd inftruments,
That my difports corrupt and taint my business;
Let housewives make a skillet of my helm,
And all indign and base adversities
Make head against my estimation.
Duke. Be it as you fhall privately determine,
Or for her stay or going; th' affair cries hafte,
And speed must anfwer. You muft hence to-night.
Def. To-night, my Lord, to-night?
: Duke. At nine i'th morning here we'll meet again. Othello, leave fome officer behind,
And he fhall our commiffion bring to you;
And fuch things elfe of quality and respect
As doth import you.
Oth. Please your Grace, my Ancient;
(A man he is of honesty and trust,) To his conveyance I affign my wife,
With what else needful your good Grace fhall think
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