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 magic,

(For such proceeding I am charg❜d withal)

I won his daughter.

Bra.
A maiden never bold;
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?
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,
These are thin habits, and poor likelihoods
Of modern seeming, you prefer against him3.

3 Till now, some nine moons wasted,] We adopt here the punctuation of the quarto, 1622, and of the folio, 1623, merely as a guide to what may be the true mode of reading the passage.

♦ It is a judgment MAIM'D,] The folio has main'd, by an error of the press. 5 - you prefer against him.] Our reading of this speech is that of the quarto, 1630, and not of the folio, 1623, where it is strangely made part of what Brabantio says, and where the second line is thus misprinted :

"Without more wider and more over test."

The only change we make in the reading of the quarto 1630 is "seeming" for seemings. The quarto, 1622, supports the quarto, 1630, excepting that it misprints "vouch" youth. The folio, 1632, corrects the blunder of the folio, 1623, in assigning the speech to Brabantio.

VOL. VII.

L 1

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,

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 youo,
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.

7

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.

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 8,
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 spake of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents, by flood, and field;

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

The trust, the office, I do hold of you,] This necessary line is not in the quarto, 1622, but is in that of 1630, as well as in the folio.

7 as TRULY] "As faithful” in the quarto, 1622, only, and it omits the next line.

8

the battles, sieges, fortunes,] So the quartos, 1622 and 1630: the folio, "battle, sieges, fortune."

9 Of moving accidents, by flood, and field;] So the folio and the quarto, 1630 the quarto, 1622, has "Of moving accident of flood, and field." The difference is trifling, and either reading may be right.

Of being taken by the insolent foe,

And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,
And portance in my travel's history1o:

Wherein of antres vast, and deserts 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. This to hear,
Would Desdemona seriously incline:

But still the house affairs would draw her thence3;
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 prayer of earnest heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
Whereof by parcels she had something heard,

But not intentively': I did consent;

10 And portance in my travel's history:] This is the reading of the quarto, 1630, and no doubt the true text. The quarto, 1622, has,

and the folio,

"And with it all my travel's history:"

"And portance in my traveller's history."

We have here an illustration of the value of the quarto of 1630.

"Portance"

is deportment or carriage, a word which Shakespeare uses in the same sense in "Coriolanus," Vol. vi. p. 194. As Steevens showed, it also occurs in Spenser's "Fairy Queen," b. ii. c. 3.

1 - and deserts IDLE,] So all the old copies, anterior to the folio, 1632, where wild is substituted for "idle." It was reprinted wild in the folios of 1664 and 1685. The next line stands thus imperfectly in the folio, 1623, but it is corrected in the later folio impressions :

"Rough quarries, rocks, hills whose head touch heaven."

Both the quartos have it rightly.

2 Do grow beneath their shoulders.

"Do," and reads " These things to hear."

THIS to hear,] The folio, 1623, omits

Our text is that of the quarto, 1622, (the quarto, 1630," These to hear") but some modern editors have made up a line, if such it may be called, out of the folio and quartos, by printing,

"Do grow beneath their shoulders. These things to hear.”

At all events, the folio, 1623, makes both sense and metre of the passage :— "Grew beneath their shoulders. These things to hear." would draw her THENCE ;] Hence, in the folio only.

3

4 But not INTENTIVELY :] i. e. coherently, or, more strictly, attentively; for so

And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did speak of some distressful stroke,
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,

the word "intentively" was used by authors of Shakespeare's time. Thus, in the novel of " Apollonius, Prince of Tyre," (the foundation of “ Pericles,”) sign. H 2, we read, " And long time he stood amazed, with his eyes intentively fixed on the ground." We now use intently for "intentively." "Intentively" is the reading of the quartos, 1622 and 1630: the folio, 1623, has instinctively, and the folio, 1632, distinctively, which was retained in the two later impressions.

5 a world of SIGHS] The folio has kisses for "sighs" of the quartos, 1622 and 1630; an extraordinary variation. It stood "kisses" in the later folios, and Southern, in his copy of that of 1685, altered it in manuscript to thanks. Two lines above, the quarto, 1622, has distressed for "distressful" of the folio, 1623, and the quarto, 1630.

6 - Upon this HINT, I spake :] No doubt the folio, 1623, here gives the true word, "hint," and not heat, as it is misprinted in the quartos. Nevertheless, as our notes will show, the whole speech is very incorrectly printed in the folio; and, for the sake of a proper estimate of that edition, the errors ought to be pointed out.

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.

To

My noble father,

you, My life, and education, both do learn me

I am bound for life, and education :

How to respect you; you are the lord of duty;
I am hitherto your daughter: but here's my husband;
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 hang clogs on them.-I have done, my lord.

Duke. Let me speak like yourself; and lay a sentence,

Which, as a grise, or step, may help these lovers
Into your favour'.

When remedies are past, the griefs are ended

7 Destruction on my head,] The quartos "Destruction light on me," and Shakespeare may have meant the repetition of the word "light."

8

- you are the lord of duty;] The quarto, 1622, only," you are lord of all my duty."

• Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart] This line is in the folio, 1623, and quarto, 1630, but not in the quarto, 1622.

1 Which, as a grise, or step, may help these lovers

Into your favour.] The words "Into your favour" are in both quartos, but not in the folio. The word "grise" is explained by "step" which follows it. Respecting the previous use of “grise” by Shakespeare, see Vol. iii. p. 377, and Vol. vi. p. 559.