• Wherein of antres vaft, and defarts idle, Rough quarries, rocks, and hills, whofe heads touch

6

heav'n,

It was my hint to speak; fuch was the process

Mr. Pope has restored a line, to which there is little objection, but which has no force. I believe portance was the authour's word in fome revifed copy. I read thus, Of being

fold

To flavery, of my redemption thence, And portance in't; my travel's biflory. My redemption from flavery, and behaviour in it.

4 Wherein of antres vaft, &c.] Difcourfes of this nature made the fubject of the politeft converfations, when voyages into, and discoveries of, the new world were all in vogue. So when the Bafard Faulconbridge, in King John, defcribes the behaviour of upftart greatness, he makes one of the effential circumftances of it to be this kind of table-talk. The fabion then running altogether in this way, it is no wonder a young lady of quality fhould be ftruck with the hiftory of an adventurer. So that Rymer, who profeffedly ridicules this whole circumftance, and the noble author of the Characteristics, who more obliquely fneers it, only expofe their own ignorance.

WARBURTON. Whoever ridicules this account of the progrefs of love, fhews his ignorance, not only of hifto

And

CERE SACS Minté ry, but of nature and manners. It is no wonder that, in or in any in any nation, a lady, reclufe, in any age, timorous, and delicate, should defire to hear of events and fcenes which he could never fee, and fhould admire the man who had endured dangers, and performed actions, which, however great, were yet magnified by her timidity.

Wherein of antres vaft, and der

Jarts idle, &c.] Thus it is in all the old editions: But Mr. Pope has thought fit to change the epithet. Defarts idle; in the former editions; (fays he) doubtlefs, a corruption from wilde.— But he must pardon me, if I do not concur in thinking this fo doubtless. I don't know whether Mr. Pope has obferved it, but I know that Shakespeare, especially in defcriptions, is fond of ufing the more uncommon word, in a poetick latitude, And idle, in feveral other paffages, he employs in thefe acceptations, wild, felf, uncultivated, &c. THEOB,

Every mind is liable to abfence and inadvertency, elle Pope could never have rejected a word fo poetically beautiful.

5 autres-] French, Grottoes. РОРЕ,

Rather caves and dens. 6 It was my HINT to Speak;-] This implies it as done by a trap

And of the Canibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi; and 7 men whofe heads
Do

grow beneath their fhoulders. All these to hear Would Defdemona feriously incline;

But ftill the houfe-affairs would draw her thence,
Which ever as she could with hafte dispatch,
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 pray'r of earnest heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate;
Whereof by parcels the had fomething heard,
But not intentively. 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 ftory being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of fighs:
She wore, "In faith, 'twas ftrange, 'twas

ftrange,

8

paffing

'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful"— She wifh'd, he had not heard it ;-yet fhe wifh'd, That heav'n had made her fuch a man.-She thank'd

me,

And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her,
I fhould but teach him how to tell my story,

And that would woo 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 witnefs 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 beft.
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,
Deftruction on my head, if my bad blame
Light on the man! Come hither, gentle mistress,
Do you perceive in all this noble company,
Where you moft owe obedience ?

Def. My noble father,

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 the Lord of duty;
I'm hitherto your daughter. 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 profefs
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 all my heart,
I would keep from thee. 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. 9 Let me speak like yourself; and lay a sentence,

Which, as a grife, or step, may help these lovers "Into your favour".

*

When remedies are paft, the griefs are ended
By feeing the worft, which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is paft 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 fromthethief;
He robs himself, that spends a bootless grief.
Bra. So, let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile,
We lofe it not, fo long as we can fmile;
He bears the sentence well, that nothing bears
But the free comfort which from thence he hears;
But he bears 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.

9 Let me Speak like YOUR felf;] It fhould be, like OUR felf, i. e. Let me meditate between you as becomes a prince and common father of his people: For the prince's opinion, here delivered, was quite contrary to Brabantio's fentiment. WARBURTON.

Hanmer reads,

Let me now fpeak more like your felf.

Dr. Warburton's emendation is fpecious; but I do not fee how

Hanmer's makes any alteration. The Duke feems to mean, when he fays he will speak like Brabantio, that he will speak fententiously.

The paffages marked thus (“) are wanting in the folio, but found in the quarto.

But the free comfort which from thence he hears ;] But the moral precepts of confolation, which are liberally bestowed on occafion of the fentence.

But

2 But words are words; I never yet did hear, That the bruis'd heart was pieced through the ear. Befeech you, now to the affairs o' th' State,

Duke. The Turk with a mighty preparation makes for Cyprus. Othello, the fortitude of the place is beft known to you; and though we have there a substitute of moft allowed fufficiency; yet opinion, a fovereign mistress of effects, throws a more fafe voice on you; you must therefore be content to flubber the glofs of your new fortunes, with this more ftubborn and boifterous expedition.

Oth. The tyrant cuftom, moft grave fenators,
Hath made the flinty and fteel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down. I do agnize
A natural and prompt alacrity

I find in hardness; and do undertake
This prefent war against the Ottomites.

Most humbly therefore bending to your State,
+ I crave fit difpofition for my wife,
Due reference of place, and exhibition,

2 But words are words; I never yet did hear,

་

That the bruis'd heart was

pierced through the ear.] The Duke had by fage fentences been exhorting Brabantio to patience, and to forget the grief of his daughter's ftol'n marriage, to which Brabantio is made very pertinently to reply to this effect: My lord, I apprehend very well the wisdom of your advice; but tho' you would comfort me, words are but words; and the heart, already bruis'd, was never pierc'd, or wounded, through the ear. It is obvious that the text must be reftor'd thus,

With

That the bruis'd heart was pieced through the ear.

i. e. That the wounds of forrow were ever cur'd, or a man made heart-whole meerly by words of confolation. WARBURTON.

3-thrice-driven bed of down.] A driven bed, is a bed for which the feathers are felected, by driving with a fan, which feparates the light from the heavy.

4 I crave fit difpofition for my wife,

Due reference of place, and ex

hibition, &c.] I defire that a proper difpofition be made for my wife, that she may have precedency, and revenue, accommodation,