The Plays of William Shakspeare

Des. Will you come to bed, my lord?
Oth. Have you pray'd to-night, Desdemona?
Des.
Ay, my lord.

Oth. If you bethink yourself of any crime
Unreconcil'd as yet to heaven and grace,
Solicit for it straight.

Des. Alas, my lord, what may you mean by that? Oth. Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by: I would not kill thy unprepared spirit; No,- Heaven forefend.—I would not kill thy soul. Des. Talk you of killing?

Oth.

Des.

Have mercy on me!

Oth.

Ay, I do.

No, his mouth is stopp'd;

Honest Iago hath ta'en order for't..

Des. My fear interprets then, What, is he dead? Oth. Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge Had stomach for them all.

Des. Alas! he is betray'd, and I undone.
Oth. Out, strumpet! Weep'st thou for him to
my face?

Des. O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not.
Oth. Down, strumpet!

Des. Kill me to-morrow, let me live to-night.
Oth. Nay, if you strive.
Des.

Oth.

There is no pause.

But half an hour.

Being done,

But while I say one prayer.

[He smothers her.

Amen, with all my heart!

Des. If you say so, I hope you will not kill me. Oth. Humph!

Des. And yet I fear you; for you are fatal then, When your eyes roll so: Why I should fear, I know not,

Since guiltiness I know not; but yet, I feel, I fear.
Oth. Think on thy sins.
Des.
They are loves I bear to you.
Oth. Ay, and for that thou diest.
Des. That death's unnatural, that kills for

Send for the man, and ask him.

Oth. Sweet soul, take heed, 'Take heed of perjury; thou'rt on thy death-bed. Des. Ay, but not yet to die. Oth.

Yes, presently: Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin; For to deny each article with oath, Cannot remove, nor choke, the strong conception, That I do groan withal. Thou art to die. Des. Then, Lord have mercy on me! Oth. I say, amen. Des. And have you mercy too! - I never did Offend you in my life; never lov'd Cassio, But with such general warranty of heaven As I might love: I never gave him token. Oth. By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in his hand.

Des.

Emil. [Within.] My lord, my lord! what ho! my lord! my lord!

Oth. What noise is this? Not dead! not yet quite dead?

I, that am cruel, am yet merciful;

I would not have thee linger in thy pain. -
So, so.

Emil. [Within.] What ho, my lord! my lord!
Oth.
Who's there?
Emil. [Within.] O, good my lord, I would speak
a word with you.

Oth. Yes;- -'tis Emilia : -by and by:

dead.

She's

'Tis like she comes to speak of Cassio's death;
The noise was high. Ha! no more moving?
Still as the grave. Shall she come in? Were't good?
I think, she stirs again : No.
:-
What's the best?
If she come in, she'll sure speak to my wife :
My wife! my wife! what wife?—I have no wife:
O, insupportable! O heavy hour!

Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse

Of sun and moon ; and that the affrighted globe Should yawn at alteration.

Emil. [Within.] I do beseech you I may speak with you,

O, good my lord!

THe hath confess'd.

How? unlawfully?

Oth. That he hath · us'd thee. Des.

Oth. Ay.

Enter EMILIA.

Emil. O, good my lord, yonder's foul murder
done.
Oth. What? now?

Emil.
But now, my lord!
Oth. It is the very error of the moon ;

She comes more near the earth than she was wont ;
And makes men mad.

Emil. Cassio, my lord, has kill'd a young Venetian, Call'd-Roderigo.

Oth.

And Cassio kill'd?

Emil.

Roderigo kill'd'

No, Cassio is not kill'd.

Oth. Not Cassio kill'd? Then murder's out of

tune,

And sweet revenge grows harsh.

Des. O, falsely, falsely murder'd!
Emil.

Oth. That! what?

Alas; what cry is that?

Emil. Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice :

Des.

O, who hath done

Nobody; I myself; farewell:

Commend me to my kind lord; O, farewell. [Dies.
Oth. Why, how should she be murder'd?
Emil.
Alas, who knows?
Oth. You heard her say herself, it was not I.
Emil. She said so; I must needs report the truth.
Oth. She's, like a liar, gone to burning hell;
'Twas I that kill'd her.

Emil.
O, the more angel she,
And you the blacker devil!
Oth. She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore.
Emil. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.
Oth. She was false as water.

Emil. Thou art rash as fire, to say That she was false; O, she was heavenly true! Oth. Cassio did tup her: ask thy husband else. O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell, But that I did proceed upon just grounds To this extremity; Thy husband knew it all. Emil. My husband?

Oth. Thy husband.

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Do thy worst;

Emil.
This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven,
Than thou wast worthy her.

Oth.
Peace, you were best.
Emil. Thou hast not half the power to do me
harm,

As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!
As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed, —
I care not for thy sword; I'll make thee known,
Though I lost twenty lives:-Help! help, ho! help!
The Moor has kill'd my mistress; Murder! murder!

Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, and Iago.
Mon. What is the matter! How now, general?
Emil. O, are you come, Iago? you have done well,
That men must lay their murders on your neck.

Gra. What is the matter?

Emil. Disprove this villain, if thou be'st a man : He says, thou told'st him that his wife was false: I know, thou didst not, thou'rt not such a villain : Speak, for my heart is full.

Iago. I told him what I thought; and told no

Than what he found himself was apt and true. Emil. But did you ever tell him she was false? Iago. I did.

Emil. You told a lie; an odious damned lie; Upon my soul, a lie; a wicked lie: —

She false with Cassio! Did you say with Cassio? Iago. With Cassio, mistress; Go to, charm your tongue.

Emil. I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak;

My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed.
All. O heavens forefend !

Emil. And your reports have set the murder on.
Oth. Nay, stare not, masters; it is true, indeed.
Gra. 'Tis a strange truth.

Mon. O monstrous act!

Emil.
I think upon't,

lainy!

Villainy, villainy, villainy! I think, I smell't; O vil

I thought so then ; — I'll kill myself for grief. — O villainy, villainy!

Iago. What, are you mad? I charge you, get you home.

Emil. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak;

'Tis proper I obey him, but not now.
Perchance, Iago, I will ne'er go home.
Oth. O! O! O!
Emil.

[Hanging over his wife. Nay, lay thee down, and roar;

For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent,
That e'er did lift up eye.
Oth.

O, she was foul! —
[Rising,

I scarce did know you, uncle: There lies your niece,

Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp'd:

I know this act shows horrible and grim.

Gra. Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father's dead;

Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now,
This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
And fall to reprobation.

Oth. 'Tis pitiful; but yet Iago knows,
That she with Cassio hath the act of shame

A thousand times committed; Cassio confess'd it :

And she did gratify his amorous works
With that recognizance and pledge of love
Which I first gave her; I saw it in his hand;
It was a handkerchief, an antique token
My father gave my mother.

Emil. O heaven! O heavenly powers!
Iago.
Come, hold your peace.
Emil. 'Twill out, 'twill out; - I hold my peace,

sir? no;

No, I will speak as liberal as the air;
Let heaven, and men, and devils, let them all,
All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak.
Iago. Be wise, and get you home.
Emil.

Gra.

I will not. [IAGO offers to stab his wife. Fye!

Your sword upon a woman?

Emil. O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou

speak'st of,

I found by fortune, and did give my husband

Emil. She give it Cassio! no, alas; I found it, And I did give't my husband.

Iago. Filth, thou liest. Emil. By heaven, I do not; I do not, gentlemen: O murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool Do with so good a wife'

[IAGO stabs EMILIA, then runs out. Oth. Are there no stones in heaven, But what serve for the thunder?- Precious villain! Gra. The woman falls; sure he has kill'd his wife.

Emil. Ay, ay: 0, lay me by my mistress' side!
Gra. He's gone, but his wife's kill'd.
Mon. 'Tis a notorious villain.

weapon,

Take you this

Which I have here recover'd from the Moor: Come, guard the door without; let him not pass, But kill him rather; I'll after that same villain, For 'tis a damned slave.

[Exeunt MONTANO and GRATIANO. Oth. I am not valiant neither, But every puny whipster gets my sword: But why should honour outlive honesty? Let it go all.

Emil. What did thy song bode, lady? Hark, can'st thou hear me? I will play the swan, And die in musick;- Willow, willow, willow. Moor, she was chaste; she lov'd thee, cruel Moor; So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true; So speaking as I think, I die, — I die.

[Dies.

Oth. I have another weapon in this chamber, It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper ; — O, here it is: Uncle, I must come forth. Gra. [Within.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear;

Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer.
Oth. Look in upon me then, and speak with me,
Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.

Re-enter GRATIANO.

Gra. What is the matter? Oth. Behold! I have a weapon; A better never did itself sustain Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day, That with this little arm, and this good sword, I have made my way through more impediments Than twenty times your stop: -But, Ö vain boast! Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now. Be not afraid though you do see me weapon'd; Here is my journey's end, here is my butt, And very sea-mark of my utmost sail. Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear; Man but a rush against Othello's breast, And he retires; Where should Othello go? Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd

wench!

Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl?
Even like thy chastity.
O cursed, cursed slave!

Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!
O Desdemona! Desdemo.a! dead?

Dead? O! O! O!

Iago.
Oth. I am not sorry neither; I'd have thee
live;

I bleed, sir; but not kill'd.

| For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die.
Lod. O thou Othello, that was once so good,
Fall'n in the practice of a cursed slave
What shall be said to thee?

Oth.

Why, any thing: An honourable murderer, if you will; For nought I did in hate, but all in honour. Lod. This wretch hath part confess'd his villainy : Did you and he consent in Cassio's death? Oth. Ay.

Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause.
Oth. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
Will you, I pray you, demand that demi-devil,
Why he hath thus ensnar'd my soul and body?
Iago. Demand me nothing: What you know
you know:

From this time forth I never will speak word.
Lod. What? not to pray?
Gra.
Oth. Well, thou dost best.

Torments will ope your lips.

Lod. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n, Which, as I think, you know not: Here is a letter, Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo; And here, another: the one of them imports The death of Cassio to be undertook By Roderigo.

uth. Soft you; a word or two, before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they know it;
No more of that: - I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak
Or one, that lov'd not wisely, but too well;
Of one, not easily jealous, but, being wrought,
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one, whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away,
Richer than all his tribe; of one, whose subdu'd eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicínal gum: Set you down this:
And say, besides, -that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian, and traduc'd the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him—thus.

Cass. This did I fear, but thought he had no

weapon;
For he was great of heart.

Lod.
O Spartan dog,
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
Look on the tragick loading of this bed ; [ To Iaco.
This is thy work: the object poisons sight;
Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house,
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
For they succeed to you. To you, lord governor,
Remains the censure of this hellish villain;
The time, the place, the torture, — O enforce it!
Myself will straight aboard; and, to the state.
[Stabs himself. This heavy act with heavy heart relate.

THE END.

Aspersion, sprinkling.
Assay, test.

Assinego, a he-ass.

Assurance, conveyance or deed.
Assured, affianced.
Astringer, a falconer.

Ates, instigation from Ate, the mischievous goddess thancites bloodshed.

Atomies, minute particles discernible in a stream of sunshine that breaks in.o a darkened room, atoms. Atone, to reconcile. Attasked, reprehendea, corrected Attended, waited for. Attent, attentive.

Attorney, deputation.

Attorneyship, the discretional agency of another. Attornied, supplied by substitu tion of embassies. Attributive, that which attributes or gives. Avaunt,contemptuous dismission Averring, confirming. Audacious, spirited, animated. Audrey, a corruption of Etheldreda.

Augurs, auguries or prognostica

tions.

Aukward, adverse.

Authentic, an epithet applied to the learned.

Awful, reverend, worshipful.
Awless, not producing awe.

GLOSSARY.

ABATE, to depress, sink, sub- Allow, to approve.

due.

ABC-book, a catechism.

Abjects, servile persons.

Ab'e, to qualify or uphold.

Abortive, issuing before its time. Absolute, highly accomplished, perfect.

Abused, deceived.

Aby, to pay dear for.

Abysm, abyss.

Accuse, accusation.

Achieve, to obtain.

Acquittance, requital.

Allowance, approbation,
Amaze, to perplex or confuse.
Ames-ace, the lowest chance of
the dice.

Amort, sunk and dispirited.
An, as if.

Anchor, anchoret.
Ancient, an ensign.

Anight, in the night.

Answer, retaliation.

Anthropophaginian, a cannibal.
Antick, the fool of the old farces.
Antiquity, old age.

Action, direction by mute signs, Antres, caves and dens.

charge or accusation.

Action-taking, litigious.

Additions, titles or descriptions
Address, to make ready.
Addressed, or addrest, ready.
Advance, to prefer, to raise to
honour.

Adversity, contrariety.
Advertisement, admonition.
Advertising, attentive.
Advice, consideration, discretion,
thought.

Advise, to consider, recollect.
Advised, not precipitant, cool,
cautious.
Afeard, afraid.
Affect, love.

Affection, affectation,imagination,
disposition, quality.
Affectioned, affected.

Affections, passions, inordinate
desires.

Afleered, confirmed.
Affed, betrothed.

Affined, joined by affinity.
Affront, to meet or face.
Ally, to betroth in marriage.
Aglet-baby, a diminutive being.
Agnize, acknowledge, confess.
A-good, in good earnest.

Aiery, the nest of an eagle or
hawk.

Jim, guess, encouragement, sus-
picion.

Apparent, seeming, not real, heir
apparent, or next claimant.
Appeal, to accuse.
Appeared, rendered apparent.
Apply, to attend to, consider.
Appointment, preparation.
Apprehension, opinion.
Apprehensive, quick to under-
stand.

Approbation, entry on probation.
Approof, proof, approbation.
Approve, to justify, to make good,
to establish, to recommend to
approbation.

Approved, felt, experienced, con-
victed by proof.
Approvers, persons who try.
Aqua-ritæ, strong waters.
Arbitrate, to determine.
Arch, chief.

Argentine, silver.
Argier, Algiers.

Argosies. ships of great burthen,
galleons.

Argument, subject for conversa-
tion, evidence, proof.
Arm, to take up in the arms.
Aroint, avaunt, be gone.
A-row, successively, one after
another.

Art, practice as distinguished
from theory, theory.
Articulate, to enter into articles.
Articulated, exhibited in articles.

Aller-liefest, beloved above all Artificial, ingenious, artful.

things.

Ale, a merry meeting.

As, as if.

Aspect, countenance.

Baccare, stand back, give place.
Bale, misery, calamity.
Baleful, baneful.
Balked, bathed or piled up.
Balm, the oil of consecratior.
Band, bond.

Bandog, village dog or mastiff
Bank, to sail along the banks.
Banning, cursing.

Banquet, a slight refection, a de

sert.

Bans, curses

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