Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in rage trikes wide,
But with the whif and wind of his fell fword
Th' unnerved Father falls.

And again,

Out, out, thou strumpet Fortune! All you Gods,
In general Synod, take away her power;
Break all the Spokes and fellies from her wheel,
And bowl the round nave down the hill of Heaven,
As low as to the Fiends.

Now whether these be bombast or not, is not the question; but whether Shakespeare esteemed them fo. That he did not so esteem them appears from his having used the very fame thoughts in the same expression, in his best plays, and given them to his principal characters, where he aims at the fublime. As in the following passages.

Troilus, in Troilus and Cressida, far outstrains the execution of Pyrrhus's sword, in the character he gives of Hector's,

When many times the captive Grecians fall
Ev'n in the fan and wind of your fair sword,
You bid them rise and live.

Cleopatra, in Antony and Cleopatra, rails at Fortune in the fame manner.

No, let me speak, and let me rail so high,
That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel,
Provok'd at my offence.

But another use may be made of these quotations; a discovery of the Author of this recited Play; which, letting us into a circumstance of our Author's life (as a writer) hitherto unknown, was the reason I have been so large upon this question. I think then it appears, from what has been faid, that the Play in dispute was Shakespeare's own: and that this was the occafion of writing it. He was desirous, as foon as he had found his strength, of restoring the chastness and regularity of the ancient Stage; and therefore composed this Tragedy on the model of the Greek Drama, as may be seen by throwing so much action into relation. But his attempt proved fruitless; and the raw, unnatural taste then prevalent, forced him back again into his old Gothic manner. For which he took this revenge upon his Audience. WARBURTON. OTHELLO,

OTHELLO,

THE

MOOR of VENICE.

VOL. X.

N

DUKE of Venice.

Brabantio, a noble Venetian.

Gratiano, Brother to Brabantio.

Lodovico, Kinsman to Brabantio and Gratiano.

Officers, Gentlemen, Messengers, Musicians, Sailors, and Attendants.

SCENE, for the First Act, in Venice; during the rest of the Play, in Cyprus.

*** I have the Folio, and the third Quarto collated with the fecond, and the fourth.

OTHELLO,

The Moor of VENICE.

N

ACT I. SCENE Ι.

A Street in VENICE.

Enter Rodorigo and lago.

RODORIGO.

EVER tell me.

I take it much unkindly,

That thou, lago, who hast had my purse, As if the strings were thine, shouldst know of this. lago. But you'll not hear me.

If ever I did dream of fuch a matter, abhor me.

Rod. Thou toldst me, thou didst hold him in thy

hate.

lago. Despise me,

If I do not. Three Great ones of the city,
In personal fuit to make me his lieutenant,
Off-capp'd to him; and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I'm worth no worse a Place.
But he, as loving his own pride and purpose,
Evades them with a bombast circumstance,
Horribly stuft with epithets of war,
And, in conclufion,

Non-suits my mediators. "Certes, says he,
" I have already chose my officer."

And what was he?

(1) Othello, the Moor of Venice.] The story is taken from Cynthio's Novels,

N 2

POPE.

Forfooth,