And very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
Do you go back dismayed? 't is 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-starred wench !
Pale as thy sheets! 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, cursèd, 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! Desdemona! dead! O, O, Ο!

[Enter Lodovico, Montano, Cassio, and Officers c.
Cassio sits R.

Where is this rash and most unfortunate man ?

Lod.

Oth.

That 's he that was Othello; -here I am.

Lod.

Where is that viper ? bring the villain forth.

Oth.

[Iago is brought in.

[Wounds Iago.

I look down towards his feet,- but that 's a fable.

If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee.

Iago.

I bleed, sir; but not killed.

Oth.

I am not sorry neither: I'd have thee live;
For, in my sense, 't is happiness to die.

Lod.

O, thou Othello, that wert once so good,
Fallen in the practice of a cursèd slave,
What shall be said to thee ?

Oth.

Why, anything:

An honourable murderer, if you will;

For naught I did in hate, but all in honour.

Lod.

This wretch hath part confessed his villainy:
Did you and he consent in Cassio's death ?

Ay.

Oth.

Cas.

Dear general, I never gave you cause.

Oth.

I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.-
Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil
Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body ?

Iago.

Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:
From this time forth I never will speak word.

Well, thou dost best.

Oth.

[After a pause.

How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief

That was my wife's?

I found it in my chamber:

Cas.

And he himself confessed but even now

That there he dropped it for a special purpose

Which wrought to his desire.

O, fool! fool! fool!

Oth.

Lod.

You must forsake this room, and go with us:
Your power and your command is taken off,
And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,-

[To Othello.

If there be any cunning cruelty
That can torment him much and hold him long,
It shall be his.

[An officer removes Iago, from where he stands, to the body of his wife, at the window.

You shall close prisoner rest,

Till that the nature of your fault be known

To the Venetian state. - Come, bring away.

Oth.

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
Of one, that loved not wisely, but too well;
Of one, not easily jealous, but, being wrought,
Perplexed in the extreme; of one, whose hand,
Like the base Judean, threw a pearl away

Richer than all his tribe; of one, whose subdued eyes,

Albeit unusèd to the melting mood,

Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;
And say, besides, - that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcisèd dog
And smote him-thus.

O, Desdemona!

[Stabs himself. [Dies.

[Iago starts forward in wicked triumph. He is seized by an officer, who forces him to his knee.

Lod.

O, bloody period !

Grat.

All that 's spoke is marred.

CURTAIN.

OTHELLO.

"W

APPENDIX.

I.-THE ORIGINAL STORY OF OTHELLO.

THEN Shakespeare first became acquainted with the Moor of Venice of Giraldi Cinthio [whether in the original Italian, or the French translation, or in one of the little story-books that familiarized the people with the romance and the poetry of the South], he saw in that novel the scaffolding of 'Othello.' There was formerly in Venice a valiant Moor, says the story. It came to pass that a virtuous lady, of wonderful beauty, named Desdemona, became enamoured of his great qualities and noble virtues. The Moor loved her in return, and they were married-in spite of the opposition of the lady's friends. It happened too, says the story, that the Senate of Venice appointed the Moor to the command of Cyprus, and that his wife determined to accompany him thither. Amongst the officers who attended upon the General was an ensign, of the most agreeable person but of the most depraved nature. The wife of this man was the friend of Desdemona, and they spent much time together. The wicked ensign became violently enamoured of Desdemona; but she, whose thoughts were wholly engrossed by the Moor, was utterly regardless of the ensign's attentions. His love then became terrible hate, and he resolved to accuse Desdemona, to her husband, of infidelity, and to connect with the accusation a captain, of Cyprus. That officer, having struck a sentinel, was discharged from his command by the Moor; and Desdemona, interested in his favour, endeavoured to re-instate him in her husband's good opinion. The Moor said, one day, to the ensign, that his wife was so importunate for the restoration of the officer that he must take him back. If you would open your eyes, you would see plainer,' said the ensign. The romance-writer continues to display the perfidious intrigues of the ensign against Desdemona. He steals a handkerchief which the Moor had given her-employing the agency of his own child. He contrives with the Moor to murder the captain, of Cyprus, after he