Emil. You fhall not write my praise.

Iago. No, let me not.

Def. What wouldst thou write of me, if thou fhou'dft praise me?

Iago. Oh gentle lady, do not put me to❜t, For I am nothing, if not critical.

Def. Come, one affay. There's one gone to the

harbour?

Iago. Ah, Madam.

Def. I am not merry; but I do beguile The thing I am, by feeming otherwise. -Come, how wouldst thou praise me?

Iago: I am about it; but, indeed, invention Comes from my pate, as birdlime does from freeze, It plucks out brains and all. But my muse labours, And thus fhe is deliver❜d,

If fhe be fair and wife, fairness and wit,

The one's for ufe, the other ufeth it.

Def. Well prais'd. How if the be black and witty? Iago. If he be black, and thereto have a wit,

She'll find a white that shall her blackness fit.

Def. Worfe and worse.

Emil. How, if fair and foolish?

5

Iago. She never yet was foolish, that was fair;
For ev'n her folly helpt her to an heir.

Def. Thefe are old fond paradoxes, to make fools laugh i' th' alehouse. What miferable praise haft thou for her that's foul and foolish?

4 -critical.] That is, cenforious.

5 She never yet was foolish, &c.] We may read,

She ne'er was yet fo foolish that

was fair,

But ev'n her folly help'd her to an heir.

Yet I believe the common reading to be right: The law makes the power of cohabitation a proof that a man is not a natural; therefore, fince the foolisheft woman, if pretty, may have a child, no pretty woman is ever foolish.

Jago. There's none fo foul and foolish thereunto,
But does foul pranks, which fair and wife ones
do.

Def. O heavy ignorance! thou praifest the worst beft. But what praise couldft thou bestow on a deserving woman indeed? 6 one, that in the authority of her merit, did juftly put on the vouch of very malice itself?

Jago. She that was ever fair, and never proud,

Had tongue at will, and yet was never loud;
Never lackt gold, and yet went never gay,
Fled from her wifh, and yet faid, now I may;
She that when anger'd, her revenge being nigh,
Bade her wrong ftay, and her difpleasure fly;
She that in wisdom never was fo frail

To change the cod's bead for the falmon's tail;

6 One, that in the authority of her merit, did justly put on the vouch of very malice itself?] Tho' all the printed copies agree in this reading, I cannot help fufpecting it. If the text fhould be genuine, I confefs, it is above my understanding. In what fenfe can merit be faid to put on the vouch of malice? I fhould rather think, merit was so safe in itself, as to repel and put off all that malice and

envy could advance and affirm to its prejudice. I have ventur'd to reform the text to this conftruction, by writing put down, a very flight change that makes it intelligible. THEOB. One, that in the authority of ber merit, did justly put on the vouch of very malice itself?] The editor, Mr. Theobald, not un

derftanding the phrafe, To put on
the vouch of malice, has alter'd it
to put down, and wrote a deal of
unintelligible ftuff to justify his
blunder. To put on the vouch of
any one, fignifies, to call upon
any one to vouch for another.
So that the fenfe of the place is
this, One that was so conscious
of her own merit, and of the au-
thority her character had with
every one, that she durft venture
to call upon malice itself to vouch
for her. This was fome com-
mendation. And the character
only of the cleareft virtue; which
could force malice, even against
its nature, to do juftice. WARB.

To put on the vouch of malice,
is to affume a character vouched
by the teftimony of malice it
felf.

She

She that could think, and ne'er disclose her mind,
See fuitors following, and ne'er look behind;
She was a wight, if ever fuch wight were

Def. To do what?

Iago. To fuckle fools, and chronicle small beer.

Def. Oh moft lame and impotent conclufion! Do not learn of him, Emilia, tho' he be thy husband. How fay you, Caffio, is he not a most profane 8 and liberal counfellor?

Caf. He fpeaks home, Madam; you may relish him. more in the foldier, than in the scholar.

Iago. [Afide.] He takes her by the palm; ay, well faid. Whisper. With as little a web as this, will I enfnare as great a fly as Caffio. Ay, fmile upon her, do. 'I will 'I will gyve thee in thine own courtship. You fay true, 'tis fo, indeed, If fuch tricks as these strip

To fuckle fools, and chronic'e Small beer.] In this line there fecms to be more humour defigned, than I can easily discover or explain. Why fhould the fuckle fools? Perhaps, that thefe to whom nature had denied wit, might derive it from a lady to whom it was given in so much fuperfluity. She would be a She would be a wight to chronicle Small beer, in allufion, I fuppofe, to the Roman practice, of marking the jars with the name of the Conful. The appearance of fuch a woman would make an æra; but as the merit of the best woman is but fmall, that æra might be properly applied to the diftinction of the different ages of fmall beer.

& profane] Grofs of language,

of expreffion broad and brutal, So Brabantio, in the first act, calls Iago, profane wretch.

9 liberal counfelior?] Liberal, for licentious. WARB.

How Jay you, Caffio? Is he not a most profane and liberal counsellor?] But in what respect was Iago a counfellor? He caps fentences, indeed; but they are not by way of advice, but des feription: what he fays, is, Reflexions on character and conduct in life. For this reafon, I am very apt to think, our author wrote cenfurer. THEOB.

Counsellor feems to mean, not fo much a man that gives counsel, as one that difcourfes fearlefly and volubly. A talker.

'I will gyve thee] i. e. catch, fhacklę.

POPE.

you

you out of your lieutenancy, it had been better you
had not kifs'd your three fingers fo oft, which now
again you are most apt to play the Sir in. Very good,
well kifs'd, and excellent courtefy; 'tis fo, indeed.
Yet again, your fingers to your lips? 'would, they
were clifter pipes for your fake.
[Trumpet.
The Moor. I know his trumpet.
Caf. 'Tis truly fo.

Def. Let's meet him, and receive him.
Caf. Lo, where he comes !

SCENE

VI.

Enter Othello and Attendants.

Oth. Oh my fair warrior!

Def. My dear Othello!

Oth. It gives me wonder,

To fee you here before me.

great as my content,
Oh my foul's joy!

If after every tempeft come fuch calms,

May the winds blow 'till they have waken'd death;
And let the labouring bark climb hills of feas
Olympus high, and duck again as low

As hell's from heav'n! If I were now to die,
'Twere now to be most happy; for, I fear,
My foul hath her content fo abfolute,
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.

Def. The heaven's forbid,

But that our loves and comforts fhould encrease,
Even as our days do grow!

well kifid, and excellent cour te] This I think fhould be printed, well kiffed! an excellent

courtely! Spoken when Caffio kiffes his hand, and Desdemona courtefies.

Oth.

Oth. Amen to that, fweet Powers!

I cannot speak enough of this content,
It stops me here, it is too much of joy,

And this, and this, the greateft difcords be [Kiffing her.
That e'er our hearts fhall make !

Iago. Oh, you are well-tun'd now;

But I'll let down the pegs that make this mufic,

As honeft as I am.

Oth. Come, let's to the castle.

[Afide.

Now, friends, our wars are done; the Turks are

drown'd.

How do our old acquaintance of this ifle!

Honey, you fhall be well defir'd in Cyprus,
I've found great love amongst them.

Oh my fweet.

3 I prattle out of fashion, and I dote
In mine own.comfort. Pr'ythee, good Iago,
Go to the bay, and difembark my coffers:
Bring thou the mafter to the citadel,
He is a good one, and his worthiness

Does challenge much refpect.

Once more well met at Cyprus.

Come, Defdemona,

[Exeunt Othello and Defdemona.

Manent lago and Rodorigo,

Iago. Do you meet me prefently at the harbour, Come 'thither, if thou be'ft valiant; as, they fay, bafe men, being in love, have then a nobility in their natures, more than is native to them. Lift me, the lieutenant to-night watches on the Court of Guard. First,

3 I prattle out of fashion,-]

4-the master] The pilot Out of method, without any of the fhip. fettled order of discourse.