Oth. That! what?

Emil. Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice:Help! help, hoa! help! -O lady, speak again! Sweet Desdemona! O, sweet mistress, speak! Des. A guiltless death I die.

Emil.

This deed?

O, who hath done

[Dies.

Des. Nobody; I myself; farewell: Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell. 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; "T was 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 top 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.

Emil. That she was false to wedlock?

Oth.

Had she been true,

Ay, with Cassio.

If heaven would make me such another world

Of one entire and perfect chrysolite,

I'd not have sold her for it.

Emil. My husband?

Oth. Ay, 't was he that told me on her first;
An honest man he is, and hates the slime
That sticks on filthy deeds.

Emil.

My husband?

Oth. What needs this iterance, woman? I say thy

husband.

Emil. O mistress, villainy hath made mocks with

love!

My husband say that she was false?

Oth.
He, woman;
I say, thy husband: Dost understand the word?
My friend, thy husband, honest, honest Iago.

Emil. If he say so, may his pernicious soul
Rot half a grain a day! he lies to the heart;
She was too fond of her most filthy bargain.
Oth. Ha!

Emil. Do thy worst;

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

Oth.

Peace, you were the best. Emil. Thou hast not half that 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! hoa! help! The Moor hath kill'd my mistress. Murther! murther!

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 murthers on your neck.
Gra. What is the matter?

Emil. Disprove this villain, if thou be'st a man :
He says, thou toldst 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 more
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 murther'd in her bed.

All. O heavens forfend!

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

Mon. O monstrous act!

Emil.

Villainy, villainy, villainy!I think upon 't,-I think,-I smell 't-O villainy!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; "T is proper I obey him, but not now: Perchance, Iago, will ne'er go home. Oth. Oh! Oh! Oh!

Emil.

Nay, lay thee down, and roar : For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent,

That ere did lift up eye.

Oth.

O, she was foul!

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 Desdemon! 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 reprobance.

Oth. "T is 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.

1

Come, hold your peace.

Emil. "T will out, 't will out!-I hold my peace, sir? no;

No, I will speak as liberal as the north;a

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

Gra.

Your sword upon a woman?

Fie!

Emil. O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou speak'st of

I found by fortune, and did give my husband,
For often with a solemn earnestness,

(More than, indeed, belong'd to such a trifle,)
He begg'd of me to steal it.

Iago.

Villainous whore!

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?

[LAGO stabs EMIL., 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: O, lay me by my mistress' side! Gra. He's gone, but his wife 's kill'd.

Mon. "T is a notorious villain. Take you this wea

pon.

a Liberal is used in the sense of unrestrained-uncontrolled.

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 't is a damned slave.

[Exit MoN.

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 music;-" 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, alas, I die.

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.

[Dies

Gra. 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.

Gra. What is the matter?
Oth.

Behold!

A better never did itself sustain

have a weapon:

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, Ő vain boast!
Who can control his fate? 't is 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? 't is a lost fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast,

a Ice-brook's temper. The practice of the Spaniards to temper their swords by plunging them, when hot from the forge, into waters of an icy coldness, is noticed by Martial and Justin.

VOL. VIII.

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