Against all rules of nature; and must be driven -
To find out practices of cunning hell,

Why this fhould be. I therefore vouch again,
That with fome mixtures powerful o'er the blood,
Or with fome dram, conjur'd to this effect,
He wrought upon her.

Duke. To vouch this, is no proof,

Without more certain and more overt teft,
Than these thin habits and poor likelyhoods
Of modern Seeming do prefer against him.
I Sen. But, Othello, fpeak;

Did you by indirect and forced courfes
Subdue and poison this

young

maid's affections?

Or came it by requeft, and fuch fair queftion
As foul to foul affordeth?

Oth. I befeech you,

Send for the lady to the Sagittary,

And let her speak of me before her father;

If you do find me foul in her report,
The Truft, the Office, I do hold of you,
Not only take away, but let Sentence
Even fall upon my life.

your

Duke. Fetch Defdemona hither. [Exeunt two or three.
Oth, Ancient, conduct them, you best know the place.

And 'till fhe come, as truly as to heav'n
I do confefs the vices of my blood,
So juftly to your grave ears I'll present
How I did thrive in this fair lady's love,
And fhe in mine.

Duke. Say it, Othello.

[Exit Iago.

Oth. Her father lov'd me, oft invited me;
Still queftion'd me the ftory of my life,
From year to year; the battels, fieges, fortunes,
That I have past.

I ran it through, e'en from my boyish days,
To th' very moment that he bad me tell it:
Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents by flood and field;

Of hair-breadth fcapes in th' imminent deadly breach;

Of

Of being taken by the infolent foe,

And fold to flavery; of my redemption thence,
And portance in my travel's hiftory:

Wherein of antres vaft, and defarts idle,

(14).

Rough quarries, rocks and hills, whofe heads touch

heav'n,

It was my hint to speak; fuch was the process; (15)

Bb 4.

And

(14) Wherein of Antres vaft and Defarts idle, &c.] Thus it is in all the old Editions: But Mr. Pope has thought fit to change the Epithet.. Defarts idle; in the former Editions; (fays he,) doubtless, a Corruption from wilde. -But he muft pardon me, if I do not concur in thinking this fo doubtless. I don't know whether Mr. Pope has obfery'd it, but I know that Shakespeare, especially in Defcriptions, is fond of ufing the more uncommon Word, in a poetick Latitude. And idle, in feveral other Paffages, he employs in thefe Acceptations, wild, ufelefs, uncultivated, &c.

Crown'd with rank Fumitar, and Furrow Weeds,
With Hardocks, Hemlock, Nettles, Cuckow-flow'rs,
Darnel, and all the idle Weeds that grow

In our fuftaining Corn.

¿. e. wild and useless.

King Lear.

Ibid.

i.e. ufelefs, worthlefs, nullius Pretii: for Pebbles, 'conftantly wash'd and chaf'd by the Surge, can't be call'd idle, i. e. to lie ftill, in a state of

Reft.

The even Mead, that erft brought fweetly forth

The freckled Cowflip, Burnet, and green Clover,
Wanting the Scythe, all uncorrected, rank,
Conceives by Idleness.

i. e. by Wildness, occafion'd from its lying uncultivated.

Henry V.

And exactly with

the fame Liberty, if I am not mistaken, has VIRGIL twice used the

Word ignavus:

-Hyems ignava Colono.

And of the Canibals that each other eat,

The Anthropophagi; and Men whofe Heads

Georg. I. v. 299.

Georg. II. v. 208.

Do grow beneath their Shoulders.] This Paffage Mr. Pope has thought fit to throw out of the Text, as containing incredible Matter, I prefume: but why, if he had any Equality in his critical Judgment, did he not as well caftrate the Tempeft of thefe Lines ?

Who

And of the Canibals that each other eat,

The Anthropophagi; and men whofe heads, i
Do grow beneath their fhoulders.

Would Desdemona feriously incline;

All these to hear a

But ftill the house-affairs would draw her thence,
Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,
She'd come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour up my difcourfe: which I obferving,
Took once a pliant hour, and found good means
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate;
Whereof by parcels the had fomething heard,
But not diftinctively I did confent,
And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did fpeak of fome distressful stroke
That my youth fuffer'd. My ftory being done,
She gave me for my pains a world of fighs:

She wore, "In faith, 'twas ftrange, 'twas paffing ftrange, "Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful"

She wifh'd, fhe had not heard it ;-yet the wifh'd,.. That heav'n had made her fuch a man-fhe thank'd me, And bad me, if I had a friend that lov'd her, I fhould but teach him how to tell my ftory, "And that would woo her. On this hint I spake,

She

Who would believe, that there were Mountaineers

Dewlapt like Bulls, whofe Throats had hanging at 'em
Wallets of Fleft? Or that there were fuch Men,

་ Whofe Heads flood in their Breafts?.

'I have observ'd several times, in the Course of these Notes, our Author's particular Deference for Sir Walter Raleigh; and both thefe Paffages feem to me intended complimentally to him. Sir Walter, in his Travels, V has given the following Account, which I fhall fubjoin as briefly as I may, "Next unto Arvi, there are two Rivers Atoica and Caora; and on that "Branch which is call'd Caora, are a Nation of a People whofe Heads 66 appear not above their Shoulders; which, tho it may be thought a meer Fable, yet, for mine own part, I am refolv'd it is true; becaus * every Child in the Provinces of Arromaia and Canuri affirm the same. "They are call'd Ewaipanomaws, they are reported to have their Eyes in their Shoulders, and their Mouths in the middle of their Breafts. It $6 was not my Chance to hear of them, till I was come away; and if I "had but fpoken one word of it while I was there,I might have brought

56

one

She lov'd me for the dangers I had past,
And I lov'd her, that he did pity them:
This only is the witchcraft I have us'd.
Here comes the lady, let her witness it.

Enter Defdemona, Iago, and Attendants.

Duke. I think, this tale would win my daughter too Good Brabantio,

66 one of them with me, to put the Matter out of Doubt. Such a Na ❝tion was written of by Mandeville, whofe Reports were holden for "Fables for many years: and yet fince the East-Indies were difcover'd, "we find his Relations true of fuch things as heretofore were held incredi "ble. Whether it be true, or no, the Matter is not great; for mine "own part, I faw them not; but I am refolv'd, that fo many People did not "all combine, or forethink to make the Report. To the Weft of Caroli are diverse Nations of Canibals, and of those Ewaipanomaws without "Heads.

Sir Walter Raleigh made this Voyage to Guiana in 1595. Mr. Las rence Keymish, (fometime his Lieutenant) who went thither the next Year, and who dedicates his Relation to Sir Walter, mentions the fame People; and, fpeaking of a Perfon who gave him confiderable Informations, he adds, "He certified me of the headlefs Men, and that their Mouths in their "Breafts are exceeding wide." Sir Walter, at the time that his Travels were publifh'd, is ftyled Captain of her Majefty's Guard, Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and Lieutenant General of the County of Cornwal. If we confider the Reputation, as the ingenious Martin Folkes Efq; obferv'd to me, any thing from fuch a Perfon, and at that time in fuch Posts, muft come into the World with, we shall be of Opinion that a Paffage in Shakespeare need not be degraded for the Mention of a Story, which, however itrange, was countenanc'd with fuch an Authority. Shakespeare, on the other hand, has fhewn a fine Addrefs to Sir Walter, in facrificing fo much Credulity to fuch a Relation. Befides, both the Paffages in our Author have this further Ufe; that they do in fome Measure fix the Chronology of his writing Othello, as well as the Tempeft: for as neither of them could be wrote before the Year 1597; fo the Mention of these Circumftances should perfuade us, they appear'd before these Travels became stale to the publick, and their Authority was too narrowly scrutiniz'd.

We may be able to account, perhaps, in a few Lines, for the Mystery of these fuppos'd headlefs People; and with that I will close this long Note. OLEARIUS, fpeaking of the Manner of Cloathing of the Samojeds, a People of Northern Muscovy, fays; "Their Garments are "made like thofe that are call'd Cofaques, open only at the Necks. "When the Cold is extraordinary, they put their Cofaques, over their "Heads, and let the Sleeves hang down; their Faces being not to be "feen, but at the Cleft which is at the Neck. Whence Some have taken Occafion to write, that in thefe Northern Countries, there are People with"out Heads, having their Faces in their Breafts."

66

Take up this mangled matter at the belt.
Men do their broken weapons. rather ufe,
Than their bare hands.

Bra. I pray you, hear her fpeak;

If the confefs that she was half the wooer,
Destruction on my head, if my bad blame
Light on the man! Come hither, gentle mistress,
Do you perceive in all this noble company,
Where you moft owe obedience?

Def. My noble father,

I do perceive here a divided duty;

To you I'm bound for life and education:
My life and education both do learn me

How to refpect you.

You're the lord of duty;

I'm hitherto your daughter. But here's my husband;

And fo much duty as my mother fhew'd
To you, preferring you before her father;
So much I challenge, that I may profefs
Due to the Moor, my lord.

Bra. God be with you: I have done.
Please it your Grace, on to the State-affairs;
I had rather to adopt a child than get it.
Come hither, Moor:

I here do give thee That with all my heart,
Which, but thou haft already, with all my heart a
I would keep from thee. For your fake, jewel,
I'm glad at foul I have no other child;

For thy efcape would teach me tyranny,
To hang clogs on them. I have done, my lord.

Duke. Let me fpeak like your felf; and lay a Sentence,
Which, as a grife, or ftep, may help thefe lovers
Into your favour-

When remedies are paft, the griefs are ended
By feeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.
To mourn a mischief that is paft and gone,
Is the next way to draw new Mischief on..
What cannot be prefery'd when Fortune takes,
Patience her injury a mockery makes.

The robb'd, that fmiles, fteals fomething from the thief;
He robs himself, that fpends a bootlefs grief.

Bra.