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It is his dependence upon this constant, loving, noble nature,-it is upon Othello's freedom from all low suspicion, that Iago relies for his power to

"Make the Moor thank me, love me, and reward me,

For making him egregiously an ass,
And practising upon his peace and quiet
Even to madness."

But let Othello speak for himself. Not vain, but proud ;-relying upon himself, his birth, his actions, he is calm at the prospect of any injury that Brabantio can do him. He is bold when he has to confront those who come as his enemies :

"I must be found;

My parts, my title, and my perfect soul,
Shall manifest me rightly."

When the old senator exclaims, " down with him-thief!" how beautiful is his self-command!

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Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them."

It was his forbearance and self-restraint, bottomed upon the most enthusiastic energy, that made him a hero. When he is wrought into frenzy, Iago himself is surprised at the storm which he has produced; and he looks upon the tempest of passion as a child does upon some machine which he has mischievously set in motion for damage and destruction, but which under guidance is a beautiful instrument of usefulness. "Can he be angry?" Ludovico, in the same way, does justice to his habitual equanimity :"Is this the noble Moor whom our full senate Call all-in-all sufficient? Is this the nature Whom passion could not shake?"

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The senate scene is the triumph of Othello's perfect simplicity and fearless enthusiasm:"I think this tale would win my daughter too." And then his affection for Desdemona. Before the assembled senators he puts on no show of violence-no reality, and, unquestionably, no affectation, of warmth and tenderness :"She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd. And I loved her that she did pity them."

But when the meeting comes at Cyprus, after their separation and their danger, the depth of his affection bursts forth in irrepressible words :

"If it were now to die,

"T were now to be most happy; for, I fear
My soul hath her content so absolute,
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate."

Such are the materials upon which Iago has
to work in Othello. But, had Desdemona
been otherwise than she was, his success
would not have been so assured. Let us
dwell for a moment upon the elementary
character of this pure and gentle being.
Desdemona's father first describes her :-
"A maiden never bold;

Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion Blush'd at herself."

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Even to the very quality of my lord." The impressibility of Desdemona is her distinguishing characteristic. With this key, the tale of Othello's wooing is a most consistent one. The timid girl is brought into immediate contact with the earnest warrior. She hears of wonders most remote from her experience;-caves and deserts, rocks and hills, in themselves marvels to an inhabitant of the city of the sea,—

"Of most disastrous chances; Of moving accidents by flood and field.” How exquisite is the domestic picture which follows:

"But still the house affairs would draw her thence;

Which ever as she could with haste despatch, She'd come again, and with a greedy ear Devour up my discourse."

But this impressibility, this exceeding sym

pathy arising out of the tenderness of her nature, is under the control of the most perfect purity. Iago does full justice to this purity, whilst he sees that her kindness of heart may be abused :—

"For 't is most easy

The inclining Desdemona to subdue
In any honest suit; she's framed as fruitful
As the free elements."

Her confidence in the power which she possesses over Othello is the result of the perfect sympathy which she has bestowed and received. And her zeal in friendship, without a thought that she might be mistaken, has its root in the same confiding

nature:

“I give thee warrant of thy place: assure thee, If I do vow a friendship I'll perform it To the last article."

The equivocation about the handkerchief is the result of the same impressibility. She is terrified out of her habitual candour. The song of 'Willow,' and the subsequent dialogue with Emilia, are evidences of the same subjection of the mind to external impressions. But her unassailable purity is above all. "I do not think there is any such woman," is one of those minute touches which we in vain seek for in any other writer but Shak

spere.

Understanding, then, the native characters of Othello and Desdemona, we shall appreciate the marvellous skill with which Shaksperc has conducted the machinations of Iago. If the novel of Cinthio had fallen into common hands to be dramatized, and the dramatist had chosen to depart from the motive of revenge against Desdemona which there actuates the villain, the plot would probably have taken this course: -The Desdemona would have been somewhat less pure than our Desdemona; the Cassio would have been somewhat more presumptuous than our Cassio, and have not felt for Desdemona the religious veneration which he feels; the Othello would have been "easily jealous," and would have done something "in hate," but not "all in honour," as our Othello. It is a part of the admirable knowledge of human nature

possessed by Shakspere, that Iago does not, even for a moment, entertain the thought of tampering with the virtue of Desdemona, either through Cassio, or Roderigo, or any other instrument. Coleridge has boldly and truly said that "Othello does not kill Desdemona in jealousy, but in a conviction forced upon him by the almost superhuman art of Iago-such a conviction as any man would and must have entertained who had believed Iago's honesty as Othello did. We, the audience, know that Iago is a villain from the beginning; but, in considering the essence of the Shaksperean Othello, we must perseveringly place ourselves in his situation, and under his circumstances."

reliance on "Iago's honesty," but also by But Othello was not only betrayed by his his confidence in Iago's wisdom:"This fellow's of exceeding honesty, And knows all qualities, with a learned spirit, Of human dealings."

Again,

"O thou art wise; 't is certain."

When Othello thus bows his own lofty nature before the grovelling but most acute worldly intellect of Iago, his habitual view of "all qualities" had been clouded by the breath of the slanderer. His confidence in purity and innocence had been destroyed. The sensual judgment of "human dealings had taken the place of the spiritual. The enthusiastic love and veneration of his wife had been painted to him as the result of gross passion:—

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'Not to affect many proposed matches," &c. His belief in the general prevalence of virtuous motives and actions had been degraded to a reliance on the libertine's creed that all are impure:

"there's millions now alive," &c. When the innocent and the high-minded submit themselves to the tutelage of the man of the world, as he is called, the process of mental change is precisely that produced in the mind of Othello. The poetry of life is On them never more gone. "The freshness of the heart can fall like dew." They abandon themselves to the betrayer,

and they prostrate themselves before the energy of his "gain'd knowledge." They feel that in their own original powers of judgment they have no support against the dogmatism, and it may be the ridicule, of experience. This is the course with the young when they fall into the power of the tempter. But was not Othello in all essentials young? Was he not of an enthusiastic temperament, confiding, loving,most sensitive to opinion,-jealous of his honour, truly wise, had he trusted to his own pure impulses ?-But he was most weak, in adopting an evil opinion against his own faith, and conviction, and proof, in his reliance upon the honesty and judgment of a man whom he really doubted and had never proved. Yet this is the course by which the highest and noblest intellects are too often subjected to the dominion of the subtle understanding and the unbridled will. It is an unequal contest between the prin- | ciples that are struggling for mastery in the individual man, when the attributes of the serpent and the dove are separated, and become conflicting. The wisdom which belonged to Othello's enthusiastic temperament

was his confidence in the truth and purity of the being with whom his life was bound up, and his general reliance upon the better part of human nature, in his judgment of his friend. When the confidence was destroyed by the craft of his deadly enemy, his sustaining power was also destroyed;—the balance of his sensitive temperament was lost;-his enthusiasm became wild passion;-his new belief in the dominion of grossness over the apparently pure and good shaped itself into outrage; his honour lent itself to schemes of cruelty and revenge. But, even amidst the whirlwind of this passion, we every now and then hear something which sounds as the softest echo of love and gentleness. Perhaps in the whole compass of the Shaksperean pathos there is nothing deeper than "But yet the pity of it, Iago! Oh, Iago, the pity of it, Iago!" It is the contemplated murder of Desdemona which thus tears his heart. But his "disordered power, engendered within itself to its own destruction," hurries on the catastrophe. We would ask, with Coleridge, "As the curtain drops, which do we pity the most?"

CHAPTER VI.

KING LEAR.

Two other

Other of

THE first edition of 'King Lear' was pub- | neere St. Austins Gate, 1608.'
lished in 1608; its title was as follows:-
'Mr. William Shake-speare his True Chronicle
History of the Life and Death of King Lear,
and his three Daughters. With the un-
fortunate Life of Edgar, Sonne and Heire
to the Earle of Glocester, and his sullen
and assumed Humour of Tom of Bedlam.
As it was plaid before the King's Majesty
at White-Hall, uppon S. Stephens Night;
in Christmas Hollidaies. By his Majesties
Servants playing usually at the Globe on the
Banck-side. Printed for Nathaniel Butter,
and are to be sold at his Shop in Paul's
Church-yard at the Signe of the Pied Bull

editions were published by Butter in the
same year. It is remarkable that a play of
which three editions were demanded in one
year should not have been reprinted till it
was collected in the folio of 1623.
the plays, which were originally published in
a separate form during the poet's life-time,
were frequently reprinted before the folio
collection. Whether 'Lear' was piratical, or
whether a limited publication was allowed, it
is clear, we think, that by some interference
the continued publication was stopped.

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In the folio text of Lear,' as compared with the text of the quarto, there are verbal

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proclaimed King of Great Britain, it was usual to merge the name of England in that of Britain. Bacon thus explains the completion of the old prophecy, "When hempe is sponne, England's donne." The ancient metrical saying, "Fy, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an English man," becomes in 'Lear,' "I smell the blood of a British man;" and in the quarto editions (Act IV., Scene 6) we have

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'And give the letters, which thou find'st about

me,

To Edmund, earl of Gloster; seek him out
Upon the British party.”

corrections, and additions and omissions; but | After the accession of James, when he was in the quarto text of that play the metrical arrangement is one mass of confusion. This circumstance appears to us conclusive that these quarto copies could not have been printed from the author's manuscript; and yet they might have been printed from a genuine playhouse copy. The text of the folio, in one material respect, differs considerably from that of the quartos. Large passages which are found in the quartos are omitted in the folio: there are, indeed, some lines found in the folio which are not in the quartos, amounting to about fifty. These are scattered passages, not very remarkable when detached, but for the most part essential to the progress of the action or to the development of character. On the other hand, the lines found in the quartos which are not in the folio amount to as many as two hundred and twenty-five; and they comprise one entire scene, and one or two of the most striking connected passages in the drama. It would be easy to account for these omissions by the assumption that in the folio edition the original play was cut down by the editors; for Lear,' without the omissions, is one amongst the longest of Shakspere's plays. But this theory would require us to assume, also, that the additions to the folio were made by the editors. These comprise several such minute touches as none but the hand of the master could have superadded.

The allusions derived from Harsnet's book fix the date of the tragedy as near as we can desire it to be fixed. All that we can hope for in these matters is an approximation to a date. It is sufficient for us to be confirmed, through such a fact, in the belief, derived from internal evidence, that Lear' was produced at that period when the genius of Shakspere was "at its very point of culmination."

The story of Lear' belongs to the popular literature of Europe. It is a pretty episode in the fabulous chronicles of Britain; and, whether invented by the monkish historians, or transplanted into our annals from some foreign source, is not very material. In the 'Gesta Romanorum,' the same story is told of Theodosius, "a wise emperor in the city of Rome." Douce has published this story from the manuscript in the Harleian Collection. It may be sufficient to give the beginning of this curious narrative, to show how clearly all the histories have been derived from a

common source:

The period of the first production of Lear' may be fixed with tolerable certainty. We collect, from the registers of the Stationers' Company, that Lear' was played before King James, at Whitehall, upon St. Stephen's night, in the year 1606-that is, on the 26th of December. Here is the limit in one direction. In the other direction we have the publication, in 1603, of Harsnet's Declaration of egregious Popish Impostures,' from which book Shakspere undoubtedly derived some materials which he employed in the assumed madness of Edgar. It is pretty clear, also, from two passages in the text of the quarto editions, that the author or the actors of the tragedy, "as it was played before the king's majesty," were careful to make two minute changes which would be agreeable to James. | she seid, as I do myself.

"Theodosius regned, a wys emperour in the cite of Rome, and myghti he was of power; the whiche emperour had thre doughters. So hit liked to this emperour to knowe which of his doughters lovid him best. And tho he seid to the eldest doughter, how moche lovist thou me? fforsoth, quod she, more than I do myself, therefore, quod he, thou shalt be hily avaunsed, and maried her to a riche and myghti kyng. Tho he cam to the secund, and seid to her, doughter, how moche lovist thou me? As moche forsoth, So the emperour

CHAP. VI.]

KING LEAR.

maried her to a duc. And tho he seid to the third doughter, how moche lovist thou me? fforsoth, quod she, as moche as ye beth worthi, and no more. Tho seid the emperour, doughter, sith thou lovist me no more, thou shalt not be maried so richely as thi susters beth. And tho he maried her to an erle."

The French have a famous romance entitled 'La tres elegante delicieuse melliflue et tres plaisante hystoire du tres victorieux & excellentissime Roy Perceforest Roy de la grant Bretaigne,' of the veritable contents of which an account will be found in the Censura Literaria,' vol. viii. These chronicles, according to Sir Egerton Brydges, "begin with the foundation of Troy, which they affirm to have been in the third age of the world, and that it was taken while Abdon was judge over Israel. The travels of Brutus, and his wars in Great Britain and Aquitaine, follow, which took place while Saul reigned in Judea, and Aristeus in Lacedemon. His grandson, Rududribas, father of the celebrated Bladud, founded the ancient city of Canterbury, which occurred during the time in which Haggai, Amos, and Joel prophesied. These curious circumstances are succeeded by the story of Lear (son to Bladud) and his three daughters, which was in the time of Isaiah and Hosea, at which period also the city of Rome was founded." The exact chronology of the romancers and chroniclers is well worthy attention. Geoffrey of Monmouth is quite as precise as Pierceforest: "At this time flourished the prophets Isaiah and Hosea, and Rome was built upon the eleventh of the Calends of May, by the two brothers Romulus and Remus." With such unquestionable authority for the date of the story of Lear, well may Malone have been shocked when Edgar says, "Nero was an angler in the lake of darkness;" and we ought to be grave when we are also informed, with the most perfect gravity, "Nero is introduced in the present play above eight hundred years before he was born." Shakspere found the story in his favourite Holinshed; and he probably did not trouble himself to refer to Geoffrey of Monmouth, from whom Holinshed abridged it. We subjoin the legend as told by Holinshed:

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"Leir, the son of Baldud, was admitted ruler over the Britains in the year of the world 3105. At what time Joas reigned as yet in Juda. This Leir was a prince of noble demeanour, governing his land and subjects in great wealth. He made the town of Cairleir, now called Leicester, which standeth upon the river of Dore. It is writ that he had by his wife three daughters, without other issue, whose names were Gonorilla, Regan, and Cordilla, which daughters he greatly loved, but especially the youngest, Cordilla, far above the two elder.

"When this Leir was come to great years, and began to wear unwieldy through age, he thought to understand the affections of his daughters towards him, and prefer her whom he best loved to the succession of the kingdom; therefore, he first asked Gonorilla, the eldest, how well she loved him: the which, calling her gods to record, protested that she loved him more than her own life, which by right and reason should be most dear unto her; with

which answer the father, being well pleased,, turned to the second, and demanded of her how well she loved him? which answered (confirming her sayings with great oaths) that she loved him more than tongue can express, and far above all other creatures in the world.

"Then called he his youngest daughter, Cordilla, before him, and asked of her what account she made of him: unto whom she made this answer as followeth :-Knowing the great love and fatherly zeal you have always borne towards me (for the which, that I may not answer you otherwise than I think, and as my conscience leadeth me), I protest to you that I have always loved you, and shall continually while I live love you, as my natural father; and if you would more understand of the love that I bear you, ascertain yourself, that so much as you have, so much you are worth, and so much I love you, and no more.

"The father, being nothing content with this answer, married the two eldest daughters, the one unto the duke of Cornwall, named Henninus, and the other unto the duke of Albania, called Maglanus; and betwixt them, after his death, he willed and ordained his land should be divided, and the one-half thereof should be immediately assigned unto them in hand; but for the third daughter, Cordilla, he reserved nothing.

"Yet it fortuned that one of the princes of Gallia (which now is called France), whose name was Aganippus, hearing of the beauty, woman

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