"Ha! I like not that," when he observes Cassio quit Desdemona, is a remark that opens a wide field for conjecture, which his answer to Othello's question, "Was not that Cassio,

parted from my wife?" artfully converts into

keen insinuation :

"Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot think it,

That he would steal away so guilty-like,

Seeing you coming."

The first stone of Iago's building being thus laid, the erection of the superstructure is rapidly pro

ceeded in:

"Did Michael Cassio, when you woo'd my lady, Know of your love?"

"Indeed!" is an expression of mingled astonishment and regret, that Cassio "went between them very oft," which could not fail to make a powerful impression on the Moor; and Iago's cold recognition of Cassio's honesty, accompanied by the reflection that "men should be what they seem" still further alarms, as was intended, the wakeful vigilance of a suspicious mind. His refusal to disclose his thoughts, his acknowledgement that they were "foul," and incompatible with Othello's peace, are gradations so consequent and easy, as to be almost imperceptible, towards the conclusion Iago had all

along been aiming at, and which he at length certainly and permanently fixes, by the mention of the horrid passion "jealousy" and the frightful picture which he draws of the miseries of its victims.*

Othello, by his dignified reply †, rises for a moment superior to the arts of his tormentor; but no change is too sudden to ruffle Iago's selfpossession, and his acuteness and ingenuity turn all things to his own advantage:

"I am glad of this; for now I shall have reason
To show the love and duty that I bear you
With franker spirit: therefore, as I am bound,
Receive it from me: I speak not yet of proof.
Look to your wife; observe her well with Cassio;
Wear your eye thus not jealous, nor secure:
I would not have your free and noble nature,
Out of self-bounty, be abus'd; look to it:

I know our country disposition well;

In Venice they do let heaven see the pranks

They dare not show their husbands; their best con

science

Is not to leave undone, but keep unknown."

Could such remarks, from a young and handsome libertine, fail to impress Othello, a foreigner, little entitled himself to presume on the partiality of the fair sex, with a fearful conviction of the general laxity of Venetian morals?

*

"That cuckold lives in bliss," &c. Act III. sc. 3. "Why? why is this," &c. Ibid.

Iago had presumed to believe the virtue of Desdemona assailable, and, with the deepest policy, he presses upon Othello those sentiments by which he himself had been led to his dissolute conclusion. With a force forbidding reply, he urges her violation of the natural delicacy of her sex, and especially her duplicity:

"She did deceive her father, marrying you;

And, when she seem'd to shake, and fear your looks
She lov'd them most.-

She that so young, could give out such a seeming,
To seal her father's eyes up, close as oak —:"

The inference was too palpable to be missed,
and none of its force was lost by compelling
the Moor to complete the deduction by an
operation of his own mind. His fond relapse
into tenderness, "I do not think but Desde-
mona's honest”, is parried with surprising adroit-
ness: "Long live she so! and long live you to
think so!" This implied reproach of doting
credulity again directs the wavering husband's
thoughts into their old channel of suspicion,
"And yet, how nature erring from itself,
a reflection immediately seized on for the intro-
duction of one of the most masterly strokes of
Iago's ingenuity:

"Ay, there's the point: - As, to be bold with you, Not to affect many proposed matches,

Of her own clime, complexion, and degree;
Whereto, we see, in all things nature tends:
Foh! one may smell, in such, a will most rank,
Foul disproportion, thoughts unnatural. —
But pardon me; I do not, in position,
Distinctly speak of her: though I may fear
Her will, recoiling to her better judgment,
May fall to match you with her country formg,
And (haply) repent."

These are sentiments, just and undeniable, on general principles, though liable to exceptions, which the perturbed mind and strong feelings of the Moor were ill capable of taking against their application to Desdemona. The point is pressed by Shakspeare with wonderful force, and, amidst a world of thoughts and images, we can scarcely recognise the brief and natural hint of Cinthio, "Know then that your colour makes you personally odious to your wife."

Thus far Shakspeare carried Iago in the execution of his design with little assistance from the novel. Jealousy is ripened in Othello ere Cinthio has sown the seeds of suspicion in the Moor. In furnishing the series of proofs necessary to complete Othello's conviction of Desdemona's guilt, the dramatist becomes more largely indebted to the story, but considerably varies the application of the materials which he borrowed. The Lieutenant of Cinthio makes a skil-.

ful use of circumstances as they arise: Iago's superior ability enables him to direct the actions of others with infinite facility; he uses his associates as mere instruments of his will, and is thus the creator of his own opportunities for the accomplishing of his design.

"poor

Iago had some suspicion of Cassio with his night-cap," and entertained an earnest desire "to get his place," but the Lieutenant laboured under no very considerable portion of the Ancient's hatred. Yet, as a fit agent for his purposes, Iago used him, and, when his ruin appeared necessary to the furtherance of his views, he paused not a moment to effect it. In a familiar interview, he prevails over the "thrice gentle Cassio" to transgress the bounds of his accustomed abstemiousness; and aided by that " trash of Venice," Roderigo, a quarrel and disturbance are created, an alarm spread through the town, and the intoxicated Cassio exposed on "the court of guard" to the observation of his General. Varying very immaterially from the truth, Iago's feigned reluctant narration of the occurrences of the night is so peculiarly constructed as to imply deep criminality in Cassio : -successfully imitating the affectionate solicitude of a friend, he recognises throughout the existence of an offence justly meriting disgrace.