writer continues to display the perfidious intrigues of the ensign against Desdemona. He steals a handkerchief which the Moor had given her, employing the agency of his own child. He contrives with the Moor to murder the captain of Cyprus, after he has made the credulous husband listen to a conversation to which he gives a false colour and direction; and, finally, the Moor and the guilty officer destroy Desdemona together, under circumstances of great brutality. The crime is, however, concealed, and the Moor is finally betrayed by his accomplice. Mr. Dunlop, in his 'History of Fiction,' has pointed out the material differences between the novel and the tragedy. He adds, "In all these important variations, Shakspere has improved on his original. In a few other particulars he has deviated from it with less judgment; in most respects he has adhered with close imitation. The characters of Iago, Desdemona, and Cassio, are taken from Cinthio with scarcely a shade of difference. The obscure hints and various artifices of the villain to raise suspicion in the Moor are the same in the novel and the drama." M. Guizot, with the eye of real criticism, has seen somewhat further than Mr. Dunlop : "There was wanting in the narrative of Cinthio the poetical genius which furnished the actors-which created the individuals-which imposed upon each a figure and a character-which made us see their actions, and listen to their words-which presented their thoughts and penetrated their sentiments :--that vivifying power which summons events to arise, to progress, to expand, to be completed :-that creative breath which, breathing over the past, calls it again into being, and fills it with a present and imperishable life:- this was the power which Shakspere alone possessed, and by which, out of a forgotten novel, he has made 'Othello.'" PERSONS REPRESENTED. DUKE OF VENICE. BRABANTIO, a senator; father to Desdemona. Two other Senators. GRATIANO, brother to Brabantio. LODOVICO, kinsman to Brabantio. OTHELLO, the Moor. Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 3; sc. 4. Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2. CASSIO, lieutenant to Othello. Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 3; Act IV. sc. 1. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2. &C. 4. IAGO, ancient to Othello. Act III. Act V. sc. 1; Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 3. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. RODERIGO, a Venetian gentleman. Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 2; Act IV. sc. 2. sc. 3. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. MONTANO, Othello's predecessor in the government of Cyprus. Appears, Act II. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 2. Appears, Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 3; sc. 4. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2. BIANCA, a courtezan. Appears, Act III. sc. 4. Act IV. sc. 1. Act V. sc. 1. SCENE FOR THE FIRST ACT, IN VENICE; DURING THE REST OF THE PLAY, AT A SEA-PORT IN CYPRUS. OTHELLO. ACT I. SCENE I.-Venice. A Street. Enter RODERIGO and IAGO. Rod. Never tell me, I take it much unkindly Iago. But you 'll not hear me. If ever I did dream Of such a matter, abhor me. Rod. Thou told'st me, thou didst hold him in thy hate. Iago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city, In personal suit to make me his lieutenant, Nonsuits my mediators. For, certes, says he, a Circumstance is circumlocution. Iago does not mean to say that Othello made a long rigmarole speech to the three great ones, and then nonsuited the mediators by telling them he had already chosen his officer; but, in the spirit of calumny, he imputes to Othello that, having chosen his officer before the personal suit was made to him for lago, he suppressed the fact; evaded the mediators; and nonsuited them with a bombast cir cumstance. |