The scene which follows with her maid and the song of the Willow are equally beautiful, and shew Shakespear’s extreme power of varying the expression of passion, in all its moods and in all circumstances.
One of the finest passages in Mr. Wordsworth’s poems is that where he has given us his opinion of Desdemona:
‘Books, dreams, are each a world; and books, we know,
Are a substantial world, both pure and good,
Round which, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,
Our pastime and our happiness may grow;
· · · · ·
Matter wherein right voluble I am,
Two let me mention dearer than the rest,
The gentle lady wedded to the Moor,