_Oth._ Ay; you did wish that I would make her turn: Sir, she can turn and turn, and yet go on; And turn again. And she can weep, Sir, weep; And she’s obedient: as you say, obedient; Very obedient--proceed you in your tears--Concerning this, Sir,--oh well-painted passion!--I am commanded home--get you away, I’ll send for you anon--Sir, I obey the mandate, And will return to Venice.---- Hence, avaunt! [_Exit Desdemona._ _Othello, act 4. sc. 6._ _Æmilia._ Oh! my good Lord, I would speak a word with you. _Othello._ Yes, ’tis Æmilia--by and by--she’s dead. ’Tis like, she comes to speak of Cassio’s death; The noise was high.--Ha, no more moving? Still as the grave. Shall she come in? were’t good? I think she stirs again--No--what’s the best? If she come in, she’ll, sure, speak to my wife; My wife! my wife! What wife? I have no wife. Oh insupportable! oh heavy hour! _Othello, act 5. sc. 7._ A fourth observation is, that nature, which gave us passions, and made them extremely beneficial when moderate, intended undoubtedly that they should be subjected to the government of reason and conscience[52]. It is therefore against the order of nature, that passion in any case should take the lead in contradiction to reason and conscience. Such a state of mind is a sort of anarchy, which every one is ashamed of, and endeavours to hide or dissemble. Even love, however laudable, is attended with a conscious shame when it becomes immoderate: it is covered from the world, and disclosed only to the beloved object: Et que l’amour souvent de remors combattu Paroisse une foiblesse, et non une vertu. _Boileau, L’art poet. chant. 3. l. 101._ O, they love least that let men know their love. _Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 1. sc. 3._ Hence a capital rule in the representation of strong passions, that their genuine sentiments ought to be hid or dissembled as much as possible. And this holds in an especial manner with respect to criminal passions. One never counsels the commission of a crime in plain terms. Guilt must not appear in its native colours, even in thought: the proposal must be made by hints, and by representing the action in some favourable light. Of the propriety of sentiment upon such an occasion, Shakespear, in the _Tempest_, has given us a beautiful example. The subject is a proposal made by the usurping Duke of Milan to Sebastian, to murder his brother the King of Naples. _Antonio._---- What might Worthy Sebastian--O, what might--no more. And yet, methinks, I see it in thy face, What thou should’st be: th’occasion speaks thee, and My strong imagination sees a crown Dropping upon thy head. _Act 2. sc. 1._ There cannot be a finer picture of this sort, than that of King John soliciting Hubert to murder the young Prince Arthur.