Cas.  I have well approved it, sir,—­I, drunk!

Iago.  You or any man living may be drunk at a time, man.  I’ll tell you
         what you shall do.  Our general’s wife is now the general.  Confess
         yourself freely to her; importune her help to put you in your
         place again.  She is of so free, so kind, so apt, so blessed a
         disposition, she holds it a vice in her goodness not to do more
         than she is requested.  This broken joint between you and her
         husband, entreat her to splinter; and, my fortunes against any
         lay worth naming, this crack of your love shall grow stronger
         than it was before.

Cas.  You advise me well.

Iago.  I protest in the sincerity of love and honest kindness.

Cas.  I think it freely, and betimes in the morning, I will beseech
         the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me; I am desperate of my
         fortunes if they check me here.

Iago.  You are in the right.  Good night, lieutenant, I must to the watch.

Cas.  Good night, honest Iago. 
                                 Shakespeare.—­Othello, Act ii, Scene iii.

Notes.—­Iago is represented as a crafty, unscrupulous villain.  He applies for the position of lieutenant under Othello, but the latter has already appointed Cassio—­who is honest, but of a weak character—­to that position; he, however, makes Iago his ensign.  Then Iago, to revenge himself for this and other fancied wrongs, enters upon a systematic course of villainy, part of which is to bring about the intoxication of Cassio, and his consequent discharge from the lieutenancy.

The Hydra was a fabled monster of Grecian mythology, having nine heads, one of which was immortal.

Desdemona was the wife of Othello.

XC.  STARVED ROCK. (325)

Francis Parkman, 1823-1893, the son of a clergyman of the same name, was born in Boston, and graduated at Harvard University in 1844.  He spent more than twenty years in a careful study of the early French explorations and settlements in America; and he published the fruits of his labor in twelve large volumes.  Although troubled with an affection of the eyes, which sometimes wholly prevented reading or writing, his work was most carefully and successfully done.  His narratives are written in a clear and animated style, and his volumes are a rich contribution to American history. ###

The cliff called “Starved Rock,” now pointed out to travelers as the chief natural curiosity of the region, rises, steep on three sides as a castle wall, to the height of a hundred and twenty-five feet above the river.  In front, it overhangs the water that washes its base; its western brow looks down on the tops of the forest trees below; and on the east lies a wide gorge, or ravine, choked with the mingled foliage of oaks, walnuts, and elms; while in its rocky depths a little brook creeps down to mingle with the river.