well acquainted (through literal translations) not only with the text, but also with the notes and comments of our leading critics.  In speaking of the part in which he is altogether unrivaled he said, “I am of opinion that Shakespeare intended Othello to be a Moor of Barbary or some other part of Northern Africa, of whom there were many in Italy during the sixteenth century.  I have met several, and think I imitate their ways and manners pretty well.  You are aware, however, that the historical Othello was not a black at all.  He was a white man, and a Venetian general named Mora.  His history resembles that of Shakespeare’s hero in many particulars.  Giraldo Cinthio, probably for better effect, made out of the name Mora, moro, a blackamoor; and Shakespeare, unacquainted with the true story, followed this old novelist’s lead; and it was well he did so, for have we not in consequence the most perfect delineation of the peculiarities of Moorish temperament ever conceived?” The costumes worn by Salvini in this play are copied from those depicted in certain Venetian pictures of the fifteenth century in which several Moorish officers appear.  It took him many years to master this role, and he assured me he could not play it more than three times in succession without experiencing terrible fatigue.  “It is a matter of wonder to me,” he observed, “that English actors can play a great character like this so many nights in succession; and, above all, that they retain self-possession whilst the fidgety noise of scene-shifting is going on behind them.  To avoid this, I have been obliged to cut Othello into six acts, and to make many changes in Hamlet.”  The intensity of feeling with which he throws himself into the part he is representing was especially evident on the occasion of his playing Saul.  After the performance I was invited to go behind the scenes to speak with him, and was surprised as well as pained to find him utterly exhausted.  I could not help saying, “How can you exert yourself thus to please so few people?” There were scarcely four hundred persons assembled to see this sublime performance.  He answered with honest simplicity, “They have paid their money, and are entitled to the best I can do for them; besides that, when I am on the stage I forget the world and all that is in it, and live the character I represent.”  “You will,” said I, “make a grand Lear.”  “Yes,” he replied, “I think I shall be able to make something out of the old king.  I have been reading the tragedy for some time, but it will still take me two years to study it thoroughly.”

Salvini related to me several anecdotes which show how quick he is to master any difficulties accident throws in his way.  “Once I bought,” he said, “a play of a poor young writer which I thought I could make something of; but when we came to rehearse it for the last time before representation, it seemed to me utterly flat and unprofitable.  The piece was called La Suonatrice d’Arpa