heart
and impulse, conceived for Mainwaring. And here, indeed, was the great
crisis in Lucretia's life and destiny. So interwoven with her nature had
become the hard calculations of the understanding; so habitual to her
now was the zest for scheming, which revels in the play and vivacity of
intrigue and plot, and which Shakspeare has perhaps intended chiefly to
depict in the villany of Iago,--that it is probable Lucretia could never
become a character thoroughly amiable and honest. But with a happy and
well-placed love, her ambition might have had legitimate vents; her
restless energies, the woman's natural field in sympathies for another.
The heart, once opened, softens by use; gradually and unconsciously
the interchange of affection, the companionship with an upright and
ingenuous mind (for virtue is not only beautiful, it is contagious),
might have had their redeeming and hallowing influence. Happier, indeed,
had it been, if her choice had fallen upon a more commanding and lofty
nature! But perhaps it was the very meekness and susceptibility of
Mainwaring's temper, relieved from feebleness by his talents, which,
once in play, were undeniably great, that pleased her by contrast with
her own hardness of spirit and despotism of will.

That Sir Miles should have been blind to the position of the lovers is
less disparaging to his penetration than it may appear; for the very
imprudence with which Lucretia abandoned herself to the society of
Mainwaring during his visits at Laughton took a resemblance to candour.
Sir Miles knew his niece to be more than commonly clever and well
informed; that she, like him, should feel that the conversation of a
superior young man was a relief to the ordinary babble of their country
neighbours, was natural enough; and if now and then a doubt, a fear, had
crossed his mind and rendered him more touched than he liked to own by
Vernon's remarks, it had vanished upon perceiving that Lucretia never
seemed a shade more pensive in Mainwaring's absence. The listlessness
and the melancholy which are apt to accompany love, especially where
unpropitiously placed, were not visible on the surface of this strong
nature. In truth, once assured that Mainwaring returned her affection,
Lucretia reposed on the future with a calm and resolute confidence; and
her customary dissimulation closed like an unruffled sea over all the
undercurrents that met and played below. Still, Sir Miles's attention
once, however s