at a fixed determination to murder Duncan. Grant that he was so; what then? In the irresolute character of Macbeth we may be abundantly furnished with an evidence of his mental weakness, but we are not furnished, in that single circumstance alone, with any evidence whatsoever of his moral baseness. The resolution of the stern and remorseless man, who, unwavering, performs his murderous design, the reviewer might reasonably offer as an evidence of the callousness of his heart, and of the degraded condition of his moral being; but although Macbeth's irresolution is not, necessarily, inconsistent with the total depravity of his moral nature, we cannot possibly regard the existence of that depravity as logically following from the fact of his irresolution visible in his conduct at the commencement of his career. Granting, then, that the writer is correct in his hypothesis as to the party with whom the idea of assassination originated, this admission is clearly insufficient to sustain the reviewer's assertion as to the utter baseness of Macbeth's character at the commencement of the Drama; and if it be insufficient,

the reviewer, as we have before said, has merely assumed that Macbeth was so bad a man at the outset, without having advanced anything to show that he really was so.

But, it may be remarked, in answer to the foregoing observations, that although his reasoning may be illogical, the conclusion which the reviewer arrives at may, notwithstanding, be correct; that although it may be clearly illogical to infer, as the reviewer seems to have done, the utter depravity of Macbeth's nature from the single circumstance that he first conceived the idea of assassinating Duncan, still, if Macbeth's subsequent scruples were not dictated by generous impulses, if they were the offspring of prudential considerations alone, if he only wavered in his purpose because he was influenced by the most selfish apprehensions, in that case, the observation would be justifiable, that "with every motive to loyalty and to gratitude, yet his lust of power was so eager and so inordinate, as to overcome every opposing consideration of honour, principle, and feeling." But this view of the cause of that repugnance to commit the murder

which Macbeth afterwards evinced, has again the reviewer's assertion, solely, for its foundation. It is refuted, not only by Macbeth's inward struggles with his murderous thought, when he is first introduced to us, but, also, by his subsequent soliloquy, and, more particularly, by the following passage in that soliloquy :

"He's here in double trust;

First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been

So clear in his great office, that his virtues.
Will plead like Angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;"

We demand of any impartial reader of the tragedy, whether such passages as these show that it was owing, solely, to selfish considerations that Macbeth wavered in his purpose of assassination? The reviewer, we are aware, gives the above passages a very different construction from the one ordinarily adopted ;* but after having

"In all this," the reviewer remarks, 66 we trace a most clear consciousness of the impossibility that he should find of

с

assumed, at the outset, the utter depravity of Macbeth's character, we do not well see how he could avoid regarding the sentiments uttered by Macbeth both before and after the murder, as springing either from feelings entirely selfish, or from a "morbidly irritable fancy." In those bursts of passionate declamation which escape from the murderer after he has assassinated Duncan, the reviewer, who from the beginning has conceived so bad an opinion of his character, may very fairly regard Macbeth as "merely luxuriating in the most poetical view of his own atrocity." Setting out with such an impression of his moral nature, he will, of course, attribute the utterance of such passages as the following to a highly poetical imagination, rather than "to a glowing and feeling heart."

masking his guilt from the public eye-the odium which must consequently fall upon him in the opinions of menand the retribution which it would probably bring upon him." Assertion is not proof. The reviewer advances no argument at all in support of the inference which he thus draws from the soliloquy of which the above lines are a portion. It will be for us presently to show that the inference itself is erro

neous.

Macb. This is a sorry sight.

Lady M. A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.

Macb. There's one did laugh in his sleep, and one cried,

murder!

That they did wake each other; I stood and heard them;

But they did say their prayers, and addressed them
Again to sleep.

Lady M. There are two lodged together.

Macb. One cried, God bless us ! and, Amen, the other;

As they had seen me, with these hangman's hands,

Listening their fear. I could not say, Amen,

When they did say, God bless us.

Lady M. Consider it not so deeply.

Macb. But wherefore could not I pronounce, amen?

I had most need of blessing, and amen

Stuck in my throat.

Lady M. These deeds must not be thought

After these ways; so, it will make us mad.

Macb. Methought I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more!

&c.

Lady M. Why did you bring these daggers from the place?

The sleepy grooms with blood.

Macb. I'll go no more:

Go, carry them; and smear

I am afraid to think what I have done;

Look on't again I dare not.