shakspeare's writings. 33 



greatness ; but had not sufficient firmness even to 

 be master of his own house. In the same weakness 

 his superstition thrived. What with witchcraft and 

 curtain lectures, his "functions became smothered 

 in surmise/' and in a moment of the brain's intox- 

 ication, he ruins his peace for ever. In contemplating 

 the enormity of his transgression, hope withers in 

 his hold, and he scorns to adopt the insignificant 

 palliative of his wife's persuasive influence : here, 

 at least, he is magnanimous in guilt ! Where he 

 might with justice upbraid his seducer, he takes 

 upon himself the full odium, and is not less at war 

 with his own feelings than with his armed opponents. 

 His courage now becomes sheer recklessness. He 

 feels, as it were, " tied to a stake" — unable to " fly " 

 — but, " bear-hke," obhged to " fight the course." 

 Still is he mindful of the witches ; but, at length, 

 convinced of their deceptive "jngghng." He can 

 fall by " no man of woman born" — but Macduff was 

 "from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd." — 

 " Cowed," for a moment, he declines to fight, till 

 the idea of being publicly exhibited as " the show 

 and gaze o' the time" once more renews his energies ; 

 and — in an onset of maddened desperation, he dies ! 

 If we rejoice at his fall, it is not less in consideration 

 of his escape from the tyranny of superstition and 

 the dreadful lash of remorse, than in regard to the 

 accomplished ends of Justice. He has, long before 

 death, acted as a sufficient warning to people weak 

 and conscientious as himself; nor need we imagine 

 any subsequent punishment exceeding the purgatory 

 of his regal days. Many, like Macbeth, are too 

 insecure as to their faith in eternal punishment after 

 death, to be deterred by the thought of that alone. 

 Could their deed of guilt 



"trammel up the consequence and catch 



With its surcease, success ; that but this one blow 

 Might be the be-all and the end-all here, 

 But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, 



They ^^ jump the life to come. 



VQi,. V. — 1835. E 



