278 THE MARTLET. 



Smells wooingly here ; no jutty, frieze, 



Buttress, nor coigne of vantage, but this bird 



Hath made his pendant bed and procreant cradle. 



Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ'd, 



The air is delicate." 



Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 6. 



Sir Joshua Reynolds was struck with the beauty of this 

 brief colloquy before the castle of Macbeth, and he ob- 

 serves on it : — "This short dialogue between Duncan and 

 Banquo, while they are approaching the gates of Mac- 

 beth's castle, has always appeared to me a striking 

 instance of what, in painting, is termed ' repose.' Their 

 conversation very naturally turns upon the beauties of its 

 situation, and the pleasantness of the air ; and Banquo, 

 observing the martlets' nests in every recess of the cornice, 

 remarks that where these birds most breed and haunt, 

 the air is delicate. The subject of this quiet and easy 

 conversation gives that repose so necessary to the mind 

 after the tumultuous bustle of the preceding scenes, and 

 perfectly contrasts the scene of horror that immediately 

 succeeds." 



The bird is mentioned again in the Merchant of Venice, 

 where we are reminded that — 



" The martlet 

 Builds in the weather on the outward wall, 

 Even in the force and road of casualty." 



Merchant of Venice, Act ii. Sc. 9. 



