grace, whereas in their present difpofition they make fuch a wretched figure, that we can fcarce forget it, when Malcolm appears to affert his right at the head of an army.

The continuation of omens between Roffe and the old man seems to have little meaning unless to keep reflection in an unremitted ftate of terror; and unufual events are carried to a very ftrange pitch indeed, when Roffe afferts that he was eye-witness of Duncan's horfes eating one another.

Macduff's account that Macbeth is already named and gone to Scone to be invefted with royalty, is a great trefpafs on time, their being but twenty lines, or thereabouts, from the ftealing away of the princes, as it is properly phrased, and his account of every thing being thus fettled in confe quence of their fuppofed criminal escape.

Introducing the witches at the end of the fecond act is a very feasonable relief to a feeling mind, from the painful weight of horror which some preceding scenes must have laid upon it; and, in fuitable mufic, they continue the story predictively as a kind of chorus; their rejoicing in the mischief already done, and that which yet lies in the womb of time, fhews a difpofition worthy fuch agents as the fubordinate fiends of darkness.

Banquo's reflections, with which the third act begins, are well adapted to the circumstances; and and his doubts of Macbeth's elevation by honourable means, natural; as is also his adverting to the prophecy in favour of his own pofterity; the new king's fresh profeffions of friendship to, and hofpi

2

table

table invitation of his former colleague and friend, fix, if poffible, a deeper ftamp of bafenefs on his character; but at the fame time exhibit strength of policy; and the fucceding foliloquy points out, nervously, motives for a fresh instance of barbarity; the firm untainted dignity of Banquo's nature, joined to the prediction of his childrens fucceffion to the throne, are ftrong motives of jealousy to rouse the blood-stained ufurper's unrelent ing difpofition, which takes the fure, though meaneft method of removing his fears, by affaffination:

In respect of Macbeth's fcene with the murderers, I apprehend he ufes too much circumlocution, especially as we perceive, by what he says at their entrance, that thofe ruffians have been made acquainted with a main part of the affair, Banquo's oppreflion of them; being poffeffed of this, does it not feem more natural, that the tyrant would after this line, "We are men, my "liege," immediately come to, "Both of you "know, Banquo is your enemy;" than run into the uneffential, digreffive, though just comparison of men and dogs? I know it may be urged, that murtherous intentions are communicated with flow and jealous caution; this is undoubtedly the cafe in particular characters and circumstances.-It is masterly to make king John wind about the difpofition of Hubert gradually, he being a person of fome confideration and doubtful principles; but for Macbeth to expatiate fo much at large, with fuch fellows as he feems to pick out, appears a waste of

words;

words; had there been any paffage to indulge the author's fancy, or to favour the performer's action and utterance, then a little fuperfluity would stand particularly excufeable with an audience; and find fome indulgence even from a critical reader; as the fcene ftands, I have ever obferved it to pall in reprefentation.

What fucceeds between Macbeth and his lady is well adapted to their unavoidable perturbation; but would have fallen in better as a continuation, than making two diftinct fcenes; Macbeth's exit, after the murtherers have left him is fuperfluous; every thing he advances, in this fhort conference, fhews a ftriking, poetical, yet natural picture of mental gloom and heart-felt agony; his invocation of night, and defcription of its folemn approach, are pleafing effufions of genius.

The scene of the murtherers, Banquo's fall, and Fleance's efcape, is partly trifling, partly fhock ing, and feidom fails of proving laughable; I wish fomething better had been fubftituted, and the circumftance referred to a relation of it by the murtherer, I could alfo wifh, that decorum had not suffered by fuch a ragamuffin's entrance into a room of ftate, amidst the whole court; I apprehend no neceffity for this, and am therefore induced to blame it.

Confidering the place, hurry of fpirits, &c. I am bold to cenfure all the following speech, except the first hemiftich, and the laft, marked in Italics; they are much certainly as any man, so situated, would

would have faid, therefore what comes between is furperflous.

Then comes my fit again—(I had elfe been perfect,
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,
As free and general as the cafing air;

But now I'm cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd, bound in To faucy doubts and fears.)-But Banquo's fafe. Had the affair been communicated in a proper place, the disappointed ufurper might have thrown out much more extended, fpirited remarks on the ill-boding failure of his foremost wifh; reproaches on the murtherer for executing his charge imperfectly; execrations against fortune, for throwing any painful rubs in his way; with other matters which might have been fuggefted, would have added much, at leaft to the acting merit of his character.

Banquo's ghost, which, without being too ludicrous, we may call the raw-head-and-bloody-bones of tragedy, is nevertheless well introduced to throw Macbeth into thofe violent agitations which nature muft feel, and fuch as furnifh extenfive powers an almoft unlimited fcope to fhew themselves; the ' words of both Macbeth and his lady are beautifully applicable through the whole fcene, which concludes, fo far as the ghoft is concerned, with as forceable a climax of impaffioned terror as ever any author penned; the reflections which follow, in the conclufive part of the fcene, are such as naturally arife from the fubject, and are nervously expreffed; Macbeth's determination to confult the witches, plainly indicates the agitation and weak

nefs

nefs of a guilty heart and a fuperftitious head; I fhould be glad to know how he is fo well acquainted with their places of rendezvous, as to know exactly the spot of confultation.

The witches receive, in the following fcene, a fharp rebuke from their fuperior, Hecate, for dealing in any mischief which did not originally fpring from her; the delivers herself in a fanciful stile, and opens with propriety their business at the pit of

Acheron.

That remarkable incantation, which begins the fourth act; the mysterious ceremony practised; the emblematic ingredients collected for enchantment, and the arrangement of them, fhew a more peculiar luxuriance of fancy than any other author ever compacted into fuch narrow bounds; the mufic also, as in two former fcenes, has a very just and pleafing effect.

Macbeth's mode of addreffing the witches feems too much of the compulfive; influenced by, and giving credit to fuch beings, we may naturally enough suppose his approach would have been in a milder ftrain; however, he brings to view a number of striking images refpecting their power.

A number of ftrange, indeed very strange apparitions, or fucking ghofts, prefent themselves, and deliver flattering, dubitable predictions, well calculated to mislead credulity; and Macbeth's eagerly catching at the moft favourable interpretation, fhews coward confcience, like a drowning man, catching at every broken reed for fupport; the long train of shades, representing the fucceffion of royalty,