and not from selfish considerations, that Macbeth at this time wavers in his purpose, surely to the same moral repugnance to commit the crime he has conceived, must we attribute the hesitation which he had previously displayed during his first interview with his wife.

But let us now meet the reviewer on his own grounds; and, for the sake of argument, we will grant that it was his selfish apprehensions alone which elicited from Macbeth the doubts expressed in the soliloquy referred to. We shall now show that this admission necessarily involves the most absurd suppositions. The reviewer observes that Macbeth “does not consult his lady as to the formation of his purposes-he is too selfish and too headstrong for that; he simply uses her moral courage, as he seeks to use all other things, as an indispensable instrument to stay his own faltering steps, and urge on his hesitating march towards the attainment of a purpose already formed.

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'Thus, the most remarkable of these fond appeals to his lady for moral support, bursts from • him at the moment when he comes to announce

to her the sudden arrival of the wished-for opportunity of executing their grand and long-meditated design :

'My dearest love,

Duncan comes here to-night.'

The reviewer argues that in these words Macbeth's selfish pusillanimity "is simply seeking to cast upon his wife the burden of the final decision as to the act of murder. When to her 'And when goes hence?'

own suggestive query, 'And when

he answers, 'To-morrow-as he purposes,' is it not most clear that, still avoiding an explicit declaration of his immediate wish, he persists in urging the first utterance of it from her own lips :

:

Oh, never

Shall sun that morrow see!

Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters; -To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,

Your hand, your tongue; look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it. He that's coming

Must be provided for; and you shall put

This night's great business into my despatch,

Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom !'

"This is exactly what her husband has been looking for; she has now taken the actual effort and immediate responsibility of the deed upon herself. Nevertheless, the selfishly covetous and murderous coward still affects to hesitate

'We will speak further.'

She knows his meaning, and rejoins

'Only look up clear;

To alter favour ever is to fear:
Leave all the rest to me!'

And to her, well understanding her intention, Macbeth is well pleased so to leave it.”

Now we can readily understand that a man who has resolved upon the commission of a murder may, nevertheless, from the utter selfishness of his nature and the pusillanimity of his mind, feel desirous that the proposal of assassination should emanate from another. Thus we can understand that Macbeth, if his nature be as selfish as the reviewer has represented it to be, may desire "to cast upon his wife the burden of the

final decision as to the act of murder." But now, observe, assuming this view of the hero's character, how strong must be Macbeth's selfish fears,-how keen must be his sense of the possibility of failure, how great his dread of the consequences of detection, when, although his purpose is already formed, and the moral support to which he appeals furnished him,—although he has deliberately elicited from his wife the distinct declaration that the deed of horror shall be consummated,-we still find him hesitating to carry his design into execution. It is not true the reviewer's assertion-that Macbeth affects to hesitate; whatever may be the motives of his hesitation, it is unfeigned.

Is it, then, conceivable that Macbeth, with his earnest desire to obtain possession of the crown, while from the realization of his most cherished project he is withheld only by his fears,—is it conceivable that he would not, during his first interview with his wife, state distinctly the grounds of his hesitation,—and, subsequently, after his delivery of the soliloquy, "If it were done," would he affect sentiments of justice and

of honour which he cannot feel, and which in his own mind he must be thoroughly convinced that lady Macbeth will only listen to with scorn, as motives to deter them from the commission of the murder? According to the reviewer's notion of his character, Macbeth is in reality remorseless; he does not at any time relent from the purpose he has formed, but is merely deficient in the nerve requisite for its execution. Lady Macbeth herself is prepared to carry into effect her murderous intention. Macbeth, weak, and irresolute, looks to and relies upon his wife to sustain him in the existing emergency. Is it, then, conceivable, that he would urge, as arguments for laying aside his purpose, considerations of loyalty and honour, with which his own remorseless nature, and the resolute character of his lady, can have no possible sympathy, and that he would refrain from urging his own strongly-felt doubts as to the success of their undertaking, which, although the suggestions of a cowardly imagination, are, nevertheless, plausible, and worthy of a fair consideration, because "the attempt without the deed confounds them?”