like paffions? So that he fully answers "that "end, which both at the first and now, was " and is, to hold as 'twere the mirrour up to to fhew virtue her own feature, "fcorn her own image, and the very age and "nature; "body of the time his form and pressure.' Let us fuppofe Shakespeare has a mind to paint the fatal effects of ambition. For this purpose he makes choice of a hero, well known from the British chronicles, and as the story had a particular relation to the king then reigning, 'twas an interefting ftory; and though full of machinery, yet probable, because the wonderful tales there related were not only mention'd in hiftory, but vulgarly believed. This hero had conduct and courage, and was univerfally 2 1 Hamlet, A& III. he seems to have had in his mind what Donatus in his life of Terence cites from Cicero, Comoedia eft imitatio vitae, fpeculum confuetudinis, image veritatis. 2 For 'tis probable sometimes that things should happen contrary to probability. "Ωσπερ γὰς Αγάθων λέξει, εἰκὸς γίνεσθαι πολλὰ καὶ παρὰ τὸ εἰκός. So the place fhould be corre&ted. Ariftot. περὶ ποιητ. κεφ. ιη. See his rhetoric, 1. 2. c. 24. Poetry, whether epic or dramatic, is founded on probability, and admits rather a probable lye, than an improbable truth. It proposes to fhew, not what a person did say or act, but what 'tis probable ought to have been faid or acted upon that or the like occafion. So that poetry is of a philosophical nature, much more than history. See Ariftot. xɛp. D'. courted 3 courted and carefs'd; but his master-paffion was ambition. What pity, that fuch a one should fall off from the ways of virtue ! It happened that he and his friend, (from whom defcended the Stewart family) one day, travelling thro' a foreft, met three witches, who foretold his future royalty. This struck his ambitious fancy; crowns, fceptres and titles danced before his dazled eyes, and all his vifionary dreams of happiness are to be compleated in the poffeffion of a kingdom. The prediction of the witches he 3 Maccabaeo Banquhonique Forres (ubi tum rex agebat) proficifcentibus, ac in itinere lufus gratiâ per campos fylvafque errantibus, medio repente campo tres apparuere muliebri fpecie, infolita veftitus facie ad ipfos accedentes : quas cum appropinquantes diligentius intuerentur admirarenturque, Salve, inquit prima, Maccabaee Thane Glammis (nam eum magiftratum defuncto paulo ante patre Synels acceperat) Altera verò, falve, inquit, Caldariae Thane. At tertia, falve, inquit, Maccabaee olim Scotorum rex future. Hect. Boeth. Scot. hift. Lib. 12. And afterwards he adds, Parcas aut nymphas aliquas fatidicas diabolico aftu praeditas. Which Holingshed, in his hift. of Scotland, p. 171. renders, Thefe women were either the weird fifters, that is, as ye would say, the goddeffes of deftinie, or else fome nymphs or feiries. And the old Scotish chron. fol. c. LXXIII. Be aventure Makbeth and Banquho wer passand to Forcs, quhair king Duncane hapnit to be for the tyme, and met be ye gait thre women clothit in elrage and uncouth weid. They qwer he makes known by letter to his wife, who, ten times prouder than himself, knew there was one speedy and certain way to the crown, by treafon and murder. This pitch of 5 cruelty a human ver jugit be the pepill to be weird fifteris. From the AngloSax. wyrd, fatum, comes, weïrd fifters, parcae. So Douglass in his tranflation of Virgil, Aen. III. Scire. Prohibent nam caetera parcae The weird fifteris defendis that fuld be wit. And hence comes wizard. Buchanan rer. Scot. L. 7. gives the story a more historical turn. Macbethus qui conJobrini ignavia femper Spretâ regni fpem occultam in animo alebat, creditur fomno quodam ad eam confirmatus. Quadam enim nocte, cum longiufcule abeffet à rege, vifus eft fibi tres feminas forma auguftiore quàm humana vidiffe; quarum una Angufiae thanum, altera Moraviae, tertia regem eum falutaffet. 4 Inftigabat quoque uxor ejus cupida nominis regii, impotentiffimaque morae ut eft mulierum genus proclive ad rem aliquam concipiendam, & ubi conceperint nimio affectu profequendam. Hector Boeth. Scot. hift. L. 12. p. 249. Animus etiam per fe ferox, prope quotidianis convitiis uxoris (quae omnium confiliorum ei erat confcia) stimulabatur. Buch. rer. Scot. 1. 7. 5 Sophocles is blamed by Ariftotle for drawing Hemon cruel without neceffity. Perhaps Ariftotle's remark will appear over refined, if it be confidered what a small circumftance this intended cruelty of Hemon's is in the play; and human creature may be work'd up to, who is prompted by felf-love, (that narrow circle of love, beginning and ending in itself,) and by ambitious views. Befide cruelty is most notorious in weak and womanifh natures. As 'twas 6 cuftomary for the king to vifit his nobles, he came one day to our hero's castle at Inverness; where time and place confpiring, he is murdered; and thus the fo much defired crown is obtained. Who does not fee that had Shakespeare broken off the ftory here, it would have been incomplete? For his defign being to fhew the effects of ambition, and having made choice of one paffion, of one hero, he is to carry it throughout in all its confequences. I mentioned above that the story was interefting, as a British story; and 'tis equally fo, as Macbeth, the hero of the tragedy, is drawn a man, not a monster; a man of virtue, 'till he hearkened to the lures and that Creon, Hemon's father, had put to death his fon's espoused wife, Antigone. No wonder therefore the fon fhould draw his fword, furprized as he was, against his father, and afterwards plunge it in his own breast. The cruelty of Hemon, as well as this of Macbeth's wife, fcem to have both neceffity and paffion. 6 Inerat ei [Duncano] laudabilis confuetudo, regni pertranfire regiones femel in anno, &c. Johan. de Fordun Scotichron. 1. 4. c. 44. Singulis annis ad inopum querelas audiendas perluftrabat provincias. Buchan, rer. Scot. 1. 7. of 31 of ambition: then how is his mind agitated and convulfed, now virtue, now vice prevailing ; 'till reafon, as is ufual, gives way to inclination. And how beautifully, from fuch a wavering character, does the poet let you into the knowledge of the fecret fprings and motives of human actions? In the foliloquy before the murder, all the aggravating circumftances attending fuch a horrid deed, appear in their full view before him. He's bere in double truft: Firft as I am his kinsman and his fubject, 7 A stronger reason against the murder than any other. Hospitality was always facred. This is according to antiquity. Homer, Od. . 55. Ξεῖν ἔ μοι θέμις ἔσ ̓ ἐδ ̓ εἰ κακίων σέθεν ἔλθοι, Ξεῖνον ἀτιμῆσαι· πρὸς γὰς Δίος εἰσιν ἅπανίες Hence among the Greeks, Zivs E, and the Latins, Jupiter hofpitibus nam te dare jura loquuntur. 'Tis very fine in Shakespeare to give this caft of antiquity to his poem; whatever the inhofpitable character of our island-nation happens to be. When |