Thou marshal'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest :-I see thee still;
And on thy blade, and dudgeon, gouts of blood,
Which was not so before.-There's no such thing.

.

Let us review the conflict. Ambition, grown habitual and inveterate in the soul of Macbeth, suggests the idea of assassination. The sense of virtue, compassion, and other kindred principles, are alarmed, and oppose. His ruling passion is repulsed, but not enfeebled. Resigning himself to the hope of profiting by some future emergency, he renounces the idea of violence. A difficulty appears: it renews, rouzes, and inflames his ambition. The principles of virtue again oppose; but, by exercise and repetition, they are, for a time, enfeebled: they excite no abhorrence: and he reflects, with composure, on his design. But, in reflecting, the apprehension of danger, and the fear of retribution alarm him. He abandons his purpose; is deemed irresolute: not less innocent for not daring to execute what he dares to desire, he is charged with cowardice: impatient of the

charge, and indignant; harrassed by fear, by the consciousness of guilt, and by humanity struggling to resume her influence, he rushes headlong upon his bane.

III. We come now to consider the effects produced in the mind of Macbeth by the indulgence of the vicious passion. Invested with royalty, he has attained the summit of his desires. His ambition is completely gratified. Will he, therefore, enjoy repose ? Unmolested by anxiety and fruitless wishes, will he enjoy the happiness of his condition, and the dignity he has so dearly purchased? Or will the principles of virtue that opposed his preferment, baffled and put to shame, submit, without murmuring, to the yoke; and, unable to recal the past, acquiesce, and be silent?

All cases of internal conflict and commotion suppose vigorous and opposing principles. But principles inherent in our constitutions are seldom extirpated. Suppose them vanquished. The contending passion is gratified. A passion, when gratified, ceases to operate: it no longer exists; and

the mind is left vacant. But passions or propensities that have been suppressed by incompatible and more powerful principles, still remain in the mind; and when opposition is removed, they arise and resume their station. The profligate, hurried away by unruly appetites, plunges into every species of excess: and when his desires are sated, conscience, formerly active, but disregarded, overwhelms him with deep contrition. This state of mind continues, till the irregular appetites recover strength, solicit indulgence, and are obeyed. Regret follows: and his life is thus divided between the extravagance of illicit desire, and the despondency of repentance. In Macbeth, the amiable and congenial sentiments of humanity and compassion, a sense of duty, and a regard to the opinions of mankind, contended with ambition. Their efforts were ineffectual, but their principles were not extinguished. Formerly, they warned and intreated; but, when the deed is perpetrated, and no adversary is opposed to them, they return with violence, they accuse and condemn. Macbeth, alarmed by his feelings, now operating

without controul, reflects with astonishment on his conduct; and his soul, darkened with horror, shudders and is confounded at the atrocity of his guilt. He feels himself the object of universal hatred and indignation. Religious sentiments, formerly weak and disregarded, are now animated by his confusion; and, borrowing their complexion from his present temper, they terrify and overwhelm him. Amazed at the atrocity of his own proceedings, conscious of perfidy and injustice, and of the resentment they will excite; apprehensive, that both heaven and earth are stirred up against him, his fancy is haunted with tremendous images, and his soul distracted with remorse and terror.

I have done the deed:-Did'st thou not hear a noise?— There's one did laugh in his sleep, and one cried, Murder! That they did wake each other: I stood and heard them.One cried, God bless us! and, Amen! the other; As they had seen me with these hangman's hands Listening their fear. I could not say, Amen,

But wherefore could not I pronounce, Amen?

I had most need of blessing, and Amen

Stuck in my throat.

Methought I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more!
Macbeth doth murder sleep.-

Still it cry'd, Sleep no more! to all the house;
Glamis hath murder'd sleep; and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more.

Macbeth, elevated with high and aspiring wishes, dazzled with the glare of royalty, and instigated by keen ambition, entertains opinions bordering on impiety; and, thoughts of retribution in a future state of existence seeming to affect him slightly, he would "jump the life to come." But, having perpetrated the bloody deed, every noise appals him; and, when others prefer their orisons to heaven, he cannot say Amen.

If impelled by irregular and headstrong. passions, we not only transgress the limits of rectitude, but are guilty of heinous acts of oppression and violence, reflecting on the sentiments of mankind, and measuring them by our own, we imagine ourselves no less abhorred by the spectator, than by the sufferer. Conscious of our crimes, and apprehensive of the resentment and indignation they have necessarily excited, we dread the punishment they deserve, and endeavour