‹ MACBETH AND RICHARD.,

77

violence of his Fate, and staggering under the weight of his own purposes," he strikingly observes,

"This part of his character is admirably set off by being brought in connection with that of Lady Macbeth, whose obdurate strength of will and masculine firmness give her the ascendancy over her husband's faltering virtue. She at once seizes on the opportunity that offers for the accomplishment of their wished-for greatness; and never flinches from her object till all is over. The magnitude of her resolution almost covers the magnitude of her guilt. She is a great bad woman, whom we hate, but whom we fear more than we hate. She does not excite our loathing and abhorrence like Regan and Goneril. She is only wicked to gain a great end; and is perhaps more distinguished by her commanding présence of mind, and inexorable self-will, which do not suffer her to be diverted from a bad purpose, when once formed, by weak and womanly regrets, than by the hardness of her heart or want of natural affectious."-p, 18, 19.

But the best part perhaps of this critique, is the comparison of the Macbeth with the Richard of the same author.

The leading features in the character of Macbeth are striking enough, and they form what may be thought at first only a bold, rude, Gothic outline. By comparing it with other characters of the same author we shall perceive the absolute truth and identity which is observed in the midst of the giddy whirl and rapid career of events. Thus he is as distinct a being from Richard III. as it is possible to imagine, though these two characters in common hands, and indeed in the hands of any other poet, would have been a repetition of the same general idea, more or less exaggerated For both are tyrants, usurpers, murderers, both aspiring and ambitious, both courageous, cruel, treacherous. But Richard is cruel from nature and constitution. Macbeth becomes so from accidental circumstances. Richard is from his birth deformed in body and mind, and naturally incapable of good." Macbeth is full of the milk of human kindness, is frank, sociable, generous. He is tempted to the commission of guilt by golden opportunities, by the instigations of his wife, and by prophetic warnings. Fate and metaphysical aid conspire against his virtue and his loyalty, Richard on the contrary needs no prompter; but wades through a series of crimes to the height of his ambition, from the ungovernable violence of his temper and a reckless love of mischief. He is never gay but in the prospect or in the success of his villanies : Macbeth is full of horror at the thoughts of the murder of Duncan, which he is with difficulty prevailed on to commit; and of remorse after its perpetration. Richard has no mixture of common humanity in his composition, no regard to kindred or posterity - he owns no fellowship with others; he is himself alone.' Macbeth is not destitute of feelings of sympathy, is accessible to pity, is even made in some measure the dupe of his uxoriousness; ranks the loss of friends, of the cordial love of his followers, and of his good name, among the

78

HAZLITT'S SHAKESPEARE-JULIUS CÆSAR.

--

causes which have made him weary of life; and regrets that he has ever seized the Crown by unjust means, since he cannot transmit it to his posterity. There are other decisive differences inherent in the two characters. Richard may be regarded as a man of the world, a plotting hardened knave, wholly regardless of everything but his own ends, and the means to secure them- Not so Macbeth. The superstitions of the age, the rude state of society, the local scenery and customs, all give a wildness and imaginary grandeur to his character. From the strangeness of the events that surround him, he is full of amazement and fear; and stands in doubt between the world of reality and the world of fancy. He sees sights not shown to mortal eye, and hears unearthly music. All is tumult and disorder within and without his mind; his purposes recoil upon himself, are broken and disjointed; he is the double thrall of his passions and his destiny. Richard is not a character either of imagination or pathos, but of pure self-will.. There is no conflict of opposite feelings in his breast. In the busy turbulence of his projects he never loses his self-possession, and makes use of every circumstance that happens as an instrument of his longreaching designs. In his last extremity we regard him but as a wild beast taken in the toils: But we never entirely lose our concern for Macbeth; and he calls back all our sympathy by that fine close of thoughtful melancholy. "My way of life

Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf;

And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have! But in their stead,

Curses not loud but deep; mouth-honour, breath,

Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dares not!”.

p. 26―30. In treating of the Julius Cæsar, Mr. H. extracts the following short scene, and praises it so highly, and, in our opinion, so justly, that we cannot resist the temptation of extracting it too-together with his brief commentary.

Brutus. The games are done, and Cæsar is returning.
Cassius. As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve,
And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you

What has proceeded worthy note to-day.

Brutus. I will do so; but look you, Cassius
The angry spot doth glow on Cæsar's brow,
And all the rest look like a chidden train.
Calphurnia's cheek is pale; and Cicero
Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes,
As we have seen him in the Capitol,
Being crossed in conference by some senator.
Cassius. Casca will tell us what the matter is.
Casar. Antonius

Antony. Cæsar?

SHAKESPEARE

POETICAL POLITICS.

79

Cæsar. Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.
Antony. Fear him not, Cæsar, he's not dangerous :
He is a noble Roman, and well given.

Cæsar. Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,

I do not know the man I should avoid

So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer; and he looks

Quite through the deeds of men. He loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music:
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort,
As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit,
That could be mov'd to smile at any thing.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease
Whilst they behold a greater than themselves;
And therefore are they very dangerous.

I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd
Than what I fear; for always I am Cæsar.
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,
And tell me truly what thou think'st of him."

"We know hardly any passage more expressive of the genius of Shakespeare than this. It is as if he had been actually present, had known the different characters and what they thought of one another, and had taken down what he heard and saw, their looks, words, and gestures, just as they happened."-p. 36, 37.

We may add the following as a specimen of the moral and political reflections which this author has intermixed with his criticisms.

66

Shakespeare has in this play and elsewhere shown the same penetration into political character and the springs of public events as into those of every-day life. For instance, the whole design to liberate their country fails from the generous temper and overweening confidence of Brutus in the goodness of their cause and the assistance of others. Thus it has always been. Those who mean well themselves think well of others, and fall a prey to their security. The friends of liberty trust to the professions of others, because they are themselves sincere, and endeavour to secure the public good with the least possible hurt to its enemies, who have no regard to any thing but their own unprincipled ends, and stick at nothing to accomplish them. Cassius was better cut out for a conspirator. His heart prompted his head. His habitual jealousy made him fear the worst that might happen, and his irritability of temper added to his inveteracy of purpose, and sharpened his patriotism. The mixed nature of his motives made him fitter to contend with bad men. The vices are never so well employed as in combating one another. Tyranny and servility.

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HAZLITT'S SHAKESPEARE

-CORIOLANUS.

are to be dealt with after their own fashion: otherwise, they will triumph over those who spare them, and finally pronounce their funeral panegyric, as Antony did that of Brutus.

"All the conspirators, save only he,

Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar:
He only in a general honest thought

Of common good to all, made one of them."

- p. 38, 39. The same strain is resumed in his remarks on Coriolanus.

"Shakespeare seems to have had a leaning to the arbitrary side. of the question; perhaps from some feeling of contempt for his own origin; and to have spared no occasion of baiting the rabble. What he says of them is very true: what he says of their betters is also very true; But he dwells less upon it. -The cause of the people is indeed but little calculated as a subject for poetry: it admits of rhetoric, which goes into argument and explanation, but it presents no immediate or distinct images to the mind. The imagination is an exaggerating and exclusive faculty. The understanding is a dividing and measuring faculty. The one is an aristrocatical, the other a republican faculty. The principle of poetry is a very anti-levelling principle. It aims at effect, and exists by contrast. It is every thing by excess. It puts the individual for the species, the one above the infinite many, might before right. A lion hunting a flock of sheep is a more poetical object than they; and we even take part with the lordly beast, because our vanity or some other feeling makes us dissposed to place ourselves in the situation of the strongest party. There is nothing heroical in a multitude of miserable rogues not wishing to be starved, or complaining that they are likely to be so: but when a single man comes forward to brave their cries and to make them submit to the last indignities, from mere pride and self-will, our admiration of his prowess is immediately converted into contempt for their pusillanimity. We had rather, in short, be the oppressor than the oppressed. The love of power in ourselves and the admiration of it in others are both natural to man: But the one makes him a tyrant, the other a slave."-p. 69 — 72.

There are many excellent remarks, and several fine quotations, in the discussions on Troilus and Cressida. As this is no longer an acted play, we venture to give one extract, with Mr. H.'s short observations, which perfectly express our opinion of its merits.

He

He

"It cannot be said of Shakespeare, as was said of some one, that he was 'without o'erflowing full.' He was full even to o'erflowing. gave heaped measure, running over. This was his greatest fault. was only in danger of losing distinction in his thoughts' (to borrow his own expression)

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA - HIS REDUNDANCE.

81

"There is another passage, the speech of Ulysses to Achilles, showing him the thankless nature of popularity, which has a still greater depth of moral observation and richness of illustration than the former."

Ulysses. Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,
Wherein he puts alms for Oblivion:

A great-sized monster of ingratitudes;
Those scraps are good deeds past;

Which are devoured as fast as they are made,
Forgot as soon as done: Persev rance, dear my lord,
Keeps Honour bright: to have done, is to hang
Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail

In monumental mockery. Take the instant way;
For Honcur travels in a strait so narrow,
That one but goes abreast; keep then the path,
For Emulation hath a thousand sons.

That one by one pursue; if you give way,
Or hedge aside from the direct forth-right,
Like to an entered tide they all rush by,
And leave you hindmost;

Or, like a gallant horse fall'n in first rank,

O'er-run and trampled on: then what do they in present,
Tho' less than yours in past, must o'ertop yours:
For Time is like a fashionable host,

That slightly shakes his parting guest by th' hand,
And with his arms outstretch'd as he would fly,
Grasps in the comer: thus Welcome ever smiles,
And Farewell goes out sighing. O, let not virtue seek
Remuneration for the thing it was; For beauty, wit,
High birth, vigour of bone, desert in service,
Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all

To envious and calumaiding time:

One touch of nature makes the wide world kun,
That all, with one consent, praise new-born gauds,
Thongh they are made and moulded of things past."

"The throng of images in the above lincs is prodigions; and though they sometimes jostle against one another, they everywhere raise and carry on the feeling, which is metaphysically true and profound."p. 65-87.

This Chapter ends with an ingenious paralell between the genius of Chaucer and that of Shakespeare, which we have not room to insert.

The following observations on Hamlet are very characteristic of Mr. H.'s manner of writing in the work now before us; in which he continually appears acute, desultory, and capricious with great occasional felicity