effect upon the mind of an imaginative reader as that described by Mrs. Siddons, it would not be the great work of art which it really is. If our poet had resolved, using the words of his own 'Othello,' to "abandon all remorse, On horror's head horrors accumulate," the midnight terrors, such as Mrs. Siddons has described, would have indeed been a tribute to power,-but not to the power which has produced Macbeth.' The paroxysm of fear, the panic-struck fancy, the prostrated senses, so beautifully described by this impassioned actress, were the result of the intensity with which she had fixed her mind upon that part of the play which she was herself to act. In the endeavour to get the words into her head her own fine genius was naturally kindled to behold a complete vision of the wonderful scene. Again, and again, were the words repeated, on that night which she could never forget,-in the silence of that night when all about her were sleeping. And then she heard the owl shriek, amidst the hurried steps in the fatal chamber, and she saw the bloody hands of the assassin,-and, personifying the murderess, she rushed to dip her own hands in the gore of Duncan. It is perfectly evident that this intensity of conception has carried the horrors far beyond the limits of pleasurable emotion, and has produced all the terrors of a real murder. No reader of the play, and no spectator, can regard this play as Mrs. Siddons regarded it. On that night she, probably for the first time, had a strong though imperfect vision of the character of Lady Macbeth, such as she afterwards delineated it; and in that case, what to all of us must, under any circumstances, be a work of art, however glorious, was to her almost a reality. It was the isolation of the scene, demanded by her own attempt to conceive the character of Lady Macbeth, which made it so terrible to Mrs. Siddons. The reader has to regard it as a part of a great whole, which combines and harmonises with all around it; for which he is adequately prepared by what has gone before; and which,-even if we look at it as a picture which represents only that one portion of the action, has still its own repose, its own harmony of colouring, its own chiaroscuro,—is to be seen under a natural light. There was a preternatural light upon it when Mrs. Siddons saw it as she has described. The leading characteristic of this glorious tragedy is, without doubt, that which constitutes the essential difference between a work of the highest genius and a work of mediocrity. Without power-by which we here especially mean the ability to produce strong excitement by the display of scenes of horror-no poet of the highest order was ever made; but this alone does not make such a poet. If he is called upon to present such scenes, they must, even in their most striking forms, be associated with the beautiful. The pre-eminence of his art in this particular can alone prevent them affecting the imagination beyond the limits of pleasurable emotion. To keep within these limits, and yet to preserve all the energy which results from the power of dealing with the terrible apart from the beautiful, belongs to few that the world has seen: to Shakspero it belongs surpassingly.. PERSONS REPRESENTED. DUNCAN, King of Scotland. Appears, Act 1. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 6. Act II. sc. 3. Act IV. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 4; sc. 6; sc. 7. DONALBAIN, Son to Duncan. Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 6. Act II. sc. 3. MACBETH, general of the King's army. Appears, Act I. sc. 3; sc. 4; sc. 5; sc. 7. Act V. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 4. Act IV. sc. 1. sc. 3; sc. 5; sc. 7. BANQUO, general of the King's army. MACDUFF, a nobleman of Scotland. Appears, Act I. sc. 6. Act II. sc. 3; sc. 4. Act IV. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 4; sc. 6; sc. 7. LENOX, a nobleman of Scotland. Appears, Act 1. sc. 2; sc. 4; se. 6. Act II. sc. 3. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 4; sc. 6. Act IV. sc. 1. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 7. ROSSE, a nobleman of Scotland. Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 3; sc. 4; sc. 6. Act II. sc. 4. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 4. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 3; sc. 4. Act V. sc. 7. MENTETH, a nobleman of Scotland. Appears, Act V. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 7. ANGUS, a nobleman of Scotland. Appears, Act I. sc. 3; sc. 4; sc. 6. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 7. CATHNESS, a nobleman of Scotland. Appears, Act V. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 7. FLEANCE, Son to Banquo. Appears, Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 3. SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces. Appears, Act V. sc. 4; sc. 6; sc. 7. Young SIWARD, son to the Earl of Northumberland. SEYTON, an officer attending on Macbeth. Son to Macduff. An old Man. LADY MACBETH. Appears, Act I. sc. 5; sc. 6; sc. 7. Act II. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act ill. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 4. Act V. sc. 1. LADY MACDUff. Appears, Act IV. sc. 2. Gentlewoman, attending on Lady Macbeth. HECATE. Appears, Act III. sc. 5. Three Witches. Appear, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act III. sc. 5. Act IV. sc. 1. Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Attendants, and Messengers. The Ghost of Banquo, and other Apparitions. SCENE,-IN THE END OF ACT IV. IN ENGLAND; THROUGH THE REST OF THE PLAY IN SCOTLAND. MACBETH. ACT I. SCENE I.—An open Place. Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches. 1 Witch. When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain? 2 Witch. When the hurlyburly's a done, When the battle 's lost and won: 3 Witch. That will be ere the set of sun. 1 Witch. Where the place? 2 Witch. Upon the heath: 3 Witch. There to meet with Macbeth. 1 Witch. I come, Graymalkin! b All. Paddock calls:-Anon. Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air. [Witches vanish. SCENE II.-A Camp near Forres. Alarum within. Enter King DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENOX, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Soldier. Dun. What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state. a Hurlyburly. In Peacham's Garden of Eloquence,' 1577, this word is given as an example of that ornament of lan guage which consists in" a name intimating the sound of that it signifieth, as hurlyburly, for an uproar and tumultuous stir." b Graymalkin is a cat; Paddock, a toad. |