A foolish libel on Shakspeare. Was he the man to make the character of an ungrateful traitor, murderer, usurper, and tyrant, interesting by sublime flashes of generosity, magnanimity, courage, and tenderness, and--do I repeat the words correctly?--of every exalted quality that can dignify and adorn the human mind. NORTH. Buller--keep up that face--you are positively beautiful-- BULLER. No quizzing--I am ugly--but I have a good figure--look at that leg, sir! NORTH. I prefer the other. TALBOYS. There have been Poets among us who fain would--if they could--have so violated nature; but their fabrications have been felt to be falsehoods--and no quackery may resuscitate drowned lies. NORTH. Shakspeare nowhere insists on the virtues of Macbeth--he leaves their measure indeterminate. That the villain may have had some good points we are all willing to believe--few people are without them;--nor have I any quarrel with those who believe he had high qualities, and is corrupted by ambition. But what high qualities had he shown before Shakspeare sets him personally before us to judge for ourselves? Valour--courage--intrepidity--call it what you will--Martial Virtue-- "For brave Macbeth, (well he deserves that name,) Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, Which smoked with bloody execution Like valour's minion, Carved out his passage till he faced the slave; And ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, And fixed his head upon our battlements." The "bleeding Serjeant" pursues his panegyric till he grows faint--and is led off speechless; others take it up--and we are thus--and in other ways--prepared to look on Macbeth as a paragon of bravery, loyalty, and patriotism. TALBOYS. So had seemed Cawdor. NORTH. Good. Shakspeare sets Macbeth before us under the most imposing circumstances of a warlike age; but of his inner character as yet he has told us nothing--we are to find that out for ourselves during the Drama. If there be sublime flashes of generosity, magnanimity, and every exalted virtue, we have eyes to see, unless indeed blinded by the lightning--and if the sublime flashes be frequent, and the struggle of every exalted quality that can adorn the human mind, though ineffectual, yet strong--why, then, we must not only pity and forgive, but admire and love the "traitor, murderer, usurper, and tyrant," with all the poetical and philosophical fervour of that amiable enthusiast, Mr Payne Knight. BULLER. Somehow or other I cannot help having an affection for Macbeth. NORTH. You had better leave the Tent, sir. BULLER. No. I won't. NORTH Give us then, my dear Buller, your Theory of the Thane's character. BULLER.