“‘They met me in the day of success; and I have learnt by the perfectest report they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burnt with desire to question them further, they made themselves into thin air, into which they vanished. Whilst I stood wrapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the King, who all-hailed me “Thane of Cawdor,” by which title before these sisters had saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time with “Hail, King that shall be!” This I have thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightest not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.’ “Now vaulting ambition and intrepid daring, rekindle in a moment all the splendours of her dark blue eyes. She fatally resolves that Glamis and Cawdor shall be also that which the mysterious agents of the Evil One have promised.” Lady Macbeth then gives the wonderful analysis of her husband’s character, “Yet I do fear thy nature is too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way”; proving him to be of a temper so irresolute as to require “all the efforts, all the excitement, which her uncontrollable spirit and her unbounded influence over him can perform.” “When Macbeth appears, she seems so insensible to everything but the horrible design which has probably been suggested to her by his letters, as to have entirely forgotten both the one and the other. It is very remarkable that Macbeth is frequent in expressions of tenderness to his wife, while she never betrays one symptom of affection towards him, till, in the fiery furnace of affliction, her iron heart is melted down to softness.” This was the side by which Mrs. Siddons had taken such a grasp of the character of Lady Macbeth. It was by bringing into prominence this softer side of her character that, while thrilling her audience with horror, she at the same time brought tears to their eyes with an immense awe-struck pity. She always held their interest by the human touches which she brought into as much prominence as possible. Alluding to the lines:— I have given suck, and know How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me,