She then urges the oaths by which he had bound himself to murder Duncan, another art of sophistry by which men have sometimes deluded their consciences, and persuaded themselves that what would be criminal in others is virtuous in them; this argument Shakespeare, whose plan obliged him to make Macbeth yield, has not confuted, though he might easily have shewn that a former obligation could not be vacated by a latter: that obligations laid on us by a higher power, could not be over-ruled by obligations which we lay upon ourselves. I.vii.41 (431,1) --Whouldst thou have that, Which then esteem'st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem?] In this there seems to be no reasoning. I should read, Or _live a coward in thine own esteem_? Unless we choose rather, --_Wouldst thou_ leave _that_. I.vii.45 (431,2) Like the poor cat i' the adage?] The adage alluded to is, _The cat loves fish, but dares not wet her feet, Catus amat pisces, sed men vult tingere plantas_. I.vii.64 (432,5) Will I with wine and wassel so convince] To _convince_ is in Shakespeare to _overpower_ or _subdue_, as in this play, --_Their malady_ convinces _The great assay of art_. I.vii.67 (433,6) A limbeck only] That is, shall be only a vessel to emit _fumes_ or _vapours_. I.vii.71 (433,7) our great quell] _Quell_ is _murder_. _manquellers_ being in the old language the term for which _murderers_ is now used. II.i (434,8) _Enter Banquo, and Fleance with a torch before him_] The place is not mark'd in the old edition, nor is it easy to say where this encounter can be. It is not in the _hall_, as the editors have all supposed it, for Banquo sees the sky; it is not far from the bedchamber, as the conversation shews: it must be in the inner court of the castle, which Banquo might properly cross in his way to bed. II.i.25 (435,2) If you shall cleave to my consent, Then 'tis,/It shall make honour for you] Macbeth expressed his thought with affected obscurity; he does not mention the royalty, though he apparently has it in his mind, _If you shall cleave to my consent_, if you shall concur with me when I determine to accept the crown, _when 'tis_, when that happens which the prediction promises, _it shall make honour for you_. II.i.49 (437,6) Now o'er the one half world/Nature seems dead] That is, _over our hemisphere all action and motion seem to have ceased_. This image, which is perhaps the most striking that poetry can produce, has been adopted by Dryden in his _Conquest of Mexico_: _All things are hush'd as Nature's self lay dead, The mountains seem to nod their drowsy head; The little birds in dreams their song repeat, And sleeping flow'rs beneath the night dews sweat. Even lust and envy sleep!_ These lines, though so well known, I have transcribed, that the contrast between them and this passage of Shakespeare may be more accurately observed.