whilst Macbeth persists in recurring to the self-concerning:-- Your children shall be kings. 'Ban'. You shall be king. 'Macb'. And thane of Cawdor too: went it not so? So surely is the guilt in its germ anterior to the supposed cause, and immediate temptation! Before he can cool, the confirmation of the tempting half of the prophecy arrives, and the concatenating tendency of the imagination is fostered by the sudden coincidence:-- Glamis, and thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind. Oppose this to Banquo's simple surprise:-- What, can the devil speak true? 'Ib.' Banquo's speech:-- That, trusted home, Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, Besides the thane of Cawdor. I doubt whether 'enkindle' has not another sense than that of 'stimulating;' I mean of 'kind' and 'kin,' as when rabbits are said to 'kindle.' However Macbeth no longer hears any thing 'ab extra':-- Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme. Then in the necessity of recollecting himself-- I thank you, gentlemen. Then he relapses into himself again, and every word of his soliloquy shows the early birthdate of his guilt. He is all-powerful without strength; he wishes the end, but is irresolute as to the means; conscience distinctly warns him, and he lulls it imperfectly:-- If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me Without my stir. Lost in the prospective of his guilt, he turns round alarmed lest others may suspect what is passing in his own mind, and instantly vents the lie of ambition: My dull brain was wrought With things _forgotten_;-- And immediately after pours forth the promising courtesies of a usurper in intention:-- Kind gentlemen, your pains Are register'd where every day I turn The leaf to read them. 'Ib.' Macbeth's speech: Presents _fears_ Are less than horrible imaginings. Warburton's note, and substitution of 'feats' for 'fears.' Mercy on this most wilful ingenuity of blundering, which, nevertheless, was the very Warburton of Warburton--his inmost being! 'Fears,' here, are present fear-striking objects, 'terribilia adstantia'. 'Ib.' sc. 4. O! the affecting beauty of the death of Cawdor, and the presentimental speech of the king: There's no art To find the mind's construction in the face: He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust-- Interrupted by-- O worthiest cousin!