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[153]

It raises a smile, to find that an able commentator on Shakspeare could argue, that Macbeth reckoned himself among the enemies, against whose attempts the promise of the Apparition was to defend him; and that he should not see, if there were, in reality, any inconsistency of belief here, that the fault would be chargeable on the poet's own carelessness, not on Macbeth's confusion.

The Remarks, to sum up all, would make it a reproach to Macbeth, that, when the hour of extremity presses upon him, he can find no refuge but in despair.[1]

What timidity there is in this, it is not easy to perceive. Macbeth finds

  1. Remarks, p. 68.