[155]
And to be baited with the rabble's curse.
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last: Before my body
I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff,
And damn'd be him that first cries,—Hold, enough.[1]
Mr. Steevens allows that, driven to extremity, Macbeth "very naturally prefers a manly and violent death, to a shameful and lingering termination of life."
Shakspeare, vol. x. p. 297.
True; he does so: but such a preference would not be very natural to him, if he were a coward.
- ↑ Macbeth, Act v. Sc 7.
