New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-04-03

sraDgled for the purpose be at introduced it in
the play
| Finrsr Of birth<tr.nssd babe,
Ditehdehyeid By disb'
In weaving q spell which would inc.e to crime, it
the theory that ingredients only of the most hor
rid character must be mingled in the csuldron and
that none others could effec. the charm. No fingers
would avail Blu, thcse Of babe sIapgled a, it, BIRTH
no grease but iha. which drpped from the murderers
gibbet, and no sow's blood but tbs, which cane
from one who had unnaturslly devoured her own
farow. But II Shakspere possessed the weaknesses
Of servility 1. ia almost well it hiss been so his
genius would make us believe he something more
than man. With wha, exquisite deligh, be seems to
revel in the condolences which the supersttions Of
the beautiful mountains OF Scotland and Ireland fur
nished for the lamentations Of his witches Where he
says thrice the brindled cat has wed he refers
to the belief popular in Ireland that spirits appear
in the form Of cats. In Toulouse, TOO, a man
happened at the time to be found d" With great
toad shut in a vial, ami was arrested for witch
craft This shakspere OF once seizes and refers to
fllet Of fepny snake" &c. Every line, 10 fact,
il built On en- incident or superstition of the day.
This and the known veray ofthe lady sorcsre;ses OF
the time gave to the whole form aud fashion Of Mac
beth an cir of charming interest and reality. Dreamy
natures in those times and in ours the imag Of
Iriah Luses have invested witches with mysterious
awe but in truibhey were like their modern sisters,
plain practical, worldly women who drove rather
profitable business, and turned their little abilities
and the big folies of their neghbors to good ount
They, too, had their mysterious noises and communng
with spirits who had passed away; the only distine
ton between the two being, that those Of Mae
betbs time held their seances on the blasted
heath instead Of in Broadway, with
U.s. AT first, as long az the witches could
make anything ofMacbetb who was patron OF their
science end to whom they looked for protection in
their trade, they smiled and fsttered but the mo.
ment he grew overbenriog and beyond the reach of
their arts Hecates keen eye detects the change and
the favoriDg charm was changed 10 one of horrid
sorcery. But to SHAKESPEARE il must have been hard
ard trying task to waste so much genius upon this
play without having its grossness relieved by the
presence Of one true woman. II was battle Of the
cunning brain with the deep heart it was Jacob
wrestling with the angel. Lsdy Macbeth was ar
exception TO sll of Shakspere's women. In her We
gaze on the terrible picture of thoroughly
proud and cruel woman, on whose heart
the huge passion Of ambition has seized and with
gisnt clutch hurled forth those gentle and lovely
attributes to which nature has given there so beau
full home. As in all such women, the unnaturalness
lis fire more fierce than that of man. She does not
Ike him, exercise judgment and reason, which in
man may raise the obstacle of caution where con-
science would peed in vain. She does no. feel like
woman she does not think like Like fallen
angel she is cast out from Heaven, aui has rot the
qualities of Earth. She has ceased to be woman.
Without heart, soul or conscience, she has but
o1e orgsn-the will and that gathers her whole
being in it's grasp. II, instead of one Duncan,
ten thousand Dsncans had stood acrofs
the path of that huge will, she would have
tranpled on ten thousand as one, without pang
OF emotion or visitation OF remorse. No one can
scale the terrific hight Of wickedness to which bad
woman bounds. So has il ever been in history.
From Maria de Medeci TO Maria Manning, where
man hes faltered, the little white hand, ruth the
STRENGTH of reakness hes stirred the poison or sent
the death blow home.
Macbeth Was an ambitious animal And OF all am
bilious spimss an ambitious Scotchman is the mean
est most pIoddipg and most selfish. But the mean
less is work. ed out With segacty 30 keen, the plod
ding scheme crawls so stesily into bold success
and Tie selfish plotter looks 80 demure and staid and
copfronts men and things with 30 imPenetrable
panopoly Of deep philosophy, that he makes the con-
Gu sst OF his plans more matter OF sheer blind
chance than of the cunning lay of wires which has
produced it. There are mulitudes of brave,
noble men from Scotland But Shen bad,
they ususlly stand out after Shaksperes picture,
az quaint types of wha. a wretched wreck craft
and AMBITION can make of humanlty
when tie monster pasiions settle in the bosom OF
strong powerful frame of man, knit in the brscing
air of Scotland. Add to such character the coarse
brutality, the superstition and recklessness of blood,
of the Eleventh Century when Scotland was wholly
removed from the refining influences OF civilization,
ard Macbeth rises up before you. What Is termed
in our time, " mean, Flooding, and ambitious, was,
in that age, represented by pluncer, poison and MUIR
der. The metaphy steal distinction which the inter-
val Of 700 wears has worked out and which has cast
its radiance Of sophistry on what is called law and
Justice did not exist then But yet, with all the
crudeness Of his age there ia Scotch witness about
the man. which locks as it, while talking for decen-
cy's sake of his conscience, he was in sober
reality, steadily bent laying up arguments
for obtaining from his mind a verdict Of mot
guilty" on the plea that the witche, had produced
alteration of intellect, and On the evidence OF his
wife that before he was placed under the influence OF
their spel he was hind and gentle soldier.
This singular creation OF Scotch warrior, With
90 much that is bad and weak, and so little OF
what is good and manly, is nodded by Shaksperss
plastic hand into many varying hades and forms.
First We have the warro. returning from the held
Of battle, his ambition evidently stirred by the
triumph he has already won, and by dreamy vision
of what he may yet win floating mistily around him.
Next we see the vision under the influence OF Witch
craft stealing into shape, conscience, or at all
events its shrewd counterfeit, sill battling