self. The heart was rich;
But, questioned, she had rather let
Men judge her conscious of a debt
Than freely giving: thus, her speech
Is love according to her bond.

In France the queen Cordelia had
Her hours well satisfied with love:
She loved her king, too, and was glad:
And yet, at times, a something sad,
May be, was with her, thinking of
The manner of his life at home.

But this does not usurp her mind.
It is but sorrow guessed from far
Thro' twilight dimly. She must find
Her duty elsewhere: not resigned--
Because she knows them what they are,
Yet scarcely ruffled from her peace.

Cordelia--a name well revered;
Synonymous with truth and tried
Affection; which but needs be heard
To raise one selfsame thought endeared
To men and women far and wide;
A name our mothers taught to us.

Like placid faces which you knew
Years since, but not again shall meet;
On a sick bed like wind that blew;
An excellent thing, best likened to
Her own voice, gentle, soft, and sweet;
Shakpere's Cordelia;--better thus.

Macbeth {9}

{9} It is proper to state that this article was written, and seen,
exactly as it at present stands, by several literary friends of the
writer, a considerable time before the appearance, in the
"Westminster Review," of a Paper advocating a view of "Macbeth,"
similar to that which is here taken. But although the publication of
the particular view was thus anticipated, nearly all the most
forcible arguments for maintaining it were omitted; and the subject,
mixed up, as it was, with lengthy disquisitions upon very minor
topics of Shaksperian acting, &c. made no very general impression at
the time.

The purpose of the following Essay is to demonstrate the existence of
a very important error in the hitherto universally adopted
interpretation of the character of Macbeth. We shall prove that _a
design of illegitimately obtaining the crown of Scotland had been
conceived by Macbeth, and that it had been communicated by him to his
wife, prior to his first meeting with the witches, who are commonly
supposed to have suggested that design_.

Most persons when they commence the study of the great Shaksperian
dramas, already entertain concerning them a set of traditional
notions, generally originated by the representations, or
misrepresentations, of the theatre, afterwards to become strengthened
or confirmed by desultory readi