We may

life, feeble and unable to assist ourselves, we depend entirely upon others; we are constantly in society; and, of course, if we are affected by any violent emotions, we are accustomed to utter them. Confequently, by force of association and habit, when they return excessive on any future occasion, impatient of restraint, they will not be arrested by reflection, but vent themselves as they were wont. obferve, in confirmation of this remark, that children are often prone to soliloquy: And so are men of lively passions. In children, the association is vigorous and entire : In men of lively paffions, habits are more tenacious than with men of a cooler temperament. When the contending principles are of equal energy, our emotions are uttered in broken and incoherent sentences, and the disordered state of our mind is expressed by interrupted gestures, absence of attention, and an agitated demeanour.

3

Banquo. Look how our partner's rapt.
La. Macb. Your face, my Thane, is as a book,

where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time.

But, when the inward disorder proceeds from the violence of passion, unopposed by internal feelings, and thwarted only by external circumstances, anxious for success, doubtful concerning the mcans, delivered from opposing principles, and capable of reflecting, without abhorrence, on intended injury, our soliloquies, if we are disposed to them, are more coherent. Macbeth, reasoning anxiously concerning the consequences of his design, reflecting on the opinions of mankind, on the hatred and infamy he must incur, and on the resentment he must encounter, overcome by fear, relinquishes his undertaking.

If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: If the affaflination
Could tramel up the consequence, and catch
With his furcease, success; that but this blow

Might

Might be the Be-all and the End-all bere,
But bere : upon this bank and shoal of time:
We'd jump the life to come. But, in these cases,
We still have judgment bere ; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double truft:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his hoft,
Who Mould against his murth’rer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Befides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead, like angels, trumpet-tongu'd, against
The deep damnation of his taking off :
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heavens cherubin, hors'd
Upon the fightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in ev'ry eye ;
That tears shall drown the wind.
We will proceed no further in this business :
He hath honour'd me of late;' and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which should be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside su soon.

Thus, the irregular passion is again repulsed: Yet symptoms of the decay of virtue are manifeft. Immediate instinctive averfion, in cases of censure, accompanies the decisions of our moral faculty: And those who are deterred from crimes, merely by the dread of punishment, and a regard to the opinions of mankind, betray a vitiated and depraved constitution *. The lively feelings, opposed to ambition, unable, by the vivacity of their first impression, to extirpate the habit, languish, and are enfeebled. The irregular passion, like the persevering Fabius, gathers strength by delay: the virtuous principle, like the gallant, but unsupported Hannibal, fuffers diminution, even by success. Thus, it is manifeft, that the contest between the obstinacy of an habituated passion, and the vehemence of an animated feeling, is unequal; and that there is infinite danger even in the apparently innocent and imaginary indulgence

of

. Tu nihil admittes in te formidine poenae ;

HOR Sit spes fallendi, miscebis facra profanis,

of a selfish paffion. The harmony of the internal system is nicely adjusted; and the excessive tension or relaxation of any of the parts produces irregular and discordant tones.

The opinions of mankind are variable: For nations and communities, no less than individuals, are liable to prejudice. Particular emergencies and prepossessions mislead the judgment; and we applaud, at one time, what we blame at another. A system of conduct, founded on the opinion of others, is, therefore, unstable, inconfiftent, and often vitious. Macbeth, confidering the afaflination of Duncan as a deed deserving punishment, is deterred from his enterprize; but, reflecting upon it as an event which he desired, but durft not accomplish, his courage is questioned, and his honour impeached. When the sense of honour is corrupted, virtue expires, Influenced by fatal prejudices, and; Alattering himself with the hope of impunity,

he