Page:Macbethandkingr00kembgoog.djvu/170

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[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.

  1. Macbeth, Act v. Sc 7.