Page:Macbethandkingr00kembgoog.djvu/171

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[156]

In a word, the conduct, which the Remarks stigmatise for timidity in Macbeth, is of exactly the same nature as the desperate resolution of Richard:—

Slave, I have set my life upon a cast,
And I will stand the hazard of the die.[1]

The dauntless determination of each of the tyrants, in the battle that avenged his subjects on the horrors of his reign, is the result of that agonizing emotion of grief, shame, and pride, which, if it be despair, is, at least, the despair of an innate and unextinguishable courage.

The principal arguments employed

  1. K. Richard, Act v. Sc 4.