Another instance of the pure christian piety with which the poet invests his good characters, and of which he deprives his bad ones, telling strongly for Dr. Ulrici’s theory, occurs in the third scene of the fourth act, where Malcolm, the heir to the throne, in order to try Macduff, represents himself as being full of vices. Macduff replies,
“Thy Royal Father
Was a most sainted King; the Queen, that bore thee,—
Oftener upon her knees than on her feet.”
In his answer, Malcolm uses the expression, full of pious reverence:
“But God above
Deal between thee and me,” &c.
And still another, the morning after the murder, when Macduff says:
“In the great hand of God I stand,” &c.