—as if some allusion to the doctrines of the Christian faith had been casually dropped in conversation by the old man, and had been no farther inquired into.
Shakespear’s morality is introduced in the same simple, unobtrusive manner. Imogen will not let her companions stay away from the chase to attend her when sick, and gives her reason for it—
‘Stick to your journal course; the breach of custom
Is breach of all!’
When the Queen attempts to disguise her motives for procuring the poison from Cornelius, by saying she means to try its effects on ‘creatures not worth the hanging,’ his answer conveys at once a tacit reproof of her hypocrisy, and a useful lesson of humanity—
——‘Your Highness
Shall from this practice but make hard your heart.’
MACBETH
‘The poet’s eye in a fine frenzy rolling
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;