'If thou speak'st false,
Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive,
Till famine cling thee:—if thy speech be sooth,
I care not if thou dost for me as much,'—
was delivered with astonishing force. Mr. Forrest gave those melancholy reminiscences which occasionally float over the saddened mind of Macbeth with intense and searching feeling. There was, however, in many parts of his performance a lack of power. Mr. Forrest was too subdued,—too colloquial. The speech of Macbeth, after the discovery of the murder,—
'Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time,'—
was delivered with most inappropriate calmness. Macbeth would have here 'assumed a virtue though he had it not,' and poured forth his complainings in a louder tone. Again, Macbeth's answer to Macduff, who demands why he has slain the sleepy grooms,—
'Who can be wise, amazed, temperate and furious,
Loyal and neutral, in a moment?—No man!'—