Thou art a traitor Off with his head! Now, by Saint Paul I swear, Act iii. Sc. 4. What are we to understand by this adjuration of S. Paul? Is there an allusion in it to what we read in Acts xxiii. 12? Certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And was there some confusion in our poet's recollection of the circumstances, or remembering them aright, did he still make use of the name of the apostle on their account? It must be stated, however, that the same wicked king is made to use the same oath on other occasions; for instance, in the scene before the Battle of Bosworth : By the Apostle Paul, shadows to-night Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard Act v. Sc. 3. Why this oath should have been assigned no less than five times to King Richard III., but to no one else, in this play, and yet should not be found so much as once in any other, I am unable to explain; nor am I aware that the fact has been noticed by any of the critics. We know how S. Paul has protested' of himself with reference to his daily life of mortification, of hardship and self-denial :— The same character is given in Macbeth, by Macduff, to the mother of Malcolm, whom he is! addressing : Thy royal father Was a most sainted king: the queen, that bore thee, Act iv. Sc. 3. Moreover, we know how the same great apostle has protested also, that neither in his own teaching, nor in the promises of God, through Christ, is there any uncertainty, any vacillation, any saying of both ' yea and nay.' 2 Cor. i. 17-20. And so King Lear, complaining of the treatment he had received from his unnatural daughter : To say ay, and no, to every thing I said! no good divinity. Ay and no too was Act iv. Sc. 6. Once more: Prospero says to Miranda, in the The direful spectacle of the wreck which touch'd I have with such provision in mine art Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Act i. Sc 2. And Ariel afterwards reports, 'Not a hair perished.' In a note upon this passage, it has been suggested, with good reason, by Mr. Holt White, that Shakspeare may have had in his mind the hortatory speech of S. Paul to the ship's company, where he assures them that, though they were to suffer shipwreck : There shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you. Acts xxvii. 34. CHAPTER II. Of Shakspeare's Religious Principles and Sentiments W E are now to enter upon that which is the most important, and, I trust, will be found the most interesting part of our undertaking. We are to show how scriptural, and consequently how true and just, are the conceptions which Shakspeare entertained of the being and attributes of God, of His general and particular Providence, of His revelation to man, of our duty towards Him and toward each other, of human life and of human death, of time and of eternityin a word, of every subject which it most concerns us as rational and responsible beings to conceive aright. SECT. I. Of the Being and Nature of God. To begin, then, with the titles and attributes of God. Among the names by which He is revealed to us in Scripture, are these: The Lord of Hosts, the King Immortal, the King of Kings. In the First Part of King Henry VI. the Bishop of Winchester, Cardinal Beaufort, thus speaks of the deceased King Henry V. in the presence of his corpse, lying in state :— He was a king, blessed of the KING OF KINGS, Act i. Sc. I. And, in the Second Part of King Henry IV., Prince Henry to his father lying on his death-bed :— There is your crown: And He that wears the crown IMMORTALLY Long guard it yours! Act iv. Sc. 4. Among the attributes of God, we have been taught by revelation that He knows* all things; that He sees all things, even our most secret thoughts; that He neither slumbers, nor sleeps ; and that His ways are not as our ways. Truly, therefore, is it said by Helena to the King of France : It is not so with HIM THAT ALL THINGS KNOWS, But most it is presumption in us, when All's well that ends well. Act ii. Sc. I. Justly, too, does Hermione express her confidence when falsely accused: * On the divine omniscience. See below, Ch. iii. |