Page:Macbethandkingr00kembgoog.djvu/136

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[121]

Macb. How say you?
Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.
*******
What man dare, I dare;
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger,
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble: Or, be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword;
If trembling I inhabit, then protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!
Unreal mockery, hence![1]

Notwithstanding the firmness which Macbeth summons into his defiance of this frightful "painting of his fear," it is not to be supposed, but that he labours with an inward terror while

  1. Macbeth, Act iii. Sc 4.