LETTER II.

MY DEAREST

SCHLEGEL, speaking of the poetic portions of the Bible, says without reserve, "These writings form a fiery and godlike fountain of inspiration, of which the greatest of modern poets have never been weary of drinking; which has suggested to them their noblest images, and animated them for their sublimest flights." I wish, in the present letter, to show you some of these remarkable coincidences; and to prove, that many of our most admired figures and expressions are either derived from the Scriptures, or may at least be found there; if not in their extended and complete development, unquestionably in their germ, their principle, and their outline. Frequently too, this may be said with

equal truth of incidents and characters. The similarity between Ahab and Macbeth, between Jezebel and Lady Macbeth, and a parallel resemblance in their style of action, has always struck me exceedingly. The portrait of Macbeth, when matured in villany,

"Bloody,

Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful,
Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin
That has a name,"

precisely describes Ahab ; every epithet might be proved by an action. Nevertheless, the excess of wickedness is in both instances to be charged on the influence of their respective wives; who, bolder in mind, and blacker in heart than themselves, became their teachers and tempters in sin. The resemblance between the queens is even more perfect. Both were filled" from the crown to the toe, topfull of direst cruelty," mingled with a spirit of "pure demoniac firmness," which knew not, or, if it knew, heeded not the relentings of nature. Their minds were compact and integral; they contained no opposing principle which might impede their progress in evil or embitter success; so that murder it

self, when apparently necessary to the attainment of an object, was consonant, not contrary to their nature. It was not so with

their lords, who, in comparison with each "fiendlike queen," were

"Full o' the milk of human kindness."

Ahab evidenced this after his victory over the Syrians. Benhadad, to whom he had formerly been a vassal, then sent ambassadors to him girded with sackcloth, and with ropes, on their heads, to petition for his life, and Ahab said, "Is he yet alive? he is my brother; "—and "he made a covenant with him, and sent him away."

Again: It was by yielding to the delusions of the "weird sisters" that Macbeth laid the foundation of his after crimes and sorrows; their spells and promises clouded his mind like emanations from the pit of darkness, which needed but the influence of his wife to quicken into substantial evil. So it was with Ahab: he too sought to wizards, and them that had evil spirits; "and did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord whom Jezebel his wife stirred up."

In the grand crime of each, the murder of Naboth and of Duncan, the parallel is minute and unbroken. Macbeth, who was only a Thane, coveted "the golden round of sovereignty." Ahab, who, already a king, had no need to desire a crown, was disquieted for a neighbor's vineyard; a proof, by the way, how little it is the intrinsic worth of an object which regulates the desires of an unsanctified heart. Both "would wrongly win," yet in the first instance would "not play false;" one took his disappointment in sullen silence, the other was almost persuaded to rest satisfied as Glamis and Cawdor. Then appear the master spirits. Lady Macbeth thus taunts her hesitating Thane, and with the hardihood of guilt without fear, develops the purpose which he has desired without conceiving :

"Art thou afeard

To be the same in thine own act and valor,

As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem;

Letting I dare not, wait upon I would?
Macb. If we should fail-

Lady M.

We fail!

But screw your courage to the sticking place,

And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep,
(Whereto the rather shall his hard day's journey
Soundly invite him,) his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassel so convince,
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only. When in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie, as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? What not put upon
His spungy officers; who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?"

Precisely in this spirit does Jezebel address Ahab :-" Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders, and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth; and she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people and set two men, sons of Belial, before him, and bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king; and then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die." The two monarchs resemble each other in

:

their closing scenes. As dangers increase,