Languages & literature > Key to the drama

( U4 )
and every other whofe abfence fpoke them
to be difgufted, to the new meafures of ad¬
min ift ration. in the mean time, that the
government might diftinguifh its friends
from its enemies, and know who were to
be dreaded, and who to be trufted, he if-
fued a proclamation, ordaining, that every
nobleman and gentleman ftiould, upon a
fixed day at the end of one calender month,
meet in the Council-houfe at Perth, on the
pain of being denounced traitors to theftate.
‘ Never was a new reign opened with
more applaule than was that of Macbeth ^
he Ihewed, that he neither would court nor
fear the chiefs of the ditferent parties, but
diftinguifhed them by honours and favour
according to their refpedlive merits: he
inftantly eltablilhed regular courts of jof¬
fice, and the people began to be charmed,
by now feeing a dneadminiftration of right,
of which they had been fo long deprived.
He was the premier judge of every court
himfejf, and often attended when his pre¬
tence was leaft expedted *, fo that property
was fecured with impartiality, and oppref-
fion was punilhed with unawed feverity.
The remiffnefs of former government had
encouraged the moft wicked of the people
to prey upon their peaceable neighbours,
and avowed gangs of thieves kept open and
daring afiemblies, to contrive how they
might