turning the tables on aim, he said banquo's ghost was a honest ghost. it disturbed no innocent man, but appeared only two banquo's assassins, macbeth and lady macbeth. by identifying with those who saw the ghost, webster argued, haim had slipped up. he had unintentionally revealed his own sinister motives. after reciting several lines from the plate, webster asked, those who murdered banquo, what did they win by it? substantial good, permanent power or disappointment rather in sort modification? dust and ashes, the common fate of vaulting ambition over leaping it's self. and he said, derisively, i need pursue the allusion no further. there are many other examples. congressman william jennings bryant began a speech by directing the house clerk to read a passage from merchant to venice. a manager of president andrew johnson's impeachment trial compared cabinet members to polonium and hamlet. references to shakespeare were part of the ebb and flow of congressional debate. by my count, between 1833 and 1873, there were 159 references during congressional de