In one of the folio editions the reading is anoint thee, in a sense very consistent with the common accounts of witches, who are related to perform many supernatural acts by the means of unguents, and particularly to fly through the air to the place where they meet at their hellish festivals. In this sense, anoint thee, witch, will mean, away, witch, to your infernal assembly. This reading I was inclined to favour, because I had met with the word aroint in no other place; till looking into Hearne's Collections, I found it in a very old drawing that he has published, in which St. Patrick is represented visiting hell, and putting the devils into great confusion by his presence, of whom one that is driving the damned before him with a prong, has a label issuing out from his mouth with these words, out out aroynt, of which the last is evidently the same with aroint, and used in the same sense as in this passage. (2) And the very points they blow. As the word very is bere of no other use than to fill up the verse, it is likely that Shakspeare wrote various, which might be easily mistaken for very, being either negligently read, hastily pronounced, or imperfectly heard. (3) He shall live a man forbid. Mr. Theobald has very justly explained forbid by accursed, but without giving any reason of his interpretation. To bid, is originally to pray, as in this Saxon fragment: He is wis thaet bit & bote, &c. He is wise that prays and improves. As to forbid therefore implies to prohibit, in opposition to the word bid in its present sense, it signifies by the same kind of opposition to curse, when it is derived from the same word in its primitive meaning. NOTE VI.-SCENE V. The incongruity of all the passages in which the Thane of Cawdor is mentioned, is very remarkable; in the second scene the Thanes of Rosse and Angus bring the king an account of the battle, and inform him that Norway, Assisted by that most disloyal traitor The Thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict. It appears that Cawdor was taken prisoner, for the king says in the same scene, -Go, pronounce his death, And with his former tille greet Macbeth. Cawdor, whom he has just defeated and taken prisoner, or call him a prosperous gentleman, who has forfeited his title and life by open rebellion? Or why should he wonder that the title of the rebel whom he has overthrown should be conferred upon him? He cannot be supposed to dissemble his knowledge of the condition of Cawdor, because he inquires with all the ardour of curiosity, and the vehemence of sudden astonishment; and because nobody is present but Banquo, who had an equal part in the battle, and was equally acquainted with Cawdor's treason. However, in the next scene, his ignorance still continues; and when Rosse and Angus present him from the king with his new title, he cries out, -The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me in his borrowed robes ? Rosse and Angus, who were the messengers that in the second scene informed the king of the assistance given by Cawdor to the invader, having lost, as well as Macbeth, all memory of what they had so lately seen and related, make this answer, Whether he was Combin'd with Norway, or did line the rebels With hidden help and vantage, or with both He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not Neither Rosse knew what he had just reported, nor Macbeth what he had just done. This seems not to be one of the faults that are to be imputed to the transcribers, since, though the inconsistency of Rosse and Angus might be removed, by supposing that their names are erroneously inserted, and that only Rosse brought the account of the battle, and only Angus was sent to compliment Macbeth, yet the forgetfulness of Macbeth cannot be palliated, since what he says could not have been spoken by any other. NOTE VII. The thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, The single state of man seems to be used by Shakspeare for an individual, in opposition to a commonwealth, or conjunct body of men. NOTE VIII. Macbeth. Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. I suppose every reader is disgusted at the tautology in this passage, time and the hour, and will therefore willingly believe that Shakspeare wrote it thus, -Come what come may, Time! on!-the hour runs through the roughest day. Macbeth is deliberating upon the events which are to befall him; but finding no satisfaction from his own thoughts, he grows impatient of reflection, and resolves to wait the close without -Come what come may. Yet though Cawdor was thus taken by Mac-harassing himself with conjectures, beth in arms against his king, when Macbeth is saluted, in the fourth scene, Thane of Cawdor, by the Weird Sisters, he asks, How of Cawdor? the Thane of Cawdor lives, And in the next line considers the promises, But to shorten the pain of suspense, he calis upon time in the usual style of ardent desire, to quicken his motion, Time! on! He then comforts himself with the reflection unlikely to be accomplished. How can Mac- that all his perplexity must have an end, beth be ignorant of the state of the Thane of The hour runs through the roughest day. This conjecture is supported by the passage in the letter to his lady, in which he says, They referred me to the coming on of time, with Hail King that shall be NOTE IX.-SCENE VI. As the word ow'd affords here no sense but such as is forced and unnatural, it cannot be doubted that it was originally written, The dearest thing he own'd; a reading which needs neither defence nor explication. NOTE X. King. There's no art, To find the mind's construction in the face. The construction of the mind is, I believe, a phrase peculiar to Shakspeare; it implies the frame or disposition of the mind, by which it is determined to good or ill. NOTE XI. Macbeth. The service and the loyalty I owe, Are to your throne and state, children and servants, Of the last line of this speech, which is certainly, as it is now read, unintelligible, an emendation has been attempted, which Mr. Warburton and Mr. Theobald have admitted as the true reading. -Our duties Are to your throne and state, children and servants, Which do but what they should, in doing every thing Fiefs to your love and honour." My esteem of these critics inclines me to believe, that they cannot be much pleased with the expression Fiefs to love, or Fiefs to honour; and that they have proposed this alteration rather because no other occurred to them, than because they approved it. I shall therefore propose a bolder change, perhaps with no better success, but sua cuique placent. I read thus, Our duties Are to your throne and state, children and servants, Which do but what they should, in doing nothing Save tow'rds your love and honour. We do but perform our duty when we contract all our views to your service, when we act with no other principle than regard to your love and honour. It is probable that this passage was first corrupted by writing safe for save, and the lines then stood thus, -Doing nothing Safe tow'rd your love and honour. Which the next transcriber observing to be wrong, and yet not being able to discover the real fault, altered to the present reading. NOTE XII-SCENE VII. -Thou 'dst have, great Glamis, That which cries, "thus thou must do if thou have it, And that," &c. As the object of Macbeth's desire is here introduced speaking of itself, it is necessary to read, -Thou 'dst have, great Glamis, That which cries, "thus thou must do if thou have me." The intent of Lady Macbeth, evidently, is to wish that no womanish tenderness, or conscientious remorse, may hinder her purpose from proceeding to effect; but neither this, nor indeed any other sense, is expressed by the present reading, and therefore it cannot be doubted that Shakspeare wrote differently, perhaps thus: That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep pace between To keep pace between, may signify to pass between, to intervene. Pace is on many occasions a favourite of Shakspeare. This phrase is indeed not usual in this sense, but was it not its novelty that gave occasion to the present corruption? VNOTE XV.-SCENE VIII. King. This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses. Banquo. This guest of summer, The temple-haunting Martlet, does approve, In this short scene, I propose a slight alteration to be made, by substituting site for seat, as the ancient word for situation; and sense for senses, as more agreeable to the measure; for which reason likewise I have endeavoured to adjust this passage, -Heav'n's breath Smells wooingly here. No jutting frieze, by changing the punctuation, and adding a syllable-thus: almost in every page, even where it is not to be | tion seem to have ceased. This image, which is, doubted that the copy was correct. NOTE XVI.-SCENE X. The arguments by which Lady Macbeth persuades her husband to commit the murder, afford a proof of Shakspeare's knowledge of human nature. She urges the excellence and dignity of courage, a glittering idea which has dazzled mankind from age to age, and animated sometimes the housebreaker, and sometimes the conqueror: but this sophism Macbeth has for ever destroyed by distinguishing true from false fortitude, in a line and a half; of which it may almost be said, that they ought to bestow immortality on the author, though all his other productions had been lost. I dare do all that may become a man, This topic, which has been always employed with too much success, is used in this scene with peculiar propriety to a soldier by a woman. Courage is the distinguishing virtue of a soldier, and the reproach of cowardice cannot be borne by any man from a woman, without great impatience. perhaps, the most striking that poetry can pro- All things are hush'd as nature's self lay dead, These lines, though so well known, I have transcribed, that the contrast between them and this passage of Shakspeare may be more accurately observed. Night is described by two great poets, but one describes a night of quiet, the other of perturbation. In the night of Dryden, all the disturbers of the world are laid asleep; in that of Shakspeare, nothing but sorcery, lust, and murder is awake. He that reads Dryden, finds himself lulled with serenity, and disposed to solitude and contemplation. He that peruses Shakspeare, looks round alarmed, and starts to find himself alone. One is the night of a lover, the other that of a murderer. (2) Wither'd murder, She then urges the oaths by which he had bound himself to murder Duncan, another art of sophistry by which men have sometimes deluded their consciences, and persuaded themselves that what would be criminal in others, is virtuous in them; this argument Shakspeare, whose plan obliged him to make Macbeth yield, has not confuted, though he might easily have shown that a former obligation could not be va-tuosity, and tumult, like that of a savage rushcated by a latter. NOTE XVII. Letting I dare not, wait upon I would, Like the poor cat i' th' adage. This was the reading of this passage in all the editions before that of Mr. Pope, who for sides inserted in the text strides, which Mr. Theobald has tacitly copied from him, though a more proper alteration might perhaps have been made. A ravishing stride is an action of violence, impe ing on his prey; whereas the poet is here attempting to exhibit an image of secrecy and caution, of anxious circumspection and guilty timidity, the stealthy pace of a ravisher creeping into the chamber of a virgin, and of an assassin The adage alluded to is, The cat loves fish but approaching the bed of him whom he proposes dares not wet her foot, Catus amat pisces, sed non vult tingere plantas. NOTE XVIII. Will I with wine and wassel so convince. To convince, is in Shakspeare to overpower or subdue, as in this play, Their malady convinces The great assay of art. NOTE XIX. -Who shall bear the guilt Queil is murder, manquellers being in the old lan- NOTE XX.-ACT II.-SCENE II. (1) Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse Whose howl's his watch) thus with his stealthy pace, (1)-Now o'er one half the world Nature seems dead. to murder, without awaking him; these he describes as moving like ghosts, whose progression is so different from strides, that it has been in all ages represented to be, as Milton expresses it, Smooth sliding without step. This hemistic will afford the true reading of this place, which is, I think, to be corrected thus: -And wither'd murder Thus with his stealthy pace, With Tarquin ravishing, slides tow'rd his design, Tarquin is in this place the general name of a ravisher, and the sense is, Now is the time in which every one is asleep, but those who are employed in wickedness, the witch who is sacrificing to Hecate, and the ravisher and the murderer, who, like me, are stealing upon their prey. When the reading is thus adjusted, he wishes with great propriety, in the following lines, that the earth may not hear his steps. (3) And take the present horror from the time I believe every one that has attentively read this dreadful soliloquy is disappointed at the conclusion, which, if not wholly unintelligible, is at least obscure, nor can be explained into any sense worthy of the author. I shall therefore That is, over our hemisphere all action and mo- propose a slight alteration. - -Thou sound and firm-set earth, Macbeth has, in the foregoing lines, disturbed his imagination by enumerating all the terrors of the night; at length he is wrought up to a degree of frenzy, that makes him afraid of some supernatural discovery of his design, and calls out to the stones not to betray him, not to declare where he walks, nor to talk.-As he is going to say of what, he discovers the absurdity of his suspicion, and pauses, but is again overwhelmed by his guilt, and concludes that such are the horrors of the present night, that the stones may be expected to cry out against him. Lenox. The night has been unruly; where we lay Our chimneys were blown down. And, as they say, Lamentings heard i' th' air, strange screams of death, And prophesying with accents terrible Of dire combustions, and confused events, The obscure bird clamour'd the live-long night, Some say the earth was fev'rous and did shake. These lines I think should be rather regulated thus: --Prophesying with accents terrible, Of dire combustions and confused events, A prophecy of an event new-hatch'd, seems to be a prophecy of an event past. The term new-hatch'd is properly applicable to a bird, and that birds of ill omen should be new-hatch'd to the woful time, is very consistent with the rest of the prodigies here mentioned, and with the universal disorder into which nature is described as thrown by the perpetration of this horrid murder. it be imagined that Shakspeare would reproach the murderer of his king only with want of manners. There are undoubtedly two faults in this passage, which I have endavoured to take away by reading -Daggers Unmanly drench'd with gore.. I saw drench'd with the king's blood the fatal daggers, not only instruments of murder, but evidences of cowardice. Each of these words might easily be confounded with that which I have substituted for it by a hand not exact, a casual blot, or a negli-. gent inspection. Mr. Pope has endeavoured to improve one of these lines by substituting goary blood for golden blood, but it may easily be admitted, that he who could on such an occasion talk of lacing the silver skin, would lace it with golden blood. No amendment can be made to this line, of which every word is equally faulty, but by a general blot. It is not improbable, that Shakspeake put these forced and unnatural metaphors into the mouth of Macbeth, as a mark of artifice and dissimulation, to show the difference between the studied language of hypocrisy, and the natural outcries of sudden passion. This whole speech,. considered in this light, is a remarkable instance of judgment, as it consists entirely of antitheses. and metaphors. NOTE XXIV.- -ACT III, SCENE II. Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature Reigns that which would be fear'd. 'Tis much he dares, He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour Only for them, and mine eternal jewel (1) As it is said, Anthony's was by Cæsar. Though I would not often assume the critic's privilege, of being confident where certainty cannot be obtained, nor indulge myself too far in departing from the established reading; yet I cannot but propose the rejection of this passage, which I believe was an insertion of some player, that, having so much learning as to discover to what Shakspeare alluded, was not willing that his audience should be less knowing than himself, and has therefore weakened the author's sense by the intrusion of a remote and useless image into a speech bursting from a man wholly possessed with his own present condition, and therefore not at leisure to explain his own allusions to himself. If these words are taken away, by which not only the thought but the numbers are injured, the lines of Shakspeare close together without any traces of a breach. My genius is rebuk'd. He chid the sisters. (2) The common enemy of man. It is always an entertainment to an inquisitive reader, to trace a sentiment to its original source, and therefore, though the term enemy of man applied to the devil is in itself natural and obvious, yet some may be pleased with being informed, that Shakspeare probably borrowed it from the first lines of the "Destruction of Troy," a book which he is known to have read. That this remek may not appear too trivial, I shall take occasion from it to point out a beautiful passage of Milton, evidently copied from a book of no greater authority: in describing the gates of hell, book ii. v. 879, he says -On a sudden open fly With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, In the history of "Don Bellianis," when one of the knights approaches, as I remember, the castle of Brandezar, the gates are said to open grating harsh thunder upon their brazen hinges. (3) Come fate into the list, And champion me to th' utterance. This passage will be best explained by translating it into the language from whence the only word of difficulty in it is borrowed. Que la destin e se rende en lice, et qu'elle me donne un defi a l'outrance. A challenge or a combat a l'outrance, to extremity, was a fixed term in the law of arms, used when the combatants engaged with an odium internecinum, an intention to destroy each other, in opposition to trials of skill at festivals, or on other occasions, where the contest was only for reputation or a prize. The sense therefore is, Let fate that has fore-doomed the exaltation of the sons of Banquo, enter the lists against me, with the utmost animosity, in defence of its own decrees, which I will endeavour to invalidate, whatever be the danger. NOTE XXV. Macbeth. Ay, in the catalogue, ye go for men, As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, Shoughs, water-ruggs, and demi-wolves are clept All by the name of dogs. not want directions to find Banquo, and therefore says, I will Acquaint you with a perfect spy o' th' time Accordingly a third murderer joins them afterwards at the place of action. Perfect is well instructed, or well informed, as in this play. Though in your state of honour l'am perfect. Though I am well acquainted with your quality and rank. NOTE XXVII. SCENE IV. 2d Murderer. He needs not to mistrust, since he delivers Our offices and what we have to do, To the direction just. Mr. Theobald has endeavoured unsuccessfully to amend this passage, in which nothing is faulty but the punctuation. The meaning of this abrupt dialogue is this: The perfect spy, mentioned by Macbeth in the foregoing scene, has, before they enter upon the stage, given them the directions which were promised at the time of their agreement; and therefore one of the murderers observes that since he has given them such exact information, he needs not doubt of their performance. Then, by way of exhortation to his associates, he cries out, -To the direction just. Now nothing remains but that we conform exactly to Macbeth's directions. NOTE XXVIII.-SCENE V. Macbeth. You know your own degree, sit down: At first and last the hearty welcome. As this passage stands, not only the numbers are very imperfect, but the sense, if any can be found, weak and contemptible. The numbers will be improved by reading. Sit down at first, You know your own degree, sit down-To first All of whatever degree, from the highest to the lowest, may be assured that their visit is well re Though this is not the most sparkling passage in the play, and though the name of a dog is of no great importance, yet it may not be improperceived. to remark, that there is no such species of dogs as shoughs mentioned by Caius de Canibus Britannicis, or any other writer that has fallen into my hands, nor is the word to be found in any dictionary which I have examined. I therefore imagined that it is falsely printed for slouths, a kind of slow hound bred in the southern parts of England, but was informed by a lady, that it is more probably used, either by mistake, or according to the orthography of that time, for shocks. NOTE XXVI. Macbeth. In this hour at most, I will advise you where to plant yourselves, What is meant by the spy of the time, it will be found difficult to explain; and therefore sense will be cheaply gained by a slight alteration.Macbeth is assuring the assassins that they shall NOTE XXIX. Macbeth. [To the murderer aside at the door. Murderer. 'Tis Banquo's then. Macbeth. "Tis better thee without, than he within. The sense apparently requires that this passage should be read thus: There's blood upon thy face. 'Tis better thee without, than him within. That is, I am more pleased that the blood of Banquo should be on thy face, than in his cody. NOTE XXX. Lady Macbeth. Proper stuff! This is the very painting of your fear: [Aside to Macbeth This is the air-drawn dagger which you said Led you to Duncan. Oh, these flaws and starts Impostures to true fear, would well become A woman's story at a winter's fire, Authorised by her grandam.. Shame itself! Why do you make such faces? When all 's done You look but on a stool. |