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Mach.

Lady M.

My dearest love,

Duncan comes here to-night.

And when goes hence?

Macb. To-morrow,—as he purposes.

Lady M.

Shall sun that morrow see!

O, never

Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men May read strange matters: 3-To beguile the time, Look like the time;4 bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue: look like innocent flower, But be the serpent under it.5 He that 's coming Must be provided for: and you shall put

This night's great business into my despatch;

Again, in Antony and Cleopatra:

"Be pleased to tell us

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(For this is from the present) how you take "The offer I have sent you."

Steevens.

• Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men

May read &c.] That is, thy looks are such as will awaken men's curiosity, excite their attention, and make room for suspicion. Heath.

So, in Pericles Prince of Tvre, 1609:

"Her face the book of praises, where is read

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Nothing but curious pleasures." Steevens.

Again, in our author's Rape of Lucrece:

"Poor woman's faces are their own faults' books." Malone.

To beguile the time,

Look like the time;] The same expression occurs in the 8th Book of Daniel's Civil Wars:

"He draws a traverse 'twixt his grievances;

"Looks like the time: his eye made not report
"Of what he felt within; nor was he less

"Than usually he was in every part;

"Wore a clear face upon a cloudy heart." Steevens. The seventh and eighth Books of Daniel's Civil Wars were not published till the year 1609; [see the Epistle Dedicatorie to that edition:] so that, if either poet copied the other, Daniel must have been indebted to Shakspeare; for there can be little doubt that Macbeth had been exhibited before that year.

5

look like the innocent flower,

Malone.

But be the serpent under it.] Thus, in Chaucer's Squiere's Tale, 10,827:

"So depe in greyne he died his coloures,

"Right as a serpent hideth him under floures,
"Til he may see his time for to bite." Steevens.

Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

Macb. We will speak further.

Lady M.

To alter favour ever is to fear:

Leave all the rest to me.

SCENE VI.

Only look up clear;

[Exeunt,

The same. Before the Castle.

Hautboys. Servants of MACBETH attending. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, BANQUO, LENOX, MACDUFF, ROSSE, ANGUS, and Attendants. Dun. This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air

6 To alter favour ever is to fear:] So, in Love's Labour's Lost:

"For blushing cheeks by faults are bred,
"And fears by pale white shown."

Favour is-look, countenance.

So, in Troilus and Cressida:

"I know your favour, lord Ulysses, well." Steevens.

This castle bath a pleasant seat;] Seat here means situation. Lord Bacon says, "He that builds a faire house upon an ill seat, committeth himself to prison. Neither doe I reckon it an ill seat, only where the aire is unwholsome, but likewise where the aire is unequal; as you shall see many fine seats set upon a knap of ground invironed with higher hills round about it, whereby the heat of the sunne is pent in, and the wind gathereth as in troughs; so as you shall have, and that suddenly, as great diversitie of heat and cold, as if you dwelt in several places." Essays, 2d edit. 4to. 1632, p. 257. Reed.

This castle bath a pleasant seat;] This short dialogue between Duncan and Banquo, whilst they are approaching the gates of Macbeth's castle, has always appeared to me a striking instance of what in painting is termed repose. Their conversation very "naturally turns upon the beauty of its situation, and the pleasantness of the air; and Banquo, observing the martlet's nests in every recess of the cornice, remarks, that where those birds most breed and haunt, the air is delicate. The subject of this quiet and easy conversation gives that repose so necessary to the mind after the tumultuous bustle of the preceding scenes, and perfectly contrasts the scene of horror that immediately succeeds. It seems as if Shakspeare asked himself, What is a prince likely to say to his attendants on such an occasion? Whereas the modern writers seem, on the contrary, to be always searching for new thoughts, such as would never occur to

Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself

Unto our gentle senses.

Ban. This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, By his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath, Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze,' buttress, Nor coigne of vantage, but this bird hath made His pendent bed, and procreant cradle: Where they3

men in the situation which is represented.-This also is frequently the practice of Homer, who, from the midst of battles and horrors, relieves and refreshes the mind of the reader, by introducing some quiet rural image, or picture of familiar domestic life. Sir J. Reynolds.

8 Unto our gentle senses.] Senses are nothing more than each man's sense. Gentle sense is very elegant, as it means placid, calm, composed, and intimates the peaceable delight of a fine day. Johnson.

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martlet,] This bird is in the old edition called barlet. Johnson.

The correction was made by Mr. Rowe. Malone. It is supported by the following passage in The Merchant of Venice:

like the martlet

"Builds in the weather on the outward wall." Steevens.

1 no jutty, frieze,] A comma should be placed after jutty. A jutty, or jetty, (for so it ought rather to be written) is not here, as has been supposed, an epithet to frieze, but a substantive; signifying that part of a building which shoots forward beyond the rest. See Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598: "Barbacane. An out-nooke or corner standing out of a house; a jettie."- Sporto. A porch, a portal, a bay-window, or outbutting, or jettie, of a house, that jetties out farther than anie other part of the house."-See also Surpendue, in Cotgrave's French Dict. 1611: "A jettie; an out-jetting room." Malone. Shakspeare uses the verb to jutty, in King Henry V : as fearfully as doth a galled rock "O'erhang and jutty his confounded base."

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The substantive also occurs in an agreement between Philip Henslowe, &c. &c. for building a new theatre, in the year 1599. See Vol. II: " besides a juttey forwards in eyther of the saide two upper stories &c." Steevens.

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coigne of vantage,] Convenient corner. Johnson. So, in Pericles:

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By the four opposing coignes,

"Which the world together joins." Steevens.

3 His pendent bed, and procreant cradle: Where they -] Lest

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Most breed and haunt, I have observ'd, the air

Iş delicate.

Dun.

Enter Lady MACBETH.

See, see! our honour'd hostess!

The love that follows us, sometime is our trouble,
Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you,
How you shall bid God yield us for your pains,
And thank us for your trouble.

the reader should think this verse defective in harmony, he ought to be told, that as needle was once written and pronounced neele and neeld, so cradle was contracted into crale, and consequently uttered as a monosyllable

Thus, in the fragment of an ancient Christmas carol now before me:

66 -on that day

"Did aungels round him minister

"As in his crale he lay."

In some parts of Warwickshire, (as I am informed) the word is drawlingly pronounced as if it had been writtencraale. Steevens.

4 Most breed-] The folio-must breed. Steevens.

Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

The love that follows us, sometime is our trouble,
Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you,
How you shall bid God yield us for your pains,

And thank us for your trouble.] The attention that is paid us, (says Duncan on seeing lady Macbeth come to meet him) sometimes gives us pain, when we reflect that we give trouble to others; yet still we cannot but be pleased with such attentions, because they are a proof of affection. So far is clear;-but of the following words, I confess, I have no very distinct conception, and suspect them to be corrupt. Perhaps the meaning is,—By being the occasion of so much trouble, I furnish you with a motive to pray to heaven to reward me for the pain I give you, inasmuch as the having such an opportunity of showing your loyalty may hereafter prove beneficial to you; and herein also I afford you a motive to thank me for the trouble I give you, because by showing me such attention, (however painful it may be to me to be the cause of it) you have an opportunity of displaying an amiable character, and of ingratiating yourself with your sovereign: which, finally, may bring you both profit and honour. Malone. This passage is undoubtedly obscure, and the following is the best explication of it I am able to offer:

Marks of respect, importunately shown, are sometimes troublesome, though we are still bound to be grateful for them, as inlications of sincere attachment. If you pray for us on account of the

Lady M.

All our service
In every point twice done, and then done double,
Were poor and single business, to contend
Against those honours deep and broad, wherewith
Your majesty loads our house: For those of old,
And the late dignities heap'd up to them,
We rest your hermits.

trouble we create in your house, and thank us for the molestations we bring with us, it must be on such a principle. Herein I teach you, that the inconvenience you suffer, is the result of our affection; and that you are therefore to pray for us, or thank us, only as far as pra ers and thanks can be deserved for kindnesses that fatigue, and bonours that oppress. You are, in short, to make your acknowledg ments for intended respect and love, however irksome our present mode of expressing them may have proved.-To bid is here used in the Saxon sense-to pray. Steevens.

How you shall bid God-yield us -] To bid any one God-yeld bim, i. e. God-yield bim, was the same as God reward him.

Warburton.

I believe yield, or, as it is in the folio of 1623, eyld, is a corrupted contraction of shield. The wish implores not reward, but protection. Johnson.

I rather believe it to be a corruption of God-yield, i. e. reward. In Antony and Cleopatra we meet with it at length: "And the gods yield you for 't."

Again, in the interlude of Jacob and Esau, 1568:

"God yelde you, Esau, with all my stomach."

Again, in the old metrical romance of Syr Guy of Warwick, bl. 1. no date:

"Syr, quoth Guy, God yield it you,

"Of this great gift you give me now."

Again, in Chaucer's Sompnoure's Tale, v. 7759; Mr. Tyrwhitt's edit.

"God yelde you adoun in your village."

Again, one of the Paston Letters, Vol. IV, p. 335, begins thus: "To begin, God yeld you for my hats."

God shield means God forbid, and could never be used as a form of returning thanks. So in Chaucer's Milleres Tale: "God shilde that he died sodenly."

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V. 3427; Mr. Tyrwhitt's edit. Steevens.

6 We rest your hermits.] Hermits, for beadsmen. Warburton. That is, we as bermits shall always pray for you. Thus, in A. of Wyntown's Cronykil, B IX, c. xxvii, v. 99:

"His bedmen thai suld be for-thi,

"And pray for hym rycht hartfully."

Again, in Arden of Feversham, 1592:

"I am your beadsman, bound to pray for you."

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