And, like a rat without a tail, I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do. 2 Witch. I'll give thee a wind.' 1 Witch. Thou art kind. 3 Witch. And I another. 1 Witch. I myself have all the other; And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I will drain him dry as hay: 2 Witch. Show me, show me. 1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Are ye fantastical, or that indeed That he seems rapt10 withal; to me you speak not: And say, which grain will grow, and which will not; 1 Witch. Hail! 2 Witch. Hail! S Witch. Hail! 1 Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 2 Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier. 3 Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none: So, all hail, Macbeth, and Banquo! 1 Witch. Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail! more: Wreck'd, as homeward he did come. [Drum within. By Sinel's death, I know, I am thane of Glamis; 3 Witch. A drum, a drum ; Macbeth doth come. All. The weird sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about; Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, And thrice again, to make up nine: Enter MACBETH and BANQUO. So wither'd, and so wild in their attire ; That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, Things that do sound so fair?—I'the name of truth, 1 This free gift of a wind is to be considered as an act of sisterly friendship; for witches were supposed to well them. 2 i. e. the sailor's chart; carte-marine. But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives, No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence you. Or have we eaten of the insane root, 12 Macb. Your children shall be kings. Enter Rosse and ANGUS. 7 The thaneship of Glamis was the ancient inheri tance of Macbeth's family. The castle where they 3 Forbid, i. e. forespoken, unhappy, charmed or be-lived is still standing, and was lately the magnificent rewitched. The explanation of Theobald and Johnson, interdicted or under a curse,' is erroneous. A forbodin fellow, Scotice, still signifies an unhappy one. This mischief was supposed to be put in execution by means of a waxen figure. Holinshed, speaking of the witchcraft practised to destroy King Duff, says that they found one of the witches roasting, upon a wooden broach, an image of wax at the fire, resembling in each feature the king's person, &c. for as the image did waste afore the fire, so did the bodie of the king break forth in sweat: and as for the words of the inchantinent, they served to keepe him still waking from sleepe.' This may serve to explain the foregoing passage:— 'Sleep shall, neither night nor day, Hang upon his pent-house lid.' sidence of the earl of Strathmore. Gray has given a 10 Rapt is rapturously affected; extra se raptus. In the pamphlet about Dr. Fian, already quoted-rilidium, for it taketh away wit and reason.' Againe it is confessed, that the said christened cat was the cause of the Kinge's majestie's shippe, at his coming forth of Denmarke, had a contrarie winde to the rest of his shippes then being in his companie.'And further the said witch declared, that his majestie had never come safely from the sea, if his faith had not prevailed above their intentions. To this circumstance, perhaps, Shakspeare's allusion is sufficiently plain. 13 i. e. admiration of your deeds, and a desire to do them justice by public commendation, contend in his mind for pre-eminence: he is silenced with wonder. 14 i. e. posts arrived as fast as they could be counted. Thicke (says Baret,) that cometh often and thicke together: creber, frequens, frequent, souvent venant.' And again. Crebritas literarum, the often sending, or thicke coming of letters. Thicke breathing, anhelitus 6 The old copy has weyward, evidently by mistake. creber.' Shakspeare twice uses to speak thick' for Weird, from the Saxon, a witch, Shakspeare found into speak quick. To tale or tell is to score or number. Holinshed. Gawin Douglas, in his translation of Vir- Rowe, not understanding this passage, altered it to 'as gil, renders the parca by weird sisters. quick as hail, Camel post with post; and every one did bear Ang. Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater honour, Ban. What, can the devil speak true? Mach. The thane of Cawdor lives? Why do you dress me In borrow'd robes ? With those of Norway, or did line the rebel Macb. Glamis, and thane of Cawdor; The greatest is behind.-Thanks for your pains.Do you not hope your children shall be kings, When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me, Promis'd no less to them? Ban. That, trusted home,2 Macb. mould, But with the aid of use. With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains, The leaf to read them-Let us toward the king.— [Exeunt. SCENE IV. Fores. A Room in the Palace. Dun. Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not My liege, As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme.-I thank you, gentlemen-To find the mind's construction in the face: 16 This supernatural soliciting' Cannot be ill; cannot be good:-If ill, My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical He was a gentleman on whom I built Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSSE, and ANGUS. Was heavy on me: Thou art so far before, Macb. The service and the loyalty I owe, Look, how our partner's rapt. Are to your throne and state, children, and servants; 1 'Came post.' The old copy reads can. Rowe made the emendation. 2 i. e. entirely, thoroughly relied on. 3 Enkindle means 'encourage you to expect the crown.' Safe toward your love and honour.1a as it has been here interpreted. Vide Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2. 13 The interim having weigh'd it.' The interim is probably here used adverbially-You having weighed it in the interim." 14 Studied in his death is well instructed in the art of dying. The behaviour of the thane of Cawdor corresponds in almost every circumstance with that of the unfortunate earl of Essex, as related by Stowe, p. 793 His asking the queen's forgiveness, his confession, repentance, and concern about behaving with propriety on the scaffold, are minutely described by that historian.' Steevens thinks that an allusion was intended to the severity of that justice which deprived the age of one of its greatest ornaments, and Southampton, Shakspeare's patron, of his dearest friend 15 Ow'd, owned, possessed. 16 We cannot construe the disposition of the mind by the lineaments of the face. 17 i. e. I owe thee more than all; nay, more than all which I can say or do will requite. 18 Safe toward your love and honour.' Sir William Blackstone would read: Safe toward you love and honour which he explains thus:-'Our duties are your child ren, and servants or vassals to your throne and state who do but what they should, by doing every thing with a saving of their love and honour toward you. He says that it has reference to the old feudal simple ho The harvest is your own. Dun. There if I grow, My plenteous joys, Our eldest, Malcolm; whom we name hereafter, But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine Macb. The rest is labour, which is not us'd for eye [Aside. For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! SCENE V. Inverness. A Room in Macbeth's 1 i. e. exuberant In drops of sorrow.' lachrymas non sponte cadentes ffudit, gemitusque expressit pectore læto; on aliter manifesta potens abscondere mentis Lucan, lib. ix. Gaudia, quam lachrymis.' tille, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and refer- Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be To catch the nearest way: Thou would'st be great; The illness should attend it. What thou would'st That would'st thou holly; would'st not play false, That which cries, Thus thou must do, if thou have it: Enter an Attendant. Attend. So please you, it is true; our thane is One of my fellows had the speed of him ; ̧ Lady M. 7 Thou wouldst have that [i. e. the crown] which cries unto thee, thou must do thus, if thou would'st have it, and thou must do that which rather,' &c. The difficulty of this passage in Italics seems to have arisen from its not having been considered as all uttered by the object of Macbeth's ambition. Malone is the author of this regulation, and furnished the explanation. 8 That I may pour my spirits in thine ear.' So in Lord Sterline's Julius Cæsar, 1607: Thou in my bosom used to pour thy spright. 9 Which fate and metaphysical aid,' &c.; i. e. su. pernatural aid. We find metaphysics explained things supernatural in the old dictionaries. To have thee crown'd,' is to desire that you should be crown'd. 10 That tend on mortal thoughts.' Mortal and deadly 3 Holinshed says, Duncan having two sons, &c. were synonymous in Shakspeare's time. In another he made the elder of them, called Malcolm, prince of part of this play we have the mortal sword,' and 'morCumberland, as it was thereby to appoint him his suc-tal murders.' We have mortal war,' and 'mortal cessor in his kingdome immediatelie after his decease. hatred.' In Nashe's Pierce Pennilesse is a particular Macbeth sorely troubled herewith, for that he saw by description of these spirits, and of their office. The this means his hope sore hindered (where, by the old second kind of devils, which he most employeth, are laws of the realme the ordinance was, that if he that those northern Martii, called the spirits of revenge, should succeed were not of able age to take the charge and the authors of massacres, and seedsmen of mis upon himself, he that was next of blood unto him chief; for they have commission to incense men to should be admitted,) he began to take counsel how he rapines, sacrilege, theft, murder, wrath, fury, and all might usurpe the kingdome by force, having a just manner of cruelties: and they command certain of the quarrel so to doe (as he tooke the matter) for that Dun- southern spirits to wait upon them, as also great Arioch, cane did what in him lay to defraud him of all manner that is termed the spirit of revenge.' of title and claime, which he might in time to come pretend, unto the crowne." 4 True, worthy Banquo,' &c. We must imagine that while Macbeth was uttering the six preceding lines, Duncan and Banquo had been conferring apart. Macbeth's conduct appears to have been their subject; and to some encomium supposed to have been bestowed on him by Banquo, the reply of Duncan refers. 5 The perfectest report is the best intelligence. 6 Missives, messengers. 11 Lady Macbeth's purpose was to be effected by action. To keep peace between the effect and purpose,' means 'to delay the execution of her purpose, to prevent its proceeding to effect.' Sir Wm. Davenant's strange alteration of this play sometimes affords a reasonably good cominentary upon it. Thus in the present instance: And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers, | Hath made his pendant bed, and procreant cradle: You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, Enter MACBETH. Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter! Macb. Duncan comes here to-night. Lady M. My dearest love, And when goes hence? O, never Macb. To-morrow,-as he purposes. Shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men But be the serpent under it. He that's coming Only look up clear; To alter favour ever is to fear: Enter SCENE VI. The same. Before the Castle. Haut- ants. Dun. Enter LADY MACBETH. See, see! our honour'd hostess! Lady M. Dun. To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, Dun. Give me your hand Macb. If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere Dun. This castle hath a pleasant seat: the air It were done quickly: If the assassination Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses. This guest of summer, Shake my design, nor make it fall before 1 To pall, from the Latin pallio, to wrap, to invest, to cover or hide as with a mantle or cloak. 2 Drayton, in his Mortimeriados, 1596, has an expression resembling this : The sullen night in mistie RUGGE is wrapp'd.' And in his Polyolbion, which was not published till 1612, we again find it : air.' E Could trammel up the consequence, and catch, Marks 8 The explanation by Steevens of this obscure pas. sage seems the best which has been offered: of respect importunately shown are sometimes trouble. some, though we are still bound to be grateful for them, as indications of sincere attachment. If you pray for us on account of the 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 Thick vapours that like ruggs still hang the troubled On this passage there is a long criticism in the Ram-only as far as prayers and thanks can be deserved for bler, No. 168; to which Johnson in his notes refers the reader with much complacency. 3 i. e. beyond the present time, which is, according to the process of nature, ignorant of the future. 4 Favour is countenance. 5 i. e. situation. 6 i. e. convenient corner. 7 This short dialogue,' says Sir Joshua Reynolds, has always appeared to me a striking instance of what in painting is termed repose. The conversation very naturally turns upon the beauty of the castle's situation, and the pleasantness of the air; and Banquo, observing the martlets' 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 men in the situation which is represented. This also is frequently the practice of Homer, who, from the midst of baules and horrors relieves and refreshes the mind of the reader, by introducing some quiet rural image or picture of familiar domestic life." kindnesses that fatigue, and honours that oppress. You are, in short, to make your acknowledgments 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 of to pray. God yield us, is God reward us. 9 i. e. we as hermits, or beadsmen, shall ever pray for you. 10 In compt, subject to accompt. 11 A sewer, an officer so called from his placing the dishes on the table. Asseour, French; from asseoir, to place. 12 This passage has been variously explained. I have attempted briefly to express what I conceive to be its meaning-Twere well it were done quickly, if, when 'tis done, it were done (or at an end;) and that no sinis ter consequences would ensue. If the assassination, at the same time that it puts an end to Duncan's life, could make success certain, and that I might enjoy the crown unmolested, we'd jump the life to come, i.e, hazard or run the risk of what may happen in a future state. To trammel up was to confine or tie up. The legs of horses were trammeled to teach them to amble. There was also a trammel-net,' which was a long net to take great and small fowl with by night.' Surcease is cessation. To surcease or to cease from doing some thing; supersedeo, Lat.; cesser, Fr.-Baret. Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, If we should fail, Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice | I would, while it was smiling in my face, 3 Enter LADY MACBETH. We fail! Mach. Mach. Lady M. He has almost supp'd: Why have you For thy undaunted mettle should compose Macb. Hath he ask'd for me? Was the hope drunk, Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since? Macb. Pr'ythee, peace: I dare do all that may become a man; Lady M. now Does unmake you. I have given suck; and know 1 To commend was anciently used in the sense of the Latin commendo, to commit, to address, to direct, to recommend. 2 'The sightless couriers of the air are what the poet elsewhere calls the viewless winds. 3 So in the tragedy of Cæsar and Pompey, 1607 :-Why think you, lords, that 'tis ambition's spur That pricketh Cæsar to these high attempts ? Malone has observed that there are two distinct metaphors in this passage. I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent; I have nothing to stimulate me to the execution of my purpose but ambition, which is apt to overreach itself; this he expresses by the second image, of a person meaning to vault into his saddle, who, by taking too great a leap, will fall on the other side.' Nothing but males. Will it not be receiv'd,14 Macb. I am settled, and bend up Ban. And she goes down at twelve. Fle. Their candles are all out.-Take thee that too. 8 The circumstance relative to Macbeth's slaughter of Duncan's chamberlains is copied from Holinshed's account of King Duffe's murder by Donwald. 9 Wassel is thus explained by Bullokar in his Expositor, 1616: Wassaile, a term usual heretofore for quaffing and carowsing; but more especially signifying a merry cup (ritually composed, deckt and filled with country liquor) passing about amongst neighbours, meeting and entertaining one another on the vigil or eve of the new year, and commonly called the assail-bol.' 10 To convince is to overcome. 11 A limbeck is a vessel through which distilled liquors pass into the recipient. So shall the receipt (i. e. receptacle) of reason be like this empty vessel. 12 i. e. drowned in drink. 13 Quell is murder; from the Saxon quellan, to kill. 14 i. e. apprehended, understood. 15 Husbandry here means thrift, frugality. 4 This passage is perhaps sufficiently intelligible; but as Johnson and Steevens thought otherwise, I must offer a brief explanation.- Would'st thou have the erown, that which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, and yet live a coward in thine own esteem,' &c. The adage of the cat is among Heywood's Proverbs, 1566: The cat would eate fishe, and would not wet her feete.' 3 Who dares do more is none. The old copy, in-speare has here most exquisitely contrasted his charac stead of do more,' reads 'no more: the emendation is Rowe's. 6 Adhere, in the same sense as cohere. 7 But screw your courage to the sticking-place.' Shakspeare seems to have taken his metaphor from the screwing up the chords of stringed instruments to their proper degree of tension, when the peg remains fast in its sticking-place; i. e. in the place from which it is not o recede, or go back. 16 It is apparent from what Banquo says afterwards, that he had been solicited in a dream to attempt some. thing in consequence of the prophecy of the witches, that his waking senses were shocked at; and Shak ter with that of Macbeth. Banquo is praying against being tempted to encourage thoughts of guilt even in his sleep; while Macbeth is hurrying into temptation, and revolving in his mind every scheme, however flagitious, that may assist him to complete his purpose. The one is unwilling to sleep, lest the same phantoms should assail his resolution again, while the other is depriving himself of rest through impatience to commit the murder. |