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 1 Witch. Thou art kind. 3 Witch. And I another. 1 Witch. I myself have all the other; And the very ports they blow, I will drain him dry as hay: Sleep shall, neither night nor day, Weary sev'n-nights, nine times nine, ১ 2 Witch. Show me, show me. 1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, 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, Peace! the charm's wound up. Enter MACBETH and BANQUO. Mach. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. Ban. How far is't call'd to Fores? - What are these, So wither'd, and so wild in their attire; fear Ban. Good sir, why do you start; and seem to 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 sell them. 2 i. e. the sailor's chart; carte-marine. 3 Forbid, i. e. forespoken, unhappy, charmed or be witched. The explanation of Theobald and Johnson, 'interdicted or under a curse,' is erroneous. A forbodin fellow, Scotice, still signifies an unhappy one. 4 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 inchantment, 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. 5 In the pamphlet about Dr. Fian, already quotedAgaine 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. 6 The old copy has weyward, evidently by mistake. Weird, from the Saxon, a witch, Shakspeare found in Holinshed. Gawin Douglas, in his translation of Vir gil, renders the parcæ by weird sisters. But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor iver, you. Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them:-Whither are they vanish'd? Mach. Into the air: and what seem'd corporal, melted As breath into the wind. - Would, they had staid! Ban. Were such things here, as we do speak about? Or have we eaten of the insane root, 12 Mach. Your children shall be kings. Enter ROSSE and ANGUS. Rosse. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth, The news of thy success: and when he reads Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, His wonders and his praises do contend, Which should be thine, or his: Silenc'd with that, In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day, He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, Strange images of death. As thick as tale, 14 7 The thaneship of Glamis was the ancient inhert. tance of Macbeth's family. The castle where they lived is still standing, and was lately the magnificent residence of the earl of Strathmore. Gray has given a particular description of it in a Letter to Dr. Wharton, 8 i. e. creatures of fantasy or imagination. 9 Estate, fortune. 10 Rapt is rapturously affected; extra se raptus. 11 Sinel. The late Dr. Beattie conjectured that the real name of this family was Sinane, and that Desaf nane, or the hill of Sinane from thence derived its Ezme. 12 The insane root was probably henbane. In Batman's Conmmentary on Bartholome de Propriet. Rerura, a book with which Shakspeare was familiar, is the following passage:---'Henbane is called insana, mad for the use thereof is perillous; for if it be eate dronke it breedeth madnesse, or slow lykenesse of sleepe. Therefore this hearb is called comraonly mi rilidium, for it taketh away wit and reason.” 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 fust 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 creber. Shakspeare twice uses 'to speak thick' fot to speak quick. To tale or tell is to score or member. Rowe, not understanding this passage, altered it to 'as quick as hail. Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act4 Cannot be ill; cannot be good:-If ill, And make my seated' heart knock at my ribs, My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, But what is not.11 Ban. There's no art, To find the mind's construction in the face: 16 An absolute trust. - worthiest cousin! Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSSE, and ANGUS. The sin of my ingratitude even now Was heavy on me: Thou art so far before, To overtake thee. Would, thou hadst less deserv'd; can pay. Mach. The service and the loyalty I owe, In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part Is to receive our duties and our duties 1 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 1. e. entirely, thoroughly relied on. 3 Enkindle means 'encourage you to expect the crown.' Is smother'd in surmise.' The powers of action are oppressed by conjecture. Which do but what they should, by doing every thing Safe toward your love and honour. 18 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 11 But what is not. Shakspeare has something like which he explains thus: - Our duties are your child. this sentiment in The Merchant of Venice : Where every something, being blent together, Turns to a wild of nothing. 12 Favour is countenance, good will, and not pardon, 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 title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and refer- Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be The illness should attend it. What thou would'st Our eldest, Malcolm; whom we name hereafter, And bind us further to you. And that which rather thou dost fear to do, Macb. The rest is labour, which is not us'd for Than wishest should be undone." Hie thee hither [Aside. For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! That I may pour my spirits in thine ear; And chastise with the valour of my tongue tidings? coming: One of my fellows had the speed of him; Lady M. SCENE V. Inverness. A Room in Macbeth's mage, which when done to a subject was always accompanied with a saving clause-saulf le foy que jeo doy a nostre seignor le roy; which he thinks suits well with the situation of Macbeth, now beginning to waver in his allegiance. Malone and Steevens seem to favour this explanation: but safe may merely mean respect ful, loyal; like the old French word sauf. Shakspeare has used the old French phrase, sauf votre honneur, several times in King Henry V. 1 i. e. exuberant. 2 In drops of sorrow." lachrymas non sponte cadentes Gaudia, quam lachrymis.' 3 Holinshed says, 'Duncan having two sons, &c. he made the elder of them, called Malcolm, prince of Cumberland, as it was thereby to appoint him his successor in his kingdome immediatelie after his decease. Macbeth sorely troubled herewith, for that he saw by this means his hope sore hindered (where, by the old laws of the realme the ordinance was, that if he that should succeed were not of able age to take the charge upon himself, he that was next of blood unto him should be admitted,) he began to take counsel how he might usurpe the kingdome by force, having a just quarrel so to doe (as he tooke the matter) for that Duncane did what in him lay to defraud him of all manner 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. The effect, and it! Come to my woman's breasts, 7 Thou would'st 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. pernatural aid. We find metaphysics explained things supernatural in the old dictionaries. To have thee crowd, is to desire that you should be crowned. 10 That tend on mortal thoughts. Mortal and deadly were synonymous in Shakspeare's time. In another part of this play we have the mortal sword,' and 'mortal murders. We have mortal war, and mortal hatred. In Nashe's Pierce Pennilesse is a particular description of these spirits, and of their office. The second kind of devils, which he most employeth, are those northern Martii, called the spirits of revenge, and the authors of massacres, and seedsmen of mis chief; for they have commission to incense men to rapines, sacrilege, theft, murder, wrath, fury, and all manner of cruelties: and they command certain of the southern spirits to wait upon them, as also great Arioch, that is termed the spirit of revenge. 11 Lady Macbeth's purpose was to be effected by action. To keep peace between the effect and parpose,' means 'to delay the execution of her purpose, ta prevent its proceeding to effect. Sir Wm. Davenant's strange alteration of this play sometimes affords a reasonably good commentary upon it. Thus in the preset instance: And when goes hence? We rest your hermits." Dun. O, never Mach. To-morrow, -as he purposes. Shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men May read strange matters: -To beguile the time, Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it. He that's coming Mach. We will speak further. Only look up clear; To alter favour ever is to fear: [Exeunt. This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, Buttress, nor coigne of vantage, but this bird 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: Thick vapours that like ruggs still hang the troubled Where's the thane of Cawdor? We cours'd him at the heels, and had a purpose And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him Your servants ever compt, 10 Still to return your own. Give me your hand [Exeunt. It were done quickly: If the assassination 8 The explanation by Steevens of this obscure pas. sage seems the best which has been offered: Marka of respect importunately shown are sometimes troublesome, though we are still bound to be grateful for thein, 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 only as far as prayers and thanks can be deserved for 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. air.' On this passage there is a long criticism in the Rambler, No. 169; to which Johnson in his notes refers the reader with much complacency. 3 1. 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. 9 i. e. we as hermits, or beadsmen, shall ever pray for you. 10 In compt, subject to accompt. 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, re- to place. 11 A sewer, an officer so called from his placing the dishes on the table. Asscour, French; from asseoir, marks, that where those birds most breed and haunt the 12 This passage has been variously explained. I have 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 battles and horrors reJieves and refreshes the mind of the reader, by introducing some quiet rural image or picture of familiar domestic life." attempted briefly to express what I conceive to be its meaning:Trwere well it were done quickly, if, when 'tis done, it were done (or at an end;) and that no sinister 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 comme, i.c. hazard or run the risk of what may happen in a foture 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. Surecase is ctssation. To surcease or to cease from doing something; superscdeo, Lat.; cesser, Fr. Burel. Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, Mach. Lady M. If we should fail, Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice | I would, while it was smiling in my face, Enter LADY MACBETH. Lady M. He has almost supp'd: Why have you left the chamber? Mach. Hath he ask'd for me? Lady M. Know you not, he has? Lady M. 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 We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place," The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon Macb. Bring forth men-children only! Who dares receive it other, As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar I am settled, and bend up 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." 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 crown, 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. 5 Who dares do more is none. The old copy, in 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-piace; i. e, in the place from which it is not to recede, or gr back. s 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 wassail-bol 10 To convince is to overcome. 11 A limbeck is a vessel through which distilled liquers 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. 16 It is apparent from what Banquo says afterwards, that he had been solicited in a dream to attempt something in consequence of the prophecy of the witches, that his waking senses were shocked at; and Shakspeare has here most exquisitely contrasted his charac 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 mur der. |