That my keen knife see not the wound it makes ;
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry, Hold, hold! Great Glamis! worthy Caw-

dor!2

Enter MAСВЕТН.

Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!
Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant.

Macb. My dearest love,

Duncan comes here to-night.

Lady M. And when goes hence ?
Mach. To morrow, -as he purposes.

Lady M. O, never

Shall sun that morrow see!

Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men
May read strange matters : 3-To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: Look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it. He that's coming
Must be provided for : and you shall put
This night's great business into my despatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

Mach. We will speak further.
Lady M. Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear :

Leave all the rest to me.

[Exeunt.

[9] The word knife, which at present has a familiar undignified meaning,

was anciently used to express a sword or dagger.

STEEV.

[1] The thought is taken from the old military laws which inflicted capital punishment upon "whosoever shall strike stroke at his adversary, either in the heat or otherwise, if a third do cry hold, to the intent to part them; except that they did fight a combat in a place enclosed: and then no man shall be so hardy as to bid hold, but the general." P. 264 of Mr. Bellay's Instructions for the Wars, translated in 1589. TOLLET.

[2] Shakspeare has supported the character of Lady Macbeth by repeated efforts, and never omits any opportunity of adding a trait of ferocity, or a mark of the want of human feelings, to this monster of his own creation. The softer passions are more obliterated in her than in her husband, in proportion as her ambition is greater. She meets him here on his arrival from an expedition of danger, with such a salutation as would have become one of his friends or vassals; a salutation apparently fitted rather to raise his thoughts to a level with her own purposes, than to testify her joy at his return, or manifest an attachment to his person: nor does any sentiment expressive of love or softness fall from her throughout the play. While Macbeth himself, amidst the horrors of his guilt, still retains a character less fiend-like than that of his queen, talks to her with a degree of tenderness, and pours his complaints and fears into her bosom, accompanied with terms of endearment.

STEEV.

[3] That is, thy looks are such as will awaken men's curiosity, excite their attention, and make room for suspicion. HEATH.

Lay's lustru

h by repeated ferocity, ta own creation sband, in pro arrival from come one of his thoughts

The same. Before the Castle. Hautboys. Servants of MA
BETH attending. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAI
BANQUO, LENOX, MACDUFF, ROSSE, ANGUs, and Attendan

Dun. This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.

Ban. This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, 5 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 they
Most breed and haunt, I have observ'd, the air
Is delicate.

Enter Lady MACBETH.

Dun. 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.

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,

[4] This short dialogue between Duncan and Banquo whilst they are a proaching the gates of Macbeth's castle, has always appeared to me a striki instance of what in painting is termed repose. Their conversation very na urally turns upon the beauty of its situ ation and the pleasantness of the ai and Banquo, observing the martlet's nests in every recess of the cornice, marks, that where those birds most breed and haunt, the air is delicate. T subject of this quiet and easy conversation gives that repose so necessary the mind after the tumultuous bustle of the preceding scenes, and perfect contrasts the scene of horror that immediately succeeds. It seems as Shakspeare asked himself, What is a prince likely to say to his attendants such an occasion? Whereas the modern writers seem, on the contrary, to always searching for new thoughts, such as would never occur to men in t situation which is represented. This also is frequently the practice of H mer, who from the midst of battles and horrors, relieves and refreshes t mind of the reader, by introducing some quiet rural image, or picture of mestic life. SIR JREYNOLDS.

And the late dignities heap'd up to them,
We rest your hermits. 3

Dun. Where's the thane of Cawdor?
We cours'd him at the heels, and had a purpose
To be his purveyor: but he rides well;
And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him
To his home before us: Fair and noble hostess,
We are your guest to night.

Lady M. Your servants ever

Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt,
To make their audit at your highness' pleasure,
Still to return your own.

Dun. Give me your hand :

Conduct me to mine host; we love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him.
By your leave, hostess.

The same.

SCENE VII.

[Exeunt.

A Room in the Castle. Hautboys and torches. Enter and pass over the stage, a Sewer, and divers Servants with dishes and service. Then enter MACВЕТН.

Macb. If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly : 5 if the assassination

[3] That is, we as hermits shall always pray for you.

STEEV.

[4] A sewer was an officer so called from his placing the dishes upon the table. Asseour, French; from asseior, to place. Another part of the sequer's office was to bring water for the guests to wash their hands with. It may be worth while to observe, for the sake of preserving an ancient word, that the dishes served in by sewers were called sewes.

STEEV.

[5] Of this soliloquy the meaning is not very clear; I have never found the readers of Shakspeare agreeing about it. I understand it thus:

"If that which I am about to do, when it is once done and executed, were done and ended without any following effects, it would then be best to do it quickly; if the murder could terminate in itself, and restrain the regular course of consequences, if its success could secure its surcease, if, being once done successfully, without detection, it could fix a period to all vengeance and enquiry, so that this blow might be all that I have to do, and this anxiety all that I have to suffer; if this could be my condition, even here in this world, in this contracted period of temporal existence, on this narrow bank in the ocean of eternity, I would jump the life to come, I would venture upon the deed without care of any future state. But this is one of those cases in which judgment is pronounced and vengeance inflicted upon us here in our present life We teach others to do as we have done, and are punished by our own example." JOHNS.

We are told by Dryden, that "Ben Jonson, in reading some bombast speeches in Macbeth, which are not to be understood, used to say that it was horrour." Perhaps the present passage was one of those thus depreciated. Any person but this envious detractor would have dwelt with pleasure on the transcendent beauties of this sublime tragedy, which, after Othello, is perhaps our author's greatest work; and would have been more apt to have been thrown into "strong shudders" and blood-freezing "agues," by its

Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,-
We'd jump the life to come. But, in these cases,
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, & hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off:
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin, hors'd
Upon the sightless couriers of the air, 9
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'er-leaps itself,
And falls on the other. How now, what news ?

Enter Lady MACBETH. 2

Lady M. He has almost supp'd; Why have you le

the chamber?

interesting and high-wrought scenes. than to have been offended by any i aginary hardness of its language; for such it appears from the context, what he meant by horrour.

MALONE.

[6] Surcease is cessation, stop. STEEV.

[7] By the shoal of time, our author means the shallow ford of life, b

tween us and the abyss of eternity. STEEV

[8] Faculties, for office, exercise of power, &c.

WARB.

[9] Courier is only runner. Couriers of air are winds, air in motion. Sigl less is invisible. JOHNS.

The thought of the cherubin (as has been somewhere observed) seems have been borrowed from the eighteenth Psalm: "He rode upon the ches bins and did fly he came flying upon the wings of the wind." Again, Job, ch xxx v. 22: "Thou causest me to ride upon the wind" MALON [1] Alluding to the remission of the wind in a shower. JOHNS.

[2] The arguments by which lady Macbeth persuades her husband to co mit the murder, afford proof of Shakspeare's knowledge of human natu She urges the excellence and dignity of courage, a glittering idea which h dazzled mankind from age to age, and animated sometimes the house-break

Lady M. Know you not, he has ?

Macb. We will proceed no further in this business : He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people,

Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.

Lady M. Was the hope drunk,
Wherein you drest yourself? hath it slept since ?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time,
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour,
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem;
Letting I dare not wait upon I would,
Like the poor cat i'the adage ?4

Macb. Pr'ythee, peace:
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more, is none.

Lady M. What beast was it then,
That made you break this enterprize to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time, nor place,
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both :
They have made themselves, and that their fitness now
Does unmake you. I have given suck; and know

and sometimes the conqueror; but this sophism Macbeth has forever 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;
Who dares do more is none.

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 he borne by any man from a woman without great impatience.

She then urges the oaths by which he had bound himself to murder Duncan, another art of sophistry by which men hav 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 vacated by a latter; that obligations, laid on us by a higher power, could not be overruled by obligations which we lay upon ourselves. JOHNS.

[4] The adage alluded to is, The cat loves fish, but dares not wet her feet Catus amat pisces, sed non vult tingere plantas. JOHNS.