To amplify too much, would make much more,
And top extremity!

Whilft I was big in clamour, there came a man,
Who having seen me in my worser state,
Shunn'd my abhorr'd fociety; but now finding
Who 'twas, had fo endur'd, with his ftrong arms
He fasten'd on my neck; and bellow'd out,
As he'd burft heaven; threw him on my father
Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him,
That ever ear receiv'd; which in recounting
His grief grew puiffant, and the ftrings of life.
Began to crack.Twice then the trumpets founded.
And there I left him traunc'd.—

This wou'd have feem'd a period; but fuch

As love to amplify anothers forrow,

Too much, wou'd make much more and top extremity!

'Tis remarkable, this fine fpeech, (and indeed many others) are omitted in the Oxford edition.

Witches defcrib'd.

7HAT are these,

(1) So wither'd, and fo wild in

their attire,

That look not like th' inhabitants o'th' earth,

And yet are on't? Live you, or are you aught

That man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying

Upon her skinny lips ;

-You fhould be women;

And yet your beards forbid me to interpret,
That you are fo.

(1) What, &c.] Shakespear's excellence in thefé fictitious cha racters hath been before obferved: ee Vol. 1. p. 77. n. 5. In fuch circles, indeed, none could move like him; ghosts, witches, and fairies feem to acknowledge him their fovereign. We muft obferve, that the reality of witches was firmly believed in our author's time, not only establish'd by law, but by fashion also, and that it was not only unpolite but criminal, to doubt it: and as hath been remarked, "" upon this general infatuation, Shakespear might be easily allowed to found a play, efpecially fince he has followed with great exactness such hiftories as were then thought true: nor can it be doubted, that the scenes of enchantment, however they may now be ridiculed, were both by himself and his audience thought awful and affecting.' See Mifcellaneous obfervations on Macbeth, by Mr. S.Johnson, (note the first) printed for Ed. Cave, 1745. Otway's celebrated description of the witch in his Orphan, is fo univerfally known, I omit quoting it here.

SCENE

SCENE VII. Macbeth's Temper.

Yet do I fear thy nature;

It is too full o' th' milk of hunan kindness,

To catch the nearest way.

Thou wouldst be great;

Art not without ambition; but without

The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldft not play falfe,
And yet wouldft wrongly win.

Lady Macbeth, on the News of Duncan's approach. (2) The raven himself is hoarse,

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, all you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to th' toe, top-full
Of direft cruelty; make thick my blood,
Stop up th' access and paffage to remorse:
That no compunctious vifitings of nature

Shake my fell purpofe, (3) nor keep peace between

(2) The Raven, &c.] It is faid in the fpeech which precedes this, that the meffenger, who brought the news

Almoft dead for breath had fcarcely more,

Than would make up his message.

Him the queen most beautifully calls the Raven. With this clua the reader will eafily enter into the sense of the paffage, and fee the abfurdity of any alteration.-By mortal thoughts is meant deftructive, deadly, &c.----In which fenfe mortal is frequently used.

(3) Nor keep, &c.] Mr. Johnfon is of opinion, that no fenfe at all is expreft by the prefent reading, and therefore he proposes keep pace between the paffage feems clear to me, and the fenfe as fol lows: (6 grant that no womanish tenderness, no compunctious vifitings of nature, no ftings of confcience, may fhake my fell purpofe, may defeat my defign, and keep peace between it and the effect, that is, keep my purpofe from being executed," which is moft aptly expreft by a peace between them, which the remorse of her mind, the ftings of her confcience were to be the occafion of her keeping.

Th' effect

Th' effect and it. Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gaul, you murth'ring minifters !
Wherever in your fightless substances

You wait on nature's mischief-Come, thick night!
And pall thee in the dunneft fmoak of hell,
That my keen knife fee not the wound it makes ;
Nor heav'n peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry, hold, hold!.

SCENE IX. Macbeth's Irrefolution.

If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if th' affaffination
Could trammel up the confequence, and catch
With its furceafe fuccefs; that but this blow
Might be the be-all, and the end all

Here,
But here upon this bank and (4) fhoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come.) But, in thefe cafes,
We ftill have judgment here, that we but teach
Bloody inftructions; which, being taught, return
To plague th' inventor. Even-handed juftice
Returns th' ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double truft:
Firft, as I am his kinfman and his fubject,
Strong both against the deed: (5) then, as his hoft,
Who should against his murd'rer shut the door,
Not bear the knife my self. Befides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties fo meek, hath been

(4) Skoal.] Others read shelve.

(5) Then as, &c.] This is quite claffical: hofpitality was held fo facred amongst the ancients, that the Chief of their gods was dignified with the title of hospitable. Zeus Zevios, Jupiter Hofpitalis. The writings of the ancients abound with this noble principle, and hofpitality is mentioned with honour in them all: this amongst a thousand other proofs, fhews Shakespear to have been no stranger to the works of antiquity.

So

So clear in his great office, that his virtues.
Will plead, like angels, trumpet-tongu'd against
The deep damnation of his taking off:
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heav'ns cherubin hors'd
Upon the fightless courfers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in ev'ry eye;
That tears shall drown the wind- I have no fpur
To prick the fides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,
And falls on th'other.

SCENE X. True Fortitude.

(6) I dare do all that may become a man, Who dares do more, is none.

ACT II.

The murdering Scene.

SCENE II.

Macbeth alone.

Is this a dagger which I fee before me,

The handle tow'rd my hand? come let me clutch thee,
I have thee not, and yet I fee thee ftill.
Art thou not, fatal vifion, fenfible
To feeling, as to fight? or art thou but

(6) I dare, &e. The whole prefent scene well deferves a place here, however I fhall only beg leave to refer the reader to it." The arguments, fays Johnson, by which lady Macbeth perfuades her hufband to commit the murder, afford a proof of Shakespear'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 fometimes the houfe-breaker, and fometimes the conqueror: but this fophifm Macbeth has forever deftroyed, by diftinguishing true from falfe fortitude, in a line and a half, of which it may almoft be faid, that they ought to bestow immortality on the author, though his other productions had been loft." &c. See his 16th note:

A dag

t