Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf: "May of youth and bloom of lustyhood." And King Henry V.: 66 My puissant liege is in the very May-morn of his youth." LANGTON. So, in Sidney's Astrophel and Stella, Stanza 21: "With equal ardour in your May of blood." Again, in The Sea Voyage, by the same authors: "And in their May of youth," &c. Again, in The Guardian of Massinger : 66 66 'I am in the May of my abilities, And you in your December." Again, in The Renegado of the same author: "Having my heat and May of youth, to plead Again, in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607: "Had I in this fair May of all my glory," &c. Again, in King John and Matilda, by R. Davenport, 1655: "Thou art yet in thy green May, twenty-seven summers," &c. STEEVENS. I have now no doubt that Shakspeare wrote May, and not way. It is observable, in this very play, that the contrary error of the press has happened from a mistake of the same letters; of "Hear not my steps which may they walke." Besides, that a similarity of expression in other passages Shakspeare, and the concinnity of the figure, both unite to support the proposed emendation. Thus, in his Sonnets: "Two beauteous springs to yellow autumns turn'd.” Again, in King Richard II.: "He that hath suffered this disorder'd spring, "Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf." The sentiment of Macbeth I take to be this: "The tender leaves of hope, the promise of my greener days, are now in my autumn, withered and fruitless: my mellow hangings are all shook down, and I am left bare to the weather." HENLEY. The old reading should not have been discarded, as the following passages prove that it was a mode of expression in use at that time, as course of life is now. In Massinger's Very Woman, the Doctor says In way of life I did enjoy one friend." 5 As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, Again, in The New Way To Pay Old Debts, Lady Allworth says "If that when I was mistress of myself, 66 And in my way of youth," &c. M. MASON. Again, in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1609, Act I. Sc. I.: "Thus ready for the way of life or death, "I wait the sharpest blow." STEEVENS. The meaning of this contested passage, I think, is this. I have lived long enough. In the course or progress of life, I am arrived at that period when the body begins to decay; I have reached the autumn of my days. Those comforts which ought to accompany that old age to which I am approaching, (to compensate for the infirmities naturally attending it,) I have no title to expect; but on the contrary, the curses of those I have injured, and the hollow adulation of mortified dependants. I have lived long enough. It is time for me to retire. A passage in one of our author's Sonnets, (quoted by Mr. Steevens, in a subsequent note,) may prove the best comment on the present: the "That time of year in me thou may'st behold, "When yellow leaves or none or few do hang "Upon those boughs, which shake against the cold, Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang." Are not these lines almost a paraphrase on the contested part of passage before us? He who could say that you might behold the autumn in him, would not scruple to write, that he was fallen into the autumn of his days (i. e. into that decay which always accompanies autumn); and how easy is the transition from this to saying that the course or progress of his life had reached the autumnal season?" which is all that is meant by the words of the text, My way of life," &c. 66 The using "the sear, the yellow leaf," simply and absolutely for autumn, or rather autumnal decay, because in autumn the leaves of trees turn yellow, and begin to fall and decay, is certainly a licentious mode of expression; but it is such a licence as may be found in almost every page of our author's works. It would also have been more natural for Macbeth to have said, that, in the course or progress of life, he had arrived at his autumn, than to say, that the course of his life itself had fallen into autumn or decay; but this too is much in Shakspeare's manner. With respect to the word fallen, which at first view seems a very singular expression, I strongly suspect that he caught it from the language. of conversation, in which we at this day often say that this or that person is "fallen into a decay;" a phrase that might have been Curses, not loud, but deep, mouth-honour, breath, Which the poor heart would fain deny, but dare Seyton! not. current in his time also. It is the very idea here conveyed. Macbeth is fallen into his autumnal decline. In King Henry VIII. the word way seems to signify, as in the present passage, course or tenour : The way of our profession is against it." And in King Richard II. "the fall of leaf" is used, as in the passage before us, simply and absolutely for bodily decay. "He who hath suffer'd this disorder'd spring, "Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf." 66 - my When a passage can be thus easily explained, and the mode of expression is so much in our poet's general manner, surely any attempt at emendation is not only unnecessary, but dangerous. However, as a reading which was originally proposed by Dr. Johnson, and has been adopted in the modern editions, May of life," has many favourers, I shall add a word or two on that subject. By his " May of life having fallen into the yellow leaf," that is, into autumn, we must understand that Macbeth means either, that being in reality young, he is, in consequence of his cares, arrived at a premature old age;-or that he means simply to assert, that in the progress of life he has passed from May or youth to autumn or old age; in other words, that he is now an old man, or at least near being one. If the first interpretation be maintained, it is sufficient to say, (I use the words of my friend Mr. Flood, whose ingenious comment on this passage I published some years ago,) that “Macbeth, when he speaks this speech, is not youthful. He is contemporary to Banquo, who is advanced in years, and who hath a son upon the scene able to escape the pursuit of assassins and the vigilance of Macbeth." I may likewise add that Macbeth, having now sat for seventeen years on the throne of Scotland, cannot with any probability be supposed to be like our author's Henry V. " in the May-morn of his youth." We must therefore understand these words in the latter sense; namely, that he means only, that in the ordinary progress he has passed from the spring to the autumn of life, from youth to the confines of age. What then is obtained by this alteration? for this is precisely the meaning of the words as they stand in the old copy. There is still another very strong objection to the proposed emendation. It is alledged that in this very play may is printed instead of way, and why may not the contrary error have happened Enter SEYTON. SEY. What is your gracious pleasure? What news more? SEY. All is confirm'd, my lord, which was reported. MACB. I'll fight, till from my bones my flesh be hack'd. Give me my armour. SEY. MACB. I'll put it on. 'Tis not needed yet. here? For this plain reason; because May (the month) both in manuscript and print always is exhibited with a capital letter; and it is exceedingly improbable that a compositor at the press should use a small w instead of a capital M. But, without going further into this subject, it is sufficient for our purpose, that the text, as it is exhibited in the ancient copy, affords an obvious, easy sense, without any emendation whatsoever. MALONE. My way of youth occurs in Massinger, in two passages, one of which Mr. Mason has quoted incorrectly, and assigned the other to a wrong play : "If that when I was mistress of myself, "And in my way of youth pure and untainted.” Roman Actor. "In way of youth I did enjoy one friend." Very Woman. Mr. Gifford understands it to be merely a periphrasis for youth; as way of life here is merely, he thinks, life. BosWELL. 8 the SEAR,] Sear is dry. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Monsieur Thomas, 1639 : sear winter "Hath seal'd the sap up." And Milton has-" Ivy never sear.” Shakspeare has the same thought in his 73d Sonnet : "That time of year thou may'st in me behold, "When yellow leaves," &c. STEEVENS. Again, in our author's Lover's Complaint, where the epithet is so used, as clearly to ascertain the meaning of "the sear, the yellow leaf," in the passage before us : spite of heaven's fell rage, "Some beauty peep'd through lattice of sear'd age." MALONE. We have the same expression and sentiment in Spenser's Pastorals, January: "Also my lustful leaf is drie and seare." BOSWELL. Send out more horses, skirr the country round'; Hang those that talk of fear'.-Give me mine ar mour. How does your patient, doctor? DOCT. Not so sick, my lord, Cure her of that: As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies, MACB. Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd3; 9-SKIRR the country round;] To skirr, I believe, signifies to scour, to ride hastily. The word is used by Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Martial Maid: "Whilst I, with this and this, well mounted, skirr'd Again, in King Henry V.. "And make them skirr away, as swift as stones Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Bonduca : 1 the light shadows, "That, in a thought, scur o'er the fields of corn, -TALK OF fear.] The second folio reads "stand in fear." 2 That keep HER -] The latter word, which was inadvertently omitted in the old copy, was added by the editor of the second folio. MALONE. 3 Canst thou not minister to a mind DISEAS'D ;] In The Spanish Tragedy Isabella thus complains: "So that you say, this herb will purge the eye, "And this the head; but none of them will purge the heart: No, there's no medicine left for my disease, "Nor any physick to recure the dead." MALONE. 4 And, with some sweet OBLIVIOUS antidote,] Perhaps, as Dr. Farmer has observed, our poet here remembered Spenser's description of Nepenthe: 66 Nepenthe is a drinck of sovereign grace, "Harts grief, and bitter gall away to chace,- Fairy Queen, b. iv. c. iii. st. 34. MALONE. |