MACBETH.

Act I.

Sc. 1.

"1 W. I come, Graymalkin.—2 W. Paddock calls.—3 W. Anon."

I adopt this arrangement of Mr. Hunter's instead of that of the folio, usually followed.

Sc. 2.

"Say to the King the knowledge of the broil."

Here 'the' is evidently an error for thy.

"Doubtful it stood ***"

We might add, For the two armies were.

"And Fortune on his damned quarry smiling."

Holinshed, treating of this very matter, says, "to assist him in that rebellious quarrel." Hence the usual correction of quarrel for 'quarry' seems to be justified. In the old writers quarrel in the sense of cause, party, is frequent. It was in ordinary use at that time, alike in French and English.

"Like Valour's minion, carv'd out his passage,

Till he fac'd the slave ***"

We might add, with Vengeance at his side.

"Shipwrecking storms, and direful thunders break."

So Pope, from breaking of the 2nd folio.

"Like tempests

Broke from the raging North."

Fletch. Hum. Lieut. i. 1.

"This oür captains, Macbeth and Banquo?—Yes."

"As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks, so they."

We might, but not so well perhaps, read 'o'ercharg'd' (see on M. N. D. ii. 1). 'They so,' though it makes a rime, would give energy.

"Who comes here now?—The worthy thane of Rosse."

"So should he look that seems to speak great things."

Collier's folio, I think rightly, reads comes for 'seems' (see on All's Well, ii. 3). We can hardly take 'to speak' in the sense of about to speak.

"From Fife, great king, where the Norweyan banners

Did flout the air, and fan our people cold.

Norway himself with terrible numbers there."

Both sense and metre require Did. The battle was over, and the enemy defeated.

Sc. 3.

"As thick as tale

Came post with post," etc.

Though 'tale' makes good sense, it might be better to read, with Rowe, hail, of which Mr. Dyce gives many examples. Came is Rowe's correction for 'Can' of the folio.

"Promis'd no less to them?—That trusted home."

Beyond question we should read, with Malone, thrusted.

"Give me your favour; my dull brain was wrought."

"I' the interim having weigh'd it."

The I' is not absolutely necessary, but I think Shakespeare wrote it. See on Hamlet, iii. 1.

Sc. 4.

"Is execution done on Cawdor? or not

Those in commission yet returned?"

There is every reason to suppose that the poet wrote 'are not,' the reading of the 2nd folio.

Sc. 5.

"That which cries "Thus must thou do, if thou'dst have it."

"The raven himself is hoarse

That croaks the fatal enterance of Duncan

Under my battlements. Come you spirits."

It is strange that our critics have not seen that the raven is figurative, and means the man. I find that the German Delius had also perceived it. In the third line I think we should read 'spirits of evil'; for a foot is wanting, and good as well as evil spirits 'tend on mortal thoughts.' The ordinary correction, 'Come, come,' is a mere make-shift, and is tame and feeble.

"And take my milk for gall."

Perhaps we should read with for 'for,' taking 'take' in the sense of tinge, infect, a sense it often bears.

"Nor Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark."

The word 'blanket' certainly seems too familiar and even vulgar an expression, especially as the more dignified 'pall thee' had just been used. Malone quotes from Drayton's Mortemeriados, 1596, "The sullen night in misty rug is wrapp'd." But even this is not so low as 'blanket.' Collier's folio reads blankness, but that surely is whiteness. Perhaps we might venture to read blackness, as in Ant. and Cleop. (i. 4) we have "Night's blackness." At that time 'peep' was to gaze earnestly and steadily at anything; not furtively, as now. 'To cry' in the next line may be crying. See Introd. p. [70].

Sc. 6.

"By his loved mansionry that the heaven's breath

Smells wooingly here; no jutty, frieze,

Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird on't

Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle."

The second line here is short by a foot; and as it does not end a paragraph, there must be something wrong. The defect, however, is easily remedied; we have only to read,

"By his lov'd mansiönry that the heaven's

Breath smells wooingly here."

The structure of the last line is like that of "Thy knee bussing the stones" (Cor. iii. 1). "The mind is its own place" (Par. Lost, i. 254), and similar places. There can be little doubt, I think, that on't was effaced at the end of the third line; for the poet could hardly, even in his most careless moment, have termed solid parts of a building 'pendent nests,' etc. Wordsworth, with this very place in his mind, wrote: "On coigns of vantage hang their nests of clay" (Misc. Son. 34). It is also in favour of this reading that it throws the metric accent on this, thereby adding force. 'Coign of vantage' would seem to be coin d'avantage, Fr., and denoting a projection of some kind.

Sc. 7.

"If it were done when 'tis done then 'twere well

It were done quickly. If the assassination

Could trammel up the consequence, and catch

With his success surcease; that but this blow

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," etc.

So the passage should be pointed. The first 'done' in the first line is, finished, ended; from 'If' in the second line to 'life to come' in the seventh is one sentence, with the same idea repeated in three several forms, and not completed; common sense dictates the transposition of 'surcease' and 'success,' the latter signifying accomplishment; 'but' in lines four and six is, only; 'the life to come' is not the future state but the remaining years of his own life, as is manifest from what follows. In scene 5 we have had, "Which shall to all our nights and days to come." We also meet with, "True swains in love shall in the world to come" (Tr. and Cr. iii. 2). "Thus all his life to come is loss and shame." Cowley, Davideis, ii. 616.

"Vaulting ambition which o'erleaps itself,

And falls on the other side.—How now! what news?"

Hanmer also supplied side, which metre and sense demand alike. He had completed what he intended to say, and was pausing when his wife entered.

"At what it did so freely? From this time

Such I account thy love."

A line or more must have been lost between these lines.

"I dare do all that may become a man;

Who dares do more is none."

For 'do' in the second line, the correction of Southern and Rowe, generally adopted, the folio has no, which Mr. Hunter retains, giving the line to Lady Macbeth. But her reply, "What beast was it then?" shows that do was the poet's word.

Act II.

Sc. 1.

"Sent forth great largess to your officers."

The correction of Malone for 'offices' of the folio, which also makes good sense. In a following line 'shut up' seems to apply to Duncan, as denoting the pleasure he felt. The expression is similar to "I am wrapp'd in dismal thinkings." All's Well, v. 3.

"If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis

It shall make honour for you."

I cannot make sense of 'consent.' I had thought of content, also the conjecture of Malone; but it does not quite content me.

"The curtain'd sleepe; witchcraft celebrates."

Something is evidently lost here. Steevens and Collier's folio read 'sleeper.' (See on Temp. iii. 1.) The usual reading has been that of Davenant, 'now witchcraft.'

"With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design

Moves like a ghost.—Thou sure and firm-set earth

Hear not my steps which way they walk."

Here 'strides,' 'sure,' and 'way,' are corrections of sides, sowne, and may of the folio.

Sc. 2.

"These deeds must not be thought on."

"I am afraid to think on what I have done."

Here the addition is not absolutely necessary, but it makes the language more forcible and more idiomatic.

Sc. 3.

"To countenance this horror. Ring the bell.—

What is the business?"

Theobald regarded 'Ring the bell' as a stage-direction; but a direction follows, and Macduff, in his anxiety and impatience, reiterates his order.

"Let's briefly put on manly readiness."

A very awkward way of expressing Let us make haste and put on our clothes (see Index v. [Ready]), for they must have been in their nightgowns. (Ham. iii. 4.) I greatly doubt if the editors have understood it; for they have no note on it; and Singer quotes it as a parallel to "Put on the dauntless spirit of resolution" (K. John, v. 1).

Act III.

Sc. 1.

"Let your Highness'

Command be upon me, to the which my duties," etc.

This insertion removes all difficulty very simply. Be is omitted constantly.

"Till supper-time alone; while then God be with you."

This line cannot be as the poet wrote it, for the metric accents fall on 'be' and 'you.' We might read good bye, but it would be somewhat too familiar. On the whole, I think that mean has been omitted before 'while.' By supplying it, the language becomes dignified and king-like. See Index s. v. [While].

"To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!

Rather than so come Fate into the lists."

"Now, if you have a station in the file,

Not in the most worst rank of manhood, say it."

A syllable is wanting; we have "most worst" in Winter's Tale, iii. 2, and double comparatives and superlatives are common.

Sc. 2.

"Whom we to gain our peace have sent to peace."

The first 'peace' was probably suggested, in the usual manner, by the second. We might read seat, or some such word (see Introd. p. [64]). The 2nd folio has place.

"Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond."

We should read band, riming with 'hand.'

"Light thickness and the crow

Makes wing to the rooky wood. * * *"

We might add, on earth below. We have, "In all designs begun on earth below" (Tr. and Cr. i. 3).

"Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill."

It might be better to read 'themselves strong.'

Sc. 4.

"'Tis better thee without than he within."

The 'he' had better probably be him.

"We'll hear thee ourselves again."

"If trembling I inhabit, then protest me

The baby of a girl."

Neither 'inhabit' nor Pope's 'inhibit' makes sense. I would read evitate it. "Since therein she doth evitate and shun" (Mer. Wives, v. 5; Introd. p. [67]). The printer might easily make inhab of evitate badly written. We might also read evade or avoid it. 'Baby' is doll.

"I hear it by the way; but I will send."

We should of course read 'heard.'

Sc. 6.

"Who cannot want the thought how monsterous," etc.

This is evident nonsense; "yet," says Mr. Dyce, "I believe the text is not corrupt. Shakespeare was sometimes incorrect in these minutiæ." Shakespeare, however, never wrote nonsense; and if we read We for 'Who,' we have the very word he wrote, and most excellent sense.

"Is gone to pray the holy king [up]on his aid."

"Hath so exasperate their king that he."

For 'their' we must of course read the.

Act IV.

Sc. 1.

"Toad that under cold stone."

A syllable is lost. Pope read 'the cold'; Steevens 'coldest.' I read 'underneath,' as in Jonson's line, "Underneath this stone doth lie."

"Rebellious head rise never."

This is Theobald's reading for dead of the folio. Hanmer reads 'Rebellions,' which may be right, but 'head,' often means insurrectionary forces.

Sc. 2.

"But cruel are the times when we are traitors

And do not know it ourselves."

"It shall not be long but I'll be here again."

"Thou liest thou shag-ear'd villain."

Both Singer and Dyce read hair'd, and I think rightly. Hair was originally pronounced hear, under which form it occurs in two of Shakespeare's older plays; so shag-heared and 'shag-eared' would sound exactly alike.

Sc. 3.

"You may deserve of him, and wisdom 'twere."

A syllable has plainly been lost. For 'deserve,' the correction of Theobald, the folio has discern.

"I would not be the villain that thou think'st me."

"Of aid of goodly thousands; but for all this."

The foot which is wanting may be thus supplied.

"Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty."

For 'Convey,' which hardly makes sense, Singer reads Enjoy.

"Uproar the universal peace, confound

All unity on earth."

As it may be doubted if there is such a verb as 'Uproar,' and as it makes little sense, I would read Uproot or Uptear.

"Then Heaven forgive him too.—This time goes manly."

This is the reading of the folio; but editors read tune for 'time.' The terms were synonymous. See Gifford on Massinger's Roman Actor, ii. 1.

"About him fairies, sing a scornful rime,

And, as you trip, still pinch him to your time."

Mer. Wives, v. 5.

Act V.

Sc. 1.

"Aye, but their sense are shut."

Editors read is for 'are,' but I rather think we should read 'senses.' Yet 'sense' may be a collective. Introd. p. [70].

Sc. 3.

"Will cheer me ever, or disseat me now."

Percy and Collier's folio read chair for 'cheer.' This may be right.

"My way of life

Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf."

For 'way' Johnson proposed May, and this reading has been generally adopted; but there is no need of change.

"That keep her from her rest.—Cure her of that."

The last her was supplied by 2nd folio. See Introd. p. [55].

"Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff."

In the usual way, 'stuff' seems to have arisen from 'stuff'd.' I read matter.

"Shall expel

This something settled matter in his heart."

Ham. iii. 2.

"What rhubarb, cymè, or what purgative drug."

For 'cymè,' an uncommon word, Rowe read senna, and he has been universally followed. Yet it may not be the right word.

Sc. 4.

"For where there is advantage to be given

Both more and less have given him the revolt."

The 'given' of the first line was produced, in the usual way, by that of the second. I read taken.

Sc. 5.

"Hang out our banners! On the outward walls

The cry is still They come!"

So I think we should punctuate. It was from the keep, not the walls, that the banner (as perhaps we should read) was hung. We have, no doubt, "Advance our waving colours on the walls" (1 Hen. VI. i. 6); but Orleans was a city, not a mere castle.

"The time has been my senses would have cool'd."

Collier's folio, which I follow, reads quail'd for 'cool'd.' "That so to see him made her heart to quail." F. Q. iv. 3, 46.

"Gracious my lord, I shall report that which [I say]

I saw, but know not how to do't.—Well, say, sir."

'I say' is needless, and spoils the measure. It arose from 'say' in the next line.

Sc. 7.

"Seems to be bruited. Let me find him, Fortune."

"I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl."

I may observe that 'pearl' is here a collective term—a singular, with a plural sense. This word was often so used.

"We shall not spend a large expense of time."

With Singer, I read make for 'spend.'