Birthdom for birthright is formed by the same analogy with masterdom in this play, signifying the privileges or rights of a master.
Perhaps it might be birth-dame for mother; let us stand over our mother that lies bleeding on the ground.
NOTE XL.
Malcolm. Now we'll together; and the chance of goodness Be like our warranted quarrel!
The chance of goodness, as it is commonly read, conveys no sense. If there be not some more important errour in the passage, it should, at least, be pointed thus:
—And the chance, of goodness,
Be like our warranted quarrel!
That is, may the event be, of the goodness of heaven, [pro justicia divina,] answerable to the cause.
But I am inclined to believe that Shakespeare wrote,
—and the chance, O goodness, Be like our warranted quarrel!
This some of his transcribers wrote with a small o, which another imagined to mean of. If we adopt this reading, the sense will be, and O! thou sovereign goodness, to whom we now appeal, may our fortune answer to our cause.