Oh, these flaws, and starts,
(Impostors to true fear,) would well become
A woman's story at a winter's fire,
Authoriz'd by her grandam]
_Flaws_, are _sudden gusts_. The authour perhaps wrote,
--_Those flaws and starts_,
Impostures true to fear _would well become_;
_A woman's story_,--
These symptoms of terrour and amazement might better become _impostures
true_ only _to fear, might become a coward at the recital of such
falsehoods as no man could credit, whose understanding was not weaken'd
by his terrours; tales told by a woman over a fire on the authority of
her grandam_.
III.iv.76 (474,6) Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal] The _gentle
weal_, is, the _peaceable community_, the state made quiet and safe by
_human statutes_.
_Mollia securae peragebant otia gentes_.
III.iv.92 (475,7) And all to all] I once thought it should be _hail_ to
all, but I now think that the present reading is right.
III.iv.105 (475,8) If trembling I inhabit] This is the original reading,
which Mr. Pope changed to _inhibit_, which _inhibit_ Dr. Warburton
interprets _refuse_. The old reading may stand, at least as well as the
emendation. Suppose we read,
_If trembling I_ evade _it_.
III.iv.110 (476,9) Can such things be,/And overcome us, like a summer's
cloud,/Without our special wonder?] [W: Can't] The alteration is
introduced by a misinterpretation. The meaning is not that _these things
are like a summer-cloud_, but can such wonders as these pass over us
without wonder, as a casual summer cloud passes over us.
III.iv.112 (477,1) You make me strange/Even to the disposition that I
owe] You produce in me an _alienation of mind_, which is probably the
expression which our author intended to paraphrase.
III.iv.124 (477,2) Augurs, and understood relations] By the word
_relation_ is understood the _connection_ of effects with causes; to
_understand relations_ as _an angur_, is to know how these things
_relate_ to each other, which have no visible combination or dependence.
III.iv.141 (479,5) You lack the season of all natures, sleep] I take the
meaning to be, _you want sleep_, which _seasons_, or gives the relish to
_all nature_. _Indiget somni vitae condimenti_.
III.v.24 (480,8) vaporous drop, profound] That is, a drop that has
_profound_, _deep_, or _hidden_ qualities.
III.v.26 (480,9) slights] Arts; subtle practices.
III.vi (481,1) _Enter Lenox, and another Lord_] As this tragedy, like
the rest of Shakespeare's, is perhaps overstocked with personages, it is
not easy to assign a reason why a nameless character should be
introduced here, since nothing is said that might not with equal
propriety have been put into the mouth of any other disaffected man. I
believe therefore that in the original copy it was written with a very
common form of contraction Lenox and An. for which the transcriber,
instead of Lenox and Angus, set down Lenox and _another Lord_. The
author had indeed been more indebted to the transcriber's fidelity and
diligence had he committed no errors of greater importance.
III.vi.36 (482,3) and receive free honours] [_Free_ for grateful.
WARBURTON.] How can _free_ be _grateful_? It may be either honours
_freely bestowed_, not purchased by crimes; or honours _without
slavery_, without dread of a tyrant.
IV.i (484,5) As this is the chief scene of enchantment in the play, it
is proper in this place to observe, with how much judgment Shakespeare
has selected all the circumstances of his infernal ceremonies, and how
exactly he has conformed to common opinions and traditions:
_Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd_.
The usual form in which familiar spirits are reported to converse with
witches, is that of a cat. A witch, who was tried about half a century
before the time of Shakespeare, had a cat named Rutterkin, as the spirit
of one of these witches was Grimalkin; and when any mischief was to be
done she used to bid Rutterkin _go and fly_, but once when she would
have sent Rutterkin to torment a daughter of the countess of Rutland,
instead of _going_ or _flying_, he only cried _mew_, from whence she
discovered that the lady was out of his power, the power of witches
being not universal, but limited, as Shakespeare has taken care to
inculcate:
_Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost._
The common afflictions which the malice of witches produced were
melancholy, fits, and loss of flesh, which are threatened by one of
Shakespeare's witches:
_Weary sev'n nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine._
It was likewise their practice to destroy the cattle of their
neighbours, and the farmers have to this day many ceremonies to secure
their cows and other cattle from witchcraft; but they seem to have been
most suspected of malice against swine. Shakespeare has accordingly made
one of his witches declare that she has been _killing swine_, and Dr.
Harsenet observes, that about that time, _a sow could not be ill of the
measles, nor a girl of the sullens, but some old woman was charged with
witchcraft_.
_Toad, that under the cold stone,
Days and night has, thirty-one,
Swelter'd venom sleeping got;
Boil thou first i'the charm'd pot_.
Toads have likewise long lain under the reproach of being by some means
accessory to witchcraft, for which reason Shakespeare, in the first
scene of this play, calls one of the spirits Padocke or Toad, and now
takes care to put a toad first into the pot. When Vaninus was seized at
Theleuse, there was found at his lodgings _ingens Bufo Vitro inclusus, a
great toad shut in a vial_, upon which those that prosecuted him,
_Veneficium exprebrabent, charged him_, I suppose, _with witchcraft_.
_Fillet of fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bakae:
Eye of newt, and toe of frog;--
For a charm, &c_.
The propriety of these ingredients may be known by consulting the books
_de Viribus Animalium_ and _de Mirabilibus Mundi_, ascribed to Albertus
Magnus, in which the reader, who has time and credulity, may discover
very wonderful secrets.
_Finger of birth-strangled babe,
Ditch deliver'd by a drab_;--
It has been already mentioned in the law against witches, that they are
supposed to take up dead bodies to use in enchantments, which was
confessed by the woman whom king James examined, and who had of a dead
body that was divided in one of their assemblies, two fingers for her
share. It is observable that Shakespeare, on this great occasion, which
involves the fate of a king, multiplies all the circumstanaces of
horror. The babe, whose finger is used, must be strangled in its birth;
the grease must not only be human, but must have dropped from a gibbet,
the gibbet of a murderer; and even the sow, whose blood is used, must
have offended nature by devouring her own farrow. These are touches of
judgment and genius.
_And now about the cauldron sing--
Black spirits and white,
Blue spirits and grey,
Mingle, mingle, mingle,
You that mingle say_.
And in a former part,
--_weyward sisters, hand in hand,--
Thus do go about, about.
Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine.
And thrice again to make up nine!_
These two passages I have brought together, because they both seem
subject to the objection of too much levity for the solemnity of
enchantment, and may both be shewn, by one quotation from Camden's
account of Ireland, to be founded upon a practice really observed by the
uncivilised natives of that country: "When any one gets a fall, _says
the informer of Camden_, he starts up, and, _turning three times to the
right_, digs a hole in the earth; for they imagine that there is a
spirit in the ground, and if he falls sick in two or three days, they
send one of their women that is skilled in that way to the place, where
she says, I call thee from the east, west, north, and south, from the
groves, the woods, the rivers, and the fens, from the fairies _red,
black, white_." There was likewise a book written before the time of
Shakespeare, describing, amongst other properties, the _colours_ of
spirits.
Many other circumstances might be particularised, in which Shakespeare
has shown his judgment and his knowledge.
IV.i.53 (489,6) yesty waves] That is, _foaming_ or _frothy waves_.
IV.i.88 (491,1) the round/And top of sovereignty?] This _round_ is that
part of the crown that encircles the head. The _top_ is the ornament
that rises above it.
IV.i.95 (492,3) Who can impress the forest] i.e. who can command the
forest to serve him like a soldier impress'd. (1773)
IV.i.97 (492,4) Rebellious head, rise never] Mr. Theobald, who first
proposed this change ["head" for "dead"] rightly observes, that _head_
means _host_, or power.
--_Douglas and the rebels met,
A mighty and a fearful_ head _they are_.
And again,
_His divisions--are in three heads_.
IV.i.113 (493,6) Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls] The expression of
Macbeth, that the _crown_ sears _his_ eye-balls, is taken from the
method formerly practised of destroying the sight of captives or
competitors, by holding a burning bason before the eye, which dried up
its humidity. Whence the Italian, _abacinare_, to _blind_.
IV.i.113 (493,7) And thy air,/Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the
first:--/A third is like the former] In former editions,
--_and thy_ hair,
_Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first_:--
_A third is like the former_:--
As Macbeth expected to see a train of kings, and was only enquiring from
what race they would proceed, he could not be surprised that the _hair_
of the second was _bound with gold_ like that of the first; he was
offended only that the second resembled the first, as the first
resembled Banquo, and therefore said,
--_and thy_ air,
_Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first_.
This Dr. Warburton has followed.
IV.i.144 (495,2) Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits] To
_anticipate_ is here to _prevent_, by taking away the opportunity.
IV.ii.9 (496,3) He wants the natural touch] Natural sensibility. He is
not touched with natural affection.
IV.ii.71 (498,7) To do worse to you, were fell cruelty] To do _worse_
is, to let her and her children be destroyed without warning.
IV.iii.2 (500,9) Let us rather/Hold fast the mortal sword; and, like
good men,/ Bestride our down-faln birthdom] In former editions,
_Let us rather
Hold fast the mortal sword; and, like good men,
Bestride our_ downfal birthdoom.--]
He who can discover what is meant by him that earnestly exhorts him to
_bestride_ his _downfal birth-doom_, is at liberty to adhere to the
present text; but it is probable that Shakespeare wrote,
--_like good men,
Bestride our_ downfaln birthdom--
The allusion is to a man from whom something valuable is about to be
taken by violence, and who, that he may defend it without incombrance,
lays it on the ground, and stands over it with his weapon in his hand.
Our birthdom, or birthright, says he, lies on the ground, let us, like
men who are to fight for what is dearest to them, not abandon it, but
stand over it and defend it. This is a strong picture of obstinate
resolution. So Falstaff says to Hal.
_When I am down, if thou wilt_ bestride me, _so_.
_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.
IV.iii.19 (501,4) A good and virtuous nature may recoil/In an imperial
charge] A good mind may _recede_ from goodness in the execution of a
_royal commission_.
IV.iii.23 (501,5) Though all things foul would wear the brows of
grace,/Yet grace must look still so] This is not very clear. The meaning
perhaps is this:--_My suspicions cannot injure you, if you be virtuous,
by supposing that a traitor may put on your virtuous appearance. I do
not say that your virtuous appearance_.
_proves you a traitor; for virtue must wear its proper form, though that
form be often counterfeited by villany_.
IV.iii.26 (502,6) Why in that rawness left you wife and children]
Without previous provision, without due preparation, without _maturity_
of counsel.
IV.iii.33 (502,7) Wear thou thy wrongs] That is, _Poor country, wear
thou thy wrongs_.
IV.iii.69 (503,1) Sudden, malicious] [_Sudden_, for capricious. WARBUR.]
Rather violent, passionate, hasty.
IV.iii.85 (504,2) Than summer seeming lust] When I was younger and
bolder I corrected it thus,
_Than fume, or seething lust_.
that is, Than angry passion, or boiling lust. (1773)
IV.iii.135 (506,4) All ready at a point] [W: at appoint] There is no
need of change.
IV.iii.136 (506,5) 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 justitia
divina_] answerable to the cause.
The author of the _Revisal_ conceives the sense of the passage to be
rather this: _And may the success of that goodness, which is about to
exert itself in my behalf, be such as may be equal to the justice of my
quarrel_.
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_. (see 1765, VI, 462, 7)
IV.iii.170 (508,9) A modern ecstacy] I believe _modern_ is only
_foolish_ or _trifling_.
IV.iii.196 (509,2), fee-grief] A peculiar sorrow; a grief that hath a
single owner. The expression is, at least to our ears, very harsh.
IV.iii.216 (511,4) He has no children] It has been observed by an
anonymous critic, that this is not said of Macbeth, who had children,
but of Malcolm, who having none, supposes a father.
V.i.86 (515,8) My mind she has mated] [Conquer'd or subdued. POPE.]
Rather astonished, confounded.
V.ii.24 (516,1) When all that is within him does condemn/Itself, for
being there?] That is, when all the faculties of the mind are employed
in self-condemnation.
V.iii.1 (516,2) Bring me no more reports] _Tell me not any more of
desertions--Let all ny subjects leave me--I am safe till,_ &c.
V.iii.8 (517,3) English Epicures] The reproach of Epicurism, on which
Mr. Theobald has bestowed a note, is nothing more than a natural
invective uttered by an inhabitant of a barren country, against, those
who have more opportunities of luxury.
V.iii.22 (518,6) my way of life/Is fall'n into the sear] As there is no
relation between the _way of life_, and _fallen into the sear_, I am
inclined to think that the W is only an M inverted, and that it was
originally written,
--_my_ May _of life_.
_I am now passed from the spring to the autumn of my days, but I am
without those comforts that should succeed the spriteliness of bloom,
and support me in this melancholy season._
The authour has _May_ in the same sense elsewhere.
V.iv.8 (521,1) the confident tyrant/Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will
endure/Our setting down before't] He was _confident_ of success; so
_confident_ that he would not fly, but endure their _setting down_
before his castle.
V.iv.11 (521,2) For where there is advantage to be given,/ Both more and
less have given him the revolt] The impropriety of the expression,
_advantage to be given_, and the disagreeable repetition of the word
_given_ in the next line, incline me to read,
--_where there is_ a 'vantage _to be_ gone,
_Both more and less have given him the revolt._
_Advantage or 'vantage_, in the time of Shakespeare, signified
_opportunity_. _He shut up himself and his soldiers_, (says Malcolm) _in
the castle, because when there is an opportunity to be gone they all
desert him_.
_More and less_ is the same with _greater and less_. So in the
interpolated _Mandeville_, a book of that age, there is a chapter of
_India the More and the Less_.
V.iv.20 (522,4) arbitrate]--_arbitrate_ is _determine_.
V.v.11 (523,3) fell of hair] My hairy part, my _capillitium_. _Fell_ is
_skin_.
V.v.17 (523,7) She should have dy'd hereafter;/ There would have been a
time for such a word] This passage has very justly been suspected of
being corrupt. It is not apparent for what _word_ there would have been
a _time_, and that there would or would not be a _time_ for any _word_
seems not a consideration of importance sufficient to transport Macbeth
into the following exclamation. I read therefore,
_She should have dy'd hereafter.
There would have been a time for--such a_ world!--
_Tomorrow_, &c.
It is a broken speech in which only part of the thought is expressed,
and may be paraphrased thus: _The queen is dead_. Macbeth. _Her death
should have been deferred to some more peaceful hour; had she liv'd
longer_, there would at length have been a time for the _honours due to
her as a queen, and that respect which I owe her for her fidelity and
love. Such is the_ world--such is the condition of human life, that we
always think_ to-morrow _will be happier than to-day, but to-morrow and
to-morrow steals over us unenjoyed and unregarded, and we still linger
in the same expectation to the moment appointed for our end. All these
days, which have thus passed away, have sent multitudes of fools to the
grave, who were engrossed by the same dream of future felicity, and,
when life was departing from them, were, like me, reckoning on
to-morrow_.
Such was once my conjecture, but I am now less confident. Macbeth might
mean, that there would have been a more convenient _time_ for such a
_word_, for such _intelligence_, and so fall into the following
reflection. We say we send _word_ when we give intelligence.
V.v.21 (524,8) To the last syllable of recorded time] _Recorded time_
seems to signify the time fixed in the decrees of Heaven for the period
of life. The _record_ of _futurity_ is indeed no accurate expression,
but as we only know transactions past or present, the language of men
affords no term for the volumes of prescience, in which future events
may be supposed to be written.
V.v.23 (524,9) The way to dusty death] _Dusty_ is a very natural
epithet. The second folio has,
_The way to_ study _death_.--
which Mr. Upton prefers, but it is only an errour by an accidental
transposition of the types.
V.v.42 (525,2) I pull in resolution, and begin/To doubt the equivocation
of the fiend,/ That lies like truth] Though this is the reading of all
the editions, yet, as it is a phrase without either example, elegance or
propriety, it is surely better to read,
_I_ pall _in resolution,--
I languish in my constancy, my confidence begins to forsake as_.
It is scarcely necessary to observe how easily _pall_ might be changed
into _pull_ by a negligent writer, or mistaken for it by an unskilful
printer. With this emendation Dr. Warburton and Mr. Heath concur. (see
1765, VI,478,8)
V.viii.9 (529,3) the intrenchant air] That is, air which cannot be cut.
V.viii.20 (529,5) That palter with us in a double sense] That _shuffle_
with ambiguous expressions.
V.viii.48 (531,7) Had I as many sons as I have hairs, I would not wish
them to a fairer death]
This incident is thus related from Henry of Huntingdon by Camden in his
_Remains_, from which our authour probably copied it.
When Seyward, the martial earl of Northumberland, understood that his
son, whom he had sent in service against the Scotchmen, was slain, he
demanded whether his wounds were in the fore part or hinder part of his
body. When it was answered, in the fore part, he replied, "I am right
glad; neither wish I any other death to me or mine."
General Observation. This play is deservedly celebrated for the
propriety of its fictions, and solemnity, grandeur, and variety of its
action; but it has no nice discriminations of character, the events are
too great to admit the influence of particular dispositions, and the
course of the action necessarily determines the conduct of the agents.
The danger of ambition is well described; and I know not whether it may
not be said in defence of some parts which now seem improbable, that, in
Shakespeare's time, it was necessary to warn credulity against vain and
illusive predictions.
The passions are directed to their true end. Lady Macbeth is merely
detested; and though the courage of Macbeth preserves some esteem, yet
every reader rejoices at his fall.