351 3. WITCH. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter. BAN. Good fir, why do you start; and seem to fear Things that do found fo fair?—I'the name of truth, Which outwardly ye fhow? My noble partner thane of Glamis !] The thanefhip of Glamis was the an⚫ient inheritance of Macbeth's family. The castle where they lived is ftill ftanding, and was lately the magnificent refidence of the earl of Strathmore. See a particular defcription of it in Mr. Gray's letter to Dr. Wharton, dated from Glames Cafile. STEEVENS. 9 thane of Cawdor!] Dr. Johnfon obferves in his Journey so the Western lands of Scotland, that part of Calder Caftle, from which Macbeth drew his fecond title, is ftill remaining. STEEVENS. 2 Are ye fantastical,] By fantastical is not meant, according to the common fignification, creatures of his own brain; for he could not be fo extravagant to ask fuch a question: but it is used for supernatural, fpiritual. WARBURTON. By fantaftical, he means creatures of fantasy or imagination: the queftion is, Are these real beings before us, or are we deceived by illufions of fancy? JOHNSON. So, in Reginald Scott's Difcovery of Witchcraft, 1584: "He affirmeth thefe tranfubftantiations to be but fantastical, not according to the veritie, but according to the appearance." The fame expreffion occurs in All's Loft by Luft, 1633, by Rowley: or is that thing, "Which would fupply the place of foul in thee, Shakspeare, however, took the word from Holinfhed, who in his account of the witches, fays; fome vain fantaflical illufion by Macbeth and Banguo." This was reputed at first but STEEVENS. 3 Of noble having,] Having is eftate, poffeffion, fortune. So, in Twelfth Night: my having is not much; "I'll make divifion of my present store: That he seems rapt withal; to me you speak not: If you can look into the feeds of time, And fay, which grain will grow, and which will not; Speak then to me, who neither beg, nor fear, Your favours, nor you hate. 1. WITCH. Hail! 2. WITCH. Hail! 3. WITCH. Hail! 1. WITCH. Leffer than Macbeth, and greater. 2. WITCH. Not so happy, yet much happier. 3. WITCH. Thou fhalt get kings, though thou be none: So, all hail, Macbeth, and Banquo! 1. WITCH. Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail! MACB. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more: By Sinel's death," I know, I am thane of Glamis; Again, in the ancient metrical romance of Syr Beuys of Hampton, bl. 1. no date: "And when he heareth this tydinge, "He will go theder with great having." See also note on The Merry Wives of Windfor, A& III. fc. ii. STEEVENS. 5 That he feems rapt withal;] Rapt is rapturously affected, extra Je raptus. So, in Spenfer's Faerie Queen, IV. ix. 6: "That, with the sweetness of her rare delight, "The prince half rapt, began on her to dote." Again, in Cymbeline: What, dear fir, thus raps you?" STEEVENS. 6 By Sinel's death,] The father of Macbeth. POPE. His true name, which however appears, but perhaps only typographically, corrupted to Synele in Hector Boethius, from whom,. by means of his old Scottish tranflator, it came to the knowledge of Holinfhed, was Finleg. Both Finlay and Macbeath are common furnames in Scotland at this moment. RITSON. Stands not within the profpect of belief, Upon this blafted heath you stop our way you. BAN. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them :-Whither are they vanish'd? MACB. Into the air; and what feem'd corporal, melted As breath into the wind.-'Would they had ftaid! 7 eaten of the infane root,] The infane root is the root which makes infane. THEOBALD. Shakspeare alludes to the qualities anciently afcribed to hemlock. So, in Greene's Never too late, 1616: "You gaz'd against the fun, and fo blemished your fight; or elfe you have eaten of the roots of hemlock, that makes men's eyes conceit unfeen objects." Again, in Ben Jonfon's Sejanus: they lay that hold upon thy fenfes, "As thou hadft fnuft up hemlock." STEEVENS. The commentators have given themselves much trouble to afcertain the name of this root, but its name was, I believe, unknown to Shakspeare, as it is to his readers; Sir Thomas North's tranflation of Plutarch, having probably furnished him with the only knowledge he had of its qualities, without fpecifying its name. In the Life of Antony, (which our author muft have diligently read,) the Roman foldiers, while employed in the Parthian war, are faid to have fuffered great diftrefs for want of provifions. "In the ende (fays Plutarch) they were compelled to live of herbs and rootes, but they found few of them that men do commonly eate of, and were enforced to taste of them that were never eaten before; among the which there was one that killed them, and made them out of their wits; for he that had once eaten of it, his memorye was gone from him, and he knew no manner of thing, but only bufied himself in VOL. VII. А а MACB. Your children fhall be kings. ΒΑΝ. You shall be king. MACB. And thane of Cawdor too; went it not fo? BAN. To the felf-same tune, and words. Who's here? Enter Rosse, and ANGUS. ROSSE. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth, Which should be thine, or his : Silenc'd with that," digging and hurling of ftones from one place to another, as though it had been a matter of great waight, and to be done with all poifible freede." MALONE. 8 His wonders and his praises do contend, Which should be thine, or his: &c.] i. e. private admiration of your deeds, and a defire to do them publick juftice by commendation, contend in his mind for pre-eminence.-Or,-There is a conteft in his mind whether he fhould indulge his defire of publishing to the world the commendations due to your heroiím, or whether he should remain in filent admiration of what no words could celebrate in proportion to its defert. Mr. M. Mafon would read wonder, not wonders; for, fays he, "I believe the word wonder, in the fenfe of admiration, has no plural." In modern language it certainly has none; yet I cannot help thinking that, in the prefent inftance, plural was opposed to plural by Shakspeare. STEEVENS. Silenc'd with that,] i. e. wrapp'd in filent wonder at the deeds performed by Macbeth, &c. MALONE. As thick as tale,] Meaning, that the news came as thick Came poft with poft; and every one did bear ANG. 355 We are fent, as a tale can travel with the post. Or we may read, perhaps, yet better: As thick as tale, Came poft with poft ;. That is, pofts arrived as fast as they could be counted. So, in King Henry VI. P. III. A& II. fc. i: Tidings, as fwiftly as the poft could run, "Were brought," &c. Mr. Rowe reads as thick as hail. STEEVENS. JOHNSON. The old copy reads-Can poft. The emendation is Mr. Rowe's. Dr. Johnfon's explanation would be lefs exceptionable, if the old copy had-As quick as tale. Thick applies but ill to tale, and seems rather to favour Mr. Rowe's emendation. "As thick as hail," as an anonymous correfpondent observes to me, is an expreffion in the old play of King John, 1591: 66 breathe out damned orifons, "As thick as hail-ftones 'fore the fpring's approach." The emendation of the word can is fupported by a paffage in K. Henry IV. P. II : "And there are twenty weak and wearied posts "Come from the north." MALONE. Dr. Johnfon's explanation is perfectly juftifiable. As thick, in ancient language, fignified as faft. To speak thick, in our author, does not therefore mean, to have a cloudy indiftinét utterance, but to deliver words with rapidity. So, in Cymbeline: A&t III. fc. ii: fay, and speak thick, "(Love's counfellor fhould fill the bores of hearing "To the fmothering of the fenfe) how far it is Again, in K. Henry IV. P. II. Act II. fc. iii: "And Speaking thick, which nature made his blemish, "Became the accents of the valiant; "For thofe that could fpeak low and tardily, "Would turn &c.-To feem like him." Thick therefore is not lefs applicable to tale, the old reading, than to hail, the alteration of Mr. Rowe. STEEVENS. |