Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and fhalt be ture; It is too full o'the milk of human kindness, highly, What thou would'st That would't thou holily; would'ft not play falfe, That which cries, Thus thou must do, if thou have it ; 4 That which cries, Thus thou must do, if thou have it; And that, &c.] As the object of Macbeth's defire is here introduced speaking of itself, it is neceffary to read, thou' d'ft have, great Glamis, That which cries, thus thou must do, if thou have me. JOHNSON. 3 And that which rather thou doft fear to do,] The construction, perhaps, is, thou would't have that, [i. e. the crown,] which cries unto thee, thou must do thus, if thou wouldst have it, and thou muft do that which rather, &c. Sir T. Hanmer without neceffity reads-And that's what rather-. The difficulty of this line and the fucceeding hemiftich feems to have arifen from their not being confidered as part of the fpeech uttered by the object of Macbeth's ambition. As fuch they appear to me, and I have therefore diftinguished them by Italicks. MALONE. This regulation is certainly proper, and I have followed it. STEEVENS. 4 That I may pour my fpirits in thine ear;] I meet with the fame expreffion in lord Sterline's Julius Cæfar, 1607: "Thou in my bofom us'd to pour thy Spright." MALONE, Which fate and metaphyfical aid doth feem. To have thee crown'd withal.'-What is your tidings? 5 the golden round, Which fate and metaphyfical aid doth feem To have thee crown'd withal.] For feem, the fenfe evidently directs us to read feek. The crown to which fate destines thee, and which preternatural agents endeavour to bestow upon thee. The golden round is the diadem. JOHNSON. So, in Act IV: "And wears upon his baby brow the round Metaphyfical for fupernatural. But doth feem to have thee crown'd withal, is not fenfe. To make it fo, it should be fupplied thus: doth feem defirous to have. But no poetic licence would excufe this. An eafy alteration will reftore the poet's true reading: doth feem To have crown'd thee withal. i. e. they feem already to have crown'd thee, and yet thy difpofition at prefent hinders it from taking effect. WARBURTON. The words, as they now ftand, have exactly the fame meaning. Such arrangement is fufficiently common among our ancient writers. STEEVENS. I do not concur with Dr. Warburton, in thinking that Shakfpeare meant to fay, that fate and metaphyfical aid feem to have crowned Macbeth.-Lady Macbeth means to animate her husband to the attainment of" the golden round," with which fate and fupernatural agency feem to intend to have him crowned, on a future day. So, in All's well that ends Well: - Our dearest friend "Prejudicates the bufinefs, and would feem "To have us make denial." There is, in my opinion, a material difference between-" To have thee crown'd," and " To have crown'd thee;" of which the learned commentator does not appear to have been aware." Metaphyfical, which Dr. Warburton has justly obferved, means fupernatural, feems in our author's time to have had no other meaning. In the English Dictionary by H. C. 1655, Metaphyficks are thus explained: Supernatural arts." MALONE. Enter an Attendant. ATTEN. The king comes here to-night. LADY. M. Thou'rt mad to fay it: Is not thy mafter with him? who, wer't fo, Would have inform'd for preparation. ATTEN. So please you, it is true; our thane is coming: One of my fellows had the speed of him; Who, almost dead for breath, had fcarcely more Than would make up his message. LADY. M. Give him tending, He brings great news. The raven himself is hoarfe, [Exit Attendant. 6 The raven himself is hoarfe,] Dr. Warburton reads: The meffenger, fays message; to which want breath, fuch a That even the bird, calamities, could not Yet I think the prefent words may ftand. the fervant, had hardly breath to make up his the lady answers mentally, that he may well meffage would add hoarfenefs to the raven. whofe harsh voice is accustomed to predict croak the entrance of Duncan but in a note of unwonted harshness. JOHNSON. The following is, in my opinion, the fenfe of this paffage. Give him tending; the news he brings are worth the speed that made him lofe his breath. [Exit Attendant.] 'Tis certain nowthe raven himself is fpent, is boarfe by croaking this very meffage, the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements. Lady Macbeth (for fhe was not yet unfexed) was likelier to be deterred from her defign than encouraged in it by the supposed thought that the meffage and the prophecy, (though equally fecrets to the meffenger and the raven,) had deprived the one of speech, and added harfhnefs to the other's note. Unless we abfurdly fuppofe the meffenger acquainted with the hidden import of his meffage, Speed alone had intercepted his breath, as repetition the raven's voice; though the lady confidered both as organs of that destiny which hurried Duncan into her meshes. FUSELI. That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Mr. Fufeli's idea, that the raven has croaked till he is boarfe with croaking, may receive fupport from the following paffage in Romeo and Juliet: make her airy tongue more hoarfe than mine "With repetition of my Romeo's name." Again, from one of the parts of King Henry VI : "Warwick is hoarfe with daring thee to arms." STEEVENS. Come, come, you fpirits-] For the fake of the metre I have ventured to repeat the word-come, which occurs only once in the old copy. All had been added by Sir William Davenant, to supply the fame deficiency. STEEVENS. 8mortal thoughts,] This expreffion fignifies not the thoughts of mortals, but murderous, deadly, or deftructive defigns. So, in A& V: "Hold faft the mortal fword." And in another place: "With twenty mortal murders." JOHNSON. In Pierce Penniless his Supplication to the Devil, by T. Nashe, 1592, (a very popular pamphlet of that time,) our author might have found a particular defcription of these spirits, and of their office. "The fecond kind of devils, which he moft employeth, are thofe northern Martii, called the fpirits of revenge, and the authors of maffacres, and feedfmen of mifchief; for they have commiffion to incenfe men to rapines, facrilege, theft, murder, wrath, fury, and all manner of cruelties: and they command certain of the fouthern fpirits to wait upon them, as alfo great Arioch, that is termed the Spirit of revenge." MALONE. 9 remorfe;] Remorfe, in ancient language, fignifies pity. So, in King Lear: "Thrill'd with remorse, oppos'd against the act.” Again, in Othello: "And to obey fhall be in me remorse -." See notes on that paffage, Act III. fc. iii. STEEVENS. Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect, and it! Come to my woman's breasts, 9 — nor keep peace between The effect, and it!] The intent of Lady Macbeth evidently is to wish that no womanish tenderness, or confcientious remorse, may hinder her purpose from proceeding to effect; but neither this, nor indeed any other fenfe, is expreffed by the prefent reading, and therefore it cannot be doubted that Shakspeare wrote differently, perhaps thus: That no compun&tious vifitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep pace between The effect and it. To keep pace between, may fignify to pass between, to intervene. Pace is on many occafions a favourite of Shakspeare's. This phrafe is indeed not ufual in this fenfe; but was it not its novelty that gave occafion to the prefent corruption? JOHNSON. -and it!] The folio reads, and hit. It, in many of our ancient books, is thus fpelt. In the firft ftanza of Churchyard's Difcourfe of Rebellion, &c. 1570, we have, Hit is a plague-Hit venom caftes-Hit poyfoneth all-Hit is of kinde-Hit ftaynes the ayre. STEEVENS. The correction was made by the editor of the third folio. Lady Macbeth's purpose was to be effected by action. To keep peace between the effect and purpose, means, to delay the execution of her purpofe; to prevent its proceeding to effect. For as long as there fhould be a peace between the effect and purpose, or in other words, till hoftilities were commenced, till fome bloody action fhould be performed, her purpofe [i. e. the murder of Duncan] could not be carried into execution. So, in the following paffage in King John, in which a correfponding imagery may be traced: Nay, in the body of this fleshly land, 66 This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath, "Between my confcience and my cousin's death." A fimilar expreffion is found in a book which our author is known to have read, the Tragicall Hyftorie of Romeus and Juliet, 1562: "In abfence of her knight, the lady no way could Keep truce between her griefs and her, though ne'er so fayne fhe would." Sir W. D'Avenant's strange alteration of this play fometimes affords a reasonably good comment upon it. Thus, in the prefent inftance: |