Eight kings' appear, and pafs over the flage in order; the laft, with a glass in his band: Banquo following. MACB. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo; down! Thy crown does fear mine eye-balls: hair, And thy Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the firft:A third is like the former: -Filthy hags! 3 Eight kings] "It is reported that Voltaire often laughs at the tragedy of Macbeth, for having a legion of ghofts in it. One fhould imagine he either had not learned English, or had forgot his Latin; for the fpirits of Banquo's line are no more ghosts, than the reprefentation of the Julian race in the Eneid; and there is no ghoft but Banquo's throughout the play." Effay on the Genius and Writings of Shakspeare, &c. by Mrs. Montague. STEEVENS. 4 Thy crown does fear mine eye-balls:] The expreffion of Macbeth, that the crown fears his eye-balls, is taken from the method formerly practifed of deftroying the fight of captives or competitors, by holding a burning bafon before the eye, which dried up its humidity. Whence the Italian, abacinare, to blind. JOHNSON. 5 and thy hair, Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first : A third is like the former :] As Macbeth expected to fee a train of kings, and was only enquiring from what race they would proceed, he could not be furprised that the hair of the fecond was bound with gold like that of the firft; he was offended only that the fecond resembled the firft, as the first resembled Banquo, and therefore said: and thy air, Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the firft. This Dr. Warburton has followed. JOHNSON. I do not at prefent recollect that the term-air, fignifying the manner of a perfon, is any where employed by Shakspeare. Perhaps, indeed, this adoption from the French language is not as ancient as his time; for the word then ufed to exprefs peculiarity of countenance or gefture, was-trick. So, in King John: -a trick of Coeur-de-lion's face;" and in All's well that ends wellEvery line and trick of his fweet favour." Why do you show me this?-A fourth ?-Start,eyes! What! will the line ftretch out to the crack of doom?" Another yet?-A feventh ?-I'll fee no more:- 8 The old reading, therefore, as Mr. M. Mafon obferves, may be the true one." It implies that their hair was of the fame colour, which is more likely to mark a family likeness, than the air, which depends on habit" &c. STEEVENS. 6 to the crack of doom?] i. e. the diffolution of nature. Crack has now a mean fignification. It was anciently employed in a more exalted fenfe. So, in The Valiant Welchman, 1615: "And will as fearless entertain this fight, "As a good confcience doth the cracks of Jove." STEEVENS. 7 And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass,] This method of juggling prophecy is again referred to in Measure for Measure, Act II. fc. vii: 66 - and like a prophet, "Looks in a glass, and fhows me future evils." So, in an Extract from the Penal Laws against Witches, it is faid, that " they do answer either by voice, or elfe do fet before their eyes in glaffes, chryftal ftones, &c. the pictures or images of the perfons or things fought for." Among the other knaveries with which Face taxes Subtle in The Alchemift, this feems to be one: "And taking in of fhadows with a glass." Again, in Humor's Ordinarie, an ancient collection of fatires, no date: "Shew you the devil in a chrystal glass.” Spenfer has given a very circumftantial account of the glass which Merlin made for king Ryence, in the fecond canto of the third book of The Faery Queen. A mirror of the fame kind was prefented to Cambufcan in The Squier's Tale of Chaucer; and in John Alday's tranflation of Pierre Boifteau's Theatrum Mundi &c. bl. 1. no date, "A certaine philofopher did the like to Pompey, the which shewed him in a glaffe the order of his enemies march." STEEVENS. 8 That twofold balls and treble fcepters carry:] This was intended as a compliment to king James the firft, who first united the two iflands and the three kingdoms under one head; whofe house too was faid to be defcended from Banquo. WARBURTON. Of this laft particular, our poet feems to have been thoroughly aware, having reprefented Banquo not only as an innocent, but as a noble character; whereas, according to history, he was confe 2 Horrible fight!-Ay, now, I fee, 'tis true;' I'll charm the air to give a found,* derate with Macbeth in the murder of Duncan. The flattery of Shakspeare, however, is not more grofs than that of Ben Jonfon, who has condescended to quote his majesty's ridiculous book on Demonology, in the notes to The Mafque of Queens, 1609. STEEVENS. 9 Ay, now, I fee, 'tis true;] That the metre may be complete, I have fupplied-ay, an adverb employed by our author in other places, to enforce his meaning. STEEVENS. 2- the blood-bolter'd Banquo-] To bolter, in Warwickshire, fignifies to daub, dirty, or begrime. "I ordered (fays my informant) a harness-collar to be made with a linen lining, but blacked, to give it the appearance of leather. The fadler made the lining as he was directed, but did not black it, faying, it would bolter the horfe. Being afked what he meant by bolter, he replied dirty, beSmears and that it was a common word in his country. This converfation paffed within eight miles of Stratford on Avon." In the fame neighbourhood, when a boy has a broken head, fo that his hair is matted together with blood, his head is faid to be boltered [pronounced baltered]. Such a term is therefore ftrictly applicable to Banquo, who had twenty trenched gafbes on his head. The propriety of the foregoing note has been abundantly confirmed by Mr. Homer, a truly refpectable clergyman of Warwickfhire. I feize this opportunity to offer my beft acknowledgement for his remarks, which were obligingly conveyed to me by his fon, the late Reverend and amiable Henry Homer, who favoured the world with editions of Salluft and Tacitus, the elegance of which can only be exceeded by their accuracy. STEEVENS. 3 cheer we up his fprights,] i. e. fpirits. So, in Sidney's Arcadia, Lib. II: "Hold thou my heart, establish thou my sprights." STEEVENS. 4 I'll charm the air to give a found,] The Hecate of Middleton fays on a fimilar occafion: "Come, my fweete fifters, let the air strike our tune, 4 While you perform your antique round: + Our duties did his welcome pay. [Mufick. The Witches dance, and vanish. MACB. Where are they? Gone?-Let this pernicious hour Stand aye accurfed in the calendar! Come in, without there! Enter LENOX. LEN. What's your grace's will? MACB. Saw you the weird fifters? MACB. Came they not by you? LEN. No, indeed, my lord. MACB. Infected be the air whereon they ride; And damn'd, all those that truft them!-I did hear The galloping of horfe: Who was't came by? LEN. 'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word, Macduff is fled to England. your antique round:" and "The witches dance, and vanish."] These ideas, as well as a foregoing one, "The weird fifters, hand in hand," might have been adopted from a poem intitled Churchyard's Dreame, 1593: "All hand in hand they traced on "A trickfie ancient round; "And foone as fhadowes were they gone, "And might no more be found." STEEVENS. 5 Stand aye accurfed in the calendar!] In the ancient almanacks the unlucky days were diftinguished by a mark of reprobation. So, in Decker's Honeft Whore, 1635: henceforth let it ftand "Within the wizard's book, the kalender, By thieves, by villains, and black murderers." STEEVENS. MACB. LEN. Ay, my good lord. Fled to England? MACB. Time, thou anticipat'ft my dread exploits : 6 The flighty purpose never is o'ertook, Unless the deed go with it: From this moment, The very firftlings of my heart shall be The firftlings of my hand. And even now To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done: The castle of Macduff I will furprise; 8 Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o'the sword 6 Time, thou anticipat'ft my dread exploits:] To anticipate is here to prevent, by taking away the opportunity. JOHNSON. 1 The very firftlings] Firflings in its primitive fenfe is the firft produce or offspring. So, in Heywood's Silver Age, 1613: "The firftlings of their vowed facrifice." Here it means the thing firft thought or done. The word is used again in the prologue to Troilus and Creffida: Leaps o'er the vant and firflings of these broils." STEEVENS. 8 That trace his line.] i. e. follow, fucceed in it. So, in Sir Arthur Gorges' translation of the third book of Lucan, 1614: "The tribune's curfes in like cafe "Said he, did greedy Craffus trace." The old copy reads That trace him in his line. The metre, however, demands the omiffion of fuch unneceffary expletives. STEEVENS. 9 But no more fights!] This hafty reflection is to be confidered as a moral to the foregoing scene: Tu ne quæferis fcire (nefas) quem mihi, quem tibi Finem Di dederint Leuconöe, nec Babylonios Tentaris numeros, ut melius, quicquid erit, pati. STEEVENS. |