PORT. That it did, sir, i'the very throat o'me: But I requited him for his lie; and, I think, being too strong for him, though he took up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him.* least six o'clock; for Macduff has already expressed his surprize that the Porter should lie so late. From Lady Macbeth's words in the fifth Act,-" One-two'tis time to do't,"-it should seem that the murder was committed at two o'clock, and that hour is certainly not inconsistent with the conversation above quoted between Banquo and his son; for we are not told how much later than twelve it was when Banquo retired to rest: but even that hour of two will not correspond with what the Porter and Macduff say in the present scene. I suspect our author, (who is seldom very exact in his computation of time,) in fact meant, that the murder should be supposed to be committed a little before day-break, which exactly corresponds with the speech of Macduff now before us, though not so well with the other circumstances already mentioned, or with Lady Macbeth's desiring her husband to put on his nightgown, (that he might have the appearance of one newly roused from bed,) lest occasion should call them," and show them to be watchers;" which may signify persons who sit up late at night, but can hardly mean those who do not go to bed till day-break. Shakspeare, I believe, was led to fix the time of Duncan's murder near the break of day by Holinshed's account of the murder of King Duffe, already quoted: "he was long in his oratorie, and there continued till it was late in the night." Donwald's servants" enter the chamber where the king laie, a little before cocks crow, where they secretlie cut his throat." Donwald himself sat up with the officers of the guard the whole of the night. MALONE. I made a shift to cast him.] To cast him up, to ease my stomach of him. The equivocation is between cast or throw, as a term of wrestling, and cast or cast up. JOHNSON. -to I find a similar play upon words, in an old comedy, entitled, The Two angry Women of Abington, printed 1599: “ night he's a good huswife, he reels all that he wrought to-day, and he were good now to play at dice, for he casts excellent well." STEEVENS. MACD. Is thy master stirring ? Our knocking has awak'd him; here he comes. Enter MACBETH. LEN. Good-morrow, noble sir! МАСВ. Good-morrow, both! Not yet. MACD. Is the king stirring, worthy thane? MACB. MACD. He did command me to call timely on him; I have almost slipp'd the hour. MACB. I'll bring you to him. MACD. I know, this is a joyful trouble to you; But yet, 'tis one. MACB. The labour we delight in, physicks pain." This is the door. MACD. I'll make so bold to call, [Exit MACDUFF. For 'tis my limited service." The labour we delight in, physicks pain.] i. e. affords a cordial to it. So, in The Winter's Tale, Act I. sc. i: "It is a gallant child; one that, indeed, physicks the subject, makes old hearts fresh." STEEVENS. : So, in The Tempest: "There be some sports are painful; and their labour "Delight in them sets off." MALONE. For 'tis my limited service.] Limited, for appointed. So, in Timon: 66 for there is boundless theft, "In limited professions." WARBURTON. i. e. professions to which people are regularly and legally ap pointed. STEEVENS. LEN. From hence to-day?? MACB. Goes the king He does:-he did appoint so." LEN. The night has been unruly: Where we lay, Our chimneys were blown down: and, as they say, Lamentings heard i'the air; strange screams of death; And prophecying, with accents terrible, New hatch'd to the woeful time. The obscure bird 7 Goes the king From hence to-day?] I have supplied the preposition from, for the sake of metre. So, in a former scene, Duncan says, 66 From hence to Inverness," &c. STEEVENS. * does:—he He does he did appoint so.] The words he does-are omitted by Pope, Theobald, Hanmer, and Warburton. But perhaps Shakspeare designed Macbeth to shelter himself under an immediate falshood, till a sudden recollection of guilt restrained his confidence, and unguardedly disposed him to qualify his assertion; as he well knew the King's journey was effectually prevented by his death. A similar trait had occurred in a former scene: "L. M. And when goes hence ? "M. To-morrow,— —as he purposes." STEEVENS. strange screams of death; And prophecying, with accents terrible, Of dire combustion, and confus'd events, New hatch'd to the woeful time. The obscure bird Was feverous, and did shake.] These lines, I think, should be rather regulated thus: -prophecying with accents terrible, Of dire combustion and confus'd events. New-hatch'd to the woeful time, the obscure bird MACB. 'Twas a rough night. LEN. My young remembrance cannot parallel A fellow to it. A prophecy of an event new-hatch'd seems to be a prophecy of an event past. And a prophecy new-hatch'd is a wry expression. The term new-hatch'd is properly applicable to a bird, and that birds of ill omen should be new-hatch'd to the woeful time, that is, should appear in uncommon numbers, is very consistent with the rest of the prodigies here mentioned, and with the universal disorder into which nature is described as thrown by the perpetration of this horrid murder. JOHNSON. I think Dr. Johnson's regulation of these lines is improper. Prophecying is what is new-hatch'd, and in the metaphor holds the place of the egg. The events are the fruit of such hatching. STEEVENS. I think Steevens has justly explained this passage, but should wish to read-prophecyings in the plural. M. MASON. Dr. Johnson observes, that "a prophecy of an event newhatch'd seems to be a prophecy of an event past. And a prophecy new-hatch'd is a wry expression." The construction suggested by Mr. Steevens meets with the first objection. Yet the following passage in which the same imagery is found, inclines me to believe that our author meant, that new-hatch'd should be referred to events, though the events were yet to come. Allowing for his usual inaccuracy with respect to the active and passive participle, the events may be said to be "the hatch and brood of time." See King Henry IV. P. II : "The which observ'd, a man may prophesy, "With a near aim, of the main chance of things "Such things become the hatch and brood of time." Here certainly it is the thing or event, and not the prophecy, which is the hatch of time; but it must be acknowledged, the word "become" sufficiently marks the future time. If therefore the construction that I have suggested be the true one, hatch'd must be here used for hatching, or "in the state of being hatch'd."-To the woeful time, means-to suit the woeful time. MALONE. some say, the earth Was feverous, and did shake.] So, in Coriolanus: 66 as if the world "Was feverous, and did tremble." STEEVENS. Re-enter MACDUFF. MACD. O horror! horror! horror! Tongue, nor Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence MACB. What is't you say? the life? LEN. Mean you his majesty? MACD. Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight With a new Gorgon :-Do not bid me speak; Tongue, nor heart, Cannot conceive, &c.] The use of two negatives, not to make an affirmative, but to deny more strongly, is very common in our author. So, in Julius Cæsar, Act III. sc. i: "Intended to your person, nor to no Roman else." STEEVENS. 2-this horror!] Here the old copy adds-Ring the bell. STEEVENS. VOL. X. K |