Macbeth. NOTE TH XI. HE fervice, and the loyalty I owe, part Is to receive our duties, and our duties Are to your throne and state, children and fervants, Which do but what they fhould, in doing every thing Safe tow'rds your love and honour. Of the laft line of this fpeech, which is certainly as it is now read, unintelligible, an emendation has been attempted, which Mr. Warburton and Mr. Theobald have admitted as the true reading. Our duties Are to your throne and state, children and fervants, Which do but what they should, in doing every thing Fiefs to your love and honour. My esteem of thefe critics, inclines me to believe, that they cannot be much pleased with the expreffions Fiefs to love, or Fiefs to honour; and that they have propofed this alteration rather because no other occurred to them, than because they approved it. I fhall therefore propose a bolder change, perhaps with no better fuccefs, but Jua cuique placent. I read thus, Our duties Are to your throne and ftate, children and fervants, Which Which do but what they should, in doing nothing We do but perform our duty when we contract all our views to your service, when we act with no other principle than regard to your love and honour. It is probable that this paffage was first corrupted by writing fafe for fave, and the lines then stood thus, -Doing nothing Safe tow'rd your love and honour. Which the next tranfcriber obferving to be wrong, and yet not being able to discover the real fault, altered to the prefent reading. HOU'DST have, great Glamis, -TH That which cries, "thus thou must do if thou have it, "And that, &c. As the object of Macbeth's defire is here introduced fpeaking of itself it is neceffary to read, -Thou'dft have, great Glamis, That which cries, "thus thou must do if thou have me.” NOTE H That I may pour my fpirits in thine ear, And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, To have thee crown'd withal. For feem the fenfe evidently directs us to read feek. The crown to which fate deftines thee, and which preternatural agents endeavour to bestow upon thee. The golden round is the diadem. Lady Macbeth. NOTE COM unfex me here, XIV. OME all you spirits And fill me from the crown to th' toe, top-full Mortal thoughts. This expreffion fignifies not the thoughts of mortals, but murtherous, deadly, or deftructive defigns. So in act 5th. Hold faft the mortal fword, And And in another place, With twenty mortal murthers. -Nor keep pace between Th' 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 compunctious vifitings of nature intervene. To keep pace between may fignify to pass between, to Pace is on many occafions a favourite of Shakspeare. This phrafe is indeed not ufual in this fense, but was it not its novelty that gave occafion to the prefent corruption? King. TH NO TE XV. S CEN E VIII. HIS caftle hath a pleasant feat; the air Unto our gentle fenfes. Banquo. This guest of fummer, The temple-haunting Martlet, does approve, By By his lov'd manfionary, that heaven's breath In this short scene, I propofe a flight alteration to be made, by fubftituting fite for feat, as the antient word for fituation; and fenfe for fenfes as more agreeable to the measure; for which reafon likewise I have endeavoured to adjust this passage, Heaven's breath Smells wooingly here. No jutting frieze, By changing the punctuation and adding a syllable thus, -Heaven's breath Smells wooingly. Here is no jutting frieze. Those who have perused books printed at the time of the first editions of Shakspeare know, that greater alterations than thefe are neceffary almost in every page, even where it is not to be doubted that the copy was correct. THE arguments by which Lady Macbeth perfuades her husband to commit the murder, afford a proof of Shakspeare's knowledge of human nature. She urges the |