"three days, they fend one of their women that is fkilled "in that way to the place, where fhe fays, I call thee "from the east, weft, north, and fouth, from the groves, "the woods, the rivers, and the fens, from the fairies, red, black, white." There was likewife a book written before the time of Shakespeare, defcribing, amongst other properties, the colours of fpirits. Many other circumftances might be particularifed, in which Shakespeare has fhewn his judgment and his knowledge. NOTE XXXVI. SCENE II. Macbeth.THOU art too like the fpirit of Banquo, down, Thy crown does (1) fear my eye-balls, and thy(2) hair, (1) The expreffion of Macbeth, that the crown fears his eye-balls, is taken from the method formerly practifed of destroying the fight of captives or competitors, by holding a burning bafon before the eye, which dried up its humidity. (2) As Macbeth expected to fee a train of kings, and was only enquiring from what race they would proceed, he could not be furprifed that the hair of the fecond was bound with gold like that of the first; he was offended only that the fecond resembled the firft, as the first refembled Banquo, and therefore faid, And -And thy air, Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the firft. NOTE XXXVII. I WILL-give to the edge o' th' sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate fouls Both the fenfe and measure of the third line, which as it rhymes, ought, according to the practice of this author, to be regular, are at present injured by two fuperfluous fyllables, which may easily be removed by reading fouls, That trace his line-no boasting like a fool. I NOTE XXXVIII. SCENE III. Roffe. DEAREST Coufin pray you school yourself; but for your husband, He's noble, wife, judicious, and best knows The fits o' th' time, I dare not speak much farther, But cruel are the times when we are traitors, And do not know't ourselves: when we (1) hold rumour From what we fear, yet know not what we fear, But float upon a wild and violent fea Each way, and (2) move. I'll take my leave of you; Shall Shall not be long but I'll be here again: Things at the worft will ceafe, or elfe climb upwards To what they were before: my pretty coufin, Bleffing upon you. From what we fear, yet know not what we fear. The present reading seems to afford no sense; and therefore fome critical experiments may be properly tried upon it, though, the verses being without any connection, there is room for fufpicion, that fome intermediate lines are loft, and that the paffage is therefore irretrievable. If it be fuppofed that the fault arifes only from the corruption of fome words, and that the traces of the true reading are ftill to be found, the paffage may be changed thus: When we bode ruin From what we fear, yet know not what we fear. Or in a sense very applicable to the occafion of the conference, -When the bold running From what they fear, yet know not what they fear. (2) But float upon a wild and violent sea That he who floats upon a rough fea muft move is evident, too evident for Shakespeare fo emphatically to af fert. The line therefore is to be written thus: Each way, and move-I'll take my leave of you. Roffe Roffe is about to proceed, but finding himself overpowered by his tenderness, breaks off abruptly, for which he makes a fhort apology and retires. Malcolm. LET us feek out fome defolate shade, and there Weep our fad bofoms empty. Macduff. Let us rather Hold faft the mortal fword; and like good men, As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out He who can discover what is meant by him that earneftly exhorts him to beftride his downfal birth-doom, is at liberty to adhere to the prefent text; but those who are willing to confefs that fuch counfel would to them be unintelligible, muft endeavour to discover fome reading lefs obfcure. It is probable that Shakespeare wrote, Like good men, Beftride our downfaln birthdom The allufion is to a man from whom fomething valuable is about to be taken by violence, and who, that he may defend it without encumbrance, lays it on the ground, and ftands over it with his weapon in his hand. Our Our birthdom, or birthright, fays he, lies on the ground, let us, like men who are to fight for what is dearest to them, not abandon it, but ftand over it and defend it. This is a ftrong picture of obftinate resolution. Birthdom for birthright is formed by the fame analogy with mafter dom in this play, fignifying the privileges or rights of a mafler. Perhaps it might be birth-dame for mother; let us ftand over our mother that lies bleeding on the ground. NOTE XL. Malcolm. Now we'll together, and the chance of goodness Be like our warranted quarrel. The chance of goodness, as it is commonly read, conveys no sense. If there be not fome more important error in the paffage, it should at least be pointed thus : -And the chance, of goodness, Be like our warranted quarrel, That is, May the event be, of the goodness of heaven [pro juftitia divina] anfwerable to the cause. But I am inclined to believe that Shakespeare wrote, And the chance, O goodnefs, Be like our warranted quarrel. This fome of his tranfcribers wrote with a fmall o, which another imagined to mean of. If we adopt this reading, the fenfe will be, and O thou fovereign goodness to |