ACT II., SCENE 2. P. 55. And Duncan's horse', -a thing most strange and certain, &c. Instead of horse', the original has Horses. But elsewhere the Poet uses the singular form both of this word and of various others with the plural sense. See foot-note 2. ACT III., SCENE I. P. 57. It had been as a gap in our great feast, And all things unbecoming. So the third and fourth folios. The first has all-thing, the second all-things. But the hyphen was so used in a great many instances where no one would now think of retaining it. Some editors here print all-thing, and explain it by altogether or in every way. But I am not aware of any other instance being produced of the phrase so used in Shakespeare's time. P. 57. Lay your Highness' Command upon me.- - So Rowe and Collier's second folio. The original has "Let your Highnesse," &c.; which, surely, is not English, and never was. Mason proposes Set. P. 59. My genius is rebuked, as, it is said, Mark Antony's was by Cæsar's. So Hanmer. The original has Cæsar instead of Cæsar's. The correction is approved by a passage in Antony and Cleopatra, ii. 3: "Thy demon, that thy spirit which keeps thee, is noble, courageous, high, unmatchable, where Cæsar's is not." P. 60. To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! — Instead of seed, the original has Seedes. Pope's correction. P. 61. Now, if you have a station in the file, And not the worser rank of manhood, say't. The original lacks And, and has worst instead of worser. The insertion was made by Rowe; the correction proposed by Jervis. Shakespeare has worser repeatedly in the same sense. P. 62. So wearied with disasters, tugg'd with fortune. So Capell, Collier's second folio, and Lettsom. The old text has "So wearie with Disasters." P. 63. I will advise you where to plant yourselves; Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time, &c. — Johnson proposed, and White prints, " with a perfect spy." It is a nice point which of the articles should here be used. "The spy" may mean the espial or discovery, that is, the signal, of the time; "a spy" would mean the person giving it. So I do not see that any thing is gained by the change. See foot-note 23. ACT III., SCENE 2. P. 64. We have but scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it. The original reads "We have scorch'd the snake." The words, "She'll close," in the next line, show that scotch'd is right. Theobald's correction. - The word but is wanting in the old text, but given in Davenant's version of the play. It both saves the metre and helps the sense. P. 64. Better be with the dead, Whom we, to gain our place, have sent to peace, Than on the torture of the mind to lie, &c.. So the second folio. The first has peace instead of place. But peace is nowise that which Macbeth has been seeking: his end was simply to gain the throne, the place which he now holds, and the fear of losing which is the very thing that keeps peace from him. The methods by which some editors try to justify the old reading seem to me altogether too ingenious and too fine. P. 66. Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond Which keeps me paled. — The old text has pale instead of paled. Probably the Poet wrote pal'd or pald; and here, as often, final d and final e were confounded. The correction is Staunton's. It is hardly needful to observe how well paled brings out the Poet's meaning; which evidently was, that Banquo's life was, so to speak, a strong bond that kept Macbeth "bound-in to saucy doubts and fears." See foot note 14. ACT III., SCENE 4. P. 69. 'Tis better thee without than him within. - So Hanmer and Collier's second folio. The original has " than he within." P. 70. Get thee gone: to-morrow We'll hear't, ourself, again. Instead of ourself, which Capell proposed, the original has ourselves, which I have tried in vain to understand. The use of ourselves for each other, as it has been explained, is not English. I suspect the true reading to be "We'll hear you tell t again." The pronoun our seems quite out of place here; and we have many instances of our and your confounded, as also of your and you; and tell't might easily be misprinted selves, when the longs was used. I cannot now recover the source of the proposed reading. — The original has hear, also, instead of hear't. Theobald's correction. P. 72. Blood hath been shed ere now: i the olden time, Ere human statute purged the gentle weal, Ay, and since too, &c. -I here adopt Mr. P. A. Daniel's punctuation, which, I think, greatly helps the sense. The passage is commonly printed with a comma after ere now, and a colon or semi-colon after gentle weal. But now they rise again, - P. 72. With twenty mortal gashes on their crowns, &c. The original has "mortal murders," which is justly condemned by Walker: "Murders occurs four lines above, and murder two lines below. This, by the way, would alone be sufficient to prove that murders was corrupt. Mortal murders,' too, seems suspicious." Walker, however, proposes no substitute: that in the text is Lettsom's: "Read With twenty mortal gashes on their crowns.' Macbeth is thinking of what he has just heard from the Murderer: With twenty trenched gashes on his head, The least a death to nature." P. 74. If trembling I inhabit then, protest me The baby of a girl.-I keep the old reading here, because I cannot see that any of the changes made or proposed really help the matter. Theobald thought it should be, "If trembling me inhibit.” Pope changed inhabit to inhibit; and Steevens proposed thee for then. Johnson conjectured "If trembling I evade it, then protest me," &c. This, I think, is the best of them all, as regards the sense. Collier's second folio reads "If trembling I exhibit"; which turns trembling into a substantive. "If trembling I unknight me," "If trembling I inherit," "If trembling I flinch at it," have also been proposed. Dyce prints "If trembling I inhibit thee." But I think the old reading admits of a sense not unfitting. See foot-note 17. P. 75. And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, When mine are blanch'd with fear. The original reads "mine is blanch'd." But, as mine clearly refers to cheeks, it is hardly possible that is can be right. Hanmer and some others read cheek; but surely, as Dyce notes, the plural is required there. P. 76. There is not one of them but in his house I keep a servant fee'd. So Pope. The original has "There's not a one." Theobald reads "There's not a Thane"; White, "There's not a man." Ay, and betimes I will-to th' Weird Sisters.-The original quite untunes the rhythm of the line by having nothing in the place of Ay. The insertion was proposed anonymously. ACT III., SCENE 5. P. 78. [Music and a Song within: Come away, come away, &c. Thus much is all that the original prints of the song here used. I subjoin, from The Witch, by Middleton, the whole song, or rather musical dialogue, which begins with the forecited words: Song above. Come away, come away, Hecate, Hecate, come away! Hecate. I come, I come, I come, I come, With all the speed I may. Voice above. Here. Hecate. Where Puckle ? Voice above. Here; And Hoppo too, and Hellwain too; We lack but you, we lack but you: Hecate. I will but 'noint, and then I mount. [A Spirit like a cat descends. Voice above. There's one come down to fetch his dues, A kiss, a coll, a sip of blood; Hecate. O, art thou come? What news, what news? Spirit. All goes still to our delight: Either come, or else refuse, refuse. Hecate. Now I'm furnish'd for the flight. Fire. Hark, hark! the cat sings a brave treble in her own language. Malkin my sweet spirit and I. O, what a dainty pleasure 'tis To ride in the air When the Moon shines fair, And sing and dance, and toy and kiss! We fly by night, 'mongst troops of spirits: No howls of wolves, no yelps of hounds ; Or cannon's throat, our height can reach. &c. ACT III., SCENE 6. P. 78. Who can now want the thought, how monstrous It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain To kill their gracious father?-The original reads "Who cannot want the thought," &c. This gives a sense just the opposite of what was manifestly intended. Keightley proposes "We cannot want the thought"; which would yield the right sense indeed, but at the cost of too much force and point of expression. The Edinburgh Review, July, 1869, undertakes to vindicate the old reading by showing that cannot want was, and still is, often used in the sense of cannot lack or cannot be without. This is very true, but I think it quite misses the point; and I am sure it is no more than we all knew before. The reading in the text was proposed by Cartwright, but occurred to me independently. The son of Duncan, P. 79. of son. From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth, Lives in the English Court.-The original has Sonnes instead |