A metaphor from the bow. So, in King Henry V. act III. sc. i.

"bend up every spirit

"To his full height." STEEV.

-'And bend up.' I consider bend up in this place, as used in the sense of bind to, constrain. We cannot talk of bending up a bow. Bende in Chaucer is Bond. B.

Ban. This diamond he greets your wife withal, By the name of most kind hostess; and shut up In measureless content.

-shut up]

To shut up, is to conclude. STEEV.

Shut up

In measureless content.] Mr. Steevens says, that to shut up is to conclude: Shut up in, however, is given up to-enjoying.

"My soul hath her content so absolute," &c. Othello.

Macb. If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis,

It shall make honor for you.

If you shall cleave to my consent, when 'tis,]

Consent for will. So that the sense of the line is, If you shall go into my measures when I have determined of them, or when the time comes that I want your assistance. WARB,

If you shall cleave, &c.]

Macbeth expresses his thought with affected obscurity; he does not mention the royalty, though he apparently had it in his mind. If you shall cleave to my consent, if you shall concur with me when I determine to accept the crown, when 'tis, when that happens which the prediction promises, it shall make honor for you. JOHN.

Such another expression occurs in lord Surrey's translation of the second book of Virgil's Æneid :

"And if thy will stick unto mine, I shall

"In wedlocke's sure knit, and make her his own." When 'tis, means when 'tis my leisure to talk with you on this business; referring to what Banquó had just said, at your kindest leisure.

Macbeth could never mean to give Banquo at this time the most distant or obscure hint of his design upon the crown. STEEV.

Cleave to my consent.' The proper word, I think, will be convent, i. e. convention. If you are willing to unite with me and my adherents when I summon you— when 'tis-i. e. when the business is to be considered, says Macl eth, it shall be to your advantage. Mr. Steevens is totally wrong in saying that "Macbeth could not mean to give Banquo the most distant or obscure hint of his design on the crown." Nothing can be clearer than the hint he gives him; and it is certain by the answer which Banquo makes that he understood his fellow warrior perfectly His concluding words I will be counsell'd, points the more particularly to convent' as being the expression made use of by Macbeth. B.

Macb.

6

I see thee still;

And on thy blade, and dudgeon, gouts of blood, Which was not so before.-There's no such thing: It is the bloody business, which informs

Thus to mine eyes.

And on thy blade, and dudgeon, gouts of blood,] Certainly, if on the blade, then on the dudgeon; for dudgeon signifies a small dagger. We should read therefore: And on the blade of th' dudgeon,

'I see thee still;

WARB.

And on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood.' To make Macbeth speak of the haft of the dagger as being spotted with blood, were to weaken the expression greatly. Warburton is right in his objection to 'blade and dudgeon,' but as the dagger is addressed ('I see thee still') his alteration 'blade of the dagger' is faulty, for the strength of the image is nearly destroyed. We should no doubt read,

And on thy blade, vain dudgeon, gouts of blood! Vain' in the sense of unreal, shadowy: (the latin vanus) or it may have been written Vade, illusive, deceitful. (Vadere Lat. to fade, to vanish.) But the reading 'vain dudgeon' should perhaps be preferred, as the cacophany (vade blade) is then avoided. B.

Moves like a ghost.

-wither'd murder,

-thus with his stealthy pace,

With Tarquin's ravishing sides towards his design

Moves like a ghost.

-]

This was the reading of this passage in all the editions before that of Mr. Pope, who for sides inserted in the text strides, which Mr. Theobald has tacitly copied from him, though a more proper alteration might perhaps have been made. A ravishing stride is an action of violence, impetuosity, and tumult, like that of a savage rushing on his prey; whereas the poet is here attempting to exhibit an image of secrecy and caution, of anxious circumspection and guilty timidity, the stealthy pace of a ravisher creeping into the chamber of a virgin, and of an assassin approaching the bed of him whom he proposes to murder, without awaking him; these he describes as moving like ghosts, whose progression is so different from strides, that it has been in all ages represented to be as Milton expresses it :

"Smooth sliding without step."

This hemistich will afford the true reading of this place, which is, I think, to be corrected thus:

—and wither'd murder,

——thus with his stealthy pace,

With Tarquin ravishing, slides tow'rds his design,
Moves like a ghost.

Tarquin is in this place the general name of a ravisher, and the sense is: Now is the time in which every one is asleep, but those who are employed in wickedness; the witch who is sacrificing to Hecate, and the ravisher, and the murderer, who like me, are stealing upon their prey.

When the reading is thus adjusted, he wishes with great propriety, in the following lines, that the earth may not hear his steps. JOHN.

With Tarquin's ravishing strides,]

The justness of this similitude is not very obvious. WARB.

Wither'd murder,' &c. The passage is evidently cor

rupt. I therefore change the first with' to while: read, ravishing Tarquin'- als 'sides' according to the old copy, and aghast instead of a ghost.' The whole will run thus

Wither'd murder,

Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,

Whose howl's his watch,-thus, (while his stealthy
pace,

With ravishing Tarquin's sides) towards his design
Moves like aghast.

< Sides' is used in the sense of agree with or correspond to. The word was chosen by the Poet because 'like' occurs immediately after. It should be observed, that the construction is not that the murderer' moves like aghast,' but that he moves like Tarquin. This, however, is not to be understood as speaking of action: but that he was in the state or condition of the man alluded to. Shakspeare perhaps would have written-alike aghast' (which had been clearer,) but that alike and aghast create an ugly kind of cacophony; and which is now avoided. The explanation is as follows. "The Murderer advances with cautious step, the same as that of the ravisher Tarquin, and is, like him, aghast or terrified at thought of the crime he is about to perpetrate.

It is remarked by Dr. Johnson that the progression of a ghost is not by strides.' That strides is not the proper word is unquestionable. There is reason to think, however, that the learned annotator was no more acquainted with the movements of a ghost, than is the present Editor. B.

Mac. Thou sure and firm-set earth,

Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear

Thy very stones prate of my where-about,

And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it.

-Thou sound and firm-set earth,]

is the reading of the modern editors; but though that of the folio is corrupt, it will direct us to the true one.

Thou sowre and firm-set ear th,

is evidently wrong, but brings us very near the right word, which was evidently meant to be:

--Thou sure and firm-set earth,

as I have inserted it in the text. So, in act IV. sc. iii:
"Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure." STEEV,
Thou sure and firm-set earth,.

Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout.'

The Commentators have interpreted the passage wrong. They consider the words for fear' in the sense of 'lest.' 1 understand the expression differently, and believe the meaning to be " that the stones do actually prate through or from fear." Macbeth hearing his own footsteps is affrighted at the sound; at that sound which he calls prating of him and his purposes. This is highly beautiful, as marking the perturbation of the murderer's bosom; though he at the same time acknowledges that stillness, notwithstanding its being suitable with his intended crime, has horror in it. His thought is all confusion, and sound or silence are equally terrifying to him. With respect to the epithets as applied to the earth, and whether we take 'sound' or 'sure, they are equally feeble. The old copy has sowre and firm-set' which suggests to me the true reading. Thou sov'rand [sovereign] firm-set earth.' This has force as being expressive of magnificence and solidity. 'Hear not my steps,' should beheed not my steps.' We must point the lines as follows:

Thou sovrand, firm-set earth,

Heed not my steps, which way they walk. For fear,
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout.' B.

Mac. One cry'd God bless us! and Amen the

other;

As they had seen me, with these hangman's hands, Listening their fear.

Listening their fear. I could not say, amen,

When they did say, God bless us.].

i. e. Listening to their fear, the particle omitted. This is common in our author. STEEV.

Listening their fear.' This is according to the Scottish idiom, and is here used with the greatest propriety. B.