been put to the trial of. With' is by as in many old writers: Shakspeare uses in the next page "tugg'd with fortune" for tugg'd by fortune. Some lines have been transpo❤ sed at the press. We may regulate the passage thus: "Have you considered of my speeches? Know, "That it was he, in the times past, which held you "So under fortune, (past in probation with you) And which you thought had been our innocent self."This [thus much] I made good to you [prov'd to you] at our last conference, "How you were borne in hand," (i. e. imposed on, &c.) Mac. So is he mine: and in such bloody dis tance, That every minute of his being thrusts in such bloody distance,] Distance, for enmity. WARB., By bloody distance is here meant, such a distance as mortal enemies would stand at from each other when their quarrel must be determined by the sword. This sense seems evident from the continuation of the metaphor, where every minute of his being is represented as thrusting at the nearest part where life resides. STEEV. " in such bloody distance." Mr. Steevens's acuteness in this place is deserving of notice. He imagines, because the word thrust is made use of, that swords must necessarily be employed: and this, in his opinion, is confirmed by the epithet "bloody:" which epithet, however, is nothing more than fierce, cruel. The meaning of the whole is simply this: "Such is the fierceness or greatness of our enmity, that while he (Banquo) lives, my life is in danger." B. Mach. Within this hour, at most, I will advise you where to plant yourselves; Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time.] What is meant by the spy of the time, it will be found difficult to explain; and therefore sense will be cheaply gained by a slight alteration.-Macbeth is assuring the assassins that they shall not want directions to find Banquo, and therefore says: I will Acquaint you with a perfect spy o' the time. Accordingly a third murderer joins them afterwards at the place of action. Perfect is well instructed, or well informed, as is this play : "Though in your state of honor I am perfect." though I am well acquainted with your quality and rauk. JOHN. -the perfect spy o' the time,] i. e. the critical juncture. WARB. How the critical juncture is the spy o' the time, I know not, but I think my own conjecture right. JOHN. "Perfect spy o' the time," is so strange an expression that all attempts to explain it are forced, and little satisfactory. Shakspeare has here, I think, coined a word (perfectry) i. e. exact, to the nicest point : Acquaint you with the perfectry o' the time," i. e. the exact point of time, the moment, &c. Macb. Better be with the dead, Whom we, to gain our place, have sent to peace, Than on the torture of the mind to lie. Whom we, to gain our place, have sent to peace.] The old copy reads: Whom we to gain our peace, have sent to peace. This change, which appears to be necessary, was made in the second folio. STEEV. "Whom we to gain our place," &c. To "gain our peace have sent to peace," is much in the manner of Shakspeare. The old copy is, therefore, probably right. Gain our peace, will mean-the hope of being at rest, when the crown was gained; and which, before that event, he considered as wholly impossible. B. Macb. Come, seeling night, Skarf up the tender eye of pitiful day; And, with thy bloody and invisible hand, Cancel, and tear to pieces, that great bond Which keeps me pale!-Light thickens; and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood : Light thickens; and the crow] By the expression light thickens, Shakspeare means, the light grows dull or muddy. EDWARDS. "Light thickens." I would read, and point thus: The meaning of the whole appears to be this: "Come, night, thou, who concealest all things," the murderer may be supposed so to reason with himself, "Come, and cancel the great bond which keeps me, 1 e. which holds, checks, or restrains me." He then goes on as intimating that the time is become nearly proper for the deed, he had in contemplation: "Pale light thickens." "Light," which night was approaching, become dim, or pale, as he terms it ; now grows thick, will soon be lost in darkness." B. Macb. You know your own degrees, sit down : at first, And last, the hearty welcome. You know your own degrees, sit down : At first, and last the hearty welcome.] As this passage stands, not only the numbers are very imperfect, but the sense, if any can be found, weak and contempti ble. The numbers will be improved by reading: -sit down at first, And last a hearty welcome. But for last should then be written next. I believe the true reading is: You know your own degrees, sit down.-To first And last the hearty welcome. All of whatever degree, from the highest to the lowest may be assured that their visit is well received. JOHN. "At first and last the hearty welcome." "At first and last," will mean in a word, without more ceremony, without more profession. B. Macb. Or, be alive again, And dare me to the desert with thy sword; If trembling I inhibit, then protest me SHAK. I. H The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow! If trembling I inhabit-] This is the original reading, which Mr. Pope changed to inhibit, which inhibit Dr. Warburton interprets refuse. The old reading may stand, at least as well as the emendation. Suppose we read: If trembling I evade it. JOHN. Inhibit seems more likely to have been the poet's own word, as he uses it frequently in the sense required in this passage. Othello, act I. sc. 7. "I think their inhibition comes of the late innovation." To inhibit is to forbid. The poet might probably have writ ten: If trembling I inhibit thee, protest me, &c. STEEV. "If trembling I inhabit." "Inhibit" will not bear the sense which Warburton would give it of refuse: and forbid thee is not the meaning required here. "Inhabit" is equally faulty, for it must then be asked, inhabit what? there is nothing to which it alludes. It may be answered, indeed, that castle is to be understood as the place which is inhabited. Certainly; but such a mode of speech is not allowable. As to the line from Milton, it is not in point; for there the imperative or absolute form Is used inhabit ye, which is strictly grammatical, while in Shakspeare the conditional conjunction if makes it necessary that the noun,- -or had that gone before, the relative pronoun should follow inhabit. Johnson's "evade it," departs too far from the letters and sound of the word in the text. Either reading, I am persuaded, will be wrong. I therefore propose as follows: "Be alive again, "And dare me to the desert with thy sword; "If tremblingly inhabile, then protest me," &c. Inhabile (inhabilis Lat.) "Dare me to the desert, and if I appear any way unready, if I show myself any way unfit for the encounter, then proclaim me, &c." "Unreal mockery, hence," "Unreal mockery," gives a different sense to that required. We must read; "Hence, horrible shadow ! "Unreal!-Mockery, hence! B. Mach. Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak; Augurs, and understood relations, have By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth The secret'st man of blood. Augurs and understood relations, By the word relation is understood the connection of effects with causes; to understand relations as an augur, is to know how these things relate to each other, which have no visible combination or dependence. JOHN. 66 Augurs, and understood relations,—' By relations is meant the relation one thing is supposed to bear to another. The ancient soothsayers of all denominations practised their art upon the principle of analogy. Which analogies were founded in a superstitious philosophy arising out of the nature of ancient idolatry; which would require a volume to explain. If Shakspeare meant what I suppose he did by relations, this shows a very profound knowledge of antiquity. But, after all, in his licentious way, by relations he might only mean languages, i. e. the language of birds. WARB. The old copy has the passage thus: "Augures, and understood relations, have 66 Augurs that understand relations, have Perhaps we should read, auguries, i. e. prognostications by means of omens and prodigies. These, together with the connection of effects with causes, being understood (says he) have been instrumental in divulging the most secret murders. STEEV. "Augurs and understood relations." "Augures" are Auguries, the reading Mr. Steevens would recommend. The whole may be understood by pointing thus: (by magot pies and choughs and rooks) which will be as though he had said: As for example by magot pies, &c. Lady Mac. You lack the season of all natures, sleep. |