And fomething from the palace; always thought, That I require a clearnefs: And with him, accordingly we find in the next scene, that these two murderers are joined by a third, as Johnson has obferved.-In his letter to his wife, Macbeth fays, "I have heard by the perfecteft report, that they have more than mortal knowledge."-And in this very scene, we find the word with used to exprefs by, where the murderer says he is" tugg'd with fortune." M. MASON. The meaning, I think is, I will acquaint you with the time when you may look out for Banquo's coming, with the most perfect affurance of not being disappointed; and not only with the time in general moft proper for lying in wait for him, but with the very moment when you may expect him. MALONE. I explain the paffage thus, and think it needs no reformation, but that of a fingle point. Within this hour at moft, I will advise you where to plant yourselves. Here I place a full ftop; as no further inftructions could be given by Macbeth, the hour of Banquo's return being quite uncertain. Macbeth therefore adds Acquaint you" &c. i. e. in ancient language," acquaint yourselves" with the exact time most favourable to your purposes; for fuch a moment must be fpied out by you, be felected by your own attention and fcrupulous obfervation. -You is ungrammatically employed, inftead of yourselves; as bim is for himself, in The Taming of a Shrew: "To fee her noble lord reftor'd to health, "Who, for twice feven years, hath efteemed him "No better than a poor and loathfome beggar." In this place it is evident that him is ufed inftead of himself. Again, in K. Henry IV. P. I: "Advantage feeds him fat-" i. e. himself. Again, more appofitely, in K. Richard II. where York addref. fing himself to Bolingbroke, Northumberland, and others, fays-enter in the caftle "And there repofe you [i. e. yourfelves] for this night." Macbeth, in the intervening time, might have learned from fome of Banquo's attendants, which way he had ridden out, and therefore could tell the murderers where to plant themselves fo as to cut him off on his return; but who could afcertain the precife hour of his arrival, except the ruffians who watched for that purpose? 6always thought, STEEVENS. That I require a clearness:] i. e. you must manage matters fo, that throughout the whole tranfaction I may ftand clear of fufpicion. (To leave no rubs, nor botches, in the work,) MUR. We are refolv'd, my lord. MACB. I'll call upon you ftraight; abide within. It is concluded:-Banquo, thy foul's flight, If it find heaven, muft find it out to-night. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The fame. Another Room. Enter Lady MACBETH, and a Servant. LADY M. Is Banquo gone from court? SERV. Ay, madam; but returns again to-night. leifure So, Holinfhed: " appointing them to meet Banquo and his fonne without the palace, as they returned to their lodgings, and there to flea them, fo that he would not have his house flandered, but that in time to come he might cleare himself." STEEVENS. 6 I'll come to you anon. 7.] Perhaps the words-to you, which cor rupt the metre, without enforcing the fenfe, are another playhouse interpolation. STEEVENS. Nought's bad, all's fpent,] Surely, the unneceffary words Nought's bad-are a taftelefs interpolation; for they violate the meafure without expansion of the fentiment, 'Tis fafer to be that which we destroy, Enter MACBETH. How now, my lord? why do you keep alone, medy,9 Should be without regard: what's done, is done. MACB. We have fcotch'd the snake, not kill'd it; For a few words. Madam, I will. All's spent. is a complete verse. There is fufficient reafon to fuppofe the metre of Shakspeare was originally uniform and regular. His frequent exactnefs in making one speaker complete the verfe which another had left imperfect, is too evident to need exemplification. Sir T. Hanmer was aware of this, and occafionally struggled with fuch metrical difficulties as occurred; though for want of familiarity with ancient language, he often failed in the choice of words to be rejected or fupplied. STEEVENS. 8 in Othello: forrieft fancies] i. e. worthlefs, ignoble, vile. So, "I have a falt and forry rheum offends me." Sorry, however, might fignify forrowful, melancholy, difmal. So, in The Comedy of Errors: "The place of death and sorry execution." Again, in the play before us (as Mr. M. Mafon obferves) Macbeth fays," This is a forry fight." STEEVENS. 9 -Things without remedy,] The old copy-all remedy. But furely, as Sir T. Hanmer thinks, the word "all is an interpolation, hurtful to the metre, without improvement of the fenfe. The fame thought occurs in K. Richard II. A&t II. fc. iii: Things paft redress, are now with me past care.” 66 STEEVENS. Scotch'd] Mr. Theobald.-Fol. fcorch'd. She'll close, and be herself; whilft our poor malicé Remains in danger of her former tooth. But let The frame of things disjoint, both the worlds fuffer, That shake us nightly: Better be with the dead, grave; Treafon has done his worst: nor fteel, nor poison, Malice domestick, foreign levy, nothing, Can touch him further! LADY M. Come on; Gentle my lord, fleek o'er your rugged looks; Scotch'd is the true reading. So, in Coriolanus, A& IV. fc. v: he Scotch'd him and notch'd him like a carbonado." STEEVENS. 66 2 But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds fuffer,] The old copy reads thus, and I have followed it, rejecting the modern contraction, which was: But let both worlds disjoint, and all things fuffer. The fame idea occurs in Hamlet: "That both the worlds I give to negligence." STEEVENS. 3 Whom ave, to gain our place, have fent to peace,] The old copy reads: Whom we, to gain our peace. For the judicious correctionplace, we are indebted to the second folio. STEEVENS. 4 In reflefs ecftacy.] Ecftacy, for madness. WARBURTON. Ecftacy, in its general fenfe, fignifies any violent emotion of the mind. Here it means the emotions of pain, agony. So, in Marlowe's Tamburlaine, P. I: 66 Griping our bowels with retorqued thoughts, "And have no hope to end our extafies.” Again, Milton, in his ode on The Nativity: "In penfive trance, and anguish, and ecftatic fit.” STEEVENS, Be bright and jovial 'mong your guests to-night. MACB. So fhall I, love; and fo, I pray, be you: Let your remembrance* apply to Banquo; Prefent him eminence,' both with eye and tongue : Unfafe the while, that we Muft lave our honours in these flattering ftreams; And make our faces vizards to our hearts, Difguifing what they are." LADY M. You must leave this. MACB. O, full of fcorpions is my mind, dear wife! Thou know'ft, that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives. LADY M. But in them nature's copy's not eterne." 4 remembrance-] is here employed as a quadrifyllable. So, in Twelfth-Night: "And lasting in her fad remembrance." STEEVENS. $ Prefent him eminence,] i. e. do him the highest honours. 6 Unfafe the while, that we Muft lave our honours in thefe flattering freams; And make our faces vizards to our hearts, WARBURTON. Difguifing what they are.] The fenfe of this paffage (though clouded by metaphor, and perhaps by omiffion) appears to be as follows: It is a fure fign that our royalty is unfafe, when it must defcend to flattery, and floop to diffimulation. And yet I cannot help fuppofing (from the hemiftich, unfafe the while that we) fome words to be wanting which originally rendered the fentiment lefs obfcure. Shakspeare might have writtenUnfafe the while it is for us, that we &c. By a different arrangement in the old copy, the present hemiftich, indeed, is avoided; but, in my opinion, to the difadvantage of the other lines. See former editions. STEEVENS. 7 -nature's copy's not éterne.] The copy, the leafe, by which' they hold their lives from nature, has its time of termination li-. mited. JOHNSON. Eterne for eternal is often used by Chaucer. So, in The Knight's Tale, Mr. Tyrwhitt's edit. v. 1305: |