As broad, and general as the casing air; Macb. Thanks for that. There the grown serpent lies: the worm, that's fled, No teeth for the present.-Get thee gone: to-morrow Lady M. [Exit Murderer. My royal lord, You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold, 'Tis given with welcome. To feed were best at home; From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony, Meeting were bare without it. Macb. Sweet remembrancer! Now, good digestion wait on appetite, Len. May it please your highness sit? [The Ghost of BANQUO enters, and sits in MACBETH'S place. Macb. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd, Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present; Who may I rather challenge for unkindness, Than pity for mischance! Rosse. His absence, sir, Lays blame upon his promise. Please it your highness To grace us with your royal company? Macb. The table's full. Len. Macb. Here is a place reserv'd, sir. Where? Len. Here, my good lord. What is't that moves your highness? Mach. Which of you have done this? Lords. What, my good lord? Mach. Thou canst not say, I did it never shake Thy gory locks at me. Rosse. Gentlemen, rise; his highness is not well. Lady M. Sit, worthy friends. My lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat. He will again be well. If much you note him, Mach. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that Lady M. O, proper stuff! This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said, Authoriz❜d by her grandam. Shame itself! Macb. Pr'ythee, see there! behold! look! lo! how say you? Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.If charnel-houses, and our graves, must send Those that we bury back, our monuments Shall be the maws of kites. Lady M. [Ghost disappears. What! quite unmann'd in folly? Macb. If I stand here, I saw him. Lady M. Fie! for shame! Macb. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' th' olden time, Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal; VOL. VII. L With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends; all; Come, love and health to Then, I'll sit down.-Give me some wine: fill full. Re-enter Ghost*. I drink to the general joy of the whole table, Lords. Our duties, and the pledge. Macb. Avaunt! and quit my sight. Let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; Which thou dost glare with. Re-enter Ghost.] It was the opinion of the late Mr. Benjamin Strutt that the Ghost which entered at this point was that of Duncan, and not of Banquo. The folio, 1623, certainly, does not mention whose Ghost made its appearance, but the immediate context, referring again to the absence of Banquo, seems to warrant the ordinary interpretation. Had it been the Ghost of Duncan, the old copies would hardly have failed to give us the information. It merely here states, "Enter Ghost," having before stated, "Enter the Ghost of Banquo." Mr. H. C. Robinson, in communicating to me Mr. B. Strutt's notion, supports it by several later portions of the scene, particularly by the passages, " Thy bones are marrowless," ," "Thou hast no speculation in those eyes," and "Take any shape but that;" which are supposed to be applicable to Duncan, who had been long dead, and not to Banquo, who had been very recently murdered. This opinion deserves to be treated with every respect, but it seems rather one of those conjectures in which original minds indulge, than a criticism founded upon a correct interpretation of the text of the author. Macbeth would not address "And dare me to the desert with thy sword" to the shade of the venerable Duncan; and "Thou hast no speculation in those eyes," &c. is the appearance that eyes would assume just after death. Some have maintained, against the positive evidence of all the old copies, that the first Ghost was that of Duncan. Lady M. Think of this, good peers, But as a thing of custom: 'tis no other; Mach. What man dare, I dare: [Ghost disappears. Unreal mockery, hence !-Why, so ;-being gone, I am a man again.-Pray you, sit still. Lady M. You have displac'd the mirth, broke the good meeting, With most admir'd disorder. Macb. Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer's cloud, Without our special wonder? You make me strange, Even to the disposition that I owe, When now I think you can behold such sights, And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, When mine are blanch'd with fear. Rosse. What sights, my lord? Lady M. I pray you, speak not: he grows worse and worse; Question enrages him. At once, good night: Stand not upon the order of your going, But go at once. Len. Good night; and better health Attend his majesty. If trembling I INHABIT, THEN protest me The baby of a girl.] This passage has occasioned much dispute; and supposing the arguments equally balanced, we should prefer the reading of all the old copies. Malone would alter "inhabit then," to inhibit thee, or forbid thee, which was the meaning of inhibit: according to what we think the true reading, Macbeth means to say, that he will not refuse to meet the Ghost in the desert. Lady M. A kind good night to all! [Exeunt Lords and Attendants. Macb. It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood: 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.-What is the night? Lady M. Almost at odds with morning, which is which. Mach. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person, At our great bidding"? Lady M. Did you send to him, sir? More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know, Strange things I have in head, that will to hand, Lady M. You lack the season of all natures, sleep. Mach. Come, we'll to sleep. My strange and self-abuse Is the initiate fear, that wants hard use: We are yet but young in deed. 6 How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person, [Exeunt. At our great bidding?] i. e. What say you to the fact, that Macduff will not come at our command? This is Monck Mason's interpretation, supported by the reply of Lady Macbeth, who had said nothing about the matter, and asks, in ignorance, whether Macduff had been sent to? Macbeth then proceeds to inform her what he had heard "by the way." |