King. Oh, valiant coufin! worthy gentleman! Ship be opened by fuch a ftroke. It is remarkable, that Milton, who in his youth read and imitated our poet much, particularly in his Comus, was mifled by this corrupt reading. For in the manufcript of that poem, in Trinity-College library, the following lines are read thus ; "Or drag him by the curls, and cleave his fcalpe "Down to the hippes." An evident imitation of this corrupted paffage. But he alter'd it with better judgment to: 64 to a foul death "Curs'd as his life." WARBURTON. The learned commentator is certainly right in his alteration of nave into nape; but notwithstanding his fagacity in that point, he seems to be mistaken in his description of the stroke. To unfeam, is to diffever, to cut in two. The word is thus used by B. and Fletcher in the first of their Four Plays in One: not a vein runs here, "But Sophocles would unfeam." To unfeam a man from the nape to the chops, is a plain exact defcription as can be given of cutting off the head at the neck by a blow from the hinder part quite through to the fore part where it joins the chops, according to our common idea of decollation. The words will scarcely bear the other interpretation of cutting his full in two through the crown of the head and fagittal future. That would be unfeaming him down to the nape and the chops; but Macbeth's blow is from the nape to the chops. The blow in Milton was copied from the romances he was fo fond of, which are full of fuch downward cleaving strokes; and could never be taken from the aukward, upward, almost impoffi ble one in this corrupted paffage of Shakespeare. STEEVENS. 4 As when the fun 'gins bis reflection] Here are two readings in the copies, gives, and 'gins, i. e. begins. But the latter I think is the right, as founded on obfervation, that storms generally come from the caft. As from the place (fays he) whence the fun begins his course, (viz. the eaft) Shipwrecking Storms proceed, fo, &c. For the natural and conftant motion of the ocean is from east to west; and the wind has the fame general direction. Præcipua & generalis [ventorum] caufa eft ipfe Sol qui aërem rarefacit & attenuat. Aër enim rarefactus multo majorem locum poftulat. Inde fit ut Aër à fole impulfus alium vicinum aërem magno impetu protrudat; cumque Sol ab Oriente in occidentem circumrotetur, præcipuus ab eo aëris impulfus fiet verfus occidentem. Varenii Geogr. 1. 1. c. xiv. prop. 1o. See alfo Dr. Halley's Ac coun Shipwrecking ftorms and direful thunders break 5; So from that fpring, whence comfort feem'd to come, "Discomfort fwells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark: No fooner juftice had, with valour arm'd, Compell'd thefe fkipping Kernes to truft their heels; But the Norweyan lord, furveying vantage, The count of the Trade Winds of the Monfoons. This being fo, it is no wonder that ftorms fhould come most frequently from that quar ter; or that they should be most violent, becaufe there is a concurrence of the natural motions of wind and wave. This proves the true reading is 'gins; the other reading not fixing it to that quarter. For the fun may give its reflection in any part of its. course above the horizon; but it can begin it only in one. Oxford editor, however, fticks to the other reading, gives: and fays, that, by the fun's giving his reflexion, is meant the rain-bow, the ftrongest and most remarkable reflexion of any the fun gives. He appears by this to have as good a hand at reforming our phyfics as our poetry. This is a difcovery, that fhipwrecking ftorms proceed from the rainbow. But he was mifled by his want of kill in Shakespeare's phrafeology, who, by the fun's reflexion, means only the fun's light. But while he is intent on making his author fpeak correctly, he flips himself. The rainbow is no more a reflexion of the fun than a tune is a fiddle. And, though it be the most remarkable effect of reflected light, yet it is not the Strongest. WARBURTON. There are not two readings. both the old folios have 'gins. JOHNSON. The thought is expreffed with some obfcurity, but the plain meaning is this: As the fame quarter, whence the bleffing of day-light arifes, fometimes fends us, by a dreadful reverse, the calamities of forms and tempefts; fo the glorious event of Macbeth's victory, which promifed us the comforts of peace, was immediately fucceeded by the alarming news of the Norweyan invafion. The natural hiftory of the winds, &c. is foreign to the explanation of this paffage. Shakespeare does not mean, in confermity to any theory, to fay that ftorms generally come from the east. If it be allowed that they fometimes iffue from that quarter, it is fufficient for the purpofe of his comparifon. STEEVENS. 5 -thunders break ;] The word break is wanting in the oldeft copy. The other folios and Rowe read breaking. Mr. Pope made the emendation. STEEVENS. Difcomfort favells. Difcomfort the natural oppofite to comfort. Well'd, for flowved, was an emendation. The common copies have, difcomfort fwells. JOHNSON With With furbish'd arms, and new fupplies of men, King. Difmay'd not this Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? As fparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion. Doubly redoubled ftrokes upon the foe: ↑ As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks; I can Mr. Theobald has endeavoured to improve the sense of this pas fage by altering the punctuation thus: they were As cannons overcharg'd, with double cracks So they redoubled ftrokes He declares, with fome degree of exultation, that he has no idea of a cannon charged with double cracks; but furely the great author will not gain much by an alteration which makes him fay of a hero, that he redoubles ftrokes with double cracks, an expreffion not more loudly to be applauded, or more eafily pardoned than that which is rejected in its favour. That a cannon is charged with thunder, or with double thunders, may be written, not only without nonfenfe, but with elegance, and nothing else is here meant by cracks, which in the time of this writer was a word of fuch emphafis and dignity, that in this play he terms the general diffolution of nature the crack of doom. The old copy reads: They doubly redoubled ftrokes. JOHNSON. I have followed the old reading. this paffage in fupport of it: In Rich. II. act I. we find And let thy blows, doubly redoubled, "Fall, &c." STEEVENS. 8 Or memorize another Golgotha,] Memorize, for make memorable. WARBURTON -memorize another Golgotha,] That is, to tranfmit another Golgotha to pofterity. The word, which fome fuppofe to have been coined by Shakespeare, is ufed by Spenfer in a fonnet to lord Buckhurst prefixed to his Paftorals. 1579: "la I cannot tell : But I am faint, my gafhes cry for help. King. So well thy words become thee, as thy wounds; They smack of honour both :-Go, get -Go, get him furgeons. 9 Enter Roffe. Who comes here? Mal. The worthy thane of Roffe. Len. What a hafte looks through his eyes? So fhould he look', That seems to speak things ftrange. Roffe "In vaine I thinke, right honourable lord, "By this rude rime to memorize thy name." WARTON. The word is likewise used by Chapman, in his translation of the fecond book of Homer, 1598. 66 which let thy thoughts be fure to memorize.” Again, in The Fawne, by Maríton, 66 -oh, let this night "Be ever memoriz'd with prouder triumphs." Again, in Daniel's dedication to the tragedy of Philotas: "Which to fucceeding times fhall memorize your stories." Again, in the 21ft fong; "Except poor widows' cries to memorize your theft." Again, in the Miracles of Mofes : "That might for ever memorize this deed." And again, in a copy of verfes prefixed to fir Arthur Gorges's tranflation of Lucan, 1614: "Of them whose acts they mean to memorize.” STEEVENS. Enter Roffe and Angus.] As only the thane of Roffe is spoken to, or fpeaks any thing in the remaining part of this fcene, Angus is a fuperfluous character, the king expreffing himself in the fingular number; Whence cam'ft thou, worthy Thane ? I That seems to speak things frange.] The meaning of this paffage as it now ftands, is, fo fhould he look, that looks as if he told things frange. But Roffe either yet told frange things, nor could look as if he told them; Lenox only Gg 2 con Roffe. God fave the king! King. Whence cam'ft thou, worthy thane? Where the Norweyan banners flout the fky, Norway himself, with terrible numbers, The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict : 4 Point zonjectured from his air that he had ftrange things to tell, and therefore undoubtedly faid: What hafte looks through his eyes?. So fhould be look, that teems to speak things ftrange. He looks like one that is big with fomething of importance; a metaphor so natural that it is every day used in common discourse.. JOHNSON. The following paffage in Cymbeline feems to afford no unapt com. ment upon this: "Would be interpreted a thing perplex'd, &c." Again, in the Tempest: prithee, fay on: "The fetting of thine eye and cheek proclaim Again, in K. Richard II: 2 "Men judge by the complexion of the fky, &c. "So may you, by my dull and heavy eye, "My tongue hath but a heavier tale to fay." STEEVEN. To flout is to dafh any thing in another's face. WARBURTON. And new replenish'd pendants cuff the air, 3 Confronted him with felf-comparisons,] The doyal Cawdor, fays Mr. Theobald. Then conres another, and fays, a trange forgetfulness in Shakespeare, when Macbeth had taken the Thane of Cawdor prifoner, not to know that he was fallen into the king's displeasure for rebellion. But this is only blunder |