IV. 1. FIRST WITCH. Toad, that under the cold stone Shakespeare speaks elsewhere of the toad ugly and venomous. The question is whether he is right in his natural history, or has only adopted the vulgar notion on this point. There is a paper by Dr. Davy in the Philosophical Transactions of 1826, in which it is shewn that the toad is venomous, and moreover that "sweltered venom" is peculiarly proper, the poison lying diffused over the body immediately under the skin. This is the second instance in this play of Shakespeare's minute exactness in his natural history. IV. 1. ALL THE WITCHes. Shew his eyes, and grieve his heart : We have here another proof of the want of attention in preparing the stage-directions of this play, to which we have already had so much occasion to advert. The spectacle which follows is described as "A show of Eight Kings, and Banquo last, with a glass in his hand." This implies that Banquo holds the glass, while it is distinctly said And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass, Horrible sight! Now, I see, For the blood-boltered Banquo smiles upon me This incongruity was perceived by the middle-period editors, and the stage-direction is altered thus:-"Eight Kings appear, and pass over the stage in order; the last with a glass in his hand; Banquo following." If as close an adherence to the old copies as might be were desired, the incongruity would be effectually removed by reading the direction thus :-"A show of Eight Kings, and Banquo; the last King with a glass in his hand." Shows like this were among the deceptions practised by, the professors of the art of magic in Shakespeare's own time. Only I have sometimes, not without amazement, thought of the representation which a celebrated magician made unto Catherine de Medicis, the French Queen, whose impious curiosity led her to desire of him a magical exhibition of all the kings that had hitherto reigned in France, and yet were to reign. The shapes of all the kings, even unto the husband of the queen, successively shewed themselves in the enchanted circle in which the conjuror made his invocations; and they took as many turns as there had been years in their government. The kings that were to come did thus in like manner successively come upon the stage, namely Francis II., Charles IX., Henry III., Henry IV.; which being done, then two cardinals, Richelieu and Mazarine, in red hats, became visible in the spectacle. But after these cardinals there entered wolves, bears, tigers, and lions to consummate the entertainment. (Magnalia Christi Americana, by Cotton Mather, D.D. fol. 1702. Book II. p. 29.) Shakespeare has shewn his art in not suffering more than eight kings to appear in the procession, the rest being shewn only on the mirror. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo; down! This is finely imagined. Macbeth does not compare what he saw to Banquo, but to the fearful image of Banquo which he had lately beheld. IV. 1. MACBETH. What! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom? That is, says Mr. Steevens, "the dissolution of nature," and no one beside seems to have bestowed a thought upon the passage. The passage quoted from The Valiant Welshman is nothing to the purpose, the "cracks of Jove" there spoken of meaning the thunder. Yet it may be right. We may perceive here, what could not fail to be a most acceptable prediction to King James, as he looked on his two sons, the hope of his royal house, Henry and Charles-an interminable line-nepotes nepotum :-but it has been ordered far otherwise. IV. 3. MACDUFF. He has no children. Not, I fear, Macbeth has no children, and therefore cannot have a father's feelings; but, He has no children, and therefore my vengeance cannot have its full retributive action. The thought was unworthy of Shakespeare, and it is to be classed with a still more heinous offence of the same kind, where Hamlet will not execute his intended vengeance on his uncle when he finds him at prayer. It is that inexplicable outbreak of ferocity on which we have before had occasion to observe. V. 1. DOCTOR. Yet I have known those which have walked in their sleep who have died holily in their beds. How different is the spirit of this passage from that we have just noticed! Shakespeare was afraid lest the audience should go away from so impressive a scene as this, with the persuasion that sleep-walking was always to be taken as a sign of a burthened conscience. This gentle and kind-hearted man therefore throws in this expression as a protection of the persons subject to it. V. 1. LADY MACBETH. I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried. Query if it ought not to be "Duncan ?" The mind of the lady seems to have been intent, almost entirely, on the death of Duncan. V. 3. MACBETH. Then fly, false thanes, And mingle with the English epicures. It may be doubted whether Shakespeare had any thought of comparing the fare of the Scottish nation with that of the English, the sumptuous feasting of the English being a common topic of reproach. Thus Ariosto While Ronald here is cheered with great excess, (As ever in the English land is found,) I mean to tell how that fair lady sped, &c.-Canto vin. St. 24. V. 3. MACBETH. My WAY of life Is fallen into the SEAR, the yellow leaf. The sear-month is August in the proverb "Good to cut briars in the sere-month," preserved by Aubrey in his MS. treatise on the Remains of Gentilism in England; and this is favourable to the change proposed by some of the commentators of way into May. Of sere-leaves there are many instances. Sandys compares the roofs of some houses he saw when abroad "to a grove of flourishing trees that have only seere and perished crowns." Travels, p. 93. Hacket affords a better illustration. When Archbishop Williams was in the Tower, he says, "Yet, to give his honest followers their due, the greatest part of them shrunk not, but did their best service that they could afford to their forlorn master, like sear-leaves that hang upon an oak in January; though the tree can give them no sap they are loath to leave it." Part II. p. 127. The meaning of Macbeth is quite evident. V. 3. MACBETH. What rhubarb, SENNA, or what purgative drug Would scour these English hence? The first folio has cyme, the second correctly cany, which represents the pronunciation of the name of the drug now called senna in our author's time, and is still the pronunciation of it by the common people. Thus in The Treasurie of Hidden Secrets, 1627, "Take seene of Alexandria one ounce," &c. The line has lost something of its melody by the substitution of senna for the softer word cany, which ought to have been retained. We may go on altering our language if we please, but let us not throw on our dead poets the reproach of having written inharmoniously, when only we have ourselves, through conceit, thought proper to abrogate very good and serviceable terms. V. 3. MACBEeth. I will not be afraid of death and bane Fortresses, and perhaps kingdoms, have been lost and won by the effect of old prophecies even in our time. The fortress of Bhurtpore was taken by Lord Combermere, the defence of it being paralysed by an old prophecy that it could never be taken till the waters of its ditch should be swallowed by an alligator. The prediction was supposed by the orientals to be fulfilled in Lord Combermere, out of whose name they made Compare, which in the language of that part of India signifies an alligator. V. 5. SEYTON.-The Queen, my lord, is dead. MACBETH.-She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! |