The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow! [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, By the other slight but happy emendation, the rea ding thee instead of then, which was proposed by Mr. Steevens, and to which I have paid the respect that it deserved, by giving it a place in my text, this passage is rendered clear and easy. Mr. Steevens's correction is strongly supported by the punc tuation of the old copy, where the line stands-If trembling I inhabit then, protest &c. and not-If trembling I inhabit, then protest &c. In our author's King Richard II, we have nearly the same thought: "If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live, "I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness." Malone... Inhabit is the original reading; and it needs no alteration. The obvious meaning is-Should you challenge me to encounter you in the desert, and I, through fear, remain trembling in my castle, then protest me, &c. Shakspeare here uses the verb inhabit in a neutral sense, to express continuance in a given situation; and Milton has employed it in a similar manner: "Meanwhile inhabit lax, ye powers of heaven!" Henley. To inhabit, a verb neuter, may undoubtedly have a meaning Tike that suggested by Mr. Healey. Thus, in As you Like it: "O knowledge ill-inbabited worse than Jove in a thatched house!" Inhabited, in this instance, can have no other meaning than lodged. It is not, therefore, impossible, that by inhabit, our author capriciously meant-stay within doors-If, when you have challenged me to the desert, I sculk in my house, do not hesitate to protest my cowardice. Steevens. The reading-"If trembling I inhibit”—and the explanation of it, derives some support from Macbeth's last words "And damn'd be him that first cries, hold! enough!", I cannot reconcile myself to Henley's or Steevens's explanation of inhabit. M. Mason. Unreal mockery,] i. e. unsubstantial pageant, as our author calls the vision in The Tempest: or the picture in Timon of Arbens, " a mocking of the life." Steepens. -- Even to the disposition that I owe,7 6 Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer's cloud, Without our special wonder?] The meaning is, can such wonders as these pass over us without wonder, as a casual summer cloud passes over us? Johnson. No instance is given of this sense of the word overcome, which has caused all the difficulty; it is, however, to be found in Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. III, c. vii, st. 4: 66 A little valley "All covered with thick woods, that quite it overcame." Again, in Chapman's version of the fifteenth Iliad: his eyes were overcome 66 "With fervour, and resembled flames; Again, in the fourth Iliad : "So (after Diomed) the field was overcome Farmer. "With thick impressions of the Greeks; -" Steeven. Again, in Marie Magdalene's Repentaunce, 1567: 7 "With blode overcome were both his eyen." Malone, You make me strange Even to the disposition that I owe,] Which, in plain English, is only: You make me just mad. Warburton. You produce in me an alienation of mind; which is probably the expression which our author intended to paraphrase. Johnson. I do not think that either of the editors has very successfully explained this passage, which seems to mean.-You prove to me that I am a stranger even to my own disposition, when I perceive that the very object which steals the colour from my cheek, permits it to remain in yours. In other words,-You prove to me bow false an opinion I have hitherto maintained of my own courage, when yours, on the trial, is found to exceed it. A thought somewhat similar occurs in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II, sc. i: "I'll entertain myself like one I am not acquainted withal." Again, in All's Well that Ends Well, Act V: if you know "That you are well acquainted with yourself." Steevens. The meaning, I think, is, You render me a stranger to, or forgetful of, that brave disposition which I know I possess, and make me fancy myself a coward, when I perceive that I am terrified by a sight which has not in the least alarmed you. A passage in As you Like it may prove the best comment on that before us : "If with myself I hold intelligence, "Or have acquaintance with my own desires —.” So Macbeth says, he has no longer acquaintance with his own brave disposition of mind: His wife's superior fortitude makes When now I think you can behold such sights, 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! Lady M. Macb. It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood:1 him ignorant of his own courage as a stranger might be supposed to be. Malone. I believe it only means, you make me mazed. The word strange was then used in this sense. So, in The History of Jack of Newberry: "I jest not, said she; for I mean it shall be; and stand not strangely, but remember that you promised me," &c. Reed. 8. — are blanch'd with fear.] i. e. turned pale, as in Webster's Dutchess of Malfy, 1623: "Thou dost blanch mischief, "Dost make it white." Steevens. The old copy reads-is blanch'd. Sir T. Hanmer corrected this passage in the wrong place, by reading-cheek; in which he has been followed by the subsequent editors. His correction gives, perhaps, a more elegant text, but not the text of Shakspeare. The alteration now made is only that which every editor has been obliged to make in almost every page of these plays. In this very scene the old copy has " the times bas been," &c. Perhaps it may be said that mine refers to ruby, and that therefore no change is necessary. But this seems very harsh. Malone. 9 A kind good night to all!] I take it for granted, that the redundant and valueless syllables—a kind, are a play-house interpolation. Steevens. 1 It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood:] So, in The Mirror of Magistrates, p. 118: "Take heede, ye princes, by examples past, Henderson. Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak ;* Augurs, and understood relations,3 have It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood. As a confirmation of the reading, I would add the following authority: "Blood asketh blood, and death must death requite." Ferrex and Porrex, Act IV, sc. ii. Whalley. I have followed Mr, Whalley's punctuation, instead of placing the semicolon after-say. The same words occur in The Battle of Alcazar, 1594: "Bloud will have bloud, foul murther scape no scourge." Steevens. 2 and trees to speak;] Alluding perhaps to the vocal tree which (See the third Book of the Eneid) revealed the murder of Polydorus. Steevens. 3 Augurs, and understood relations, &c.] By the word relation s understood the connection of effects with causes; to understand relations as an augur, is to know how those things relate to each other, which have no visible combination or dependence. Johnson. Shakspeare, in his licentious way, by relations, might only mean languages; i. e the language of birds. Warburton. The old copy has the passage thus: Augures, and understood relations, have The modern editors have read: 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. In Cotgrave's Dictionary, a magpie is called magatapie. So, in The Night-Raven, a Satirical Collection &c. "I neither tattle with iack-daw, "Or Maggot pye on hatch'd house straw." Magot-pie is the original name of the bird; Magot being the familiar appellation given to pies, as we say Robin to a redbreast, Tom to a titmouse, Philip to a sparrow, &c. The modern mag is the abbreviation of the ancient Magot, a word which we had from the French. Steevens. Mr. Steevens rightly restores Magot-pies. In Minshieu's It appears to me that we ought to read; "He which, by a very slight alteration, removes every difficulty. M. Mason. 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. Macb. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his per son, At our great bidding?s Lady M. Did you send to him, sir? Macb. I hear it by the way; but I will send: There's not a one of them, but in his house and choughs, and rooks, brought forth The secret'st man of blood.] The inquisitive reader will find such a story in Thomas Lupton's Thousand notable Things, &c. 4to. bl. 1. no date, p. 100; and in Goular's Admirable Histories, &c. p. 425, 4to. 1607. Steevens. 5 How say'st thou, &c.] Macbeth here asks a question, which the recollection of a moment enables him to answer. Of this forgetfulness, natural to a mind oppressed, there is a beautiful instance in the sacred song of Deborah and Barak: "She asked ber wise women counsel; yea, she returned answer to herself." Mr. M. Mason's interpretation of this passage has, however, taught me diffidence of my own. He supposes, and not without sufficient reason, that "what Macbeth means to say, is this; What do you think of this circumstance, that Macduff denies to come at our great bidding? What do you infer from thence? What is your opinion of the matter?" So, in Othello, when the Duke is informed that the Turkish fleet was making for Rhodes, which he supposed to have been bound for Cyprus, he says "How say you by this change?" That is, what do you think of it? In The Coxcomb, Antonio says to Maria "Sweetheart, how say you by this gentleman! Again, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Speed says 66 But Launce, how say'st thou, that my master is become ■ notable lover?" Again, Macbeth, in his address to his wife, on the first appearance of Banquo's ghost, uses the same form of words: behold! look! lo! bow say you ?” 66 The circumstance, however, on which this question is founded, took its rise from the old history. Macbeth sent to Macduff to assist in building the castle of Dunsinane. Macduff sent workmen, &c. but did not choose to trust his person in-the tyrant's power. From that time he resolved on his death. Steevens, |