13: "My father stays my coming ;” M. of V. ii. 8. 40: “But stay the very riping of the time," etc.

Convinces, etc. Overpowers the utmost efforts of medical skill, On convinces, cf. i. 7. 64.

145. Presently. Immediately. See Mer. p. 131, or Rich. II. p. 182. 146. The evil. The scrofula, or "the king's evil," as it was long called. The C. P. ed. remarks: "Edward's miraculous powers were believed in by his contemporaries, or at least soon after his death, and expressly recognized by Pope Alexander III., who canonized him. The power of healing was claimed for his successors early in the twelfth century, for it is controverted by William of Malmesbury, and asserted later in the same century by Peter of Blois, who held a high office in the Royal Household (see Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. ii. pp. 527, 528). The same power was claimed for the kings of France, and was supposed to be conferred by the unction of the Sainte Ampoule' on their coronation. William Tooker, D.D., in his Charisma seu Donum Sanationis, 1597, while claiming the power for his own sovereign, Elizabeth, concedes it also to the Most Christian King; but André Laurent, physician to Henry IV. of France, taxes the English sovereigns with imposture. His book is entitled, ' De Mirabilis trumas sanandi vi solis Galliae Regi bus Christianissimis divinitus concessa,' etc., 1609. The Roman Catholic subjects of Elizabeth, perhaps out of patriotism, conceded to her the possession of this one virtue, though they were somewhat staggered to find that she possessed it quite as much after the Papal excommunication as before. James the First's practice of touching for the evil is mentioned several times in Nichols's Progresses, e. g. vol. iii. pp. 264, 273. Charles I., when at York, touched seventy persons in one day. Charles II. also touched when an exile at Bruges, omitting perhaps, for sufficient reason, the gift of the coin. He practised with signal success after his restoration. One of Dr. Johnson's earliest recollections was the being taken to be touched by Queen Anne in 1712 (Boswell, vol. i. p. 38). Even Swift seems to have believed in the efficacy of the cure (Works, ed. Scott, vol. ii. p. 252). The Whigs did not claim the power for the Hanoverian sovereigns, though they highly resented Carte's claiming it for the Pretender in his History of England."

A form of prayer to be used at the ceremony was introduced into the Book of Common Prayer as early as 1684, and was retained up to 1719. As late as 1745 Prince Charles at Holyrood touched a child for the evil. 149. Solicits. Moves by his prayers. Cf. Rich. II. i. 2. 2; "Doth

more solicit me than your exclaims."

152. Mere. See on line 89 above.

153. A golden stamp. As the C. P. ed. remarks, there is no warrant in Holinshed for the statement that the Confessor hung a golden coin or stamp about the necks of the patients. This was, however, a custom which prevailed in later days. Previously to Charles II.'s time some current coin, as an angel, was used for the purpose, but in his reign a special medal was struck and called a "touch-piece." The identical touch-piece which Queen Anne hung round the neck of Dr. Johnson is preserved in the British Museum.

On stamp coin, cf. M. W. iii. 4. 16: "Stamps in gold or sums in sealed bags;" and Cymb. v. 4. 24: "they weigh not every stamp.” 154. Spoken. Said. See on iii. 4. 8. Gr. 200.

160. My countryman. He recognizes him as such by his dress. 163. Makes. This may be viewed as the "3d person plural in -s (Gr. 333), like "gives" in ii. 1. 61; but S. sometimes uses means as a singular. Cf. M. of V. ii. 1. 19: "that means;" W. T. iv. 4. 632: "this means;" C. of E. i. 1. 76: "Other means was none," etc. He also often uses the singular mean; as in W. T. iv. 4. 89, Oth. iii. 1. 39, J. C. iii. 1. 161, etc.

168. Rent. The folio reading, generally changed to the equivalent "rend." Cf. M. N. D. p. 166.

170. Modern. Ordinary, common; as in R. and J. iii. 2. 120: "modern lamentation;" A. W. ii. 3. 2: "modern and familiar," etc.

For ecstasy, see on iii. 2. 21. 171. Scarce ask'd for who. 172. Flowers in their caps. with the Highlanders, w

bonnets.

See Gr. 274, 414.

H. Rowe observes that it was customary on a march, to stick sprigs of heath in their

173. Or ere. Cf. Temp. i. 2. 11; Ham. i. 2. 147, etc. The or, like the ere, is the A. S. ær, which is found in Early English in the forms er, air, ar, ear, or, etc. Ere seems to have been added to or for emphasis when the meaning of the latter was coming to be forgotten. Or is still found in northern dialects (Halliwell's Archaic Dict.). Cf. Scott, Rob Roy: "Ther will be broken heads amang us or it's long." See Mätzner, iii. 446, or Gr. 131.

174. Too nice. Too precise (Schmidt) or minute; not "too fancifully minute," as the C. P. ed., H., and others explain it. "Notwithstanding the relation is so full of distressing particulars, it is yet too true" (Noble Butler).

175. That of an hour's age, etc. Moberly explains this: "If a man tells a crime that is an hour old, they say 'buzz' to him for stale news ;" and compares Ham. ii. 2. 412:

"Polonius. The actors are come hither, my lord.
Hamlet. Buz, buz!''

Blackstone says, "Buz used to be an interjection at Oxford when any one began a story that was generally known before." Cf. T. of S. ii. 1. 207. But in the present passage doth hiss the speaker may mean nothing more than "exposes him to derision."

176. Teems. Brings forth. Cf. T. of A. iv. 3. 179, and Hen. V. v. 2. 51. 177. Children. A trisyllable here. Gr. 477.

179. At peace. Cf. Rich. II. iii. 2. 127:

"Richard. I warrant they have made peace with Bolingbroke.
Scroop.

183. Were out.

Peace have they made with him indeed, my lord."

"Had taken the field" (Schmidt). In Lear, i. 1. 33 abroad, in foreign countries.

("He hath been out nine years") out

184. Witness'd.

185. For that.

Made credible.
See Gr. 287, 288.

Cf. line 236 below. The plural was used in the same sense (so force and forces now). See 7. C. p. 168, note on Are levying powers. There is none. For the ellipsis, see Gr. 403.

191. None.

=

On give out Oth. iii. 3. 209, etc. 194. Would. 195. Latch.

show (Schmidt), cf. W. T. iv. 4. 149; T. N. iii. 4. 203;

See Gr. 329.

Catch.

Cf. Sonn. 113. 6:

"For it no form delivers to the heart

Of bird, or flower, or shape, which it doth latch."

Schmidt explains the verb similarly in M. N. D. iii. 2. 36, where some make it smear; a meaning found nowhere else.

Spenser has latched caught, in Shep. Kal. March, 94:

"So long I shott, that al was spent;

Tho pumie stones I hastly hent,

And threw; but nought availed;

He was so wimble and so wight,

From bough to bough he lepped light,
And oft the pumies latched."

Cf. Golding's Ovid, Met. i. :- "As though he would, at everie stride, betweene his teeth hir latch ;" and Met. viii. :

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"But that a bough of chesnut-tree, thick-leaved, by the way
Did latch it," etc.

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196. A fee-grief. A grief that hath a single owner" (Johnson). 202. Possess them with. Fill them with.

Cf. K. John, iv. 2. 203:

Why seek'st thou to possess me with these fears?" See also I Hen. IV. ii. 2. 112; Hen. VIII. ii. 1. 158; M. W. i. 3. 110, etc.

206. Quarry. Dead bodies; literally, the game killed in hunting. Cf. Cor. i. 1. 202, and Ham. v. 2. 375.

208. Ne'er pull your hat, etc. Steevens notes that the same expression occurs in the old ballad of "Northumberland betrayed by Douglas :"

"He pulled his hatt down over his browe,
And in his heart he was full woe," etc.

209. The grief that does not speak, etc. White Devil:

Steevens quotes Webster,

"Poor heart, break;

These are the killing griefs which dare not speak;"

Seneca, Hippolytus: "Curae leves loquuntur, ingentes stupent ;" and Greene, Fair Bellora:

"Light sorrowes often speake,

Cf. V. and A. 329:

210. Whispers.

When great the heart in silence breake."

"the heart hath treble wrong

When it is barr'd the aidance of the tongue.'

For the omission of the preposition, see Gr. 200.

212. Must be. Was destined to be (Gr. 314).

3

216. He has no children. The C. P. ed. takes this as referring to Macbeth: "therefore my utmost revenge must fall short of the injury he has

inflicted upon me." We prefer, with Malone, to apply it to Malcolm. Cf. K. John, iii. 1. 91: "He talks to me that never had a son." Moberly refers it to Macbeth, but explains it thus: "Had he had children, he could not have done it." He cites 3 Hen. VI. v. 5. 63:

"You have no children, butchers; if you had,

The thought of them would have stirr'd up remorse.'

220. Dispute it. "Contend with your present sorrows (Steevens), fight against it; or, perhaps, "reason upon it," as Schmidt explains it. 221. But I must also feel it, etc. On this passage Horn (quoted by Furness) remarks: "Put these lines before hundreds of French, English, and German tragedies, and they sound like scathing satire; put them before Egmont or William Tell, and they give us a hearty delight. Let them never again, ye dear poets, sound like irony, but give us human beings with hearts that can bleed and heal! Then you will never shrink from that motto."

223. That. On that following such, see Gr. 279.

225. Naught. Worthless thing. Cf. Ham. iii. 2. 157: "You are naught," etc.

229. Convert. Change. Cf. R. of L. 592: "For stones dissolv'd to water do convert ;" Id. 591: "This hot desire converts to cold disdain ;" Much Ado, i. I. 123: Courtesy itself must convert to disdain," etc. 231. But, gentle heavens, etc. It is here, and not at line 216, that the possibility of revenge on Macbeth first occurs to Macduff (Delius). 232. Intermission. Delay. Cf. M. of V. iii. 2. 201:

"You lov'd, I lov'd; for intermission

No more pertains to me, my lord, than you."

234. Scape. See on iii. 4. 20.

235. Too.

"If I don't kill him, then I am worse than he, and I not only forgive him myself, but pray God to forgive him also; or perhaps it is, then I am as bad as he, and may God forgive us both. I cannot point to an instance, anywhere, of language more intensely charged with mean(H.).

ing"

Tune is Rowe's emendation for the "time" of the folios. On the adverbial use of manly, see Gr. 447. Cf. iii. 5. I.

་

Coleridge observes : "How admirably Macduff's grief is in harmony with the whole play! It rends, not dissolves the heart. The tune of it goes manly. Thus is S. always master of himself and of his subjecta genuine Proteus;—we see all things in him, as images in a calm lake, most distinct, most accurate-only more splendid, more glorified."

་

237. Our lack, etc. We need only the king's leave to set out; or, perhaps, to take our leave of the king. Schmidt makes it the latter. 239. Put on. "Set to work" (Schmidt). Cf. Ham. iv. 7. 132, v. 2. 408, etc. It often means to instigate, incite; as in Lear, i. 4. 227, Oth. ìi, 3.357, etc.

For instruments applied to persons, cf. i. 3. 124 and iii. 1. 80 above.

SCENE 1.-3. Went into the field. Steevens thinks S. forgot that he had shut up Macbeth in Dunsinane; but, as Boswell notes, Ross says (iv. 3. 185) that he had seen "the tyrant's power afoot." The strength of his adversaries, and the revolt of his own troops (v. 2. 18), had probably led him to retreat into his castle.

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9. Effects. Actions. Cf. Ham. iii. 4. 129; Lear, i. 1. 188, ii. 4. 182, etc. 10. Slumbery. For other adjectives of similar formation, see Gr. 450. II. Actual. Consisting in doing anything, in contradistinction to thoughts or words" (Schmidt); as in Oth. iv. 2. 153, the only other instance of the word in S.

17. Close. Hidden; as in 7. C. i. 3. 131, etc.

20. 'T is her command. Dr. Bucknill asks: "Was this to avert the presence of those sightless substances' (i. 5. 47) once impiously invoked? She seems washing her hands, and 'continues in this a quarter of an hour.' What a comment on her former boast, 'A little water clears us of this deed!""