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33

Of many worthy fellows that were out;
Which was to my belief witness'd the rather,
For that I saw the tyrant's power a-foot :
Now is the time of help; your eye in Scotland
Would create soldiers, make our women fight,
To doff34 their dire distresses.

Be't their comfort

Mal.
We're coming thither: gracious England hath
Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men ;
An older and a better soldier none

That Christendom gives out.

Ross.

This comfort with the like!

Would I could answer

But I have words

That would be howl'd out in the desert air,
Where hearing should not latch them.35

Macd.

The general cause? or is it a fee-grief 36
Due to some single breast?

Ross.

What concern they?

No mind that's honest

But in it shares some woe; though the main part

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Keep it not from me, quickly let me have it.

Ross. Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever,

33 Here out has the force of in arms, or in open revolt.- What follows means that the rumour is confirmed by the fact that Macbeth has put his troops in motion. - For that is because, or for the reason that. A frequent usage.

34 Doff is do off. So the Poet has don for do on, and dup for do up.

35 Present usage would here transpose should and would. See page 75, note 9.- Latch is an old North-of-England word for catch. Our door-latch is that which catches the door.

36 A fee-grief is a private or individual grief, as distinguished from one that is public or common.

Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound

That ever yet they heard.

Macd.

Hum! I guess at it.

Ross. Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes Savagely slaughter'd to relate the manner,

Were, on the quarry 37 of these murder'd deer,

To add the death of you.

Mal.

Merciful Heaven!

What, man! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows :
Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break.
Macd. My children too?

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37 Quarry was a hunter's term for a heap of dead game, and was often applied as here. See Hamlet, page 231, note 65. — In "murder'd deer," it may seem that the Poet intended a pun; but probably not; at least I can hardly think he meant the speaker to be conscious of it as such.

38" He has no children" is most likely said of Malcolm, and with reference to what he has just spoken; though I believe it is commonly taken as referring to Macbeth, and in the idea that, as he has no children, there can be no adequate revenge upon him. But the true meaning, I have no doubt, is, that if Malcolm were a father, he would know that such a grief cannot be healed with the medicine of revenge. Besides, it would seem that Macbeth has children; else why should he strain so hard to have the regal succession "stand in his posteritv"> And Lady Macbeth "knows how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me."

What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop? 39

Mal. Dispute it like a man.
Macd.

But I must also feel it as a man:

I shall do so;

I cannot but remember such things were,

That were most precious to me.

Did Heaven look on,

And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff,
They were all struck for thee! naught 40 that I am,
Not for their own demerits, but for mine,

Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now !
Mal. Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief
Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it.

Macd. O, I could play the woman with mine eyes,
And braggart with my tongue! But, gentle Heaven,
Cut short all intermission; front to front

Bring Thou this fiend of Scotland and myself;
Within my sword's length set him; if he scape,
Heaven forgive him too! 41

Mal.

This tune goes manly.42

Come, go we to the King: our power is ready;

39 Swoop was a term for the descent of a bird of prey upon his quarry. 40 Naught appears to have had the same meaning as bad, only stronger. It should not be confounded with nought.

41 The little word too is so used here as to intensify, in a very remarkable manner, the sense of what precedes. "Put him once within the reach of my sword, and if I don't kill him, 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 meaning.

42 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 Shakespeare always master of himself and of his subject,—a genuine Proteus; we see all things in him, as images in a calm lake, most distinct, most accurate,—only more splendid, more glorified.— Coleridge,

Our lack is nothing but our leave: 43 Macbeth

Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above

Put on their instruments.44 Receive what cheer you may : The night is long that never finds the day.

[Exeunt.

ACT V.

SCENE I.- Dunsinane. A Room in the Castle. Enter a Doctor of Physic and a Waiting-Gentlewoman. Doct. I have two nights watch'd with you, but can perceive no truth in your report. When was it she last walk'd? Gentlew. Since his Majesty went into the field,1 I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown 2 upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon't, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep.

Doct. A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once the benefit of sleep and do the effects3 of watching! In this slumbery agitation, besides her walking and other actual performances, what at any time have you heard her say?

48 That is, "nothing remains to be done here but to take our leave of the King." A ceremony of parting.

44 Instruments is here used of persons.-Put on means stir up, instigate, urge on. Often so. See Hamlet, page 195, note 28.

1 In the preceding scene, Macbeth was said to have his "power a-foot" against "many worthy fellows that were out." Probably the coming of the English forces has induced him to withdraw his troops from the field, and put them within the strong fortress of Dunsinane.

2 That is, dressing-gown, not what we call a night-gown. & Effects here means acts or actions. Repeatedly so.

Gentlew. That, sir, which I will not report after her. Doct. You may to me; and 'tis most meet you should. Gentlew. Neither to you nor any one; having no witness to confirm my speech.

Lo

Enter Lady MACBETH, with a Taper.

you, here she comes! This is her very guise; and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her; stand close.4

Doct. How came she by that light?

Gentlew. Why, it stood by her: she has light by her continually; 'tis her command.5

Doct. You see, her eyes are open.

Gentlew. Ay, but their sense is shut.

Doct. What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands.

Gentlew. It is an accustom'd action with her, to seem thus washing her hands: I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour.

Lady M. Yet here's a spot.

Doct. Hark! she speaks: I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.

Lady M. Out, damnèd spot! out, I say!—One, two; why, then 'tis time to do't. - Hell is murky! 6 — Fie, my

4 Here, as often, close is secret, hidden, or in concealment.

once

5 Was this to avert the presence of those "sightless substances 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! - BUCKNILL.

"

6 Some commentators think that Lady Macbeth imagines her husband to utter these words, and repeats them after him with a peculiar intonation as in ridicule or reproach of his fears. And so I suspect it is. But the learned Editors of the "Clarendon Press Series" think otherwise decidedly and note as follows: "Her recollections of the deed and its motives alternate with recollections of subsequent remorse and dread of future punishment."

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