Producing forth the cruel ministers

Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen,
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life;—this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So, thanks to all at once and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

70

NOTES

[The text of Macbeth is in many places corrupt, and conjecture has to be resorted to.]

ABBREVIATIONS.-O. E. = Old English; H. Ger. High German ; L. Ger.=Low German (=English); N. Fr.-Norman-French; Gr.=Greek; Lat. = Latin; Dim. = diminutive; Cogs. = cognates; Cf. = (confer), compare; Cl. P. S. Clarendon Press Series; and Co. S. = Collins's Series. Notes without name appended are Professor Meiklejohn's. In the naming of plays short titles have been used. Thus the Taming of the Shrew is mentioned as The Shrew; All's Well that Ends Well as All's Well; Troilus and Cressida as Troilus.

ACT FIRST

SCENE 1

1. Witch (the feminine for wiz-ard) is said to come from a Gothic word, veiks, holy, or apart.

3. Hurlyburly's. Shakespeare uses the word hurly by itself (three times) with the same meaning. The word is an onomatopoetic word, like shriek, buzz, hum, tittle-tattle, helter-skelter, hullabuloo (which is said to be a corruption of hurlyburly), slip-slop, skimble-skamble, and many others. 8. Graymalkin, gray cat. Malkin is a dim. of Mall (Molly), which is itself a dim. of Mary. Shakespeare uses the term Malkin as a synonyme for a kitchen-wench.

9. Paddock. Pad or Pada is the O. E. (or A. S.) name for a toad. Hence paddock is a dim. Cf. bull, bullock; hill, hillock; John, Johnock, contracted into Jock or Jack. Anon = at once. An is an old form of prep. on; and on is a form of one.

10. Fair is foul, to the witches, who find their element in what is evil and ugly.

11. Filthy, an adjective, from filth, which is a noun from foul. There is also a verb file, now generally found in defile.

SCENE 2

Forres is a town in the north of Scotland, at the apex of a triangle, the base of which is formed by Inverness and Elgin. 2. Plight, condition. The O. E. word pliht meant danger. 3. Sergeant, a trisyllable. The word comes through Fr. from the Lat. serviens, serving. The change of a v followed by i into a soft g, is not uncommon. Cf. abbreviare and abridge.

9. Choke their art, make their skill useless. We still have the phrase, 'to choke off importunity.'

=

to that end or result.

10. To that 13. Is supplied . . . of. In Shakespeare's time we find such phrases as invested of, distinguish of (for from), etc. - Kerns, a Keltic (or perhaps only Irish) word - a footsoldier of the lowest and poorest rank, armed only with a dart or a dagger. Gallowglasses wore helmets and coats of mail, and were armed with a long sword and an axe. 18. Smok'd. Cf. Richard III. I. ii.: 'Thy falchion smoking in his blood.'. Execution, five syllables. 19. Minion, darling. From the Fr. mignon. It is most frequently used by Shakespeare as a term of contempt pert and saucy person.

=

22. Till. In this and the next line there is some corrup

tion.

He . . . him.

Macbeth unseamed Macdonwald.

- Unseam'd, ripped up the cartilage with which the ribs are bound together.

jaws.

- Nave, navel.

Chaps, chops ór

24. Cousin, not used in the ceremonious sense, but literally. Duncan and Macbeth were first cousins, both being grandsons of Malcolm.

25. Whence, from the quarter where—that is, from the

east.

27. Spring, source or fountain.

28. Swells. Another reading is wells.

30. Skipping, in allusion to the rapid movements of the kerns.

31. Norweyan, the properly formed adjective from Norway. Shakespeare has Norweyan twice, but never Norwegian. Surveying, perceiving with a lofty glance, like a bird of prey. The only passage where Shakespeare uses the word in this sense. - Vantage, advantage, or a favorable collocation of circumstances.

32. Furbish'd, newly polished, newly repaired and prepared.

36. Sooth, truth. Chaucer has frequently in soth and sothly; and Shakespeare has such phrases as, Silly sooth (for simple truth); to say the sooth; sooth to say; in good sooth; very sooth, and others. Cog.: Soothsayer.

37. Cracks, charges. The word crack had a much weightier meaning in Shakespeare's time (cf. the diminution of meaning in smart, which often meant severe pain). Thus we have the thunder's crack; the crack of doom.

39. Reeking, smoking. See line 18 above. Reek is an O. E. word, which meant smoke or vapor. The H. Ger. form is rauch; the old Norsk form, reykja.

40. Memorize, make memorable or famous, give to fame. The word is only twice used by Shakespeare. Americans use it now for to commit to memory. Golgotha