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:— 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 Malf), 1623 : "Thou dost blanch mischief, Steevens. "Dost make it white." 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, Hendersq. Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak;2 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 2 Steevens. and trees to speak;] Alluding perhaps to the vocal tree which (See the third Book of the Æneid) 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 under. stand 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 mo. dern 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 Guide to the Tongues, 1617, we meet with a maggatapie: and Middleton, in his More Dissemblers beside Women, says: calls her magct o' pie." Farmer. It appears to me that we ought to read; Augurs that understood relations, &c. "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.4-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?" 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. 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- Again, Macbeth, in his address to his wife, on the first appearance of Banquo's ghost, uses the same form of words: 66- behold! look! lo! how say you ?" The circumstance, however, on which this question is found. ed, took its rise from the old history. Macbeth sent to Macduff to assist in building the castle of Dunsinane. Macdufi' 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. I keep a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow, (Betimes I will) unto the weird sisters:7 More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know, Stept in so far, that, should I wade no more, Strange things I have in head, that will to hand; 6 There's not a one of them,] A one of them, however uncouth the phrase, signifies an individual. Chaucer frequently prefixes the article a to nouns of number. See Squiere's Tale, 10,697: "And up the risen, wel a ten or twelve." In Albumazer, 1614, the same expression occurs: 66 Not a one shakes his tail, but I sigh out a passion." Theobald would read thane; and might have found his proposed emendation in D'Avenant's alteration of Macbeth, 1674. This avowal of the tyrant is authorized by Holinshed. "He had in every nobleman's house one slie fellow or other in fee with him to reveale all," &c. Steevens. 7 (Betimes I will) unto the weird sisters:] The ancient copy reads And betimes I will to the weird sisters. They whose ears are familiarized to discord, may perhaps object to my omission of the first word, and my supplement to the fifth. Steevens.. Stept in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er:] This idea is borrowed by Dryden, in his Oedipus, Act IV: 66 I have already past "The middle of the stream; and to return, "Seems greater labour, than to venture o'er." Steevens. be scann'd.] To scan is to examine nicely. Thus, in so he goes to heaven, "And so am I reveng'd: That would be scann’d.” Steevens. 1 You lack the season of all natures, sleep.] I take the meaning to be, You want sleep, which seasons, or gives the relish to, all nature. " Inliget sonini vita condimenti." Johnson. This word is often used in this sense by our author. So, in All's Well that Ends Well: "'Tis the best brinc a maiden can VOL. VII. Macb. Come, we 'll to sleep: My strange and self abuse Is the initiate fear, that wants hard use: We are yet but young in deed.2 [Exeunt. SCENE V. The Heath, Thunder. Enter HECATE,3 meeting the Three Witches. 1 Witch. Why, how now, Hecate? you look angerly season her praise in.” Again, in Much Ado about Nothing, where, as in the present instance, the word is used as a substantive: "And salt too little, which may season give "To her foul tainted flesh." "You An anonymous correspondent thinks the meaning is, stand in need of the time or season of sleep, which all natures require." Malone. 2 We are yet but young in deed.] The editions before Theobald read We're but young indeed. Johnson. The meaning is not ill explained by a line in King Henry VL P. III: We are not, Macbeth would say, "Made impudent with use of evil deeds." 99 `or we are not yet (as Romeo expresses it) "old murderers." Theobald's amendment may be countenanced by a passage in Antony and Cleopatra: "Not in deed, madam, for I can de nothing." Again, in Chapman's translation of the eleventh book of the Iliad, fol. edit p. 146. "And would not be the first in name, unlesse the first in deed." Again, in Hamlet: "To show yourself in deed your father's son "More than in words." The initiate fear, is the fear that always attends the first initiation into guilt, before the mind becomes callous and insensible by frequent repetition of it, or (as the poet says) by bard use. Steevens. 3 Enter Hecate,] Shakspeare has been censured for introducing Hecate among the vulgar witches, and, consequently, for confounding ancient with modern superstitions. He has however, authority for giving a mistress to the witches, Delrio Disquis. Mag Lib. II, quæst 9, quotes a passage of Apuleius, Lib. de Asino aureo: "de quadam Caupona, regina Sagarum." |