"three days, they fend one of their women that is skilled "in that way to the place, where fhe fays, I call thee "from the east, weft, north, and fouth, from the groves, "the woods, the rivers, and the fens, from the fairies, red, black, white." There was likewife a book written before the time of Shakespeare, defcribing, amongst other properties, the colours of fpirits.

Many other circumftances might be particularifed, in which Shakespeare has fhewn his judgment and his knowledge.

Thy crown does (1) fear my eye-balls, and thy (2) hair,
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first,
A third is like the former.-

(1) The expreffion of Macbeth, that the crown fears bis eye-balls, is taken from the method formerly practised of destroying the fight of captives or competitors, by holding a burning bafon before the eye, which dried up its humidity.

(2) As Macbeth expected to see a train of kings, and was only enquiring from what race they would proceed, he could not be furprised that the hair of the fecond was bound with gold like that of the first, he was offended only that the fecond refembled the firft, as the first resembled Banquo, and therefore said,

And

And thy air,

Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.

I WILL-give to the edge o'th' sword

His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate fouls
That trace him in his line-no boasting like a fool,
This deed I'll do before my purpose cool.

Both the fenfe and measure of the third line, which, as it rhymes, ought, according to the practice of this author, to be regular, are at prefent injured by two fuperfluous fyllables, which may easily be removed by reading

fouls,

That trace his line-no boasting like a fool.

NOTE XXXVIII.

SCENE III.

Roffe. DEAREST coufin,

I pray you school yourself; but for your husband,
He's' noble, wife, judicious, and best knows
The fits o'th' time, I dare not speak much farther,
But cruel are the times when we are traitors,

And do not know't ourselves: when we (1) bold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,
But float upon a wild and violent fea
Each way, and (2) move. I'll take

my

leave of you;

Shall

Shall not be long but I'll be here again:

Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upwards To what they were before: my pretty coufin,

Bleffing upon you.

(1)

When we hold rumour

From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,

The prefent reading feems to afford no fenfe; and therefore fome critical experiments may be properly tried upon it, though, the verfes being without any connection, there is room for fufpicion, that fome intermediate lines are loft, and that the paffage is therefore irretrievable. If it be fuppofed that the fault arises only from the corruption of fome words, and that the traces of the true reading are still to be found, the paffage may be changed thus:

When we bode ruin

From what we fear, yet know not what we fear.

Or in a sense very applicable to the occafion of the conference,

When the bold running

From what they fear, yet know not what they fear.

(2) But float upon a wild and violent fea
Each way, and move.

That he who floats upon a rough fea must move is evident, too evident for Shakespeare fo emphatically to affert. The line therefore is to be written thus:

Each

way, and move-I'll take my

leave of you.

Roffe

Roffe is about to proceed, but finding himself overpowered by his tenderness, breaks off abruptly, for which he makes a fhort apology and retires,

Hold fast the mortal fword; and like good men,
Beftride our downfal birth-doom: each new morn,
New widows howl, new orphans cry, new forrows
Strike heaven on the face, that it refounds
As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out
Like fyllables of dolour,

He who can discover what is meant by him that earneftly exhorts him to beftride his downfal birth-doom, is at liberty to adhere to the prefent text; but those who are willing to confefs that fuch counsel would to them be unintelligible, muft endeavour to discover fome reading less obfcure, It is probable that Shakespeare wrote,

Like good men,

Bestride our downfaln birthdom

The allufion is to a man from whom fomething va luable is about to be taken by violence, and who, that he may defend it without encumbrance, lays it on the ground, and stands over it with his weapon in his hand.

Our birthdom, or birthright, fays he, lies on the ground, let us, like men who are to fight for what is deareft to them, not abandon it, but stand over it and defend it. This is a strong picture of obftinate refolution.

Birthdom for birthright is formed by the fame analogy with masterdom in this play, fignifying the privileges or rights of a master.

Perhaps it might be birth-dame for mother; let us ftand over our mother that lies bleeding on the ground.

NOTE XL.

Malcolm. Now we'll together, and the chance of goodness

Be like our warranted quarrel.

The chance of goodness, as it is commonly read, conveys no fenfe. If there be not fome more important error in the paffage, it fhould at least be pointed thus:

And the chance, of goodness,

Be like our warranted quarrel.

That is, May the event be, of the goodness of heaven [pro juftitia divina] anfwerable to the cause. But I am inclined to believe that Shakespeare wrote,

And the chance, O goodness,

Be like our warranted quarrel.

This fome of his tranfcribers wrote with a small, which another imagined to mean of. If we adopt this reading, the fense will be, and O thou fovereign goodness,

to