As there is no relation between the way of life, and fallen into the fear, I am inclined to think, that the Wis only an M inverted, and that it was originally written, My May of life.

I am now passed from the Spring to the autumn of my days, but I am without thofe comforts that should fucceed the fprightliness of bloom, and fupport me in this melancholy Seafon.

NOTE XLIII

SCENE IV.

Malcolm. TIS his main hope:
For where there is advantage to be given,
Both more or lefs have given him the revolt;
And none ferve with him but constrained things,
Whofe hearts are absent too,

The impropriety of the expreffion advantage to be given, instead of advantage given, and the disagreeable repetition of the word given in the next line, incline me to read,

Where there is a vantage to be gone,
Both more and less have given him the revolt.

Advantage or vantage in the time of Shakespeare fig nified opportunity,

More and lefs is the fame with greater and lefs. So in the interpolated Mandeville, a book of that age, there is a chapter of India the more and the lefs.

VOL. III.

K

NOTE

SCE N NE V.

Macbeth. WHerefore was that cry?

Seyton. The queen is dead.

Macbeth. She fhould (1) have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word, To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last fyllable of (2) recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dufty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking fhadow.

She fhould have died hereafter,

There would have been a time for fuch a word.

This paffage has very juftly been fufpected of being corrupt. It is not apparent for what word there would have been a time; and that there would or would not be a time for any word, feems not a confideration of importance fufficient to tranfport Macbeth into the following exclamation. I read therefore,

(1) She should have died hereafter,

There would have been a time for-fuch a world!To-morrow, &c.

It is a broken fpeech, in which only part of the thought is expreffed, and may be paraphrafed thus:

The

The queen is dead. Macbeth. Her death fhould have been deferred to fome more peaceful hour; had fhe lived longer, there would at length have been a time for the honours due to her as a queen, and that refpect which I owe her for her fidelity and love. Such is the world-fuch is the condition of human life, that we always think tomorrow will be happier than to-day; but to-morrow and to-morrow steals over us unenjoyed and unregarded, and we still linger in the fame expectation to the moment appointed for our end. All these days, which have thus paffed away, have fent multitudes of fools to the grave, who were engroffed by the fame dream of future felicity, and, when life was departing from them, were like me reckoning on to-morrow.

(2) To the last fyllable of recorded time.

Recorded time feems to fignify the time fixed in the decrees of heaven for the period of life. The record of futurity is indeed no accurate expreffion, but as we only know tranfactions paft or prefent, the language of men affords no term for the volumes of preseience, in which future events may be fuppofed to be written,

NO TE ́ XLV.

Macbeth. IF thou speak'st false,

Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive
Till famine cling thee: if thy fpeech be footh,
I care not if thou doft for me as much-.

I pull in refolution, and begin

To doubt th' equivocation of the fiend,

Roffe is about to proceed, but finding himself over→ powered by his tendernefs, breaks off abruptly, for which he makes a fhort apology and retires,

Malcolm. LET

ET us feek out fome defolate fhade, and there

Weep our fad bofoms empty.

Macduff. Let us rather

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 present text; but those who are willing to confefs that fuch counsel would to them be unintelligible, muft endeavour to discover fome reading lefs obfcure, It is probable that Shakespeare wrote,

Like good men,

Beftride 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 ftand over it and defend it. This is a strong picture of obftinate resolution.

Birthdom for birthright is formed by the fame analogy with mafter dom 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.

ΝΟΤΕ 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 should 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