Hold fast the mortal sword; and, like good men, Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom:5 Each new morn, New widows howl; new orphans cry; new sorrows Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds

As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out

Like syllable of dolour."

Mal.
What I believe, I'll wail;
What know, believe; and, what I can redress,
As I shall find the time to friend, I will.

What you have spoke, it may be so, perchance.
This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,
Was once thought honest: you have lov'd him well;

• Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom:] The old copy has→→ downfall. Corrected by Dr. Johnson. Malone.

He who can discover what is meant by him that earnestly exhorts him to bestride his downfull birthdom, is at liberty to adhere to the present text; but it is probable that Shakspeare

wrote:

like good men,

Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom

The allusion is to a man from whom something valuable is about to be taken by violence, and who, that he may defend it without incumbrance, lays it on the ground, and stands over it with his weapon in his hand. Our birthdom, or birthright, says he, lies on the ground; let us, like men who are to fight for what is dearest to them, not abandon it, but stand over it and defend it. This is a strong picture of obstinate resolution. So, Falstaff says to Hal: "If thou see me down in the battle, and bestride me, so.”

Birthdom for birthright is formed by the same analogy with masterdom in this play, signifying the privileges or rights of a

master.

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

There is no need of change. In The Second Part of King Henry IV, Morton says:

he doth bestride a bleeding land." Steevens.

6 and yell'd out

Like syllable of dolour.] This presents a ridiculous image. But what is insinuated under it is noble; that the portents and prodigies in the skies, of which mention is made before, showed that heaven sympathised with Scotland. Warburton.

The ridicule, I believe, is only visible to the commentator.

7

to friend,] i. e. to befriend. Steevens..

Steevens

He hath not touch'd you yet I am young; but some

thing

You may deserve of him through me; and wisdom" To offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb,

To appease an angry god.

Macd. I am not treacherous.

Mal.

But Macbeth is.

A good and virtuous nature may recoil,

In an imperial charge.1 But 'crave your pardon;2 That which you are, my thoughts cannot transpose: Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell: Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace,

You may deserve of him through me;] The old copy reads-discerne. The emendation was made by Mr. Theobald, who supports it by Macduff''s answer:

9

"I am not treacherous." Malone.

and wisdom-] That is, and 'tis wisdom. Heath. The sense of this passage is obvious, but the construction difficult, as there is no verb to which wisdom can refer. Something is omitted, either through the negligence of the printer, or probably the inadvertence of the author. If we read

and think it wisdom

the sense will be supplied; but that would destroy the metre; and so indeed would the insertion of any word whatever.

M. Mason. I suspect this line to have suffered by interpolation, as well as omission, and that it originally ran thus:

but something

You may deserve through me; and wisdom is it
To offer &c.

So, in King Henry VI, P. II:

"Now is it manhood, wisdom and defence."

Had the passage in question been first printed thus, would any reader have supposed the words "of him," were wanting to the sense? In this play I have already noted several instances of manifest interpolation and omission. See notes on Act I, sc. iii, p. 25, n. 2, and Act III, sc. v, p. 133, n. 9. Steevens. 1 A good and virtuous nature may recoil,

In an imperial charge] A good mind may recede from goodness in the execution of a royal commission. Johnson.,

2

But 'crave your pardon:] The old copy, without attention to measure, reads:

But I shall crave your pardon. Steevens.

Though all things foul &c.] This is not very clear. The meaning, perhaps, is this:-My suspicions cannot injure you, if you be virtuous, by supposing that a traitor may put on your

Yet grace must still look so.

Macd.

I have lost my hopes.

Mal. Perchance, even there, where I did find my

doubts.

Why in that rawness1 left you wife, and child, (Those precious motives, those strong knots of love,) Without leave-taking?-I pray you,

Let not my jealousies be your dishonours,

But mine own safeties:-You may be rightly just,
Whatever I shall think.

Macd.

Bleed, bleed, poor country!

Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure,

For goodness dares not check thee 15 wear thou thy

wrongs,6

Thy title is affeer'd!"-Fare thee well, lord:

virtuous appearance. I do not say that your virtuous appearance proves you a traitor; for virtue must wear its proper form, though that form be counterfeited by villainy. Johnson.

An expression of a similar nature occurs in Measure for Measure:

"Is good; without a name vileness is so." M. Mason. 4 Why in that rawness Without previous provision, without due preparation, without maturity of counsel.

Johnson. I meet with this expression in Lyly's Euphues, 1580, and in the quarto, 1608, of King Henry V:

"Some their wives rawly left." Steevens.

For goodness dares not check thee!] The old copy reads→ dare. Corrected in the third folio. Malone.

6

wear thou thy wrongs,] That is, Poor country, wear thou thy wrongs. Johnson.

7 Thy title is affeer'd!] Affeer'd, a law term for confirm'd.

Popes

What Mr. Pope says of the law term is undoubtedly true; but is there absolute reason why we should have recourse to it for the explanation of this passage? Macduff first apostrophises his country, and afterwards, pointing to Malcolm, may say, that his title was afear'd, i. e. frighted from exerting itself. Throughout the ancient editions of Shakspeare, the word afraid is frequently written as it was formerly pronounced, afear'd. The old copy reads—The title &c. i. e. the regal title is afraid to assert itself.

I would not be the villian that thou think'st,
For the whole space that 's in the tyrant's grasp,
And the rich East to boot.

Mal.

Be not offended:
I speak not as in absolute fear of you.

I think, our country sinks beneath the yoke;
It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash
Is added to her wounds: I think, withal,
There would be hands uplifted in my right;
And here, from gracious England, have I offer
Of goodly thousands: But, for all this,
When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head,
Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country
Shall have more vices than it had before;
More suffer, and more sundry ways than ever,
By him that shall succeed.

Macd.

What should he be?

Mal. It is myself I mean: in whom I know

All the particulars of vice so grafted,

ripened That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth Will seem as pure as snow; and the poor state

I have, however, adopted Mr. Malone's emendation, as it varies, but in a single letter, from the reading of the old copy., See his subsequent note. Steevens.

If we read-The title is affeer'd, the meaning may be:Poor country, wear those thy wrongs, the title to them is legally settled by those who had the final judication of it.

Affeerers had the power of confirming, or moderating fines and amercements. Tollet.

To affeer (for so it should be written) is to assess, or reduce to certainty. All amerciaments-that is, judgments of any court of justice, upon a presentment or other proceeding, that a party shall be amerced, or in mercy,-are by Magna Charta to be affeered by lawful men, sworn to be impartial. This is the ordinary practice of a Court Leet, with which Shakspeare seems to have been, intimately acquainted, and where he might have occasionally acted as an affeerer. Ritson. The was,

For the emendation now made I am answerable. I conceive, the transcriber's mistake, from the similar sounds of the and thy, which are frequently pronounced alike.

Perhaps the meaning is,-Poor country, wear thou thy wrongs! Thy title to them is now full; established by law. Or, perhaps, he addresses Malcolm. Continue to endure tamely the wrongs you suffer: thy just title to the throne is cow'd, has not spirit to establish itself. Malone.

Esteem him as a lamb, being compar'd

With my confineless harms.8

Macd.

Not in the legions

Of horrid hell, can come a devil more damn'd

In evils, to top Macbeth.

Mal.

I grant him bloody, Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful,

Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin

That has a name: But there 's no bottom, none,
In my voluptuousness: your wives, your daughters,
Your matrons, and your maids, could not fill up
The cistern of my lust; and my desire

All continent impediments would o'er-bear,
That did oppose my will: Better Macbeth,
Than such a one to reign.

Macd.

Boundless intemperance!

In nature is a tyranny: it hath been

The untimely emptying of the happy throne,
And fall of many kings. But fear not yet
To take upon you what is yours: you may
"Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty, Enjoy
And yet seem cold, the time you may so hood-wink.
We have willing dames enough; there cannot be
That vulture in you, to devour so many

As will to greatness dedicate themselves,
Finding it so inclin❜d.

Mal.
With this, there grows,
In my most ill-compos'd affection, such
A stanchless avarice, that, were I king,
I should cut off the nobles for their lands;
Desire his jewels, and this other's house;
And my more-having would be as a sauce
To make me hunger more; that I should forge
Quarrels unjust against the good, and loyal,
Destroying them for wealth.

confineless barms.] So, in The Merry Wives of Windŵ sor, Act II, sc. ii: " thou unconfinable baseness." Steevens, 9 Sudden, malicious,] Sudden, for capricious. Warburton. Rather, violent, passionate, hasty. Johnson.

1 Boundless intemperance-] Perhaps the epithet-boundess, which overloads the metre, was a play-house interpolation.

Steevens