3 Mur. Who did strike out the light?

1 Mur.

Was 't not the way?"

3 Mur. There 's but one down; the son is fled.

2 Mur. We have lost best half of our affair.

1 Mur. Well, let 's away, and say how much is done.

[Exeunt,

SCENE IV.

A Room of state in the Palace.

A banquet prepared. Enter MACBETH, Lady MACBeth, Rosse, LENOX, Lords and Attendants.

Macb. You know your own degrees, sit down: at

first,

And last, the hearty welcome.

Lords.

Thanks to your majesty.

Macb. Ourself will mingle with society,

And play the humble host.

Our hostess keeps her state; but, in best time,

i Was 't not the way?] i. e. the best means we could take to evade discovery. Steevens.

Rather, to effect our purpose.

Ritson.

You know your own degrees, sit down at firs,t

And last, the hearty welcome.] I believe the true reading is :
You know your own degrees, sit down.-To first

And last the hearty welcome.

All, of whatever degree, from the highest to the lowest, may be assured that their visit is well received. Johnson.

9 Our hostess keeps her state; &c.] i e. continues in her chair of state at the head of the table. This idea might have been borrowed from Holinshed, p. 805: "The king (Henry VIII) caused the queene to keepe the estate, and then sat the ambassadours and ladies as they were marshalled by the king, who would not sit, but walked from place to place, making cheer," &c.

To keep state is a phrase perpetually occurring in our ancient dramas, &c. So Ben Jonson, in his Cynthia's Revels:

"Seated in thy silver chair

"State in wonted manner keep."

Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Wild Goose Chase:

"What a state she keeps! how far off they sit from her!" Many more instances, to the same purpose, might be given.

Steevens.

We will require her welcome.

Lady M. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends; my heart speaks, they are welcome.

For

Enter first Murderer, to the door.

Macb. See, they encounter thee with their hearts' thanks:

Both sides are even: Here I'll sit i' the midst:
Be large in mirth; anon, we 'll drink a measure
The table round.-There 's blood upon thy face.
Mur. 'Tis Banquo's then.

Macb. 'Tis better thee without, than he within.1 Is he despatch'd?

Mur. My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him. Macb. Thou art the best 'o cut-throats: Yet he 's

good,

That did the like for Fleance: if thou didst it,

Thou art the nonpareil.

Mur.

Fleance is 'scap'd.

Most royal sir,

Macb. Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect;

Whole as the marble, founded as the rock;

As broad, and general, as the casing air:
But now, I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears.
But Banquo 's safe?
Mur. Ay, my good lord: safe in a ditch he bides,

A state appears to have been a royal chair with a canopy over it. So, in King Henry IV, P. I:

"This chair shall be my state."

Again, in Sir T. Herbert's Memoirs of Charles I: "

where

being set, the king under a state" &c. Again, in The View of France, 1598: " espying the chayre not to stand well under the state, he mended it handsomely himself." Malone.

1 'Tis better thee without, than be within.] The sense requires that this passage should be read thus:

'Tis better thee without, than him within.

That is, I am better pleased that the blood of Banquo should be on thy face than in his body.

The author might mean, It is better that Banquo's blood were on thy face, than be in this room. Expressions thus imperfect are common in his works. Johnson.

I have no doubt that this last was the author's true meaning. Malone

With twenty trenched gashes2 on his head;
The least a death to nature.

Macb.

Thanks for that:

There the grown serpent lies; the worm,3 that 's fled, Hath nature that in time will venom breed,

No teeth for the present.-Get thee gone; to-morrow We'll hear, ourselves again. [Exit Mur.

Lady M.

My royal lord, You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold,*

That is not often vouch'd, while 'tis a making,

'Tis given with welcome: To feed, were best at home; From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony; Meeting were bare without it.

Sweet remembrancer!

Macb.
Now, good digestion wait on appetite,"
And health on both!

Len.

May it please your highness sit? [The Ghost of BAN. rises, and sits in MACB.'s place. Macb. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd,

2

trenched gashes -] Trencher, to cut. Fr. So, in Arden of Feversham, 1592:

"Is deeply trenched on my blushing brow." Again, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

3

like a figure

"Trenched in ice."

Steevens.

the worm,] This term, in our author's time, was ap. plied to all of the serpent kind. Malone.

4 the feast is sold, &c.] Mr. Pope reads:- the feast is coid,—and not without plausibility. Such another phrase occurs in The Elder Brother of Beaumont and Fletcher:

"You must be welcome too :-the feast is flat else." But the same expression as Shakspeare's is found in The Romaunt of the Rose:

"Good dede done through praiere,

"Is sold and bought too dere." Steevens.

The meaning is,-That which is not given cheerfully, cannot be called a gift, it is something that must be paid for. Johnson. It is still common to say, that we pay dear for an entertainment, if the circumstances attending the participation of it prove irksome to us. Henley.

5 Now, good digestion wait on appetite,] So, in King Henry VIII:

"A good digestion to you all." Steevens.

6 The Ghost of Banquo rises,] This circumstance of Banquo' ghost seems to be alluded to in The Puritan, first printed in

Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present;
Whom I may rather challenge for unkindness,
Than pity for mischance!"

Rosse.

His absence, sir,

Lays blame upon his promise. Please it your high.

ness

To grace us with your royal company?

Macb. The table 's full.

Len.

Macb. Where?

Here is a place reserv'd, sir.

Len. Here, my lord. What is 't that moves your

highness?

Macb. Which of you have done this?

Lords, What, my good lord? Macb. Thou canst not say, I did it: never shake Thy gory locks at me.

Rosse. Gentlemen, rise; his highness is not well. Lady M. Sit, worthy friends:-my lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: 'pray you, keep seat; The fit is momentary; upon a thought

1607, and ridiculously ascribed to Shakspeare: "We'll ba' the ghost i' th' white sheet sit at upper end o' th' table." Farmer.

7 Than pity for mischance!] This is one of Shakspeare's touches of nature. Macbeth, by these words, discovers a consciousness of guilt; and this circumstance could not fail to be recollected by a nice observer on the assassination of Banquo being publickly known. Not being rendered sufficiently callous by "hard use," Macbeth betrays himself (as Mr. Whateley has observed)" by an over-acted regard for Banquo, of whose absence from the feast he affects to complain, that he may not be suspected of knowing the cause, though at the same time he very unguardedly drops an allusion to that cause." Malone.

These words do not seem to convey any consciousness of guilt on the part of Macbeth, or allusion to Banquo's murder, as Mr. Whateley supposes. Macbeth only means to say—" I have more cause to accuse him of unkindness for his absence, than to pity him for any accident or mischance that may have occasioned it." Douce.

8 Here, my lord. &c.] The old copy-my good lord; an Interpolation that spoils the metre. The compositor's eye had caught-good from the next speech but one.

9

Steevens.

upon a thought - i. e. as speedily as thought can be exerted. So, in King Henry IV, P. I: “ — and, with a thought geven of the eleven I pay'd." Again, in Hamlet :

He will again be well: If much you note him,
You shall offend him, and extend his passion ;1
Feed, and regard him not.—Are you a man?
Macb. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appal the devil.

Lady M.
O proper stuff!2
This is the very painting of your fear:

This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said,
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws, and starts,
(Impostors to true fear) would well become3
A woman's story, at a winter's fire,

Authoriz'd by her grandam. Shame itself!
Why do you make such faces? When all's done,
You look but on a stool.

Macb. Pr'ythee, see there! behold! look! lo! how say you?

Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.If charnel-houses, and our graves, must send Those that we bury, back, our monuments

as swift

"As meditation, or the thoughts of love." Steevens.

— extena mis passion] Prolong his suffering; make his fit longer. Johnson.

2 O proper stuff!] This speech is rather too long for the circumstances in which it is spoken. It had better begun at

Shame itself! Johnson.

Surely it required more than a few words, to argue Macbeth out of the horror that possessed him. M. Mason.

3 O, these flaws, and starts,

(Impostors to true fear) would well become &c.] i.e. these flaws and starts, as they are indications of your needless fears, are the imitators or impostors only of those which arise from a fear well grounded. Warburton.

Flaws are sudden gusts. Johnson.

So, in Coriolanus:

"Like a great sea-mark, standing every flaw." Steevens. Again, in Venus and Adonis :

"Gusts and foul flaws to herdmen and to herds."

Malone.

Impostors to true fear, mean impostors when compared with true fear. Such is the force of the preposition to in this place. M. Mason.

So, in King Henry VIII: "Fetch me a dozen crab-tree staves, and strong ones; these are switches to them." Steevens. To may be used for of. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona we have an expression resembling this:

"Thou counterfeit to thy true friend." Malone.