H́nh ảnh trang
PDF
ePub

2. WITCH. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! 9

confiliorum ei erat confcia) ftimulabatur."——This is the whole, that Buchanan fays of the Lady, and truly I fee no more Spirit in the Scotch, than in the English chronicler. The wordes of the three weird fifters alfo greatly encouraged him [to the murder of Duncan,] but specially his wife lay fore upon him to attempt the thing, as the that was very ambitious, brenning in unquenchable defire, to beare the name of a queene.", Edit. 1577, p. 244.

This part of Holinfhed is an abridgment of Johne Bellenden's tranflation of the noble clerk, Hector Boece, imprinted at Edinburgh; in fol. 1541. I will give the paffage as it is found there. "His wyfe impacient of lang tary (as all wemen ar) fpecially quhare they are defirus of ony purpos, gaif hym gret artation to purfew the third weird, that fche micht be ane quene, calland hym oft tymis febyl cowart and nocht defyrus of honouris, fen he durft not affailze the thing with manheid and curage, quhilk is offerit to hym be beniuolence of fortoun. Howbeit findry otheris hes affailzeit fic thinges afore with maift terribyl jeopardyis, quhen they had no. fic fickernefs to fucceid in the end of thair laubouris as he had." p. 173.

But we can demonftrate, that Shakspeare had not the story from Buchanan. According to him, the weird fifters falute Macbeth: "Una Angufiæ Thanum, altera Moraviæ, tertia Regem."—— Thane of Angus, and of Murray, &c. but according to Holinfhed, immediately from Bellenden, as it ftands in Shakspeare: "The first of them fpake and fayde, All hayle Makbeth Thane of Glammis, the fecond of them fayde, Hayle Makbeth Thane of Cawder; but the third fayde, All hayle Makbeth, that hereafter shall be king of Scotland." p. 243.

I. Witch. All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis ! 2. Witch. All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! 3. Witch. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter ! Here too our poet found the equivocal predictions, on which his hero fo fatally depended: " He had learned of certaine wyfards, how that he ought to take heede of Macduffe and furely here upon had he put Macduffe to death, but a certaine witch, whom he had in great truft, had tolde, that he fhould neuer be flain with man borne of any woman, nor vanquished till the wood of Bernane came to the caftell of Dunfinane." p. 244. And the fcene between Malcolm and Macduff in the fourth a&t is almost literally taken from the Chronicle. FARMER.

All hail, Macbeth!] All hail is a corruption of al-hael, Sax: ì, é. ave, fulve. MALONE.

V

3. WITCH. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king

hereafter.

BAN. Good fir, why do you ftart; and feem to

fear

Things that do found fo fair?-I'the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye fhow? My noble partner
You greet with prefent grace, and great prediction
Of noble having, 3 and of royal hope,

thane of Glamis !] The thanefhip of Glamis was the ancient inheritance of Macbeth's family. The caftle where they lived is fill ftanding, and was lately the magnificent refidence of the earl of Strathmore. See a particular description of it in Mr. Gray's letter to Dr. Wharton, dated from Glames Caftle. STEEVens.

9 thane of Cawdor!] Dr. Johnson obferves in his Journey to the Western lands of Scotland, that part of Calder Castle, from which Macbeth drew his fecond title, is ftill remaining.

STEEVENS.

Are ye fantastical,] By fantaflical is not meant, according to the common fignification, creatures of his own brain; for he could not be fo extravagant to ask fuch a queftiou: but it is used for fu= pernatural, fpiritual. WARBURTON.

By fantastical, he means creatures of fantasy or imagination: the queftion is, Are, these real beings before us, or are we deceived by illusions of fancy? JOHNSON.

So, in Reginald Scott's Difcovery of Witchcraft, 1584: "He affirmeth these transubstantiations to be but fantastical, not according to the veritie, but according to the appearance. The fame expreffion occurs in All's Loft by Luft, 1633, by Rowley:

or is that thing,

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

Shakspeare, however, took the word from Holinfhed, who in his account of the witches, fays; "This was reputed at firft but fome vain fantastical illufion by Macbeth and Banquo."

STEEVENS.

3 Of noble having,] Having is eftate, poffeffion, fortune. So,

in Twelfth Night:

[ocr errors]

my having is not much;

"I'll make divifion of my present ftore:
"Hold; there is half my coffer."

VOL. XI.

D

"

That he seems rapt withal; 5 to me you speak not: If you can look into the feeds of time,

And fay, which grain will grow, and which will not; Speak then to me, who neither beg, nor fear, Your favours, nor you hate.

1. WITCH. Hail!
2. WITCH. Hail!
3. WITCH. Hail!

1. WITCH. Leffer than Macbeth, and greater.
2. WITCH. Not fo happy, yet much happier.
3. WITCH. Thou fhalt get kings, though thou

be none:

So, all hail, Macbeth and Banquo !

1. WITCH. Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail! MACB. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me

more:

6

By Sinel's death, I know, I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A profperous gentleman; and to be king,

Again, in the ancient metrical romance of Syr Bevys of Hampton, bl. 1. no date :

"And when he heareth this tydinge,

"He will go theder with great having."

See also note on The Merry Wives of Windfor, A& III. fc. ii.

STEEVENS.

That he feems rapt withal ] Rapt is rapturously affe&ted, extra fe raptus. So, in Spenfer's Faerie Queen, IV. ix. 6:

"That, with the fweetnefs of her rare delight,
"The prince half rapt, began on her to dote."

Again, in Cymbeline:

"What, dear fir, thus raps you?" STEEVENS, 6 By Sinel's death,] The father of Macbeth. POPE.

His true name, which however appears, but perhaps only typographically, corrupted to Synele in Hector Boethius, from whom, by means of his old Scottish tranflator, it came to the knowledge of Holinfhed, was Finleg. Both Finlay and Macbeath are common furnames in Scotland at this moment. RITSON.

Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence
You owe this ftrange intelligence? or why

Upon this blafted heath you ftop our way

With fuch prophetick greeting? Speak, I charge [Witches vanish.

you.

BAN. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them: Whither are they vanifh'd? MACB. Into the air; and what feem'd corporal, melted

As breath into the wind.-'Would they had ftaid! BAN. Were fuch things here, as we do speak about?

Or have we eaten of the infane root,"
That takes the reafon prifoner?

7 eaten of the infane root,] The infane root is the root which

makes infane. THEOBALD.

Shakspeare alludes to the qualities anciently afcribed to hemlock. So, in Greene's Never too late, 1616: “ You gaz'd against the fun, and so blemished your fight; or elfe you have eaten of the roots of hemlock, that makes men's eyes conceit unfeen objects.' Again, in Ben Jonson's Sejanus:

66

they lay that hold upon thy fenfes,

"As thou hadft fnuft up hemlock." STEEVENS.

In

The commentators have given themselves much trouble to afcertain the name of this root, but its name was, I believe, unknown to Shakspeare, as it is to his readers; Sir Thomas North's transation of Plutarch, having probably furnished him with the only knowledge he had of its qualities, without fpecifying its name. the Life of Antony, (which our author must have diligently read,} the Roman foldiers, while employed in the Parthian war, are said to have suffered great diftrefs for want of provifions. "In the ende (fays Plutarch) they were compelled to live of herbs and rootes, but they found few of them that men do commonly eate of, and were enforced to tafte of them that were never eaten before; among the which there was one that killed them, and made them out of their wits; for he that had once caten of it, his memorye was gone from him, and he knew no ́manner of thing, but only bufied himself in

MACB. Your children fhall be kings.

BAN.

You fhall be king.

MACB. And thane of Cawdor too; went it not

fo ?

BAN. To the felf-fame tune, and words. Who's here?

Enter ROSSE, and ANGUS.

ROSSE. The king hath happily receiv'd Macbeth, The news of thy fuccefs: and when he reads Thy perfonal venture in the rebels' fight, His wonders and his praises do contend, Which should be thine, or his: Silenc'd with that, In viewing o'er the reft o' the self-same day, He finds thee in the ftout Norveyan ranks, Nothing afeard of what thyfelf didst make, Strange images of death.

As thick as tale,"

digging and hurling of ftones from one place to another, as though it had been a matter of great waight, and to be done with all poffible speede." MALONE.

8 His wonders and his praifes do contend,

Which should be thine, or his : &c.] i. e. private admiration of your deeds, and a defire to do them publick juftice by commendation, contend in his mind for pre-eminence.-Or,-There is a conteft in his mind whether he fhould indulge his defire of publifhing to the world the commendations due to your heroifm, or whether he thould remain in filent admiration of what no words could celebrate in proportion to its defert.

Mr. M. Mafon would read wonder, not wonders; for, fays he, "I believe the word wonder, in the fenfe of admiration, has no plural.' In modern language it certainly has none; yet I cannot help thinking that, in the present inftance, plural was opposed to plural by Shakspeare. STEEVENS.

Silenc'd with that,] i. e. wrapp'd in filent wonder at the deeds performed by Macbeth, &c. MALONE.

As thick as tale,] Meaning, that the news came as thick

« TrướcTiếp tục »