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And in his commendations I am fed;
It is a banquet to me. Let us after him,
Whofe care is gone before to bid us welcome:
It is a peerlefs kinsman. [Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Inverness. A Room in Macbeth's Cafile.

Enter Lady MACBETH, reading a letter.

8.

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LADY M.-They met me in the day of fuccefs; and I have learned by the perfecteft report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burn'd in defire to question them further, they made themfelvesair, into which they vanish'd. Whiles I flood rapt in the wonder of it, came miffives from the king, who allhail'd me, Thane of Cawdor; by which title, before, thefe weird fifters faluted me, and referr'd me to the coming on of time, with, Hail, king that fhalt be! This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness; that thou might'ft not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promifed thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.

full as valiant as you have defcribed him. We muft imagine, that while Macbeth was uttering the fix preceding lines, Duncan and Banquo had been conferring apart. Macbeth's conduct appears to have been their fubje&t; and to fome encomium fuppofed to have been beftowed on him by Banquo, the reply of Duncan refers.

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Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and fhalt be
What thou art promis'd:-Yet do I fear thy na-

ture;

It is too full o'the milk of human kindness,
To catch the nearest way: Thou would't be great;
Art not without ambition; but without

The illness fhould attend it. What thou would'f

highly,

That would't thou holily; would'ft not play false, And yet would't wrongly win: thou'd'ft have, great Glamis,2

That which cries, Thus thou must do, if thou have it;
And that which rather thou doft fear to do,3

Than wifheft should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my fpirits in thine ear;
And cháftife with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,

thou'd't have, great Glamis,

That which cries, Thus thou must do, if thou have it ;

And that, &c.] As the object of Macbeth's defire is here introduced speaking of itself, it is necessary to read,

thou d't have, great Glamis,

That which cries, Thus thou muft do, if thou have me.

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JOHNSON.

3 And that which rather thou doft fear to do,] The conftrudion, perhaps, is, thou would't have that, [i. e. the crown,] which cries unto thee, thou must do thus, if thou wouldst have it, and thou muft do that which rather, &c. Sir T. Haumer without neceffity reads And that's what rather— The difficulty of this line and the fucceeding hemiftich feems to have arisen from their not being confidered as part of the fpeech uttered by the object of Macbeth's ambition. As fuch they appear to me, and I have therefore diftinguifhed them by Italicks. MALONE.

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This regulation is certainly proper, and I have followed it.

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SLEEVENS

That I may pour my fpirits in thine ear; I meet with the fame

expreffion in lord Sterline's Julius Cæfar, 1607:

"Thou in my bofom us'd to pour thy Spright." MALONE.

Which fate and metaphyfical aid doth feem.
To have thee crown'd withal. 5

tidings?

5 the golden round,

Which fate and metaphyfical aid doth feem

What is your

To have thee crown'd withal. For feem, the fenfe evidently dires us to read feek. The crown to which fate deftines thee, and which preternatural agents endeavour to bestow upon thee. golden round is the diadem. JOHNSON.

So, in A& IV:

"And wears upon his baby brow the round

And top of fovereignty." STEEVENS.

The

Metaphyfical for fupernatural. But doth feem to have thee crown'd withal, is not fense. To make it so, it fhould be fupplied thus ; doth feem defirous to have. But no poetic licence would excufe this. An easy alteration will reftore the poet's true reading:

doth Jeem

To have crown'd thee withal.

i. e. they feem already to have crown'd thee, and yet thy dispofition at present hinders it from taking effec. WARBURTON.

The words, as they now ftand, have exactly the fame meaning. Such arrangement is fufficiently common among our ancient writers. STEEVENS.

I do not concur with Dr. Warburton, in thinking that Shakfpeare meant to fay, that fate and metaphyfical aid feem to have crowned Macbeth.Lady Macbeth means to animate her husband to the attainment of the golden round," with which fate and fupernatural agency feem to intend to have him crowned, on a future day. So, in All's well that ends Well:

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There is, in my opinion, a material difference between. -"To have thee crown'd," and "To have crown'd thee;" of which the learned commentator does not appear to have been aware."

Metaphyfical, which Dr. Warburton has juftly obferved, means Supernatural, feems in our author's time to have had no other meaning. In the English Dictionary by H. C. 1655, Metaphyficks are thus explained: Supernatural arts. MALONE.

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Enter an Attendant.

ATTEN. The king comes here to-night.

LADY M.

Thou'rt mad to say it:

Is not thy mafter with him? who, wer't so,

Would have inform'd for preparation.

ATTEN. So please you, it is true; our thane is coming:

One of my fellows had the fpeed of him;

Who, almoft dead for breath, had fcarcely more Than would make up his meffage.

LADY M.

Give him tending,

6

He brings great news. The raven himfelf is hoarfe,"

[Exit Attendant.

6 The raven himself is hoarfe,] Dr. Warburton reads:

The raven himfelf's not hoarfe,

Yet I think the prefent words may ftand. The meffenger, fays the fervant, had hardly breath to make up his message; to which the lady anfwers mentally, that he may well want breath, fuch a meffage would add hoarfenefs to the raven. That even the bird, whofe harsh voice is accuftomed to predict calamities, could not croak the entrance of Duncan but in a note of unwonted harshness, JOHNSON.

The following is, in my opinion, the fenfe of this paffage. Give him tending; the news he brings are worth the speed that made him lose his breath. [ Exit Attendant.] Tis certain now -the raven himself is fpent, is hoarfe by croaking this very meffage, the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements.

Lady Macbeth (for fhe was not yet unfexed) was likelier to be deterred from her defign than encouraged in it by the fuppofed thought that the meffage and the prophecy, (though equally fecrets to the meffenger and the raven,) had deprived the one of speech, and added harfhnefs to the other's note. Unless we abfurdly fuppofe the meffenger acquainted with the hidden import of his meffage, Speed alone had intercepted his breath, as repetition the raven's voice; though the lady confidered both as organs of that destiny which hurried Duucan into her meshes. FUSELI.

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, come, you spirits'
That tend on mortal thoughts, unfex me here;
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direft cruelty! make thick my blood,
Stop up the accels and paffage to remorfe; ?
That no compunctious vifitings of nature

Mr. Fufeli's idea, that the raven has croaked till he is hoarfe with croaking, may receive fupport from the following paffage in Romeo and Juliet :

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make her airy tongue more hoarfe than mine "With repetition of my Romeo's name.

Again, from one of the parts of King Henry VI :

7

"Warwick is hoarfe with daring thee to arms." STEEVENS. Come, come, you Spirits For the fake of the metre I have ventured to repeat the word-come, which occurs only once in the old copy.

All had been added by Sir William Davenant, to fupply the fame deficiency. STEEVENS.

mortal thoughts,] This expreffion fignifies not the thoughts of mortals, but murderous, deadly, or destructive defigns. So, in A& V:

Hold faft the mortal fword."

And in another place:

With twenty mortal murders." JOHNSON.

In Pierce Penniless his Supplication to the Devil, by T. Nahe, 1592, (a very popular pamphlet of that time,) our author might have found a particular defcription of these fpirits, and of their office.

The fecond kind of devils, which he most employeth, are thofe northern Martii, called the Spirits of revenge, and the authors of maflacres, and feedfmen of mifchief; for they have commiffion to incenfe men to rapines, facrilege, theft, murder, wrath, fary, and all manner of cruelties: and they command certain of the fouthern Spirits to wait upon them, as also great Arioch, that is termed the spirit of revenge." MALONE.

9 remorfe;] Remorse, in ancient language, fignifies pity. So, in King Lear:

Thrill'd with remorse, oppos'd against the act.”

Again, in Othello:

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And to obey fhall be in me remorse." See notes on that passage, A& III. `sc. iii.

STEEVENS.

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