To give thee, from our royal master, thanks; 2 thee. ROSSE. And, for an earneft of a greater honour, He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor: In which addition, hail, moft worthy thane! For it is thine. BAN. What, can the devil speak true? MACB. The thane of Cawdor lives; Why do you drefs me In borrow'd robes ? ANG. Who was thethane, lives yet But under heavy judgement bears that life MACB. Glamis, and thane of Cawdor: To herald thee &c.] The old copy redundantly reads. to herald thee &c. STEEVENS. - Only The players not understanding that by Norway" our author meant the king of Norway, as in Hamlet "Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy," &c. foifted in the words at prefent omitted. STEEVENS. There is, I thiuk, no need of change. The word combin'd belongs to the preceding line : Which be deferves to lofe. Whe'r he was combin'd "With thofe of Norway, or did line the rebel," &c. Whether was in our author's time fometimes pronounced and written as one syllable,——whe'r. So, in King John: Now thame upon you, whe'r the does or no." MALONE. The greatest is behind. Thanks for your pains.. BAN. 5 That, trufted home, But 'tis ftrange: Befides the thane of Cawdor. 4 trufted home,] i. e. entirely, thoroughly relied on. in All's well that ends well: So, The added word home fhows clearly, in my apprehenfion, that our author wrote-That thrufted home. So, in a fubfequent scene: That every minute of his being thrufts Against my nearest of life." Thrufted is the regular participle from the verb to thrust, and though now not often used, was, I believe, common in the time of Shakspeare. So, in King Henry V : With cafted flough and fresh legerity." Home means to the uttermoft. So, in The Winter's Tale: · all my forrows "You have paid home." It may be observed, that " thrufted home" is an expreffion used at this day; but trufted home," I believe, was never ufed at any period whatsoever. I have had frequent occafion to remark that many of the errors in the old copies of our author's plays arofe from the tranfcriber's ear having deceived him. In Ireland where much of the pronunciation of the age of Queen Elizabeth is yet retained, the vulgar conftantly pronounce the word thrust as if it were written truft; and hence probably the error in the text. The change is fo very flight, and I am io tho oughly perfuaded that the reading propofed is the true one, that had it been fuggefted by any former editor, I fhould without hesitation bave given it a place in the text. MALONE. 5 Might yet enkindle you] Enkindle, for to ftimulate you to feek. WARBURTON. A fimilar expreffion occurs in As you like it, A&I. sc. i: -nothing remains but that I kindle the boy thither." Might fire you with the hope of obtaining the crown. STEEVENS. HENLEY. And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, MACB. Two truths are told,' 7 Two truths are told, &c.] How the former of these truths has been fulfilled, we are yet to learn, Macbeth could not become Thane of Glamis, till after his father's decease, of which there is no mention throughout the play. If the Hag only announced what Macbeth already understood to have happened, her words could fcarcely claim rank as a prediction. STEEVENS. From the Scottish tranflation of Boethius it fhould feem that Sinel, the father of Macbeth, died after Macbeth's having been met by the weird fifters. "Makbeth (fays the hiftorian) revolvyng all thingis, as they wer faid be the weird fifteris, began to covat ye croun. And zit he concludit to abide, quhil he faw ye tyme ganand thereto; fermelie belevyng yt ye thrid weird fuld cum as the first two did afore." This indeed is inconfiftent with our author's words, By Sinel's death, I know, I am thane of Glamis ;"but Holinfhed, who was his guide, in his abridgment of the hiftory of Boethius, has particularly mentioned that Sinel died before Macbeth met the weird fifters: we may therefore be fure that Shakspeare meant it to be underflood that Macbeth had already acceded to his paternal title. Bellenden only fays, "The firft of thaim faid to Macbeth, Hale thane of Glammis. The fecound faid," &c. But in Holinfhed the relation runs thus, conformably to the Latin original: "The firft of them spake and said, All haile Mackbeth, thane of Glammis (for he had latelie entered into that dignitie and office by the death of his father Sinell). The second of them faid," &c. .. Still however the objection made by Mr. Steevens remains in its full force; for fince he knew that by Sinel's death he was thane of Glamis," how can this falutation be confidered as prophetick? Or why should he afterwards fay, with admiration, GLAMIS, and thane of Cawdor;" &c? Perhaps we may fuppofe that the father of Macbeth died fo recently before his interview with the weirds, that the news of it had not yet got abroad; in which cafe,' though Macbeth himself knew it, he might confider their giving him the title of Thane of Glamis as a proof of fupernatural intelligence. I fufped our author was led to use the expreffions which have occafioned the prefent note, by the following words of Holinshed: 8 As happy prologues to the fwelling act Cannot be ill; cannot be good:-If ill, "The fame night after, at fupper, Banquo jefted with him, and faid, Now Mackbeth, thou hast obteined those things which the Two former fifters PROPHESIED: there remaineth onelie for thee to purchase that which the third faid fhould come to paffe. ". 8 fwelling ad-] Swelling is ufed in the fame fenfe in the prologue to King Henry V: "And monarchs to behold the Swelling scene.". STEEVENS. 9 This fupernatural foliciting-] Soliciting for information. WARBURTON. Soliciting is rather, in my opinion, incitement, than information. JOHNSON. -fuggeftion] i. e. temptation. So, in All's well that A filthy officer he is in those fuggeftions for the young STEEVENS. ends well: earl. 3 Whoje horrid image doth unfix my hair,] So Macbeth says, in the latter part of this play: 4 "Would, at a difinal treatise, rouse and ftir, "As life were in it." M. MASON. -feated] i. e. fixed, firmly placed. So, in Milton's Paradife Loft, B. VI. 643: 5 From their foundations loos'ning to and fro "They pluck'd the feated hills." STEEVENS. Prefent fears Are lefs than horrible imaginings:] Prefent fears are fears of My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, 5 things prefent, which Macbeth declares, and every man has found, to be less than the imagination presents them while the objects are yet diftant. JOHNSON. So, in The Tragedie of Crafus, 1604, by lord Sterline: Than doth the fubftance whence it hath the being, "Seems greater than itself, whilst fears are lying."/ By prefent fears is meant, the actual prefence of any objects of terror, So, in The Second Part of K. Henry IV. the King fays: All thefe bold fears "Thou fee'ft with peril I have answered.” To fear is frequently ufed by Shakspeare in the fenfe of fright, In this very play, Lady Macbeth fays, To alter favour ever is to fear. So, in Fletcher's Pilgrim, Curio fays to Alphonfo, "Mercy upon me, Sir, why are you feared thus?" Meaning, thus affrighted. M. MASON. 5 -fingle fate of man, 1 The fingle flate of man feems to be ufed by Shakspeare for an individual, in oppofition to a commonwealth, or conjun& body. JOHNSON. By fingle ftate of man, Shakspeare might poffibly mean fomewhat more than individuality. He who, in the peculiar fituation of Macbeth, is meditating a murder, dares not communicate his thoughts, and confequently derives neither fpirit, nor advantage, from the countenance, or fagacity, of others. This ftate of man may properly be ftyled fingle, folitary, or defenceless, as it excludes the benefits of participation, and has no refources but in itfelf. It should be observed, however, that double and single anciently fignified trong and weak, when applied to liquors, and perhaps to other objeås. In this fenfe the former word may be employed by Brabantio a voice potential, "As double as the duke's;" and the latter, by the Chief Juftice, speaking to Falstaff: "Is not your wit fingle? The fingle ftate of Macbeth may therefore fignify his weak and debile ftate of mind. STEEVENS. |