DUN. Welcome hither: I have begun to plant thee, and will labour BAN. The harvest is your own. There if I grow, A fimilar expreffion occurs alfo in the Letters of the Pafton Family, Vol. II. p. 245. “ ye fhalle fynde me to yow as kynde as maye be, my confcienfe and worfhyp favy'd." STEEVENS. ހ A paffage in Cupid's Revenge, a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher, adds fome fupport to Sir William Blackftone's emendation: I'll fpeak it freely, always my obedience So alfo the following words spoken by Henry Duke of Lancaster to King Richard II. at their interview in the Caftle of Flint (a paffage that Shakspeare had certainly read and perhaps remembered): My fovereign lorde and kyng, the cause of my coming, at this prefent, is, your honour faved ], to have againe reftitution of my perfon, my laudes, and heritage, through your favourable licence." Holinfhed's Chron. Vol. II. Our author himself alfo furnishes us with a paffage that likewise may ferve to confirm this emendation. See Vol. IX. p. 156: "Save him from danger; do HIM love and honour." Again, in Twelfth Night: "What fhall you afk of me that I'll deny, Again, in Cymbeline: ' I fomething fear my father's wrath, but nothing His rage can do on me." Our poet has ufed the verb to safe in Antony and Cleopatra : -beft you fafd the bringer "Out of the hoft. MALONE. full of growing. -] Is, I believe, exuberant, perfe&, complete in thy growth. So, in Othello: MALONE. DUN. My plenteous joys, Our eldeft, Malcolm; whom we name hereafter, But figns of noblenefs, like ftars, fhall fhine- MACB. The reft is labour, which is not us'd for I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful My worthy Cawdor! Wanton in fulness, feek to hide themselves In drops of forrow.] lachrymas non fponte cedentes Effudit, gemitufque expreffit pectore læto; Non aliter manifefta potens abfcondere mentis There was no English tranflation of Lucan before 1614.-We meet with the fame fentiment again in The Winter's Tale: "It feem'd forrow wept to take leave of them, for their joy waded in tears. It is likewife employed in the firft fcene of Much ado about Nothing. MALONE. 5 hence to Invernefs,] Dr. Johnfon obferves, in his Journey to the Western Ifles of Scotland, that the walls of the caftle of Macbeth at Inverness are yet ftanding. STEEVENS. The circumftance of Duncan's vifiting Macbeth is fupported by hiftory; for, from the Scottish Chronicles it appears, that it was customary for the king to make a progress through his dominions every year. "Inerat ei Duncano] laudabilis confuetudo regur pertranfire regiones femel in anno. Fordun. Scotichron. Lib. IV. c. xliv. VOL. XI. E 6 MACB. The prince of Cumberland! That is a stop, On which I muft fall down, or elfe o'er-leap, [Afide. Singulis annis ad inopum querelas audiendas perluftrabat provincias. Buchan. Lib. VII. MALONE. 6 The prince of Cumberland!] So, Holinfhed, Hift. of Scotland, p. 17: "Duncan having two fonnes, &c. he made the elder of them, called Malcolme, priuce of Cumberland, as it were thereby to appoint him fucceffor in his kingdome immediatlie after his deceafe. Mackbeth forely troubled herewith, for that he faw by this means his hope fore hindered, (where, by the old laws of the realme the ordinance was, that if he that fhould fucceed were not of able age to take the charge upon himself, he that was next of bloud unto him fhould be admitted,) he began to take counsel how he might ufurpe the kingdome by force, having a just quarrel so to doe (as he tooke the matter), for that Duncane did what in him lay to defraud him of all manner of tile and claime, which he might, in time to come, pretend unto the crowne." When a The crown of Scotland was originally not hereditary. fucceffor was declared in the life-time of a king (as was often the cale), the title of Prince of Cumberland was immediately beftowed on him as the mark of his defignation. Cumberland was at that time held by Scotland of the crown of England, as a fief. STEEVENS. The former part of Mr. Steevens's remark is fupported by Bellenden's Tranflation of Hector Boethius: In the mene tyme Kyng Duncane maid his fon Malcolme Prince of Cumbir, to fignify yt he fuld regne eftyr hym, quhilk wes gret difplefeir to Makbeth; for it maid plane derogatioun to the thrid weird promittit afore to hym be this weird fifleris. Nochtheles he thoct gif Duncane were flane, he had maift rycht to the croun, because he wes nereft of blud yairto, be tenour of ye auld lavis maid eftir the deith of king Fergus, quhen young children wer unabel to govern the croun, the nerreft of yair blude fal regne." So alfo Buchanan, Rerum Scoticarum Hift. lib. vii. fecit. "Duncanus e filia Sibardi reguli Northumbrorum, duos filios genuerat. Ex iis Milcolumbum, vixdum puberem, Cumbriæ præId factum ejus Macbethus moleftius, quam credi poterat, tulit, cam videlicet moram fibi ratus injectam, ut, priores jam magiftratus (juxta vifum nocturnum) adeptus, aut omnino a regno excluderetur, aut eo tardius poliietur, cum præfectura Cumbriæ velut aditus ad fupremum magiftratum SEMPER effet habitus.” It has been For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! [ Exit. DUN. True, worthy Banquo; he is full fo valiant;' afferted by an anonymous writer [Mr. Ritfon] that "the crown of Scotland was always hereditary, and that it fhould feem from the play that Malcolm was the first who had the title of Prince of Cumberland." An extract or two from Hedor Boethius will be fufficient relative to these points. In the tenth chapter of the eleventh book of his Hiftory we are informed, that fome of the friends of Kenneth III. the eightieth king of Scotland, came among the nobles, defiring them to choose Malcolm, the fon of Kenneth, to be Lord of Cumbir, "yt he mycht be yt way the better cum to ye crown after his faderis deid." Two of the nobles faid, it was in the power of Kenneth to make whom he pleafed Lord of Cumberland; and Malcolm was accordingly appointed. Sic thingis done, king Kenneth, be advife of his nobles, abrogat ye auld lawis concerning the creation of yair king, and made new lawis in manner as fol lowes: 1. The king beand deceffit, his eldeft fon or his eldeft nepot, (notwithstanding quhat fumevir age he be of, and youcht he was born efter his faderis death, fal fuccede ye croun," &c. withstanding this precaution, Malcolm, the eldest son of Kenneth, did not fucceed to the throne after the death of his father; for after Kenneth reigned Conftantine, the fon of king Culyne. To him fucceeded Gryme, who was not the fon of Conftantine, but the grandfon of king Duffe. Gryme, fays Boethius, came to Scone, Not quhare he was crownit by the tenour of the auld lawis." After the death of Gryme, Malcolm, the fon of king Kenneth, whom Boethius frequently calls Prince of Cumberland, became king of Scotland; and to him fucceeded Duncan, the fon of his eldest daughter. These breaches, however, in the fucceffion appear to have been occafioned by violence in turbulent times; and though the eldest fon could not fucceed to the throne, if he happened to be a minor at the death of his father, yet, as by the ancient laws the next of blood was to reign, the Scottish monarchy may be faid to have been hereditary, fubje&t however to peculiar regulations. MALONE. 7 True, worthy Banquo; he is full fo valiant; ] ie. he is to the And in his commendations I am fed ; It is a banquet to me. Whofe care, is gone before to bid us welcome: It is a peerlefs kinfman. Let us after him, [Flourish. Exeunt. SCENE V. Inverness. A Room in Macbeth's Cafle. Enter Lady MACBETH, reading a letter. 8 9 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 greatnefs; 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 described him. We muft imagine, that while Macbeth was uttering the fix preceding lines, Duncan and Banquo had been conferring apart. Macbeth's condu& appears to have been their fubje&t; and to fome encomium fupposed to have been bestowed on him by Banquo, the reply of Duncan refers. |