sew the third weird, that sche micht be ane quene, calland hym oft tymis febyl cowart and nocht desyrus of honouris, sen he durst not assailze the thing with manheid and curage, quhilk is offerit to hym be beniuolence of fortoun. Howbeit sindry otheris hes assailzeit sic thinges afore with maist terribyl jeopardyis, quhen they had not sic sickernes to succeid in the end of thair laubouris as he had." p. 173.

But we can demonstrate, that Shakspere had not the story from Buchanan. According to him, the weird sisters salute Macbeth: "Una Angusiæ Thanum, altera Moraviæ, tertia Regem.”— Thane of Angus, and of Murray, &c. but according to Holinshed, immediately from Bellenden, as it stands in Shakspere:

The first of them spake and sayde, All hayle Makbeth, Thane of Glammis,-the second of them sayde, Hayle Makbeth, Thane of Cawder; but the third sayde, All hayle Makbeth, that hereafter shall be king of Scotland." p. 243.

1 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 so fatally depended: "He had learned of certaine wysards, how that he ought to take heede of Macduffe :- -and surely hereupon had Macduffe to death, but a certaine witch, whom

he put

he

he had in great trust, had tolde, that he should neuer be slain with man borne of any woman, nor vanquished till the wood of Bernane came to the castell of Dunsinane." p. 244. And the scene between Malcoin and Macduff, in the fourth act, is almost literally taken from the Chronicle. FARMER.

138. -thane of Glamis !] The thaneship of Glamis was the ancient inheritance of Macbeth's family. The castle where they lived is still standing, and was lately the magnificent residence of the earl of Strathmore. See a particular description of it in Mr. Gray's letter to Dr. Wharton, dated from Glames Castle. STEEVENS.

139.

-thane of Cawdor!] Dr. Johnson observes, in his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, that part of Calder castle, from which Macbeth drew his second title, is still remaining. STEEVENS. -] So, in Reginald

143. Are ye fantastical,Scott's Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584: "He affirmeth these transubstantiations to be but fantastical, not according to the veritie, but according to the appear

ance."

Shakspere took the word from Holinshed, who in his account of the witches, says, "This was reputed at first but some vain fantastical illusion by Macbeth and Banquo."

STEEVENS.

146. Of noble having,] Having is estate, possession, fortune. See note on The Merry Wives of Windsor, act iii. line 189. STEEVENS.

161. By Sinel's death,- -] The father of Mac

beth.

Ciij

POPE.

174.

174. eaten of the insane root,] Shakspere alludes to the qualities anciently ascribed to hemlock. So, in Greene's Never too late, 1616: "You gaz'd against the sun, and so blemished your sight; or else you have eaten of the roots of hemlock, that makes men's eyes conceit unseen objects.” Again, in Ben Jonson's Sejanus:

"they lay that hold upon thy senses,

"As thou hadst snuft up hemlock." STEEVENS. 183. His wonder and his praises do contend,

Which should be thine, or his :-- -] i. e. private admiration of your deeds, and a desire to do them publick justice by commendation, contend in his mind for pre-eminence.-Or-There is a contest in his mind, whether he should indulge his desire of publishing to the world the commendations due to your heroism, or whether he should remain in silent admiration of what no words could celebrate in proportion to its desert. STEEVENS.

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

188.

MALONE.

-] That is, posts

JOHNSON.

-As thick as tale Came post with post ;—arrived as fast as they could be counted.

So, in King Henry IV. Part III. act ii. sc. 1.

"Tidings, as swiftly as the post could run,
"Were brought," &c.

STEEVENS.

Milton has used tale in a similar sense, in L'Al

legro:

«And

"And every shepherd tells his tale,

"Under the hawthorne in the dale" HENLEY.

206.

-with Norway—

-with those of Norway.

-] The folio reads:

STEEVENS.

216. trusted home,] i. e. carried as far as it will go, suffered to prevail in its utmost extent; of argument confidentially received or admitted home into your bosom. STEEVENS.

217. Might yet enkindle you, &c.] Might fire you with the hope of obtaining the crown.

224.

HENLEY.

swelling act] Swelling is used in the

same sense in the prologue to Henry V.

66 princes to act,

"And monarchs to behold the swelling scene."

Are less than horrible imaginings:] Present fears are fears of things present, which Macbeth declares, and every man has found, to be less than the imagination presents them, while the objects are yet distant. JOHNSON. So, in the Tragedie of Crasus, 1604, by lord Sterline : "For as the shadow seems more monstrous still, "Than doth the substance whence it hath the

being,

"So th' apprehension of approaching ill

"Seems greater than itself, whilst fears are lying."

STEEVENS.

236. -single state of man,- -] The single state of man seems to be used by Shakspere for an individual, in opposition to a commonwealth, or conjunct body. JOHNSON

It is observed in the Critique upon the last edition of Shakspere (see Monthly Review, August 1786), that the expression SINGLE sol'd jest-which is there said to be "solely singular for the singleness; i. e. for its tenuity"—explains "SINGLE state of man" to signify feeble state of manhood.

236.

-function

Is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is,

But what is not.]

All powers of action are oppressed and crushed by one overwhelming image in the mind, and nothing is present to me but that which is really future. Of things now about me I have no perception, being intent wholly on that which has yet no existence.

JOHNSON.

247. Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.] By this, I confess, I do not with his two last commentators imagine is meant either the tautology of time and the hour, or an allusion to time painted with an hour-glass, or an exhortation to time to hasten forward, but rather to say tempus & hora, time and occasion will carry the thing through, and bring it to some determined point and end, let its nature be what it will.