(1) Aroint thee, witch, the rump fed ronyon cries, Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' th' Tiger; But in a sieve I'll thither sail, And like a rat without a tail, I'll do.....I'll do.....and I'll do. 2d. Witch. I'll give thee a wind. 1st. Witch. Thou art kind. 3d. Witch. And I another. 1st. Witch. I myself have all the other, And the (2) very points they blow, All the quarters that they know, 2d. Witch. Shew me, shew me. (1) Aroint thee, witch............ In one of the folio editions the reading is anoint thee, in a sense very consistent with the common accounts of witches, who are related to perform many supernatural acts by the means of unguents, and particularly to fly through the air to the place where they meet at their hellish festivals. In this sense anoint thee, witch, will This read mean, away, witch, to your infernal assembly. ing I was inclined to favour, because I had met with the word aroint in no other place; till looking into Hearne's collections, I found it in a very old drawing, that he has published, in which St. Patrick is represented visiting hell, and putting the devils into great confusion by his presence, of whom one that is driving the damned before him with a prong, has a label issuing out from his mouth with these words, out out arongt, of which the last is evidently the same with aroint, and used in the same sense as in this passage. (2) And the very points they blow. As the word very is here of no other use than to fill up the verse, it is likely that Shakspeare wrote various, which might be easily mistaken for very, being either negligently read, hastily pronounced, or imperfectly heard. (3) He shall live a man forbid. Mr. Theobald has very justly explained forbid by accursed, but without giving any reason of his interpretation. To bid is originally to pray, as in this Saxon fragment. her ir biz j boze, &c. He is wise that prays and improves. As to forbid therefore implies to prohibit, in opposition to the word bid in its present sense, it signifies by the same kind of opposition to curse, when it is derived from the same word in its primitive meaning. NOTE VI. SCENE V. THE incongruity of all the passages in which the Thane of Cawdor is mentioned is very remarkable; in the second scene the Thanes of Rosse and Angus bring the king an account of the battle, and inform him that Norway, Assisted by that most dis'oyal traytor The Thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict.. It appears that Cawdor was taken prisoner, for the king says, in the same scene, ..........Go, pronounce his death, And with his former title greet Macbeth. Yet though Cawdor was thus taken by Macbeth, in arms against his king, when Macbeth is saluted, in the fourth scene, Thane of Cawdor, by the Weird Sisters, he asks, How of Cawdor? the Thane of Cawdor lives, A prosp'rous gentleman......... And in the next line considers the promises, that he should be Cawdor and King, as equally unlikely to be accomplished. How can Macbeth be ignorant of the state of the Thane of Cawdor, whom he has just defeated and taken prisoner, or call him a prosperous gentleman, who has forfeited his title and life by open rebellion? Or why should he wonder that the title of the rebel whom he has overthrown should be conferred upon him? He cannot be supposed to dissemble his knowledge of the condition of Cawdor, because he inquires with all the ardour of curiosity, and the vehemence of sudden astonishment; and because nobody is present but Banquo, who had an equal part in the battle, and was equally acquainted with Cawdor's treason. However, in the next scene, his ignorance still continues; and, when Rosse and Angus present him from the king with his new title, he cries out The Thane of Cawdor lives, Why do you dress me in his borrowed robes? Rosse and Angus, who were the messengers that in the second scene informed the king of the assistance given by Cawdor to the invader, having lost, as well as Macbeth, all memory of what they had so lately seen and related, make this answer..... ..........Whether he was Combin❜d with Norway, or did line the rebels He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not. Neither Rosse knew what he had just reported, nor Macbeth what he had just done. This seems not to be one of the faults that are to be imputed to the transcribers, since, though the inconsistency of Rosse and Angus might be removed, by supposing that their names are erroneously inserted, and that only Rosse brought the account of the battle, and only Angus was sent to compliment Macbeth, yet the forgetfulness of Macbeth cannot be palliated, since what he says could not have been spoken by any other. NOTE VII. THE thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, The single state of man seems to be used by Shakspeare for an individual, in ooppositin to a commonwealth, or conjunct body of men. NOTE VIII. Macbeth..........COME what come may, Time and the hour runs thro' the roughest day. I suppose every reader is disgusted at the tautology in this passage, time and the hour, and will therefore willingly believe Shakspeare wrote it thus, .........Come what come may, Time! on!.....the hour runs through the roughest day. Macbeth is deliberating upon the events which are to befal him; but finding no satisfaction from his own thoughts, he grows impatient of reflection, and resolves to wait the close without harassing himself with conjectures, ........Come what come may. But to shorten the pain of suspense, he calls upon time in the usual style of ardent desire, to quicken his motion, |