Macb. Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution thanks: Thou hast harp'd my fear aright.-But one word more :— 1 Witch. He will not be commanded. Here's another, More potent than the first.

2 App.

Thunder. 2 Apparition, a bloody Child.

Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!

Macb. Had I three ears, I'd hear thee.

2 App. Be bloody, bold, and resolute: laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth.

[Descends.

Macb. Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee?

But yet I'll make assurance double sure,

And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live;

That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies,

And sleep in spite of thunder.-What is this,

Thunder. 3 Apparition, a Child crowned, with a tree in his

hand.

That rises like the issue of a king;

And wears upon his baby brow the round

And top of sovereignty?

All.

Listen, but speak not to't.

3 App. Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are: Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until

Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.

Macb.

That will never be:

Who can impress the forest? bid the tree

[Descends.

Unfix his earth-bound root? sweet bodements! good!
Rebellion's head, rise never, till the wood

5 Who can IMPRESS the forest?] i. e. Who can "impress" the forest into his service?

6 REBELLION'S HEAD, rise never,] In all the old copies it is Rebellious dead, and Theobald altered dead to " head," quite as incontrovertibly as the old corrector of our folio, 1632, amends Rebellious to "Rebellion's," personifying Rebellion, and adding much force to the passage. Mr. Singer admits it to be "quite evident" that " Rebellion's" is right; but he has been the first editor who has ever said so, and he found it in our corr. fo. 1632, although he maintains his usual silence as to the source of the emendation. How much trouble and annoyance he might have saved himself on many occasions, if he had but subjoined to what he was compelled to borrow, the words "corr. fo. 1632." He could not hope that any reader of his edition would impute the emendations to him yet he runs that risk, sometimes almost as if he wished it.

Of Birnam rise; and our high-plac'd Macbeth
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath
To time, and mortal custom.-Yet my heart
Throbs to know one thing: tell me, (if your art
Can tell so much) shall Banquo's issue ever

Reign in this kingdom?

All.

Seek to know no more.

Macb. I will be satisfied: deny me this,

And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know.—
Why sinks that cauldron ? and what noise is this?

[Hautboys.

1 Witch. Show! 2 Witch. Show! 3 Witch. Show! All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart;

Come like shadows, so depart.

A show of eight Kings, and BANQUO last, with a glass in his

hand'.

Macb. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down! Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls :-and thy hair, Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first:

A third is like the former :-Filthy hags!

Why do you show me this?-A fourth ?-Start, eyes!
What! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?
Another yet?-A seventh ?—I'll see no more:—
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass,
Which shows me many more; and some I see,
That two-fold balls and treble sceptres carry.
Horrible sight!-Now, I see, 'tis true;

For the blood-bolter'd Banquo' smiles upon me,

7

and Banquo last, with a glass in his hand.] We make no change here either in the old stage-direction, or in the text, although it is proper to note that both stand thus in the corr. fo. 1632:

"A show of eight Kings, and Banquo first and last, with a glass in his hand. Macb. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down!

Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls; and thy hair.

Thou other gold-bound brow art like the first :

A third is like the former."

Thus the crown, on the blood-clotted hair of Banquo, is made to sear the eye-balls of Macbeth. At all hazards, it seems certain that “ hair" ought not to be printed air, as Warburton gave the text, and all the old editions spell it haire. We leave the whole as in our first impression, which precisely accords with the folios, although it still is not clear in what way this "show" was managed, nor whether, in fact, Banquo led, as well as closed the procession of the "eight Kings."

8 the BLOOD-BOLTER'D Banquo] The epithet "blood-bolter'd" (says

And points at them for his.-What! is this so?
1 Witch. Ay, sir, all this is so: but why
Stands Macbeth thus amazedly ?-
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites,
And show the best of our delights.
I'll charm the air to give a sound,
While you perform your antic round;
That this great king may kindly say,
Our duties did his welcome pay.

[Music. The Witches dance, and vanish.

Macb. Where are they? Gone?-Let this pernicious hour Stand aye accursed in the calendar!

Come in! without there!

Macb. Infected be the air whereon they ride,

And damn'd all those that trust them!-I did hear

The galloping of horse: who was't came by?

Len. "Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word, Macduff is fled to England.

Macb.

Len. Ay, my good lord.

Fled to England?

Macb. Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits :

The flighty purpose never is o'ertook,

Unless the deed go with it. From this moment,

The very firstlings of my heart shall be

The firstlings of my hand. And even now,

To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:
The castle of Macduff I will surprise;

Malone) is a provincial term, well known in Warwickshire. When a horse, sheep, or other animal, perspires much, and any of the hair or wool, in consequence of such perspiration, or any redundant humour, becomes matted in tufts with grime and sweat, he is said to be boltered; and whenever the blood issues out, and coagulates, forming the locks into hard clotted bunches, the beast is said to be "blood-bolter'd." To this note we may add, that in "Arden of Faversham," 1592, the word bolstered is used much in the same sense: Michael says,

Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool;
This deed I'll do, before this purpose cool:

But no more flights'.-Where are these gentlemen ?
Come; bring me where they are.

SCENE II.

Fife. A Room in MACDUFF's Castle.

Enter Lady MACDUFF, her Son, and Rosse.

[Exeunt.

L. Macd. What had he done to make him fly the land?
Rosse. You must have patience, madam.

Whether it was his wisdom, or his fear.

L. Macd. Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave his babes, His mansion, and his titles, in a place

From whence himself does fly? He loves us not:

He wants the natural touch; for the poor wren,

The most diminutive of birds, will fight,

Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
All is the fear, and nothing is the love:
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason.

My dearest coz',

Rosse.
I pray you, school yourself: but, for your husband,

He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows

The fits o' the season. I dare not speak much farther:

9 But no more FLIGHTS.] It is "But no more sights" in the old editions, but altered to " flights" in the corr. fo. 1632. Here we fortunately possess the confirmation of Mr. Singer's amended second folio, so that he cannot dispute the change. This fact seems not to have been promulgated until after the appearance of our Vol. of "Notes and Emendations," and it has come out for us most opportunely. The allusion, of course, is to the flight of Macduff to England, of which Macbeth has just received intelligence: then it is that he determines to take measures that nobody else shall escape his power. It merits notice that the very same blunder is committed, and set right in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Love's Cure," A. i. sc. 1 (Dyce's edit. ix. 115). The emendation in that case was made by Sympson.

But cruel are the times, when we are traitors,

And do not know't ourselves'; when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear,
But float upon a wild and violent sea,

Each way and move.-I take my leave of you:
"T shall not be long but I'll be here again.
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward
To what they were before.-My pretty cousin,
Blessing upon you!

L. Macd. Father'd he is, and yet he's fatherless.
Rosse. I am so much a fool, should I stay longer,
It would be my disgrace, and your discomfort.
I take my leave at once.

L. Macd.

[Exit ROSSE.

Sirrah, your father's dead:
How will you live?

And what will you do now?

Son. As birds do, mother.
L. Macd.

What, with worms and flies?

Son. With what I get, I mean; and so do they.

L. Macd. Poor bird! thou'dst never fear the net, nor lime,

The pit-fall, nor the gin.

Son. Why should I, mother? Poor birds they are not set

for.

My father is not dead, for all your saying.

L. Macd. Yes, he is dead: how wilt thou do for a father?

Son. Nay, how will you do for a husband?

L. Macd. Why, I can buy me twenty at any market.
Son. Then you'll buy 'em to sell again.

L. Macd. Thou speak'st with all thy wit;
And yet, i' faith, with wit enough for thee.
Son. Was my father a traitor, mother?
L. Macd. Ay, that he was.

Son. What is a traitor?

L. Macd. Why, one that swears and lies.
Son. And be all traitors that do so?

1 And do not KNOW'T ourselves;] The folios all read, " And do not know ourselves;" but it is very evident from the context that the abbreviation for it had here escaped: "know't" is from the corr. fo. 1632.

2 'T SHALL not be long but I'll be here again.] Here Mr. Singer does not claim that his own amended second folio assists him; but he takes ""T shall" from our corr. fo. 1632, merely observing that "the ellipsis 't for it had evidently been omitted," in the same way as above. Nobody ever discovered the omission until it was pointed out in our "Notes and Emendations," though Mr. Singer does not say (the emendation is a comparative trifle) that he found it there. The text has always hitherto been " Shall not be long," &c.