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King. Welcome hither:

I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing.

Noble Banquo,
Thou haft no lefs deferv'd, and must be known
No lefs to have done fo. Let me enfold thee,
And hold thee to my heart.
: Ban. There if I grow,
The harveft is your own.
King. My plenteous joys,

Wanton in fulness, feek to hide themselves
In drops of forrow. Sons, kinfmen, Thanes,
And you whofe places are the nearest, know,
We will establish our eftate upon

Our eldest Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
The Frince of Cumberland; which honour must,
Not accompanied, inveft him only,

But figns of Noblenefs, like ftars, fhall fhine
On all defervers.--Hence to Inverness,

And bind us further to you.

Mach. The Reft is Labour, which is not us'd for

you;

I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful

The hearing of my wife with

So humbly take my leave.

King. My worthy Cawdor!

your approach;

Mach. The Prince of Cumberland!-That is a step, On which I muft fall down, or else o'er-leap, [Afide. For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! Let not light fee my black and deep defires;

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The eye wink at the hand! yet let that be,

Which the eye fears, when it is done, to fee. [Exit. King. True, worthy Banquo; he is full fo valiant; And in his commendations I am fed;

It is a banquet to me. Let us after him,

Whofe care is gone before to bid us welcome:
It is a peerless kinsman.

SCENE

[Flourish. Exeunt.

VII.

Changes to an Apartment in Macbeth's Castle, at Inverness.

Enter Lady Macbeth alone, with a letter, Lady. THEY met me in the day of fuccefs; and I have learn'd' by the perfecteft report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burnt in defire to question them further, they made themfelves air, into which they vanish'd. While I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came Miffives from the King, who all-bail'd me, Thane of Cawdor; by which title, before, thefe weyward fifters faluted me, and referr'd me to the coming on of time, with hail, King that fhalt be! This 'bave I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest Partner of Greatness, that theu might'ft not lose the dues of rem joicing, by being ignorant of what Greatness is promis'd thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewel.

and the verb fee relates to perfonality. The fenfe is finer, as it implies, in this reading. an unwillingness to truft even Night with his defign, tho' fhe be the common Baud (as our author fomewhere calls her) to fuch kind of fecrets.

Noctem peccatis, & fraudibus objice nubem. WARBURTON. This emendation is not at all neceffary; for when the prefent

reading gives an eafy and com modious fenfe, it is not to be altered, even though fomething more elegant might be proposed.

by the perfecteft report.] By the beft intelligence. Dr. Warburton would read, perfected, and explains report by prediction. Little regard can be paid to an emendation that inftead of clearing the fenfe, makes it more difficult.

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Glamis

392

Glamis thou art, and Cawdor- -and fhalt be What thou art promis'd. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o'th' milk of human kindness,

To catch the nearest way. Thou would'st be great; Art not without ambition; but without

The illness fhould attend it. What thou would'st highly,

That would't thou holily; would't not play false, And yet would't wrongly win; thou'dst have, great

Glamis,

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That which cries, thus thou must do, if thou have it;
And That which rather thou doft fear to do,
Than wifheft should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my fpirits in thine ear,
And chaftife with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden Round,
Which fate, and metaphyfical aid, doth feem
To have thee crown'd withal.

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Enter Messenger.

What is your tidings?

Mef. The King comes here to night.
Lady. Thou'rt mad to say it.

Is not thy mafter with him? who, wer't fo,
Would have inform'd for preparation.

Mef. So please you, it is true; our Thane is coming, One of my fellows had the speed of him;

Who, almoft dead for breath, had scarcely more
Than would make up his meffage.

Lady. Give him tending;

He brings great news. 4 The raven himself is hoarfe,

The raven himself is bear fe, &c.] What fenfe can be made out of this I do not find. Had the expreffion been, The raven is boarde with croaking, it might have fignified her confidence that Duncan's entrance would be fatal; and her impatience to put the decrees of fate in execution; fentiments agreeable enough to her fituation and temper. But had Shakespear meant this, he would have expreffed his meaning properly, as he knew fo well how to do it. I fuppofe, therefore, the text to be corrupt, and that we should read,

The raven himself's NOT hoarse. The meffenger tells her of one who has just brought the agreeable news of Duncan's coming. Give him tending (fays fhe) be brings great news, i. c. treat him as the bringer of good news deferves. This is fo very acceptable, that it would render the most fhocking voice harmo

[Exit. Mef. That

nious, the moft frightful bearer agreeable. A thought expreffed in the moft fublime imagery conceivable; and beft adapted to the confidence of her views, For as the raven was thought a bird of omen, it was the propereft to intance in, both as that imagination made its hoarfe voice ftill naturally more odious, and as that was a notice of the defigns of fate which she could confide in. But this effect of the difpoficions of the mind upon the organs of fenfe our poet delighted to defcribe. Thus, in a contrary cafe, where the chaunting of the lark in Romeo and Juliet brings ill news, he makes the perfon concerned in it fay,

'Tis faid the lark and loathed

toad chang'd eyes: Oh now I wot they have

chang'd voices too. WARB. The reading proposed by the learned commentator is fo fpecious that I am scarcely willing to oppose it; yet I think the

prefen:

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, all you Spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unfex me here;
And fill me, from the crown to th' toe, top-full
Of direct cruelty; make thick my blood,
Stop up th' accefs and paffage to Remorse,
That no compunctious vifitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th' effect and it. Come to my woman's breafts,
And take my milk for gall, you murth'ring minifters,
Where-ever in your fightless fubftances

"You wait on Nature's mifchief.-Come, thick night!

prefent words may ftand. The meffenger, fays the fervant, had hardly breath to make up his mef fage; to which the lady anfwers mentally, that he may well want breath, fuch a meffage would add hoarfenefs to the raven. That even the bird, whofe harsh voice is accustomed to predict calamities, could not croak the entrance of Duncan but in a note of unwonted harshness.

5-mortal thoughts,-] This expreffion fignifies not the thoughts of mortals, but murtherous, deadly, or deftructive defigns. So in Act 5th,

Hold faft the mortal fword. And in another place,

With twenty mortal murthers.

6

nor keep peace between

Th' effect, and it.-] The intent of lady Macbeth evidently is to wish that no womanifh tendernefs, or confcientious remorfe, may hinder her purpose from proceeding to effect; but neither this, nor indeed any other fenfe, is expreffed by the prefent reading, and therefore it cannot be doubted that Shakespeare wrote

*

differently, perhaps thus:

That no compunctions vifitings of nature

Shake my fell purpose, nor keep pace between Th' effect and it.To keep pace between may figni. fy to pass between, to intervene. Pace is on many occafions a favourite of Shakespeare. This phrafe is indeed not usual in this fenfe, but was it not its novelty that gave occafion to the prefent corruption?

-nor keep peace between] Keep peace, for go between fimp ly. The allufion to officers of juftice who keep peace between rioters by going between them.

WARBURTON. take my milk for gall.] Take away my milk, and put gall in the place.

7 You wait on nature's mifchief Nature, for human. WARBURTON, Nature's mifchief is mifchief done to nature, violation of nature's order committed by wickedness,

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