Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies | Page 4

wrote various, which might be easily mistaken for very, being either negligently read, hastily pronounced, or imperfectly heard.
I.iii.21 (405,9) 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,
De i? ti? t bit y bote He is wise that prays and makes amends.
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.
I.iii.42 (409,3) are you aught/That man may question?] Are ye any beings with which man is permitted to hold converse, or of which it is lawful _to ask questions_?
I.iii.53 (410,5) Are ye fantastical] By fantastical, he means creatures of fantasy or imagination; the question is, Are these real beings before us, or are we deceived by illusions of fancy?
I.iii.97 (412,8) As thick as tale] [As thick as hail] Was Mr. Pope's correction. The old copy has,
--As thick as tale Can post with post;--
which perhaps is not amiss, meaning that the news came as thick as a tale can travel with the post. Or we may read, perhaps yet better,
--As thick as tale Came _post with post_;--
That is, posts arrived as fast as they could be counted.
I.iii.130 (414,4) This supernatural solliciting] Solliciting is rather, in my opinion, incitement than information.
I.iii.134 (414,5) why do I yield] To yield is, simply, to give way to.
I.iii.137 (414,6) Present fears/Are less than horrible imaginings] [W: feats] 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. Fears is right.
I.iii.140 (415,7) single state of man] The single state of man seems to be used by Shakespeare for an individual, in opposition to a commonwealth, or conjunct body.
I.iii.40 (415,8) 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.
I.iii.147 (415,9) Time and the hour runs through the roughest day] I suppose every reader is disgusted at the tautology in this passage, Time and the hour, and will therefore willingly believe that Shakespeare wrote it thus,
Come what come may, Time! on!--_the hour runs thro' the roughest day_.
Macbeth is deliberating upon the events which are to befall him, but finding no satisfaction from his own thoughts, he grows impatient of reflection, and resolves to wait the close without harrassing hinaelf with conjectures.
Come what come may.
But to shorten the pain of suspense, he calls upon Time In the usual stile of ardent desire, to quicken his motion,
_Time! on!_ --
He then comforts himself with the reflection that all his perplexity must have an end,
--_the hour runs thro' the roughest day._
This conjecture is supported by the passage in the letter to his lady, in which he says, they referred me to the coming on of time, _with Hail, King that shalt be_.
I.iii.149 (416,1) My dull brain was wrought] My head was worked, agitated, put into commotion.
I.iv.9 (417,3) studied in his death] Instructed in the art of dying. It was usual to say studied, for learned in science.
I.iv.12 (417,4) To find the mind's construction in the face] The construction of the mind is, I believe, a phrase peculiar to Shakespeare; it implies the frame or disposition of the mind, by which it is determined to good or ill.
I.iv.26 (418,5) Which do but what they should, by doing everything, Safe toward your love and honour] Of the last line of this speech, which is certainly, as it is now read, unintelligible, an emendation has been attempted, which Dr. Warburton and Dr. Theobald once admitted as the true reading:
--_our duties Are to your throne and state, children and servants, Which do but what they should, in doing every thing_ Fiefs _to your love and honour._
My esteem for these critics inclines me to believe that they cannot be much pleased with these expressions fiefs to love, or fiefs to honour, and that they have proposed this alteration rather because no other occured to them, than because they approved of it. I shall therefore propose a bolder change, perhaps with no better success, but sua cuique placent. I read thus,
--_our duties Are to your throne and state, children and servants Which do but what they should, in doing_ nothing, Save toward your love and honour.
We do but perform our duty when we contract all our views to your service, when we act with no other principle than