Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed, The air is delicate.1 Dun. Enter LADY MACBETH. See, see! our honored hostess! The love that follows us, sometime is our trouble, Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you us for your pains, All our service, In every point twice done, and then done double, Dun. Where's the thane of Cawdor? We coursed him at the heels, and had a purpose To be his purveyor: but he rides well: And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, We are your guest to-night. 1 "This short dialogue," says sir Joshua Reynolds, "has always appeared to me a striking instance of what in painting is termed repose. The conversation very naturally turns upon the beauty of the castle's situation, and the pleasantness of the air; and Banquo, observing the martlets' nests in every recess of the cornice, remarks, that where those birds most breed and haunt, the air is delicate. The subject of this quiet and easy conversation gives that repose so necessary to the mind after the tumultuous bustle of the preceding scenes, and perfectly contrasts the scene of horror that immediately succeeds." 2 The explanation by Steevens of this obscure passage seems the best which has been offered:-"Marks of respect importunately shown are sometimes troublesome, though we are still bound to be grateful for them as indications of sincere attachment. If you pray for us on account of the trouble we create in your house, and thank us for the molestations we bring with us, it must be on such a principle. Herein I teach you, that the inconvenience you suffer is the result of our affection; and that you are therefore to pray for us, or thank us only as far as prayers and thanks can be deserved for kindnesses that fatigue, and honors that oppress. You are, in short, to make your acknowledgments for intended respect and love, however irksome our present mode of expressing them may have proved.”— To bid is here used in the Saxon sense of to pray. God yield us, is God reward us. 3 i. e. we, as hermits, or beadsmen, shall ever pray for you. Lady M. Your servants ever Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt,1 To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, Still to return your own. Dun. Give me your hand: Conduct me to mine host; we love him highly, By your leave, hostess. [Exeunt. SCENE VII. The same. A Room in the Castle. Hautboys and torches. Enter, and pass over the stage, a Sewer, and divers Servants with dishes and service. MACBETH. Then enter Macb. If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly: if the assassination 1 In compt, subject to accompt. 2 A sewer, an officer so called from his placing the dishes on the table. Asseour (French), from asseoir, to place. 3 This passage has been variously explained. The following is probably its meaning: Twere well it were done quickly, if, when 'tis done, it were done (or at an end); and that no sinister consequences would ensue. If the assassination, at the same time that it puts an end to Duncan's life, could make success certain, and that I might enjoy the crown unmolested, we'd jump the life to come, i. e. hazard or run the risk of what may happen in a future state. To trammel up was to confine or tie up. Surcease is cessation. "To surcease or to cease from doing something; supersedeo (Lat.); cesser (Fr.)”—Baret. 4 To commend, was anciently used in the sense of the Latin commendo, to commit, to address, to direct, to recommend. To our own lips. He's here in double trust: 2 And falls on the other-How now, what news? Enter LADY MACBETH. Lady M. He has almost supped. Why have you left the chamber? Macb. Hath he asked for me? Lady M. Know you not, he has? Macb. We will proceed no further in this business. He hath honored me of late; and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people, Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, Lady M. Was the hope drunk, Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since? As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that 1 "The sightless couriers of the air," are what the Poet elsewhere calls the viewless winds. 2 Which o'erleaps itself. It has been proposed to read, "which o'erleaps its selle," i. e. saddle (Fr.). Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, Macb. Pr'ythee, peace. I dare do all that may become a man; Lady M. Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, Macb. If we should fail, We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, 1 The adage of the cat is among Heywood's Proverbs, 1566:—" The cat would eate fishe, and would not wet her feete." 2 "Who dares do more is none." The old copy, instead of "do more," reads "no more:" the emendation is Rowe's. 3 Adhere in the same sense as cohere. 4 The circumstance relative to Macbeth's slaughter of Duncan's chamberlains is copied from Holinshed's account of king Duffe's murder by Donwald. 5 Wassel is thus explained by Bullokar in his Expositor, 1616: "Wassaile, a term usual heretofore for quaffing and carowsing; but more especially signifying a merry cup (ritually composed, deckt and fill'd with country liquor) passing about amongst neighbours, meeting and entertaining one another on the vigil or eve of the new year, and commonly called the wassail bol." 6 To convince is to overcome. Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason Macb. Bring forth men children only! For thy undaunted mettle should compose Nothing but males. Will it not be received, When we have marked with blood those sleepy two Of his own chamber, and used their very daggers, That they have done't? Lady M. Who dares receive it other, As we shall make our griefs and clamor roar Macb. I am settled, and bend up Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show; False face must hide what the false heart doth know. [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I. The same. Court within the Castle. Enter BANQUO and FLEANCE, and a Servant, with a torch before them. Ban. How goes the night, boy? Fle. The moon is down; I have not heard the clock. Ban. And she goes down at twelve. 1 A limbeck is a vessel through which distilled liquors pass into the recipient. So shall the receipt (i. e. receptacle) of reason be like this empty vessel. 2 Quell is murder; from the Saxon quellan, to kill. |