That follow'd me fo near, (O, our lives fweetness !
That we the pain of death would hourly bear,
Rather than die at once) taught me to shift
Into a mad-man's rags; t'affume a femblance,
The very dogs difdain'd: and in this habit
Met I my father with his bleeding rings,
Their precious gems new loft; became his guide,
Led him, begg'd for him, fav'd him from despair;
Never (O, fault!) reveal'd myself unto him,
Until fome half hour past, when I was arm'd,
Not fure, tho' hoping of this good fuccefs,
I afk'd his bleffing, and from first to last
Told him my pilgrimage. But his flaw'd heart,
Alack, too weak the conflict to support,
'Twixt two extremes of paffion, joy and grief,
Burft fmilingly.

Baft. This fpeech of yours hath mov'd me,
And fhall, perchance, do good; but speak you on,
You look, as you had fomething more to say.

Alb. If there be more, more woful, hold it in,
For I am almost ready to diffolve,
Hearing of this.

Edg. -(26) This would have feem'd a period,
To fuch as love not forrow: but another,

1

To

(26) This, &c.] The baftard, whofe favage nature is well difplay'd by it, defires to hear more: the gentle Albany, touch'd at the fad tale, begs him no more to melt his heart upon which, Edgar obferves, fenfibly affected by Edmual's inhumanity, "6 One fhould have imagined, this would have feem'd a period, a fufficient end of woe, to fuch as love not forrow, who are not pleased to hear of the diftreffes of others: but another [a person of another and more, cruel temper] to amplify too much, [to augment and aggravate that which is already too great would ftill make much more [would ftill increase it] and top extremity itfelf; that is, even go beyond that which is already at the utmost limit." Nothing can be plainer than this, which Mr. Warburton condemning as miferable nonfenfe, reads thus, and admits into his text!

To amplify too much, would make much more,
And top extremity!

Whilft I was big in clamour, there came a man,
Who having seen me in my worfer state,
Shunn'd my abhorr'd fociety; but now finding
Who 'twas, had fo endur'd, with his ftrong arms
He fasten'd on my neck; and bellow'd out,
As he'd burst heaven; threw him on my father;
Told the most piteous tale of Lear and him,
That ever ear receiv'd; which in recounting
His grief grew puiffant, and the ftrings of life
Began to crack.-Twice then the trumpets founded.
And there I left him traunc'd.

---

This wou'd have feem'd a period; but fuch
As love to amplify anothers forrow,

Too much, wou'd make much more and top extremity! 'Tis remarkable, this fine fpeech, (and indeed many others) are emitted in the Oxford edition.

ISHSHSHSH:48HSHSHSH&

MACBETH.

ACT I. SCENE IV.

Witches defcrib'd.

HAT are these,

(1) W wither'd, and so wild in
WHA So

their attire,

That look not like th' inhabitants o'th' earth,
And yet are on't? Live you, or are you aught

That man may question? You feem to understand me,

――――

By each at once her choppy finger laying.
Upon her skinny lips ;- You fhould be women;
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret,
That you are fo.

(1) What, &c.] Shakespear's excellence in these fictitious characters hath been before obferved: See Vol. 1. p. 77. n. 5. In fuch circles, indeed, none could move like him; ghofts, witches, and fairies feem to acknowledge him their fovereign. We must obferve, that the reality of witches was firmly believed in our author's time, not only establish'd by law, but by fashion also, and that it was not only unpolite but criminal, to doubt it: and as hath been remarked, upon this general infatuation, Shakespear might be easily allowed to found a play, efpecially fince he has followed with great exactnefs fuch hiftories as were then thought true: nor can it be doubted, that the scenes of enchantment, however they may now be ridiculed, were both by himself and his audience thought awful and affecting.' See Mifcellaneous obfervations on Macbeth, by Mr. S.Johnson, (note the firft) printed for Ed. Cave, 1745. Otway's celebrated defcription of the witch in his Orphan, is fo univerfally known, I omit quoting it here.

""

SCENE

SCENE VII. Macbeth's Temper.

Yet do I fear thy nature;

To catch the nearest way.
Art not without ambition;

It is too full o' th' milk of hunan kindness,
Thou wouldst be great;'
but without

The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldft wrongly win.

Lady Macbeth, on the News of Duncan's approach.
(2) The raven himself is hoarfe,
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, all you fpirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unfex me here,
And fill me, from the crown to th' toe, top-full
Of direft cruelty; make thick my blood,
Stop up th' accefs and paffage to remorfe:
That no compunctious vifitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, (3) nor keep peace between

(2) The Raven, &c.] It is faid in the fpeech which precedes this, that the meffenger, who brought the news

-Almoft dead for breath had fcarcely more,
Than would make up his meffage.

Him the queen moft beautifully calls the Raven. With this clue the reader will eafily enter into the fenfe of the paffage, and fee the abfurdity of any alteration. By mortal thoughts is meant deftructive, deadly, &c.----In which fenfe mortal is frequently used.

3

(3) Nor keep, &c.] Mr. Johnson is of opinion, that no sense at all is expreft by the prefent reading, and therefore he proposes keep pace between the paffage feems clear to me, and the fenfe as fol lows: grant that no womanish tendernefs, no compunétious vifitings of nature, no ftings of confcience, may thake my fell purpofe, may defeat my defign, and keep peace between it and the effect, that is, keep my purpose from being executed," which is most aptly expreft by a peace between them, which the remorfe of her mind, the ftings of her confcience were to be the occafion of her keeping.

Th' effect

Th' effect and it. Come to my woman's breafts,
And take my milk for gaul, you murth'ring minifters!
Wherever in your fightless substances

You wait on nature's, mifchief-Come, thick night!
And pall thee in the dunneft fmoak of hell,

That my keen knife fee not the wound it makes ;
Nor heav'n peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry, hold, hold!

SCENE IX. Macbeth's Irrefolution.

Here,

If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly if th' affaffination
Could trammel up the confequence, and catch
With its furceafe fuccefs; that but this blow
Might be the be-all, and the end all
But here upon this bank and (4) fhoal of time,"
We'd jump the life to come. But, in thefe cafes,
We ftill have judgment here, that we but teach
Bloody inftructions; which, being taught, return
To plague th' inventor. Even-handed juftice
Returns th' ingredients of our poifon'd chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double truft:
Firft, as I am his kinfman and his fubject,
Strong both against the deed: (5) then, as his hoft,
Who fhould against his murd'rer fhut the door,
Not bear the knife my felf. Befides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties fo meek, hath been

(4) Shoal.] Others_read shelve.

(5) Then a, &c.] This is quite claffical: hofpitality was held fo facred amongst the ancients, that the Chief of their gods was dignified with the title of hofpitable. Zeus anos, Jupiter Hofpitalis. The writings of the ancients abound with this noble principle, and hofpitality is mentioned with honour in them all: this amongst a thousand other proofs, fhews Shakespear to have been no stranger to the works of antiquity.

So