And fix'd his head upon our battlements. DUN. O, valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! on supposing it given when the head of the wearied combatant was reclining downwards at the latter end of a long duel. For the nape is the hinder part of the neck, where the vertebræ join to the bone of the skull. So, in Coriolanus: 66 "O! that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks." The word unseamed likewise becomes very proper, and alludes to the suture which goes cross the crown of the head in that direction called the sutura sagittalis; and which, consequently, must be opened by such a stroke. It is remarkable, that Milton, who in his youth read and imitated our poet much, particularly in his Comus, was misled by this corrupt reading. For in the manuscript of that poem, in Trinity-College library, the following lines are read thus: "Or drag him by the curls, and cleave his scalpe An evident imitation of this corrupted passage. But he altered it with better judgment to to a foul death "Curs'd as his life." WARBURTON. The old reading is certainly the true one, being justified by a passage in Dido Queene of Carthage, by Thomas Nash, 1594: "Then from the navel to the throat at once "He ript old Priam." So likewise in an ancient MS. entitled The Boke of Huntyng, that is cleped Mayster of Game, cap. v.: "Som men haue sey hym slitte a man fro the kne up to the brest, and slee hym all starke dede at o strok." STEEVENS. So, in Shadwell's Libertine: "I will rip you from the navel to the chin." BOSWELL. 9 As whence the sun 'GINS his reflexion] The thought is expressed with some obscurity, but the plain meaning is this: "As the same quarter, whence the blessing of day-light arises, sometimes sends us, by a dreadful reverse, the calamities of storms and tempests: so the glorious event of Macbeth's victory, which promised us the comforts of peace, was immediately succeeded by the alarming news of the Norweyan invasion." The natural history of the winds, &c. is foreign to the explanation of this passage. Shakspeare does not mean, in conformity to any theory, to say that storms generally come from the east. If it be allowed that they sometimes issue from that quarter, it is sufficient for the purpose of his comparison. STEEVENs. Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break'; So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd to come, Discomfort swells 2. Mark, king of Scotland, mark: No sooner justice had, with valour arm'd, Compell'd these skipping Kernes to trust their heels; But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage, DUN. Dismay'd not this Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo ? SOLD. Yes3; The natural history of the winds, &c. was idly introduced on this occasion by Dr. Warburton. Sir William D'Avenant's reading of this passage, in an alteration of this play, published in quarto, in 1674, affords a reasonably good comment upon it: 66 But then this day-break of our victory "Serv'd but to light us into other dangers, "That spring from whence our hopes did seem to rise." MALONE. 11 thunders BREAK;] The word break is wanting in the oldest copy. The other folios and Rowe read-breaking. Mr. Pope made the emendation. STEEVENS. Break, which was suggested by the reading of the second folio, is very unlikely to have been the word omitted in the original copy. It agrees with thunders;-but who ever talked of the breaking of a storm?" MALONE. The phrase, I believe, is sufficiently common. in All for Love, &c. Act I.: 66— the Roman camp 66 Thus Dryden, Hangs o'er us black and threat'ning, like a storm "Just breaking o'er our heads." Again, in Ogilby's version of the 17th Iliad: "Hector o'er all an iron tempest spreads, "Th' impending storm will break upon our heads." STEEVENS. 2 DISCOMFORT swells.] Discomfort, the natural opposite to comfort. JOHNSON. 3 Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? Sold. cannot fail to observe, that some word, Yes ;] The reader necessary to complete As sparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion. Doubly redoubled strokes 5 upon the foe: the verse, has been omitted in the old copy. Sir T. Hanmer reads "Our captains, brave Macbeth," &c. STEEVENS. The word [as Mr. Douce has observed,] was probably pronounced capitaine in this instance, as it is frequently in Spenser. BOSWELL. • As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks, &c.] That is, with double charges; a metonymy of the effect for the cause. НЕАТН. Mr. Theobald has endeavoured to improve the sense of this passage, by altering the punctuation thus: 66 they were "As cannons overcharg'd; with double cracks He declares, with some degree of exultation, that he has no idea of a "cannon charged with double cracks;" but surely the great author will not gain much by an alteration which makes him say of a hero, that he "redoubles strokes with double cracks," an expression not more loudly to be applauded, or more easily pardoned, than that which is rejected in its favour. 66 That a cannon is charged with thunder," or "with double thunders," may be written, not only without nonsense, but with elegance, and nothing else is here meant by cracks, which, in the time of this writer, was a word of such emphasis and dignity, that in this play he terms the general dissolution of nature the crack of doom. JOHNSON. Crack is used on a similar occasion by Barnaby Googe, in his Cupido Conquered, 1563: "The canon's cracke begins to roore "And framde a counter-skye." Barbour, the old Scotch Poet, calls fire-arms-" crakys of war." STEEVENS. Again, in the old play of King John, 1591, and applied, as here, to ordnance: 66 as harmless and without effect, "As is the echo of a cannon's crack." MALONE. 5 Doubly redoubled strokes, &c.] So, in King Richard II. : Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, I cannot tell : But I am faint, my gashes cry for help. DUN. So well thy words become thee, as thy wounds; They smack of honour both :-Go, get him sur[Exit Soldier, attended. geons. Enter RossE". Who comes here? "And let thy blows, doubly redoubled, "Fall," &c. The irregularity of the metre, however, induces me to believe our author wrote 66 they were "As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks, 66 Doubly redoubling strokes upon the foe." For this thought, however, Shakspeare might have been indebted to Caxton's Recuyel, &c. "The batayll was sharp, than the grekes dowblid and redowblid their strokes, &c. STEEVENS. 6 Or MEMORIZE another Golgotha.] That is, or make another Golgotha, which should be celebrated and delivered down to posterity, with as frequent mention as the first. HEATH. The word memorize, which some suppose to have been coined by Shakspeare, is used by Spenser, in a sonnet to Lord Buckhurst, prefixed to his Pastorals, 1579: "In vaine I thinke, right honourable lord, "By this rude rime to memorize thy name." T. WARTON. The word is likewise used by Drayton; and by Chapman, in his translation of the second book of Homer, 1598 : 66 which let thy thoughts be sure to memorize." Again, in the third Iliad: 66 and Clymene, whom fame Hath, for her fair eyes, memoriz'd." And again, in a copy of verses prefixed to Sir Arthur Gorges's translation of Lucan, 1614: "Of them whose acts they mean to memorize." STEEVENS. 7 Enter RossE.] The old copy-"Enter Rosse and Angus:" but as only the name of Rosse is spoken to, or speaks any thing in the remaining part of this scene, and as Duncan expresses himself in the singular number, MAL. The worthy thane of Rosse. LEN. What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look, That seems to speak things strange. "Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?' Angus may be considered as a superfluous character. Had his present appearance been designed, the King would naturally have taken some notice of him. STEEVENS. It is clear, from a subsequent passage, that the entry of Angus was here designed; for in Scene III. he again enters with Rosse, and says, 66 We are sent "To give thee from our royal master thanks." MALONE. Because Rosse and Angus accompany each other in a subsequent scene, does it follow that they make their entrance together on the present occasion? STEEVENS. 8 Who comes HERE?] The latter word is here employed as a dissyllable. MALONE. Mr. Malone has already directed us to read there as a dissyllable, but without supporting his direction by one example of such a practice. I suspect that the poet wrote "Who is't comes here?" or "But who comes here?" STEEVENS. See the Essay on Shakspeare's Versification. Boswell. 9 So should he look, 66 That SEEMS to speak things strange.] The meaning of this passage, as it now stands, is, SO should he look, that looks as if he told things strange." But Rosse neither yet told strange things, nor could look as if he told them. Lenox only conjectured from his air that he had strange things to tell, and therefore undoubtedly said: "What a haste looks through his eyes! "So should he look, that teems to speak things strange." He looks like one that is big with something of importance; a metaphor so natural that it is every day used in common discourse. JOHNSON. Mr. M. Mason observes, that the meaning of Lenox is, "So should he look, who seems as if he had strange things to speak." The following passage in The Tempest seems to afford no unapt comment upon this: 66 pr'ythee, say on: "The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim "A matter from thee-." Again, in King Richard II. : |