The table round.-There's blood upon thy face.
Mur. 'Tis Banquo's then.

Mach. 'Tis better thee without, than he within. Is he dispatch'd?

Mur. My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him.
Mach. Thou art the beft o'the cut-throats: Yet
he's good,

That did the like for Fleance: if thou did❜ft it,
Thou art the non-pareil.

Mur. Moft royal fir,

Fleance is 'fcap'd.

Macb, Then comes my fit again: I had elfe been
perfect;

Whole as the marble, founded as the rock;
As broad, and general, as the cafing air:
But now, I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd, bound in
To faucy doubts and fears. But Banquo's safe ?
Mur. Ay, my good lord; fafe in a ditch he bides,
With twenty trenched gashes 7 on his head;
The leaft a death to nature,

Mach. Thanks for that :

There the grown ferpent lies; the worm, that's fled, Hath nature that in time will venom breed,

No teeth for the prefent.-Get thee gone; to-morrow We'll hear, ourselves again,

[Exit Murderer.

6 'Tis better thee without, than he within.]

The fenfe requires that this paffage fhould be read thus: 'Tis better thee without, than him within.

That is, I am better pleased that the blood of Banquo fhould be on thy face than in his body.

The authour might mean, It is better that Banquo's blood were on thy face, than he in this room.

common in his works, JOHNSON,

7 -trenched gabes

Expreffions thus imperfect are

-]

Trancher to cut. Fr. So, in Arden of Feversham, 1592:

"Is deeply trenched on my blushing brow."

So, in another play of Shakespeare;

66

-like a figure

"Trenched in ice." STEEVENS.

Lady.

Lady. My royal lord,

You do not give the cheer: the feast is fold,
That is not often vouch'd while 'tis a making,
'Tis given with welcome: To feed, were beft at home;
From thence, the fauce to meat is ceremony;
Meeting were bare without it.

[Enter the ghost of Banquo, and fits in Macbeth's
place.

Mach. Sweet remembrancer!

Now, good digeftion wait on appetite,
And health on both!

Len. May it please your highness fit?

Mach. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd,

Were the grac'd perfon of our Banquo prefent;
Who may I rather challenge for unkindness,
Than pity for mischance!

Roffe. His abfence, fir,

Lays blame upon his promife. Please it your highnefs

To grace us with your royal company?

Mach. The table's full.

8 the feaft is fold, &c.]

Mr. Pope reads: the feaft is cold,

and not without plaufi

bility. Such another expreffion occurs in The Elder Brother of Beaumont and Fletcher :

"You must be welcome too :-the feaft is flat else."

And the fame expreffion as Shakespeare's occurs in the Romaunt of the Rofe:

"Good dede done through praiere,

"Is fold, and bought to dere." STEEVENS.

the feaft is fold, ·]

The meaning is,That which is not given chearfully, cannot be called a gift, it is fomething that must be paid for. JOHNSON.

9 Enter the ghoft of Banquo, This circumftance of Banquo's ghoft feems to be alluded to in The Puritan, first printed in 1607, and ridiculously afcribed to Shakespeare: "We'll ha' the ghoft i' th' white sheet fit at upper end o' th' table." FARMER.

The circumftance of Banquo's ghost could not be alluded to in the Puritan, which was printed in 1600, fome years before Macbeth was written. MALONE.

Len.

Len. Here is a place referv'd, fir.

Mach. Where?

Len. Here, my good lord. What is't that moves your highnefs?

Mach. Which of you have done this?
Lords. What, my good lord?

Mach. Thou can'ft not fay, I did it: never shake Thy goary locks at me.

Roffe. Gentlemen, rise; his highness is not well. Lady. Sit worthy friends :-my lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep feat; The fit is momentary; upon a thought

He will again be well: If much you note him,
You fhall offend him, and 'extend his paffion;
Feed, and regard him not.-Are you a man?
Macb. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appall the devil.

Lady. O proper stuff!

This is the very painting of your fear:

This is the air-drawn-dagger, which, you faid, Duncan. Oh, these flaws, and starts,

Led to you

2

extend his paffion;]

Prolong his fuffering; make his fit longer. JOHNSON.

2 O proper stuff!]

(Im

This fpeech is rather too long for the circumstances in which it is fpoken. It had begun better at, Shame itself! JOHNSON.

3

Oh, thefe flaws and farts,

(Impoftors to true fear,) would well become
A woman's ftory at a winter's fire,
Authoriz'd by her grandam.-]

Flaws, are fudden gufts. The authour perhaps wrote:
Thofe flaws and farts, -

Impostures true to fear would well become ;

A woman's ftory,

Thefe fymptoms of terrour and amazement might better become impoftures true only to fear, might become a coward at the recital of fuch falfeboods as no man could credit, whofe understanding was not weaken'd by his terrors; tales told by a woman over a fire on the authority of her grandam. JOHNSON.

Oh, thefe flaws and ftarts,
Impoftors to true fear,-]

(Impoftors to true fear,) would well become A woman's ftory, at a winter's fire,

Authoriz'd by her grandam. Shame itself!

Why do you make fuch faces? When all's done,
You look but on a stool.

Macb. Pr'ythee, fee there! behold! look! lo! how fay you?

Why, what care I? If thou can'ft nod, speak too.-
If charnel-houses, and our graves, muft fend
Those that we bury, back; our monuments
Shall be the maws of kites 4.

Lady. What! quite unmann'd in folly?

Macb. If I ftand here, I faw him.

Lady. Fie, for fhame!

Mach. Blood hath been shed ere now, i'the olden time,

s Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal;
Ay, and fince too, murders have been perform'd
Too terrible for the ear: the times have been,

That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end: but now, they rife again,

With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And pufh us from our ftools: This is more ftrange
Than fuch a murder is.

Lady. My worthy lord,

Your noble friends do lack you.

Mach. I do forget:

i.e. these flaws and starts, as they are indications of your needless fears, are the imitators or impoftors only of those which arise from a fear well grounded. WARBURTON.

4 Shall be the maws of kites.]

The fame thought occurs in Spenfer's Faery Queen, b. ii. c. 8: "But be entombed in the raven or the kight." STEEVENS. 5 Ere human ftatute purg'd the gentle weal ;]

The gentle weal, is, the peaceable community, the state made quiet and fafe by human ftatutes.

Mollia fecura peragebant otia gentes." JOHNSON.

Do

Do not mufe at me, my moft worthy friends;
I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing
To those that know me. Come, love and health to

all;

Then I'll fit down:-Give me fome wine, fill full:I drink to the general joy of the whole table,

Re-enter Ghoft.

And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we mifs; Would he were here! to all, and him, we thirst, 7 And all to all.

Lords. Our duties, and the pledge.

Mach. Avant! and quit my fight! Let the earth
hide thee!

Thy bones are marrowlefs, thy blood is cold;
Thou haft no fpeculation in thofe eyes
Which thou doft glare with!

Lady. Think of this, good peers,
But as a thing of cuftom: 'tis no other;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.
Mach. What man dare, I dare:

Approach thou like the rugged Ruffian bear,

6 Do not mufe at me,

To mufe anciently fignified to be in amaze. So, in All's Well that Ends Well:

"And rather mufe than afk."

Again, in Ben Jonfon's Alchymift:

"'Slid, doctor, how canft thou fo foon know this?
"I am a-mus'd at that."

Again, in K. Hen. IV. P. II. act IV:

"I mufe you make so flight a question." STEEVENS. "And all to all.]

i. e, all good wishes to all: fuch as he had named above, love, health, and joy. WARBURTON.

I once thought it should be bail to all, but I now think that the prefent reading is right. JOHNSON.

Timon ufes nearly the fame expreffion to his guests, act I: “ All to you." STEEVENS.

The