Ser. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection Dun. 25 30 comforts well'd Johns. Discomfit well'd Warb. Discomfort wells Cap. 30. kerns] Han. kernes Ff. kermes Johns. 31. Norweyan] Norwaying H. Rowe. 32. furbish'd] furbusht Ff. Dismayed...Banquo?] Pope. Banquo] Banquoh FF. 25. 'gins] CAPELL (Notes, vol. ii, p. 3). This word is us'd for the purpose of insinuating that storms in their extreamest degree succeed often to a dawn of the fairest promise; for in that chiefly lyes the aptness of his similitude. 25. sun] SINGER (ed. 2). The allusion is to the storms that prevail in spring, at the vernal equinox-the equinoctial gales. The beginning of the reflection of the sun (Cf. So from that Spring) is the epoch of his passing from the severe to the mildest season, opening, however, with storms. 26. break] WALKER (Crit. iii). Perhaps burst would be better. (Or was the word threat?) 28. swells] ELWIN. The word storms in the preceding line suggests the idea of a spring that had brought only comfort, swelling into a destructive flood. CLARENDON. Swells' seems the best word, indicating that, instead of a fertilizing stream, a desolating flood had poured from the spring. 30. skipping] CLARENDON. An epithet appropriate enough to the rapid movements of the light-armed kerns. 33, 34. Dismay'd...Banquo] DOUCE (Illust. &c. i, 369). Sh. had, no doubt, written capitaynes, a common mode of spelling in his time. KNIGHT. This line is an Alexandrine-a verse constantly introduced by Sh. for the production of variety. ELWIN. The Alexandrine line is here introduced to suit the slackened delivery of dejection, in opposition to the more rapid exclamation of joyous admiration to which As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. 34, 35. Yes...lion.] Pope. Two lines, ending eagles...lyon, Ff. 37. overcharged with] overcharg'd; with Theob. Han. charg'd with Seymour (reading As...they as one line). cracks;] cracks, FF, crackes FF. 35 38. So they] Separate line, Steev. Mal. Rann. Var. Sing. i, Dyce, Cam. They so Ktly conj. So...foe] One line, Ff, Rowe, +, Cap. Knt, Coll. Hal. Huds. Sing. ii, White, Sta. Del. Doubly] om. Pope, +. upon] on FFF, Rowe, Cap. 39. reeking] recking FF. Duncan has just before given utterance, whilst it at the same time denotes (for to preserve the full music of the verse it must be spoken without stop) that the anxiety of the speaker forbids him to pause in his question. WALKER (Crit. iii, 171). Possibly Our captains twain,' &c. or we should end line 33 with captains.' Was captain ever pronounced as a trisyllable—capitainin that age, except by such as, like Spenser, affected old forms? LETTSOM (Footnote to foregoing). It would seem so from the following: The king may do much, captain, believe it.'-B. and F. King and No King, IV, iii. 'Captain Puff, for my last husband's sake,' &c.—Play of Ram Alley, III, i. Hold, captain! What, do you cast your whelps ?'-Ib. [The following LETTSOM furnished to DYCE (ed. 2).] 'I sent for you, and, captain, draw near.'-B. and F. Faithful Friends, III, iii. I hear another tune, good captain.'-Fletcher's Island Princess, II, iii. 'Sirrah, how dare you name a captain ?'—Shirley's Gamester, IV, i. 34, 35. Yes...lion] ELWIN. These lines are intended to signify, in their division in the Ff., the failing powers of the speaker, who lingers upon each idea, and pauses painfully in his speech, until he is newly aroused to greater vivacity by the warlike character of his own images, which infuse into him a momentary strength, in the exercise of which he faints. 37. overcharged] KEIGHTLEY. We might, but not so well perhaps, read 'o'ercharg'd.' [Keightley prints so they' as the last syllables of a lost line. ED.] ABBOTT, 511. Probably we must scan 'As cànnons | o'ercharged | .' 37. cracks] JOHNSON. 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 Sh.'s time was a word of such emphasis and dignity that in this play he terms the general dissolution of nature the crack of doom. MALONE. In the old play of King John, 1591, it is applied, as here, to ordnan、t. as harmless and without effect As is the echo of a cannon's crack.' 38. Doubly redoubled] STEEVENS. We have the phrase in Rich. II: I, ii, 80. From the irregularity of the metre I believe we should read (omitting So they) 'Doubly redoubling,' &c. WALKER. I suspect doubly is an interpolation. It reminds me of the wretched Ser. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection 25 30 comforts well'd Johns. Discomfit well'd Warb. Discomfort wells Cap. 30. kerns] Han. kernes Ff. kermes Johns. Rowe. Norwaying H. 32. furbish'd] furbusht Ff. 33, 34. Dismay'd...this Our] Dismayed... This oür Ktly. Dismayed...Banquo?] Pope. Prose, Ff. One line, Knt, Sing. ii. 34. Macbeth] brave Macbeth Han. Cap. Banquo] Banquoh F ̧F2 25. 'gins] CAPELL (Notes, vol. ii, p. 3). This word is us'd for the purpose of insinuating that storms in their extreamest degree succeed often to a dawn of the fairest promise; for in that chiefly lyes the aptness of his similitude. 25. sun] SINGER (ed. 2). The allusion is to the storms that prevail in spring, at the vernal equinox—the equinoctial gales. The beginning of the reflection of the sun (Cf. So from that Spring) is the epoch of his passing from the severe to the mildest season, opening, however, with storms. 26. break] WALKER (Crit. iii). Perhaps burst would be better. (Or was the word threat?) 28. swells] ELWIN. The word storms in the preceding line suggests the idea of a spring that had brought only comfort, swelling into a destructive flood. CLARENDON. Swells' seems the best word, indicating that, instead of a fertilizing stream, a desolating flood had poured from the spring. 30. skipping] CLARENDON. An epithet appropriate enough to the rapid movements of the light-armed kerns. 33, 34. Dismay'd...Banquo] DoUCE (Illust. &c. i, 369). Sh. had, no doubt, written capitaynes, a common mode of spelling in his time. KNIGHT. This line is an Alexandrine-a verse constantly introduced by Sh. for the production of variety. ELWIN. The Alexandrine line is here introduced to suit the slackened delivery of dejection, in opposition to the more rapid exclamation of joyous admiration to which Ser. Yes; As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. 34, 35. Yes;...lion.] Pope. Two lines, ending eagles...lyon, Ff. 37. overcharged with] overcharg'd; with Theob. Han. charg'd with Seymour (reading As...they as one line). cracks;] cracks, F ̧F crackes F,F3 35 38. So they] Separate line, Steev. Mal. Rann. Var. Sing. i, Dyce, Cam. They so Ktly conj. So...foe] One line, Ff, Rowe, +, Cap. Knt, Coll. Hal. Huds. Sing. ii, White, Sta. Del. Doubly] om. Pope, +. upon] on FFF, Rowe, Cap. 39. reeking] recking FF3. Duncan has just before given utterance, whilst it at the same time denotes (for to preserve the full music of the verse it must be spoken without stop) that the anxiety of the speaker forbids him to pause in his question. WALKER (Crit. iii, 171). Possibly 'Our captains twain,' &c. or we should end line 33 with captains.' Was captain ever pronounced as a trisyllable—capitain— in that age, except by such as, like Spenser, affected old forms? LETTSOM (Footnote to foregoing). It would seem so from the following: The king may do much, captain, believe it.'—B. and F. King and No Kìng, IV, iii. 'Captain Puff, for my last husband's sake,' &c.-Play of Ram Alley, III, i. Hold, captain! What, do you cast your whelps ?'-Ib. [The following LETTSOM furnished to DYCE (ed. 2).] I sent for you, and, captain, draw near.'-B. and F. Faithful Friends, III, iii. 'I hear another tune, good captain.'-Fletcher's Island Princess, II, iii. 'Sirrah, how dare you name a captain ?'—Shirley's Gamester, IV, i. 34, 35. Yes...lion] ELWIN. These lines are intended to signify, in their division in the Ff., the failing powers of the speaker, who lingers upon each idea, and pauses painfully in his speech, until he is newly aroused to greater vivacity by the warlike character of his own images, which infuse into him a momentary strength, in the exercise of which he faints. 37. overcharged] KEIGHTLEY. We might, but not so well perhaps, read 'o'ercharg'd.' [Keightley prints so they' as the last syllables of a lost line. ED.] ABBOTT, 511. Probably we must scan 'As cànnons | o'ercharged | .' 37. cracks] JOHNSON. 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 Sh.'s time was a word of such emphasis and dignity that in this play he terms the general dissolution of nature the crack of doom. MALONE. In the old play of King John, 1591, it is applied, as here, to ordnance. as harmless and without effect As is the echo of a cannon's crack.' 38. Doubly redoubled] STEEVENS. We have the phrase in Rich. II: I, iï, 80. From the irregularity of the metre I believe we should read (omitting So they) 'Doubly redoubling,' &c. WALKER. I suspect doubly is an interpolation. It reminds me of the wretched 40 Or memorize another Golgotha, 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 surgeons. [Exit Sergeant, attended. The worthy thane of Ross. 41, 42. I...help.] Rowe. Two lines, the first ending faint, in Ff. 41. tell-] Rowe. tell: Ff, Han. ii, Cap. Steev. Sing. Knt, Dyce. 42. help.] help Rowe, Pope, Han. i. 43. So] As H. Rowe 44. [Exit...] Glo. Exeunt Some with the Soldier. Cap. Exit Soldier, attended. Mal. om. Ff. 45 45. Who] But who Pope, +, Cap. Who is't Steev. conj. here?] here now? Ktly. Enter Ross.] Cap. After line 44, Steev. Var. Knt, Sing. old Hamlet of 1603: Shee as my childe obediently obey'd me.' 'For here the Satyricall Satyre writes,' &c. LETTSOM. Note the following similar examples, for which, I presume, we may thank compositors: Hen. V: IV, i, 236, ‘great greatness.' Dumb Knight, II, i, ‘our high height of bliss.' Shirley, Coronation, IV, i, 'great greatness' (here the metre demands the expulsion of great). Ezekiel, xx, 47, 'the flaming flame shall not be quenched;' Sept. οὐ σβεσθήσεται ἡ φλὸς ἡ ἐξαφθεισα. RITTER. Compare Much Ado, I, i, 16, 'better bettered expectation.' 38. So...foe] WHITE. The halting rhythm of the first part of this line, its two superfluous syllables, and the unmitigated triplication of ‘double,' lead me to think that the greater part of a line has been lost, of which in so they' we have only the first two or last two syllables. 40. memorize] HEATH. That is, make another Golgotha, which should be celeLrated and delivered down to posterity with as frequent mention as the first. HALLIWELL. 'Though Grecian seas or shores me captiv'd quel'd, And altar-decking gifts, I'd memorize.'—Virgil, translated by Vicars, 1632. 42. help.] COLERIDGE (p. 240). The style and rhythm of the captain's speeches should be illustrated by reference to the interlude in Hamlet, in which the epic is substituted for the tragic, in order to make the latter be felt as the real-life diction. 43. So] ABBOTT, 275. Bearing in mind that as is simply a contraction for 'all-so' ('alse,' 'als,' 'as'), we shall not be surprised at some interchanging of so and as. We still retain 'as...so,' but seldom use 'so...as,' preferring 'as...as;' except where so requires special emphasis. The Elizabethans frequently used so before as. CLARENDON. Compare Cym. I, iv, 3. 45. Enter Ross] STEEVENS. As Ross alone is addressed, or is mentioned, in |