and present danger. Shakespeare frequently puts fear for an object of fear. = 138. Whose murder which. the murder brooded over by Fantastical. See note on I. iii. 54. 139. Single state of man, my individual or solitary state. This is a not uncommon use of the word in Shakespeare. A striking passage occurs in the Tempest, I. ii. 432: 'What wert thou, if the King of Naples heard thee ? A single thing, as I am now.' -Function, exercise of thought and power of action. 140. Smother'd in surmise, overwhelmed by conjectures and speculations. 143. Stir, moving in the matter. come. Come = that have Mould, the 144. Strange garments, new clothes. shape of the body. 146. Time and the hour runs. Time and the hour form one single idea. Dr. Abbott, in sect. 333-339, gives a long list of singular verbs with plural nouns, and points out that the apparently singular verb is a dialectic northern plural in s or es. 147. Stay upon, wait on. 148. Give me your favor, pardon me. 149. Things forgotten. Macbeth pretends that he has been absorbed by some matters of business that had suddenly occurred to him. 152. The interim having weigh'd it, the intervening time having estimated the occurrence at its true value. Cl. P. S. 154. Our free hearts, our hearts freely. SCENE 4 2. Those in commission. Those charged with the execution of Cawdor. 6. Set forth, showed. Shakespeare uses set off in much the same sense. = 11. Careless uncared for. There is only one other passage in Shakespeare where the word is used in this sense. See All's Well, II. iii. 12. To find by which we can find. 14. O worthiest cousin. Macbeth, who appears as the most perfect dramatic comment on what the too impulsive and confiding Duncan has just been saying. Another 'gentleman on whom he is going to build an absolute trust. 19. Proportion the fit proportion. That it had been = in my power to reward thee in proportion. 21. More than all I have. 27. Safe toward, with a sure regard to. Cl. P. S. 29. Full of growing. Grow is often used by Shakespeare in the sense of to advance. 30. Nor must be known no less, and must be no less known. Cl. P. S. 34. Wanton, overgrown, exuberant. Wanton is a compound word. Wan (a form of wane) is a privative prefix found in many old words - —as wanhope (= despair), wantrust (= mistrust), etc. Ton is a contraction of togen or getogen, the past participle of O. E. teon, to train. The old phrase an untowe bird meant an untrained bird. was therefore exuberant for want of training. 37. Establish our estate, settle our kingdom. Wanton 39. Cumberland was at one time a fief of the Scottish kingdom, held from the crown of England. The district called Cumberland included Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Northern Strathclyde. 41. Signs of nobleness, insignia of nobility. 44. Us'd for usual to. = 45. Harbinger, forerunner, officer of the royal household sent on in front to prepare harborage or lodging for the king and his retainers. Another and older form is herberger. Then is intrusive, as in messenger (messager), and passenger (passager). A harbor was an inn; and an inn where only houseroom was provided was called in England a Cold Harbor. Mr. Isaac Taylor (in Words and Places, page 255) says, 'Where no religious house existed to receive the wayfarer, he would usually be compelled to content himself with the shelter of bare walls. The ruins of deserted Roman villas were no doubt often used by travellers who carried their own bedding and provisions, as is done by the frequenters of the khans and dak-houses of the East. Such places seem commonly to have borne the name of Cold Harbor.' 48. The elevation of young Malcolm to the princedom of Cumberland was a sudden obstacle to the new half-formed designs of Macbeth. 52. The eye wink-in the imperative (=not seem to see). 54. True, worthy Banquo. Duncan has been talking about Macbeth and his great qualities. SCENE 5 that 2. Perfectest report, most accurate intelligence is, the evidence of my own senses and confirmed by the news of Cawdor's death. 6. Missives, messengers. Cf. Antony, II. ii. 74: 'Did gibe my missive out of audience.' 7. All-hailed me. The only passage where the word is used as a verb. Shakespeare uses a large number of nouns as verbs. Thus he has childed, faith'd ( = believed); so fathered and so husbanded; and many others. 20. Illness = evil, iniquity. The only passage where Shakespeare uses the word in this sense. — Should, which is understood. The relative is frequently omitted by Shakespeare. It is one of the marks of his conversational style. Thus 23. That which cries, the thou must do, kill the king. crown. crown, to wit. Cf. IV. i. 91. 28. Golden round, the crown. 29. Metaphysical, supernatural. The word is used in its primary and literal meaning. The Greek is meta ta phusika, after things natural. The only instance in Shakespeare of this adjective. 31. Thou'rt mad to say it. Lady Macbeth's mind is thrown off its balance by the suddenness and appropriateness of this announcement; the whole outside world seems all at once to move in obedience to her most secret thoughts. 33. Inform'd, sent us word. 35. Had the speed of him, outstripped him. 36. Dead for breath = for want of breath. 37. Make up, complete. Tending, care and attendance. This is the only passage in Shakespeare where the word occurs. Tendance is the more common word. 38. The raven himself, even the raven, the ordinary bird of omens, has spent his breath in announcing the future, and is hoarse; no wonder, then, that the messenger has lost his breath. 39. Entrance = enterance, a trisyllable. So remembrance is made a quadrisyllable by Shakespeare in five passages. 41. Tend on, wait on. Mortal, fatal or murderous. 42. Top-full full to the brim. = = 44. Remorse, relenting or pity. 48. Murdering ministers ministers of murder. 49. Sightless substances invisible forms. There are three passages in Shakespeare where sightless has the ordinary meaning of not seeing. The only other passage where it means invisible is also in this play (I. vii. 23): 'The sightless couriers of the air.' 50. Wait on nature's mischief, are waiting or ready to take a part in any disaster that may be brought about by nature anywhere in the world. Mischief is not here used in the modern sense of harm done; but in the older sense of the process of doing mischief, as in the phrase, to mean mischief. 51. Pall. The only instance where Shakespeare has used this word. Pall is here employed as a verb. Dunnest, darkest. Milton has dun air (Paradise Lost, III. 72), and dun shades (Comus, 127). 52. Keen, sharp, used in its primary sense. So Shakespeare has keen teeth; keen whips; keen edge; keen arrows; keen sword. 53. Blanket of the dark, the covering which the darkness provides. 55. The all-hail hereafter, the all hail that will afterwards salute you as king. 58. Instant, present moment. 62. Your face does not wear a look of welcome; the matters' expressed in it are not hospitable, but strange ( = new and therefore alarming). 63. Beguile the time, mislead all the persons you may have to meet in that time. = into my hands to despatch. the gerund.) 68. Into my despatch (The noun here is = 70. Masterdom, supremacy. The only place in Shakespeare where the word occurs. 71. Clear, serenely or cheerfully. 72. Favor, countenance or features. To change countenance is to make people afraid and suspicious. So we find in Bunyan the expression an ill-favored man. 1. Seat, situation. SCENE 6 2. Nimbly, so as to enliven the spirits. 3. Gentle senses = senses made gentle and sensitive by |