Shakespeare uses the word only five times. See Hamlet,

I. iv. 19: They clepe us drunkards.'

93. The valued file, the list of prices or values of dogs. 94. Subtle, sly. Shakespeare has also the phrases: Subtle as Sphinx; subtle games; subtle as the fox for prey. 95. Housekeeper, house-dog.

97. Clos'd = inclosed.

98. Addition, title.

=

From quite different from. A

not unusual meaning in Shakespeare.

100. If you have a station in the file, if you have not entirely lost position.

102. In your bosoms, in your minds.

103. Whose execution, the carrying out of which.. Takes. . . off. See note on I. vii. 20.

104. Grapples, strongly binds. Cogs.: Grasp (O. E. graps); grip; gripple; grab; grope; grapnel.

105. In his life:

=

while he lives.

107. Buffets, blows.

108. Incens'd, enraged.

110. Tugg'd with, pulled about by. 114. Distance, alienation.

The only passage in Shake

speare where it is used in this sense.

116. My near'st of life, my most vital and inmost parts.

117. Bare-faced power, with openly exercised power. 118. Avouch, acknowledge it as an expression of my royal will.

119. For, on account of.

120. Loves. Seldom used in the plural by Shakespeare. Cf. Coriolanus, III. iii. :

Wail 121. Who.

'Whose loves I prize

As the dead carcasses of unburied men.'

but I must wail.

The antecedent is to be obtained from his.

127. Advise, inform.

the eye of the public.

And, in modern English, informa

tion is still called in commercial letters advices. 128. Acquaint you. The sure means of saying, or knowing, the time.'

=

From

away from.

- Always thought it being always kept in mind. 131. A clearness from all possibility of suspicion.

132. Rubs, rough or seamy places.

135. Embrace the fate, share in the fate.

136. Resolve yourselves, come to a resolution on the subject.

138. Straight, straightway, immediately.

- Abide, remain. The word abide is not so strong as stay in Shakespeare. Cf. Winter's Tale, IV. iii.: They cherish it to make it stay there, and yet it will no more but abide.'

SCENE 2

4. Nought's had, nothing is gained.

6

5. Without content, and still we are dissatisfied. 6. 'Tis safer. This is part of the punishment, to envy the very victim of the crime.

10. Using, keeping company with. So a tradesman in some parts of England is said to use this or that inn.

11. Without all remedy, beyond remedy. In the same way, Shakespeare has the phrase without all doubt. 12. Regard, mental notice.

13. Scotch'd, cut.

14. Close, join again. The snake is supposed to have been cut to pieces; but as a scotch is a slight shallow cut, a stronger word was needed in opposition to close. - Poor, weak, feeble.

=

15. Her former tooth of her tooth, as it was (in dan

ger) before. This transposition of epithets is very frequent in Shakespeare.

=

16. Frame of things the system of the universe. Disjoint, fall out of joint, to pieces. Both the worlds, the terrestrial and the celestial. - Suffer, perish.

18. Terrible dreams. This is a premonition of Act V. i. 21. On the torture = on the rack of the mind.

22. Ecstasy, unspeakable agony. Shakespeare uses the word oftener in the sense of great pain than of great joy.

23. After life's fitful fever. This is one of the most wonderful lines in Shakespeare. The alliteration of the five fs is very significant. Here again crime is full of envy of the dead.

24. His for its.

25. Domestic, home, in opposition to foreign. eign levy, in allusion to the invasion of Sweno.

For

27. Gentle my lord. So Shakespeare has: Dear my lord; dear my brother; dread my lord; good my fellows; good my friend; good my mother; sweet my child; good your graces; and even good my complexion. The reason probably is, that from habit and association the my, your, etc., cling more closely to lord, etc., than the epithet can; so that my lord is really felt to be one word. Sleek o'er,

smooth out.

28. Jovial, as being born under the planet Jupiter or Jove, which was the joyfullest star and of the happiest augury of all. - ARCHBISHOP TRENCH.

30. Apply, be specially given.

31. Present him eminence, show him special honor. 32. Unsafe the while, the time being insecure.

33. Lave our honors, wash our newly acquired honors in streams of flattery — which, as strong persons, we ought not to require to use.

34. Vizards (visors), masks. The d in vizard is intrusive and inorganic; like the d in sound (from Lat. son-us).

35. Leave, cease from this vein of thought.

36. Full of scorpions. He cannot entertain a quiet or pleasant thought.

38. Copy for copyhold. A copyhold tenure of land is 'a tenure for which the tenant has nothing to show but the copy of the rolls made by the steward of his lord's court.' Their tenure of life is not an eternal copyhold tenure.

in that consideration.

41. Cloister'd flight = a flight amongst shadowy walls and vaults.

42. Shard-borne, borne upon shards, the hard, smooth, horny wing-cases of the beetle. These cases were probably so called from a fancied resemblance to the fragment of a pot,' as shard is a form of sherd.

44. Yawning peal, peal that calls to sleep (or yawning). 45. Chuck, a form of chickena term of endearment. 46. Seeling, originally a term of falconry. To seel was to sew up the eyes of a hawk, from the Fr. siller. 47. Scarf up, tie a scarf round, blindfold. 49. Cancel, draw strokes through. like Lady Macbeth in line 38, uses a legal metaphor. The bond was the life of Banquo and Fleance.

-Bond.

Macbeth,

51. Rooky, misty, cloudy — a meaning which it still has in several English provincial dialects. Roke is also mist. H. Ger. rauch.

56. Go with me, follow my meaning.

SCENE 3

2. Our mistrust = we need not mistrust him.

3. Offices, the special parts of the work that each has to

do.

4. To the direction just

exact to our instructions.

6. Lated belated or benighted.

=

10. Within the note of expectation = included in the list of expected guests.

16. It will be rain to-night. If Banquo had not spoken, it would have been more difficult for the murderers to begin their ugly work. It is another mark of subtle skill that the phrase Let it come down seems to give the murderers an opening and an opportunity for their work; and they shower blows upon Banquo.

19. The way, the plan agreed upon-namely, to strike out the light.

SCENE 4

1. Degrees (the literal meaning), ranks. and last once for all.

At first

5. Her state = her chair of state, a canopied chair on a daïs. Shakespeare uses the word in this sense nine times. In best time, at the most suitable time.

6. Require, in the sense of ask.

9. Encounter, meet. This is much the most usual sense in Shakespeare, who uses the word in a hostile sense only six times.

11. Large, unrestrained.

14. 'Tis better. Better to have you at the door-even such a fellow as you- than to have him sitting at table. 19. Nonpareil, the nonesuch.

22. Founded, with as solid a foundation as.

23. The casing air, which enwraps and limits all, but is not itself limited.

24. Cribb'd, confined in a crib—a still smaller place than a cabin.

25. Saucy. Dr. Schmidt interprets this as unbounded, extravagant, and calls it 'a very expressive oxymoron'; Mr. Wright explains it as importunate. In this sense