212 
This is the arbitrary reading of Mr. Pope, 
in lieu of that which is given in the old 
copy: “There to meet witi Macbeth ;” 
and it seems to imply, that the third witch 
only designed him this favour; whereas 
they had all agreed to rendezvous on the 
heath at the ciose of the battle, which 
would be ereset of sun. The true read- 
ing probably is, “ There to meet wi’ thee, 
(that is, with thee) Macbeth!” Such a 
mistake might easily arise from a cares 
less manuscript abbreviation. 
‘as 
Fair is foul, and foul is fair 5 
Hover thro’ the fog and filthy air, 
Ibid. Ib. 
“T believe,” says Dr. Johnson, ‘the 
meaning is, that to us, perverse and ma- 
lignant as we are, fair is foul, and foul is 
fair.” But why should the witches be so 
forward to confess their own perverseness 
and malignity? They are represented as 
meeting in the midst of a violent tem- 
pest, and at the close of their conference, 
regardless of the war of elements,. fair 
and foul being to them. alike, they take 
their flight according to their several mys+ 
terious destinations; or, in their own lan- 
guage, they hover through the fog and 
filthy air; that is, the dark and turbid 
atmosphere, as it were, in contempt and 
defiance of the terrors of the storm. 
What haste looks thro’ his eyes! 
he look 
That seems to speak things strange. 
Ibid. Scene2. _ 
This phraseology Dr. Johnson would 
alter thus: So should he look that teems 
to speak things strange ;” the present 
text meaning, as he says, “<So should he 
look, that looks as if he told things 
strange.” But surely the passage is sus- 
ceptibie of an easier and better interpre- 
tation, **So should he look whose coun- 
tenance is expressive of wondrous 
things. 
So should 
Come, what come may, 
Time and the hour run thro’ the roughest day, 
Act I. Scene 3. 
Macbeth, whose perturbed spirit, “in 
consequence of the prediction of the 
weird sisters, is, to use his own language, 
*¢ smothered in surmise,” entertains fora 
time ‘¢ horrible imaginings,” with a view 
to the accomplishment of his aspiring 
hopes. Yet, recovering himself after a 
violent conflict, he says, ‘‘ If chance will 
have me king, why chance may crown 
qne without my stir.” ‘And his ultimate 
conclusion is, ** Come, what come may, 
time and the hour run thro’ the rough- 
jest day.” The awe proverbial ; 
' 
- Critical Remarks on Shakespeare: 
[April 7, 
and the import is, whatever may befal in 
all the varieties of situation and circum- 
stances, times and occasions of advan- 
cing this great object of my ambition 
cannot fail to occur. o 
Make thick my blood, 
Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse€y 
That nocompunctious visitings of nature 
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace bee 
tween 
The effect and it. Ibid. Scene 5. 
This is very harsh; but to change the 
expression, keep peace, for keep pace, as 
Dr. Johnson proposes, would be still 
harsher. To’ keep peace between the 
purpose and the effect, is to cause the 
purpose to rest in peace; and not to be 
carried into effect. 
Now o’er one half the world 
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse 
The curtained sleep: now Witchcraft cele- 
‘ brates 
Pale Hecate’s offerings; and withered Mur- 
der, : 
Alarum’d by hiscentinel, the wolf, 
Whose how!’s his watch, thus with his steal- 
thy pace, 
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his 
design, 
Moves like a ghost. Act II. Scene 1- 
Dr. Johnson is again unfortunate in his 
attempt at emendation. ‘A ravishing 
stride,” he says, “is an act of violence, 
impetuosity, and tumult;” and he would 
therefore have us substitute slides for 
stvides, .With this alteration Mr. Stee- 
vens does not agree: and as a proof that 
a stride is not always considered as a 
tumultuous effort, he, with great happi- 
ness, adduces the following quotation 
from Harrington’s translation of Ariosto ; 
He takes a long and leisurable stride, 
And longest on the hinder foot he staid; 
So soft he treads, altho’ his steps were wide, 
As tho’ to tread on eggs he was afraid; 
And, as he goes, he gropes on either side, 
To find the bed, Sc. Orlando Furioso, Book 284 
Macbeth; Who's there? What ho! 
Lady M. Alack, I am afraid they have 
awak’d, . . 
And ’tis not-done, &c. Act II. Scene 2. 
Tt is plain, that Macbeth, contrary to the 
common stage-direction, does not enter 
till after the speech of Lady Macbeth, 
who, seeing him approach, exclaims,“ My 
husband!” These words of Macbeth, 
therefore, are spoken from within, in 
consequence of the noise of voices which 
he heard, or rather in the agony of his 
mind fancied that he heard, immediately 
on the perpetration of the murder. For 
Lady Macbeth declares, she heard ae 
the 
a 
