Edited by William Winter. + Shakespeare's Tragedy Of ·Macbeth As Presented by Edwin Booth. "Hours dreaajul and things strange." "He shall live a man forbid." Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill." "They say blood will have blood." "Nature's germins tumble all together, "Unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles." "Life's but a walking shadow." "Blow wind! come wrack! At least we'll die with harness on our back." "And so, his knell is knolled." New-York: Francis Hart & Company, 63 and 65 Murray Street. Preface. “МАСВЕТ! ACBETH" is remarkable, even among the works of Shakespeare, for sustained continuity of rapid movement, and for a uniform and abiding quality of high and weird poetic mood. In general, as may be gathered from Ben Jonson's famous commemorative lines, its author was a scrupulous and thorough reviser of his own writings. He did not scorn to reinforce his spontaneous creative power with laborious art, and thus he produced his "well-torned and true-filed lines" by striking "the second heat upon the Muses' anvil." But, in the writing of " Macbeth," he seems to have enjoyed supreme mental freedom. He possessed an hour of insight, and his art was merged in inspiration. The piece is breezy with power, and is totally free from the heaviness and difficulty of a constrained effort. Even the quality of the verse is invariable throughout this play. No feeble · passages occur in it. The texture of the fifth act is as firm as the texture of the first. The rush of dramatic action enters into and vitalizes almost every part of the mechanism. A piece thus vigorously and happily created cannot lapse from movement into narrative. All stage versions of " Macbeth,” accordingly, present, with but slight curtailment or other alteration, the original of Shakespeare. The version herewith printed gives the text as it is used by Edwin Booth, and illustrates it with the stage business—whether traditional or newly devised—which he employs. Excisions and changes of the original will be observed in it; but these — few in number, though important in character: are thought to be necessary 3925 (RECAP) 793634 66 |