Or have we eaten of the insane root 1, MACB. Your children shall be kings. BAN. You shall be king. MACB. And thane of Cawdor too; went it not so? - eaten of the INSANE ROOT,] The insane root is the root which makes insane. THEOBALD. The old copies read-“ on the insane root." Reed. Shakspeare alludes to the qualities anciently ascribed to hemlock. So, in Greene's Never too Late, 1616: "You gaz'd against the sun, and so blemished your sight; or else you have eaten of the roots of hemlock, that makes men's eyes conceit unseen objects.” Again, in Ben Jonson's Sejanus : 66 they lay that hold upon thy senses, "As thou hadst snuft up hemlock." STEEVENS. This quality was anciently attributed to other roots, besides hemlock. In Buchanan's History of Scotland, b. vii. Duncan King of Scotland destroys the invading army of Sueno King of Norway, by sending him provisions steeped in nightshade, solanum somniferum, which is fully described, and this property mentioned: "Vis fructui, radici, ac maximè semini somnifera, et quæ in amentiam si largius sumantur agat." Shakspeare may have also recollected a passage in North's translation of Plutarch. In the Life of Antony, (which our author must have diligently read,) the Roman soldiers, while employed in the Parthian war, are said to have suffered great distress for want of provisions. "In the ende (says Plutarch) they were compelled to live of herbs and rootes, but they found few of them that men do commonly eate of, and were enforced to taste of them that were never eaten before; among the which there was one that killed them, and made them out of their wits; for he that had once eaten of it, his memorye was gone from him, and he knew no manner of thing, but only busied himself in digging and hurling of stones from one place to another, as though it had been a matter of great waight, and to be done with all possible speede." MALONE. There is another book which has been shown to have been also read, and even studied, by the poet, and wherein, it is presumed, he actually found the name of the above root. This will appear from the following passage: " Henbane .... is called Insana, mad, for the use thereof is perillous; for if it be eate or dronke, it breedeth madnesse, or slow lykenesse of sleepe. Therefore this hearb is called commonly Mirilidium, for it taketh away wit and reason." Batman Uppon Bartholome de propriet. rerum, lib. xvii. ch. 87. DOUCE. BAN. To the self-same tune, and words. Who's here? Enter Rosse and ANGUS. ROSSE. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth, Which should be thine, or his: Silenc'd with that2, 2 His wonders and his praises do contend, Which should be thine, or his, &c.] i. e. private admiration of your deeds, and a desire to do them public justice by commendation, contend in his mind for pre-eminence,-Or,―There is a contest in his mind whether he should indulge his desire of publishing to the world the commendations due to your heroism, or whether he should remain in silent admiration of what no words could celebrate in proportion to its desert. Mr. M. Mason would read wonder, not wonders; for, says he, "I believe the word wonder, in the sense of admiration, has no plural." In modern language it certainly has none; yet I cannot help thinking that, in the present instance, plural was opposed to plural by Shakspeare. STEEVENS. "Silenc'd with that." i. e. wrapp'd in silent wonder at the deeds performed by Macbeth, &c. MALONE. 3-As thick as TALE,] Meaning, that the news came as thick as a tale can travel with the post. Or we may read, perhaps, yet better: 66 As thick as tale, "Came post with post That is, posts arrived as fast as they could be counted. JOHNSON. So, in King Henry VI. Part III. Act II. Sc. I.: 66 Tidings, as swiftly as the post could run, "Were brought," &c. Mr. Rowe reads-" as thick as hail. STEEVENS. The old copy reads-Can post. The emendation is Mr. Rowe's. Dr. Johnson's explanation would be less exceptionable, if the old copy had-As quick as tale." Thick applies but ill to tale, and seems rather to favour Mr. Rowe's emendation. Came post with post; and every one did bear ANG. We are sent, To give thee, from our royal master, thanks; Not pay thee. 4 ROSSE. And, for an earnest of a greater honour, He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor: In which addition, hail, most worthy thane! For it is thine. BAN. What, can the devil speak true? MACB. The thane of Cawdor lives; Why do you dress me In borrow'd robes ? ANG. Who was the thane, lives yet; "As thick as hail," as an anonymous correspondent observes to me, is an expression in the old play of King John, 1591 : 66 breathe out damned orisons, "As thick as hail-stones 'fore the spring's approach." The emendation of the word can is supported by a passage in King Henry IV. Part II. : 66 And there are twenty weak and wearied posts, "Come from the north." MALONE. Dr. Johnson's explanation is perfectly justifiable. As thick, in ancient language, signified as fast. To speak thick, in our author, does not therefore mean, to have a cloudy indistinct utterance, but to deliver words with rapidity. So, in Cymbeline, Act III. Sc. II. : say, and speak thick, "(Love's counsellor should fill the bores of hearing Again, in King Henry IV. Part II. Act II. Sc. III. : "For those that could speak low and tardily, Thick therefore is not less applicable to tale, the old reading, than to hail, the alteration of Mr. Rowe. STEEVENS. To herald thee, &c.] The old copy redundantly reads-Only to herald thee, &c. STEEVENS. But under heavy judgment bears that life bin'd Whether he was com With those of Norway; or did line the rebel Масв. Glamis, and thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind.-Thanks for your pains.— Do you not hope your children shall be kings, When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me, Promis'd no less to them? with those of Norway." The players not understanding that by "Norway" our author meant the King of Norway, as in Hamlet "Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy," &c. foisted in the words at present omitted. STEEVENS. Mr. Steevens reads: "Combin'd with Norway, or," &c. The old copy thus exhibits these lines : 6 66 Which he deserves to loose, "Whether he was combin'd with those of Norway, 66 And vantage; or that with both he labour'd "In his countrey's wracke, I know not." Boswell. in All's Well That Ends Well: So, The added word home inclines me to think that our author wrote "That thrusted home. So, in a subsequent scene : "That every minute of his being thrusts Against my nearest of life." 66 Thrusted is the regular participle from the verb to thrust, and though now not often used, was, I believe, common in the time of Shakspeare. So, in King Henry V.: 7 Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange : Two truths are told, "With casted slough and fresh legerity." Home means to the uttermost. So, in The Winter's Tale : 66 all my sorrows "You have paid home.” It may be observed, that "thrusted home" is an expression used at this day; but I doubt whether "trusted home," was ever used at any period whatsoever. I have had frequent occasion to remark that many of the errors in the old copies of our author's plays arose from the transcriber's ear having deceived him. In Ireland, where much of the pronunciation of the age of Queen Elizabeth is yet retained, the vulgar constantly pronounce the word thrust as if it were written trust; and hence, probably, the error in the text. MALOne. Trusted home, may as well be said as felt home. we have the adjective home-felt with this meaning: "Yet they in pleasing slumber lull'd the sense, 66 I never heard till now." BOSWELL. In Comus, 7 Might yet ENKINDLE YOU] Enkindle, for to stimulate you to seek. WARBURTON. A similar expression occurs in As You Like It, Act I. Sc. I.: nothing remains but that I kindle the boy thither." 66 STEEVENS. Might fire you with the hope of obtaining the crown. HENLEY. 8 TWO TRUTHS are told, &c.] How the former of these truths has been fulfilled, we are yet to learn. Macbeth could not become Thane of Glamis, till after his father's decease, of which there is no mention throughout the play. If the Hag only announced what Macbeth already understood to have happened, her words could scarcely claim rank as a prediction. STEEVENS. From the Scottish translation of Boethius it should seem that Sinel, the father of Macbeth, died after Macbeth's having been met by the weird sisters. "Makbeth (says the historian) revolvyng |