Thus to mine eyes. Nature seems dead, Now o'er the one half world The curtain'd sleep; now witchcraft celebrates3 2 Now o'er the one half world Nature seems dead,] That is, over our hemisphere all action and motion seem to have ceased. This image, which is, perhaps, the most striking that poetry can produce, has been adopted by Dryden, in his Conquest of Mexico: "All things are hush'd as Nature's self lay dead, "And sleeping flow'rs beneath the night dews sweat. These lines, though so well known, I have transcribed, that the contrast between them and this passage of Shakspeare may be more accurately observed. Night is described by two great poets, but one describes a night of quiet, the other of perturbation. In the night of Dryden, all the disturbers of the world are laid asleep; in that of Shakspeare, nothing but sorcery, lust, and murder, is awake. He that reads Dryden, finds himself lulled with serenity, and disposed to solitude and contemplation. He that peruses Shak speare, looks round alarmed, and starts to find himself alone. One is the night of a lover; the other, of a murderer. Johnson. Perhaps Sir Philip Sidney had the honour of suggesting the last image in Dryden's description: "Night hath clos'd all in her cloke, "Twinkling starres love-thoughts provoke; 66 Daunger hence good care dooth keepe; England's Helicon, edit. 1600, p. 1. Steevens. Now o'er the one half world &c.] So, in the second part of Marston's Antonio and Mellida, 1602: ""Tis yet dead night; yet all the earth is clutch'd "In the dull leaden hand of snoring sleep. "No breath disturbs the quiet of the air, "No spirit moves upon the breast of earth, “Save howling dogs, night-crows, and screeching-owls, "Save meagre ghosts, Piero, and black thoughts. 66 65 I am great in blood, Unequal'd in revenge :-you horrid scouts "From your large palms." Malone. • The curtain'd sleep; now witchcraft celebrates -] The word now has been added for the sake of metre. Probably Shakspeare wrote: The curtain'd sleeper. The folio spells the word sleepe, and an addition of the letter r only affords the proposed emendation Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd murder, Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, earth,5 Milton has transplanted this image into his Masque at Ludlow Castle, v. 554: "That draw the litter of close-curtain'd sleep." Steevens. Mr. Steevens's emendation of " the curtain'd sleeper," is well intitled to a place in the text. It is clearly Shakspeare's own word. Ritson. So afterwards: 66 a hideous trumpet calls to parley "The sleepers of the house." Now was added by Sir William D'Avenant, in his alteration of this play, published in 1674. Malone. thus with his stealthy pace, With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design · Moves like a ghost.] The old copy-sides. Steevens. Mr. Pope changed sides to strides Malone. A ravishing stride is an action of violence, impetuosity, and tumult, like that of a savage rushing on his prey; whereas the poet is here attempting to exhibit an image of secrecy and caution, of anxious circumspection and guilty timidity, the stealthy pace of a ravisher creeping into the chamber of a virgin, and of an assassin approaching the bed of him whom he proposes to murder, without awaking him; these he describes as moving like ghosts, whose progression is so different from strides, that it has been in all ages represented to be as Milton expresses it: "Smooth sliding without step." This hemistich will afford the true reading of this place, which is, I think, to be corrected thus: and wither'd murder thus with his stealthy pace, With Tarquin ravishing, slides tow'rds bis design, Tarquin is, in this place, the general name of a ravisher, and the sense is: Now is the time in which every one is a-sleep, but those who are employed in wickedness; the witch who is sacrificing to Hecate, and the ravisher, and the murderer, who, like me, are stealing upon their prey. When the reading is thus adjusted, he wishes, with great propriety, in the following lines, that the carth may not bear bie steps. Johnson. Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear I cannot agree with Dr. Johnson that a stride is always an action of violence, impetuosity, or tumult. Spenser uses the word in his Fairy Queen, B. IV, c. viii, and with no idea of violence annexed to it: "With easy steps so soft as foot could stride." And as an additional proof that a stride is not always a tumultuous effort, the following instance, from Harrington's translation of Ariosto, [1591] may be brought: "He takes a long and leisurable stride, "And longest on the hinder foot he staid; Orlando Furioso, 28th book, stanza 63. Whoever has been reduced to the necessity of finding his way about a house in the dark, must know that it is natural to take large strides, in order to feel before us whether we have a safe footing or not. The ravisher and murderer would naturally take such strides, not only on the same account, but that their steps might be fewer in number, and the sound of their feet be repeated as seldom as possible. Steevens. Mr. Steevens's observation is confirmed by many instances that occur in our ancient poets. So, in a passage by J. Sylvester, cited in England's Parnassus, 1600: "Anon he stalketh with an easy stride, By some clear river's lillie-paved side." Again, in our author's King Richard II: "Nay rather every tedious stride I make Thus also the Roman poets: 66 vestigia furtim "Suspenso digitis fert taciturna gradu." Ovid. Fasti. "Passibus." Statius, Lib. X. It is observable that Shakspeare, when he has occasion, in his Rape of Lucrece, to describe the action here alluded to, uses a similar expression; and perhaps would have used the word stride, if he had not been fettered by the rhyme : "Into the chamber wickedly he stalks.” Plausible, however, as this emendation may appear, the old reading, sides, is, I believe, the true one; I have therefore adhered to it, on the same principle on which I have uniformly proceeded thoughout my edition, that of leaving the original text undisturbed, whenever it could be justified either by comparing our author with himself or with contemporary writers. The following passage in Marlowe's translation of Ovid's Elegies, 8vo. no date, but printed about 1598, adds support to the reading of the old copy; Thy very stones prate of my where-about," "I saw when forth a tired lover went, Again, in Martial: "Tu tenebris gaudes; me ludere, teste lucerna, Our poet may himself also furnish us with a confirmation of the old reading; for in Troilus and Cressida we find"You, like a lecher, out of whorish loins "Are pleas'd to breed out your inheritors." It may likewise be observed that Falstaff, in the fifth Act of The Merry Wives of Windsor, says to Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page, "Divide me like a bride-buck, each a haunch: I will keep my sides to myself," &c. Falstaff certainly did not think them, Jike those of Ovid's lover, past service; having met one of the ladies by assignation. I believe, however, a line has been lost after the words "stealthy pace. Malone. Mr. Malone's reasons, &c. for this supposition, (on account of their length) are given at the conclusion of the play, with a reference to the foregoing observations. How far a Latinism, adopted in the English version of a Roman poet; or the mention of loins, (which no dictionary acknowledges as a synonyme to sides) can justify Mr. Malone's restoration, let the judicious reader determine. Falstaff, dividing himself as a buck, very naturally says he will give away his best joints, and keep the worst for himself. A side of venison is at once an established term, and the least elegant part of the carcase so divided-But of what use could sides, in their Ovidian sense, have been to Falstaff, when he had already parted with his baunches ? It is difficult to be serious on this occasion. I may therefore be pardoned if I observe that Tarquin, just as he pleased, might have walked with moderate steps, or lengthened them into strides; but, when we are told that he carried his "sides" with him, it is natural to ask how he could have gone any where without them. Nay, further,—However sides, (according to Mr. Malone's interpretation of the word) might have proved efficient in Lucretia's bed chamber, in that of Duncan they could answer no such purpose, as the lover and the murderer succeed by the exertion of very different organs I am, in short, of the Fool's opinion in King Lear "That going should be used with feet," and, consequently, that sides are out of the question. Such restorations of superannuated mistakes, put our author into the condition of Cibber's Lady Dainty, who, having been cured her disorders, one of her physicians says,—" Then I'll mak her go over them again." Steevens. And take the present horror from the time, [A bell rings. With Tarquin's ravishing &c.] The justness of this similitude is not very obvious. But a stanza, in his poem of Tarquin and Lucrece, will explain it : "Now stole upon the time the dead of night, "When heavy sleep had clos'd up mortal eyes; "No noise but owls' and wolves' dead boding cries -- Warburton' Thou sure and firm-set earth,] The old copy-Thou soure &c. which, though an evident corruption, directs us to the reading I have ventured to substitute in its room. So, in Act IV, sc. iii. "Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure." Steevens. which way they walk,] The folio reads: which they may walk, Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone. Steevens. Thy very stones prate of my where-about,] The following passage in a play which has been frequently mentioned, and which Langbaine says was very popular in the time of queen Elizabeth, A Warning for faire Women, 1599, perhaps suggested this thought: "Mountains will not suffice to cover it, "That lie within the street, cry out for vengeance, Malone. So, as Dr. Farmer observes, in Churchyard's Choise: "The stepps I tread, shall tell me my offence." Steevens. And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it.] i. e. lest the noise from the stones take away from this midnight season that present horror which suits so well with what is going to be acted in it. What was the horror he means? Silence, than which nothing can be more horrid to the prepetrator of an atrocious design. This shows a great knowledge of human nature. Warburton. Whether to take horror from the time means not rather to catch it as communicated, than to deprive the time of horror, de serves to be considered. Johnson. The latter is surely the true meaning. Macbeth would have nothing break through the universal silence that added such |