Chapter 14

_Macbeth_. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo; down! Thy crown does (a)sear mine eye-balls:--and thy (b)_hair_, Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first:-- A third is like the former.

(a) The expression of Macbeth, that the _crown sears_ his eye-balls, is taken from the method formerly practised of destroying the sight of captives or competitors, by holding a burning bason before the eye, which dried up its humidity. Whence the Italian, _abacinare, to blind_.

(b) As Macbeth expected to see a train of kings, and was only inquiring from what race they would proceed, he could not be surprised that the _hair_ of the second was _bound with gold_, like that of the first; he was offended only that the second resembled the first, as the first resembled Banquo, and, therefore, said:

--and thy _air_, Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.

NOTE XXXVII.

I will--give to the edge o' th' sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls That _trace him in his line_.--No boasting like a fool: This deed I'll do before my purpose cool.

Both the sense and measure of the third line, which, as it rhymes, ought, according to the practice of this author, to be regular, are, at present, injured by two superfluous syllables, which may easily be removed by reading,

--souls That trace his line:--No boasting like a fool.

NOTE XXXVIII.