[111]
The Remarks still find cause to blame Macbeth: He calls for his armour;—notwithstanding Seyton's remonstrance, that
It is not needed yet,[1]
- ↑ Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 3.
first interpolated by Mr. Rowe, and has been retained by every subsequent editor. Such outrageous violence does not belong to the feelings of a person overwhelmed with surprise, half-doubting half-believing an event,—at once, in nature most strange, and to himself of the most fatal importance. It is a direction irreconcileable to Macbeth's emotions at the moment for which it is given, and should in future editions be omitted. It may be added, without straining the matter too far, that Sir William Davenant would, in all likelihood, have set down this direction in his Macbeth, 4to. 1674, if either the practice of the Stage under Shakspeare's own management, or the action of Mr. Betterton, who played the part by Sir William's alteration, had invited its insertion.
