I.v.42 (422, 2) mortal thoughts] This expression signifies not _the
thoughts of mortals_, but _murtherous, deadly_, or _destructive
designs_. So in act 5,
_Hold fast the_ mortal _sword_.
And in another place,
_With twenty_ mortal _murthers_.
I.v.47 (422, 3) nor keep peace between/The effect, and it!] The intent
of lady Macbeth evidently is to wish that no womanish tenderness, or
conscientious remorse, may hinder her purpose from proceeding to effect;
but neither this, nor indeed any other sense, is expressed by the
present reading, and therefore it cannot be doubted that Shakespeare
wrote differently, perhaps thus,
_That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep_ pace _between
Th' effect, and it_.--
To _keep_ pace _between_ may signify _to pass between_, to _intervene_.
_Pace_ is on many occasions a favourite of Shakespeare's. This phrase is
indeed not usual in this sease, but was it not its novelty that gave
occasion to the present corruption? [The sense is, _that no compunctious
visitings of nature_ may prevail upon her, to give place in her mind to
_peaceful_ thoughts, or to rest one moment in quiet, from the hour of
her purpose to its full completion in the effect. REVISAL.] This writer
thought himself perhaps very sagacious that be found a meaning which
nobody missed, the difficulty still remains how such a meaning is made
by the words.
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