The same rhythm appears in a third passage which has been doubted:  IV. i. 125-132.  But this is not quite on a level with the other two; for (1), though it is possible to suppose the Witches, as well as the Apparitions, to vanish at 124, and Macbeth’s speech to run straight on to 133, the cut is not so clean as in the other cases; (2) it is not at all clear that Hecate (the most suspicious element) is supposed to be present.  The original stage-direction at 133 is merely ’The Witches Dance, and vanish’; and even if Hecate had been present before, she might have vanished at 43, as Dyce makes her do.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 280:  E.g. Mr. Chambers’s excellent little edition in the Warwick series.]

NOTE AA.

HAS MACBETH BEEN ABRIDGED?

Macbeth is a very short play, the shortest of all Shakespeare’s except the Comedy of Errors.  It contains only 1993 lines, while King Lear contains 3298, Othello 3324, and Hamlet 3924.  The next shortest of the tragedies is Julius Caesar, which has 2440 lines. (The figures are Mr. Fleay’s.  I may remark that for our present purpose we want the number of the lines in the first Folio, not those in modern composite texts.)

Is there any reason to think that the play has been shortened?  I will briefly consider this question, so far as it can be considered apart from the wider one whether Shakespeare’s play was re-handled by Middleton or some one else.

That the play, as we have it, is slightly shorter than the play Shakespeare wrote seems not improbable. (1) We have no Quarto of Macbeth; and generally, where we have a Quarto or Quartos of a play, we find them longer than the Folio text. (2) There are perhaps a few signs of omission in our text (over and above the plentiful signs of corruption).  I will give one example (I. iv. 33-43).  Macbeth and Banquo, returning from their victories, enter the presence of Duncan (14), who receives them with compliments and thanks, which they acknowledge.  He then speaks as follows: 

                        My plenteous joys,
     Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
     In drops of sorrow.  Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
     And you whose places are the nearest, know,
     We will establish our estate upon
     Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
     The Prince of Cumberland; which honour must
     Not unaccompanied invest him only,
     But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
     On all deservers.  From hence to Inverness,
     And bind us further to you.