:

56

Black spirits and white,
Red spirits and grey;
Mingle, mingle, mingle,
You that mingle may.

2 Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes :-
Open, locks, whoever knocks.

Enter MACВЕТН.

Macb. How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?

What is't you do?

All. A deed without a name.

Macb. I cónjure you, by that which you profess,

(Howe'er you come to know it,) answer me:
Though you untie the winds, and let them fight
Against the churches; though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up;

Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown down;
Though castles topple on their warders' heads;8

Though palaces, and pyramids, do slope

Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure

Of nature's germins tumble all together, 9

Even till destruction sicken, answer me

To what I ask you.

1 Witch. Speak.

2 Witch. Demand.

3 Witch. We'll answer.

1 Witch. Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our

mouths,

Or from our masters'?

Maco. Call them, let me see them.

1 Witch. Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten

Her nine farrow; grease, that's sweaten

From the murderer's gibbet, throw

Into the flame.

[6] Yesty waves-i. e. foaming or frothy waves.

[71 Corn, prostrated by the wind, in modern language, is said to be lay'd;

JOHNSON.

RITSON.

STEEV.

but lodg'd had anciently the same meaning.

[8] Topple is used for tumble.

[9] Germins are seeds which have begun to germinate or sprout. Germèn,

Lat. Germe, Fr.

STEEVENS.

Thunder. An Apparition of an armed Head rises.2

Macb. Tell me, thou unknown pow'r,

1 Witch. He knows thy thought;

Hear his speech, but say thou nought.

App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Mac

duff;

Beware the thane of Fife. --Dismiss me :-Enough.

[Descends. Macb. What-e'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks;

Thou hast harp'd my fear aright : 3 - But one word

more:

1 Witch. He will not be commanded: Here's another, More potent than the first.

Thunder. An Apparition of a bloody Child rises.
App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!
Macb. Had I three ears, I'd hear thee.
App. Be bloody, bold,

And resolute : laugh to scorn the power of man,
For none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.

[Descends.

Macb. Then live, Macduff; What need I fear of thee?

But yet I'll make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live;
That I may tell pale-hearted fear, it lies,

And sleep in spite of thunder. - What is this,

Thunder. An Apparition of a Child crowned, with a

tree in his hand, rises.

That rises like the issue of a king;
And wears upon his baby brow the round
And top of sovereignty.4

[:] i.e. with adroitness, dexterously. Deft is a North country word. STE. [2] The armed head represents symbolically Macbeth's head cut off and brought to Malcolm by Macduff. The bloody child is Macduff untimely ripp'd from his mother's womb. The child with a crown on his head, and a bough in his hand, is the royal Malcolm; who ordered his soldiers to hew them down a bough, and bear it before them to Dunsinane. This observation I have adopted from Mr. Upton. STEEV.

[3] To harp, is to touch on a passion as a harper touches a string. STEE. [4] The round is that part of the crown that encircles the head. The tos is the ornament that rises above it.

JOHNS.

i

:

All. Listen, but speak not.

App. Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.

Macb. That will never be;

[Descends.

Who can impress the forest; 5 bid the tree
Unfix his earth-bound root? sweet bodements! good!
Rebellious head, rise never, till the wood
Of Birnam rise, and our high-plac'd Macbeth
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath
To time, and mortal custom-Yet my heart
Throbs to know one thing; Tell me, (if your art
Can tell so much,) shall Banquo's issue ever
Reign in this kingdom ?

All. Seek to know no more.

Macb. I will be satisfied: deny me this,
And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know :-
Why sinks that cauldron? and what noise is this?

[Hautboys.

1 Witch. Show! 2 Witch. Show! 3 Witch. Show
All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart;
Come like shadows, so depart.

Eight Kings appear, and pass over the Stage in order; the last.
with a Glass in his hand; BANQUO following.
Macb. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo; down!
Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls : 8-And thy hair,
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first :-
A third is like the former : - Filthy hags!
Why do you show me this? - A fourth? Start, eyes!
What! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?
Another yet?-a seventh ?-I'll see no more :-

[5] i. e. who can command the forest to serve him like a soldier impressed.
JOHNSON.

[6] i. e. let rebellion never make head against me till a forest move, and I shall reign in safety. THEOBALD.

[7] "It is reported that Voltaire often laughs at the tragedy of Macbeth, for having a legion of ghosts in it. One should imagine he either had not learned English, or had forgot his Latin; for the spirits of Banquo's line are no more ghosts, than the representation of the Julian race in the Aneid; and there is no ghost but Banquo's throughout the play."

Essay on the Genius and Writings of Shakspeare, &c. by Mrs. Montagu, [8] 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. JOHNS.

And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass,
Which shows me many more; and some I see,
That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry : 9

Horrible sight!-Ay, now, I see, 'tis true;
For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his. - What, is this so?
1 Witch. Ay, sir, all this is so :-But why

Stands Macbeth thus amazedly ?-
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprights, 2
And show the best of our delights;
I'll charm the air to give a sound,
While you perform your antique round:
That this great king may kindly say,
Our duties did his welcome pay.

[Music. The Witches dance, and vanish.

Macb. Where are they? Gone ? - Let this pernicious

hour

Stand aye accursed in the calender! 3

Come in, without there!

Enter LEΝΟΧ.

Len. What's your grace's will ?

Macb. Saw you the weird sisters ?

Len. No, my lord.

Macb. Came they not by you?

Len. No, indeed, my lord.

Macb. Infected be the air whereon they ride; And damn'd, all those that trust them!-I did hear The galloping of horse: Who wast came by ?

Len. "Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word,

Macduff is fled to England.

Macb. Fled to England?
Len. Ay, my good lord.

Mach. Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits :4

The flighty purpose never is o'er-took,
Unless the deed go with it: From this moment,
The very firstlings of my heart shall be

The firstlings of my hand. And even now

(9) This was intended as a compliment to King James the First, who first united the two islands and the three kingdoms under one head; whose house too was said to be descended from Banquo. WARB.

(1) To bolter, in Warwickshire, signifies to daub, dirty, or begrime. STEE. (2) i. e. spirits.

STEEV.

(3) In the ancient almanacks the unlucky days were distinguished by a mark of reprobation. STEEV.

(4) To anticipate is here to prevent, by taking away the opportunity. 36*

VOL. III.

:

Tocrown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:
The castle of Macduff I will surprise;

Seize upon Fife; give to the edge of the sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace his line. No boasting like a fool;
This deed I'll do, before this purpose cool:
But no more sights - Where are these gentlemen?
Come, bring me where they are.
[Exeunt.

SCENE II. X

Fife. A Room in MACDUFF's Castle. Enter Lady MACDUFF,
her Son, and ROSSE.

L.Macd. What had he done, to make him fly the land?
Rosse. You must have patience, madam.
L. Macd. He had none :

His flight was madness: When our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.

Rosse. You know not,

Whether it was his wisdom, or his fear.

L. Macd. Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave hisbabes, His mansion, and his titles, in a place From whence himself does fly? He loves us not; He wants the natural touch:6 for the poor wren, The most diminutive of birds, will fight, Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. All is the fear, and nothing is the love; As little is the wisdom, where the flight So runs against all reason.

Rosse. My dearest coz',

I pray you, school yourself: But, for your husband,
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
The fits o'the season. I dare not speak much further:
But cruel are the times, when we are traitors,
And do not know ourselves; when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear;
But float upon a wild and violent sea,

Each way, and move. I take my leave of you:

(5) This hasty reflection is to be considered as a moral to the foregoing

scene::

"Tu ne quæsieris scire (nefas) quem mihi, quem tibi
"Finem Di dederint Leuconoe, et Babylonios
"Tentaris numeros, ut meluis quicquid erit pati."

STEEV.

(6) Natural sensibility. He is not touched with natural affection. JOHN.

(7) What is most fitting to be done in every conjuncture. ANONYMOUS.