Like elves and fairies in a ring, SONG. Black spirits and white, 2 Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes :Open, locks, whoever knocks. Enter MACBETH. Macb. How now, you secret,black,and midnight hags? What is't you do? All. A deed without a name. Macb. I conjure 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,7 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," 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 [6] Testy waves-i. e. foaming or frothy waves. JOHNSON. [71 Corn, prostrated by the wind, in modern language, is said to be lay'd; but lodg'd had anciently the same meaning. [8] Topple is used for tumble. STEEV. RITSON. [9] Germins are seeds which have begun to germinate or sprout. Germen, Lat. Germe, Fr. STEEVENS. All. Come, high, or low; I Thyself, and office, deftly show. 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 Macduff; 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. 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 [:] 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 top is the ornament that rises above it. JOHNS. All. Listen, but speak not. App. Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Macb. That will never be ; Who can impress the forest ;5 bid the tree [Descends. Unfix his earth-bound root? sweet bodements! good! All. Seek to know no more. Macb. I will be satisfied: deny me this, And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know :- [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 :-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 Æneid; 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. see, And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass, 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 LENOX. 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. Macb. 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 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 : Seize upon Fife; give to the edge of the sword But no more sights 6-Where are these gentlemen ? SCENE II. X [Exeunt. 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, Rosse. You know not, Whether it was his wisdom, or his fear. L. Macd. Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave his babes, His mansion, and his titles, in a place From whence himself does fly? He loves us not; Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. Rosse. My dearest coz', I pray you, school yourself: But, for your husband, 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 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 STEEV. (6) Natural sensibility. He is not touched with natural affection. JOHN. (7) What is most fitting to be done in every conjuncture. ANONYMOUS. |