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Mal. This is the Serjeant,

Who like a good and hardy foldier fought
'Gainft my captivity. Hail, hail, brave friend!
Say to the King the knowledge of the broil,
As thou didst leave it.

Cap. Doubtful long it flood:

As two spent fwimmers that do cling together,
And choak their art: the mercilefs Macdonel
(Worthy to be a Rebel; for to that
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do fwarm upon him) from the western ifles
Of Kernes and Gallow-glaffes was supply'd;
And fortune, on his damned quarry fmiling,
Shew'd like a rebel's whore. But all too weak:
For brave Macbeth (well he deferves that name)
Difdaining fortune, with his brandifht steel
Which fmoak'd with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carved out his paffage,
'Till he had fac'd the flave;

Who ne'er fhook hands nor bid farewel to him,
'Till he unfeam'd him from the nave to th' chops,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

King. Oh, valiant coufin! worthy gentleman!
Cap. As whence the fun 'gins his reflection,
Shipwracking ftorms and direful thunders break; (1)

(1) As whence the fun 'gins bis reflection,

So

Shipwracking forms, and direful thunders break;] Mr. Pope has degraded this word, 'gins, against the general authority of the copies, without any reafon affign'd for fo doing; and fubftituted, gives, in the room of it. But it will foon be obvious, how far our author's good obfer. vation and knowledge of nature goes to establish his own reading, 'gins. For the fenfe is this "As from the place, from whence

the fun begins his course, (viz. the Eaft,) shipwrecking ftorms "proceed; &c."-And it is fo in fact, that forms generally come from the Eaft. And it must be fo in reafon, becaufe the natural and conftant motion of the ocean is from East to Weft: and because the motion of the wind has the fame general direction. Præcipua generalis [Ventorum] caufa eft ipfe Sol, qui igneo fuo jubare aerem rarefacit attenuat; imprimis illum, in quem perpendiculares radios mittit, five fupra quem bæret. Aer enim rarefactus multo majorem locum poftulat. Inde fit, ut aer a fole impulfus alium vicinum aerem magno impetu prosudat; cumque Sol ab Oriente in occidentem circymrotetur, præcipuus ab

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So from that fpring, whence comfort feem'd to come, (2)
Discomfort fwell'd. Mark, King of Scotland, mark;
No fooner justice had, with valour arm'd,
Compell'd these skipping Kernes to truft their heels;
But the Norweyan Lord, furveying vantage,
With furbisht arms and new fupplies of men
Began a fresh affault.

King. Difmay'd not this

Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Cap. Yes,

As fparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion.
If I fay footh, I must report, they were

As cannons overcharg'd; with double cracks, (3)

So

eo aëris impulfus fiet verfus occidentem.---Quia plerumque ab aëris per Solem rarefactione oritur, qui cum continue feratur ab Oriente in occidentem, majori quoque impetu protruditur aër ab Oriente in occidentem. Varenii Geograph. 7. i. c. 14, &c. 20. prop. 10. and 15.----This being fo, it is no wonder that ftorms fhould come moft frequently from that quarter; or that they should be most violent, because here is a concurrence of the natural motions of wind and wave. This proves clearly, that the true reading is 'gins, i. e. begins: for the other reading does not fix it to that quarter: for the fun may give its reflection in any part of its courfe above the horizon; but it can begin it only in one. Mr. Warburton.

(2) So from that Spring, whence comfort feem'd to come, Difcomfort fwell' d.] I have not disturb'd the text here, as the sense does not abfolutely require it; tho' Dr. Thirlby prescribes a very in genious and easy correction:

So from that fpring, whence comfort feem'd to come,

Difcomforts well'd.

i. e. ftream'd, flow'd forth: a word that peculiarly agrees with the metaphor of a spring. The original is Anglo-Saxon peallian, fcaturire; which very well expreffes the diffufion and scattering of water from its head. CHAUCER has ufed the word in thefe acceptations.

For whiché might fhe no lengir restrain
Her Terís, thei ganin fo up to well.

Troil. & Cref. 1. iv. v. 709. I can no more, but here out caft of all welfare abide the daie of my deth, or els to fe the fight that might all my wellynge forowes voide, and of the flode make an ebbe. Teftament of Love.

(3)

- I must report they were

As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks,] Cannons overcharg'd with cracks I have no idea of: My pointing, I think, gives the easy and natural fenfe. Macbeth and Banque were like cannons over

charg'd;

So they redoubled ftrokes upon the foe:
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha,

I cannot tell.

But I am faint, my gafhes cry for help.

King. So well thy words become thee, as thy wounds: They fmack of honour both. Go, get him furgeons. Enter Roffe and Angus.

But who comes here?

Mal. The worthy Thane of Roffe.

Len. What hafte looks through his eyes?

So fhould he look, that feems to speak things ftrange. Roffe. God fave the King!

King. Whence cam'ft thou, worthy Thane?

Roffe. From Fife, great King,

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky,
And fan our people cold.

Norway, himself with numbers terrible, (4)
Affifted by that most disloyal traitor

The Thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict;
"Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapt in proof, (5)
Confronted him with felf-comparisons,

Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainft arm,

charg'd; why? because they redoubled ftrokes on the foe with twice the fury, and impetuofity, as before.

(4) Norway himself, with numbers terrible,

Afifted by that, &c.] Norway himself affifted, &c. is a reading we owe to the editors, not to the poet. That energy and contrast of expreffion are loft, which my pointing reflores. The fenfe is, Norxoay, who was in himself terrible by his own numbers, when affifted by Cawdor, became yet more terrible.

(5) 'Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapt in proof, Confronted bm with felf-comparisons,

Point against poist, rebellious arm 'gainst arm,

Curbing bis lavish fpirit.] Here again we are to quarrel with the tranfpofition of an innocent comma; which however becomes dangerous to sense, when in the hands either of a carelefs or ignorant editor. Let us fee who is it that brings this rebellious arm? Why, it is Bellona's bridegroom: and who is he, but Macbeth. never believe, our author meant any thing like this. My regulation of the pointing restores the true meaning; that the loyal Macbeth confronted the difloyal Cawdor, arm to arm.

We can

Curbing

Curbing his lavish fpirit. To conclude,
The victory fell on us.

King. Great happiness!

Roffe. Now Sweno, Norway's King, craves compofition : Nor would we deign him burial of his men,

"Till he difburfed, at Saint Colmes-kill-ifle

Ten thousand dollars, to our gen'ral use.

King. No more that Thane of Cawdor fhall deceive Our bofom int'reft. Go, pronounce his death; And with his former title greet Macbeth.

Roffe. I'll fee it done.

King. What he hath loft, noble Macbeth hath won.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to the Heath.

Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

'Here haft thou been, fister ?

1 Witch WH

2 Witch. Killing fwine.

3 Witch. Sifter, where thou?

I Witch. A failor's wife had chefnuts in her lap, And mouncht, and mouncht, and mouncht. Give me, quoth I.

Aroint thee, witch!-the rump-f
-fed ronyon cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, mafter o' th' Tyger:
But in a fieve I'll thither fail,
And like a rat without a tail,
I'll do I'll do—and I'll do.
2 Witch. I'll give thee a wind.
1 Witch. Thou art kind.

3 Witch. And I another.

i Witch. I myself have all the other,
And the very points they blow;
All the quarters that they know,
I' th' fhip-man's card.-

I will drain him dry as hay;
Sleep fhall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-houfe lid;"
VOL. VI.

N

He

He shall live a man forbid; (6)
Weary fev'nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine:
Though his bark cannot be loft,
Yet it fhall be tempeft-toft.
Look, what I have.

2 Witch. Shew me, fhew me.

1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wrackt as homeward he did come.

3 Witch. A drum, a drum!

Macbeth doth come!

[Drum within.

All. The Weird fifters, hand in hand, (7)

Pofters

(6) He fhall live a man forbid:] i. e. as under a curfe, an Interdistion. So, afterwards, in this play;

By his own interdiction ftands accurs'd.

So. among the Romans, an outlaw's fentence was aquæ & ignis inter dictio. i. e. He was forbid the use of water and fire: which imply'd the neceffity of banishment.

(7) The weyward fifters, hand in hand,] The Witches are here speaking of themfelves; and it is worth an enquiry why they should ftile themselves the weyward, or wayward fifters. This word in its general acceptation fignifies, perverfe, froward, moody, obftinate, untractable, &c. and is every where fo ufed by our Shakespeare. To content ourfelves with two or three inftances;

Fy, fy, how wayward is this foolish love,
That, like a tey baby, &c.

Two Gent. of Verona.

This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy.

And, which is worse. All you have done
Is but for a wayward fon.

Love's Labour loft.

Macbeth.

It is improbable, the Witches would adopt this epithet to themselves, in any of these fenfes; and therefore we are to look a little farther for the poet's word and meaning. When I had the first suspicion of our author being corrupt in this place, it brought to my mind the following paffage in CHAUCER's Troilus and Creffcide. lib. iii. v. 618. But O fortune, executrice of wierdes.

Which word the gloffaries expound to us by fates or deftinies. I was foon confirm'd in my fufpicion, upon happening to dip into Heylin's Cofmography, where he makes a fhort recital of the ftory of Macbeth and Banquo.

Thefe two (fays be,) travelling together thro' a foreft, were met by three Fairies, Witches, Wierds, the Scots call them, &c.,

I prefently recollected, that this story must be recorded at more length by Holingshead; with whom I thought it was very probable

that

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