Aroint thee, witch! the rump-fed ronyons cries.

Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o'the Tiger:
But in a sieve I'll thither sail,

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.

1 Witch. I myself have all the other; And the very ports they blow,"

All the quarters that they know
I'the shipman's card.*

I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall, neither night nor day,
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbid :"
Weary sev'n-nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-toss'd.
Look what I have.

2 Witch. Show me, show me.

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

3 Witch. A rum, a drum;

Macbeth doth come.

P Aroint thee, witch!] Aroint, or avaunt, be gone.-POPE.

4

[Drum within.

the rump-fed ronyon-] The chief cooks in noblemen's families, colleges, religious houses, hospitals, &c. anciently claimed the emoluments or kitchen fees of kidneys, fat, trotters, rumps, &c., which they sold to the poor. The weird sister in this scene, as an insult on the poverty of the woman who had called her witch, reproaches her poor abject state, as not being able to procure better provision than offals.-COLEPEPER. Ronyon means scabby or mangy-woman. Fr. rogneux.

like a rat without a tail,] Whatever form a witch may assume, the tail is always wanting. The reason is, that though the hands and feet by an easy change may be converted into the four paws of a beast, there is no part about a woman that corresponds with the tail.-STEEVENS.

very ports they blow,] i. e. The exact ports, they blow upon.-STEEvens. t the shipman's card.] The card is the paper on which the winds are marked under the pilot's needle; or perhaps the sea-chart, so called in our author's age. STEEVENS.

" He shall live a man forbid :] i. e. As one under a curse, an interdiction. To bid is originally to pray. As to forbid therefore implies to prohibit, in opposition to the word bid in its present sense, it signifies, by the same kind of opposition, to curse, when it is derived from the same word in its primitive meaning.-JOHNSON.

All. The weird sisters, hand in hand;

Posters of the sea and land,

Thus do go about, about;

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,
And thrice again, to make up nine:
Peace! the charm's wound up.

Enter MACBETH and BANQuo.

Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. Ban. How far is't call'd to Fores ?-What are these, So wither'd, and so wild in their attire ;

That look not like the inhabitants o'the earth,

And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught

That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her choppy finger laying

Upon her skinny lips :-You should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret

That you are so.

Macb.

Speak, if you can; What are you?

1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of

Glamis !z

2 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of

Cawdor !a

3 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king here

after.

Ban. Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair?-I'the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
You greet with present grace, and great prediction
Of noble having, and of royal hope,

X

History.

weird sisters,] This appellation Shakspeare found in Hollinshed's

y All hail,] A corruption of al-hael, Saxon, i. e. ave, salve.

2

thane of Glamis !] The thaneship of Glamis was the ancient inheritance of Macbeth's family. The castle where they lived is still standing, and was lately the magnificent residence of the earl of Strathmore.-STEEVENS. thane of Cawdor!] Dr. Johnson observes, in his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, that part of Calder Castle, from which Macbeth drew his second title, is still remaining.-STEEVENS.

a

b. Are ye fantastical,] By fantastical, he means creatures of fantasy or imagination: the question is, Are these real beings before us, or are we deceived by illusions of fancy?-JOHNSON.

C

having,] i. e. Possession, fortune.

That he seems rapt withal; to me you speak not;
If you can look into the seeds of time,

And say, which grain will grow, and which will not;
Speak then to me, who neither beg, nor fear,
Your favours, nor your hate.

1 Witch. Hail!

2 Witch. Hail!

3 Witch. Hail!

1 Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 2 Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier.

3 Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none : So, all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

1 Witch. Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail!

Macb. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
By Sinel's death, I know, I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and, to be king,
Stands not within the prospect of belief,

No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way

With such prophetick greeting ?-Speak, I charge you.

[Witches vanish.

Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them: Whither are they vanish'd? Macb. Into the air: and what seem'd corporal, melted As breath into the wind.-'Would they had staid!

Ban. Were such things here, as we do speak about? Or have we eaten of the insane root,

That takes the reason prisoner?

f

You shall be king.

Macb. Your children shall be kings.
Ban.
Macb. And thane of Cawdor too; went it not so?
Ban. To self-same tune, and words. Who's here?

rapt] i. e. Rapturously affected.

Sinel- The father of Macbeth, according to Holinshed, was Synele; but Ritson, I know not from what authority, says that it was Finleg. the insane root,]" Henbane is called insane, mad, for the use thereof is perilous; for if it be eate or dranke, it breedeth madnesse or slow lykenesse of sleepe."-Batman Uppon Bartholome de propriet, rerum. lib. 17. ch. 87.

Enter RossE and ANGUS.

Rosse. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth,
The news of thy success: and when he reads
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend,

Which should be thine, or his: Silenc'd with that,"
In viewing o'er the rest o'the self-same day,
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as hail,h
Came post with post; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.

Ang.
We are sent,
To give thee, from our royal master, thanks;
Only to herald thee into his sight, not pay thee.

Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor:
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!

For it is thine.

Ban.

What, can the devil speak true? Macb. The thane of Cawdor lives; Why do you dress me In borrow'd robes?

Ang.

Who was the thane, lives yet;

But under heavy judgment bears that life

Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combin'd

With those of Norway; or did line the rebel

With hidden help and vantage; or that with both
He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not;

His wonders and his praises do contend,

Which should be thine, or his: &c.] i. e. Admiration of your deeds, and a desire to do them publick justice by commendation, contend in his mind for pre-eminence. Or,-There is a contest in his mind whether he should indulge his desire of publishing to the world the commendations due to your heroism, or whether he should remain in silent admiration of what no words could celebrate in proportion to its desert.-STEEVENS. Silenc'd with that, i. e. wrapp'd in silent wonder.

hAs thick as hail.] I suppose there can be little doubt but Mr. Reeve's emendation, which I have adopted, is correct. The old copy reads, "as thick as tale."

addition,] i. e. Title, style of address.

But treasons capital, confess'd, and prov'd,
Have overthrown him.

Macb.
Glamis, and thane of Cawdor:
The greatest is behind.-Thanks for your pains.-
Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me,
Promis'd no less to them?

Ban. :

That, trusted home,k

Might yet enkindle' you unto the crown,

Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange:

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,

The instruments of darkness tell us truths;

Win us with honest trifles, to betray us

In deepest consequence.—

Cousins, a word, I pray you.

Macb.

Two truths are told,"

As happy prologues to the swelling act

Of the imperial thane.—I thank you, gentlemen.-
This supernatural soliciting"

Cannot be ill; cannot be good :—If ill,

Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair,
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man, that function
Is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is,

But what is not.

k

home?

1

m

trusted home,] i. e. Entirely relied on. Ought we not to read thrusted

enkindle-] i. e. Stimulate you to seek.

-Two truths are told,] The father of Macbeth, according to Holinshed, had but lately died; he was therefore as much astonished at the weird sister's being acquainted with an event which he conceived to be but little noised abroad, as he was with their prediction of his becoming thane of Cawdor.

soliciting-] i. e. Information, or incitement.

seated-i. e. Firmly placed.

single-ji. e. Weak, silly. See Gifford's Ben Jonson, vol. ii. p. 74.
function

Is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is,

But what is not.] All powers of action are opposed and crushed by one