Curbing his lavish fpirit. To conclude, King. Great happiness!; cold Roffe. Now Sweno, Norway's King, craves compofition: Nor would we deign him burial of his men, 11 ein T 'Till he disburfed, at Saint Calmes-kill-ifle, il ring Ten thousand dollars, to our gen'ral ufe. Con le 22 King. No more that Thane of Cawdor fhall deceive Our bofom int'reft. Go, pronounce his death; And with his former Title greet Macbeth,' * King. What he hath loft, noble Macbeth hath won. SCENE changes to the Heath. Thunder, Enter the three Witches. 1 Witch. W HERE halt thou been, fifter? 2 Witch. Killing fwine. 3 Witch. Sifter, where thou? [Exeunt. 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-fed ronyon cries. 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. Point againft point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm, • Curbing his lavish Spirit.] Here again We are to quarrel with the Tranfpofition of an innocent Comma which however becomes dangerous to Senfe, when in the Hands either of a careless 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. We can never believe, our Author meant any thing like This. My Regulation of the Pointing reftores the true Meaning; that the loyal Macbeth confronted the disloyal Cawdor, arm to arm. 3 Witch. And I another, 1 Witch. I my felf have all the other, I will drain him dry as hay; 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! дра [Drum within, All. The Weird fifters, hand in hand, (7) Pofters of the fea and land, Thus (6) Hefball live a Man forbid :] i. e. as under a Curse, an Intexdiction. So, afterwards, in this Play; By his own Interdiction ftands accurs'd. So, among the Romans, an Outlaw's Sentence was Aqua & Ignis interdictio. i. . He was forbid the ufe of Water and Fire: which imply'd the Neceffity of Banishment. (7) The weyward Sifters, hand in hand,] The Witches are here fpeaking of themselves; and it is worth an Enquiry why they should ftile themselves the wayward, or wayward Sifters. This Word in its general Acceptation fignifies, perverfe, froward, moody, obftinate, untractable, &c. and is every where so used by our Shakespeare. To content ourselves with two or three Instances; Fy, fy, bow wayward is this foolish Love, Two Gent. of Verona. This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward Boy. And, which is worse, All you have done Love's Labour loft. Macbeth. It is improbable, the Witches would adopt this Epithet to themselves, in any of thefe Senses; 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 Enter Macbeth and Banquo, with Soldiers and other atten What are these, Mach. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. So wither'd, and fo wild in their attire, That look not like th' inhabitants o'th' earth, That man may question? You feem to understand me, Upon her skinny lips; You should be women; And yet your beards forbid me to interpret, being corrupt in this place, it brought to my Mind the following Paffage in CHAUCER'S Troilus and Creffeide. 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 Sufpicion, upon happening to dip into Heylin's Cof mography, where he makes a fhort Recital of the Story of Macbeth and Banquo. Thefe Two (fays He) travelling together thro' a Foreft, were met by three Fairies, Witches, Wierds, the Scots call them, &c. : I presently recollected, that this Story muft be recorded at more Length by Holingfhead; with whom I thought it was very probable that our Author had traded for the Materials of his Tragedy and therefore Confirmation was to be fetch'd from this Fountain. Accordingly, looking into his Hiftory of Scotland, I found the Writer very prolix and exprefs, from Hector Boethius, in this remarkable Story; and in p. 170. speaking of thefe Witches, he uses this Expreffion. But afterwards the common Opinion was, that thefe Women were either the weird Sifters, that is, as ye would fay, the Goddesses of Destiny, &c. Again, a little lower ; The Words of the three weird Sifters alfo, (of whom before ye have heard) greatly encouraged him thereunto. And, in feveral other Paragraphs there, this Word is repeated. I believe, by this Time, it is plain beyond a Doubt, that the word Wayward has obtain'd in Macbeth, where the Witches are spoken of, from the Ignorance of the Copyifts, who were not acquainted with the Scotch Term: and that in every Paffage, where there is any Relation to these Witches or Wizards, my Emendation must be embraced, aud we must read speird. That That you are fo. Mach. Speak, if you can; what are you I Witch. All-hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis ! 2 Witch. All-hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! Witch. All-hail, Macbeth! that fhalt be King hereafter.ne 19 Ban. Good Sir, why do you start, and seem to fear To the Witches. Which outwardly ye fhew? my noble Partner That he feems rapt withal; to me you speak not on nee And fay, which Grain will grow and which will not; I Witch. Hail! 2 Witch. Hail! 3 Witch. Hail! I Witch. Leffer than Macbeth, and greater. 2 Witch. Not fo 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'm Thane of Glamis; No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence With fuch prophetick Greeting?fpeak, I charge you. [Witches vanifb. 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 feem'd corporal Melted, as breath, into the wind, Would they had staid! Ban. Were fuch things here, as we do speak about? (8) Or have we eaten of the infane root, That takes the Reafon prifoner? Mach. Your children fhall be Kings. Ban. You fhall be King. Mach. And Thane of Cawdor too; went it not fo? Ban. To th' felf fame tune, and words; who's here Roffe. The King hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth, (8) Were fuch Things here, as we do speak about? Or have we eaten of the infane Root, That takes the Reafon prifoner?] The infane Root, viz. the Root which makes infane; as in HORACE, Pallida Mors; nempè, que facit pallidos. This Sentence, I conceive, is not fo well understood, as I would have every part of Shakespeare be, by his Audience and Readers. So foon as the Witches vanish from the Sight of Macbeth and Banquo, and leave them in Doubt whether they had really feen fuch Apparitions, or whether their Eyes were not deceiv'd by some Illufion; Banquo immediately starts the Question, Were fuch Things here, &c. I was fure, from a long Obfervation of Shakespeare's Accuracy, that he alluded here to fome particular Circumftance in the Hiftory, which, I hop'd, I fhould find explain'd in Holingfhead. But I found myself deceived in this Expectation. This furnishes a proper Occafion, therefore, to remark our Author's fignal Diligence; and Happiness at applying whatever he met with, that could have any Relation to his Subject. Hector Boethius, who gives us an Account of Sueno's Army being intoxicated by a Preparation put upon them by their fubtle Enemy, informs us; that there is a Plant, which grows in great Quantity in Scotland, call'd Solatrum Amentiale; that its Berries are purple, or rather black, when full ripe; and have a Quality of laying to Sleep; or of driving into Madnefs, if a more than ordinary Quantity of them be taken. This Paffage of Boethius, I dare fay, our Poet had an Eye to and, I think, it fairly accounts for his Mention of the infane Root. Diofcorides lib. iv. c. 74. Пee Tú Marx, attributes the fame Properties to it. Its Claffical Name, I oblerve, is Solanum ; but the Shopmen agree to call it Solatrum. This, prepar'd in Medicine, (as Theophraftus tells us, and Pliny from him ;) has a peculiar Effect of filling the Patient's Head with odd Images and Fancies: and particularly That of feeing Spirits: an Effect, which, I am perfwaded, was no Secret to our Author. Bochart and Salmafius have both been copious upon the Defcription and Qualities of this Plant. Thy |