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THE

TRAGEDY

OF

MACBETH.

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Fleance, Son to Banquo.

Siward, General of the English Forces.

Young Siward, his Son.

Siton, an Officer attending on Macbeth.
Son to Macduff.

Doctor.

Lady Macbeth.
Lady Macduff.

Gentlewomen, attending on Lady Macbeth.
Hecate, and three other Witches.

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers and Attendants.

The Ghoft of Banquo, and feveral other Apparitions.

SCENE, in the End of the fourth Act, lies in England; through the reft of the Play, in Scotland; and, chiefly, at Macbeth's Caftle.

MACBETH.

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ACT I.

SCENE, an open Place.

Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches.

W

I WITCH.

Hen fhall we three meet again?

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

2 Witch. When the hurly-burly's done,

When the battle's loft and won.

3 Witch. That will be ere fet of fun. 1 Witch. Where the place?

2 Witch. Upon the heath.

3 Witch. There I go to meet Macbeth. 1 Witch. I come, I come, Grimalkin. 2 Witch. Padocke calls-anon! All. Fair is foul, and foul is fair, Hover through the fog and filthy air.

[They rife from the ftage, and fly away.

SCENE changes to the Palace at Foris.

Enter King, Malcolme, Donalbain, Lenox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.

King.

W

Hat bloody man is that? he can report, As feemeth by his plight, of the revolt The neweft ftate.

Mal.

1

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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 fupply'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)

So

(1) As whence the fun 'gins bis reflection, Ship wracking 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 observation 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 courfe, (viz. the Eaft,) fhipwrecking ftorms "proceed; &c."-And it is fo in fact, that forms generally come from the East. And it must be fo in reason, because the natural and conftant motion of the ocean is from Eaft to Weft: and because the motion of the wind has the fame general direction. Præcipua & generalis [Ventorum] caufa eft ipfe Sol, qui igneo ĵuo jubare aerem rarefacit attenuat; imprimis illum, in quem perpendiculares radios mittit, frue fupra quem bæret. Aer enim rarefactus multo majorem locum poftulat. Inde fit, ut aer a fole impulfus alium vicinum aerem magno impetu protrudat; cumque Sol ab Oriente in occidentem circumratetur, præcipuus ab

eo

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

to 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 most 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 course above the horizon; but it can begin it only in one. Mr. Warburton.

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

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So from that spring, 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 these acceptations.

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

Troil, & Creff. 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 muft 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;

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