And now about the cauldron sing, Enchanting all that you put in. [Musick, and a song, Black spirits, &c.h 2 Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes :Open, locks, whoever knocks. Enter MACВЕТН. 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 wavesi Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown down; Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure h Musick and a song, Black spirits, &c.] I have given this stage direction exactly as it stands in the folio. I presume, the author's intention was, that a company of black spirits, elves, and faries, should come forward, and, in obedience to the command of Hecate in the preceding lines, form a ring about the cauldron. The song they were to sing, would probably be but of a few words; or it might consist of the distich so frequently repeated by the witches: "Double, double toil and trouble, Fire burn; and cauldron bubble." This, however, has all the uncertainty of conjecture; but, be it as it may, 1 feel myself fully justified in omitting the stanza from Middleton's play of the Witch, which has been thrust into the text of all the late editions of our author's works, on the supposition of Steevens, that the words, " Black spirits," in the above stage direction, intimated that the following song was to be sung: "Black spirits and white, Red spirits and grey; It is really intolerable, that the works of Shakspeare should be encumbered by these lines, taken from a play written many years after his own, on the authority of an accidental coincidence between the two first words of Middleton's stanza, and the two last of one of our author's stage directions. i k 1 yesty waves-] That is, foaming, or frothy waves. topple-] i. e. Tumble. -germins i. e. Seeds which have begun to germinate or sprout. Germen, Lat. Germe, Fr.-STEEVENS. 1 Witch. Say, if thou'd'st rather hear it from our mouths, Or from our masters'? Macb. Call them, let me see them. 1 Witch. Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten Her nine farrow; grease, that's sweaten From the murderer's gibbet, throw Into the flame. All. Come, high, or low; Thyself, and office, deftly show. Thunder. An Apparition of an arm'd Head rises." Macb. Tell me, thou unknown power, 1 Witch. He knows thy thought; Hear his speech, but say thou nought. [Descends. Macb. What-e'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks; Thou hast harp'd my fear aright:-But one word more: 1 Witch. He will not be commanded: Here's another, More potent than the first. m Thunder. An Apparition of a bloody Child rises. App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Macb. Had I three ears, I'd hear thee. -deftly—] i. e. With adroitness, dexterously. Deft is a north country word. STEEVENS. "An Apparition of an armed Head rises.] The armed head represents symbolically Macbeth's head cut off and brought to Malcolm by Macduff. The bloody child is Macduff untimely ripped 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.-STEEVENS. 0 - harp'd-] To harp, is to touch on a passion as a harper touches a string. STEEVENS. 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 And top of sovereignty? All. Listen, but speak not to't. 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; bid the tree [Descends. Unfix his earth-bound root? sweet bodements! good! Of Birnam rise, and our high-plac'd Macbeth All. art Seek to know no more. 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 Why do you show me this?-A fourth?-Start, eyes! Our duties did his welcome pay. [Musick. The Witches dance, and vanish. Macb. Where are they? Gone?-Let this pernicious Stand aye accursed in the calendar!"— Come in, without there! [hour P Eight Kings, &c.] "It is reported that Voltaire often laughed at the tragedy of Macbeth, for having a legion of ghosts in it. One should imagine that he either had not learnt 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.”—Mrs. MONTAGUE. ¶ the crack of doom?] i. e. The dissolution of nature. Crack has now a mean signification. It was anciently employed in a more exalted sense.STEEVENS. That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry:] 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.-WARBURTON. the blood-bolter'd Banquo-] To bolter, in Warwickshire, signifies, to daub, dirty, or begrime.-STEEVENS. t u sprights,] i. e. Spirits. accursed in the calendar!] In the ancient almanacs the unlucky days were distinguished by a mark of reprobation.-STEEVENS. Macb. Infected be the air whereon they ride; And damn'd all those that trust them!--I did hear The galloping of horse: Who was't came by? Len. 'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word, Macduff is fled to England. Macb. Len. Ay, my good lord. Fled to England? Macb. Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits : The flighty purpose never is o'ertook, Unless the deed go with it: From this moment, The very firstlings of my heart shall be The firstlings of my hand. And even now To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done: The castle of Macduff I will surprise; Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o'the sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool; But no more sights!-Where are these gentlemen? SCENE II. Fife. A Room in Macduff's Castle. [Exeunt. Enter Lady MACDUFF, her Son, and Rosse. L. Macd. What had he done, to make him fly the land? L. Macd. He had none : His flight was madness: When our actions do not, × That trace his line.] i. e. Follow, succeed in it. y Our fears do make us traitors.] i. e. Make us fly like traitors and so afford just cause of suspicion against us. |