all;

You shall offend him, and extend his passion ;' Macb. What man dare, I dare :
Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man? Approach thou like the rugged Russian beat,

Macb. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger,
Which might appal the devil.

Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Lady M.

O proper stuff! Shall never tremble: Or, be alive again,
This is the very painting of your fear:

And dare me to the desert with thy sword.
This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said, If trembling I inhabit then, protest me
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!
(Impostors to true fear) would well become

(Ghost disappears. A woman's story at a winter's fire,

Unreal mockery, hence !-Why, so ;-being gone, Authoriz'd by her grandam. Shame itself ! I am a man again.—'Pray you, sit still. Why do you make such faces? When all's done, Lady M. You have displac'd the mirth, broke the You look but on a stool.

good meeting, Macb.. Pr’ythee, see there! behold! look! lo! With most admir'd disorder. how say you?

Macb.

Can such things oo, Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too. And overcomelo us like a summer's cloud, If charnel-houses, and our graves, must send Without our special wonder? You make me strange Those that we bury, back, our monuments

Even to the disposition that I owe, Shall be the maws of kites.* (Ghost disappears. When now I think you can behold such sights, "? Lady M.

What! quite unmann'd in folly? And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, Macb. If I stand here, I saw him.

When mine are blanch'd with fear,
Lady M.

Fye, for shame!
Rosse.

What sights, my lord ? Macb. Blood hath been shed ere now, i’ the olden Lady M. I pray you, speak not; he grows worse time,

and worse ;
Ere human statute purgd the general weal; Question enrages him: at once, good night :-
Ay, and since, too, murders have been perform'd Stand not upon the order of your going,
Too terrible for the ear: the times have been, But go at once.
That, when the brains were out, the man would die, Len.

Good night, and better healin
And there an end: but now, they rise again, Attend his majesty!
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, Lady M. A kind good night to all!
And push us from our stools : This is more strange

(Ereunt Lords and Attendants, Than such a murder is.

Macb. It will have blood; they say, blood will Lady M. My worthy lord,

have blood; Your noble friends do lack you.

Stones have been known to move, and trees to Macb.

I do forget :

speak; Do not muses at me, my most worthy friends; Augures13 and understood relations have, I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brougnt To those that know me. Come, love and health to

forth

The secret'st man of blood. What is the night? Then I'll sit down :-Give me some wine, fill full : Lady M. Almost at odds with morning, which is Pll drink to the general joy of the whole table,

which. Ghost rises.

Macb. How say'st thou, 14 that Macduff denies And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss ; At our great bidding? Would, he were here! to all, and him, we thirst, Lady M.

Did you send to him, sir? And all to all.

Mach. I hear it by the way; but I will send. Lords. Our duties, and the pledge. There's not a one of them, but in his house Macb. Avaunt! and quit my sight! Let the earth I keep a servant fee'd. I will, to-morrow, hide thee!

(And betimes I will,) to the weird si sters: Chy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know, Thou hast no speculation in those eyes

By the worst means, the worst: for mine own good, Which thou dost glare with!

All causes shall give way: I am in blood Lady M.

Think of this, good peers, Stept in so far, that, should I wade no more, But as a thing of custom : 'tis no other;

Returning were as tedious as go o'er: Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.

sufficiently plain, and much in Shakspeare's manner. I i.e. prolong his suffering, make his fit longer. • Dare me to the desert with thy sword; is then I do not 2 Flairs are gudden gusts.

meet thee there ; if trembling I stay in my castle, or any 3 Impostors to true fear.' Warburton's learning habitation; if I then hide my head, or dwell in any serves him not here; his explanation is erroneous. Ma place through fear, protest me the baby of a girl.? If it Jone idly suggests that to may be used for of. Mason had not been for the meddling of Pope and others, this has hit the meaning, though his way of accounting for passage would have hardly required a note. it is wrong. It seems strange that none of the commen. 10 Overcome us,' pass over us without wonder, as a tators should be aware that this was a form of elliptic casual summer's cloud passes unregarded. expression, commonly used even at this day, in the

11 i. e. possess. phrase 'this is nothing to them,' i. e. in comparison to 12 You strike me with amazement, make me scarce them.

know myself, now when I think that you can behold 4 The same thought occurs in Spenser's Faerie such sights unmoved,' &c. Queene, b. ii. c. viii. :-

13 i. e. auguries, divinations ; formerly spelt augures, "Be not entombed in the raven or the kight.' as appears by Florio in voce augurio. By understood 5 Shakspeare uses to muse for to wonder, to be in relations, probably, connected circumstances relating

to the crime are meant. I am inclined to think that the 6 That is, 'we desire to drink' all good wishes to all. passage should be pointed thus :

7 'Thou hast no speculation in those eyes.? Bullokar, "Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak in his Expositor, 1616, explains 'Speculation, the in: Augures; and understood relations have, ward knowledge or beholding of a thing.' Thus, in the By magoi-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth 115th Psalm :-Eyes have they, but see not.

The secret'st man of blood.' 8 Hyrcan for Hyrcanian was the mode of expression in all the modern editions we have it erroneously au. at that time.

gurs. Magot-pie is the original name of the magpre: 9 Pope changed inhabit, the reading of the old copy, stories such as 'Shakspeare alludes to are to be found in to inhibit, and Steevens altered then to thee, so that in Lupton's Thousand Notable Things, and in Goulart'a the late editions this line runs :

Admirable Histories. • If trembling I inhibit thee, protest me

14 i. e. what say'st thou to this circumstance: Thus, The baby of a girl.'

in Macbeth's address to his wife, on the first appearance To inhibit is to forbid, a meaning which will not suit of Banquo's ghost !-. With the context -f the passage. The original text is

bebold! look! lo! how say you »

his person,

amaze.

Strange things I have in head, that will to hand; Things have been strangely burne: The gracious Which must be acted, ere they may be scann'd.

Duncan Lady M. You lack the season? of all natures, Was pitied of Macbeth :-marry, he was dead :-sieep

And the right-valiant Banquo walk's too late ; Macb. Come, we'll to sleep: My strange and Whom you may say, if it please you, Fleance self abuse

kill'd, Is the initiate fear, that wants hard use :

For Fleance fled. Men must not walk too late. We are yet but young in deed." [Ereunt. Who cannot want the thought, how monstrous SCENE V. The Heath. Thunder. Enter He-To kill their gracious father? damned fact !.

It was for Malcolm, and Dona'bain,
CATE,* meeting the three Witches.

How it did grieve Macbeth ! did he not straight, 1 Witch. Why, how now, Hecate? you look In pious rage, the two delinquents tear, angerly.

That were the slaves of drink, and thralls of sleep? Hec. Have I'not reason, beldames, as you are, Was not that nobly done ? Ay, and wisely too; Saucy, and overbold ? How did

you
dare

For, 'twould have anger'd any heart alive,
To trade and traffic with Macbeth,

To hear the men deny it. So that, I say, In riddles and affairs of death;

He has borne all things well: and I do think, And I, the mistress of your charms,

That, had he Duncan's sons under his key, The close contriver of all harms,

(As, an't please heaven, he shall not,) they should Was never call'd to bear my part,

find Or show the glory of our art ?

What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance. And, which is worse, all you have done

But, peace !-for from broad words, and 'cause ho Hath been but for a wayward son,

fail'd Spiteful, and wrathful ; who, as others do,

His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear, Loves for his own ends, not for you.

Macduff lives in disgrace: Sir, can you tell But make amends now: Get you gone,

Where he bestows himself? And at the pit of Acheron

Lord,

The son of Duncan, Meet me i' the morning; thither he

From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth, Will come to know his destiny.

Lives in the English court; and is receiv'd Your vessels, and your spells, provide,

Of the most pious Edward with such grace, Your charms, and every thing beside ;

That the malevolence of fortune nothing I am for the air ; this night I'll spend

Takes from his high respect: Thither Macduff Unto a dismal and a fatal end.

Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid Great business must be wrought ere noon: To wake Northumberland, and warlike Siward : Upon the corner of the moon

That, by the help of these, (with Him above There hangs a vaporous drop profound ;'

To ratify the work,) we may again I'll catch it ere it come to ground:

Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights ; And that, distill?d by magic slights,

Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives ;' Shall raise such artificial sprights,

Do faithful homage, and receive free honours,'' As, by the strength of their illusion,

All which we pine for now: And this report
Shall draw him on to his confusion :

Hath so exasperatell the king, that he
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear Prepares for some attempt of war.
His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear:

Len.

Sent he to Macduff? And you all know, security

Lord. He did: and with an absolute, Sir, not I, Is mortal's chiefest enemy.

The cloudy messenger turns me his back, Song. (Within.) Come away, come away, foc.' And hums; as who should say, You'll rue the time Hark, I am call'd; my little spirit, see,

That clogs me with this answer. Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me. [Erit. Len.

And that well mighi 1 Witch. Come, let's make haste ; she'll soon be Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance back again.

(Exeunt. His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel

Fly to the court of England, and unfold SCENE VI. Fores. A Room in the Palace.

His message ere he conie ; that a swift blessing Enter LENOX and another Lord.

May soon return to this our suffering country Len. My former speeches have but hit your Under a hand accurs’d !12 thoughts,

Lord. I'll send my prayers with him! (Ezeun Which can interpret further : only, I say,

longing to the same goddess, she could not properly be I i. e. examined nicely.

employed in one character to catch a drop that fell from 2 "You lack the season of all natures, sleep.' John- her in another. In a Midsummer Night's Dream, how. son explains this, 'You wont sleep, which reasons or ever, the poet was sufficiently aware of her threefold gives the relish to all natures.' Indiget somni vita con capacity :-dimenti. So in All's Well that Ends Well: "'Tis the

fairies, that do run best brine a maiden can season her praise in.' It has,

By the triple Hecat's team.' however, been suggested that the meaning is, You The vaporous drop profound seems to have been meant sland in need of the time or season of sleep which all for the same as the virus lunare of the ancients, being a natures require.' I incline to the last interpretation. foam which the moon was supposed to shed on particu3 The editions previous to Theobald's read:- lar herbs, or other objects, when strongly solicited by "We're but young indeed.'

enchantment. The initiate fear is the fear that always attends the first 6 Slights are arts, subtle practices. initiation into guilt, before the mind becomes callous and 7 This song is to be found entire in The Witch, by insensible by hard use or frequent repetition of it. Middleton.

4 Shakspeare has been unjustly censured for introdu- 8 "Who cannot want the thought ;' &c. The sense cing Hecate among the yulgar witches, and consequent requires who can want the thought ;' but it is probably ly for confounding ancient with modern superstitions. a lapse of the poet's pen. But the poet has elsewhere shown himself well ac- 9 Free from our leasts and banquets bloody knives.' quainted with the classical connexion which this deity The construction is :- Free our feasts and banquets had with witchcraft. Reginald Scot, in his discovery, from bloody knives.' mentions it as the common opinion of all writers, that r0 Johnson says, 'Free may be either honours freely witches were supposed to have nightly meetings with bestowed, not purchased by crimes ; or honours without Herodias and the Pagan gods,' and that in the night slavery, without dread of a tyrant.' I have shown in a time they ride abroad with Diana, the goddess of the note on Twelfth Night, Act ii. Sc. 4. that free meant Pagans, &c. Their dame or chief leader seems al. pure, chaste, consequently unspotted, which may be ways to have been an old Pagan, as the Ladie Sibylla, its meaning here. Free also meant noble. See note or Minerva, or Diana.'

the Second Part of King Henry VI. Act iii. Sc. 1. 6 Steevens remarks that Shakspeare's mythological 11 Erasperale, for exasperated. knowledge on this occasion appears to have deserted 12 The construction is, 'io this our country, suffering him ; for as Hecale is only one of the three names be. I under a hand accursed."

ACT IV.

SONG.10

Black spirits and white, 1. A dark Cave. In the middle, a

Red spirits and gray, n boiling. Thunder. Enter the three

Mingle, mingle, mingle,

You that mingle may.
tch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

2 Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs,"
itch. Thrice; and once the hedge-pig Something wicked this way comes:
whin'd.2

Open, locks, whoever knocks. 3 Witch. Harper cries : Tis time, 'tis time.

Enter MACBETA. 1 Witch. Round about the cauldron go;

Macb. How now, you secret, black, and midnight In the poison'd entrails throw.

hags? Toad, that under coldest stone,

What is't you do? Days and nights hast thirty-one

AU,

A deed without a name. Swelter'd' venom, sleeping got,

Mnd. I conjure you, by that which you profess, Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!

(Howe'er you come to know it,) answer me: AU. Double, double coil and trouble;

Though you untie the winds, and let them fight Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubblo.

Against ihe churches; though the yestyl2 wares 2 Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake,

Confound and swallow navigation up; In the cauldron boil and bake :

Though bladed corn be lodg’d, 13 and trees blown Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

down; Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

Though castles topplelt on their warders' heads; Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,

Though palaces, and pyramids, do slope

Their heads to their foundations ; though the For a charm of powerful trouble,

treasure Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Of nature's germins's tumble all together,
All. Double, double toil and trouble;

Even till destruction sicken, answer me
Fire, burn; and, cauldron bubble.

To what I ask you. 3 Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf;

1 Witch.

Speak. Witch's mummy; maw and gulfs

2 Witch.

Demand. or the ravin'd salt-sea shark;

3 Witch.

We'll answer. Root of hemlock, digg’d i' the dark;

1 Witch. Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our Liver of blaspheming Jew;

mouths, Gall of goat; and slips of yew,

Or from our masters'? Sliver'de in the moon's eclipse;

Mach.

Call them, let me see them Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;

1 Witch. Pour in sow's blood, that hath eatea Finger of birth-strangled babe,

Her nine farrow ;16 grease, that's sweaten Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,

From the murderer's gibbet, throw Make the gruel thick and 'slab:

Into the flame. Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,

AU.

Come, high, or low;
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

Thyself, and office, deftly! show,
AU. Double, double toil and trouble ;
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.

Thunder. An Apparition of an armed Head rises, 2 'Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Macb. Tell

me,

thou unknown power, Then the charm is firm and good.

1 Witch.

He knows thy thought,

Hear his speech, but say thou nought. 19 Enter Hecate, and the other three Witches. App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware

Macduff; Hec. 0, well done! I commend your pains;

Beware the thane of Fife.--Dismiss me:And every one shall share i' the gains.

Enough.20

[Descends. And now about the cauldron sing,

Macb. Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, Like elves and fairies in a ring,

thanks ; Enchanting all that you put in.

Thou hast harpid?! my fear aright:-But one word 1.Enter the three Witches.' Dr. Johnson has called the reader's attention to the judgment with which the entire stanza is found in The Witch, by Middleton, Shakspeare has selected all the circumstances of his and is there called 'A charme Song about a Vessel.' infernal ceremonies, and how exactly he has conformed 11 “By the pricking of my thumbs.' It is a very an. to common opinions and traditions.'

cient superaition, that all sudden pains of the body, ana 2 "Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whind. The other sensations which could not naturally be accouniurchin or hedgehog, like the toad, for its solitariness, ed for, were presages of somewhat that was shortly to the ugliness of its appearance, and from a popular be. happen. lief that it sucked or poisoned the udders of cows, was 12 i. e. foaming, frothy. adopted into the demonologic system ; and its shape was' 13 i. e. laid flat by wind or rain. sometimes supposed to be assumed by mischievous 14 Topple, tumble. elves. Hence it was one of the plagues of Caliban in 15 Germens, seeds which have begun w sprout or che Tempest.

germinate. 3 Coldest stone. The old copy reads cold stone;' 16 « Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten the emendation is Steevens's. Mr. Boswell thinks that Her nine sarrow.' the alteration was unnecessary.

Shakspeare probably caught this idea from the laws of 4 Suoe!tered. This word is employed to signify that Kenneth II. king of Scotland :-'If a sow eate Air the animal was moistened with its own cold exudations. pigges, let hyr be stoned to death and buried, that no 5 The blind-worm is the slow-worm.

man eate of hyr flesh. -Holinshed's History of Scol. 6 Gulf, the throat.

lund, ed. 1577, p. 181. 7 To ravin according to Minshew is to devour, to 17 Deftly is adroitly, dexterously. eat greedily. Ravin'd, therefore, may be glutled with 19 The armed head represents symbolically Macprey. Unless, with Malone, we suppose that Shak. beth's head cut off and brought to Malcolm by Macduff. speare used rurind for ravenous, the passive participle The bloody child is Macduff, untimely ripped from his for the adjective. In Horman's Vulgaria, 1519, occurs mother's womb.. The child, with a crown on his head * Thou art a raoenar of delycatis.'

and a bough in his hand, is the royal Malcolm, who or. 8 Sliver is a common word in the north, where it dered his soldiers to how them down a bough, and bear means lo cut a piece or slice.

it before them to Dunsinane. 9 i. e. entrails; a word formerly in common use in 19 Silence was necessary during all incantations, books of cookery, in one of which, printed in 1597, is a 20 Spirits thus evoked were supposed to be impatient receipt to make a pudding of a calf's chaldron. of being questioned.

10 Black spirits and white. The original edition of A Hurp'd, touched on a passion as a barper courbes this play only contains the two first words of this song ; a string.

more:

'tis true ;

Len.

1 Witch. He will not be cummanded : Here's Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first:-
another,

A third is like the former :- Filthy hags!
More potent than the first.

Why do you show me this ?-A fourth ?-Start,
Thunder. An Apparition of a bloody Child rises

. What! will the line stretch out to the crack of Macbeth! Macbeth ! Macbeth!

doom?' Macb. Had I three ears, I'd hear thee.!

Another yet?-A seventh ?--I'll see no more :App.

Be bloody, bold, And yet ihe eighth appears, who bears a glass, 1° And resolute : laugh to scorn the power of man,

Which shows me many more; and some I see, For none of woman born shall harm Macbeth."

That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry ;'*

[Descends.
Macb. Then live, Macduff; what need I fear of For the blood-bolter'di? Banquo smiles upon me,

Horrible sight !-Now, I see,
thee?
But yet I'll make assurance double sure,

And points at them for his.-What, is this so?
And take a bond of fate : thou shalt not live;

1 Wilch. Ay, sir, all this is so :--But why

Stands Macbeth thus amazedly ?--
That I may tell pale-hearted fear, it lies,

Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprights, 13
And sleep in spite of thunder.-What is this,

Apd show the best of our delights;
Thunder. An Apparition of a Child crowned, with I'll charm the air to give a sound,
a Tree in his Hand, rises.

While you perform your antiquels round:
That rises like the issue of a king;

That this great king may kindly say,
And wears upon his baby brow ihe round

Our duties did his welcome pay.
And top of sovereignty ?

(Music. The Witches dance, and vanish All.

Listen, but speak not to't. Macb. Where are they? Gone ?---Let this per
App: Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care

nicious hour
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are ; Stand aye accursed in the calendar!
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until

Come in, without there!
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill*

Enter LENOX.
Shall come against him.

(Descends.
Macb.
That will never be;

Len.

What's your grace's wilt
Who can impress the forest;' bid the tree

Macb. Saw you the weird sisters ?
Unfix his earth-bound root? sweet bodements !

Len.

No, my lord. good!

Macb. Came they not by you ?
Rebellious head, rise never, till the wood

No, indeed, my lord.
Of Birnam rise, and our high-plac'd Macbeth

Macb. Infected be the air whereon they ride ; Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath

And damn'd all those that trust them !---I did hear To time, and mortal custom.--Yet my heart

The galloping of horse : Who was't came by ? Throbs to know one thing ; Tell me, (if your art

Len. 'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you Can tell so much,) shall Banquo's issue ever

word,
Reign in this kingdom ?

Macduff is fled to England.
AN.
Seek to know no more.

Macb.

Fled to England ?
Macb. I will be satisfied: deny me this,

Len. Ay, my good lord.
And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know:-

Macb. Time, thou anticipat'st?s my dread ex-
Why sinks that cauldron ? and what noise is this?

ploits :

go with it: From this moment 1 Witch, Show! 2 Witch. Show! 's were: Unless the peopose never is o’ertook,

The very firstlings of my heart shall be
AU. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart;a

The firstings of my hand. And even now
Come like shadows, so depart.

To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and

done :
Eight Kings appear, and pass over the Stage in the castle of Macduft I will surprise ;

order; the last with a Glass in his Hand; Ban. Seize upon Fife ; give to the edge o' the sword
Quo following.

His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
Macb. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo; That tracels him in his line. No boasting like a
down!

fool :
Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs :~And thy hair, This deed I'll do, before this purpose cool:

1 'Had I three ears, I'd hear thee. This singular said they do answer either by voice, or else set before
expression probably means no more than I will listen their eyes in glasses, chrystal stones, &c. the pictures
to thee with all attention."

or images of the persons or things sought for.:
2 For none of woman born shall harm Macbeth." u That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry."
So Holinshed :- And surely hereupon he had put This was intended as a compliment to James the First :
Macduff to death, but that a certeine witch, whom he he first united the two islands and the three kingdoms
had in great trust, had told him, that he should never under one head, whose house too was said to be descen.
be slaine with man borne of anie woman, nor vanquish-ded from Banquo, who is therefore represented not only
ed till the wood of Bernane came to the castle or Dun. as innocent, but as a noble character ; whereas, accord.
sinane. This prophecy put all fear out of his heart.' ing to history, he was confederate with Macbeth in the

3 The round is that part of a crown which encircles murder of Duncan.
the head: the top is the ornament which rises above it. 12 In Warwickshire, when a borse, sheep, or other

4 The present accent of Dunsinane is right. In animal, perspires much, and any of the hair or wool, in
every subsequent instance the accent is misplaced. consequence of such perspiration, or any redundant

5 1. e. command it to serve him like a soldier im. humour, becomes malted into tufts with grime and sweat, pressed.

he is said to be boltered ; and whenever the blood issues 6. Rebellious head.' The old copy reads dead; the out and coagulares, forming the locks into hard clotted emendation is Theobald's.

bunches, the beast is said to be blood-boltered. When a 1 Noise in our old poets is often literally synony. boy has a broken head, so that his hair is matted toge. mous for music.

ther with blood, his head is said to be baltered (pro. 9 Show his eyes, and grieve his heart. And the nounced halterech] The word baltereth is used in this man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, sense by Philemon Holland in his Translation of Pliny's shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine Natural History, 1601, b. xii. c. xvii. p. 370. It is there. hearh'- 1 Samuel, ii. 33.

fore applicable to Banquo, who had twenty trenched 9 j. e. che dissolution of nature. Crack and crash gashes on his head.' were formerly synonymous.

13 i. e. spirits. It should seem that spirits was 10 This method of juggling prophecy is referred to in almost always pronounced sprights or sprites by Measure for Measure, Act ii. Sc. 8:

Shakapeare's contemporaries. and like a prophet

14 Antique was the old spelling for antic. Looks in a glass, and shows me future evils.' 15 i.e. preventeet them, by taking away the opportunity In an extract from the Penal Laws against witches, it is 16 i. e. follow, succeed in it.

But no more sights !---Where are these gentlemen ? Son. And must they all be hanged, that swear
Come, bring me where they are. [Exeunt. and lie?
SCENE II. Fife. A Room in Macduff's Castle.

L. Macd. Every one.
Enter LADY MACDUFF, her Son, and Rosse.

Son. Wbo must hang them?

L. Macd. Why, the honest men. L. Macd. What had he done, to make him fly Son. Then the liars and swearers are fools : for the land ?

there are liars and swearers enough to beat the hoRosse. You must have patience, madam.

nest men, and hang up them. L. Macd.

He had none; L. Macd. Now, God help thee, poor monkey! His flight was madness : When our actions do not, But how wilt thou do for a father? Our fears do make us traitors.

Son. If he were dead, you'd weep for him : 1 Rosse.

You know not, you would not, it were a good sign that I should
Whether it was his wisdom, or his fear.
L. Mach. Wisdom ! to leave

his wife
, to leave quickly

have a new father.

L Macd. Poor prattler! how thou talk'st. his babes, His mansion, and his titles, ir. a place

Enter a Messenger. From whence himself does fly? He loves us not; Mess. Bless you, fair dame! I am not to_you He wants the natural touch? :-for the poor wren,

known, The most diminutive of birds, will fight,

Though in your state of honour I am perfect. Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. I doubt, some danger does approach you nearly : All is the fear, and nothing is the love;

If you will take a homely man's advice, As little is the wisdom, where the flight

Be not found here; hence, with your little ones, So runs against all reason.

To fright you thus, methinks, I am too savage; Rosse.

My dearest coz', To do worse to you, were fell cruelty, I pray you, school yourself: But, for your husband, Which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows

you! The fits o'the season. Í dare not speak much I dare abíde no longer. [Exit Messenger. further :

L. Macd.

Whither should I fly? But cruel are the times, when we are traitors, I have done no harm. But I remember now And do not know ourselves; when we hold rumour I am in this earthly world; where, to do harm, From what we fear, yet know not what we fear;4 Is often laudable; to do good, sometime, But float upon a wild and violent sea,

Accounted dangerous folly : Why then, alas! Each way, and move.--- I take my leave of you : Do I put up that womanly defence, Shall not be long but I'll be here again :

To say, I have done no harm ? What are these Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward faces? To what they were before. ---My pretty cousin,

Enter Murderers.
Blessing upon you!

Mur. Where is your husband ?
L. Macd. Father'd he is, and yet he's fatherless.
Rosse. I am so much a fool, should I stay longer, Where such as thou may’st find him.

L. Macd. I hope, in no place so unsanctified, It would be my disgrace, and your discomfort :

Mur.

He's a traitor. I take my leave at once.

[Exit Rosse.

Son. Thou ly’st,

thou shag-ear'd' villain. L. Macd. Sirrah, your father's dead;

Mur. And what will you do now? How will you live?

What, you egg! [Stabbing ham.

Young fry of treachery!
Son. As birds do, mother.

Son.
What, with worms and flies ? Run away, I pray you.
L. Macd.

He has killed me, mother;

[Dies. Son. With what I get, I mean; and so do they. L. Macd. Poor bird! thou’dst never fear the net,

(Exit LADY MACDUFF, crying murder,

and pursued by the Murderers. nor lime, The pit-fall, nor the gin.

SCENE III. England. A Room in the King's Son. Why should I, mother? Poor birds they Palace. Enter MALCOLM and MACDUFF. are not set for.

Mal. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and My father is not dead, for all your saying.

there L. Macd. Yes, he is dead; how wilt thou do for Weep our sad bosoms empty. a father?

Macd.

Let us rather Son. Nay, how will you do for a husband ? Hold fast the mortal sword; and, like good men, L. Macd. Why, I can buy me twenty at any Bestride our downfall’n birthdom :' Each new morn, market.

New widows howl; new orphans cry; new sorrows Son. Then you'll buy 'em to sell again. Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds L. Macd. Thou speak’st with all thy wit; and As if it felt with Scotland, and yell’d out yet i' faith,

Like syllable of dolour. With wit enough for thee.

Mal.

What I believe, I'll wail; Son. Was my father a traitor, mother? What know, believe; and, what I can redress, L. Macd. Ay, that he was.

As I shall find the time to friend, 1° I will. Son. What is a traitor ?

What you have spoke, it may be so, perchance. L. Macd. Why, one that swears and lies. This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues, Son. And be all traitors, that do so ?

Was once

thought honest: you have lov'd him well; L. Macd. Every one that does so, is a traitor, and must be hanged.

5 Sirrah was not in our author's time a term of re

proach, but sometimes used by masters to servants, pa 1 Our fears do make us traitors.' Our flight is con- rents to children, &c. sidered as evidence of our treason.

6 i. e. I am perfectly acquainted with your rank. 2 Natural touch, natural affection.

7.Shag-eard villain. It has been suggested that 3 The fits o' the season should appear to be the vio- we should

read shag-haird, an abusive epithet frequent lent disorders of the season, its convulsions: as we still in our old plays. Hair being formerly spelt heare, the say figuratively the temper of the times.

corruption would easily arise. 4. The best I can make of this passage is,' says Stee- 8 This scene is almost literally taken from Holin. vens : The times are cruel when our fears induce us shed's Chronicle, which is in this part an abridgment to believe, or take for granted, what we hear rumoured of the chronicle of Hector Boece, as translated by John or reported abroad; and yet at the same time, as we Bellenden. From the recent reprints of both the Scor. live under a tyrannical government, where will is sub-lish and English chroniclers, quotations from them bestituted for laro, we know not what we have to fear, become the less necessary; they are now accessible to the cause we know not when we offend.' Or, when we reader curious in tracing the poet to his sources of in. are led by our fears to believe every rumour of danger formation. we hear, yet are not conscious to ourselves of any crime 9 Birthdom, for the place of our birth, our native land for which we should be disturbed with fears.'

10 i.e. befriend.