Len. Sent he to Macduff? Lord. He did and with an absolute, Sir, not I, The cloudy messenger turns me his back, And hums; as who should say, You'll rue the time That clogs me with this answer. Len. And that well might Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel Fly to the court of England. and unfold His message ere he come; that a swift blessing May soon return to this our suffering country Under a hand accurs'd! Lord. My prayers with him! [Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE I. A dark Cave. In the middle a Caul dron boiling. Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 1 Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d. 3 Harper cries] Harper may be a mis-spelling, or misprint for harpy. The word cries likewise seems to countenance this supposition. Crying is one of the technical terms appropriated to the noise made by birds of prey. All. Double, double toil and trouble; 2 Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake, All. Double, double toil and trouble; 5 8 maw, and gulf,] The gulf is the swallow, the throat. ravin'd salt-sea shark; Ravin'd is glutted with prey. Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse ;] Sliver is a common word in the North, where it means to cut a piece or a slice. Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;] These ingredients, in all probability, owed their introduction to the detestation in which the Turks were held, on account of the holy wars. So solicitous, indeed, were our neighbours, the French, (from whom most of our prejudices, as well as customs, are derived,) to keep this idea awake, that even in their military sport of the quintain, their soldiers were accustomed to point their lances at the figure of a Saracen. STEEvens. $ Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,] Chaudron, i. e, entrails. All. Double, double toil and trouble; 2 Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood, Enter HECATE, and the other three Witches. Hec. O, well done! I commend your pains; And every one shall share i'the gains. And now about the cauldron sing, Like elves and fairies in a ring, Enchanting all that you put in. SONG. Black spirits and white, You that mingle may. 2 Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:— Open, locks, whoever knocks. Enter MACBETH. 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 waves: Confound and swallow navigation up; Though bladed corn be lodg'd,' and trees blown down; 9 yesty waves -] That is, foaming, or frothy waves. Though bladed corn be lodg'd,] Corn, prostrated by the wind, Though castles topple on their warders' heads; Their heads to their foundations; though the trea sure Of nature's germins tumble all together, 1 Witch. 2 Witch. 3 Witch. Speak. Demand. We'll answer. 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; 4 Thyself, and office, deftly show. Thunder. An Apparition of an armed Head rises.3 Macb. Tell me, thou unknown power, 1 Witch. 'He knows thy thought; Hear his speech, but say thou nought. in modern language, is said to be lay'd; but lodg'd had anciently the same meaning. Though castles topple-] Topple is used for tumble. 3 Of nature's germins-] Germins are seeds which have begun to germinate or sprout. Germen, Lat. Germe, Fr. deftly].e. with adroitness, dexterously. Deft is a North Country word. 4 5 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. App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff; Beware the thane of Fife.-Dismiss me :-Enough. [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. Thunder. An Apparition of a bloody Child rises. App. Macbeth Macbeth! Macbeth! Macb. Had I three cars, I'd hear thee. 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 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. App. Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are: Thou hast harp'd-] To harp, is to touch on a passion as a harper touches a string. |