And the very ports they blow,

All the quarters that they know
I'the shipman's card.3

I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall, neither night nor day,
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbida:
Weary sev❜n-nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-toss'd.
Look what I have.

2 Witch. Show me, show me.

1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wreck'd, as homeward he did come.

3 Witch. A drum, a drum;

Macbeth doth come.

3

All. The weird sisters, hand in hand",

[Drum within.

the shipman's card.] The card is the paper on which the winds are marked under the pilot's needle; or perhaps the sea-chart, so called in our author's age.

4 He shall live a man forbid :] i. e. as one under a curse, an interdiction. To bid is originally to pray. As to forbid therefore implies to prohibit, in opposition to the word bid in its present sense, it signifies by the same kind of opposition to curse, when it is derived from the same word in its primitive meaning.

5 The weird sisters, hand in hand,] These weird sisters, were the Fates of the northern nations; the three hand-maids of Odin. He nominantur Valkyriæ, quas quodvis ad prælium Odinus mittit. Hæ viros morti destinant, et victoriam gubernant. Gunna, et Rota, et Parcarum minima Skullda: per aëra et maria equitant semper ad morituros eligendos; et cædes in potestate habent. Bartholinus de Causis contemptæ à Danis adhuc Gentilibus mortis. It is for this reason that Shakspeare makes them three; and calls them,

Posters of the sea and land;

and intent only upon death and mischief. However, to give this part of his work the more dignity, he intermixes, with this Northern, the Greek and Roman superstitions; and puts Hecate at the head of their enchantments. And to make it still more familiar to the common audience (which was always his point) he adds, for another ingredient, a sufficient quantity of our own country superstitions con

Posters of the sea and land,

Thus do go about, about;

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,
And thrice again, to make up nine:
Peace! the charm's wound up.

Enter MACBETH and BANQUO.

Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. Ban. How far is't call'd to Fores? What are these, So wither'd, and so wild in their attire;

That look not like the inhabitants o'the earth,

And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught

That man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying

Upon her skinny lips: - You should be women,

And yet your beards forbid me to interpret

That you are so.

Macb.

Speak, if you can; What are you? 1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of

Glamis !

cerning witches; their beards, their cats, and their broomsticks. So that his witch-scenes are like the charm they prepare in one of them ; where the ingredients are gathered from every thing shocking in the natural world, as here, from every thing absurd in the moral. But as extravagant as all this is, the play has had the power to charm and bewitch every audience, from that time to this. WARBURTON. The Valkyriæ, or Valkyriur, were not barely three in number. The learned critic might have found, in Bartholinus, not only Gunna, Rota, et Skullda, but also Scogula, Hilda, Gondula, and Geiroscogula. Bartholinus adds, that their number is yet greater, according to other writers who speak of them. They were the cupbearers of Odin, and conductors of the dead. They were distinguished by the elegance of their forms; and it would be as just to compare youth and beauty with age and deformity, as the Valkyria of the North with the Witches of Shakspeare. STEEVENS.

6 thane of Glamis !] The thaneship of Glamis was the ancient inheritance of Macbeth's family. The castle where they lived is still standing, and was lately the magnificent residence of the earl of Strathmore.

2 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of

Cawdor7!

3 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter. :

Ban. Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair?- I'the name of truth, Are ye fantastical, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner

You greet with present grace, and great prediction
Of noble having1, and of royal hope,

That he seems wrapt withal2; to me you speak not;
If you can look into the seeds of time,

And say, which grain will grow, and which will not;
Speak then to me, who neither beg, nor fear,
Your favours, nor your hate.

1 Witch. Hail!

2 Witch. Hail!

3 Witch. Hail!

1 Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 2 Witch. Not so 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 am thane of Glamis; But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman; and, to be king, Stands not within the prospect of belief,

No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence

7,- -thane of Cawdor!] Dr. Johnson observes, in his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, that part of Calder Castle, from which Macbeth drew his second title, is still remaining.

& Are ye fantastical,] By fantastical, he means creatures of fantasy or imagination: the question is, Are these real beings before us, or are we deceived by illusions of fancy? JOHNSON.

1 Of noble having,] Having, is estate, possession, fortune.

2 That he seems rapt withal;] Rapt is rapturously affected, extra se raptus.

3 By Sinel's death,] The father of Macbeth.

You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way

With such prophetick greeting? - Speak, I charge you. [Witches vanish.

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 seem'd corporal, melted As breath into the wind.-'Would they had staid! Ban. Were such things here, as we do speak about? Or have we eaten of the insane root, 4

That takes the reason prisoner?

Macb. Your children shall be kings.
Ban.

You shall be king.

Macb. And thane of Cawdor too; went it not so?
Ban. To the self-same tune, and words.

Enter ROSSE and ANGUS.

Who's here?

Rosse. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth,
The news of thy success: and when he reads
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend,

Which should be thine, or his: Silenc'd with that, 5
In viewing o'er the rest o'the self-same day,
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as tale,"

4

eaten of the insane root,] The insane root is the root which makes insane, and which the commentators have not discovered. 5 His wonders and his praises do contend,

Which should be thine, or his: &c.] i. e. private admiration of your deeds, and a desire to do them publick justice by commendation, contend in his mind for pre-eminence. Or,-There is a con

test in his mind whether he should indulge his desire of publishing to the world the commendations due to your heroism, or whether he should remain in silent admiration of what no words could celebrate in proportion to its desert.

6 - As thick as tale,] Meaning, that the news came as thick as a tale can travel with the post.

Came post with post; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.

We are sent,

Ang.
To give thee, from our royal master, thanks;
To herald* thee into his sight, not pay thee.

Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor:
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!

For it is thine.

Ban.

What, can the devil speak true? Macb. The thane of Cawdor lives; Why do you

dress me

In borrow'd robes?

Ang.

Who was the thane, lives yet;
But under heavy judgment bears that life

Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was+
Combin'd with Norway; or did line the rebel
With hidden help and vantage; or that with both
He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not;
But treasons capital, confess'd, and prov'd,
Have overthrown him.

Macb.

Glamis, and thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind. - Thanks for your pains. Do you not hope your children shall be kings, When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me, Promis'd no less to them?

Ban.

8

That, trusted home,7

Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange:

7 ·trusted home,] i. e. entirely, thoroughly relied on, or perhaps we should read thrusted home.

8 Might yet enkindle you—] Enkindle, for to stimulate you to scek.