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Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers and Attendants.

The Ghost of Banquo, and several other Apparitions.

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

MACBETH.

ACT

A C T I.

SCENE, an open Place.

Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches.

W

1 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.

i Witch. Where the place?

2 Witch. Upon the heath.

3 Witch. There I go to meet Macbeth. I 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 Forris.

Enter King, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENOX, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.

King. What bloody man is that? he can report, As feemeth by his plight, of the revolt

The newest state.

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 stood:

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 villainies 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 brandifh'd fteel.
Which fmoak'd with bloody execution,

Like valour's minion carved out his paffage,
"Till he had faced the flave;

Who ne'er fhook hands nor bid farewel to him, 'Till he unfeamed him from the nave to the chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements.

King. Oh, valiant coufin! worthy gentleman! Cap. As whence the fun gins his reflection, (1) Shipwrecking ftorms and direful thunders break;

(1) As whence the fun 'gins his reflection,

Shipwrecking forms and direful thunders break;] Mr Pope has degraded this word 'gins, against the general authority of the copies, without any reafon affigned for fo doing; and fubftituted gives in the room of it. But it will foon be obvious how far our Author's good obfervation 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 course, (viz. the caft,) fhipwrecking ftorms "proceed; &c."-And it is fo in fact, that ftornis generally come from the caft. And it must be fo in reaton, be cause the natural and conftant motion of the ocean is from caft to weft: and because the motion of the wind has the fame general direction. Præcipua et generalis ventorum] causa est ipfe Sol, qui igneo fuo jubare aerëm rarefacit et attenuat' §

So from that fpring whence comfort feemed to (2)

come,

Difcomfort fwell'd. Mark, King of Scotland, mark; No fooner juftice had, with valour arm'd,

Compelled these skipping Kernes to trust their heels; But the Norweyan Lord, furveying vantage,

imprimis illum, in quem perpendiculares radios mittit, five supra quem hæret. Aer enim rarefactus multo majorem locum postulate Ande fit, ut aer a fole impulfus alium vilinum aerem magno impetu protrudat; cumque Sol ab oriente in occidentem circumrotetur, præcipuus ab eo aeris impulfus fiet verfus occidentem.--Quia plerumque ab acris per folem rarefactione oritur, qui cum continue feratur ab oriente in occidentem, majori quoque impetu protruditur acr ab oriente in occidentem. Varenii geograpit. 1. i. c. 14. &c. 20, prop. 10. and 15.- -This being fo, it is no wonder that forms fhould come most frequently from that quarter; or that they should be most violent, becaufe 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 courfe above the horizon; but it can begin it only in Mr Warburton

one.

(2) So from that Spring, whence comfort feemed to come, Difcomfort fwelled.] I have not difturbed the text here, as the fenfe does not abfolutely require it; though Dr Thirlby prefcribes a very ingenious and eafy correction:

So from that fpring, whence comfort feemed to come,
Difcomforts welled.

i. e. ftreamed, flowed forth: a word that peculiarly agrees with the metaphor of a fpring. The original is Anglo-Saxon, weallian, fcaturire; which very well expreffes the diffufion and fcattering of water from its head. Chaucer has used the word in thefe acceptations:

For whiché might the no lengir restrain
Her teris, thei ganin fo up to well.

Trail. et Creff. 1. 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 forrowes voide, and of the flode make an ebbe Teftament of Love

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With furbish'd arms and new fupplies of men
Began a fresh allault.

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 muft report, they were

As cannons over-charged; with double cracks, (3)
So they redoubled ftrokes upon the foe:

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha,

I cannot tell

But I am faint, my gafhes cry for help.- [wounds: King. So well thy words become thee, as thy They fmack of honour both. Go, get him furgeons. Enter ROSSE and ANGUS.

But who comes here?

Mal. The worthy Thane of Roffe.

Len. What hafte looks through his eyes? So fhould he look that feems to speak thin ftrange. Roffe. God fave the King!

King. Whence cam'it thou, worthy Thane?.
Roffe. From Fife, great King,

Where the Norweyan banners flout the fky,
And fan our people cold

Norway, himself with numbers terrible, (4)

(3)

-I must report they were

As cannons overcharged with double cracks,] Cannons over charged with cracks have no idea of my pointing, I think, gives the eafy and natural fenfe. Macbeth and Banquo were like cannons overcharged; why? because they redoubled ftrokes on the foe with twice the fury and impetuolity as before.

(4) Norway himself, with numbers terrible,

Affiffed by that, &c.] Norway himself affifted, &c. is a reading we owe to the editors, not to the Poct. That energy

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