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 reft of the Play, in Scotland; and chiefly at Macbeth's Castle.

MAC BET H.

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. Witch. Where the place?

2 Witch. Upon the heath.

3

Witch. There I go to meet Macbeth. Witch. I come, 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.

Gap. Doubtful long it flood:

As two spent swimmers that do cling together
And choak their art. The merciless 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 brandish'd steel
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 ob vious how far our Author's good obfervation and knowledge of nature goes to establish his own reading, 'gins. Foz the fenfe is this; As from the place from whence the "fun begins his course, (viz. the caft,) thipwrecking ftorms "proceed; c."--And it is fo in fact, that forms gene rally come from the caft. And it must be fo in reafon, becaufe 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 Pracipua et generalis [ventorum] caufa eft ipfe Sol, qui igneo fuo jubare aerem rarefacit et attenual ¦

So from that fpring whence comfort feemed to (2)

come,

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

Compelled thefe fkipping Kernes to truft their heels; But the Norweyan Lord, furveying vantage,

imprimis illum, in quem perpendiculares radios mittit, five fupra quem baret. Air enim rarefactus multo mejorem locum poftulat Inde fit, ut aer a fole impulfis alium vilinum aerem magno impetu protrudat; cum que Sol ab oriente in acidentem circumretetur, pracipuus ab eo acris impulfus fiet verfus occidentem,--Quia plerumque ab aeris per folem rarefactione oritur, qui curs continue feratur ab oriente in occidentem, majori qurque impetu protruditur aer ab oriente in occidentem. Varenii geograph. 1. i. c. 14. &c. 20. prop. 10. and 15.-This being fo, it is no wonder that forms fhould come moft-frequently from that quarter; or that they should be moft violent, because 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.

(2) So from that Spring, whence comfort feemed to come, Difcomfort fwelled. I have not disturbed the text here, as the feffe 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 whiche might the no lengir refrain
Her teris, thei ganin fo up to well.

Troil. et Creff. 1. iv. v 709. I can no more, but here out caft of all welfare abide the dale of my deth, or els to fe the fight that might all my well nge forrowes voide, and of the flode make an ebbe

Teftament of Love.

With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men
Began a fresh affault.

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 must report, they were

As cannons over-charged; with double cracks, (3)
So they redoubled Atrokes 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 finack of honour both. Go, get him furgeons. and ANGUS.

Enter

ROSSE

But who comes here?

Mal. The worthy Thane of Roffe.
Len. What hate looks through his eyes?
So fhould he look that feems to fpeak thin strange.
Roffe. God fave the King!

King. Whence cam'ft thou, worthy Thane?
Rafe. From Fife, great King,

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

Norway, himself with numbers terrible, (4)

(3) -- I must report they were

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

(4) Norway himself, with numbers terrible,

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