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Fly to the court of England, and unfold

His meffage ere he come; that a swift bleffing
May foon return to this our fuffering country,
Under a hand accurs'd!

Lord. I'll fend my pray'rs with him.

[Exeunt.

X

A CT IV..

SCENE, a dark Cave; in the middle, a great Cauldron burning.

Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

I WITCH.

Hrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

TH

2 Witch.Twice, and once the hedge-pig whin'd. 3 Witch. Harper cries, 'tis time, 'tis time. Witch. Round about the cauldron go,

In the poifon'd entrails throw.

[They march round the cauldron, and throw in the feveral ingredients as for the preparation of their Charm. Toad, that under the cold ftone,

Days and nights has, thirty-one,
Swelter'd venom fleeping-got;
Boil thou first i'th' charmed pot.
All. Duble, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
1 Witch. Fillet of a fenny fnake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog;
Wooll of bat, and tongue of dog;
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's fling:
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing:
For a charm of pow'rful trouble,
Like a hell-broth, boil and bubble;

× Hurk her cries! Jis time, tis timo

All

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All. Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

3 Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy; maw, and gulf
Of the ravening falt fea-fhark;
Root of hemlock, digg'd i'th' dark;
Liver of blafpheming Jew:
Gall of goat, and flips of yew,
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipfe;
Note of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-ftrangled babe,
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab;
Make the gruel thick, and flab.
Add thereto a tyger's chaudron,
For th' ingredients of our cauldron.

}

All. Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

2 Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood, Then the charm is firm and good.

Enter Hecate, and other three Witches.

Hec. Oh! well done! I commend your pains,
And every one shall share i'th' gains.

And now about the cauldron fing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Inchanting all that you put in.

Mufick and a Song.

Black Spirits and white,
Blue fpirits and grey,

Mingle, mingle, mingle,
You that mingle may.

2 Witch. By the pricking of my Something wicked this way comes:

Open locks, whoever knocks.

thumbs

Enter

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Enter Macbeth.

Mach. How now, you fecret, black, and midnight hags? What is't you do?

All. A deed without a name.

Macb. I conjure you, by that which you profefs, (Howe'er you come to know it) answer me. Though you untie the winds, and let them fight Against the churches; though the yefty waves Confound and fwallow navigation up;

Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown down, Though caftles topple on their warders' heads;

Though palaces and pyramids do flope

Their heads to their foundation; though the treasure Of nature's germins tumble all together, (19)

Ev'n till deftruction ficken: answer me

To what I ask you.

1 Witch. Speak.

2 Witch. Demand.

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I Witch. Say, if th' hadst rather hear it from our

mouths,

Or from our mafter's?

Mach. Call 'em: let me fee 'em :

1 Witch. Pour in fow's blood, that hath eaten Her nine farrow; greafe, that's sweaten... From the murd'rer's gibbet, throw

Into the flame.

All. Come high or low:

Thyfelf and office deftly fhow.

Apparition of an armed head rifes.

Macb. Tell me, thou unknown power

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of Nature's germains tumble all together,]

[Thunder.

Thus all the printed Copies; and Mr. Pope has explained Germains by Kindred: but I have already proved in a Note upon King Lear, that we must read Germins, i. e. Seeds..

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1 Witch. He knows thy thought: Hear his fpeech, but fay thou nought.

App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff! Beware the Thane of Fife-dismiss me- -enough. [Defcends. Macb.What-e'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks. Thou'ft 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.

Apparition of a bloody child rifes.

App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!
Macb. Had I three ears, I'd hear thee.

App. Be bloody, bold, and refolute; laugh to fcorn The pow'r of man; for none of woman born

Shall harm Macbeth.

[Defcends. Macb. Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee? But yet I'll make affurance double fure,

And take a bond of fate; thou shalt not live,

That I may tell pale-hearted fear, it lies;
And fleep in fpight of thunder.

[Thunders.

Apparition of a child crowned, with a tree in his hand, rifes.

What is this,

That rifes like the iffue of a King,

And wears upon his baby-brow the round

And top of fovereignty?

All. Liften, but speak not.

App. Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care, Who chafes, who frets, or where confpirers are:

Macbeth fhall never vanquish'd be, until

Great Birnam-wood to Dunfinane's high hill

Shall come against him.

Macb. That will never be:

Who can impress the foreft, bid the tree

[Defcends.

Unfix his earth-bound root? fweet bodements! good! Rebellious head rife never, 'till the wood (20)

(20) Rebellious Dead, rife never till the Wood

Of

Of Birnam rife, &c.] Thus all the Impreffions, from the very

Beginning,

Of Birnam rife, and our high-plac'd Macbeth
Shall live the leafe of nature, pay his breath
To time and mortal custom !-Yet my heart
Throbs to know one thing; tell me, (if your art
Can tell fo much) fhall Banquo's iffue ever
Reign in this kingdom?

All. Seek to know no more.

[The Cauldron finks into the ground.

Mach. I will be fatisfy'd. Deny me this,

And an eternal curfe fall on you! let me know,

Why finks that cauldron ? and what noife is this?

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3

Witch. Shew!

All. Shew his eyes, and grieve his heart; Come like shadows, fo depart.

[Hautboys.

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[Eight Kings appear and pass over in order, and (21) Banquo; the last, with a glass in his hand.

Beginning, exhibit this Paffage: but I cannot imagine what Notion the Editors could have of the Dead being rebellious. It looks to me, as if they were content to believe the Poet genuine, where-ever he was mysterious beyond being understood. The Emendation of one Letter gives us clear Senfe, and the very Thing which Macbeth should be supposed to say here. We must refore Rebellious Head rife never

i. e. Let Rebellion never make Head against me, and I fhall reign long enough in fafety.

till a Foreft move,

(21) Eight Kings appear and pass over in order, and Banquo laf, with a Glass in bis Hand.] The Editors could not help blundering even in this Stage-Direction. For 'tis not Banquo, who brings the Glafs; as is evident from the following Speech:

And yet the Eighth appears, suho bears a Glafs,
Which ferus me many more: and Some I fee,
That twofold Balls, and treble Scepters carry.

I have quoted the laft Line, because it will not be amifs to obferve, that this fine Play, 'tis probable, was not writ till after Q. Elizabeth's Death. Thefe Appa itions, tho' very properly fhewn with Regard to Macbeth, yet are more artfully fo, when we confider the Addrefs of the Poet in complimenting K. James I. here upon his uniting Scotland to England: and when we confider too, that the Family of the Stuarts are faid to be the direct Defcendants from Banquo.

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