This is the sergeant, Mal. Sold. Doubtful it stood; As two spent swimmers, that do cling together, Like valour's minion, carv'd out his passage, Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, Dun. O, valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! a Of is here used in the sense of with. b Quarry. So the original. The common reading, on the emendation of Johnson, is quarrel. We conceive that the original word is that used by Shakspere; the "damned quarry" being the doomed army of kernes and gallowglasses, who, although fortune deceitfully smiled on them, fled before the sword of Macbeth, and became his quarry-his sprey. The word break is not in the original. The second folio adds breaking. Some verb is wanting; and the reading of the second folio is some sort of authority for the introduction of break. Compell'd these skipping kernes to trust their heels, With furbish'd arms, and new supplies of men, Dun. Dismay'd not this our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? Sold. Yes: As sparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion. If I say sooth, I must report they were As cannons overcharg`d with double cracks; I cannot tell : But I am faint, my gashes cry for help. Dun. So well thy words become thee as thy wounds; They smack of honour both :-Go, get him surgeons. [Exit Soldier, attended. Who comes here? Mal. Enter RossE. The worthy thane of Rosse. Len. What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look that seems to speak things strange. Rosse. God save the king! Dun. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane? Rosse. From Fife, great king, Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky, And fan our people cold. Norway himself, with terrible numbers, Assisted by that most disloyal traitor The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict: Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm,b Bellona's bridegroom is here undoubtedly Macbeth. This is the original punctuation, which we think, with Tieck, is better than "Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm."- Curbing his lavish spirit: And, to conclude, Dun. Rosse. That now Great happiness! Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition; Dun. No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive Our bosom interest :-Go, pronounce his present death, And with his former title greet Macbeth. Rosse. I'll see it done. Dun. What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won SCENE III.-A Heath. Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 1 Witch. Where hast thou been, sister? 2 Witch. Killing swine. 3 Witch. Sister, where thou? [Exeunt. 1 Witch. A sailor's wife had chesnuts in her lap, And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd:-"Give me," quoth I: "Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed ronyon b cries. 2 Witch. I'll give thee a wind. 1 Witch. Th' art kind. 3 Witch. And I another. 1 Witch. I myself have all the other; And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know a Aroint thee.-See King Lear, Act III. Scene 4. I' the shipman's card. I'll drain him dry as hay: 2 Witch. Show me, show me. 1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wrack'd, as homeward he did come. 3 Witch. A drum, a drum: Macbeth doth come. All. The weird sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thus do go about, about; Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, [Drum within. Enter MACBETH and BANQUo. Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. Ban. How far is 't call'd to Forres?-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, a Weird. There can be no doubt that this term is derived from the Anglo-Saxon wyrd, word spoken; and in the same way that the word fate is anything spoken, weird and fatal are synonymous, and equally applicable to such mysterious beings as Macbeth's witches. Macb. Speak, if you can ;-What are you? 1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis ! 2 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! 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,a or that indeed Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner That he seems rapt withal; to me you speak not: 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: No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence With such prophetic greeting ?-Speak, I charge you. [Witches vanish. a Fantastical-belonging to fantasy-imaginary, |