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Rosse. Ay, on the front.

Siw.

Why then, God's soldier be he!

Had I as many sons as I have hairs,

I would not wish them to a fairer death:

And so his knell is knoll'd.

Mal.

And that I'll spend for him.

Siw.

He's worth more sorrow,

He's worth no more;

They say, he parted well, and paid his score:
So, God be with him!-Here comes newer comfort.

.

Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head on a pole. ' Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art: Behold, where stands

Th' usurper's cursed head: the time is free:
I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,-
Hail, king of Scotland!

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King of Scotland, hail!

[Flourish.

Mal. We shall not spend a large expence of time, Before we reckon with your several loves,

And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour nam'd. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,-
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad,
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers

Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen ;
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands

Took off her life;-This, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

ANNOTATIONS

ON

MACBETH.

ACT I.

LINE 11. Fair is foul, and foul is fair:] The meaning is, that to us, perverse and malignant as we are, fair is foul, and foul is fair. JOHNSON.

Line 28. And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,] Quarrel was formerly used for cause, or for the occasion of a quarrel, and is to be found in that sense in Holinshed's account of the story of Macbeth, who, at the creation of the prince of Cumberland, thought, says the historian, that he had a just quarrel, to endeavour after the crown. The sense therefore is, fortune smiling on his execrable cause, &c.

JOHNSON. Line "4. flout the sky,] This poetical image of banners mocking or beating the air, as in defiance, is very fine.

Line 80. with self-comparisons,] i. e. gave him as good as he brought, shew'd he was his equal. WARBURTON.

Line 103. Aroint thee, witch!] In one of the folio editions the reading is Anoint thee, in a sense very consistent with the common accounts of witches, who are related to perform many supernatural acts by the means of unguents, and

ANNOTATIONS ON

[ACT I. particularly to fly through the air to the places where they meet at their hellish festivals. In this sense, Anoint thee, Witch, will mean, Away, Witch, to your infernal assembly. This reading I was inclined to favour, because I had met with the word aroint in no other author; till looking into Hearne's Collections I found it in a very old drawing, that he has published, in which St. Patrick is represented visiting hell, and putting the devils into great confusion by his presence, of whom one that is driving the damned before him with a prong, has a label issuing out of his mouth with these words, Out, out arongt, of which the last is evidently the same with aroint, and used in the same sense as in this passage.

Line 103.

JOHNSON.

ronyon cries.] i. e. scabby or mangy STEEVENS.

woman. Fr. rogneux, royne, scurf. Line 106. And, like a rat without a tail,] It should be remembered (as it was the belief of the times) that though a witch could assume the form of any animal she pleased, the tail would still be wanting.

The reason given by some of the old writers, for such a deficiency, is, that though the hands and feet, by an easy change, might be converted into the four paws of a beast, there was still no part about a woman which corresponded with the length of tail common to almost all four-footed creatures. STEEVENS.

Line 118. He shall live a man forbid: ] Forbid 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.

JOHNSON.

Line 120.] Shall he dwindle, &c.] This mischief was supposed to be put in execution by means of a waxen figure, which represented the person who was to be consumed by slow degrees.

STEEVENS.

Line 141. That man may question?] Are ye any beings with which man is permitted to hold converse, or of which it is lawful to ask questions. JOHNSON.

Line 150. thane of Cawdor!] In Johnson's Tour to the Western Islands of Scotland, we find that one antient tower, with its battlements and winding stairs, of the castle of Cawdor still remains, from which Macbeth drew this title.

Line 157. 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. eaten of the insane root,] The insane root

Line 192.

means the root which causes insanity.·

Line 207.

as thick as tale,] Meaning that the news came as thick as a tale can travel with the post. JOHNSON. Line 327. hence to Inverness,] In Johnson's Journey to the Western islands of Scotland, we find that the walls of Macbeth's castle at Inverness are yet standing.

Line 391.

reads,

-The raven himself is hoarse,] Dr. Warburton
-The raven himself's not hoarse,

yet I think the present word may stand. The messenger, says the servant, had hardly breath to make up his message; to which the lady answers mentally, that he may well want breath, such a message would add hoarseness to the raven. That even the bird, whose harsh voice is accustomed to predict calamities, conld not croak the entrance of Duncan but in a note of unwonted harshness. JOHNSON.

Line 457. We rest your hermits.]

Hermits for beadsmen.

WARBURTON.

STEEVENS.

That is, we as hermits shall always pray for you.

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