In order to make a true estimate of the abilities and merit of a writer, it is always necessary to examine the genius of his age, and the opinions of his contemporaries. A poet who should now make the whole action of his tragedy depend upon enchantment, and produce the chief events by the assistance of supernatural agents, would be censured as transgressing the bounds of probability, be banished from the theatre to the nursery, and condemned to write fairy tales instead of tragedies ; but a survey of the notions that prevailed at the time when this play was written, will prove that Shakspeare was in no danger of such censure, since he only turned the system that was then universally admitted, to his advantage, and was far from overburdening the credulity of his audience. The reality of witchcraft or enchantment, which, though not strictly the same, are confounded in this play, has in all ages and countries been credited by the common people, and in most, by the learned themselves. The phantoms have indeed appeared more frequently, in proportion as the darkness of ignorance has been more gross; but it cannot be shown, that the brightest gleams of knowledge have at any time been sufficient to drive them out of the world. The time in which this kind of credulity was at its height, seems to have been that of the holy war, in which the Christians imputed all their defeats to enchantments or diabolical opposition, as they ascribed their success to the assistance of the military saints; and the learned Dr. Warburton appears to believe (Supplement to the Introduction to Don Quixote) that the first accounts of enchantments were brought into this part of the world by those who returned from their eastern expeditions. But there is always some distance between the birth and maturity of folly as of wickedness this opinion had long existed, though perhaps the application of it had in no foregoing age been so frequent, nor the reception so general. Olympiodorus, in Photius's Extracts, tells us of one Libanius who practised this kind of military magic, and having promised χώρις ὁπλιτων κατα Βαρβάρων ενεργεῖν, to perform great things against the Barbarians without soldiers, was, at the instance of the empress Placidia, put to death, when he was about to have given proofs of his abilities. The empress showed some kindness in her anger, by cutting him off at a time so convenient for his reputation. But a more remarkable proof of the antiquity of this notion may be found in St. Chrysostom's book de Sacerdotio, which exhibits a scene of enchantments not exceeded by any romance of the middle age: he supposes a spectator overlooking a field of battle, attended by one that points out all the various objects of horror, the engines of destruction and the arts of slaughter. Δεικνυτο δὲ ἔτι παρὰ τοῖς ἑναντίοις καὶ πετομένες ἔππες διά τινος μαγγανείας, καί ὁπλίτας δὲ αέρος φερομένες, καί πάσην γονrias dúvauv xai isear. Let him then proceed to show him in the opposite armies flying horses by enchantment, armed men transported through the air, and every power and form of magic. Whether St. Chrysostom believed that such performances were really to be seen in a day of battle, or only endeavoured to enliven his description, by adopting the notions fof the vulgar, it is equally certain, that such notions were in his time received, and that therefore they were not imported from the Saracens in a later age; the wars with the Saracens however gave occasion to their propagation, not only as bigotry naturally discovers prodigies, but as the scene of action was removed to a great distance. The Reformation did not immediately arrive at its meridian, and though day was gradually increasing upon us, the goblins of witchcraft still continued to hover in the twilight. In the time of Queen Elizabeth was the remarkable trial of the witches of Warbois, whose conviction is still commemorated in an annual sermon at Huntingdon. But in the reign of King James, in which this tragedy was written, many circumstances concurred to propagate and confirm this opinion. The king, who was much celebrated for his knowledge, had, before his arrival in England, not only examined in person a woman accused of witchcraft, but had given a very formal account of the practices and illusions of evil spirits, the compacts of witches, the ceremonies used by them, the manner of detecting them, and the justice of punishing them, in his dialogues of Demonologie, written in the Scottish dialect, and published at Edinburgh. This book was, soon after his succession, reprinted at London; and as the ready way to gain King James's favour was to flatter digies are always seen in proportion as they are expected, witches were every day discovered, and multiplied so fast in some places, that Bishop Hall mentions a village in Lancashire, where their number was greater than that of the houses. The jesuits and sectaries took advantage of this universal error, and endea voured to promote the interest of their parties by pretended cures of persons afflicted by evil spirits; but they were detected and exposed by the clergy of the established church. his speculations, the system of Demonologie | polite, but criminal, to doubt it; and as prowas immediately adopted by all who desired either to gain preferment or not to lose it. Thus the doctrine of witchcraft was very powerfully inculcated; and as the greatest part of mankind have no other reason for their opinions than that they are in fashion, it cannot be doubted but this persuasion made a rapid progress, since vanity and credulity co-operated in its favour. The infection soon reached the parliament, who, in the first year of King James, made a law, by which it was enacted, (chap. xii.) That "if any person shall use any invocation or conjuration of any evil or wicked spirit; 2. or shall consult, covenant with, entertain, employ, feed or reward any evil or cursed spirit to or for any intent or purpose; 3. or take up any dead man, woman, or child, out of the grave, or the skin, bone, or any part of the dead person, to be employed or used in any manner of witchcraft, sorcery, charm, or enchantment; 4. or shall use, practise, or exercise any sort of witchcraft, sorcery, charm, or enchantment; 5. whereby any person shall be destroyed, killed, wasted, consumed, pined, or lamed in any part of the body; 6. That every such person being convicted shall suffer death." This law was repealed in our own time. Thus, in the time of Shakspeare, was the doctrine of witchcraft at once established by law and by the fashion, and it became not only un Upon this general infatuation Shakspeare might be easily allowed to found a play, espe cially since he has followed with great exactness such histories as were then thought true; nor can it be doubted that the scenes of enchantment, however they may now be ridiculed, were both by himself and his audience thought awful and affecting. JOHNSON. In the concluding paragraph of Dr. Johnson's admirable introduction to this play, he seems apprehensive that the fame of Shakspeare's magic may be endangered by modern ridicule. I shall not hesitate, however, to predict its security, till our national taste is wholly corrupted, and we no longer deserve the first of all dramatic enjoyments; for such, in my opinion at least, is the tragedy of Macbeth. STEEVENS. This tragedy was written, I believe, in the year 1606. MALONE. MACBETH. This play is deservedly celebrated for the propriety of its fiction, and solemnity, grandeur, and variety of its action; but it has no nice discriminations of character; the events are too great to admit the influence of particular dispo sitions, and the course of the action necessarily determines the conduct of the agents. The danger of ambition is well described; and I know not whether it may not be said, in defence of some parts which now seem improbable, that in Shakspeare's time it was necessary to warn credulity against vain and illusive predictions. Lady Macbeth is merely detested; and though the courage of Macrejoices at his fall. The passions are directed to their true end. beth preserves some esteem, yet every reader SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, General of the English Forces. Young SIWARD, his Son. SEYTON, an Officer attending on Macbeth Son to Macduff An English Doctor. A Scotch Doctor. A Soldier. A Porter. An old Man. LADY MACBETH. LADY MACDUFF. Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth. HECATE, and three Witches. Johnson. Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Attendants, and Messengers. The Ghost of Banquo, and several other Apparitions. SCENE,-In the end of the Fourth Act, lies in England; through the rest of the Play, in Scotland; and, chiefly, at Macbeth's Castle. Doubtfully it stood; As two spent swimmers, that do cling together, And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald (Worthy to be a rebel; for, to that, The multiplying villanies of nature Do swarm upon him,) from the western isles Carv'd out his passage, till he fac'd the slave: Dun. O, valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! But I am faint, my gashes cry for help. Dun. So well thy words become thee, as thy They smack of honour both :-Go, get him surgeons, wounds; Who comes here? Mal. [Exit Soldier, attended. Enter ROSSE. The worthy thane of Rosse. Len. What haste looks through his eyes! So should he look, That seems to speak things strange. God save the king Rosse. Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky, Norway himself, with terrible numbers, The thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict: Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm, Dun. Rosse. That now Great happiness. Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition; SCENE III-A Heath. Thunder. Enter 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: Ar oint thee, witch! the rump-fed ronyon cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o'the Tiger: But in a sieve I'll thither sail, And, like a rat without a tail, I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do. 2 Witch. I'll give thee a wind. 1 Witch. Thou 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 I will drain him dry as hay: 2 Witch. Show me, show me. 1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wreck'd, as homeward he did come. (Drum within.) 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, And thrice again, to make up nine: Peace! The charm's wound up. Enter MACBETH and BANQUO. Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. Ban. How far is't call'd to Fores? What are these, So wither'd, and so wild in their attire ; me, By each at once her choppy finger laying Macb. Speak, if you can;-What are you? 1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis ! [of Cawdor! 2 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane 3 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter. [fear Ban. Good sir, why do you start; and seem to Things that do sound so fair?- l'the name of truth, Are ye fantastical, or that indeed, Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner Ye greet with present grace, and great prediction Of noble having, and of royal hope, That he seems rapt withal; to me you speak not: And say, which grain will grow, and which will not; 1 Witch. Hail! 2 Witch. Hail! So, all hail, Macbeth, and Banquo! 1 Witch. Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail! Macb. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more By Sinel's death, I know, I am thane of Glamis; But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman; and, to be king, Stands not within the prospect of belief, No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence You owe this strange intelligence? or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting?-Speak, I charge (Witches vanish Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has And these are of them :-Whither are they vanish'd' Macb. Into the air; and what seem'd corporal, melted you. As breath into the wind.-'Would they had staid! Macb. Your children shall be kings. Enter ROSSE and ANGUS. Rosse. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth, The news of thy success: and when he reads Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, His wonders and his praises do contend, Which should be thine, or his : Silenc'd with that, In viewing o'er the rest o'the self-same day, | He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, Strange images of death. As thick as tale, Came post with post; and every one did bear Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence, And pour'd them down before him. Ang. We are sent, To give thee, from our royal master, thanks; To herald thee into his sight, not pay thee. Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater honour, He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawder In which addition, hail, most worthy thane! For it is thine. Ban. What, can the devil speak true? Macb. The thane of Cawdor lives: Why do y In borrow'd robes? [dress tr Ang. Who was the thane, lives yet; | But under heavy judgment bears that life, Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was Combin'd with Norway; or did line the rebel With hidden help and'vantage; or that with both He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not; But treasons capital, confess'd, and prov'd, Have overthrown him. Macb. Glamis, and thane of Cawder The greatest is behind.-Thanks for your painsDo you not hope your children shall be kings, When those, that gave the thane of Cawdor to me, Promis'd no less to them? Ban. That, trusted home, Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange : And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths; Win us with honest trifles, to betray us In deepest consequence.Cousins, a word, I pray you. Macb. Two truths are told. As happy prologues to the swelling act Cannot be ill; cannot be good:-If ill, Why hath it given me earnest of success, My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Ban. Look, how our partner's rapt. Mach. If chance will have me king, why, chance Without my stir. [may crown me, Ban. New honours come upon him Like our strange garments; cleave not to their mould, But with the aid of use. Macb. Come what come may; Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. Ban. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure. Macb. Give me your favour:-my dull brain was wrought With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains The leaf to read them.-Let us toward the king.— Very gladly. [Exeunt. SCENE IV.-Fores. A Room in the Palace. Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENOX, and Attendants. Dun. Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not Those in commission yet return'd? My liege, Mal. Dun. Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, Rosse, and ANGUS. To overtake thee. 'Would thou hadst less deserv'd; Are to your throne and state, children, and servants; Dun. Welcome hither: There if I grow, Our eldest, Malcolm; whom we name hereafter, (Aside. For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! It is a banquet to me. Let us after him, SCENE V.-Inverness. A Room in Macbeth's Castle. Enter Lady MACBETH, reading a letter. Lady M. They met me in the day of success; and I have learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves-air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all hailed me, Thane of Cawdor; by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with, Hail, king that shalt be! This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness; that thou mightest not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell. Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, That which cries, Thus thou must do if thou have it; Enter an Attendant. Thou'rt mad to say it Is not thy master with him? who, wer't so, Atten. So please you, it is true; our thane is coming: One of my fellows had the speed of him; Lady M. That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan |