Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm, The victory fell on us; 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. [Exeunt. 60 1 Witch. 2 Witch. (R) Where hast thou been, sister? 3 Witch. Sister, where thou? 61 composition, terms of peace. 63 Saint Colmes' Inch, the small Island of St. Columba, the Apostle of the Picts, now Inchcolm, situated in the Frith of Forth. Inch means "Island." (R) 64 dollars, an anachronism, as the dollar or Thaler (named from St. Joachim's Thal or Valley in Bohemia) was not coined till about 1518, i. e. before Shakespeare's day, but not in Macbeth's. (R) 66 bosom interest, intimate affection. present, instant. (R) 1 Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap, And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd: "Give me," quoth I: "Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed ronyon cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, Master o' th' 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. I myself have all the other; And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I' th' shipman's card. I'll drain him dry as hay: Sleep shall, neither night nor day, Weary sev'n-nights, nine times nine, 2 Witch. Shew me, shew me. Aroint, be gone! This vulgar exorcism occurs again in King Lear, III. iv. 129. "Rynt thee witch," is a North of England folk saying. [rump-fed, well fed; or, possibly, fed on offals.] ronyon, 'scurvy drab." (w) 7 Aleppo... Tiger. Hakluyt's Voyages, 1589, makes mention of the voyage of a ship Tiger of London to Aleppo in 1583. (R) 8 sieve, a favourite form of vessel with witches. without a tail. The belief was that witches could take the form of animals but without the tail. (R) 17 card, i. e., chart [or, perhaps, the "compass-card”]. 20 pent-house lid, eyebrows. (R) 21 forbid, shunned — as under a curse. (R) 1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wrack'd as homeward he did come. 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. the charm's wound up. Peace! Enter MACBETH and BANQUO. [Drum within. Macbeth. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. these, So wither'd, and so wild in their attire, What are That look not like th' inhabitants o' th' Earth, That man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her chappy finger laying Upon her skinny lips; - You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so. 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 30 Forres. The folio misprints, Soris. (w) 309 40 50 Things that do sound so fair?—I' th' name of truth, Which outwardly ye shew? My noble partner That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not. And say 60 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. 70 No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence 53 fantastical, i. e. creatures of fantasy. Shakespeare found the epithet applied to the witches in Holinshed. (w) 54 shew, appear. (R) 56 having, estate. (R) 57 That, so that. (R) 60-1 neither beg nor fear Your favours nor your hate, i. e., neither beg your favours nor fear your hate. (R) 71 By Sinel's death, I know, I am Thane of Glamis. The thanedom of Glamis was in Macbeth's family. Sinel was his father's name, according to Boethius, whom Holinshed copied. (w) 76 owe, obtain. (R) |