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Another yet?-A seventh ?—I'll see no more :·
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass 3
Which shows me many more; and some I see,
That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry * :
Horrible sight!-Now, I see, 'tis true;

"And will as fearless entertain this sight,

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'As a good conscience doth the cracks of Jove."

STEEVENS.

3 And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass,] This method of juggling prophecy is again referred to in Measure for Measure, Act II. Sc. VII.:

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and like a prophet,

"Looks in a glass, and shows me future evils."

So, in an Extract from The Penal Laws Against Witches, it is said "they do answer either by voice, or else do set before their eyes in glasses, chrystal stones, &c. the pictures or images of the persons or things sought for." Among the other knaveries with which Face taxes Subtle in The Alchemist, this seems to be one: "And taking in of shadows with a glass." Again, in Humor's Ordinarie, an ancient collection of satires, no date :

"Shew you the devil in a chrystal glass." Spenser has given a very circumstantial account of the glass which Merlin made for King Ryence, in the second canto of the third book of The Fairy Queen. A mirror of the same kind was presented to Cambuscan in The Squier's Tale of Chaucer; and in John Alday's translation of Pierre Boisteau's Theatrum Mundi, &c. bl. 1. no date : A certaine philosopher did the like to Pompey, the which shewed him in a glasse the order of his enemies march." STEEVENS.

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4 That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry:] This was intended as a compliment to King James the First, who first united the two islands and the three kingdoms under one head; whose house too was said to be descended from Banquo. WARBURTON.

Of this last particular our poet seems to have been thoroughly aware, having represented Banquo not only as an innocent, but as a noble character; whereas, according to history, he was confederate with Macbeth in the murder of Duncan. The flattery of Shakspeare, however, is not more gross than that of Ben Jonson, who has condescended to quote his majesty's ridiculous book on Dæmonology, in the notes to The Masque of Queens, 1609.

5-Ay, now, I see, 'tis true;] I have supplied-ay, an adverb places, to enforce his meaning.

STEEVENS.

That the metre may be complete, employed by our author in other STEEVENS.

6

For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his.-What, is this so?

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6 the BLOOD-BOLTER'D Banquo-] The epithet bloodbolter'd (which Dr. Warburton and the subsequent editors supposed to mean one whose blood hath issued out at many wounds, as flour of corn passes out of the holes of a sieve,") has been entirely misunderstood. It is a provincial term, well known in Warwickshire, and probably in some other counties. When a horse, sheep, or other animal, perspires much, and any of the hair or wool, in consequence of such perspiration, or any redundant humour, becomes matted in tufts with grime and sweat, he is said to be boltered; and whenever the blood issues out, and coagulates, forming the locks into hard clotted bunches, the beast is said to be blood-bolter'd. This precisely agrees with the account already given of the murder of Banquo, who was killed by a wound in the head, and thrown into a ditch; with the filth of which, and the blood issuing from his wounds, his hair would necessarily be hardened and coagulated. He ought, therefore, to be represented both here and at the banquet, with his hair clotted with blood. The murderer, when he informs Macbeth of his having executed his commission, says,

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safe in a ditch he bides,

"With twenty trenched gashes on his head,
"The least a death to nature."

And Macbeth himself exclaims,

"Thou can'st not say, I did it; never shake
"Thy gory locks at me." MALOne.

To bolter, in Warwickshire, signifies to daub, dirty, or begrime. "I ordered (says my informant) a harness-collar to be made with a linen lining, but blacked, to give it the appearance of leather. The sadler made the lining as he was directed, but did not black it, saying, it would bolter the horse. Being asked what he meant by bolter, he replied, dirty, besmear; and that it was a common word in his country. This conversation passed within eight miles

of Stratford on Avon."

In the same neighbourhood, when a boy has a broken head, so that his hair is matted together with blood, his head is said to be boltered [pronounced baltered]. So, in Philemon Holland's translation of Pliny's Natural History, 1601, book xii. ch. xvii. p. 370: "they doe drop and distill the said moisture, which the shrewd and unhappie beast catcheth among the shag long haires of his beard. Now by reason of dust getting among it, it baltereth and cluttereth into knots," &c. Such a term is therefore applicable to Banquo, who had "twenty trenched gashes on his head."

The propriety of the foregoing note has been abundantly con

1 WITCH. Ay, sir, all this is so :-But why
Stands Macbeth thus amazedly?—
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprights',
And show the best of our delights;

I'll charm the air to give a sound,
While you perform your antique round":
That this great king may kindly say,
Our duties did his welcome pay.

[Musick. The Witches dance, and vanish. MACB. Where are they? Gone ?-Let this pernicious hour

Stand aye accursed in the calendar 1!—

Come in, without there!

firmed by Mr. Homer, a truly respectable clergyman of Warwickshire. I seize this opportunity to offer my best acknowledgment for his remarks, which were obligingly conveyed to me by his son, the late Reverend and amiable Henry Homer, who favoured the world with editions of Sallust and Tacitus, the elegance of which can only be exceeded by their accuracy.

STEEVENS. 7-cheer we up his SPRIGHTS,] i. e. spirits. So, in Sidney's Arcadia, lib. ii. :

"Hold thou my heart, establish thou my sprights."

STEEVENS. I'll charm THE AIR to give a sound,] The Hecate of Middleton says, on a similar occasion:

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"Come, my sweete sisters, let the air strike our tune,
"Whilst we show reverence to yon peeping moone."

- your ANTIQUE ROUND:

STEEVENS.

The Witches DANCE, and

VANISH.] These ideas as well as a foregoing one

"The weird sisters, hand in hand,"

might have been adopted from a poem, intitled Churchyard's Dreame, 1593 :

"All hand in hand they traced on

"A tricksie ancient round;

"And soone as shadowes were they gone,

"And might no more be found." STEEVENS.

Antique was the old spelling for antick, and so perhaps it is used here. So, in Greene's James IV.: "Enter three Antiques, who dance round and take Slipper with them." MALONE.

'Stand aye accursed in the calendar!] In the ancient alma

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MACB. Infected be the air whereon they ride 2; And damn'd, all those that trust them!-I did hear

The galloping of horse: Who was❜t came by? LEN. 'Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you

word,

Macduff is fled to England.

MACB.

LEN. Ay, my good lord.

Fled to England?

MACB. Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits :

3

The flighty purpose never is o'ertook,

Unless the deed go with it: From this moment,
The very firstlings of my heart shall be

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nacks the unlucky days were distinguished by a mark of reprobation. So, in Decker's Honest Whore, 1635:

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"Within the wizard's book, the kalender,
"Mark'd with a marginal finger, to be chosen,

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By thieves, by villains, and black murderers."

STEEVENS.

2 INFECTED be the AIR whereon they ride ;] So, in the first part of Selimus, 1594:

"Now Baiazet will ban another while,
"And vtter curses to the concaue skie,

"Which may infect the regions of the ayre." Todd. 3 Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits :] To anticipate is here to prevent, by taking away the opportunity. JOHNSON.

4 The very FIRSTLINGS-] Firstlings, in its primitive sense, is the first produce or offspring. So, in Heywood's Silver Age,

1613:

"The firstlings of their vowed sacrifice."

The firstlings of my hand. And even now

To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done :

The castle of Macduff I will surprise ;

Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls

That trace him in his line. No boasting like a

fool;

This deed I'll do, before this purpose cool:

But no more sights!-Where are these gentlemen ?

Come, bring me where they are.

[Exeunt.

Here it means the thing first thought or done. The word is used again in the prologue to Troilus and Cressida :

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Leaps o'er the vant and firstlings of these broils."

STEEVENS.

5 That trace his line.] i. e. follow, succeed in it. Thus, in a poem interwoven with A Courtlie Controversie of Cupid's Cautels &c. translated out of French, &c. by H. W. [Henry Wotton] 4°. 1578:

"They trace the pleasant groves,

"And gather floures sweete-."

Again, in Sir Arthur Gorges' translation of the third book of Lucan, 1614:

The old

"The tribune's curses in like case
"Said he, did greedy Crassus trace."
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reads-

"That trace him in his line."

The metre, however, demands the omission of such unnecessary expletives. STEEVENS.

But no more sights!] This hasty reflection is to be considered as a moral to the foregoing scene:

Tu ne quæsieris, scire (nefas), quem mihi, quem tibi
Finem Di dederint Leuconöe; nec Babylonios
Tentaris numeros: ut melius, quicquid erit, pati.

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STEEVENS.

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