Til a Wod, hyr for to play:

Scho met of cás wyth a fayr man

(Nevyr náne sá fayre, as scho thowcht pan,
Before pan had scho sene wytht sycht)
Of Bewtè plesand, and of Hycht
Proportyownd wele, in all mesoure
Of Lym and Lyth a fayre fygowre.
In swylk a qweyntans swá þai fell,
Dat, schortly pare-of for to tell,
Dar in þar Gamyn and þar Play
Dat Persown be that Woman lay,
And on hyr þat tyme to Sowne gat
Dis Makbeth, pat eftyr pat
Grew til þir Státis, and pis hycht,
To pis gret powere, and pis mycht,

Frá þis persowne wyth hyr had playd,

As befor yhe have herd sayd.

And had pe Jowrnè wyth hyr done,

Dat he had gottyne on hyr a Sone,

(And he pe Dewil wes, pat hym gat)
And bad hyr noucht fleyd to be of pat;
Bot sayd, þat hyr Sone suld be
A man of gret state, and bowntè;
And ná man suld be borne of wyf

65

སྒྲསྦྱ£

60

70

75

80

85

Of powere to rewe hym hys lyf.

And of þat Dede in taknyng

He gave his Lemman pare a Ryng;

And bad hyr, pat scho suld kepe pat wele,
And hald for hys luve pat Jwele.

90

Eftyr pat oft oysyd he

Til cum til hyr in prewaté;

VOL. XI.

X

And tauld hyr mony thyngis to fal!;
F 150 b Set trowd pai suld noucht hawe bene all.
At hyr tyme scho wes lychtare,
And pat Sowne, pat he gat, scho bare.
Makbeth-Fynlake wes cald hys name,
Dat grewe, as yhe herd, til gret fame.
Dis was Makbethys Ofspryng,
Dat hym eftyr mád oure Kyng,
As of pat sum Story sayis ;
Set of hys Get fell opir wayis,
And to be gottyn kyndly,
As opir men ar generaly.

L. 104.] The tale of the supernatural descent of Macbeth, copied, perhaps, from that of Merlin, by Geoffrey of Monmouth, puts him on a footing with the heroes and demigods of ancient fable. It was not, however, intended, by the inventors of it, to do honour to his memory, but to ingratiate themselves with the reigning family; for they concluded, from wicked men being allegorically called Sons of Belial in the Scripture, that to call a man the son of the devil was to call him every thing that was bad. How many ugly stories were, in a more enlightened age, reported of Richard III. of England, in order to flatter the family which rose on his fall? Both these princes have had the additional misfortune to be gibbetted in Shakspeare's drama, as objects of detestation to all succeeding ages, as long as theatres shall be attended, and, perhaps, long after Shakspeare's own language shall have become unintelligible to the bulk of English readers. Wyntown, however, gravely cautions us against believing this foolish story, by telling us immediately that his "Get" was "kyndly as other men's.

The brief account of Macbeth's life raises his character above all the preceding princes, at least in as far as their actions are known to us. The

66

gret plente

Abowndand, bath on land and se," and the riches of the country during his reign, which, together with the firm establishment of his government, enabled him to make a journey to Rome, and there to exercise a liberality of charity to the poor, remarkable even in that general resort of wealthy pilgrims, exhibit undeniable proofs of a beneficent government, and a prudent attention to agriculture, and to the fishery, that inexhaustible fund of wealth, wherewith bountiful nature has surrounded Scotland. Macbeth's journey to Rome is not a fable, as supposed by the learned and worthy author of The Annals of Scotland, [vol. i. p. 3, note,] but rests on the evidence of Marianus Scotus, a respectable contemporary historian, whose words, almost lite

Til Saynt Edward in Ingland,

As banysyd wyth hys Breþyr twá,

Dat pat tyme pare wes Kyng ryngnand.
He payme ressawyd thankfully,
And trettyd pame rycht curtasly.
And in Scotland pan as Kyng
Dis Makbeth mád gret steryng;
And set hym pan in hys powere
A gret Hows for to mak of Were
A-pon pe hycht of Dwnsynane:
Tymbyr pare-til to drawe, and stáne,
Of fyfe, and of Angws, he
Gert mony oxin gadryd be.
Sá, on á day in pare trawaile

A yhok of oxyn Makbeth saw fayle:
Dat speryt Makbeth, quha þat awcht
De yhoke, pat faylyd in pat drawcht.
Dai awnsweryd til Makbeth agayne,
And sayd, Makduff of Fyfe pe Thayne
Dat ilk yhoke of oxyn awcht,

Dat he saw fayle in-to pe drawcht.
Dan spak Makbeth dyspytusly,
And to pe Thayne sayd angryly,

105

110

115

120

125

130

rally translated by Wyntown, are-" A. D. ml. Rex Scotie Machetad Rome argentum seminando pauperibus distribuit." [See VI. xviii. 48, 63, 303, 408.]

The only blot upon his memory is the murder of his predecessor, (if it was indeed a murder,) who, to make the crime the blacker, is called his uncle, though that point is extremely doubtful. Among the numerous kings who made their way to the throne by the same means, is Greg, who is held up as a mirror to princes. To this is added the crime of incest in taking his uncle's widow to wife; but, admitting her former husband to have been his uncle, we must remember, that the rules concerning marriage in Scotland appear to have been partly formed upon the Jewish model, before the ecclesiastical polity was re-formed, or romanized, by the influence of Queen Margaret. [Vita Margaretæ ap. Bollandi Acta Sanctorum 10mo. Junii, p. 331.]

Thus much was due from justice to a character calumniated in the beaten track of history. D. MACPHERSON.

Lyk all wrythyn in hys skyn,
His awyn Nek he suld put in

De yhoke, and ger hym drawchtis drawe,
Noucht dowtand all hys Kynnys awe.

Frá þe Thayne Makbeth herd speke,
Dat he wald put in yhok hys Neke,
Of all hys thowcht he mád ná Sang;
Bot prewaly owt of pe thrang
Wyth slycht he gat; and pe Spensere
A Láfe him gawe til hys Supere.
And als swne as he mycht se
Hys tyme and opportunytè,
Owt of pe Curt he past, and ran,

F 151 a And pat Láyf bare wyth hym pan

To pe Wattyre of Eryne. Dat Brede
He gawe pe Batwartis hym to lede,
And on pe sowth half hym to sete,
But delay, or ony lete.

Dat

passage cald wes eftyre pan

Lang tyme Portnebaryan;

De Hawyn of Brede pat suld be
Callyd in-tyl propyrtè.

Owre pe Wattyre pan wes he sete,
Bwt dawngere, or bwt ony lete.

At Dwnsynane Makbeth pat nycht,
As sone as hys Supere wes dycht,
And hys Marchalle hym to pe Halle
Fechyd, pan amang þaim all
Awaye pe Thayne of Fyfe wes myst;
And ná man, quhare he wes, pan wyst.
Yhit a Knycht, at pat Supere
Đat til Makbeth wes syttand nere,

135

140

145

150

155

160

L. 152.] In the infancy of navigation, when its efforts extended no further than crossing a river, ferrying places were the only harbours, and were called port in the Gaelic languages, and apparently in the most ancient Greek. Hence we have so many places on the banks of rivers and lochs in Scotland, called ports, and hence the Greek called their ferry-boats porthmia and porthmides. [Dictionaries, and Calcagnini Opera, p. 307.] No ferry on the Earn is known by this name; perhaps it was originally the braide [broad] ferry, which being confounded with bread, has been gaelized port-ne-bara, the harbour of bread. [v. Davies Dict. Brit. v. Bara.] The transcriber of the Cotton MS. has here interpolated a line with a French explanation of the name. [v. V. R.] D. MACPHERSON.

180

And bad hyr, wyth gret diligens
Kepe pat Hows, and gyve pe Kyng
Diddyr come, and mád bydyng
Dare ony Felny for to do,

He gave hyr byddyng pan, pat scho
Suld hald Makbeth in fayre Trettè,
A Bate quhill scho suld sayland se
Frá north to pe sowth passand;
And frá scho sawe pat Bate sayland,
Dan tell Makbeth, pe Thayne wes pare
Of Fyfe, and til Dwnsynane fare
To byde Makbeth; for pe Thayne
Of Fyfe thowcht, or he come agayne
Til Kennawchy, pan for til bryng
Háme wyth hym a lawchful Kyng.

Til Kennawchy Makbeth come sone,
And Felny gret pare wald have done :
F151 b Bot pis Lady wyth fayre Trettè

Hys purpos lettyde done to be.
And sone, frá scho pe Sayle wp saw,
Dan til Makbeth wyth lytil awe
Scho sayd, Makbeth, luke wp, and se
Wndyr yhon Sayle forsuth is he,

185

190

195

200

L. 179.] This "hows of defens" was perhaps Maiden Castle, the ruins of which are on the south side of the present Kennoway. There are some remains of Roman antiquity in this neighbourhood, and it is very probable that Macduff's castle stood on the site of a Roman Castellum. D. MACPHERSON.