SCENE V.
The Heath.
Thunder. Enter Hecate8 note
, meeting the Three Witches.
1 Witch.
Why, how now, Hecate9 note
? you look angerly.
-- 181 --
Hec.
Have I not reason, beldams, as you are,
Saucy, and overbold? How did you dare
To trade and traffick with Macbeth,
In riddles, and affairs of death;
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of all harms,
Was never call'd to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?
And, which is worse, all you have done
Hath been but for a wayward son,
-- 182 --
Spiteful, and wrathful; who, as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for you1 note
.
But make amends now: Get you gone,
And at the pit of Acheron2 note
-- 183 --
Meet me i' the morning; thither he
Will come to know his destiny.
Your vessels, and your spells, provide,
Your charms, and every thing beside:
I am for the air; this night I'll spend
Unto a dismal and a fatal end3 note
.
Great business must be wrought ere noon:
Upon the corner of the moon4 note
-- 184 --
There hangs a vaporous drop profound5 note
;
I'll catch it ere it come to ground:
And that distill'd by magick slights6 note,
Shall raise such artificial sprights,
As, by the strength of their illusion,
Shall draw him on to his confusion:
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear:
And you all know, security
Is mortals' chiefest enemy.
Song. [Within.]
Come away, come away7 note
, &c.
Hark, I am call'd; my little spirit, see,
Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me.
[Exit.
1 Witch.
Come, let's make haste; she'll soon be back again.
[Exeunt.
-- 185 --
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
