DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

[Murderer 1], [Murderer 2], [Murderer 3], [Lords], [Spirit 1], [Spirit 2], [Spirit 3], [Spirit 4], [Spirit 5], [Spirit 6], [Apparition 1], [Chorus], [Apparition 2], [Apparition 3]

VOCAL STRENGTH ENGAGED FOR THE OCCASION.

Miss POOLE, Mr. MANVERS, Mr. H. DRAYTON, Mr. S. JONES.

Messrs. Galli, Simmonds, Beale, Butler, Frost, Ludford, Graham, Fortescue, Ball, Grundy, Temple, Skelton, Cowlrick, Day, Macarthy, Mucklow, Sharpe, Sapio, Griffin, Fleetwood, Foster, W. Price, J. Price, Morgan, Windsor, Charles, Hammond.

Mesdames Beale, Hughes, Byers, Goldsmith, Atkinson, Cronin, Barnett, Taylor, Jackson, Boden, II. Boden, Deither, Gledhill, Grundy, Brennan, Temple, Pawsey, Galli, Smithson, Gruà, Morgan, Keebil, Robertson.

Duncan (King of Scotland)	Mr. F. COOKE.
Malcolm (His Son)	Mr. J. F. CATHCART,
Donalbain (His Son)	Miss HASTINGS.
Macbeth (General of the King's Army	Mr. CHARLES KEAN.
Banquo (General of the King's Army)	Mr. GRAHAM.
Macduff (Nobleman of Scotland)	Mr. RYDER.
Lenox [Lennox] (Nobleman of Scotland)	Mr. G. EVERETT.
Rosse [Ross] (Nobleman of Scotland)	Mr. J. VINING.
Menteith (Nobleman of Scotland)	Mr. MORRIS.
Angus (Nobleman of Scotland)	Mr. BRAZIER.
Caithness (Nobleman of Scotland)	Mr. STOAKES.
Fleance (Son to Banquo)	Miss KATE TERRY.
Siward (Earl of Northumberland, General of the English Forces)	Mr. TERRY.
Seyton (an Officer attending on Macbeth)	Mr. PAULO.
Physician [Scotch Doctor]	Mr. J. CHESTER.
Wounded Soldier [Sergeant]	Mr. HERMANN VEZIN.
Officers [Officer]	Mr. J. COLLETT, Mr. DALY. Mr. ROLLESTON.
Apparitions	Mr. COLLIS, Miss J. LOVELL, Miss DESBOROUGH.
Lady Macbeth	Mrs. CHARLES KEAN.
Gentlewoman (attending on Lady Macbeth)	Mrs. W. DALY.
Hecate	Mr. H. DRAYTON.
Witches [Witch 1], [Witch 2], [Witch 3]	Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. H. SAKER.

The Scenery Painted under the Direction of Mr. Grieve. The Vocal Music under the Superintendence of Mr. J. L. Hatton. The Machinery by Mr. G. Hodsdon. The tragedy of Macbeth was performed at the Royal Theatricals at Windsor Castle, under the management of Mr. Charles Kean, on Friday, 4th February, 1853.

^note

PREFACE

The success which attended the production of King John, in 1852, at the Princess's Theatre, encouraged me to attempt a second Shakespearian revival on the same scale, in the following season. Macbeth was first acted on the 14th of February, 1853. The very uncertain information, however, which we possess respecting the dress worn by the inhabitants of Scotland in the eleventh century, renders any attempt to present this tragedy attired in the costume of the period a task of very great difficulty. I hope, therefore, I may not be deemed presumptuous if I intrude a few words upon the subject, and endeavour to explain upon what authorities I have based my opinions.

In the absence of any positive information handed down to us upon this point, I have borrowed materials from those nations to whom Scotland was constantly opposed in war. The continual inroads of the Norsemen, and the invasion of Canute, in 1031, who, combining in his own person the sovereignty of England, Norway, and Denmark, was the most

powerful monarch of his time, may have taught, at least, the higher classes, the necessity of adopting the superior weapons and better defensive armour of their enemies; for these reasons I have introduced the tunic, mantle, cross gartering, and ringed byrne of the Danes and Anglo-Saxons, between whom it does not appear that any very material difference existed; retaining, however, the peculiarity of “the striped and chequered garb,” which seems to be generally admitted as belonging to the Scotch long anterior to the history of this play; together with the eagle feather in the helmet, which, according to Gaelic tradition, was the distinguishing mark of a chieftain. Party-coloured woollens and cloths appear to have been commonly worn among the Celtic tribes from a very early period.

Diodorus Siculus and Pliny allude to this peculiarity in their account of the dress of the Belgic Gauls; Strabo, Pliny, and Xiphilin, record the dress of Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, as being woven chequer-wise, of many colours, comprising purple, light and dark red, violet, and blue.

There is every reason to believe, that the armour and weapons of the date of Macbeth were of rich workmanship.

Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, is described by Snorre as wearing in the battle with Harold II., King of England, A. D. 1066, a blue tunic, and a splendid helmet. The Norwegians not having expected

a battle that day, are said to have been without their coats of mail.

This mail appears to have been composed of iron rings or bosses, sewn upon cloth or leather, like that of the Anglo-Saxons. Thorlef, a young Icelandic, or Norwegian warrior of the tenth century, is mentioned in the Eyrbiggia Saga as wearing a most beautiful dress, and it is also said that his arms and equipments were extremely splendid.

The seals and monuments of the early kings and nobles of Scotland represent them as armed and attired in a style similar to their Anglo-Norman contemporaries. Meyrick, in his celebrated work on ancient armour, gives a plate of Alexander I., who commenced his reign in 1107 (only fifty years after the death of Macbeth), and there we find him wearing a hauberk, as depicted in Saxon illuminations, over a tunic of red and blue cloth.

The Earl of Huntingdon, who succeeded Alexander, under the title of David I., is represented on horseback, in his seal, wearing a tunic to the knee, which C. H. Smith (one of our most distinguished authorities, to whom I am deeply indebted on this, as on all former occasions), in his work on the ancient costume of England, describes as being party coloured. In the same volume he gives the figure of a Scotch knight of the time of Edward I., 1306, who holds a spear of a leaf-shaped blade; on his head he wears a small skull-cap of steel, like

some of the ancient Anglo-Saxon warriors of the eleventh century, and he is habited in a surcoat of cloth, descending to the knee, very much resembling a kind of tartan. Siward, Earl of Northumberland, and his son, who, with their followers, were despatched by King Edward the Confessor, to the aid of Malcolm, I have equipped in the leathern suits called Corium or Corietum, which were introduced among the Saxons in the ninth century, and are described as having been worn by Earl Harold's soldiers in 1063, in his war with the Welsh. In the Life of St. Colomba, written in Latin by Adomnan, one of his successors, in the early part of the seventh century, and translated into English by Dr. John Smith, D.D., in 1798, we are told that the monks at that time were clothed in the skins of beasts, though latterly they had woollen stuffs, manufactured by themselves, and linen, probably imported from the continent. The houses were made of wicker, or wands, woven on stakes, which were afterwards plastered with clay; and even the Abbey of Iona was built of the same rude materials.

Roderick, King of Strathclyde, is mentioned by Ducange as sleeping on a feather bed about this date, so that even in those primitive ages luxuries were known among the great.

In the four centuries and a half which intervened between the death of St. Colomba and the reign of Macbeth, it is reasonable to presume that considerable

improvements took place among the Scotch, and that the fashion of their dress and buildings was borrowed from their more civilized neighbours. Under these considerations, the architecture, previous to the Norman conquest, has been adopted throughout the play. During the five centuries which preceded that event, the Anglo-Saxons made great advances, and erected many castles and churches of considerable importance; they excelled in iron work, and ornamented their buildings frequently with colour. On this subject I have availed myself of the valuable knowledge of George Godwin, Esq., F.R.S., of the Royal Institute of Architects, to whose suggestions I take this opportunity of acknowledging my obligation.

MACBETH.

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