SCENE I.
A dark Cave; in the middle, a great Cauldron burning.
Thunder. Enter the three Witches.
1 Witch.
1 note
Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 Witch.
Twice, and once the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 Witch.
Harper crys, 'tis time, 'tis time.
-- 392 --
1 Witch.
Round about the cauldron go,
2 note
In the poison'd entrails throw.
[They march round the cauldron, and throw in the several ingredients as for the preparation of their Charm.
Toad, that under the cold stone,
Days and nights has, thirty one,
Swelter'd venom sleeping got;
Boil thou first i'th' charmed pot.
All.
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
1 Witch.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog;
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog;
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing:
For a Charm of pow'rful trouble,
Like a hell-broth, boil and bubble.
All.
Double, double, toil and trouble,
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
3 Witch.
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy; maw, and gulf
Of the ravening salt sea-shark;
Root of hemlock, digg'd i'th dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew:
Gall of goat, and slips of yew,
-- 393 --
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe,
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab;
Make the gruel thick, and slab.
Add thereto a tyger's chawdron,
For th' ingredients of our cauldron.
All.
Double, double, toil and trouble,
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
2 Witch.
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the Charm is firm and good.
Enter Hecate, and other three Witches.
Hec.
Oh! well done! I commend your pains,
And every one shall share i'th' gains.
And now about the cauldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Inchanting all that you put in.
Musick and a Song.
Black spirits and white,
Blue spirits and grey,
Mingle, mingle, mingle,
You that mingle may.
2 Witch.
By the pricking of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes:
Open locks, whoever knocks.
Alexander Pope [1747], The works of Shakespear in eight volumes. The Genuine Text (collated with all the former Editions, and then corrected and emended) is here settled: Being restored from the Blunders of the first Editors, and the Interpolations of the two Last: with A Comment and Notes, Critical and Explanatory. By Mr. Pope and Mr. Warburton (Printed for J. and P. Knapton, [and] S. Birt [etc.], London) [word count] [S11301].
