conjecture of Guthrie, adding, "If the writer had any ground for this assertion, why was it not stated? It is extremely improbable that Shakspeare should have left London at this period. In 1599 his 'King Henry V.' was produced, and without doubt acted with great applause." A subsequent visit of a company of English players to Scotland is detailed in a bulky local history published in London in 1818, -the "Annals of Aberdeen," by William Kennedy. This writer does not print the document upon which he founds his statement; but his narrative is so circumstantial as to leave little doubt that the company of players to which Shakspere belonged visited Aberdeen in 1601. The account of Mr. Kennedy has since been commented upon in a paper published in the "Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland," in 1830; and in a most lively, instructive, and learned volume -a model of guide-books-"The Book of Bon Accord, or a Guide to the City of Aberdeen," 1839. The story of Macbeth was presented to Shakspere in a sufficiently complete form by the chronicler from whom he derived so many other materials, Holinshed. In testing, therefore, "the extreme accuracy with which Shakspere has followed the minutiæ of Macbeth's career' -by which we understand the writer to mean the accuracy of the poet in details of locality—we must inquire how far he agrees with, or differs from, and how far he expands, or curtails, the local statements or allusions of his chief authority. In the tragedy, Macbeth and Banquo, returning from their victory, are proceeding to Forres: "How far is 't called to Forres ?" In the chronicler we find, "It fortuned as Macbeth and Banquo journeyed towards Forres, where the king then lay." So far there is agreement as to the scene. The historian thus proceeds: "They went sporting by the way together without other company, passing thorough the woods and fields, when suddenly, in the middest of a laund, there met them three women in strange and wild apparel." This description presents to us the idea of a pleasant and fertile place. The very spot where the supernatural soliciting occurs is a laund, or meadow amongst trees.* The poet chose his scene with greater art. The witches meet " ‘upon the heath;" they stop the way of Macbeth and Banquo upon the "blasted heath." But the poet was also more accurate than the historian in his traditionary topography. The country around Forres is wild moorland. Boswell, passing from Elgin to Forres in company with Johnson, says, "In the afternoon we drove over the very heath where Macbeth met the witches, according to tradition. Dr. Johnson again solemnly repeated, 'How far is 't called to Forres ?' &c." But, opposed to this, the more general tradition holds that the "blasted heath" was on the east of Forres, between that town and Nairn. "A more dreary piece of moorland is not to be found in all Scotland. .There is something startling to a stranger in seeing the solitary figure of the peat-digger or rush-gatherer moving amidst the waste in the sunshine of a calm autumn day; but the desolation of the scene in stormy weather, or when the twilight fogs are trailing over the pathless heath, or settling down upon the pools, must be indescribable." We thus see that, whether Macbeth met the weird sisters to the east or west of Forres, there was in each place that desolation which was best fitted for such an event, and not the woods and fields and launds of the chronicler. From Forres, where Macbeth proffers his service and his loyalty to his king, was a day's ride to his own castle: "From hence to Inverness." Boece makes Inverness the scene of Duncan's murder. Holinshed merely says, "He slew the king at Enverns, or (as some say) at Botgosvane." The chroniclers would have furnished Shakspere no notion of the particular character of the castle at Inverness. Without some * A laund is described by Camden as "a plain amongst trees." local knowledge the poet might have placed it upon a frowning rock, lonely, inaccessible, surrounded with a gloom and grandeur fitted for deeds of murder and usurpation. He has chosen altogether a different scene :— are to be But here Such a description, contrasting as it does with the deeds of terror that acted in that pleasant seat, is unquestionably an effort of the highest art. again the art appears founded upon a reality. Mr. Anderson, in the paper which we have already quoted, has shown from various records that there was an old castle at Inverness. It was not the castle whose ruins Johnson visited, and of which Boswell says, "It perfectly corresponds with Shakspeare's description;" but a castle on an adjacent eminence called the Crown-so called from having been a royal seat. Traditionary lore, Mr. Anderson says, embodies this opinion, connecting the place with the history of Macbeth. "Immediately opposite to the Crown, on a similar eminence, and separated from it by a small valley, is a farm belonging to a gentleman of the name of Welsh. That part of the ascent to this farm next Viewfield, from the Great Highland Road, is called 'Banquo's Brae.' The whole of the vicinity is rich in wild imagery. From the mouth of the valley of Diriebught to King's Mills, thence by the road to Viewfield, and down the gorge of Aultmuniack to the mail-road along the sea-shore, we compass a district celebrated in the annals of diablerie." The writer the ngoes on to mention other circumstances corroborating his opinion as to the site of Macbeth's castle: "Traces of what has been an approach to a place of consequence are still discernible. This approach enters the lands of Diriebught from the present mail-road from Fort George; and, running through the valley, gradually ascends the bank of the Crown Hill; and, the level attained, strikes again towards the eastern point, where it terminates. Here the 'pleasant seat' is rumoured to have stood, facing the sea; and singularly correct with respect to the relative points of the compass will be found the poet's disposal of the portal at the south entry.' The investiture of Macbeth at Scone, and the burial of Duncan at Colmes-kill, are facts derived by the poet from the chronicler. Hence also Shakspere derived the legend, of which he made so glorious a use, that "a certain witch whom he had in great trust had told Macbeth that he should never be slain with man born of any woman, nor vanquished till the wood of Birnane came to the Castle of Dunsinane." From Holinshed, also, he acquired a general notion of the situation of this castle : "He builded a strong castle on the top of an high hill called Dunsinane, situate in Gowrie, ten miles from Perth, on such a proud height that standing there aloft a man might behold well near all the countries of Angus, Fife, Stirmond, and Erndale, as it were lying underneath him." The propinquity of Birnam Wood to Dunsinane is indicated only in the chronicler by the circumstance that Malcolm rested there the night before the battle, and on the morrow marched to Dunsinane, every man “bearing a bough of some tree or other of that wood in his hand." The com manding position of Dunsinane, as described by the chronicler, is strictly adhered to by the poet : But the poet has a particularity which the historian has not: "Within this three mile may you see it coming; I say, a moving grove." This minuteness sounds like individual local knowledge. The Dunsinane Hills form a long range extending in a north-easterly direction from Perth to Glamis. The castle of the "thane of Glamis" has been made a traditionary scene of the murder of Duncan. Birnam Hill is to the north-west of Perth; and between the two elevations there is a distance of some twelve miles, formed by the valley of the Tay. But Birnam Hill and Birnam Wood might have been essentially different spots two centuries and a half ago. The plain is now under tillage; but even in the time of Shakspere it might have been for the most part woodland, extending from Birnam Hill to within four or five miles of Dunsinane; distinguished from Birnam Hill as Birnam Wood. At the distance of three or four miles it was (6 a moving grove." It was still nigher to Dunsinane when Malcolm exclaimed, "Now, near enough, your leafy screens throw down." These passages in the play might have been written without any local knowledge, but they certainly do not exhibit any local ignorance. It has been said, "The probability of Shakspeare's ever having been in Scotland is very remote. It should seem by his uniformly accenting the name of this spot Dunsináne, that he could not possibly have taken it from the mouths of the country-people who as uniformly accent it Dunsinnan."* This is not quite accurate, as Dr. Drake has pointed out. spere has this passage : "Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shak Wintoun, in his "Chronicle," has both Dunsináne and Dunsinane. But we are informed by a gentleman who is devoted to the study of Scotch Antiquities, that there is every reason to believe that Dunsinane was the ancient pronunciation, and that Shakspere was consequently right in making Dunsinane the exception to his ordinary method of accenting the word. So much for the topographical knowledge displayed in "Macbeth." Alone, it is scarcely enough to found an argument upon. We proceed to the documentary part of this question. The fortieth volume of the registers of the Town Council of Aberdeen contains the following entries :— "Nono Octobris 1601. "The samen day The prouest Bailleis and counsall ordanis the svme of threttie tua merkis to be gevin to the Kingis serwandes presently in this burcht. quha playes comedeis and staige playes Be reasoun they ar recommendit be his majesties speciall letter and hes played sum of their comedies in this burcht and ordanis the said svme to be payit to tham be the dean of gild quhilk salbe allowit in his comptis." "22 Oct 1601. "The Quhilk day Sir Francis Hospitall of Haulszie Knycht Frenschman being recommendit be his majistie to the Prouest Bailleis and Counsall of this brocht to be favorablie Interteneit with the gentilmen his majesties seruands efter specifeit quha war direct to this burcht be his majestie to accumpanie the said Frenshman being ane nobillman of France cumming only to this burcht to sie the towne and cuntrie the said Frenshman with the knightis and gentillmen folowing wer all ressauit and admittit Burgesses of Gild of this burcht quha gawe thair aithis in common form folowis the names of thame that war admittit burgesses Sir Francis Hospitall of halzie knycht Sir Claud Hamiltoun of Schawfeild knycht Sir Johm Grahame of orkill knycht Sir John Ramsay of Ester Baronie knycht James Hay James Auchterlony Robert Ker James Schaw Thomas foster James Monsieur de Scheyne Monsieur la Bar Seruitours to the said Sir Francis James Law James Hamiltoun seruitour to the said Sir Claud Archibald Sym Trumpeter Laurence Fletcher comediane to his majestie. Mr Dauid Wod Johne Bronderstainis" These documents present something more than the facts, that a company of players, specially recommended by the King, were paid a gratuity from the Corporation of Aberdeen for their performances in that town, one of them subsequently receiving the freedom of the borough. The provost, baillies, and council ordain that thirty-two marks should be given to the King's servants then in that borough, who played * Stoddart's "Remarks on the Local Scenery and Manners in Scotland," 1801. comedies and stage-plays. The circumstance that they are recommended by the King's special letter is not so important as the description of them as the King's servants. Thirteen days after the entry of the 9th of October, at which first period these servants of the King had played some of their comedies, Lawrence Fletcher, comedian to his Majesty, is admitted a burgess of Guild of the borough of Aberdeen -the greatest honour which the Corporation could bestow. He is admitted to this honour, in company with a nobleman of France visiting Aberdeen for the gratification of his curiosity, and recommended by the King to be favourably entertained; as well as with three men of rank, and others, who were directed by his Majesty to accompany "the said Frenchman." All the party are described in the document as knights and gentlemen.* We have to inquire, then, who was Lawrence Fletcher, comedian to his Majesty? Assuredly the King had not in his service a company of Scotch players. In 1599 he had licensed a company of English comedians to play at Edinburgh. Fond as James was of theatrical exhibitions, he had not the means of gratifying his taste, except through the visits of English comedians. Scotland had no drama. Before the Reformation she had her Mysteries, as England had. The Moralities of Lyndsay, of which "The Satyre of the three Estaitis" is one of the most remarkable, were indeed dialogues, but in no sense of the word dramas. The biting humour, the fierce invectives, the gross obscenity which we find in "The Satyre of the Three Estaitis," were no doubt the characteristics of other popular exhibitions of the same period. But, taking that singular production as a specimen, they were scarcely so dramatic in their form and spirit as the contemporary productions in England of John Heywood, of which "The four P's" is a favourable example. “Philotus”—“ Ane verie excellent and delectabill Treatise intitulit Philotvs, qvhairin we may persave the greit inconveniences that fallis out in the Marriage betvvene age and zouth "—belongs to a later period. It was first printed in 1603, and again in 1612, when it was entitled "a Comedy." The plot is founded upon one of the stories of Barnaby Rich, told by him in the collection from which Shakspere is supposed to have derived some hints for the conduct of the action in "Twelfth Night." The dialogue of "Philotus" is in verse, not deficient in spirit and harmony, but utterly undramatic-sometimes easy and almost refined, at others quaint and gross beyond all conception. The stanza with which the play opens will furnish some notion of the prevailing metre, and of the poetical tone, of this singular performance: "O lustie luifsome lamp of licht, Your bonynes, your bewtie bricht, With gesture graue and gude: Your countenance, your cullour cleir, وو Until William Alexander appeared in 1603 with his tragedy of "Darius," Scotland possessed no literature that could be called dramatic; and it may be doubted if even Alexander's "Historical Dialogues can be properly called dramas. We may safely conclude that King James would have no Scottish company of players, because Scotland had no dramas to play. Lawrence Fletcher, comedian to his Majesty," was undoubtedly an Englishman; * Archibald Sym, trumpeter, was a person of dignified occupation. He was no doubt the statetrumpeter, whose business it was to assist in proclaiming the royal commands to the people. In Scottish annals we find constant notices of certain acts of authority notified at Edinburgh "by open proclamation and sound of trumpet at the Cross." |