Dam Malcolme fayd, he had a ferly, 275 Dat he hym fandyde fá thraly Of Scotland to tak pe Crowne, Qwhill he kend hys condytyowne. Forfuth, he fayde, pare wes náne pan 280 Swá lycherows a lyvand man, Makduff pan fayd til hym agayne, 6 Dan Malcolme fayd, Dare is mare, F152 b Dat lettis me wyth pe to fare: 'Dat is, þat I am fuá brynnand In Cowatys, pat all Scotland 285 200 295 tranfcriber of the Harleian MS. not liking this ftory, fo derogatory to the Toyal family, omitted it in his tranfcript, and afterwards, changing his mind, added it at the end of his book. All the Scottish writers, who followed Wyntown, have carefully fuppreffed it. Of Malcolm's brothers only Donald, who reigned after him, is known to the Scottish hiftorians: but another Melmare is mentioned in Orkneyinga Saga, [p. 176,] whofe fon Maddad, Earl of Athol, is called fon of a King Donald by the genealogifts, because they knew of no other brother of Malcolm. Perhaps Melmare is the fame whom Kennedy calls Oberard, and fays, that on the ufurpation of Macbeth he fled to Norway, (more likely to his coufin the Earl of Orknay, which was a Norwegian country,) and was. progenitor of an Italian family, called Cantelmi. [Dissertation on the Family of Stuart, p. 193, where he refers to records examined reg. Car. II.] In Scala Chronica [ap. Lel. V. I. p. 529] there is a confufed ftory of two brothers of Malcolm. These various notices feem fufficient to establish the existence of two brothers of Malcolm; but that either of them was preferable to him for age or legitimacy is extremely improbable. It is, however, proper to obferve, that, in those days, baftardy was fcarcely an impediment in the fucceffion to the crown in the neighbouring kingdoms of Norway and Ireland; that Alexander, the son of this Malcolm, took a baftard for his queen; and that, in England, a victorious king, the cotemporary of Mal colm, affumed bastard as a title in his charters. John Cumin, the competitor for the crown, who derived his right from Donald, the brother of Malcolm, knew nothing of this ftory, which, if true, would at least have furnished him an excellent argument. D. MACPHERSON. Makduff wyth hym hand in hand. Dis Kyng Edward of Ingland F 133 a Gawe hym hys Lewe, and hys gud wyll, And gret fuppowale heycht pame tille, And helpe to wyn hys Herytage. On þis pai tuke pane paire wayage. 345 350 355 Dis Malcolme enteryd in Scotland, And past oure Forth, doun ftrawcht to Tay, To be Brynnane to-gyddyr hále. L. 337.] The word "doun," taken in here from the Cotton MS. instead ́ of "fyne" in the Royal, affords us a tolerable plan of the route of Malcolm and his Northumbrian allies; which, as far as Perth, feems to be the fame that Agricola, and all the other invaders of Scotland after him, have purfued. After paffing the Forth, probably at the first ford above Stirling, they marched down the coaft of Fife, no doubt taking Kennauchy, the feat of Macduff, in their way, where they would be joined by the forces of Fife: thence they proceeded, gathering ftrength as they went, attended and supported (like Agricola) by the shipping, which the Northumbrians of that age had in abundance, ["valida claffé, fays Sim. Dun. col. 187, defcribing this expedition,] and turned weft along the north coaft of Fife, the shipping being then stationed in the river and firth of Tay. Macbeth appears to have retreated before them to the north part of the kingdom, where, probably, his intereft was ftrongeft, D. Macpherson, Makbeth turnyd hym agayne, 6 And fayd, Lurdane, pow prykys in wayne, 390 For pow may noucht be he, I trowe, 'Dat to dede fall fla me nowe. 6 De Knycht fayd, I wes nevyr borne; F153 b Bot of my Modyre Wáme wes fchorne. 'Now fall þi Trefowne here tak end; For to pi Fadyre I fall þé fend.' Dus Makbeth flwe þai pan In-to pe Wode of Lunfanan: And þat wyth pame frá þine pai bare And his Hewyd pai ftrak off pare; Til Kynkardyn, quhare pe Kyng Tylle pare gayne-come made bydyng. Of þat flawchter ar þire wers In Latyne wryttyne to rehers; 395 400 405 Rex Macabeda decem Scotie feptemque fit annis, In cujus regno fertile tempus erat: Hunc in Lunfanan truncavit morte crudeli 410 L. 398.] This appears to be hiftoric truth. But Boyfe thought it did not make so good a ftory, as that Macbeth should be flain by Macduff, whom he therefore works up to a proper temper of revenge, by previously fending Macbeth to murder his wife and children. All this has a very fine effect in romance, or upon the ftage. D. MACPHERSON. VOL. X. From the non-appearance of Banquo in this ancient and authentick Chronicle, it is evident that his character, and confequently that of Fleance, were the fictions of Hector Boece, who seems to have been more ambitious of furnishing picturesque incidents for the use of playwrights, than of exhibiting fober facts on which hiftorians could rely. The phantoms of a dream,* in the present inftance, he has embodied, and rr 66 gives to airy nothing "A local habitation and a name.' Nor is he folicitous only to reinforce creation. In thinning the ranks of it he is equally expert; for as often as lavish flaughters are neceffary to his purpose, he has unfcrupulously fupplied them from his own imagination. "I laud him," however, I praise him," (as Falstaff says,) for the tragedy of Macbeth, perhaps, might not have been fo fuccessfully raised out of the lefs dramatick materials of his predeceffor Wyntown. The want of such an effential agent as Banquo, indeed, could scarce have operated more disadvantageoufly in refpect to Shakfpeare, than it certainly has in regard to the royal object of his flattery; for, henceforward, what prop can be found for the pretended ancestry of James the Firft? or what plea for Ifaac Wake's moft courtly deduction from the fuppofed prophecy of the Weird Sifters ? "Vaticinii veritatem rerum eventus comprobavit; Banquonis enim e ftirpe potentiffimus Jacobus oriundus." See Rex Platonicus, &c. 1605. STEEVENS. * Lord Hailes, on the contrary, in a note on his Annals of Scotland, Vol. I. p. 3, charges Buchanan with having foftened the appearance of the Witches into a dream of the fame tendency; whereas he has only brought this story back to the probability of its original, as related by Wyntown. STEEVENS. Z |