Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1844-12-26
RUTLAND, THURSDAY, DECEMBER qe 1874

hO b1NNt ihOh
actually succeeded in that character,
wasgranddaughter Of n former king of
Scots who had been slain by Duncan's
grandfather
Macbeth was sort of pacha or he
reditary sheriff but, it will be obser-
we'd, in district over which Duncan
only aimed at establishing a govern
ment, so that he never was, properly
speaking, a subject of that monarch
He is rather 10 be considered as the
representative ofan opposite interest OF
the country, that of the northern high
landcrs and the Norwegians aud his
welfare with the gracious Duncan
seems, therefore, to have been as fair
as any welfare of that age ever was.
Taking the poetical story in its de-
tails, the recouutcr with the witches
shrink into very simple matter. The
earlier writers speak Of it only as a
dream, in which Macbeth imagined
himself as addressed by the three
Fates. The incident is thus related
by honest Andrew Wayton of Linch-
leven, who wrote about 1890:
AT nigh, he thought in his dreaming,
That sitting he was beside the king
At seat in hunting sac
Until his leish had grewhounds twae.
He thought, while he was sac sitiand,
He saw three women by gangard #
And tnae woman than thought he
Three weire sisters maist like TO be.
The first he heard say. gangand by,
'Lo yonder the Thane o! Crombacty
The 10th woman said again,
'Of Moray yonder see the Thane.'
The third than said, Il see the King
A this he heard in his dreaming"
Thane, it will be understood is a
Saxon term for his Gaelic maormor
and it may be further explained, that
the maormorship of Moray is what is
implied in the term 'Thane ofCawdor'
the seat of the Moray chief being at
Calder, in the county of Nairn.t We
can easily believe that the above story
had foundation in truth, aud such a
dream really did help to impel Mac
beth to attempt gaining the king6 ON
for incidents of this kind were among
the motives of great actions in that and
subsequent ages. But this admission
certainly fixed no probability upon
Macbeth.
The story has, however been great
ly exaggerated in the course Of time ;
and, for one thing, the whole portion OF
it referring to Banquo is fiction
There was no such person; therefore
he never was murdered. And at tho
time when he is representedas learning
that he was to be the progenitor of the
house of Stuart, the actual ancestor O
that family was living in Normandy
under the name ofFitzallen, not ever
dreaming ofever possessing foot o
land in Britain.
The death of Duncan, instead of ;
private murder, was, we have seen, thu
overthrow of a rival in battle. The
scene of this fight is not precisely
known The old chronicles say i
took place at Bothgowadan, which
George Chalmers fixes near Elgin: bu
it was probably near Ivernees, wher'
there actually is a cairn, or heap o
stones, called Clachan Donaichie tina
is, Duncan's cairn, implying probabl,
the scene of his death : The whole
story of the reception of Duncan b.
Macbeth at his castle, the killing O
the king during the night, and the col
cealment of the murder by the slaugh
ter of the two servants, which Shaks
peare derived from Hollingshead, is
transposition from different period o
history, being a recital of the actua
circumstances attending the death of
King Duff, in the castle of Forest, q
bout century before, the governor @
the castle being the murderer.
Thus the greatest stain all of which
rests on the memory of Macbeth van
ishes in a moment. That such stain
should have ever attached to the mem
DRY of an innocent man, may Great
surprise but we should remembe
that he was Immediately succeeded b
a hostile dynasty, whose interest
would be to blacken him rs much a
possible and whom writers would {
course be disposed to flatter by sayin
all the evil they could of the decease
monarch.
This influence, however, has nc
been able to suppress the fact th'
Macbeth was a successful ruler, an
for the greater part CT his reign e'
/, tremely popular. Buchanan describe
him as IA man OF penetrating genius
! an exalted spirit, and delighting i
+ great affairs" Perhaps this charactC
, wasipartly owing to a set of wise law
: u.hicL hn ,rnc fLnn holinroI To hay