Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1875-02-05
gelecteh mi1ellany.
SECRET FACTS IN4IsTORY.
Who Was The Real Lay Macbeth ::

Lttle Is kHoWH Vi th real peTSoll-
1alities of the chargers moving
through Shakspeare's .aost powerful
tragedy "Macbeth," blythe average of
readers and spectatorsof the play
except so much as is o'nveyed by the
play itself, or the notesappended to it
by one or another of he dramatist's
many commentators. And it may be
said that the tragedy toes not hold
place in the public mi as a histori-
cal one, in the same as Henry
". "r "k ~. .l.,F int sathAa-
'rHErs RANK With tie -. htcal 1ham-
let, ', and vet more mythical ''Othcllo,"
of neither Of which can the leading
persons intended to be represented. be
discovered with any certainty, while
their locations are doubtful or general.
1t is the fact, meanwhile, known to II
certain proportion ofthe reading world,
but unknown to others. that Mac
beth" is so truly historical as to de-
serve rank in that regard with the
other PLAYS of that class. while it holds
fplace infinitely in advance of them in
INTENSITY of interest ahi wealth Of
Imagination. \ certain proportion of
the travelled world are also aware that
the location of the old Castle Of lnyer-
ness. and some of the ruins of that
very antique stronghold IN which the
scene of Duncaus murder Is laid, are
still 10 be seen at Il short distance from
the town Of the same name, on the
wooded highland shore OF the Ness :;
and even more are aware, from travel
books and personal observations, that
a portrait Of Mac beth, as King of Scot
land, Is among the numheg filling the
long line of the great chamber IN
llolvrood House at Edinburgh, made
doubly famous bv Scott as the scene
of the Hunters Balls of Charles Ed
ward Stuart during his brirfoccupancy
of that palace i'll l,i5. Even Il GER
tain portion, though fewer. have made
themselves acquainted with the fact.
that portraits of Duncan, and Of Nal
colin Ccanmore Jor Caumorel, son of
Ficance and consequently grandson OF
Banquo, are to be found in the same
connection, with the face Of Duncan
looking far more dangerous and yio-
costing that his murder in sleep may
have been very wise precautlon, As
such a man would have bten found
difficult to deal with in hIs waking
; aanfs- Fhryr i=-.of c1lrssl e,.rs,.in
amount of diScrydIt thrown upon the
authenticity of all these portraits,
which have the fault of running back
too far, and with too little interrupt
ton. 10 command confidence: but one
NAV certainly be taken ~ we'll as an
other, and they have the merit of at
least supplying some notion of what
the actors in those tragic scenes were
believed 10 have been. hy persons of
their own race long preceding our time,
and IN possession of rude pictures and
legends to guide them in their repre-
scntatlonS.
The supposed era of macbeth" is
within the eleventh century. when the
darkness cnycloping all the history of
Europe had begun 10 give way before
the light. however hickeringa and doubt
full. poured in by chiyalry and its mar
velous later development, the CRU
sadcs. At about the time of the tragic
occurrences involved, 1915 To 1855.
Harold. the last of the Saxon kings of
England. was enjoying that brief time
of repose before his great and crown
ing misfortune; ana William, Duke of
Normandy. was training himself.
through many tolls and privations.
for the great work which he was so
soon To undertake and accomplish. in
I the conquest of England by the Nor
man arms. At Il period So compara-
lively late. there could not have been
any dcarth of absolute records of all
the affairs involved. touching, as they
! did, the welfare of the whole Scottish
monarchy, consolidated into one, and
made Il strength in the succeeding his
tory of the world, by Kenneth H..
some two hundred years before. Where.
then. are those records? and why can
not they be authoritatively referred to.
as can those of England or France at
a corresponding period: The answer
/ is to be found in the melancholy
quarrel between Bruce and Balioi.
! the intervention Of Edward |. of Eng
land, and the burning by that monarch
of most Of the records of the kingdom.
which he believed that he had reduc
ed to be thenceforth province of his
own. Fortunately foreign writers.
the French especially, had dealt with
those important events occurring on
Scottish soil which chanced to bear
some relation to their own countries
and the lips Of tradition (nowhere else
so fluent as Of old in Scotland). could
not be made entirely silent as to that
past which Edward desired to bury.
From these sources were gathered,
eventually, the materials for such a
history of earlier Scottish times. us at
least embodied their more important
events; and among those events was
the story Of Duncan and Macbeth, one
of the mostimportant features of which
was ignored by the dramatist, has been
generally passed over by historians,
and only comes to light and observa-
ton through late study and collation.
of the early chronicles.
The received foundation of the tra-
gedy of "Macbeth' (accrediting the
supernatural parts entirely to the