not easy to assign a reason why a nameless character should be
introduced here, since nothing is said that might not with equal
propriety have been put into the mouth of any other disaffected man. I
believe therefore that in the original copy it was written with a very
common form of contraction Lenox and An. for which the transcriber,
instead of Lenox and Angus, set down Lenox and _another Lord_. The
author had indeed been more indebted to the transcriber's fidelity and
diligence had he committed no errors of greater importance.

III.vi.36 (482,3) and receive free honours] [_Free_ for grateful.
WARBURTON.] How can _free_ be _grateful_? It may be either honours
_freely bestowed_, not purchased by crimes; or honours _without
slavery_, without dread of a tyrant.

IV.i (484,5) As this is the chief scene of enchantment in the play, it
is proper in this place to observe, with how much judgment Shakespeare
has selected all the circumstances of his infernal ceremonies, and how
exactly he has conformed to common opinions and traditions:

_Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd_.

The usual form in which familiar spirits are reported to converse with
witches, is that of a cat. A witch, who was tried about half a century
before the time of Shakespeare, had a cat named Rutterkin, as the spirit
of one of these witches was Grimalkin; and when any mischief was to be
done she used to bid Rutterkin _go and fly_, but once when she would
have sent Rutterkin to torment a daughter of the countess of Rutland,
instead of _going_ or _flying_, he only cried _mew_, from whence she
discovered that the lady was out of his power, the power of witches
being not universal, but limited, as Shakespeare has taken care to