s wer gevin be King Duncane to Makbeth. It hapnit in the nixt
nicht that Banquho and Makbeth were sportand togiddir at thair supper,"
and Banquo reminded his friend that there remained only the Crown to
complete the prophecy. Whereupon, "he began to covat the crown." And
then Duncan named his young son Malcolm as his heir, "Quhilk wes gret
displeseir to Makbeth; for it maid plane derogatioun to the thrid
weird," promising him the Crown. "Nochtheless, he thocht, gif Duncane
war slane, he had maist richt to the Croun, be the old lawis of King
Fergus (law of tanistry), becaus he wer nerest of blude thair to," the
text of the old law being, "Quhen young children wer unabil to govern,
the nerrest of thair blude sail regne." Then, {254} when his wife
"calland him oft times, febil cowart, sen he durst not assail ye thing
with manheid and enrage, quhilk is offert to him be benivolence of
fortoun," then, so tempted and so goaded, "Makbeth fand sufficient
opportunite, and slew King Duncane, the VII yeir of his regne, and his
body was buryit in Elgin, and efter tane up and brocht to Colmekill,
quhare it remanis yit, amang the uthir Kingis: fra our Redemption.
MXLVI yeris."

The story told in these quaint words was, without any doubt, read by
Shakespeare, and in the alembic of his imagination grew into the
immortal play. Touched by his genius, the names Dunsinnane and Birnam,
lying close to Scone, are luminous points on the map, upon which the
eye loves to linger. The incidents may not be authentic. We are told
they are not. But Macbeth certainly slew Duncan and was King of
Scotland, and finally met his Nemesis at Dunsinnane, near Birnam Wood,
where Malcolm III., called Canmore, avenged his father's death, slew
the usurper, and was crowned king at Scone, 1054.

The historic point selected by Shakespeare {255} has an important
significance of a different sort. It was the dividing line between the
old and the new. Macbeth's reign marks the close of the Celtic period.
With the advent of Malcolm III., there commenced that infusion of
Teutonic political ideals which was destined at last to merge the
Anglo-Saxon and the Scottish Celt into one political organism.
Malcolm's mother was the sister of the Earl of Northumberland. So the
son of Duncan was half-English; and he became more than half-English
when, somewhat later, he married Margaret, sister of his friend and
guest, "Edgar the Atheling," last claimant of the Saxon thro