THE SCOTTISH ART REVIEW
nothing but
of
leaving
a wreatli ot vapour
behind, is an admir-
able device. Round
the rock-caldron in
the Pit of Acheron
they trip their mystic
measure most pictui'-
esquely ; but I would
fain lodge a protest
against the electric
star on Hecate's fore-
head. We are too
familiar with the
trick of the thing to
be at all impressed
by it. Such effects
are good enough for
Savoy opera, not for Shakespearean tragedy. The
one witch-scene which strikes me as totally mistaken
is the moonlit Hebridean landscape in which a bevy
of grey-robed damsels sing the chorus : —
- Come away, come away,
Hecate, Hecate, come away ! ' The change of scene is irrelevant and unnecessary ; the painting is thin and tricky ; and the grouping of the so-called witches suffffests Martins picture of the ' Plains of Heaven ' ra ther than anything diabolic or uncanny. Let me add before bidding farewell to the Weird Sisters, that tjiey are now played, for the first time in stage history, by three tragic actresses of some repute — Miss Mar- riott, Miss Seaman, and Miss Desborough. For this happy innovation Mr. Irving deserves all credit. The Lyceum artists, of whom Mr. Hawes Craven is the chief (he is respon- sible for 1 4 out of the 20 scenes), have shown excel- lent tact in preserving the local colour of the ' Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, Land of the mountain and the flood.' The second scene, ' A camp near Forres," takes us at once to Scotland. It represents a green and whin-clad hillside, with the tents of Duncan's army in the middle distance, seen through a group of Scotch firs overarching the foreground. The ' blasted heath ' of the third scene is shown in such lurid chiaroscuro that it be- longs rather to wizardland than to any geographical locality. Thei-c is a sanguine glow on the horizon, designed, I take it, to represent the sunset of a tempestuous day. It is true that the upper air grows lighter as time goes on, thus sug- gesting sunrise rather than sunset ; but I presume the effect is to be attributed to the clearing awav of rain-clouds and of the fosrav atmosphere which the Witches may be supposed to bring with them. Macbeth's first entrance, against this blood-red background, is highly picturesque. He wears a winged helmet of burnished cojjper, a shirt of chain mail, metal-studded buskins, and over all a stri])ed mantle of dark liomespun. On his left arm is a small round shield, ricli scabbard, over a and he carries liis sword, in 'lis .shoulder. A grotesque resemblance struck me as he came down the stage — a resemblance to some caricature of Mr. Glad- stone in similar attire — one of TennieFs admir- able designs, no doubt. The idea may have been purely fanciful, and even if the likeness exists it in no way mars the fine pic- torial impression. Ho«- far this sardonic and thought-furrowed coun- tenance can be accepted as that of a Scottish chief- tain of the eleventh cen- ttuy, is, of course, a dif- ferent question. Another memorable effect is the trooping of the victorious army across the stage at the close of this scene. They swarm along almost at a ' double,' in the most open order, or rather dis- order, tiieir spears, cari'ied at all possible angles,
