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 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 : — 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 Martin''s 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,
 * Come away, come away,