ons of Scottish History, Life, and
Superstition," 1879, p. 322.

It has been urged, however, by certain modern critics, that these three
sisters, "who play such an important part in 'Macbeth,' are not witches
at all, but are, or are intimately allied to, the Norns or Fates of
Scandinavian paganism."[54] Thus, a writer in the _Academy_ (Feb. 8,
1879) thinks that Shakespeare drew upon Scandinavian mythology for a
portion of the material he used in constructing these characters, and
that he derived the rest from the traditions of contemporary witchcraft;
in fact, that the "sisters" are hybrids between Norns and witches. The
supposed proof of this is that each sister exercises the special
function of one of the Norns. "The third," it is said, "is the special
prophetess, while the first takes cognizance of the past, and the second
of the present, in affairs connected with humanity. These are the tasks
of Urda, Verdandi, and Skulda. The first begins by asking, 'When shall
we three meet again?' The second decides the time: 'When the battle's
lost and won.' The third the future prophesies: 'That will be ere the
set of sun.' The first again asks, 'Where?' The second decides: 'Upon
the heath.' The third the future prophesies: 'There to meet with
Macbeth.'"

[54] Spalding's "Elizabethan Demonology," 1880, p. 86.

It is further added that the description of the sisters given by Banquo
(i. 3) applies to Norns rather than witches:

"What are these
So wither'd and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her chappy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so."

But, as Mr. Spalding truly adds, "a more accurate poetical counterpart
to the prose descriptions given by contemporary writers of the
appearance of the poor creatures who were charged with the crime of
witchcraft could hardly have been penned." Scot, for instance, in his
"Discovery of Witchcraft" (book i. chap. iii. 7), says: "They are women
which commonly be old, lame, bleare-eied, pale, fowle, and full of
wrinkles; they are leane and deformed, showing melancholie in their
faces." Harsnet, too, in his "Declaration of Popish Impostures" (1603,
p. 136), speaks of a witch as "an ol