MACBETH

ACT IV , SCENE I

……

A show of Eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand; GHOST OF BANQUO following

MACBETH -Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down!
Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls. And thy hair,
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.
A third is like the former. Filthy hags!
Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes!
What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?
Another yet! A seventh! I'll see no more:
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass
Which shows me many more; and some I see
That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry:
Horrible sight! Now, I see, 'tis true;
For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his.

…….

Critics have pointed out that Shakespeare wrote this to please and flatter X , who believed himself to be Banquo’s descendent . X ,who was both the VI and the I of his line was also interested in witchcraft and wrote the book “Daemonologie” and indeed without X , T.S. Elliot’s Journey of the Magi wouldn’t have been possible.

In  an unrealted incident, Y was implicated in the alleged attempt to abduct X by 

John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, at Perth on 4 August 1600 by the confession of George Sprot of 

Eyemouth. In 1608, after Y's death, Sprot confessed he had seen letters from Gowrie

to Logan at Fast Castle and Gunnisgreen. Y offered Gowrie

and his brother the use of Fast Castle to settle their plot. He recommended that "the matter" be

settled soon at  X’s buck hunting.

Y was Z’s friend. A contract still exists for a treasure hunt, made between Z and Y. Z was to

search Fast Castle for treasure allegedly hidden there, wherein it is stated that Z should

"...do his utmost diligence to search and seek out, and by all craft and ingine to find out the same,

 or make it sure that no such thing has been there.“

Z  was a Scottish mathematician, physicist, astronomer & astrologer, and also the 8th Laird of 

Merchistoun. Z had a strong interest in the Book of Revelation, from his student days at 

St Salvator's College, St Andrews. Under the influence of the sermons of Christopher Goodman,

he developed a strongly anti-papal reading. He further used the Book of Revelation for 

chronography, to predict the Apocalypse, in A Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John,

 which he regarded as his most important work. Z believed that the end of the world would

In his dedication of the Plaine Discovery to X, dated 29 Jan. 1594, Z urged X to see

 occur in 1688 or 1700.

"that justice be done against the enemies of God's church," and counselled X

"to reform the universal enormities of his country, and first to begin at his own house, family, and

 court."

HINT about Z-