MOUNTAIN ASH TIIEE. 



251 



" The last line of this stanza,'' continues Dr. Hunter, 

 " leads to the true reading of a line in Shakspeare's 

 tragedy of ^lacbeth. The sailor's vnfe, on the "vvitch's 

 requesting some chestnuts, hastily answers, * A rown 

 tree, witch !' but all the editions have it ' Aroint thee, 

 witch !' which is nonsense, and e'vddently a corruption.'"* 

 Dr. Hunter's suggestion appears so rational as almost to 

 caiTv conviction v.ith it, did we not requii'e further elu- 

 cidations of tliis strange term, where this sense can 

 scarcely be made to apply. What means Edgar in 

 King Lear ? 



" Saint Withold footed thrice the wold ; 

 He met the night-mare^, and her nine-fold ; 

 Bid her alight. 

 And her troth plight. 

 And aroint thee, witch ! aroint thee !" 



This is generally supposed to signify avaunt ; but it 

 is found in no other author than Shakspeare. Hone, in 

 his Rehgious Mysteries, has a chapter on this subject, in 

 which he gives a fac-simile of an old drawing, called the 

 Descent into Hell, in which Christ is represented as 

 approaching the mouth of hell, v\'hile a devil addi'esses 

 him, " Out, out, arongt,'" a word supposed to be a 

 corruption of aroint ; or rather they are both said to be 

 corrupted from the v,^ord arougt. It v\'Ould be too long, 

 and perhaps not very interesting to readers in general, to 

 quote all that relates to this subject : those who have 

 any curiosity to see it will find it in the sixth chapter of 

 that curious work : but a person animated with the zeal 

 of a favourite theory might certainly perceive that the 

 figure intended for Christ pays this visit under the pro- 

 tection of a roan-tree cro.ss, vrhieli he bears in the left 



