SCENE IV.-A Room of State in the Palace. A Banquet prepared. Enter MACBETH, Lady MACBETH, Macb. You know your own degrees; sit down : at first Thanks to your majesty. Our hostess keeps her state; but in best time Lady M. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends; Macb. See, they encounter thee with their hearts' Both sides are even: here I'll sit i' the midst. The table round.-There's blood upon thy face. Macb. 'Tis better thee without, than him within. Is he despatch'd? Rosse. Gentlemen, rise; his highness is not well. | He will again be well. If much you note him 3 [Coming to MACBETH: aside to him.3 O, proper stuff! Macb. Pr'ythee, see there! behold! look! lo! how Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.— Mur. My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him. If charnel-houses, and our graves, must send Macb. Thou art the best o' the cut-throats; Yet he is good, that did the like for Fleance: If thou didst it, thou art the nonpareil. Lady M. Thanks for that.- Macb. Macb. Len. May it please your highness sit? Macb. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd, Rosse. His absence, sir, Lays blame upon his promise. Please it your highness Those that we bury back, our monuments [Exit Ghost. Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal; Lady M. My worthy lord, [Going back to her state.a Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends; Would he were here! to all, and him, we thirst Lords. Our duties, and the pledge. Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold ; Think of this, good peers, But as a thing of custom: 't is no other; | Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, 1 vouch'd while 't is a making in f. e. 2 3 4 These directions not in f. e. 8 inhabit in f. e. 5 I am a man again.--Pray you, sit still. Your charms, and every thing beside. Lady M. You have displac'd the mirth, broke the I am for the air; this night I'll spend Question enrages him. At once, good night : Stand not upon the order of your going, But go at once. A kind good night to all! [Exeunt Lords and Attendants. Macb. It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood: Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak; Macb. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person, At our great bidding? Lady M. Did you send to him, sir? More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know, Is the initiate fear, that wants hard use : SCENE V.The Heath. Unto a dismal and a fatal end : There hangs a vaporous drop profound; Is mortals' chiefest enemy. Song. [Within.] Come away, come away, &c. Hark! I am call'd: my little spirit, see, Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me. [Exit HECATE. 1 Witch. Come, let's make haste: she'll soon be back again. [Exeunt Witches. SCENE VI.-Fores. A Room in the Palace. Enter LENOx and another Lord. Len. My former speeches have but hit your thoughts, Which can interpret farther: only, I say, Things have been strangely borne. The gracious Duncan Was pitied of Macbeth-marry, he was dead; fail'd His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear, Thunder. Enter the three Witches, meeting HECATE. In riddles, and affairs of death; Meet me i' the morning: thither he Your vessels, and your spells, provide, The son of Duncan, Len. You'll rue the time SCENE I.—A dark Cave. In the middle, a Cauldron. Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 1 Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. 2 Witch. Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whin'd. 3 Witch. Harper1 cries,—'T is time, 't is time. 1 Witch. Round about the cauldron go; In the poison'd entrails throw.— Toad, that under cold stone, Day and nights has thirty-one Swelter'd venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. All. Double, double toil and trouble ; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. 2 Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake: All. Double, double toil and trouble, 3 Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf; Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the dark; All. Double, double toil and trouble ; 2 Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood; Enter HECATE, and other Witches. Hec. O, well done! I commend your pains, And now about the cauldron sing, [Music, and a Song. "Black spirits," &c.3 Exit HECATE. Enter MACBETH. [Knocking. Macb. Then live, Macduff: what need Ï fear of thee? That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, Mach. How now, you secret, black, and midnight And top of sovereignty ? hags! All. Listen, but speak not to 't. App. Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are: Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until 2 Entrails. 3 The rest of this direction is not in f. e. The song is probably the same as that in Middleton's Witch : 1 Harpier in f. e. 4 bladed: in f. e. on in f. e. Black spirits and white, Red spirits and grey; Mingle, mingle, mingle, You that mingle may. slope in f. e. 7 Germinating seeds. Folio reads: germains. That will never be : Who can impress the forest; bid the tree Unfix his earth-bound root ? sweet bodements! Rebellion's' head, rise never, till the wood Of Birnam rise; and our high-plac'd Macbeth Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath To time and mortal custom.-Yet my heart Throbs to know one thing: tell me, (if your art Can tell so much) shall Banquo's issue ever Reign in this kingdom? All. Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword good! But no more flights5.-Where are these gentlemen? Seek to know no more. Hautboys sound. 1 Witch. Show! 2 Witch. Show! 3 Witch. Show! All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; Come like shadows, so depart. A show of eight Kings, and BANQUO first and last,3 with a Glass in his Hand. Macb. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down! Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls ;-and thy hair. Thou other gold-bound brow art 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 sceptres carry. Horrible sight!-Now, I see, 't is true; For the blood-bolter'd' Banquo smiles upon me, And points at them for his.-What! is this so? 1 Witch. Ay, sir, all this is so: but why Stands Macbeth thus amazedly ?Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites, And show the best of our delights. I'll charm the air to give a sound, While you perform your antic round; That this great king may kindly say, Our duties did his welcome pay. [Music. The witches dance, and vanish. Macb. Where are they? Gone?-Let this pernicious hour Len. Ay, my good lord. Fled to England? Macb. Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits : Unless the deed go with it. From this moment, To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done : 1 Rebellious in f. e. 2 The first part of this direction is not in f. e. in f. e. 7 Shall in f. e. Whether it was his wisdom, or his fear. L. Macd. Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave his His mansion, and his titles, in a place [babes, From whence himself does fly? He loves us not: He wants the natural touch; for the poor wren, The most diminutive of birds, will fight, Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. All is the fear, and nothing is the love: As little is the wisdom, where the flight So runs against all reason. My dearest coz', Rosse. Each way and move.-I take my leave of you : L. Macd. Father'd he is, and yet he 's fatherless. L. Macd. What, with worms and flies ? Son. With what I get, I mean; and so do they. L. Macd. Poor bird! thou 'dst never fear the net, nor lime, The pit-fall, nor the gin. Son. Why should I, mother? Poor birds they are not set for. My father is not dead, for all your saying. L. Macd. Yes, he is dead: how wilt thou do for a father? Son. Nay, how will you do for a husband? L. Macd. Why, I can buy me twenty at any market. Son. Then you'll buy 'em to sell again. L. Macd. Thou speak'st with all thy wit; And yet i' faith, with wit enough for thee. Son. Was my father a traitor, mother? L. Macd. Ay, that he was. Son. What is a trailor? L. Macd. Why, one that swears and lies. L. Macd. Every one that does so is a traitor, and must be hanged. 3 BANQUO last: in f. e. 4 Besmeared. 5 sights: in f. e. 6 know: Son. And must they all be hanged that swear and lie? | A good and virtuous nature may recoil Son. Who must hang them? L. Macd. Why, the honest men. Son. Then the liars and swearers are fools; for there are liars and swearers enow to beat the honest men, and hang up them. L. Macd. Now God help thee, poor monkey! But how wilt thou do for a father? Son, If he were dead, you'd weep for him: if you would not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have a new father. L. Macd. Poor prattler, how thou talk'st! Mess. Bless you, fair dame. I am not to you known, Be not found here; hence, with your little ones. L. Macd. I have done no harm; but I remember now Is often laudable; to do good sometime Do I put up that womanly defence, In an imperial charge. But I shall crave your pardon: Mal. Perchance, even there, where I did find my doubts. Why in that rawness left you wife, and child, Let not my jealousies be your dishonours, Macd. Bleed, bleed, poor country! Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, For goodness dares not check thee! wear thou thy To say, I have done no harm ?-What are these faces? And here, from gracious England, have I offer He has kill'd me, mother: Run away, I pray you. [Dies. [Exit Lady MACDUFF, crying murder, and pursued by the Murderers. SCENE III.—England. A Room in the King's Palace. Enter MALCOLM and MACDUFF. [Showing a Paper. What should he be ? Mal. It is myself I mean; in whom I know All the particulars of vice so grafted, That, when they shall be ripen'ds, black Macbeth Will seem as pure as snow; and the poor state Esteem him as a lamb, being compar'd With my confineless harms. Macd. Not in the legions Mal. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there In evils to top Macbeth. Macd. Let us rather Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out Mal. You may deserve2 of him through me, and wisdom To appease an angry god. Macd. I am not treacherous. Mal. All continent impediments would o'er-bear, Macd. Boundless intemperance In nature is a tyranny: it hath been 1 Probably a misprint for "hair'd." 2 discern: in folio. Theobald made the change. 3 affear'd in folio. To affeer, is a law phrase, for to affirm. 4 Not in f. e. 5 open'd in f. e. 6 Convey in f. e. |