To quarrel with your great opposeless wills,
My snuff, and loathed part of nature should
Burn itself out.

Lear on his Flatterers.

They flatter'd me like a dog; and told me I had white hairs in my beard, ere the black ones were there. To say ay and no, to everything I said!-Ay and no too was no good divinity. When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when the thunder would not peace at my bidding; there I found them, there I smelt them out. Go to, they are not men o' their words; they told me I was everything; 'tis a lie; I am not ague-proof.

Scene between Lear and Cordelia.

CORDELIA. How does my royal lord? How fares your majesty ?

LEAR. You do me wrong to take me out o' the grave. Thou art a soul in bliss: but I am bound

Upon a wheel of fire, that mine own tears
Do scald like molten lead.

CORDELIA.

Sir, do you know me ?

LEAR. You are a spirit, I know; when did you die? CORDELIA. Still, still, far wide!

PHYSICIAN. He's scarce awake; let him alone awhile. LEAR. Where have I been?—Where am I?-Fair day-light ?

I am mightily abused.—I should even die with pity,
To see another thus.-I know not what to say.—
I will not swear these are my hands: let's see;
I feel this pin prick. Would I were assured
Of my condition.

CORDELIA. O, look upon me, sir,

And hold your hands in benediction o'er me :-
No, sir, you must not kneel.

LEAR.

Pray do not mock me:

I am a very foolish fond old man,

Fourscore and upwards; and, to deal plainly,

I fear I am not in my perfect mind.

Methinks I should know you, and know this man:
Yet I am doubtful: for I am mainly ignorant
What place this is; and all the skill I have
Remembers not these garments, nor I know not
Where I did lodge last night. Do not laugh at me;
For, as I am a man, I think this lady

To be my child Cordelia.

If

And so I am, I am.

tears wet? Yes, faith, I pray, weep

you have poison for me, I will drink it. I know you do not love me; for your sisters Have, as I do remember, done me wrong:

You have some cause, they have not.

PHYSICIAN. Be comforted, good madam: the great

rage,

You see, is cured in him ; and yet it is danger

To make him even o'er the time he has lost;
Desire him to go in; trouble him no more,
Till further settling.

CORDELIA. Will't please your highness walk?
LEAR.

You must bear with me:

Pray now forget and forgive: I am old and foolish.

ACT V.

Lear to Cordelia when taken Prisoners.

Come, let's away to prison:

We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies and hear poor rogues

Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,—
Who loses, and who wins; who's in, who's out;
And take upon us the mystery of things,

As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out,
In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones,
That ebb and flow by the moon.

Edgar's defiance of Edmund.

Draw thy sword;

That if my speech offend a noble heart,
Thy arm may do thee justice: here is mine.
Behold, it is the privilege of mine honours,
My oath, and my profession: I protest,-
Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence,
Despite thy victor sword, and fire-new fortune,
Thy valour, and thy heart,-thou art a traitor :
False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father;
Conspirant 'gainst this high illustrious prince ;
And from the extremest upward of thy head,
To the descent and dust beneath thy feet,
A most toad-spotted traitor. Say thou, No,
This sword, this arm, and my best spirits, are bent
To prove upon thy heart, whereto I speak,

Thou liest.

Lear on the Death of Cordelia.

Howl, howl, howl, howl!-O you are men of stones; Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so That heaven's vault should crack :-O, she is

ever!

gone

for

I know when one is dead, and when one lives;
She's dead as earth.--Lend me a looking-glass;
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why then she lives.

*

This feather stirs

*

It is a chance that does redeem all sorrows
That ever I have felt.

*

-000

MACBETH.

Macbeth and Banquo, generals in the army of Duncan, king of Scotland, returning from a victorious campaign, encounter, on a blighted heath, three witches, who hail Macbeth as the future king of Scotland. Inspired thus with a craving for royalty, Macbeth, in a letter, informs his wife, an ambitious and unscrupulous woman, of the greatness that is predicted for him, and in order to obtain the sovereignty he resolves to murder the good king Duncan. The virtues of the king cause him to hesitate, but his scruples are overcome by Lady Macbeth, and he assassinates Duncan whilst a guest in Inverness Castle. With the connivance of his wife, Macbeth endeavours to cast suspicion of the murder on the guards who sleep at the entrance to the king's chamber; he is, however, himself suspected of the crime, especially by Banquo, who has heard the prediction of the witches; and Macbeth, remembering this, causes Banquo to be slain. Malcolm and Donalbain, sons

of the deceased monarch, fly from Scotland; the former escapes to England, where he is joined by Macduff, a nobleman of Scotland. They obtain assistance from England, and, with an army commanded by Siward, Earl of Northumberland, besiege Macbeth's castle, where the tyrant is slain by Macduff. Lady Macbeth, a prey to remorse, and "troubled with thick-coming fancies," dies, and Malcolm is proclaimed King.

Аст I.

Description of the 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 choppy finger laying

Upon her skinny lips: -You should be women,

And yet your beards forbid me to interpret

That you are so.

Macbeth's Disposition.

Yet do I fear thy nature;

It is too full o' the milk of human kindness,

To catch the nearest way: Thou would'st be great;

Art not without ambition; but without

The illness should attend it.

highly,

What thou would'st

That would'st thou holily: would'st not play false,
And yet would'st wrongly win.

Macbeth's Irresolution.

If it were done, when 'tis done, then 't were well

It were done quickly: if the assassination

Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,