The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare

that,

In viewing o'er the rest o'the self-same day,
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as tale,*
Came post with post; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.

Ang. We are sent,
To thee, from our royal master, thanks;
To herald thee into his sight, not pay thee.
Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater ho-
nour,
[dor:
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Caw-
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!
For it is thine.

Macb. Give me your favour:f-my dull brain was wrought [pains With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your Are register'd where every day I turn The leaf to read them. - Let us toward the [time, Think upon what hath chanc'd: and, at more The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak Our free hearts each to other.

king.

Ban. Very gladly.

Macb. Till then, enough.--Come, friends.
[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. - Fores. A Room in the Palace.
Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONAL-
BAIN, LENOX, and ATTENDANTS.
Dun. Is execution done on Cawdor? Are
Those in commission yet return'd?
[not
Mal. My liege,

Ban. What, can the devil speak true?
Macb. The thane of Cawdor lives; Why do They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
you dress me

In borrow'd robes?

Ang. Who was the thane, lives yet;
But under heavy judgement bears that life
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was

With one that saw him die: who did report,
That very frankly he confess'd his treasons;
Implor'd your highness' pardon; and set forth

A deep repentance: nothing in his life
Became him, like the leaving it; he died
As one that had been studied in his death,
To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd,

As 'twere a careless trifle.
Dun. There's no art,

To find the mind's construction in the face:
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust. -O worthiest cousin!

Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSSE, and ANGUS.
The sin of my ingratitude even now
Was heavy on me: Thou art so far before,
That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
To overtake thee. 'Would thou hadst less de-
serv'd;
[ment
That the proportion both of thanks and pay-
Might have been mine! only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay.

Macb. The services and the loyalty I owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part
Is to receive our duties and our duties

Are to your throne and state, children, and

servants;

[thing

Which do but what they should, by doing every
Safe toward your love and honour.

Dun. Welcome hither:

I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
Tomake thee full of growing.||-Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserv'd, nor must be known
No less to have done so, let me infold thee,
And hold thee to my heart.

Ban. There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.

Dun. My plenteous joys,

Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow. -Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
And you whose places are the nearest, know,

[ter,

We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm; whom we name hereaf-
The prince of Cumberland: which honour must
Not, unaccompanied, invest him only,

But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers. From hence to Inverness,
And bind us further to you.

Macb. The rest is labour, which is not us'd for you:

I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful The hearing of my wife with your approach; So, humbly take my leave.

Dun. My worthy Cawdor!

Mach. The prince of Cumberland!-That is a step,

On which I must fall down, or else o'er-leap,
[Aside.
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires!
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand! yet let that be,
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.
[Exit.
Dun. True, worthy Banquo; he is full so va-
And in his commendations I am fed; [liant;*
It is a banquet to me. Let us after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome:
It is a peerless kinsman. [Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE V.-Inverness. -A Room in
MACBETH'S Castle.

Enter Lady MACBETH, reading a letter. Lady M. They met me in the day of success; and I have learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves-air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed me, Thane of Cawdor; by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with, Hail, king that shalt be! This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness; that thou mightest not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to heart, and farewell.

thy

Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promis'd:-Yet do I fear thy nature;

great Glamis,

It is too full o'the milk of human kindness,
To catch the nearest way: Thou would'st be
Art not without ambition; but without [great;
The illness should attend it. What thou
would'st highly,
[false,
That would'st thou holily; would'st not play
And yet would'st wrongly win: thou'd'st have,
[have it;
That which cries, Thus thou must do, if thou
And that which rather thou dost fear to do,
Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical|| aid doth seem
To have thee crown'd withal. What is your

tidings?

Enter an ATTENDANT.

Attend. The King comes here to-night.
Lady. M. Thou'rt mad to say it:

Is not thy master with him? who, wer't so,
Would have inform'd for preparation.

Attend. So please you, it is true; our thane

is coming:

One of my fellows had the speed of him;
Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely
Than would make up his message.
[more

Lady M. Give him tending, He brings great news. The raven himself is hoarse, [Exit ATTENDANT. That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, come, you spirits

That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here;
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood,
Stop up the access and passage to remorse ; t
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect, and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring
ministers,

Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick
night,

And pall; thee in the dunnest smoke of hell ! That my keen knifes see not the wound it makes; [dark, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the To cry, Hold, Hold! - Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor!

Enter MACВЕТН.

Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!
Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant.

Macb. My dearest love,
Duncan comes here to-night.
Lady M. And when goes hence?
Mach. To-morrow, -as he purposes.

Lady M. O, never
Shall sun that morrow see!
Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men
May read strange matters: -To beguile the
time,

Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,

But be the serpent under it. He that's coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night's great business into my despatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom,
Macb. We will speak further.

Lady M. Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear:
Leave all the rest to me.

[Exeunt.

Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, buttress Nor coigne of 'vantage, but this bird hate

made

His pendent bed, and procreant cradle: Where
they

Murderous. + Pity. Wrap as in a mantle,
Knife anciently meant a sword or dagger.
I. e. Beyond the present time, which is according to
Look, countenance. ** Convenient corner.

Full as valiant as described. † The best intelligence. the process of nature ignorant of the future. † Messengers.

Diadem, [] Supernatural

Most breed and haunt, I have observ'd, the air To prick the sides of my intent, but only

Is delicate.

with

Your majesty loads our house: For those of old,
And the late dignities heap'd up to them,
We rest your hermits.t

Dun. Where's the thane of Cawdor?
We cours'd him at the heels, and had a pur-
To be his purveyor: but he rides well; [pose
And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath
holp him

To his home before us: Fair and noble hostess,
We are your guest to-night.

Lady M. Your servants ever
[compt,
Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in
To make their audit at your highness' pleasure,
Still to return your own.

Dun. Give me your hand:
Conduct me to mine host; we love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him.
By your leave, hostess.
[Exeunt.

SCENE VII. -The same. - A Room in the
Castle.

Hautboys and torches. Enter, and pass over the
stage, a Sewer, and divers Servants with
dishes and service. Then enter MACBETH.

Macb. If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well

It were done quickly: If the assassination
Could trammel upon the consequence, and
catch,

With his surcease, success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come. But, in these
[teach
We still have judgement here; that we but
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, re-
Itice

cases,

turn

To plague the inventor: This even-handed jus-
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd

chalice

To our own lips. He's here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this

Duncan

327

Vaulting ambition, which o'er-leaps itself,
And falls on the other.--How now, what news?

He hath honour'd me of late; and I have
[bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Which would be worn now in their newest
Not cast aside so soon.

[gloss, since?

Lady M. Was the hope drunk,
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time,
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour,
As thou art in desire? Would'st thou have
that

Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem;
Letting I dare not wait upon I would,
Like the poor cat i'the adage?

Macb. Pr'ythee, peace:

I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more, is none.

Lady M. Whet beast was it then,
That made you break this enterprize to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you
would
Be so much more the man. Nor time, nor
[place,
Did then adhere, and yet you would make
both:
They have made themselves, and that their fit-
[know
Does unmake you. I have given suck; and
How tender 'tis, to love the babe that milks me;
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless
gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn, as
[you
Have done to this.

ness now

ney

Macb. If we should fail,-
Lady M. We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep,
(Whereto the rather shall his day's hard jour-
Soundly invite him,) his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wasselt so convince,‡
That memory, the warders of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only: When in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie, as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers; who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell? ||

Macb. Bring forth men-children only!
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be receiv'd,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy
Of his own chamber, and us'd their very dag-
[gers,
That they have don't?

two

Lady M. Who dares receive it other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?

Macb. I am settled, and bend up

* In the same sense as cohere,

‡ Overpower,

Murder.

Intemperance

Sentinel.

Apprehended.

Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. Away, and mock the time with fairest show: False face must hide what the false heart doth know. [Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE 1.-The same. --Court within the Castle. Enter BANQUO and FLEANCE, and a Servant, with a torch before them.

Ban. How goes the night, boy?

Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtain'd sleep; now witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd murder, Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf, [pace, Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy

Fle. The moon is down; I have not heard With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his

the clock.

Ban. At your kind'st leisure.

when 'tis,

design

Moves like a ghost. - Thou sure and firm-set earth, [fear Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for Thy very stones prate of my where-about, And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives;

Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives. [A bell rings. I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven, or to hell.

SCENE II.-The same. Enter Lady MАСВЕТН.

[Exit.

Mach. If you shall cleave to my consent, Confounds us:-Hark!-I laid their daggers

It shall make honour for you.

Ban. So I lose none,

In seeking to augment it, but still keep

My bosom franchis'd, and allegiance clear,

I shall be counsel'd.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling, as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind; a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain ?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.

Thou marshal'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument 1 was to use. [ses,
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other sen-
Or else worth all the rest: I see thee still;

And on thy blade, and dudgeon,|| gouts d

blood,

Macb. [Within.] Who's there?-what, ho! Lady M. Alack! I am afraid they have [deed, And 'tis not done: -the attempt, and not the ready, [bled He could not miss them. -Had he not resemMy father as he slept, I had done't. My husband?

As they had seen me, with these hangman's hands.

knock: Who's there, i'the name of Belzebub ? Here's a farmer, that hanged himself on the

When they did say, God bless us.

Lady M. Consider it not so deeply.
Macb. But wherefore could not I pronounce,

Listening their fear, I could not say, Amen, expectation of plenty: Come in time; have

Amen?

I had most need of blessing, and Amen
Stuck in my throat.

Lady M. These deeds must not be thought After these ways; so, it will make us mad. Macb. Methought, I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more!

Macbeth does murder sleep, the innocent sleep; Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleavet of care, The death of cach day's life, sore labour's bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, Chief nourisher in life's feast;

Lady M. What do you mean?

Mach. Still it cried, Sleep no more! to all the house:

Glamis hath murder'd sleep; and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more! Lady M. Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane,

You do unbend your noble strength, to think So brainsickly of things:-Go, get some water, And wash this filthy witness from your hand.Why did you bring these daggers from the

place?

They must lie there: Go, carry them; and smear The sleepy grooms with blood.

Macb. I'll go no more:

I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again, 1 dare not.

[dead,

Lady M. Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers': The sleeping, and the Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood, That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, For it must seem their guilt.

[Exit. Knocking within.

Macb. Whence is that knocking? How is't with me, when every noise appals me? What hands are here? Ha! they pluck out

mine eyes!

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will

The multitudinous seas incarnardine, [rather | Making the green-one red.

Re-enter Lady MACBETH.

Lady M. My hands are of your colour; but [knocking

I shame To wear a heart so white. [Knock.] I hear a At the south entry :-retire we to our chamber: A little water clears us of this deed: How easy is it then? Your constancy

Hath left you unattended.--[Knocking.] Hark!

more knocking:

Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us, And show us to be watchers: -Be not lost So poorly in your thoughts.

Macb. To know my deed,-'twere best not know myself.

[Knock.

Wake Duncan with thy knocking! Ay, 'would [Exeunt.

thou could'st!

SCENE III.-The same.

Enter a PORTER.-[Knocking within.] Port. Here's a knocking, indeed! If a man

were porter of hell-gate, he should have olds turning the key. [Knocking.] Knock, knock,

• As if
+ Sleave is unwrought silk.
‡ To incarnardine is to stain of a flesh colour.
Frequent.

napkins* enough about you; here you'll sweat for't. [Knocking.] Knock, knock: Who's there, i'the devil's name? 'Faith, here's an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale; who committed treason enough for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven: O, come in, equivocator. [Knocking.] Knock, knock, knock: Who's there? 'Faith here's an English tailor come hither for stealing out of a French hose: Come in, tailor; here you may roast your goose. [Knocking.] Knock, knock: Never at quiet! What are you?-But this place is too cold for hell. I'll devil-porter it no further: I had thought to have let in some of all professions, that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire. [Knocking.] Anon, anon; I pray you, remember the porter. [Opens the gate.

Enter MACDUFF and LEΝΟΧ.

Mucd. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to That you do lie so late? [bed,

Port. 'Faith, Sir, we were carousing till the second cock:t and drink, Sir, is a great provoker of three things.

Macd. What three things does drink especially provoke?

Port. Marry, Sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, Sir, it provokes, and unprovokes: it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance: Therefore, much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery: it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and not stand to: in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him the sie, leaves him.

Macd. I believe, drink gave thee the lie last night.

Port. That it did, Sir, i'the very throat o'me: But I requited him for his lie; and, I think, being too strong for him, though he took up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him.

Macd. Is thy master stirring?Our knocking has awak'd him; here he comes.

[pain.

Macd. I'll make so bold to call, For 'tis my limited service. [Exit MacDUFF. Len. Goes the king From hence to-day?

Macb. He does :-He did appoint it so. Len. The night has been unruly: Where we lay, [say, Our chimneys were blown down: and, as they Lamentings heard i'the air; strange screams of death; And prophesying, with accents terrible, Of dire combustion, and confus'd events,

Handkerchiefs. + Cockcrowing. $ I. c. Affords a cordial to it. Appointed service.

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