МАСВЕТН

SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, General of the English

Forces.

Young SIWARD, his Son.

SEYTON, an Officer attending on Macbeth.

Boy, Son to Macduff.

An English Doctor.

A Scotch Doctor.

A Sergeant.

A Porter.

An old Man.

LADY MACBETH.

LADY MACDUFF.

Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth.

HECATE, and Three Witches.

Lords, Gentlemen. Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Atten

dants, and Messengers.

The Ghost of Banquo, and other Apparitions.

SCENE

Scotland: England.

MACBETH

ACT I

SCENE I.-A desert Place.

Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches. First Witch. When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Second Witch. When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle 's lost and won.

Third Witch. That will be ere the set of sun.
First Witch. Where the place?

Second Witch.

Upon the heath.

Third Witch. There to meet with Macbeth.

First Witch. I come, Graymalkin!

Second Witch. Paddock calls.

Third Witch. Anon.

All. Fair is foul, and foul is fair:

Hover through the fog and filthy air.

Exeunt.

SCENE II.-A Camp near Forres.

Alarum within. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DonalBAIN, Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant.

Dun. What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt

The newest state.

Mal.

This is the sergeant

Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
Say to the king the knowledge of the broil
As thou didst leave it.

Ser.

Doubtful it stood;

As two spent swimmers, that do cling together And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald, Worthy to be a rebel, for to that

The multiplying villanies of nature

Do swarm upon him, from the western isles
Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
Show'd like a rebel's whore: but all 's too weak ;
For brave Macbeth, well he deserves that name,
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smok'd with bloody execution,

Like valour's minion carv'd out his passage
Till he fac'd the slave;

Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,

And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

Dun. O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
Ser. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break,
So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come
Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark :
No sooner justice had with valour arm'd

Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels,
But the Norweyan lord surveying vantage,
With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men
Began a fresh assault.

Dun.

Dismay'd not this

Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

Ser.

As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.
If I say sooth, I must report they were

Yes;

As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks;

So they

Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe :

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,

Or memorize another Golgotha,

I cannot tell

But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.

Dun. So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;

They smack of honour both.

Who comes here?

Mal.

Go get him surgeons.

Exit Sergeant, attended.

Enter Ross.

The worthy Thane of Ross.

Len. What haste looks through his eyes! So should

he look

That seems to speak things strange.

Ross.

God save the king!

From Fife, great king;

Dun. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?
Ross.

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky

And fan our people cold.

Norway himself,

With terrible numbers,

Assisted by that most disloyal traitor,

The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;
Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,
Confronted him with self-comparisons,

Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm,
Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude,
The victory fell on us.

Dun.

Ross. That now

Great happiness!

Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition;

Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he disbursed at Saint Colme's Inch
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.