As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air 1 With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed. I bear a charmed life, which must not yield To one of woman born. Macd. Despair thy charm ; And let the angel, whom thou still hast served, Macb. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, For it hath cow'd my better part of man! And be these juggling fiends no more believed, That keep the word of promise to our ear, And break it to our hope.-I'll not fight with thee. Macd. Then yield thee, coward, And live to be the show and gaze o' the time. We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, Painted upon a pole; and underwrit, 'Here may you see the tyrant.' Macb. I'll not yield, To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, The air which cannot be cut. I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff; And damn'd be him that first cries, Hold! enough!' [Exeunt, fighting. Retreat. Florish. Re-enter, with Drums and Colors, MALCOLM, OLD SIWARD, ROSSE, LENOX, ANGUS, CATHNESS, MENTETH, and Soldiers. Mal. I would, the friends we miss were safe arrived. Siw. Some must go off: and yet, by these I see, So great a day as this is cheaply bought. Mal. Macduff is missing, and your noble son. Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt: He only lived but till he was a man; The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd Siw. Then he is dead? Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow Must not be measured by his worth, for then Had I as many sons as I have hairs, I would not wish them to a fairer death: And so his knell is knoll'd. Mal. He's worth more sorrow, And that I'll spend for him. Siw. He's worth no more: They say, he parted well, and paid his score: And so, God be with him!-Here comes newer comfort. Re-enter MACDUFF, with Macbeth's head on a pole. Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art. where stands Behold, The usurper's cursed head: the time is free: All. Hail, king of Scotland! [florish. Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time, Before we reckon with your several loves, And make us even with you. My thanes and kins men, Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen, 1 i. e. thy nobles; the ornaments of thy kingdom. |