And gain a husband by his liberty Ege. If I dream not, thou art Emilia; Abb. By men of Epidamnum, he, and I, Duke. Why, here begins his morning story right;1 Ant. S. No, sir, not I; I came from Syracuse. Duke. Stay, stand apart! I know not which is which. Ant. E. I came from Corinth, my most gracious lord. Dro. E. And I with him. Ant. E. Brought to this town with that most famous warrior Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle. And are not you my husband? Ang. That is the chain, sir, which you had of me. Ant. S. I think it be, sir; I deny it not. Ant. E. And you, sir, for this chain arrested me. Ang. I think I did, sir; I deny it not. Adr. I sent you money, sir, to be your bail, By Dromio; but I think he brought it not. Dro. E. No, none by me. And all that are assembled in this place, Duke. With all my heart, I'll gossip at this feast. [Exeunt Duke, Abbess, Egeon, Courtezan, Merchant, Angelo, and attendants. Dro. S. Master, shall fetch your stuff from shipboard? Ant. E. Dromio, what stuff of mine hast thou embark'd? Dro. S. Your goods, that lay at host, sir, in the Centaur. Ant. S. He speaks to me; I am your master, Come, go with us: we'll look to that anon: [Exeunt Antipholus S. and E. Adr. and Luc. Dro. S. There is a fat friend at your master's house, That kitchen'd me for you to-day at dinner; Dro. E. Methinks, you are my glass, and not my brother: I see by you, I am a sweet-faced youth. Dro. S. Not I, sir; you are my elder. Dro. E. Nay, then thus: We came into the world, like brother and brother; And now let's go hand in hand, not one before another. [Exeunt. On a careful revision of the foregoing scenes, I do not hesitate to pronounce them the composition of two very unequal writers. Shakspeare had undoubtedly a share in them; but that the entire play Ant. S. This purse of ducats I receiv'd from you, was no work of his, is an opinion which (as Bene And Dromio my man did bring them me : I see, we still did meet each other's man, And I was ta'en for him, and he for me, And thereupon these Errors are arose. dict says) fire cannot melt out of me; I will die in it at the stake.' Thus as we are informed by Aulus Gellius, Lib. III. Cap. 3. some plays were absolutely ascribed to Plautus, which in truth had only been (retractata et expolita) retouched and pol Ant. E. These ducats pawn I for my father here. Abb. Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the pains In this comedy we find more intricacy of plot than distinction of character; and our attention is less forcibly engaged, because we can guess in great measure how the denouement will be brought about. Yet the subject appears to have been reAnd hear at large discoursed all our fortunes:-luctantly dismissed, even in this last and unneces sary scene; where the same mistakes are continu(1) The morning story is what Ægeon tells the ed, till the power of affording entertainment is duke in the first scene of this play. entirely lost." STEEVENS. SCENE I-An open place. Lightning. Enter three Witches. 1 Witch. WHEN shall we three meet again 2 Witch. When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won. 3 Witch. That will be ere set of sun. 1 Witch. Where the place? 2 Witch. Upon the heath: 3 Witch. There to meet with Macbeth. 1 Witch. I come, Graymalkin! All. Paddock calls:-Anon. Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air. [Witches vanish. || SCENE II-A Camp near Fores. Alarum within. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lenox, with attendants, meeting a bleeding Soldier. Dun. What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state. Mal. Sold. 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; And 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! Sold. 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 Kernes to trust their heels: With furbish'd arms, and new supplies of men, But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage, Began a fresh assault. As Dun. Dismay'd not this Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe: I cannot tell : the first. Who comes here? Mal. Enter Rosse. The worthy thane of Rosse. Len. What a haste looks through his eyes! So should be look, That seems to speak things strange. Rosse. God save the king! Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky, Norway himself, with terrible numbers, The thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict: Dun. Rosse. That now Great happiness! Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition; Dun. No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive Our bosom interest :-Go, pronounce his death, And with his former title greet Macbeth. Rosse. I'll see it done. won. Dun. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath [Exeunt. SCENE III-A Heath. Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 1 Witch. Where hast thou been, sister? 2 Witch. Killing swine. 3 Witch. Sister, where thou? 1 Witch. A sailor's wife had chesnuts in her lap, And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd : Give me, quoth I: Aroint thee, witch! the rump-fed ronyons cries. And, like a rat without a tail, 2 Witch. I'll give thee a wind. 1 Witch. Thou art kind. 3 Witch. And I another. my 1 Witch. I self have all the other; And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know I will drain him dry as hay: 2 Witch. Show me, show me. 1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wreck'd, as homeward he did come. 3 Witch. A drum, a drum; Macbeth doth come. (1) Mock. [Drum within. (2) Shakspeare means Mars. (3) Defended by armour of proof. (4) Avaunt, begone. (5) A scurvy woman fed on offals. So, all hail, Macbeth, and Banquo! 1 Witch. Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail! Macb. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more: By Sinel's death, I know, I am thane of Glamis; But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman; and to be king, Stands not within the prospect of belief, No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence You owe this strange intelligence? or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting?-Speak, I charge [Witches vanish. Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, And these are of them:-Whither are they vanish'd? Mach. Into the air; and what seem'd corporal, Macb. And thane of Cawdor too; went it not so? Ban. To the self-same tune, and words. Who's here? Enter Rosse and Angus. Rosse. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth, Ang. Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater honour, Ban. Very gladly. Dun. Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not In borrow'd robes? Macb. Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act Cannot be ill; cannot be good: If ill, My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Ban. (1) As fast as they could be counted. (2) Title. (4) Encitement. (6) Firmy fixed. Enter Macbeth, Banquo, Rosse, and Angus. Macb. The service and the loyalty I owe, Are to your throne and state, children, and servants; thing (11) We cannot construe the disposition of the (8) Time and opportunity. (10) Owned, possessed. (5) Temptation. jecture. (7) The powers of action are oppressed by con-mind by the lineaments of the face. (12) Exuberant. For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be The illness should attend it. What thou would'st highly, That would'st thou holily; would'st not play false, And yet would'st wrongly win: thou'd'st have, great Glamis, That which cries, Thus thou must do, if thou have it; And that which rather thou dost fear to do, Enter an Attendant. Lady M. Give him tending, He brings great news. The raven himself is hoarse, [Exit Attendant. That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, But be the serpent under it. He that's coming SCENE VI-The same. Before the castle. Dun. This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses. Ban. This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, By his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, buttress, Nor coigne of vantage, 12 but this bird hath made Thou'rt mad to say it: His pendent bed, and procreant cradle: Where they Most breed and haunt, I have observ'd, the air Is delicate. Attend. The king comes here to-night. Lady M. Is not thy master with him? who, were't so, Would have inform'd for preparation. (3) Messengers. (1) Full as valiant as described. (2) The best intelligence. (4) Diadem. (5) Supernatural. (6) Murderous. (7) Pity. (8) Wrap as in a mantle. (9) Knife anciently meant a sword or dagger. (10) i. e. Beyond the present time, which is, according to the process of nature, ignorant of the future. (11) Look, countenance. (12) Convenient corner. |