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And gain a husband by his liberty
Speak, old Ægeon, if thou be'st the man
That had'st a wife once call'd Æmilia,
That bore thee at a burden two fair sons:
O, if thou be'st the same geon, speak,
And speak unto the same Emilia!

Ege. If I dream not, thou art Emilia;
If thou art she, tell me, where is that son
That floated with thee on the fatal raft?

Abb. By men of Epidamnum, he, and I,
And the twin Dromio, all were taken up;
But, by and by rude fishermen of Corinth
By force took Dromio and my son from them,
And me they left with those of Epidamnum;
What then became of them, I cannot tell :
I, to this fortune that you see me in.

Duke. Why, here begins his morning story right;1
These two Antipholus's, these two so like,
And these two Dromio's, one in semblance,-
Besides her urging of her wreck at sea,-
These are the parents to these children,
Which accidentally are met together.
Antipholus, thou cam'st from Corinth first.

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.
Adr. Which of you two did dine with me to-day?
Ant. S. I, gentle mistress.
Adr.

And are not you my husband?
Ant. E. No, I say nay to that.
Ant. S. And so do I, yet did she call me so;
And this fair gentlewoman, her sister here,
Did call me brother :-What I told you then,
I hope, I shall have leisure to make good;
If this be not a dream, I see, and hear.

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,
That by this sympathized one day's error
Have suffer'd wrong, go, keep us company,
And we shall make full satisfaction.-
Twenty-five years have I but gone in travail
Of you, my sons; nor, till this present hour,
My heavy burdens are delivered:-
The duke, my husband, and my children both,
And you the calendars of their nativity,
Go to a gossip's feast, and go with me;
After so long grief, such nativity!

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,
Dromio:

Come, go with us: we'll look to that anon:
Embrace thy brother there, rejoice with him.

[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;
She now shall be my sister, not my wife.

Dro. E. Methinks, you are my glass, and not my brother:

I see by you, I am a sweet-faced youth.
Will you walk in to see their gossiping?

Dro. S. Not I, sir; you are my elder.
Dro. E. That's a question: how shall we try it?
Dro. S. We will draw cuts for the senior: till
then, lead thou first.

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.

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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.
Duke. It shall not need, thy father hath his life.ished by him.
Cour. Sir, I must have that diamond- from you.
Ant. E. There, take it; and much thanks for
my good cheer.

Abb. Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the pains
To go with us into the abbey here,

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.

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SCENE I-An open place. Lightning. Enter three Witches. 1 Witch.

WHEN shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

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.
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.

Sold.
Doubtfully 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

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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
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Sold.
Yes;
sparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion.
If I say sooth, I must report they were
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,6

I cannot tell :

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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!
Dun. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?
Rosse.
From Fife, great king,

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, 'gan a dismal conflict:
Till that Bellona's bridegroom,2 lapp'd in proof,3
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.

Rosse. That now

Great happiness!

Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition;
Nor would we deign him burial of his men,
Till he disbursed, at Saint Colmes' inch,
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.

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.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o'the Tiger:
But in a sieve I'll thither sail,

And, like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

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'the shipman's card.6

I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall, neither night nor day,
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbid :7
Weary sev'n-nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-toss'd.
Look what I have.

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.
(6) Sailor's chart. (7) Accursed.

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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,

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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,
The news of thy success: and when he reads
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend,
Which should be thine, or his: Silenc'd with 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 give thee, from our royal master, thanks;
To herald thee into his sight, not pay thee.

Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor:
In which addition,2 hail, most worthy thane!
For it is thine.

Ban.
What, can the devil speak true?
Macb. The thane of Cawdor lives; Why do
you dress me

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Very gladly.
Macb. Till then, enough.-Come, friends. [Exe.
SCENE IV-Fores. A room in the palace.
Flourish. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain,
Lenox, and attendants.

Dun. Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet return'd?
Mal.
My liege,
They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
With one that saw him die: who did report,

In borrow'd robes?
Ang.
Who was the thane, lives yet; That very frankly he confess'd his treasons;
But under heavy judgment bears that life Implor'd your highness' pardon; and set forth
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was A deep repentance: nothing in his life
Combin'd with Norway; or did line the rebel Became him, like the leaving it: he died
With hidden help and vantage; or that with both As one that had been studied in his death,
He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not; To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd,10
But treasons capital, confess'd, and prov'd, As 'twere a careless trifle.
Have overthrown him.
Dun.
There's no art,
To find the mind's construction in the face :11
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.-O worthiest cousin!

Macb.
Glamis, the thane of Cawdor:
The greatest is behind.-Thanks for your pains.
Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me.
Promis'd no less to them?

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Two truths are told,

As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.-I thank you, gentlemen.
This supernatural soliciting4

Cannot be ill; cannot be good: If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestions
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair,
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man, that function
Is smother'd in surmise ;7 and nothing is,
But what is not.

Ban.
Look, how our partner's rapt.
Macb. If chance will have me king, why, chance
may crown me,

(1) As fast as they could be counted. (2) Title.
(3) Stimulate.

(4) Encitement.

(6) Firmy fixed.

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 deserv'd;
That the proportion both of thanks and payment
Might have been mine! only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay.

Macb. The service 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;
Which do but what they should, by doing every

thing

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(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.

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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. [Ex.
Dun. True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant;
And in his commendations I am fed;
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 thy heart,
and farewell.

Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promis'd:-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. 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,
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;4
Which fate and metaphysicals aid doth seem
To have thee crown'd withal.-What is your
tidings?

Enter an Attendant.

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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 mortals 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 ;7
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 knife see not the wound it makes;
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry, Hold, Hold!-Great Glamis, worthy Caw-
dor!

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

SCENE VI-The same. Before the castle.
Hautboys. Servants of Macbeth attending.
Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Dona!bain, Banquo,
Lenox, Macduff, Rosse, Angus, and attendants.

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.

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