This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of my 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'dst 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 valor 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?

Is not thy master with him? who, wer't so,

Would have inform'd for preparation.

Thou'rt mad to say it:

Atten. 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 more

Than would take up his message.

Lady M.

Give him tending.

[Exit Attendant

He brings good news. The raven himself is hoarse,

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 accéss and passage to remorse;
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect, and it! Come, 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 Cawdor!

87

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 dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
Macb. We will speak further.
Lady M.

To alter favor ever is to fear:

Leave all the rest to me.

Only look up clear.

SCENE VI.-The same. Before the Castle.

Hautboys. Servants of Macbeth attending.

[Exeunt.

Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, BANQUO, LENOX, MACDUFF, ROSSE, ANGUS, and Attendants.

Dun. The 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,
No coigne of vantage, but this bird hath made
His pendent bed, and procreant cradle: Where they
Most breed and haunt, I have observ'd the air
Is delicate.

Enter Lady Macbeth.

Dun. See, see! our honor'd hostess !
The love that follows us, sometimes is our trouble,
Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you,
How you shall bid Heaven yield us for your pains,
And thank us for your trouble.

Lady M.

All our service In every point twice done, and then done double, Were poor and single business to contend Against those honors deep and broad, wherewith Your majesty loads our house: For those of old, And the late dignities heap'd up to them,

We rest your hermits.

Dun.

Where's the thane of Cawdor?
We cours'd him at the heels, and had a purpose
To be his purveyor: but he rides well;

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

Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt,
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.

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

[Exeunt.

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

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

It were done quickly: If the assassination

Could trammel up 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 cases,
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which being taught, return
To plague the inventor: This even-handed justice
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
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off:
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,

Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,

Shall bow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind.-I have no spur
To goad the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'er-leaps itself,

And falls on the other.-How now, what news?

Enter Lady МАСВЕТН.

Lady M. He has almost supp'd; Why have you left the chamber? Macb. Hath he ask'd for me?

Lady M. Know you not, he has ?

Mach. We will proceed no further in this business :

He hath honor'd me of late; and I have bought

Golden opinions from all sorts of people,

Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.

Lady M.

Was the hope drunk,
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since ?
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 valor,
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.
What beast was it then,
That made you break this enterprise 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 fitness now
Does unmake you.

Macb. Lady M.

If we should fail,

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 journey
Soundly invite him,) his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassel so convince,
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck* only: When in swinish sleep,

*From Alembic, a still.

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.

Will it not be receiv'd,

When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two
Of his own chamber, and us'd their very daggers,
That they have done 't?

Lady M.

Who dares receive it other,

As we shall make our griefs and clamor roar
Upon his death?

Macb.

I am settled, and bend up

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.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-The same.

Court within the Castle.

[Exeunt.

Enter BANQUO and FLEANCE, and a Servant with a torch before

them.

Ban. How goes the night, boy?

Fle. The moon is down; I have not heard the clock.

Ban. And she goes down at twelve.

Fle. I take't, 'tis later, sir.

Ban. Hold, take my sword.

There's husbandry in heaven,
Their candles are all out.-Take thee that too.
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
And yet I would not sleep: Merciful powers!
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts, that nature
Gives way to in repose!-Give me my sword;-
Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch.

Who's there?

Macb. A friend.

Ban. What, sir, not yet at rest? The king's a-bed:

He hath been in unusual pleasure, and

Sent forth great largess to your offices:

This diamond he greets your wife withal,

By the name of most kind hostess; and shut up
In measureless content.

Macb.

Being unprepar'd,

All's well.

* Murder.