the porter.

nere's an English tailor come hither, for stealing Macd. Confusion now hath made his masterpiece out of a French hose: Come in, tailor ; here you Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope may roasi your goose. (Knocking.) Knock, knock : The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence Never at quiet ! What are you But this place is The life o' the building. too cold for hell. I'll devil-porter it no further : I Macb.

What is't you say ? the life ? bad thought to have let in some of all professions, Len, Mean you his majesty ? that

go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire.i Macd. Approach the chamber, and destroy your (Knocking:] Anon, anon; I pray you, remember

sight (Opens the gate. With a new Gorgon :-Do not bid me speak; Enter MacDUFF and LENOX.

See and then speak yourselves.-Awake! awake !-

[Exeunt MACBETH and LENOX. Macd. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, Ring the alarum-bell :Murder! and treason ! That you do lie so late?

Banquo, and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake! Port. 'Faith, sir we were carousing till the se- Shake off this drowsy sleep, death's counterfeit, cond cock :: and drink, sir, is a great provoker of And look on death itself!-up, up, and see three things.

The great doom's image!- Malcolm! Banquo ! Macd. What three things does drink especially As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprights, provoke ?

To countenance this horror!

[Bell rings. Port. Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes : it pro

Enter LADY MACBETH. vokes the desire, but it takes away the performance : Therefore, much drink may be said to be an equi- That such a hideous trumpet

calls to parley Lady M.

What's the business, vocator with lechery: it makes him, and it mars The sleepers of the house? Speak, speak,him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it per

Macd. suades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand 'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak :

O, gentle lady, to, and not stand to: in conclusion, equivocates The repetition, in a woman's ear, him in' a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him. Would murder as it fell." —o Banquo! Banquo !

Macd. I believe, drick gave thee the lie, last night.

Enter Banquo.
Port. That it did, sit, i' the very throat o' me : Our royal master's murder’d!
But I requited him for his lie: and, I think, being
too strong for him, though he took up my legs What, in our house ?

Lady M.

Woe, alas' sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him.

Ban.

Too cruel, any where, — Macd. Is thy master stirring?

Dear Duff, I pr'ythee, contradict thyself,
Our knocking has awak'd him ; here he comes.

And say, it is not so.
Enter MACBETH.

Re-enter MACBETH and LENOX.
Len. Good-morrow, noble sir !
Macb.

Good-morrow, both !

Macb. Had I but died an hour before this chance, Macd. Is the king stirring, worthy thane ?

I had liv'd a blessed tiine; for, from this instant, Macb.

There's nothing serious in mortality:
Macd. He did command me to call timely on him ; The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees

All is but toys : renown, and grace, is dead;
I have almost slipp'd the hour.
Macb.

I'll bring you to him. Is left this vault to brag of.
Macd. I know, this is a joyful trouble to you;

Enter Malcolm and DonalBAIN.
But yet, 'tis one.
Macb. The labour, we delight in, physics* pain.

Don. What is amiss?
Macb.

You and do not know it:
This is the door.
Macd.
I'll make so bold to call.

The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood For 'tis my limited service. (Exit MacDUFF.

Is stopp'd; the very source of it is stopp'd. Len. Goes the king hence to-day?

Macd. Your royal father's murder'd.

Mal.
Macb.
He does:-he did appoint it so.

O, by whom? Len. The night has been unruly; Where we lay,

Len. Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had

done't: Our chimneys were blown down : and, as they say, Their hands and faces were all badg’d with blood, Lamentings heard i' the air ; strange screams of

So were their daggers, which unwip'd, we found And prophesying, with accents terrible,

Upon their pillows : Or dire combustion, and confus'd events,

They stard, and were distracted; no man's life New hatch'd to the woful time. The obscure bird Was to be trusted with them. Clamour'd the livelong night: some say, the earth That I did kill them.

Macb. O, yet, I do repent me of my fury, Was feverous, and did sbake.

Macd.

'Twas a rough night. Macb.

Wherefore did you so ?

Macb. Who can be wise, amaz'd, temperate, and Len. My young remembrance cannot parallel A fellow to it.

furious,

Loyal and neutral, in a moment ? No man :
Re-enter MACDUFF.

The expedition of my violent love
Macd. O horror ! horror! horror! Tongue, nor His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood ;*

Outran the pauser reason.--Here lay Duncan, heart, Cannot conceive, nor name thee !

And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature, Macb. Len.

What's the matter? | For ruin's wasteful entrance : there, the murderers,

Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers I So in Hamlet :

• Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads.” And in The Puritan, 1607: The punishments that And in All's Well that Ends Well: The flowery way shall follow you in this world would with horrour kill the that leads to the great fire.'

ear should hear them related.' 2 i. e. till three o'clock. 3 In for into.

8. His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood. To 4 i.e. alleviates it. 5 i. e. Appointed service. gild with blood is a very common phrase in old plays

6 It has been already observed that Shakspeare uses See also King John, Aci ii. Sc. 2.-Johnson says, it is two negatives, not to make an affirmative, but to deny not improbable that Shakspeare put these forced and more strongly.

unnatural metaphors into the mouth of Macbeth, as a “The repetition, in a woman's ear,

mark of artifice and dissimulation, to show the difference Would murder as it fell."

between the studied language of hypocrisy and the patu So in Hamlet :-

ral outcries of sudden passion. This whole speech, so "He would drown the stage with tears, considered, is a remarkable instance of judgment as And cleave the general ear with horrid speech.' consists of anthesis only.'

Not yet.

are,

death;

7

Dumannerly breech'd with gore :' Who could re- Thou see'st, the heavens, as troubled with man's act, frain,

Threaten his bloody stage: by the clock, 'us day, That had a heart to love, and in that heart And yet dark nighi strangles the travelling lamp: Courage, to make his love known?

Is it night's predominance, or the day's shame, Lady M.

Help me hence, ho! That darkness does the face of earth'ertomb,
Macd. Look to the lady.

When living light should kiss it ?
Mal.
Why do we hold our tongues, Old M.

'Tis unnatural, That most may claim this argument for ours ? Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last, Don. What should be spoken,

A falcon, low'ring in her pride of place, Here, where our fate hid in an augre-hole, Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at, and 'kill'd. May rush, and seize us? Let's away; our tears Rosse. And Duncan's horses (a thing most strange Are not yet brew'd.

and certain,), Mal.

Nor our strong sorrow Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, Upon the foot of motion.

Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, Ban.

Look to the lady :- Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make

(LADY MACBETH is carried out. War with mankind. And when we have our naked frailties hid, 2

Old M.

'Tis said, they ate each other. That suffer in exposure, let us meet,

Rosse. They did so; to the amazement of mine And question this most bloody piece of work,

eyes, To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us : That look'd upon't. Here comes the good MacIn the great hand of God I stand; and, thence,

duff: Against the undivulg'd pretencea I fight

Enter MacDUFF.
Of treasonous malice.
Macb.
And so do I.

How goes the world, sir, now?
All.

Macd.
So all.

Why, see you not ? Macb. Let's briefly put on manly readiness,

Rosse. Is't known who did this more than bloody

deed ? And meet i' the hall together. Au.

Well contented.

Macd. Those that Macbeth hath slain.

Rosse. (Exeunt all but Mal. and Don.

Alas, the day! Mal. What will you do? Let's not consort with What good could they pretend ?: them :

Macd.

They were subor'd : To show an unfelt sorrow, is an office

Malcolm and Donalbain, the king's two sons, Which the false man does easy: I'll to England.

Are stol'n away and fled; which puts upon them Don. Tó Ireland, I ; our separated fortune

Suspicion of the deed.
Rosse.

'Gainst nature still.
Shall keep us both the safer : where we are,
There's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood, Thriftless ambition, that will ravin up
The nearer bloody.

Thine own life's means !—Then 'uis most like, Mal.

This murderous shaft that's shot, The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth. Hath not yet lighted ;' and our safest way

Macd. He is already nam'd; and gone to Scone,

To be invested. Is, to avoid the aim. Therefore, to horse ;

Rosse. And let us not be dainty of leave-taking,

Where is Duncan's body? But shift away: There's warrant in that theft

Macd. Carried to Colme-kill; Which steals itself, when there's no mercy left.

The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,
(Exeunt.

And guardian of their bones.
Rosse.

Will you to Scone ? SCENE IV. Without the Castle. Enter Rosse Macd. No, cousin, I'll to Fife. and an Old Man.

Rosse.

Well, I will thither.

Macd. Well, may you see things well done Old M. Threescore and ten I can remember well :

there;-adieu! Within the volume of which time, I have seen Lest our old robes sit easier than our new! Hours dreadful, and things strange ; but this sore Rosse. Father, farewell. night

Old M. God's benison go with you: and with those Hath trifled former knowings.

That would make good of bad, and friends of foes' Rosse. Ah, good father,

(Exeunt.

| 'Breech'd with gore,' covered with blood to their has not yet done all its intended mischies; I and my hilts.

brother are yet to be destroyed before will light on the 2 i. e. when we have clothed our half drest bodies, ground and do no more harm.' which may take cold from being exposed to the air. Il 6 · After the murder of King Duffe,' says Holinshed, is possible, as Steevens remarks, that in such a cloud of 'for the space of six months togither there appeared no words, the meaning might escape the reader. The sunne by daye, nor moon by night in anie part of the Porter had already said that this place is too cold for realme; but still the sky was covered with continual hell,' meaning the court-yard of the castle in which clouds; and sometimes such outrageous winds arose, Banquo and the rest now are.

with lightenings and tempests, that the people were in 3 Prelence is here put for design or intention. It is great fear of present destruction:- It is evident that 80 used again in the Winter's Tale :-'The pretence Shakspeare had this passage in his thoughts. Most of whereof being by circumstance partly laid open. Thus the portents here mentioned are related by Holinshed, again in this tragedy :

as accompanying King Duffe's death: There was a What good could they pretend ..

sparhawk strangled by an owl,' and horses of singular j. e. intend to themselves. Banquo's meaning is—in beauty and swiftness did eat their own fesh.' our present state of doubt and uncertainty about this 7. A falcon tow'ring in her pride of place,' a techni murder, I have nothing to do but to put myself under cal phrase in falconry for soaring to the highest pitch. the direction of God; and, relying on his support, I here Faulcon haultain was the French term for a lowering or declare myself an eternal enemy to this treason, and to high flying hawk. all its further designs that have not yet come to light.' 8 Pretend, in the sense of the Latin pretendo, to 4 the near in blood,

design, or lay for a thing before it come,' as the old The nearer bloody.'

dictionaries explain it. Meaning that he suspects Macbeth to be the murderer; 9 Macbeth, by his birth, stood next in succession to the for he was the nearest in blood to the two princes, being crown, after the sons of Duncan. King Malcolm, Dun. the cousin-german of Duncan.

can's predecessor, had two daughters, the eldest of 5 The allusion of the unlighted shaft appears to be-- whom was the mother of Duncan, the younger che the death of the king only could neither insure the crown mother of Macbeth.-Holinshed. to Macbeth, nor accomplish any other purpose, while 10 Colme-kill is the famous Iona, (ne of the western his sons were yet living, who had therefore just reason isles mentioned by Holinshed, as the burial place of many to apprehend that they should be removed by the same ancient kings of Scotland. Colme-kill means the cell or means. Malcolm therefore means to say, 'The shaft Ichapel of St. Columbo

6

ACT III.

But to be safely thus :-Our fears in Banquo SCENE I. Fores. A Room in the I alace. Enter Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature Banquo.

Reigns that, which would be fear's: 'Tis much he

dares ;
Ban. Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all, And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
As the weird women promis'd'; and, I fear, He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
Thou play'dst most foully for't'; yet it was said, To act in safety. There is none, but he
It should not stand in thy posterity :

Whose being I do fear: and, under him,
But that myself should be the root and father My genius is rebuk’d; as, it is said,
Of many kings. If there come truth from them Mark Antony's was by Cæsar. He chid the sisters,
(As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine,) When first they put the name of King upon me,
Why, by the verities on thee made good, And bade them speak to him; then, prophetlike,
May they not be my oracles as well,

They haild him father to a line of kings:
And set me up in hope? But, hush ; no more. Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown,
Senet sounded. Enter MACBETH, as King; LADY And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,

Macbeth, as Queen ; Lenox, Rosse, Lords, Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,
Ladies, and Attendants.

No son of mine succeeding. If it be so,
Macb. Here's our chief guest.

For Banquo's issue have I fil'de my mind ;,
Lady M.
If he had been forgotten, Put rancours in the vessel of my peace

For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd ;
It had been as a gap in our great feast,

Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
And all things unbecoming.

Given to the common enemy of man,"
Macb. To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir, To make them kings; the seed of Banquo kings!
And I'll request your presence.

Rather than so, come, fate, into the list,
Ban.
Let your highness And champion me to the utterance !8-

-Who's
Command upon me; to the which, my duties

there?
Are with a most indissoluble tie
For ever knit.

Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers.
Macb. Ride you this afternoon ?

Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.
Ban.
Ay, my good lord.

(Erit Attendant.
Macb. We should have else desir'd your good Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
advice

I Mur. It was, so please your highness. (Which still hath been both grave and prosperous,) Macb.

Well then, now
in this day's council; but we'll take to-morrow. Have you considered of my speeches? Know,
Is't far you ride?

That it was he, in the times past, which held you
Ban.' As far, my lord, as will fill up the time So under fortune ; which, you thought, had been
'Twixt this and supper : go not my horse the better, 2 | Our innocent self: this I made good to you
I must become a borrower of the night,

In our last conference, pass'd in probation with you, a dark hour, or twain.

How you were borne in hand; to how cross'd; the
Macb.
Fail not our feast.

instruments;
Ban. My lord, I will not.

Who wrought with them; and all things else, that
Macb. We hear, our bloody cousins are bestow'd might,
In England, and in Ireland ; not confessing To half a soul, and to a notion craz'd,
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers

Say, Thus did Banquo.
With strange invention : But of that to-morrow : 1 Mur.

You made it known to as.
When, therewithal, we shall have cause of state, Macb. I did so, and went further, which is now
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse : Adieu, Our point of second meeting. Do you find
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you? Your patience so predominant in your nature,
Ban. Ay, my good lord ; our time does call That you can let this go? Are you so gospelsd"
upon us.

To pray for that good man, and for his issue,
Macb. I wish your horses swift and sure of foot;Whose heavy hand has bow'd you to the grave,
And so I do commend you to their backs. And beggar'd yours for ever?
Farewell.-
(Exit Banquo. 1 Mur.

We are men, my liege.
Let every man be master of his time

Macb. Ay, in the catalogue ye go

for

men; Till seven at night; to make society

Ashounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself Shoughs,12 water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are Till supper-time alone : while then, God be with you. cleped)

(Eseunt LADY MACBETH, Lords, Ladies, &c. All by the name of dogs: the valued file!
Sirrah, a word with you : attend those men Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,
Our pleasure ?

The house-keeper, the hunter, every one
Aiten. They are, my lord, without the palace-gate. According to the gift which bounteous nature
Macb. Bring them before us.--[Erit Atten.) Hath in him clos’d; whereby he does receive

To be thus is nothing; Particular additions from the bill

That writes them all alike: and so of men. I "A solemn supper.' This was the phrase of Shak. speare's time for a feast or banquet given on a particular "Let fate, that has foredoomed the exaltation of Banquo's occasion, to solemnize any event, as a birth, marriage, sons, enter the lists against me in defence of its own decoronation, &c. Howel, in a letter to Sir T. Hawke, crees, I will fight against it to the extremity, whatever be 1636, says, 'I was invited yesternight to a solemne sup- the consequence.' pet hy B. J. (Ben Jonson, ) where you were deeply re. 9 i. e. passed in proving to you.' membered.

10 To bear in hand is to delude by encouraging hope 2 i. e. 'if my horse does not go well. Shakspeare and holding out fair prospects, without any

intention of often uses the comparative for the positive and superla- performance. tive.

11 1. e. are you so obedient to the precept of the gospel, 3 i. e, commit. 4 Nobleness.

which teaches us to pray for those who despitefully 5 And to thal,' i. e. in addition to.

use us ? 6 For defiled.

12 Shoughs are probably what we now call shocks. 7. The common enemy of man... Shakspeare repeats Nashe, in his Lenten Stuffé, mentions them, 'a tundie. the phrase in Twelfth Night, Act iii. Sc. 4;-Defy the tail like or shough or two.' devil: consider, he's an enemy to mankind.'

The

Now, if you have a station in the file,

Serv. Madam, I will.

[Erit. Not in the worst rank of manhood, say it;

Lady M.

Nought's had, all's spent, And I will put that business in your bosoms, Where our desire is got without content: Whose execution takes your enemy off ;

'Tis safer to be that which we destroy, Grapples you to the heart and love of us,

Than, by destruction, dwell in doubtful joy.
Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
Which in his death were perfect.

Enter MACBETH. 2 Mur.

I am one, my liege, How now, mny lord ? why do you keep alone, Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world Of sorriestfancies your companions making ? Have so incens'd, that I am reckless what

Using those thoughts, which should indeed have diea I do, to spite the world.

With them they think on? Things without remedy 1 Mur. And I another,

Should be without regard: what's done is done. So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune

Macb. We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it; That I would set my life on any chance,

She'll close, and be herself; whilst our poor malice To mend it, or be rid on't.

Remains in danger of her former tooth. Macb.

Both of you

But let the frame of things disjoint, Know, Banquo was your enemy.

Both the worlds suffer, 2 Mur.

True, my lord.

Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep Macb. So is he mine : and in such bloody dis- In the affliction of these terrible dreams tance,'

That shake us nightly: Better be with the dead, That every minute of his being thrusts

Whom we, to gain our place, have sent to peace, Against my near'st of life: And though I could Than on the torture of the mind to lie With bare-fac'd power sweep him from my sight, In restless ecstacy. Puncan is in his grave, And bid my will avouch it; yet I must not, After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well : For certain friends that are both his and mino, Treason has done his worst ; nor steel, nor poison, Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, Whom I myself struck down; and thence it is, Can touch him further! That I to your assistance do make love;

Lady M. Come on, gentle my lord; Masking the business from the common eye, Sleek o'er your rugged looks; be bright and jovial For sundry weighty reasons.

Among your guests to-night, 2 Mur. We shall, my lord, Macb.

So shall I, love; Perform what you command us.

And so, I pray, be you: let your remembrance 1 Mur.

Though our lives

Apply to Banquo: present hím eminence, both Macb. Your spirits shine through you. Within With eye and tongue: unsafe, the while, that we this hour at most,

Must lave our honours in these flattering streams; I will advise you where to plant yourselves : And make our faces vizards to our hearts, Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time,? Disguising what they are." The moment on't : for'i must be done to-night, Lady M.

You must leave this. And something from the palace; always thought, Macb. O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife That I require a clearness :3 And with him Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives (To leave no rubs, nor botches, in the work,) Lady M. But in them nature's copy'slo pot etema Fleance his son, that keeps him company,

Macb. There's comfort yet; they are assailable; Whose absence is no less material to me

Then be thou jocund: Ere the bat hath flown Than is his father's, must embrace the fate

His cloister'd flight; ere, to black Hecate's suma Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart;

mons, I'll come to you anon.

The shard-borne beetle,"' with his drowsy hums, 2 Mur. We are resolv'd my lord.

Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done Macb. I'll call upon you straight; abide within. A deed of dreadful note. It is concluded: -Banquo, thy soul's flight,

Lady M.

What's to be done? If it find heaven, must find it oui to-night. (Eseunt, Mach. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest

chuck, SCENE II. The same. Another Room. Enter Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night

LADY MACBETH, and a Servant. Skarf up the tender eye of pitiful day; Lady M, Is Banquo gone from court ?

And, with thy bloody and invisible hand, Serv. Ay, madam, but returns again lo-night. Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond Lady M. Say to the king, I would attend his Which keeps me pale!'3—Lighi thickens; and the

leisure For a few words,

Makes wing to the rooky wood :14 1 * Bloody distance is mortal enmity;

confirms this explanation. Many of Shakspeare's al2 i. e. the exact time when you may look out or lie in lusions are to legal customs. wait for him.

11 That is, the beetle borne along the air by its shards always thought

or scaly wings. Steevens had the merit of first sbowing That I require a clearness.

that shard or sherd was the ancient word for a scale or · Always remembering that I must stand clear of sus. outward covering, a case or sheath; as appears from the picion.

following passage cited by him from Gower's Confessio 4 Sorriest, most melancholy.

Amantis, b. vi. lol. 139:5 The firs: folio reads peuce ; the second folio place. • She gigh, her thought a dragon tho, 6 Ecstacy, in its general sense, signifies any violent

Whose sherdes shynen as the sonne.' emotion or alienation of the mind.' The old dictionaries and again in book v. speaking of a serpent ;render it a trance, a dampe, a crampe.

He was so sherded all about, 7 Remembrance is here employed as a quadrisyl.

It held all edge-cool without. lable.

12 i. e. blinding: to see up the eyes of a hawk was to & Present him eminence, do him the highest honour. close them by sewing the eyelids together. 9 The sense of this passage (though clouded by meta. 13 So in Cymbeline : phor, and perhaps by omission) appears to be as fol. Cancel his bond of life, dear God, I pray.' lows: It is a sign that our royally is unsafe, when it 14 By the expression, light thickens, Shakspeare must descend to flattery, and stoop to dissimulation.' means that it is growing dark. Thus, in Fletcher's The present arrangement of the text is by Malone, Faithful Shepherdess 10 Ritson has justly observed, that Nature's copy'

Fold your flocks up, for the air alludes to copyhold tenure, in which the tenant holds an

'Gins to thicken, and the sun estate for life, having nothing but the copy of the rolls

Already his great course hath run.' of his lord's court to show for it. A life-hold tenure may Spenser, in the Shepherd's Calendar, has :well be said to be not eternal. The subsequent speech

the welkin thicks apace.' of Macbeth, in which he says,

Notwithstanding Mr. Steevens's ingenious attempto lo Cancel and tear to pieces thai great bond. explain the rooky wood otherwise, i surely means do

crow

3

he's good,

morrow

Good things of day begin to droop and drowse ; Both sides are even: Here I'll sit i' the midst :
Whiles night's black agents to their preys do Be large in mirth; anon, we'll drink a measure
rouse.

The table round. There's blood upon thy face.
Thou marvelläst at my words ; but hold thee still ; Mur. 'Tis Banquo's, then.
Things, bad begun,

make strong themselves by ill: Macb. 'Tis better thee without, than he within. So, prythee, go with me.

(Exeunt. Is he despatch'd ?

Mur. My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him.
SCENE III. The same. A Park or Lawn, with Macb. Thou art the best o the cut-throats: Yet

a Gate leading to the Palace. Enter three Mur-
derers.

That did the like for Fleance: if thou didst it,
I Mur. But who did bid thee join with us?

Thou art the nonpareil.
3 Mur.

Macbeth.
Mur.

Most royal sir,
2 Mur, He needs not our mistrust; since he de- Fleance is 'scap'd.
livers

Macb. Then comes my fit again: I had else been
Our offices, and what we have to do,

perfect;
To the direction just.

Whole as the marble, founded as the rock;
1 Mur.
Then stand with us.

As broad and general as the casing air:
The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day: But now, I am cabin'd, cribb'd, contin'd, bound in
Now spurs the lated traveller apace,

To saucy doubts and sears. But Banquo's safe?
To gain the timely inn; and near approaches

Mur. Ay, my good lord: safe in a ditch he bides,
The subject of our watch.

With twenty trenched' gashes on his head;
3 Mur.
Hark! I hear horses,

The least a death to nature.
Macb.

Thanks for that:
Ban. (within.] Give us a light there, ho!
2 Mur.
Then it is he, the rest

There the grown serpent lies; the worm, that's fled,
That are within the note of expectation."

Hath nature that in time will venom breed,
Already are i' the court.

No teeth for the present. Get thee gone; 101 Mur.

His horses go about. 3 Mur. Almost a mile: but he does usually,

We'll hear ourselves again. [Exit Murderer. So all men do, from hence to the palace gare

Lady M.

My royal lord,
Make it their walk.

You do not give the cheer: the feasi is sold,

That is not often vouch'd while 'uis a making,
Enter Banquo_and FLEANCE, a Servant with a 'Tis given with welcome: To feed were best al
Torch preceding them.

home
2 Mur.
A light, a light!

From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony; 3 Mur.

Tis he. Meeting were bare without it. 1 Mur. Stand to't,

Macb.

Sweet remembrancer Ban. It will be rain to-night.

Now, good digestion wait on appetite, 1 Mur.

Let it come down. And health on both ! (Assaults BANQUO. Len.

May it please your highness, sit? Ban. O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly,

[The Ghost of Banquo rises, and sits in

MACBETH's place.
Thou may'st revenge. O slave!

Macb. Here had we now our country's honour [Dies. Fleance and Servant escape.

roof'd, 3 Mur. Who did strike out the light?

Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present ; 1 Mur.

Was't not the way? Who may I rather challenge for unkindness,
3'Øur. There's but one down the son is fled. Than pity for mischance !8
2 Mur. We have lost best half of our affair.

Rosse.

His absence, sir,
1 Mur. Well, let's away, and say how much is Lays blame upon his promise. Please it your high-
done.

To grace us with your royal company?
SCENE IV. A Room of State in the Palace. A

Macb. The table's full.
Banquet prepared. Enter MACBETH, LADY

Len.

Here's a place reserv'd, sir? MACBETH, RosSE, LENOX, Lords, and Attend

Macb.

Where?

Len. Here, my good lord. What is't that moves Macb. You know your own degrees, sit down :

your highness?

Mach. Which of you have done this?
And last, the hearty welcome.

Lords.

What, my good lord ?
Lords.

Thanks to your majesty. Macb. Thou canst not say, I did it: never shake
Macb. Ourself will mingle with society, Thy gory locks at me.
And play the humble host.

Rosse. Gentlemen, rise; his highness is not well.
Our hostess keeps her state ;' but, in best time, Lady M. Sit, worthy friends :--my lord is often
We will require her welcome.

thus,
Lady M. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our And hath been from his youth : 'pray you, keep seat ;
friends;

The fit is momentary; upon a thought
For my heart speaks, they are welcome,

He will again be well: If much you note him,
Enter first Murderer, to the door
Macb. See, they encounter thee with their hearts' Banquo, who was equally concerned with Macbeth in
thanks :-

the murder of Duncan, as innocent of that crime.

4. At first and last.'' Johnson, with great plausibility,

proposes to read, 'To first and last.' thing more than the wood inhabited by rooks. The

poet 5 Keeps her state,' continues in her chair of stale has shown himself a close observer of nature, in mark. A state was a royal chair with a canopy over it. ing the return of these birds to their nest-trees when the

6. Tis better ihee without than he within,' that is, day is drawing to a close.

am becer pleased that the blond of Banquo should be 0... i See note on King Richard III. Act iv. Se. 1.

thy face than in his body. He is put for him. ? i. e. they who are set down in the list of guests, and 7. With twenty trenched gashes on his head.' From expected to supper.

the French trancher, to cut, $ Fleance, alter the assassination of his father, fed

8 Macbeth betrays himself by an overacted regard for inco Wales, where, by the daughter of the prince of that Banquo, of whose absence from the feast he affects to country, he had a son named Walter, who afterwards complain, that he may not be suspected of knowing the became Lord High Steward of Scotland, and from thence cause, though at the same time he very unguardedly assumed the name of Sir Walter Steward. From him, drops an allusion to that cause. May I seems to imply in a direct line, King James I. was descended; in com. here a wish, not an assertion. pliment whom Shakspeare has chosen to describe

i. c. as speedily as thereghi can be exerted.

fly;

ness

ants.

at first