Page images
PDF
EPUB

Her. You gods, look down,

And from your sacred vials pour your graces
Upon my daughter's head !-Tell me, mine own,
Where hast thou been preserved? Where lived ?

How found

Thy father's court? For thou shalt hear, that I,-
Knowing by Paulina, that the oracle

Gave hope thou wast in being,-have preserved
Myself to see the issue.

Paul. There's time enough for that;
Lest they desire, upon this push, to trouble
Your joys with like relation.-Go together,
You precious winners all; your exultation
Partake to every one. I, an old turtle,
Will wing me to some wither'd bough; and there
My mate, that's never to be found again,
Lament till I am lost.

Leon. O peace, Paulina;

Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,
As I by thine, a wife: this is a match,
[mine;
And made between's by vows. Thou hast found
But how, is to be question'd: for I saw her,
As I thought, dead; and have, in vain, said many
A prayer upon her grave: I'll not seek far
(For him, I partly know his mind,) to find thee
An honourable husband:-Come, Camillo,
And take her by the hand: whose worth and honesty,
Is richly noted; and here justified
By us, a pair of kings. Let's from this place.-
What?-Look upon my brother:-Both your par-
That e'er I put between your holy looks
My ill suspicion. This your son-in-law,
And son unto the king, (whom heaven's directing,)
Is troth-plight to your daughter.-Good Paulina,
Lead us from hence; where we may leisurely
Each one demand, and answer to his part
Perform'd in this wide gap of time, since first
We were dissever'd: hastily lead away.

dons,

[Exeunt.

WINTER'S TALE.]-This play, as Dr. Warburton justly observes, is, with all its absurdities, very entertaining. The character of Autolycus is naturally conceived, and strongly represented.

JOHNSON.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

FLEANCE, Son to Banquo.

SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, General of the

English Forces.

YOUNG SIWARD, his Son.

SEYTON, an Officer attending on Macbeth.

Son to Macduff.

An English Doctor.-A Scotch Doctor.
A Soldier.-A Porter.-An old Man.

LADY MACBETH.
LADY MACDUFF.

Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth.
HECATE, and three Witches.

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Attendants, and Messengers.

The Ghost of Banquo, and several other Apparitions.

Scene, in the end of the fourth act, lies in England; through the rest of the Play, in Scotland; and chiefly, at Macbeth's Castle.

MACBETH.

ACT I.

SCENE I.—An open Place.

Thunder and Lightning.-Enter Three WITCHES. 1 Witch. When shall we three meet again, In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

2 Witch. When the hurlyburly's When the battle's lost and won:

done,

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 villainies of nature

Do swarm upon him,) from the western isles
Of Kernes and Gallowglasses is supplied +;

* Tumult.

ti. e. Supplied with light and heavy armed troops.

And fortune, on his damued quarrel smiling, Shew'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 smoked with bloody execution,

Like valour's minion,

Carved out his passage, till he faced 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; But the Norweyan lord, surveying 'vantage, With furbish'd arms, and new supplies of men, Began a fresh assault.

Dun. Dismay'd not this

Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

Sold. Yes;

As sparrows, eagles; or the hare the lion.
If I say sooth ‡, I must report they were
As cannons overcharged with double cracks;
So they

Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha §,

I cannot tell:

But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.

Dun. So well thy words become thee, as thy

wounds;

They smack of honour both :-Go, get him surgeons. [Exit Soldier, attended.

Who comes here?

Enter ROSSE,

Mal. The worthy thane of Rosse.

Len. What a haste looks through his eyes! So

should he look,

That seems to speak things strange.
Rosse. God save the king!

Dun. Whence camest thou, worthy thane?

* Cause. + The opposite to comfort. † Truth. Make another Golgotha as memorable as the first.

« PreviousContinue »