I care not if thou dost for me as much.

I pall in resolution; and begin

To doubt the equivocation of the fiend,
That lies like truth: Fear not, till Birnam wood
Do come to Dunsinane;-and now a wood
Comes toward Dunsinane.-Arm, arm, and out!-
If this, which he avouches, does appear,
There is nor flying hence, nor tarrying here.
I 'gin to be a-weary of the sun,

And wish the estate o' the world were now undone.-
Ring the alarum-bell. Blow, wind! come, wrack!
At least we'll die with harness1 on our back. [Exeunt.

SCENE VI. The same. A Plain before the Castle.

Enter, with drums and colors, MALCOLM, Old SIWARD, MACDUFF, &c. and their Army, with boughs.

Mal. Now near enough; your leavy screens throw down,

And show like those you are.-You, worthy uncle,
Shall, with my cousin, your right noble son,
Lead our first battle; worthy Macduff, and we,
Shall take upon us what else remains to do,
According to our order.

2

Siw.
Fare you well.-
Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night,
Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight.

Macd. Make all our trumpets speak; give them all

breath,

1 Harness, armor. VOL. III. 33

Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death. [Exeunt. Alarums continued.

2 The first folio reads upon's.

SCENE VII. The same.

Another Part of the Plain.

Enter MAСВЕТН.

Macb. They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, But, bearlike, I must fight the course.'-What's he, That was not born of woman? Such a one Am I to fear, or none.

Enter Young SIWARD.

Yo. Siw. What is thy name?
Macb.

name

Than any is in hell.

Thou'lt be afraid to hear it. Yo. Siw. No; though thou call'st thyself a hotter

Macb.

My name's Macbeth.

Yo. Siw. The devil himself could not pronounce a title

More hateful to mine ear.
Macb.

Yo. Siw. Thou liest,

No, nor more fearful. abhorred tyrant; with my

sword

I'll prove the lie thou speak'st.

[They fight, and Young Siward is slain. Macb. Thou wast born of woman.But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, Brandished by man that's of a woman born.

[Exit.

Alarums. Enter MACDUFF.

Macd. That way the noise is.-Tyrant, show thy face:

If thou be'st slain, and with no stroke of mine,
My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still.

1 "But, bearlike, I must fight the course." This was a phrase at bearbaiting. "Also you shall see two ten dog courses at the great bear.”Antipodes, by Brome.

I cannot strike at wretched kernes, whose arms

Are hired to bear their staves; either thou, Macbeth,
Or else my sword, with an unbattered edge,
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be;
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited.1 Let me find him, fortune!
And more I beg not.

[Exit. Alarum.

Enter MALCOLM and Old SIWARD.

Siw. This way, my lord.-The castle's gently rendered:

The tyrant's people on both sides do fight;
The noble thanes do bravely in the war;
The day almost itself professes yours,
And little is to do.

Mal.

That strike beside us.

Siw.

We have met with foes

Enter, sir, the castle.

[Exeunt. Alarum.

Re-enter MACBETH.

Macb. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die On mine own sword? Whiles I see lives, the gashes Do better upon them.

Re-enter MACDUFF.

Macd.

Turn, hell-hound, turn. Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee; But get thee back; my soul is too much charged With blood of thine already.

Macd. I have no words; My voice is in my sword; thou bloodier villain Than terms can give thee out! [They fight.

Macb. Thou losest labor: As easy may'st thou the intrenchant air

2

1 Bruited is reported, noised abroad; from bruit (Fr.).
2 "The intrenchant air," the air which cannot be cut.

With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed.
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield
To one of woman born.

Macd.

Despair thy charm;
And let the angel, whom thou still hast served,
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripped.

Macb. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cowed my better part of man:
And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope.-I'll not fight with thee.
Macd. Then yield thee, coward,

And live to be the show and gaze o' the time.
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted upon a pole; and underwrit,
Here may you see the tyrant.

Macb. I'll not yield To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, And to be baited with the rabble's curse. Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, And thou opposed, being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield; lay on, Macduff; And damned be him that first cries, Hold, enough. [Exeunt, fighting.

Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with drum and colors, MALCOLM, Old SIWARD, ROSSE, LENOX, ANGUS, CATHNESS, MENTETH, and Soldiers.

Mal. I would the friends we miss were safe arrived. Siw. Some must go off; and yet, by these I see, So great a day as this is cheaply bought.

Mal. Macduff is missing, and your noble son.

1 "That palter with us in a double sense," that shuffle with ambiguous expressions.

Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt. He only lived but till he was a man ; The which no sooner had his prowess confirmed In the unshrinking station where he fought, But like a man he died.

Siw.

Then he is dead?

Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field; your cause of sorrow

Must not be measured by his worth, for then

Had he his hurts before?

It hath no end.
Siw.
Rosse. Ay, on the front.
Siw.
Why, then, God's soldier be he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death.1

And so his knell is knolled.

Mal.

He's worth more sorrow,

And that I'll spend for him.

Siw. He's worth no more; They say, he parted well, and paid his score; And so, God be with him!-Here comes newer comfort.

Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head on a pole.2 Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art. Behold, where stands

The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:

I see thee compassed with thy kingdom's pearl,3
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,-
Hail, king of Scotland!

1 "When Siward, the martial earl of Northumberland, understood that his son, whom he had sent against the Scotchmen, was slain, he demanded whether his wounds were in the fore part or hinder part of his body. When it was answered, in the fore part,' he replied, 'I am right glad; neither wish I any other death to me or mine."" -Camden's Remaines.

2 These words, " on a pole," Mr. Steevens added to the stage direction from the Chronicle. The stage directions of the players are often incorrect, and sometimes ludicrous.

3" Thy kingdom's pearl," thy kingdom's wealth or ornament. Rowe altered this to peers, without authority.