MACBETH,

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 Appari

tions.

Scene, in the end of the fourth act, lies in Eng land; through the rest of the play, in Scotland; and, chiefly, at Macbeth's castle.

MACBETH.

ACT I.

SCENE I-An open place. Thun ler and Lightning. Enter three Witches

1 Witch.

WHEN shall we three meet again

In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

2 Witch. When the hurly burly's1 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

(1) Tumult.

'Gainst my captivity:- -Hail, brave friend! Say to the king the knowledge of the broil, As thou aiast 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

Do swarm upon him,) from the western isles
Of Kernes and Gallowglasses is supplied ;!
And fortune, on his damned quarrel2 smiling,
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,

Cary'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, Discomfort3 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,4 I must report they were

(1) i. e. Supplied with light and heavy-armed troops.

(2) Cause. (4) Truth.

(3) The opposite to comfo

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,1

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 sur[Exit Soldier, attended.

geons.

Enter Rosse.

Who comes here?

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

From Fife, great king,

Dun. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?
Rosse.

Where the Norweyan banners flout2 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,3 lapp'd in proof,
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,

(1) Make another Golgotha as memorable as the first.

(2) Mock.

(3) Shakspeare means Mars.

(4) Defended by armour of proof.

VOL. III.

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