Kent. Nor no man else , all's cheerless, dark, And thou no breath at all 1 0 thou wilt com and deadly:

no more, Your eldest daughters have fore-doom'd them- Never, never, never, never, never ! selves,

Pray you, undo this button : Thank you, Sir.-And desperately are dead.

Do you see this? Look on her,-look-her Lear. Ay, so I think.

lips,Alb. He knows not what he says; and vain Look there, look there !

(He dies That we present us to him.

[it is Edg. He faints !-My lord, my lord, Edg. Very bootless. •

Kent. Break, heart; I pr’ythee, break!

Edg. Look up, my lord.
Enter an OFFICER.

Kent. Vex not his ghost: 0 let him pass . off. Edmund is dead, my lord.

be bates bim, Alb. That's but a trife here.

That would upon the rack of this tough world
You lords, and noble friends, know our intent. Stretch bim out longer.
What comfort to this great decay + may come, Edg. O he is gone, indeed.
Shall be applied : For us, we will resign,

Kent. The wonder is, he hath endar'd so long :
During the life of this old majesty,

He but usurp'd his life. To bim our absolute power :-You, to your Alb. Bear them from bence.-Our present rights; (To EDGAR and KENT.

business With boot, 1 and such addition ý as your honours is general woe. Friends of my soul, yon twaiu Have more than merited.- All friends shall

(TO KENT and EDGAR. taste

Rule in this realm, and the gor'd state sustain.
The wages of their virtue, and all foes

Kent. I bave a journey, Sir, shortly to go ;
The cup of their deserviligs.-0 see, see ! My master calls, and I must not say, po.
Lear. And my poor fool || is hang'd ! No, no, Alb. The weigbt of this sad time we must obey ;
no life:

Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life, The oldest bath borne most : we, that are young,

Shall never see so much, nor live so long. • Useless. + 1. e. Lear. * Benefit. T'tler.

(Esceunt, with a dead March. I Poor fool, in the time of Stakspeare was an express Shoot endearneot.

• Die.

1

MACBETH.

LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE. IN tbis uur ch ass tragedy Shakspeare has closely adhered to historical fact, excepting that Banquo, out of com

pliment to bis descendant James I. is excluded from all participation in the murder of Duncan. In the reiga of Charles II. the songs of the witches were set to music by the celebrated Matthew Lock, and the play re garded as a semi-opera. The ghosts and witches, though admirably pourtrayed, have been censured as an insula to common sense ; and cautions bave been held out to the young and uninformed against imbibing the absurd principles of fatalism which are seemingly countenanced in many parts of this piece. But in the time of Shakspeare, the doctrine of witchcraft was at once established by law and by fashion, and it became not only unpolite, but criminal, to doubt it.---King James himself in his dialogues of Demonologie, re-printed in Lon. don soon after his succession, has speculated deeply on the illusions of spirits, the compact of witches, &c.; avd our dramatist only turned to his advantage a system universally admitted. In representation, some un interesting scenes are omitted; many of the witches' dialogues adapted to beautiful music, and a song or two, probably written by Sir W. Davenant, added to the parts. Betterton, amidst many bad alterations, hit upon the plan of making the witches deliver all the prophecies, by which a deal of the trap-work is avoided, and Garrick substituted some excellent passages to be ultered by Macbeth, whilst expiring, in lieu of the disgusto ing exposure of his head by Macduff. The neatest criticism upon the play, and the most concise record of its historical facts, are contained in the following extract from a standard publication : “ Macbeth Hourished in Scotland about the middle of the tenth century. At this period Dunean was king, a mild and humane prince, but not at all possessed of the genius requisite for governing a country so turbulent, and so iusested by the intrigues and animosities of the great Macbeth, a powerful nobleman, and nearly allied to the crow). Not con. tented with curbing the king's authority, carried still further his mad ambition; he murdered Duncan 19verness, avd then seized upon the throne. Fearing lest his ill-gutten power should be stripped from him. he chased Malcolm Kenmore, the sou and heir, into Eugland, and put to death Mac Gill and Banquo, the two most powerful men in his dominious. Macduff next becoming the object of his suspicion, he escaped into England ; but the inhuman usurper wreaked his vengeance on his wife and children, whom he caused to be cruelly butchered. Siward, whose daughter was married to Duncan, embraced, by Edward's orders, the protection of his distressed family. He marched an army into Scotland, aud having defeated and killed Macbeth in battle, be restored Malcolm to the throne of his ancestors. The tragedy founded upon the history of Mao

though contrary to the rules of the drama, contains an infinity beautic with respect to language, character, passion, and incident ; and is thought to be one of the very best pieces of the very best masters in this kind of writing that the world ever produced. The danger of ambition is well described, and the passions are directed to their true ends , so that it is not only admirable as a poem, but one of the most moral pieceo existing."

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. DUNCAN, King of Scotland.

SEYTON, an Officer attending on Macbeth. MALCOLM, his Sons.

Son to Macduft. DONALBAIN,

An English Doctor.-A Scotch Doctor. MACBETH,

A Soldier.-A Porter.-An old Man. BANQUO.

Generals of the King's Army. MACDCFF,

LADY MACBETH.
LENOX,

LADY MACDUFF.
ROSSE,
MENTETI,
Noblemen of Scotland.

Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth.

HECATE, and three Witches.
ANGUS,
CATHNESS,

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Mur. FLEANCE, Son to Bancro.

derers, Attendants, and Messengers. SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, General of the English Forces.

The Ghost of Banquo, and several other Young SIWARD, his Son.

Apparitions. SCENE, in the end of the fourth act, lies in England ; through the rest of the play, in Scotland ;

and, chietly, at Macbeth's Castle.

ACT I.

SCENE 1.-An open Place. Thunder and Lightning. Enter three WITCHES.

i Witch. When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain ?

2 Witch. When the hurlyburly's done, When the batile's lost and wou :

• Tumult.

3 Witch. That will be ere set of sun.
1 Witch. Where the place ?
2 Witch. Upon the heath :
3 Witch. There to ineet 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 varisha

won.

SCENE II.-A Jamp near Fores. Confronted him with self-comparisons,

Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm, Alarum within. Enter King DUNCAN, MAL. Curbing his lavish spirit : Aud, to conclude,

COLM, DONALBAIN, Lenox, with ATTEND-The victory fell on us;
ANTS, meeting a bleeding Soldier.

Dun. Great happiness !
Dun. What bloody man is that? He can re-

Rosse. That now port,

Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition ; As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt

Nor would we deign him burial of liis ineu, The newest state.

Till be disburse at Saint Colmes' inch, Mal. This is the sergeant,

Ten thousand dollars to our general use. Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought Dun. No more that thane of Cawdor shall 'Gainst my captivity :-Hail, brave friend !

deceive Say to the king the knowledge of the broil, Our bosom interest :-Go, pronounce his death, As thou didst leave it.

And with his former title greet Macbeth. Sold. Doubtfuliy it stood ;

Rosse. I'll see it done. As two spent swimmers, that do cling together, Dun. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath And choke their art. The merciless Macdon

(Erennt. wald (Worthy to be a rebel ; for to that

SCENE III.-A Heath.-Thunder.
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him,) from the western isles,

Enter the three WITCHES. of kernes and gallowglasses is supplied ; *

1 Witch. Where bast thou been, sister? And fortune, on bis dainned quarrel + smiling,

2 Witch. Killing swine. Show'd like a rebel's whore : But all's too weak :

3 Witch. Sister, where thou ? For brave Macbeth, (well he deserves that

1 Witch. A Sailor's wife had chesnuts in her name,)

lap, Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel, Which smok'd with bloody execution,

And mounch’d, and mounch’d, and mounch'd :Like valour's minion

Give me, quoth I ;

Aroint thee, t uitch! the rump-fed ronyou t Carv'd out his passage, till he fac'd the slave ;

cries. And ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o'tbe

bim, Till he uuseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, And, like a rat without a tail,

But in a sieve I'll thither sail,

[Tiger : And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

I'll do, I'll do, I'll do. Dun. O valiant cousin ! worthy gentleman !

2 W’itch. I'll give thee a wiud. Sold. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection

1 Witch. Thou art kind. Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break;

3 Witch. And I another. So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd to

1 Witch. I myself have all the other; come, Discomfort 1 'swells. Mark, king of Scotland, All the quarters that they know

And the very ports they blow, mark: No sooner justice had, with valour arni'd,

l’the shipman's card. $ Compellid these skipping kernes to trust their I will drain bim dry as hay : heels;

Sleep shall, neither night nor day, But the Norweyan lord, surveying vastage,

Hang upon his pent-house lid;

He shall live a man forbid : !
With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men,
Began a fresh assault.

Weary sev'n-nights, nine times nine,

Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine :
Dun. Dismay'd not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo ?

Though his bark cannot be lost,
Sold. Yes ;

Yet it shall be tempest-toss'd.

Look what I have. As sparrows, eagles ; or the hare, the lion.

2 Witch. Show me, show me. If I say sooth, I must report they were

1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, As cannons || overcharg'd with double cracks ; So they

Wreck'd, as homeward he did come. Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe :

[Drum within.

3 Witch. A drum, a drum ; Except they meant to bathe iu reeking wounds,

Macbeth doth come.
Or inemorize another Golgotha,!

All. The weird sisters, f hand in hand,
I cannot tell :
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.

Posters of the sea and land,
Dun. So well thy words become thee, as thy Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,

Thus do go about, about ;
wounds;

And thrice again, to make up nine :
They smack of honour both :--Go, get him sur-
geons. [Erit Soldier, attended. Peace !-the cbarm's wound up.
Enter Rosse.

Enter MACBETH and BANQUO.
Who comes here?

Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen Mal, The worthy thane of Rosse.

Ban. How far is't call'd to Fores 1-What Len. What a haste looks through his eyes !

are these, So should he look,

So wither'd and so wild in their attire: That seems to speak things strange.

That look not like the inhabitants o'the earth, Rosse. God save the king !

And yet are ou'ı ? Live you ? or are you anght Dun. Whence cam'st thon, worthy thane ?

That man may question? You seem to under Rosse. From Fife, great king,

stand me, Where the Norweyan banuers flout ** the sky,

By each at once her choppy finger laying And fan our people cold.

Upon her skinny lips :--You should be women, Norway himself, with terrible numbers,

And yet your beards forbid me to interpret Assisted by that most disloyal traitor

That you are so. The thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict : Mucb. Speak, if you can ;-What are you? Till that Bellona's bridegroom, tt lapp'd in proof, :I 1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! lail to thee,

thane of Glamis ! • They were light and heavy armed troops. Cause. 1 The opposite to comfort. * Truth. I Cannons were not juveated until some centuries • A small island in the Frith of Edinburgh. after this period.

Avaunt, begone.

1 A scabby woman. ( Make another Golgotha as memorable as the first.

Sailor's chart.

I Accursed. • Mock.

++ Shakspeare means Mars. T Prophetic sisters : the fates of the northera nations, :: Defended by armour of proof.