ACT V. the gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand; What's done, cannot be undone : To SCENE I.-Dunsinane.-A Room in the Cas- bed, to bed, to bed. [Exit Lady MACBETH. tle. Enter a DOCTOR of Physic, and a waiting GENTLEWOMAN. Doct. I have two nights watched with you, but can perceive no truth in your report. When was it she last walked ? Gent. Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her night-gown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon it, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep. Doct. A great perturbation in nature ! to receive at once the benefit of sleep, and do the effects of watching. In this slumbry agitation, besides her walking, and other actual performances, what, at any time, have you heard her say? Gent. That, Sir, which I will not report after her. Doct. You may, to me; and 'tis most meet you should. Gent. Neither to you, nor any one; having no witness to confirm my speech. Enter Lady MACBETH, with a Taper. Lo you, here she comes! This is her very guise ; and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her; stand close. Doct. How came she by that light? Gent. Why, it stood by her she has light by her continually; 'tis her command. Doct. You see, her eyes are open. she rubs her bands. Gent. It is an accustomed action with ber, to seem thus washing her hands; I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour. Lady M. Yet here's a spot. Doct. Hark, she speaks: I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly. Lady M. Out, damned spot! out, I say!One; Two; Why, then 'tis time to do't:Hell is murky!-Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afear'd? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account!-Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? Doct. Do you mark that? Lady M. The thane of Fife had a wife; Where is she now?―――What, will these hands ne'er be clean ?-No mor o'that, my lord, no more o'that you mat all with this starting. Doct. Go to, go to; you have known what you should not. Gent. She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that: Heaven knows what she has known. Lady M. Here's the smell of the blood still': all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! oh! oh! Doct. What a sight is there! The heart is sorely charged. Gent. I would not have such a heart in my bosom, for the dignity of the whole body. Doct. Well, well, well, Gent. 'Pray God, it be, Sir. Doct. This disease is beyond my practice: Yet I have known those which have walked in their sleep, who have died holily in their beds. Lady M. Wash your hands, put on your night gown; look not so pale:-1 tell you yet again Banquo's buried; he cannot come out of his grave. Doct. Even so? Lady M. To bed, to bed; there's knocking at • Dark. Doct. Will she go now to bed? Doct. Foul whisperings are abroad: Unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles: Infected minds crets. [Exeunt. Gent. Good night, good doctor. His uncle Siward, and the good Macduff. Ang. Near Birnam wood Shall we well meet them; that way are they coming. Cath. Who knows, if Donalbain be with his brother? Len. For certain, Sir, he is not: I have a file Of all the gentry; there is Siward's son, Ment. What does the tyrant? Cath. Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies: Some say, he's mad; others, that lesser hate him, Do call it valiant fury: but, for certain, Ang. Now does he feel Ment. Who then shall blame Cath. Well, march we on, To give obedience where 'tis truly ow'd: Len. Or so much as it needs, To dew the sovereign flower, and drown the weeds. Make we our march towards Birnam. [Exeunt, marching. SCENE III-Dunsinane.-A Room in the Castle. Enter MACBETH, DOCTOR, and ATTENDANTS. I cannot taint with fear. What's the boy Mal- Shall e'er have power on thee.-Then fly false thanes, And mingle with the English epicures: fear. How does your patient, doctor? Doct. Not so sick, my lord, As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies, Macb. Cure ber of that: Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd; Doct. Therein the patient Macb. Throw physic to the dogs, I'll none of it. Come, put mine armour on; give me my staff: Seyton, send out.--Doctor, the thanes fly from ine : [Exit. Doct. Were I from Dunsinane away and clear, Profit again should hardly draw me here. [Exit. SCENE IV.-Country near Dunsinane: A Wood in view. Enter, with Drum and Colours, MALCOLM, old SIWARD and his SON, MACDUFF, MENTETH, CATHNESS, ANGUS, LENOX, ROSSE, and Soldiers, marching. Mal. Cousins, I hope, the days are near at hand That chambers will be safe. Ment. We doubt it nothing. Ment. The wood of Biruam. Mal. Let every soldier hew him down a bough, And bear't before him; thereby shall we shadow The numbers of our host, and make discovery Sold. It shall be done. Siw. We learn no other, but the confident Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure Mal. 'Tis his main hope: For where there is advantage to be given, Both more and less have given him the revolt; And none serve with him, but constrained things, Whose hearts are absent too. Macd. Let our just censures Attend the true event, and put we on Industrious soldiership. Siw. The time approaches, That will with due decision make us know What we shall say we have, and what we owe, Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate; But certain issue strokes must arbitrate: + Towards which, advance the war. [Exeunt, marching. SCENE V.-Dunsinane. Within the Castle. Enter, with Drums and Colours, MACBETH, SEYTON, and Soldiers. Macb. Hang out our banners on the outward walls; strength The cry is still, They come : Our castle's Will laugh a siege to scorn: here let them lie, We might have met them dareful, beard to beard, And beat them backward home. What is that noise ? [A cry within, of Women. Sey. It is the cry of women, my good lord. Much. I have almost forgot the taste of fears: The time has been, my senses would have cool'd To the last syllable of recorded time; Enter a MESSENGER. Macb. My name's Macbeth. Yo. Siw. The devil himself could not pro nounce a title More hateful to mine ear. Mucb. No, nor more fearful. Yo. Siw. Thon liest, 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.——— Thou com'st to use thy tongue; thy story quickly. But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, Mess. Gracious my lord, I shall report that which I say I saw, But know not how to do it. Macb. Well, say, Sir. Mess. As I did stand my watch upon the If this, which he avouches, does appear, I 'gin to be a-weary of the sun, Brandish'd by man that's of a woman born. Alarums. Enter MACDUFF. [Exit. By this great clatter, one of greatest note The tyrant's people on both sides do fight; Mal. We have met with foes And wish the estate o'the world were now un-That strike beside us. done. [wrack! Ring the alarum bell:-Blow, wind! come, [Exeunt. SCENE VI.-The same.-A Plain before the Enter, with Drums and Colours, MALCOLM, Mal. Now near enough; your leavy screens throw down, And show like those you are :-You, worthy Shall, with my cousin, your right-noble son, Macb. They have tied me to a stake: I cannot fly: But, bear-like, I must fight the course.-What's That was not born of woman? Such a one Enter young SIWARD. Yo. Siw. What is thy name? Macb. Thou losest labour: Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests; 1 bear a charmed life, which must not yield To one of woman born. Macd. Eespair thy charm; And let the angel, whom thou still hast serv'd, Macb. Accursed be that tongue that tells me 50, For it hath cow'd my better part of inan! Macd. Then yield thee, coward, And live to be the show and gaze o'the time. Yo. Siw. No; though thou call'st thyself a Here may you see the tyrant. To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with Drum Mal. I would the friends we miss were safe arriv'd. Siw. Some must go off: and yet, by these I see, So great a day as this is cheaply bought. He only liv'd but till he was a man ; The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd Siw. Then he is dead? Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then Siw. Had he his hurts before? Siw. Why then, God's soldier be be! I would not wish them to a fairer death: And so his knelt is knoll'd. Mal. He's worth more sorrow, And that I'll spend for him. Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art: Behold, where stands The usurper's cursed head: the time is free: I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl, That speak my salutation in their minds; Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,Hail, king of Scotland! [Flourish. All. King of Scotland, bail! Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time, Before we reckon with your several loves, Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen ; Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands Took off her life;-This, and what needful else [Flourish. Exeunt. The kingdom's wealth or ornament. KING JOHN. LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE. THIS play was probably written in the year 1596. The action comprehends some of the principal events which occurred from the 34th year of King John's life to the time of his demise; or, during his short reign of seventeen years. Shakspeare has in some respects closely adhered to the old historiaus and chroniclers; but the Duke of Austria was not accessary to the death of Richard Cœur-de-lion; neither was John himself poisoned by a monk. However the gross licentiousness of the latter---his utter disregard of eveu the appearances of religion---and his habitual ridicule of the church, might favour such a supposition, it is certain that he died partly of grief, and partly of chagrin, at Newark. These incongruities, with the outline of Faulconbridge's character, our poet very likely derived from some previous dramatic production. With respect to the unfortunate Arthur, when he first fell into the power of his uncle, he was confined in the castle of Falaise, and the perfidious monarch endeavoured in vain to procure his assassination. He was afterwards conducted to the castle of Rouen, where Johu resided, and never afterwards heard of. The manner of his death is uncertain; but it is generally believed that the barbarous tyrant stabbed him with his own hand. Dr. Johnsou says of this tragedy: "Though not written with the utmost power of Shakspeare, it is varied with a very pleasing interchange of incidents and characters: the lady's grief is very affecting; and the character of the Bastard contains that mixture of greatness and levity, which this author delighted to exhibit." The latter is, indeed, as odd a personage as any author ever drew; aud his language is as peculiar as his ideas; but the scene in which John so darkly proposed to Hubert the murder of his innocent nephew, is beyond the commendation of cris ticism. Art could add little to its perfection; no change in dramatic taste can injure it; and time itself can subtract nothing from its beauties,------Colly Cibber altered this drama, though not for the best. KING JOHN. DRAMATIS PERSONE. PRINCE HENRY, his Son; afterwards King ARTHUR, Duke of Bretagne, Son of Geffrey, ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, Son of Sir Robert PETER of Pomfret, a Prophet. ELINOR, the Widow of King Henry II. and CONSTANCE, Mother to Arthur. Lords, Ladics, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, SCENE, sometimes in England, and sometimes in France. ACT I. SCENE 1.-Northampton.-A Room of State in the Palace. K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the em- Chat. Philip of France, in right and true be- Enter King JOHN, Queen ELINOR, PEMBROKE, TILLON. K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of In my behaviour, to the majesty, The borrow'd majesty of England here. Desiring thee to lay aside the sword, K. John. What follows, if we disallow of this? Eli. A strange beginning;-borrow' ma. To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld. jesty ! In the manner I now do. K. John. Here have we war for war, and blood for blood, Controlment for controlment: so answer France. |