Who may I rather challenge for unkindness,

Than pity for mischance!

Rosse.

His absence, sir,

Lays blame upon his promise. Please it your highness To grace us with your royal company?

Macb. The table's full.

Macb. Which of you have done this?

Lords.

What, my good lord? Macb. Thou canst not say, I did it: never shake Thy gory locks at me.

Rosse. Gentlemen, rise; his highness is not well. Lady M. Sit, worthy friends:-my lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: 'pray you, keep seat; The fit is momentary; upon a thought

He will again be well: If much you note him,
You shall offend him, and extend his passion ;'
Feed, and regard him not.—Are you a man?

Macb. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that Which might appal the devil.

Lady M. O proper stuff! This is the very painting of your fear: This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said, to Duncan. O, these flaws, and starts, (Impostors to true fear,3) would well become A woman's story, at a winter's fire,

Led

you

2

Authoriz'd by her grandam. Shame itself!
Why do you make such faces? When all's done,
You look but on a stool.

Macb. Pr'ythee, see there! behold! look! lo! how say you?

Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.— If charnel-houses, and our graves, must send

' prolong his fit.

2 sudden gusts.

3 Counterfeit indications of fear. To is used for of.

Those that we bury, back, our monuments
Shall be the maws of kites.

Lady M.

[Ghost disappears.

What! quite unmann'd in folly?

Macb. If I stand-here, I saw him.
Lady M.

Fye, for shame! Macb. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' th' olden Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal;'

[time,

Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd
Too terrible for the ear: the times have been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end: but now, they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools: This is more strange
Than such a murder is.

Lady M.

My worthy lord, Your noble friends do lack you.

Macb.

I do forget:Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends;

I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing

To those that know me. Come, love and health to all; Then I'll sit down :- -Give me some wine, fill full :— I drink to th' general joy of the whole table,

Ghost rises.

And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss;
Would he were here! to all, and him, we thirst.3
And all to all.1

Lords.

Our duties, and the pledge.

Macb. Avaunt! and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!

Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;

Thou hast no speculation in those eyes

Which thou dost glare with!

Lady M.

Think of this, good peers,

the gentle weal; i. e. the peaceable community.

Do not wonder at me.

3 Thirst seems to be used here in an uncommon sense for drink.

4 i. e. all good wishes to all.

But as a thing of custom: 'tis no other;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.
Macb. What man dare, I dare:

Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger,
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble: Or, be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword;
If trembling I inhibit thee, protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow !
[Ghost disappears.
Unreal mockery, hence! Why, so;-being gone,
I am a man again.-Pray you, sit still.

1

Lady M. You have displac'd the mirth, broke the With most admir'd disorder. [good meeting, Can such things be,

Macb.

And overcome2 us like a summer's cloud,

Without our special wonder? You make me strange
Even to the disposition that I owe,3

When now I think you can behold such sights,
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,
When mine are blanch'd with fear.

Rosse.

What sights, my lord?

Lady M. I pray you, speak not; he grows worse

and worse;

Question enrages him: at once, good night:

Stand not upon the order of your going,

But

go

Len.

at once.

Good night, and better health

Attend his majesty!
Lady M.

A kind good night to all!
[Exeunt Lords and Attendants.

Macb. It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood:

Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak; Augurs, and understood relations, have

By magot-pies,' and choughs, and rooks, brought forth The secret'st man of blood.-What is the night?

Lady M. Almost a odds with morning, which is

which.

Macb. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his At our great bidding? [person, Lady M. Did you send to him, sir? Macb. I hear it by the way; but I will send : There's not a one of them, but in his house I keep a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow, (Betimes I will,) unto the weird sisters :

More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know,
By the worst means, the worst: for mine own good,
All causes shall give way; I am in blood

Stept in so far, that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er:

Strange things I have in head, that will to hand;
Which must be acted, ere they may be scann'd.

2

Lady M. You lack the season of all natures, sleep. Macb. Come, we'll to sleep: My strange and selfIs the initiate fear, that wants hard use:We are yet but young in deed.

SCENE V.-The heath.

[abuse3 [Exeunt.

Thunder. Enter HECATE, meeting the three Witches.
1 Witch. Why, how now, Hecate? you look angerly.
Hec. Have I not reason, beldams, as you are,
Saucy, and overbold? How did you dare
To trade and traffick with Macbeth,
In riddles, and affairs of death;
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of all harms,
Was never call'd to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?

1

magpies. 2 i. e. the refreshing, restoring virtue of sleep. 3 strange and self-abuse, torturing disquietude, agonizing compunctions.

And, which is worse, all you have done
Hath been but for a wayward son,

Spiteful, and wrathful; who, as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for

you.

But make amends now: Get you gone,
And at the pit of Acheron

Meet me i' th' morning; thither he
Will come to know his destiny

Your vessels, and your spells, provide,
Your charms, and every thing beside:
I am for th' air; this night I'll spend
Unto a dismal-fatal end.

Great business must be wrought ere noon:
Upon the corner of the moon

There hangs a vaporous drop profound;
I'll catch it ere it come to ground:
And that, distill'd by magick slights,
Shall raise such artificial sprights,
As, by the strength of their illusion,
Shall draw him on to his confusion:
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear:
And you all know, security

Is mortals' chiefest enemy.

SONG. [Within.] Come away, come away, &c.

Hark, I am call'd; my little spirit, see,

Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me.

back again.

[Exit.

1 Witch. Come, let's make haste; she'll soon be

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.-Fores. A room in the palace.

Enter LENOx and another Lord.

Len. My former speeches have but hit your thoughts, Which can interpret further: only, I say,

Things have been strangely borne: The gracious

Duncan