1

Enter an Attendant.

Attend. The King comes here to-night.

Lady M.

Thou'rt mad to say it:

Is not thy master with him? who, wer't so,

Would have inform'd for preparation.

Attend. So please you, it is true; our thane iscoming: One of my fellows had the speed of him;

Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more Than would make up his message.

Lady M.

Give him tending,

He brings great news. The raven himself is hoarse,

[Exit Attendant.

That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here;
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood,
Stop up the access and passage to remorse ;7
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect, and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances

You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell!
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes;
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry, Hold, Hold!Great Glamis! worthy

Enter MACBETH.

Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!
Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present,' and I feel now
The future in the instant.

Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men
May read strange matters :-To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,

Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,

But be the serpent under it. He that's coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night's great business into my despatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
Macb. We will speak further.
Lady M.

To alter favour 2 ever is to fear:

Leave all the rest to me.

Only look up clear;

[Exeunt.

1i. e. Beyond the present time, which is according to the process of nature ignorant of the future.

2 Look, countenance.

SCENE VI.

The same. Before the Castle.

Hautboys. Servants of Macbeth attending.

Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, BANQUO, LENOX, MACDUFF, ROSSE, ANGUS, and Attendants.

Dun. This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself

Unto our gentle senses.

Ban.

This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, By his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath, Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, buttress, Nor coigne of vantage, but this bird hath made His pendent bed, and procreant cradle: Where they Most breed and haunt, I have observ'd, the air Is delicate.

Dun.

Enter Lady MACBETH.

See, see our honour'd hostess!

The love that follows us, sometime is our trouble,

Which still we thank as love.

How you shall bid God yield

4

And thank us for your trouble.
Lady M.

Herein I teach you,

us for your pains,

All our service

In every point twice done, and then done double,

Were

poor and single business, to contend

3 Convenient corner.

4 Reward.

Against those honours deep and broad, wherewith Your majesty loads our house: For those of old, And the late dignities heap'd up to them,

We rest your hermits.5

Dun.

Where's the thane of Cawdor?

We cours'd him at the heels, and had a purpose

To be his purveyor: but he rides well;

And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him To his home before us: Fair and noble hostess,

We are your guest to-night.

Lady M.

Your servants ever

Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt, To make their audit at your highness' pleasure,

Hautboys and torches. Enter, and pass over the stage, a Sewer, and divers Servants with dishes and service. Then enter MACBETH.

Macb. If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere

well

It were done quickly: If the assassination

5 i. e. We as hermits shall ever pray for you.
6 Subject to accompt.

7 An officer so called from his placing the dishes on the table.

Could trammel upon the consequence, and catch,
With his surcease, success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,—
We'd jump the life to come.-But, in these cases,
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off:
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin, hors'
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,

That tears shall drown the wind.—I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'er-leaps itself,

And falls on the other.-How now, what news?

Enter Lady MACBETH.

Lady M. He has almost supp'd; Why have you left the chamber?

& Winds; sightless is invisible.