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Sennet sounded. Enter MACBETH as King: Lady MACBETH as Queen; LENNOX, ROSS, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants.

Macb. Here's our chief guest.
Lady M.

If he had been forgotten,

It had been as a gap in our great feast,

And all-thing unbecoming.

Macb. To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir, And I'll request your presence.

Ban.

Let your highness

Command upon me; to the which my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie

For ever knit.

Macb. Ride you this afternoon?

Ban.

Ay, my good lord.

Macb. We should have else desir'd your good advice,—

Which still hath been both grave and prosperous,

In this day's council; but we'll take to-morrow.

Is't far you ride?

Ban. As far, my lord, as will fill up the time 'Twixt this and supper: go not my horse the better, I must become a borrower of the night,

For a dark hour or twain.

Macb.

Fail not our feast.

Ban. My lord, I will not.

Macb. We hear our bloody cousins are bestow'd
In England and in Ireland; not confessing
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
With strange invention: but of that to-morrow;
When therewithal we shall have cause of state
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse: adieu,
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you?
Ban. Ay, my good lord: our time does call upon 's.
Macb. I wish your horses swift and sure of foot;
And so I do commend you to their backs.

Farewell.

Let every man be master of his time

Till seven at night; to make society

The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself

[Exit BANQUO.

Till supper-time alone: while then, God be with you!

[Exeunt Lady MACB., Lords, Ladies, &c.

Sirrah, a word with you: attend those men

Our pleasure?

Attend. They are, my lord, without the palace gate. Macb. Bring them before us. [Exit Attendant.

To be thus is nothing;

But to be safely thus:-our fears in Banquo

Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature

Reigns that which would be fear'd: 'tis much he dares; And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,

He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour

To act in safety. There is none but he
Whose being I do fear: and, under him,
My genius is rebuk'd; as, it is said,

Mark Antony's was by Cæsar. He chid the sisters
When first they put the name of king upon me,
And bade them speak to him; then, prophet-like,
They hail'd him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown,
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If 't be so,
For Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind;

For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd;
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,

To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!
Rather than so, come, fate, into the list,

And champion me to the utterance!--Who's there?—

Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers.

Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.

Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
1 Mur. It was, so please your highness.
Macb.

[Exit Attendant.

Well then, now

Have you consider'd of my speeches? Know
That it was he, in the times past, which held you
So under fortune; which you thought had been
Our innocent self: this I made good to you

In our last conference, pass'd in probation with you,

How you were borne in hand, how cross'd, the instruments,
Who wrought with them, and all things else that might
To half a soul and to a notion craz'd

Say, Thus did Banquo.

1 Mur.
You made it known to us.
Macb. I did so; and went further, which is now
Our point of second meeting. Do you find
Your patience so predominant in your nature,
That you can let this go? Are you so gospell'd,

To pray for this good man and for his issue,
Whose heavy hand hath bow'd you to the grave,
And beggar'd yours for ever?

1 Mur.

We

We are men, my liege.
Macb. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men;
As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are clept
All by the name of dogs: the valu'd file
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,
The house-keeper, the hunter, every one
According to the gift which bounteous nature
Hath in him clos'd; whereby he does receive
Particular addition, from the bill

That writes them all alike: and so of men.
Now, if you have a station in the file,

And not i' the worst rank of manhood, say it;
And I will put that business in your bosoms,
Whose execution takes your enemy off;
Grapples you to the heart and love of us,
Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
Which in his death were perfect.

2 Mur.
I am one, my
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incens'd that I am reckless what

I do to spite the world.

1 Mur.

And I another,

So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune,
That I would set my life on any chance,

To mend it, or be rid on't.

Macb.

Both of you

True, my lord.

Know Banquo was your enemy.

Both Mur.

Macb. So is he mine; and in such bloody distance, That every minute of his being thrusts

Against my near'st of life: and though I could
With bare-fac'd power sweep him from my sight,
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not,
For certain friends that are both his and mine,
Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
Who I myself struck down: and thence it is
That I to your assistance do make love;
Masking the business from the common eye
For sundry weighty reasons.

We shall, my lord,

2 Mur. Perform what you command us.

1 Mur.

Though our lives

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Macb. Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour

at most,

I will advise you where to plant yourselves;
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time,
The moment on 't; for 't must be done to-night,
And something from the palace; always thought
That I require a clearness: and with him,-
To leave no rubs nor botches in the work,—
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me
Than is his father's, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart:
I'll come to you anon.

Both Mur.
We are resolv'd, my lord.
Macb. I'll call upon you straight: abide within.

[Exeunt Murderers.

It is concluded:-Banquo, thy soul's flight,
If it find heaven, must find it out to-night.

[Exit.

SCENE II.-The same.

Another Room in the Palace.

Enter Lady MACBETH and a Servant.

Lady M. Is Banquo gone from court?

Serv. Ay, madam, but returns again to-night.

Lady M. Say to the king, I would attend his leisure For a few words.

Serv.

Lady M.

Madam, I will.

[Exit.

Naught's had, all's spent,

Where our desire is got without content:
"Tis safer to be that which we destroy,
Than, by destruction, dwell in doubtful joy.

Enter MACBETH.

How now, my lord! why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest fancies your companions making;
Using those thoughts which should indeed have died
With them they think on? Things without all remedy
Should be without regard: what's done is done.
Macb. We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it;

She'll close, and be herself; whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth.
But let the frame of things disjoint,
Both the worlds suffer,

Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreams
That shake us nightly: better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie

In restless ecstacy. Duncan is in his grave;
After life's fitful fever he sleeps well;

Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,'
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,

Can touch him further.

Lady M.

Come on;

Gently my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks;
Be bright and jovial 'mong your guests to-night.
Macb. So shall I, love; and so, I pray, be you:
Let your remembrance apply to Banquo;

Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue:
Unsafe the while, that we

Must lave our honours in these flattering streams
And make our faces vizards to our hearts,
Disguising what they are.
Lady M.
You must leave this.
Macb. O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.
Lady M. But in them nature's copy's not eterne.
Macb. There's comfort yet; they are assailable;
Then be thou jocund: ere the bat hath flown
His cloister'd flight; ere, to black Hecate's summons,
The shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy hums,
Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done
A deed of dreadful note.

Lady M.

What's to be done?

Macb. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck. Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day;

And with thy bloody and invisible hand

Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond

Which keeps me pale !-Light thickens; and the crow
Makes wing to the rooky wood:

Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;
Whiles night's black agents to their prey do rouse.-
Thou marvell'st at my words: but hold thee still;
Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill:
So, pr'ythee, go with me.

[Exeunt.

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