Macb. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,*

Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seelingt night,
Skarf 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.

Lady M.

THE BANQUET SCENE.

My royal lord, You do not give the cheer; the feast is sold, That is not often vouch'd, while 'tis a making, 'Tis given with welcome: To feed, were best at home

From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony;
Meeting were bare without it.

Macb.

Sweet remembrancer!

Now, good digestion wait on appetite,

And health on both!

Len.

May it please your highness sit? [The Ghost of BANQUO rises, and sits in MACBETH's place.

Macb. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd,

Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present;
Whom I may rather challenge for unkindness,

Than pity for mischance!

I

Rosse.

ays blame upon

ness

His absence, sir,

his promise. Please it your high

To grace us with your royal company?
Macb. The table's full.

Len.

Macb. Where?

Here's a place reserv'd, sir.

Len. Here, my lord. What is't that moves your highness?

Macb. Which of you have done this?

* A term of endearment.

† Blinding

Lords. What, my good lord?

Macb. Thou can'st 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

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

Lady M.

O proper stuff: This the very painting of your fear:

This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said, Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws.f and starts, (Impostors to true fear) would well become

A woman's story, at a winter's fire,

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

Lady M.

[Ghost disappears What! quite unmann'd in folly? Mach. If I stand here, I saw him. Lady M.

Fie, for shame!

Macb. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden time,

Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal;

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,
+ Sudden gusts

* Prolong his suffering.

And push us from our stools: This is more strange Than such a murder is.

Lady M.

Your noble friends do lack you.
Macb.

My worthy lord,

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 the 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,
And all to all.†

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,

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.

Lady M. You have displac'd the mirth, broke
the good meeting,

With most admir'd disorder.

Macb.

* Wonder. Forbid.

Can such things be,

tie. All good wishes to all.

And overcome us like a summer's cloud,

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

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 at once.

Len.

Attend his majesty!

Lady M.

Good night and better health

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-piest and choughs, and rooks, brought forth

The secret'st man of blood.

ACT IV.

THE POWER OF WITCHES.

I conjure you, by that which you profess,
(Howe'er you come to know it) answer me:
Though you untie the winds, and let them fight
Against the churches; though the yesty§ waves
Confound and swallow navigation up;

Though bladed corn be lodg'd and trees blown down;

Though castles topple T on their warders' heads;
Though palaces, and pyramids, do slope

Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure
Of nature's germins** tumble all together,

* Pass over.

+ Possess. + Magpies.

Il Laid flat by wind or rain.
**Seeds which have begun to sprout.

T Tumble.

§ Frothy.

Even till destruction sicken, answer me
To what I ask you.

MALCOLM'S CHARACTER OF HIMSELF.

Mal. But I have none: The king-becoming graces As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude, I have no relish of them; but abound In the division of each several crime, Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell, Uproar the universal peace, confound

All unity on earth.

Macb.

O Scotland! Scotland !

Mal. If such a one be fit to govern, speak:

I am as I have spoken.

Macb.

Fit to govern!

No, not to live.-O nation miserable,

With an untitled tyrant, bloody-sceptred,

When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again?
Since that the truest issue of thy throne

By his own interdiction stands accurs'd,

And does blaspheme his breed?—Thy royal father
Was a most sainted king; the queen, that bore thee
Oftener upon her knees than on her feet,
Died every day she lived. Fare thee well!
These evils, thou repeat'st upon thyself,

Have banish'd me from Scotland.-O, my breast,
Thy hope ends here!

Mal.
Macduff, this noble passion,
Child of integrity, hath from my soul

Wip'd the black scruples, reconcil'd my thoughts
To thy good truth and honour. Dev'lish Macbeth
By many of these trains hath sought to win me
Into his power; and modest wisdom plucks me
From over-credulous haste:* But God above
Deal between thee and me! for even now
I put myself to thy direction, and
Unspeak mine own detraction: here abjure
'T'he taints and blames I laid upon myself,

* Over-hasty credulity