As they had seen me, with these hangman's hands, 10
Listening their fear. I could not say, Amen,
When they did say, God bless us.

[Amen?

Lady. Consider it not so deeply.
Macb. But wherefore could not I pronounce
I had most need of blessing, and Amen
Stuck in my throat.

Lady. These deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad.
Macb. Methought I heard a voice cry, "Sleep
66 no more!

"Macbeth does murder sleep, the innocent sleep;
"Sleep thatknits up the ravell'd sleave of care,
"The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
"Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
"Chief nourisher in life's feast ;"-

Lady. What do you mean?

[house:

15

20

25

Macb. Still it cry'd, "Sleep no more!" to all the
"Glamis hath murder'd sleep,and therefore Cawdor
"Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep nomore!"
Lady. Who was it, that thus cry'd? Why, wor-30
thy thane,

You do unbend your noble strength, to think
So brain-sickly of things:-Go, get some water,
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.-
Why did you bring these daggers from the place: 35
They must lie there: Go, carry them; and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.

Macb. I'll go no more:

I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again, I dare not.

Lady. Infirm of purpose!

Give me the daggers: The sleeping, and the dead,
Are but as pictures: 'tis the eve of childhood,
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
I'll gild the faces of the groom, withal,
For it must seem their guilt. [Exit. Knocking
Mach. Whence is that knocking? [within.
How is't with me, when ev'ry noise appals me?
What hands are here? Ha! they pluck out mine

eyes!

Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will ra-
The multitudinous seas incarnardine,
Making the green--one red.

[ther

Re-enter Lady Macbeth.
Iudy. My hands are of your colour; but I shame
To wear a heart so white. I hear a knocking

[Knock.

At the south entry :-retire we to our chamber :

[Knocking Within.] Por. Here's a knocking, indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. [Knock.]Knock, knock, knock: Who's there, the name of Belzebub? Here's a farmer, that hang'd himself on the expectation of plenty come in time; have napkins' enough about you; here you'll sweat for't. [Knock.] Knock, knock: Who's there i'the other devil's name? 'Faith, here's an equivocator', that could swear in both the scales against either scale; who committed treason enough for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven: oh, come in, equivocator. [Knock.] Knock, knock, knock: Who's there? 'Faith, here's an English hose: come in, taylor; here you may roast your taylor come hither, for stealing out of a French goose. [Knock.] Knock, knock: never at quiet! What are you? But this place is too cold for hell. I'll devil porter it no further: I had thought to have let in some of all professions, that go the primrose way, to the everlasting bonfire.[Knock.] Anon, anon; I pray you, remember the porter. Enter Macduff, and Lenox.

Macd. Was't so late, friend, ere you went to bed, 40 That you do lie so late?

Por. 'Fath, sir, we were carousing 'till the second cock and drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things.

Macd. What three things doth drink especially 45 provoke?

Por. Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance: Therefore, much drink may be said to 50be an equivocator with lechery: it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off'; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and not stand to: in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him the 55lie, leaves him.

Macd. I believe, drink gave thee the lie last night.

Por. That it did, sir, i' the very throat o' me: but I requited him for his lie; and I think, being

2 A skein of silk is called a sleave of silk.

6

3 To incarnar•

1 That is, listening to their fear. dine, is to stain any thing of a flesh colour, or red. 4 i. e. while I have the thoughts of this deed, it were best not know, or be lost to, myself. i. e. handkerchiefs. Meaning, a jesuit; an order so troublesome to the state in queen Elizabeth and king James the first's time; the inventors of the execrable doctrine of equivocation.

3

too

Would murder as it fell.-O Banquo! Banquo!
Enter Banquo.

[him; 10 Our royal master's murder'd!

Macd. He did command me to call timely on I have almost slipt the hour.

Mucb. I'll bring you to him.

Macd. I know, this is a joyful trouble to you; But yet, 'tis one.

Mucb. The labour we delight in, physicks pain. This is the door.

Macd. I'll make so bold to call, For 'tis my limited service.

2

Lady. Woe, alas!

What, in our house?

Ban. Too cruel, any where.

Dear Duff, I pr'ythee, contradict thyself,

15 And say, it is not so.

Re-enter Macbeth and Lenor.
Macb. Had I butdy'd an hour before this chance
I had liv'd a blessed time; for, from this instant
There's nothing serious in mortality:

20 All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.

[Exit Macduff
Len. Goes the king hence to-day?
Macb. He does: he did appoint so.
Len. The night has been unruly: Where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down: and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of
And prophesying with accents terrible, [death; 25
Of dire combustion, and confus'd events,
New hatch'd to the woeful time: The obscure bird
Clamour'd the live-long night: some say the earth
Was feverous, and did shake.

Macb. 'Twas a rough night.

Len. My young remembrance cannot parallel A fellow to it.

Re-enter Macduff.

Macd. O horror! horror! horror! Tongue

nor heart

Cannot conceive, nor name thee!

Macb. and Len. What's the matter?

[piece!

Macd. Confusion now hath made his master-
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence
The life o' the building.

[sight

Macb. What is't you say? the life
Len. Mean you his majesty?
Macd. Approach the chamber, and destroy your
With a new Gorgon:-Do not bid me speak;
See, and then speak yourselves.--Awake! awake!--
[Exeunt Macbeth and Lenox.
Ring the alarum-bell:-Murder! and treason!
Banquo, and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake!
Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit,
And look on death itself!-up, up, and see
The great doom's image!-Malcolm! Banquo!
As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprights,
To countenance this horror!-Ring the bell.

30

35

Enter Malcolm and Donalbain.

Don. What is amiss?

Macb. You are, and do not know it:
The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood
Is stopt; the very source of it is stopt.
Macd. Your royal father's murder'd.
Mal. Oh, by whom?

[don't:
Len. Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had
Their hands and faces were all badg'd with blood,
So were their daggers, which, unwiped, we found
Upon their pillows; they star'd and were distracted;
No man's life was to be trusted with them.
Mach. O, yet I do repent me of my fury,
That I did kill them.

Macd. Wherefore did you so?

Macb. Who can be wise, amaz'd, temperate,
and furious,

40 Loyal and neutral in a moment? No man:
The expedition of my violent love
Out-ran the pauser reason.-Here lay Duncan,
His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood;
And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature,
45 For ruin's wasteful entrance: there the murderers
Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers
Unniannerly breech'd' with gore: Who could
refrain,

50

That had a heart to love, and in that heart
Courage, to make his love known?
Lady. Help me hence, ho!

Macd. Look to the lady.

Mal. Why do we hold our tongues,

That most may claim this argument for ours?

3

2i. e. appointed. Upon this passage, which To cast him up, to ease my stomach of him. has been deemed the crux criticorum, almost every commentator has differed in opinion. Dr. Johnson proposes, instead of breeched, to read, drenched with gore. Dr. Warburton thinks reeched (i. e. soiled with a dark yellow) should be substituted for breeched, as well as unmanly for unmannerly. Mr. Steevens supposes, that the expression may mean, that the daggers were covered with blood quite to their breeches, i. e. their hilts or handles; the lower end of a cannon being called the breech of it. Warton pronounces, that whether the word which follows be reech'd, breech'd, hatch'd, or drench'd, he is at least of opinion, that unmannerly is the genuine reading, which he construes to mean unseemly. Dr. Farmer says, that the sense in plain language is, "Daggers filthily-in a foul manner sheath'd with blood."

Bb 2

Don.

372

Don. What should be spoken here, Where our fate, hid within an augre-hole,

May rush, and seize us? Let's away, our tears
Are not yet brew'd.

Mal. Nor our strong sorrow
Upon the foot of motion.

Ban. Look to the lady:

And when we have our naked frailties' hid,
That suffer an exposure, let us meet,

And question this most bloody piece of work,
To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us:
In the great hand of God I stand; and, thence,
Against the undivulg'd pretence2 I fight
Of treasonous malice.

All. Well contented.

[Exeunt.

That darkness does the face of earth intomb,
When living light should kiss it?

Old Man. 'Tis unnatural,

Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last, 5 A faulcon, towring in her pride of place3, Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at, and kill'd.

Rosse. And Duncan's horses, (a thing most
strange, and certain)

Beauteous, and swift, the minions of their race,
10 Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalis, flung out,
Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would
Make war with mankind.

Old Man. 'Tis said, they eat each other. [eyes,
Rosse. They did so; to the amazement of mine
15 That look'd upon't. Here comes the good Macduff:-
Enter Macduff.

Mal. What will you do? Let's not consort with 20 To shew an unfelt sorrow is an office [them: Which the false man does easy: I'll to England.

Don. To Ireland, I; our separated fortune
Shall keep us both the safer: where we are,
There's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood,
The nearer bloody.

Mal. This murderous shaft that's shot,
Hath not yet lighted; and our safest way
1s, to avoid the aim. Therefore, to horse;
And let us not be dainty of leave-taking,
But shift away: There's warrant in that theft
Which steals itself, when there's no mercy left.

[Exeunt.

Old Man. Threescore and ten I can remember

well;

Rosse. Is't known, who did thismorethan bloody
Macd. Those that Macbeth hath slain.
Rosse. Alas, the day!

What good could they pretend"?

Macd. They were suborn'd:

25 Malcolm, and Donalbain, the king's two sons, Are stol'n away and fled; which puts upon them Suspicion of the deed.

Rosse. 'Gainst nature still :

Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up

30 Thine own life's means!-Then 'tis inost like, The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth.

35

Macd. He is already nam'd; and gone to Scone, To be invested.

Rosse. Where is Duncan's body?

Macd. Carried to Colmes-kill' ;

The sacred store-house of his predecessors,
And guardian of their bones.

Rosse. Will you to Scone?

Mucd. No, cousin, I'll to Fife.

Rosse. Well, I will thither.

[-adieu!

[those

Macd. Well, may you see things well done there;
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!
Rosse. Farewel, father.
Old Man. God's benison go with you; and with
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes!
[Exeunt.

Meaning, our half-drest bodies. i. e. intention, design. Meaning, confidence in its quality To pretend, means here purpose to themselves. 5 Colmes-hill, or Colm-kill, means Iona, one of the western isles, where most of the ancient kings of Scotland are buried. i. e. prosper.

And

Macb. Ride you this afternoon?

Ban. Ay, my good lord.

[advice

No son of mine succeeding. If it be so,
For Banquo's issue have I fil'd2 my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd;
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
5 Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man3,
To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!
Rather than so, come, fate, into the list,
And championme to the utterance-Who's there?
Re-enter Servant, with two Murderers.
Now go to the door, and stay there till we call.
[Exit Servant.
Was it not yesterday we spoke together?
Mur. It was, so please your highness.
Macb. 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, past in probation with you;
How you were borne in hand'; how crost; the
instruments;

Macb. We should have else desir'd your good[10]
(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 bet-15
I must become a borrower of the night, [ter',
For a dark hour, or twain.

Macb. Fail not our feast.
Ban. My lord, I will not.
[stow'd
Mach. We hear, our bloody cousins are be-20
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, ny good lord: our time does call

upon us.

Who wrought with them; and all things else,
that might

25 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
30 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?

Mach. I wish your horses swift, and sure of foot;
And so I do commend you to their backs.
Farewel.-
[Exit Banquo.
Let every man be master of his time
Till seven at night: to make society
The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself [you.
Till supper-time alone: while then, God be with 35
[Exeunt Lady Macbeth, and Lords.
Sirrah, a word with you: Attend those men our
pleasure?

Ser. They are, my lord, without the palace gate.
Macb. Bring them before us.-To be thus, is 40
nothing;
[Exit Servant.

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 scepter in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand,

1 Mur. We are men, my liege.

Macb. Ay, in the catalogue you go for men;
As hounds,and greyhounds,mungrels,spaniels,curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are cleped
All by the name of dogs; the valued 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

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

Not in the worst rank of manhood, say it;
And I will put that business in your bosoms,
Whose execution takes your enemy off;
50 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 liege,
Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
55Have so incensed, that I am reckless what
I do, to spite the world.

1 Mur. And I another,

the devil.

6

1i. e. If he does not go well. 1i. e. defiled. 4The word utterance is derived from the French outrance. A challenge or a combat a l'outrance, to extremity, was a fix'd term in the law of arms, used when the combatants engaged with an odium internecinum, an intention to destroy each other. 'i. e. made to believe what was not true. Meaning, are you of that degree of precise virtue? Gospellers was a name of contempt given by the Papists to the Lollards. Shoughs are probably what we now call shocks. The expression, valued file, seems to mean in this place, a post of honour; the first rank, in opposition to the last. File and list are synonymous.

7

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.

Mach. Both of you

Know, Banquo was your enemy.
Mur. True, my lord.

[tance

Macb. So is he mine: and in such bloody dis-
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
Whom 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.

Mur. We shall, my lord,
Perform what you command us.

1 Mur. Though our lives

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.

Mur. We are resolv'd, my lord.

Macb. I'll call upon you straight; abide within.
It is concluded:--Banquo, thy soul's flight,
If it find heaven, must find it out to-night.[Exeunt.
SCENE II.

Enter Lady Macbeth and a Servant.

Lady. Is Banquo gone from court?

Str. Ay, madam; but returns again to-night.
Lady. Say to the king, I would attend his leisure

For a few words.

Serv. Madam, I will.

Lady. Nought'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 doubted joy.
Enter Macbeth.

5

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
10 In the affliction of these terrible dreams,

That shake us nightly: Better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our place, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie

In restless ecstacy'.-Duncan is in his grave; 15 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. Come on; Gentle my lord,

20 Sleek o'er your rugged looks; be bright and jovial Among 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
25 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.

30

Lady. You must leave this.

[wife!
Macb. O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear
Thou know'st, that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.
Lady. But in them nature's copy's not eterne3.
Macb. There's comfort yet, they are assailable;
Then be thou jocund: Ere the bat hath flown
35 His cloister'd flight; ere, to black Hecat'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.

40

[Exit. 45

How now, my lord? why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest' fancies your companions making?
Usingthosethoughts, whichshould indeedhavedy'd

1i. e, worried by fortune.

6

Lady. What's to be done?

Macb. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest

chuck 10

10,

Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seel ng" 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 drowze; 50 While night's black agents to their preys do rouze. Thou marvell'st at my words: but hold thee still; Things, bad begun, make strong themselves by i!l: So, pr'ythee, go with me. [Exeunt.

2 Such a distance as mortal enemies would stand at from each other

4 i. e. Always

5

' i. e. Worth

'i. e. Do him

when their quarrel must be determined by the sword. 3 Meaning, the exact time. remembering, that throughout the whole transaction I must stand clear of suspicion. less, vile. Ecstacy here signifies any violent emotion of the mind, pain, agony. the highest honours. Eterne for eternal. i. e. according to Mr. Steevens, the beetle borne along the air by its shards or scaly wings; shards signifying scales. But Mr. Tollet says, that shardborn beetle is the beetle born in dung; and that shard signifies dung, is well known in the North of Staffordshire, where cowshard is the word generally used for cow-dung. A term of endearment, "1i. e. blinding. i. e. The light grows dull or muddy. 13i. e. to a rookery.

10

SCENE