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.

Lady M. You lack the season of all natures, sleep.1 Macb. Come, we'll to sleep: My strange and self-abuse Is the initiate fear that wants hard use :2

We are yet but young in deed.

SCENE V.-The Heath. Thunder.

Enter HECATE, meeting the three Witches.

[Exeunt.

1 Witch. Why, how now, Hecate? you look angerly. Hec. Have I not reason, beldams as your are, Saucy, and over-bold? How did you dare

To trade and traffic 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?

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' the morning; thither he
Will come to know his destiny.
Your vessels, and your spells, provide,
Your charms, and everything beside:
I am for the air; this night I'll spend
Unto a dismal and a fatal end.

Great business must be wrought ere noon :

Upon the corner of the moon

There hangs a vaporous drop, profound;3

I'll catch it ere it come to ground:

And that, distill'd by magic slights,

Shall raise such artificial sprites,

(1) You lack the season of all natures, sleep, i. e. you stand in need of sleep, which seasons, and gives a relish, and restores all nature.

(2)

My strange and self-abuse

Is the initiate fear, &c.

Macbeth means that the strange and self-deceiving visions which he has just experienced, arise only from that fear which beginners in evil are always affected with, and which will soon be overcome.

(3) Drop profound, i. e. a drop which has secret and deeply hidden qualities. The moon, by believers in witchcraft, was supposed to distil drops upon the earth, which had magical virtues.

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 mortal's chiefest enemy.

SONG. [Within] "Come away, come away," &c.1

[Exit.

[Exeunt.

1 Witch. Come, let's make haste: she'll soon be back again.

SCENE VI.-Forres. A Room in the Palace.

Enter LENOX, and another Lord.

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

Things have been strangely borne: The gracious Duncan
Was pitied of Macbeth :-marry, he was dead :—
And the right-valiant Banquo walked too late;
Whom, you may say, if 't please you, Fleance kill'd,
For Fleance fled. Men must not walk too late.
Who cannot want the thought, how monstrous

It was for Malcolm, and for Donalbain,
To kill their gracious father? damned fact !
How it did grieve Macbeth! did he not straight,
In pious rage, the two delinquents tear,

That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep:
Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too;
For 'twould have anger'd any heart alive
To hear the men deny it. So that, I say,
He has borne all things well: and I do think,
That, had he Duncan's sons under his key,

(As, an 't please heaven, he shall not,) they should find
What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance.

But, peace!-for from broad words, and 'cause he fail'd
His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear,

Macduff lives in disgrace: Sir, can you tell
Where he bestows himself?

Lord.
The son of Duncan,
From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth,
Lives in the English court; and is received
Of the most pious Edward2 with such grace,

(1) In the acting editions of "Macbeth" here is introduced, for the sake of effect, a song or dialogue of some length between Hecate and the little spirit. But this song is supposed to be the composition of Sir William d'Avenant, and was in . troduced by him in his edition of 1674.

(2) Most pious Edward. Edward the Confessor is here intended.

That the malevolence of fortune nothing
Takes from his high respect: Thither Macduff
Is gone to pray the holy king, upon his aid
To wake Northumberland, and warlike Siward:
That, by the help of these, (with Him above
To ratify the work,) we may again

Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights;
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives;
Do faithful homage, and receive free honours ;—
All which we pine for now: And this report
Hath so exasperate the king, that he

Prepares for some attempt of war.

Len.

Sent he to Macduff?

Lord. He did: and with an absolute,

66 Sir, not I,"

The cloudy messenger turns me his back,

And hums; as who should say, "You'll rue the time
That clogs me with this answer."

Len.
And that well might
Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance
His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel
Fly to the court of England, and unfold
His message ere he come; that a swift blessing
May soon return to this our suffering country
Under a hand accurs'd!

Lord.

I'll send my prayers with him!

[Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.-A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling.

Thunder.

Enter the three Witches.

1 Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

2 Witch. Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whin'd.

3 Witch. Harpier1 cries:-'Tis time, 'tis time.

1 Witch. Round about the caldron go;

In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under the cold stone,
Days and nights hast thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
All. Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, caldron, bubble.

(1) Harpier, i. e. harpy.

2 Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake:
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble;
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
All. Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, caldron, bubble.
3 Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw, and gulf,1
Of the ravin'de salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew,
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe,
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,

Make the gruel thick and slab;
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our caldron.
All. Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, caldron, bubble.
2 Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

Enter HECATE, and three other Witches.
Hec. O, well done! I commend your pains;
And every one shall share i' the gains.

And now about the caldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in.

[Music and a Song.

Black spirits and white,
Red spirits and grey,
Mingle, mingle, mingle,

You that mingle may.

2 Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes :Open, locks, whoever knocks.

(1) Maw and gulf, i. e. the stomach and the throat, or swallow. (2) Kavin'd means glutted, gorged.

8

Enter MACBETH.

Macb. How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags, What is 't you do?

All.

A deed without a name.

Macb. 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 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,

Even till destruction sicken, answer me

To what I ask you.

1 Witch.

2 Witch.

3 Witch.

Speak.

Demand.

We'll answer.

1 Witch. Say, if thou 'dst rather hear it from our mouths, Or from our masters'?

Macb.

Call them, let me see them.

1 Witch. Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten
Her nine farrow; grease, that's sweaten

From the murderer's gibbet, throw

Into the flame.

All.

Come, high, or low;

Thyself and office, deftly show.

Thunder. An Apparition of an armed Head rises.1

Macb. Tell me, thou unknown power,

1 Witch.

He knows thy thought;

Hear his speech, but say thou nought.
App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff;
Beware the thane of Fife.-Dismiss me :-Enough.

[Descends. Macb. Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks; Thou hast harp'd my fear aright:-But one word more :1 Witch. He will not be commanded: Here's another, More potent than the first.

App.

Thunder. An Apparition of a bloody Child rises.
Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!-

(1) The following apparitions have been thus explained :- the armed head represents Macbeth's head, cut off by Macduff; the bloody child is Macduff, untimely ripped from his mother's womb; the child with a crown on his head and bough in his hand, is Malcolm.