The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare

It is a banquet to me. Let us after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome :
It is a peerless kinsman. [flourish; exeunt.

SCENE V. INVERNESS. A ROOM IN MACBETH'S

CASTLE.

Enter Lady Macbeth, reading a letter. Lady M.-"They met me in the day of success; and I have learned, by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them further, they made themselves-air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed me, Thane of Cawdor; by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, referred me to the coming on of time, with, Hail, king that shalt be! This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness; that thou mightest not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell."

and

Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promis'd.-Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o'the milk of human kindness,
To catch the nearest way. Thou would'st be great;
Art not without ambition; but without [highly,
The illness should attend it. What thou would'st
That would'st thou holily; would'st not play false,
And yet would'st wrongly win: thou'dst have,
great Glamis !

That which cries, Thus thou must do, if thou have
And that which rather thou dost fear to do, [it;
Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
And chastise, with the valour of my tongue,
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crown'd withal.-What is your
tidings?

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 is One of my fellows had the speed of him; [coming: 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;
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep pace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring minis-
Wherever in your sightless substances [ters,
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
Cawdor!

Enter Macbeth.

Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter! Thy letters have transported ine beyond

This ignorant present, and I feel now

The future in the instant.

Macb. My dearest love,

Duncan comes here to-night.

Lady M. And when goes hence?
Macb. To-morrow,—as he purposes.
Lady M. O, never,

Shall sun that morrow see!

Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men
May read strange matters.
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
To beguile the time
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. Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear.-
Leave all the rest to me.

SCENE VI. THE SAME.

[exeunt.

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.

Enter Lady Macbeth.

Dun. See, see! our honour'd hostess! The love that follows us, sometime is our trouble, Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you, How you shall bid God yield us for your pains, And thank us for your trouble.

Lady M. All our service

In every point twice done, and then done double,
Were poor and single business, to contend
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.

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, Still to return your own.

Dun. Give me your hand:

Conduct me to mine host; we love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him.
By your leave, hostess.

jexeunt.

SCENE VII. THE SAME; A ROOM IN THE CASTLE. Hautboys and torches. Enter, and pass over the stage, a Sewer, and divers Servants with dishes and service; then enter Macbeth.

And live a coward in thine own esteem;
Letting I dare not wait upon I would,
Like the poor cat i'the adage?
Macb. Pr'ythee, peace:

I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more, is none.

Lady M. What beast was it then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man.;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time, nor place,
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
They have made themselves, and that their fitness

now

Macb. If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere
It were done quickly. If the assassination [well
Could trammel up 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 judgement 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'd
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 Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
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.

Does unmake you. I have given suck; and know
How tender 'tis, to love the babe that milks me :
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn, as you
Have done to this.

Lady M. He has almost supp'd. Why have you
Mach. Hath he ask'd for me? [left the chamber?
Lady M. Know you not, he has? [ness.
Macb. We will proceed no further in this busi-
He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,

Mach. If we should fail,-
Lady M. We fail!

But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep,
(Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him,) his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassel so convince,
That memory, the warder of the brain,

A limbeck only. When in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie, as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?

Macb. Bring forth men-chilaren only'
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be received,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two

Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, Of his own chamber, and us'd their very daggers, Not cast aside so soon.

That they have done't?

Lady M. Who dares receive it other,

As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?

Macb. I am settled, and bend up

Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show;
False face must hide what the false heart deth
know.
[exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I. THE SAME. COURT WITHIN THE CASTLE.

Enter Banquo and Fleance, and a Servant with a
torch before them.

Ban. How goes the night, boy? [clock.
Fle. The moon is down! I have not heard the
Ban. And she goes down at twelve.
Fle. I take't, 'tis later, sir.

[in heaven,
Ban. Hold, take my sword.-There's husbandry
Their candles are all out.-Take thee that too.
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
And yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers!
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts, that nature
Gives way to in repose!-Give me my sword ;-

She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed. [exit Ser.
Is this a dagger, which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. [thee:-
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling, as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind; a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.

Thou marshal'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o'the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest: I see thee still;
And on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood,
Which was not so before.-There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business, which informs
Thus to mine eyes.-Now o'er the one half world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep; now witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his centinel, the wolf,

[pace, Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design

Moves like a ghost.-Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my where-about,
And take the present horror from the time, [lives;
Which now suits with it.-Whiles I threat, he
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
[a bell rings.

I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell,
That summons thee to heaven or to hell!

SCENE II. THE SAME.

That they did wake each other. I stood and heard But they did say their prayers, and address'd them Again to sleep.

Lady M. There are two lodg'd together. [other; Macb. One cried, God bless us! and, Amen, the As they had seen me, with these hangman's hands. Listening their fear, I could not say, Amen, When they did say, God bless us.

Lady M. Consider it not so deeply.

Macb. But wherefore could I not pronounce,

I had most need of blessing, and amen
Stuck in my throat.

[amen?

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.--[exit. Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there; go, carry them; and smear The sleepy grooms with blood.

Enter Lady Macbeth. Lady M. That, which hath made them drunk, hath made me bold: [Hark! Peace! What hath quench'd them, hath given me fire. It was the owl that shriek'd; that fatal bellman, Which gives the stern'st good night. He is about it: The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms Do mock their charge with snores. I have drugg'd their possets,

That death and nature do contend about them, Whether they live or die.

Macb. [within.] Who's there!—what, ho!

Macb. I'll go no more.

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

Lady M. Infirm of purpose!

Give me the daggers. The sleeping, and the dead,
Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood,
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal,
For it must seem their guilt. [exit, knocking within.
Mach. Whence is that knocking?

How is't with me, when every noise appals me?

Enter a Porter. [knocking within. Porter. Here's a knocking, indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. [knocking.] Knock, knock, knock: who's there, i'the name of Belzebub? Here's a farmer, that hanged himself on the expectation of plenty. Come in time; have napkins enough about you: here you'll sweat for't. [knocking.] 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: O, come in, equivocator. [knocking.] Knock, knock, knock: who's there? 'Faith, here's an English tailor come hither, for stealing out of a French hose: come in, tailor? here you may roast your goose. [knocking.] 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. [knocking.] Anon, anon; I pray you, remember the porter.

[opens the gate.

Enter Macduff and Lenox. Macd. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, that you do lie so late?

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

too strong for him, though he took up my leg
sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him,
Macd. Is thy master stirring?—

Our knocking has awak'd him; here he comes.
Enter Macbeth.

Len. Good morrow, noble sir!
Macb. Good morrow, both!

Macd. Is the king stirring, worthy thane?
Macb. Not yet.

Macd. He did command me to call timely on
I have almost slipp'd the hour.
[him;
Macb. 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, physics pain.
This is the door.

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

Len. Goes the king

From hence to-day?

[exit Macduff.

Macb. He does:-he did appoint it so.
Len. The night has been unruly: where we lay,
Our chimnies were blown down: and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i'the air; strange screams of
And prophesying, with accents terrible, [death;
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
Cannot conceive, nor name thee!
[heart,

Macb. & Len. What's the matter?
Macd. Confusion now hath made his master-
Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope [piece!
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!

Macd. What three things does drink especially As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprights,

provoke? Port. 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 be 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 lie, leaves him. Macd. I believe, drink gave thee the lie last night. Port. That it did, sir, i'the very throat o'me: but I requited him for his lie; and, I think, being

To countenance this horror!

[bell rings.

Enter Lady Macbeth.
Lady M. What's the business,
That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley
The sleepers of the house! speak, speak!-
Macd. O, gentle lady,

'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak :
The repetition, in a woman's ear,
Would murder as it fell.—O Banquo! Banquo!
Enter Banquo.

Our royal master's murder'd!
Lady M. Woe, alas!
What, in our house?

Ban. Too cruel, any where..

Dear Duff, I pr'ythee, contradict thyself,

And say, it is not so.

Re-enter Macbeth and Lenox.

Macb. Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had liv'd a blessed time; for, from this instant, There's nothing serious in mortality: 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.

Enter Malcolm and Donalbain.

Don. What is amiss?

Mach. You are, and do not know it;

The spring, the head, the fountain, of your blood
Is stopp'd; the very source of it is stopp'd.
Macd. Your royal father's murder'd.
Mal. O, by whom?

[done'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, unwip'd, we founá Upon their pillows:

They star'd, and were distracted; no man's life Was to be trusted with them.

Macb. O, yet I do repent me of my fury, That I did kill them.

Macd. Wherefore did you so?

[furious,
Macb. Who can be wise, amaz'd, temperate, and
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,
For ruin's wasteful entrance; there, the murderers,
Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers
Unmannerly breech'd with gore. Who could
That had a heart to love, and in that heart [refrain,
Courage, to make his love known?

Lady M. Help me hence, ho!
Macd. Look to the lady.

Mal. Why do we hold our tongues,

That most may claim this argunent for ours?
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.

Mul. Nor our strong sorrow on

The foot of motion.

Ban. Look to the lady:- [Lady M. carried out.
And when we have our naked frailties hid,
That suffer in 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 pretence I fight
Of treasonous malice.

Macb. And so do I.

All. So all.

Macb. Let's briefly put on manly readiness, And meet i'the hall together

All. Well contented. [ex, all but Malc. and Don. Mal. What will you do? Let's not consort with To show 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,

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Rosse. Alas, the day!

What good could they pretend?

Macd. They were suborn'd:

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

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

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 storehouse of his predecessors,
And guardian of their bones.

Rosse. Will you to Scone?

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

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The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare: From the Text of Johnson ..., Band 5