SCENE II.-The Country near Dunsinane.

Enter, with Drum and Colours, MENTETH, CATHNESS, ANGUS, LENOX, and Soldiers.

Ment. The English power is near, led on by Malcolm, His uncle Siward, and the good Macduff.

Revenges burn in them; for their dear causes

Would, to the bleeding, and the grim alarm,
Excite the mortified man. *

Ang. Near Birnam wood

Shall we well meet them; that way are they coming.
Cath. Who knows, if Donalbain be with his brother?
Len. For certain, Sir, he is not: I have a file

Of all the gentry; there is Siward's son,

And many unrough youths, that even now
Protest their first of manhood.

Ment. What does the tyrant?

Cath. Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies:
Some say, he's mad; others, that lesser hate him,
Do call it valiant fury: but, for certain,
He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause
Within the belt of rule.

Ang. Now does he feel

His secret murders sticking on his hands:

Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach;
Those he commands, move only in command,
Nothing in love: now does he feel the title
Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.

Ment. Who then shall blame

His pester'd senses to recoil, and start,
When all that is within him does condemn

Itself, for being there?

Cath. Well, march we on,

To give obedience where 'tis truly owed:

Meet we the medecin† of the sickly weal;

And with him pour we, in our country's purge,

Each drop of us.

Len. Or so much as it needs,

To dew the sovereign flower, and drown the weeds.
Make we our march towards Birnam.

[Exeunt, marching.

SCENE III.-Dunsinane. A Room in the Castle.

Enter MACBETH, DOCTOR, and Attendants.
Macb. Bring me no more reports; let them fly all;
Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane,

I cannot taint with fear. What's the boy Malcolm!
Was he not born of woman? The spirits that know

* Ascetic.

+ The physician.

All mortal consequents, pronounced me thus

Fear not, Macbeth; no man, that's born of woman,

Shall e'er have power on thee.- -Then fly, false thanes,
And mingle with the English epicures:

The mind I sway by, and the heart I bear,

Shall never sag* with doubt, nor shake with fear.

Enter a SERVANT.

The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!
Where got'st thou that goose look ?

Serv. There is ten thousand

Macb. Geese, villain?

Serv. Soldiers, Sir.

Macb. Go, prick thy face, and over-red thy fear,
Thou lily-liver'd boy. What soldiers, patch ?+
Death of thy soul! those linen cheeks of thine

Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face?
Serv. The English force, so please you.

Macb. Take thy face hence.-Seyton!-I am sick at heart,
When I behold-Seyton, I say!-This push
Will cheer me ever, or disseat me now.
I have lived long enough: my way of life
Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf:
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have; but, in their stead,
Curses, not loud, but deep, mouth-honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, but dare not.
Seyton !-

Enter SEYTON.

Sey. What is your gracious pleasure?

Macb. What news more?

Sey. All is confirm'd, my lord, which was reported.
Macb. I'll fight, till from my bones my flesh be hack'd.

Give me my armour.

Sey. 'Tis not needed yet.

Macb. I'll put it on.

Send out more horses, skirr§ the country round;

Hang those that talk of fear.-Give me mine armour.

How does your patient, doctor?

Doct. Not so sick, my lord,

As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies,
That keep her from her rest.

Macb. Cure her of that:

Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased;
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow;
Raze out the written troubles of the brain;
And, with some sweet oblivious antidote,
Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff,
Which weighs upon the heart?

Doct. Therein the patient
Must minister to himself.

Macb. Throw physic to the dogs, I'll none of it.-
Come, put mine armour on; give me my staff:-
Seyton, send out.-Doctor, the thanes fly from me:-
Come, Sir, despatch:-If thou couldst, doctor, cast
The water of my land, find her disease,
And purge it to a sound and pristine health,
I would applaud thee to the very echo,

That should applaud again.-Pull't off, I say.

What rhubarb, senna, or what purgatíve drug,

Would scour these English hence! Hearest thou of them?

Doct. Ay, my good lord; your royal preparation Makes us hear something.

Macb. Bring it after me.

I will not be afraid of death and bane,

Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane.

[Exit.

Doct. Were I from Dunsinane away and clear,

Profit again should hardly draw me here.

[Exit.

SCENE IV-Country near Dunsinane: A Wood in view.

Enter, with Drum and Colours, MALCOLM, old SIWARD and his SON, MACDUFF, MENTETH, CATHNESS, ANGUS, LENOX, ROSSE, and Soldiers, marching.

Mal. Cousins, I hope, the days are near at hand

That chambers will be safe.

Ment. We doubt it nothing.

Siw. What wood is this before us?

Ment. The wood of Birnam.

Mal. Let every soldier hew him down a bough,

And bear't before him; thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host, and make discovery
Err in report of us.

Sold. It shall be done.

Siw. We learn no other, but the confident tyrant Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure

Our setting down befor't.

Mal. "Tis his main hope:

For where there is advantage to be given,

Both more and lesst have given him the revolt;

And none serve with him, but constrained things,

Whose hearts are absent too.

Macd. Let our just censures

Attend the true event, and put we on

Industrious soldiership.

Siw. The time approaches,

That will with due decision make us know

What we shall say we have, and what we owe,

*I. e. inspect her urine.

+ High and low.

Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate;
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate:*

Towards which, advance the war.

[Exeunt, marching.

SCENE V-Dunsinane. Within the Castle.

Enter, with Drums and Colours, MACBETH, SEYTON, and Soldiers.

Macb. Hang out our banners on the outward walls;
The cry is still, They come : Our castle's strength
Will laugh a siege to scorn: here let them lie,
Till famine, and the ague, eat them up:

Were they not forced with those that should be ours,
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard,
And beat them backward home. What is that noise?

[A cry within, of Women.

Sey. It is the cry of women, my good lord.
Macb. I have almost forgot the taste of fears:
The time has been, my senses would have cool'd
To hear a night-shriek; and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse, and stir
As life were in't: I have supp'd full with horrors;
Direness, familiar to my slaught'rous thoughts,
Cannot once start me.-Wherefore was that cry?
Sey. The queen, my lord, is dead.

Macb. She should have died hereafter;

There would have been a time for such a word.-
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.-

Enter a MESSENGER.

Thou com'st to use thy tongue; thy story quickly.
Mess. Gracious my lord,

I should report that which I say I saw,

But know not how to do it.

Macb. Well, say, Sir.

Mess. As I did stand my watch upon the hill, I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought, The wood began to move.

Macb. Liar, and slave!

Mess. Let me endure your wrath, if't be not so:
Within this three mile may you see it coming;
I say, a moving grove.

[Striking him.

Macb. If thou speak'st false,

Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive,
Till famine cling* thee: if thy speech be sooth,
I care not if thou dost for me as much.-

I pull in resolution; and begin

To doubt the equivocation of the fiend,

That lies like truth: Fear not, till Birnam wood

Do come to Dunsinane ;-and now a wood

Comes toward Dunsinane.-Arm, arm, and out!-
If this, which he avouches, does appear,

There is nor flying hence, nor tarrying here.

I 'gin to be a-weary of the sun,

And wish the estate o' the world were now undone.-
Ring the alarum bell:-Blow, wind! come, wrack!
At least we'll die with harnesst on our back.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.-The same. A plain before the Castle. Enter, with Drums and Colours, MALCOLM, old SIWARD, MACDUFF, &c., and their Army, with Boughs.

Mal. Now near enough; your leavy screens throw down, And show like those you are:-You, worthy uncle,

Shall, with my cousin, your right-noble son,

Lead our first battle: worthy Macduff, and we,

Shall take upon us what else remains to do,
According to our order.

Siw. Fare you well.

Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night,

Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight.

Macd. Make all our trumpets speak; give them all breath, Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death.

[Exeunt. Alarums continued.

SCENE VII.-The same.

Another part of the Plain.

Enter MACBETH.

-What's he,

Macb. They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly,
But, bear-like, I must fight the course.-
That was not born of woman? Such a one

Am I to fear, or none.

Enter young SIWARD.

Yo. Siw. What is thy name?

Macb. Thou'lt be afraid to hear it.

Yo. Siw. No; though thou call'st thyself a hotter name

Than any is in hell.

Macb. My name 's Macbeth.

Yo. Siw. The devil himself could not pronounce a title More hateful to mine ear.

Macb. No, nor more fearful.