3 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king in borrow'd robes ? hereafter.

Ban. Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear

Things that do sound so fair 7-1' the name of truth,

Are ye fantastical, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
You greet with present grace, and great predic.

tion

Of noble having, and of royal hope,

Ang.
Who was the thane, lives yet;
But under heavy judgment bears that life
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was
combin'd

With those of Norway, or did line the rebel
With hidden help and vantage; or that with both
He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not;
But treasons capital, confess'd, and prov'd,
Have overthrown him.
Macb.
Glamis, and thane of Cawdor;

That he seems rapt withal; to me you speak The greatest is behind.-Thanks for your

not:

If you can look into the seeds of time,

And say, which grain will grow, and which will

By Sinel's death, I know, I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence
You owe this strange intelligence; or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetick greeting-Speak, I charge
[Witches vanish.
Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,
And these are of them.-Whither are they va-
nish'd 7

you.

Macb. Into the air; and what seem'd corporal, melted

As breath into the wind.-'Would, they had staid!

Ban. Were such things here, as we do speak
about?

Or have we eaten of the insane root,
That takes the reason prisoner ?

Macb. Your children shall be kings.
Ban.
You shall be king.
Macb. And thane of Cawdor too; went it not
80 ?

Ban. To the selfsame tune, and words. Who's
here ?

Enter Rosse and Angus.

Rosse. The king hath happily receiv'd, Mac-
beth,

The news of thy success: and when he reads
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend,
Which should be thine, or his: Silenc'd with

that,

pains.

Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to

This supernatural soliciting

Cannot be ill; cannot be good:-If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair,
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature ? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man, that function
Is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is,
But what is not.
Ban.
Look, how our partner's rapt.
Macb. If chance will have me king, why,
chance may crown me,
Without my stir.
Ban.
New honours come upon him
Like our strange garments; cleave not to their
mould,
But with the aid of use.
Mucb.
Come what come may
Time and the hour runs through the roughest
day.

Ban. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your,
leisure.

Macb. Give me your favour:-my dull brain was wrought

With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains

Are register'd where every day I turn

The leaf to read them.-Let us toward the king.—
Think upon what hath chanc'd: and, at more
time,

The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.

Ban.
Very gladly.
Macb. Till then, enough.-Come, friends.

[Exeunt.
SCENE IV. Fores. A Room in the Palace.
Flourish. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain,
Lenox, and Attendants.

In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day,
He finds thee in the stont Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as tale,
Came post with post; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.
Ang.
We are sent,
To give thee, from our royal master, thanks;
To herald thee into his sight, not pay thee.
Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Caw-They are not yet come back. But I have spoke

dor:

Dun. Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet return'd?
Mal.
My liege,

With one that saw him die: who did report,
That very frankly he confess'd his treasons;
Implor'd your highness' pardon; and set forth
A deep repentance: nothing in his life
Became him, like the leaving it; he died
As one that had been studied in his death,

To throw away the deares thing he ow'd,
As 'twere a careless trifle.
Dun.

There's no art,
To find the mind's construction in the face:
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.-O worthiest cousin!

by being ignorant of what greatness is promised
thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell.
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;

Enter Macbeth, Banquo, Rosse, and Angus.
The sin of my ingratitude even now
Was heavy on me: Thou art so far before,
That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
To overtake thee. Would, thou hadst less de-That
serv'd;

That the proportion both of thanks and payment
Might have been mine! only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay.
Mach. The service and the loyalty I owe,
In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part
Is to receive our duties: and our duties

Are to your throne and state, children, and ser-
vants;

Which do but what they should, by doing every
thing

Safe toward your love and honour.
Dun.

Welcome hither:
I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing.-Noble Banquo,
That hast no less deserv'd, nor must be known
No less to have done so, let me enfold thee,
And hold thee to my heart.

Ban.

There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.
Dun.
My plenteous joys,
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow.-Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
And you whose places are the nearest, know,
We will establish our estate upon

Our eldest, Malcolm; whom we name hereafter,
The prince of Cumberland: which honour must
Not, unaccompanied, invest him only,
But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers.-From hence to Inverness,
And bind us further to you.

Macb. The rest is labour, which is not us'd for

you:

I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful
The hearing of my wife with your approach;
So, humbly take my leave.
Dun.
My worthy Cawdor!
Macb. The prince of Cumberland !-That is a
step

On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,

[Aside. For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires: The eye wink at the hand! yet let that be, Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.

Exit.

Dun. True, worthy Banquo; he is full so
valiant;

And in his commendations I am fed ;
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 allhailed me, Thane of Cawdor; by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and 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 mighiest not lose the dues of rejoicing,

Art not without ambition; but without
The illness should attend it. What thou would'st
would'st thou holily; would'st not play
highly,
And yet would'st wrongly win; thou'd'st have,
false,
great Glamis,

That which cries, Thus thou must do, if thou
have it;

And that which rather thou dost fear to do,
Than wishest should be unane. Hie thee

hither,

And chastise with the valour of my tongue
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
To have thee crown'd withal.-What is your
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
tidings 7

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
coming:

One of my fellows had the speed of him;
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
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here;
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 peace between
The effect, and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring mi-
nisters,

Wherever in your sightless substances

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 me 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 7
Mach. 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:-To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
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.
Mach. We will speak further.

Only look up clear; And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubín, hors'd
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,

'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?

The very stones prate of my where-abont,
And take the present horror from the time,

Fle. The moon is down: I have not heard the Which now suits with it.-Whiles I threat, he

clock.

lives;

Ban. And she goes down at twelve.
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
Fle.
I take't, 'tis later, sir.
[A bell rings.
Ban. Hold, take my sword; There's hus-1 go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
bandry in heaven,
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
Their candles are all out.-Take thee that too. That summons thee to heaven, or to hell. [Erit.
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
SCENE II. The same.
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;
Enter Macbeth, and a Servant with a Torch.
Who's there?

Mach. A friend.

Enter Lady Macbeth.
Lady M. That which hath made them drunk,

hath made me bold:

What hath quench'd them, hath given me fire:
-Hark-Peace!

Ban. What, sir, not yet at rest? The king's Which gives the stern'st good night. He is It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman,

a-bed:

about it:

The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms
Do mock their charge with snores: I have
That death and nature do contend about them,
drugg'd their possets,
Whether they live or die.

Macb. [Within.] Who's there 7-what, ho!
Lady M. Alack! I am afraid, they have awak'd,
And tis not done:-the attempt, and not the
deed,

Confounds us:-Hark!-I laid their daggers
ready,
He could not miss them.-Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had don't.-My husband?

Enter Macbeth.

So I lose none,

Macb.

When?

Lady M.

Now.

Macb.

As I descended 7

In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchis'd, and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsel'd.

Macb.

Ban. Thanks, sir; The like to you!

[Exit Banquo. Macb. Go, bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready,

She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed.
[Exit Servant.

Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me
"clutch thee:→→→→→→

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
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 curtain'd sleeper; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy
pace,

With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his
design

Who lies i' the second chamber?
Lady M.

Macb. This is a sorry sight.

Donalbain.

[Looking on his hands. Lady M. A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight.

Macb. There's one did laugh in his sleep, and one cried, murder!

That they did wake each other; I stood and

heard them:

But they did say their prayers, and address'd
them
Again to sleep.
Lady M.

There are two lodg'd together. Macb. One cried, God bless us! and, Amen, the other;

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 not, I pronounce amen?

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

Lady M. These deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad.

Macb. Methought, I heard a voice cry, Sleep

no more!

Macbeth does murder sleep, the innocent sleep;
Sleep, that knits 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,

Lody M. Who was it that thus cried? Why,
worthy thane,

You do unbend your noble strength, to think
So brainsickly of things:-Go, get some water,
And wash this filthy witness from your hand.
Why did you bring these daggers from the
place?

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 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.
Macb.
Whence is that knocking?
How is't with me, when every 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
rather

The multitudinous seas incarnardine,
Making the green one red.

Re-enter Lady Macbeth.

Lady M. My hands are of your colour: but I

shame

To wear a heart so white. [Knock.] I hear a
knocking

At the south entry: retire we to our chamber:
A little water clears us of this deed:
How easy is it then? Your constancy
Hath left you unattended.-[Knocking.]

more knocking:

Hark!

Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us,
And show us to be watchers :-be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.

Mach. To know my deed,-'twere best not
know myself.
[Knock.
Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would,
[Exeunt.

thou could'st?

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

That you do lie so late 7

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

Macd. What three things does drink especially provoke

Port. Marry, sir, nose-paintings, 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. 1 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, be-
ing too strong for him, though he took up my
legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him.
Macd. Is thy master stirring 1-
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 ?
Mach.
Not yet.
Macd. He did command me to call timely on
him ;

I have almost slipp'd the hour.

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

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

Macd.

I'll make so bold to call,
For 'tis my limited service. [Erit Macduff.
Len. Goes the king hence to-day?
He does ;-he did appoint so.
Len. The night has been unruly; Where we

Macb.

lay,

Our chimneys were blown down: and, as they say,

Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams
of death;

Of dire combustion, and confus'd events,
And prophesying, with accents terrible,
New hatch'd to the woful time. The obscure

bird

earth

SCENE III. The same. 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: 0, come in, equivocator. [Knock- Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope ing.Knock, knock, knock: Who's there? 'Faith, The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence here's an English tailor come hither, for stealing The life o'the building. out of a French hose: Come in, tailor; here you

Clamour'd the livelong night: some say, the
Was feverous, and did shake.
Macb.
'Twas a rough night.
A fellow to it.
Len. My young remembrance cannot parallel

Re-enter Macduff.
Macd. O horror! horror! horror! Tongue,
nor heart,
Cannot conceive, nor name thee!
Macb. Len.

What's the matter? Macd. Confusion now hath made his masterpiece!

Macb.

What is't you
7

may roast your goose. [Knocking.] Knock, Len. Mean you his majestyou say 7 the life 7

Macd. Approach the chamber, and destroy

knock: Never at quiet! What are you?-But
this place is too cold for hell. I'll devil-porter it your sight

awake!

no further: I had thought to have let in some With a new Gorgon :-Do not bid me speak; of all professions, that go the primrose way to See, and then speak yourselves.-Awake! the everlasting bonfire. [Knocking.] Anon, [Exeunt Macb. and Len. anon; I pray you, remember the porter. Ring the alarum-bell Murder! and treason! [Opens the gate, Banquo, and Donalbain! Malcolm! awake!