SCENE V.-The Heath. Thunder.

Enter HECATE, meeting the three Witches.

1st Witch. Why, how now, Hecate? you look angerly.

Hec. Have I not reason, beldams as you are, Saucy and overbold? 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 called to bear my part,
Or shew 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;
I'll catch it ere it come to ground:
And that, distilled by magic sleights,
Shall raise such artificial sprights,
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 mortals' chiefest enemy.

Was pitied of Macbeth :-marry, he was dead: And the right-valiant Banquo walked too late. Whom, you may say, if it please you, Fleance killed,

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? damnéd 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 't would have angered 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 't were to kill a father: so should Fleance. But peace!-for from broad words, and 'cause he failed

His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear
Macduff lives in disgrace: sir, can you tell
Where he bestows himself"

Be bloody, bold,

Macb. Had I three ears, I'd hear thee. App. And resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man; For none of woman born shall harm Macbeth. [Descends.

Mach. Then live, Macduff: What need I fear of thee?

But yet I'll make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live;
That I may tell pale-hearted fear, it lies,
And sleep in spite of thunder,-What is this,
Thunder. An Apparition of a Child crowned,
with a tree in his hand, rises.

That rises like the issue of a king;
And wears upon his baby brow the round
And top of sovereignty?

All.

Listen, but speak not to't.

App. Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are: Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him. [Descends.

Macb. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo;
down!

Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls:-and thy air,
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first:-
A third is like the former :-Filthy hags!
Why do you shew me this?-A fourth?—Start,
eyes!

What! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?

Another yet?-A seventh ?-I'll see no more :—
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass
Which shews me many more; and some I see
That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry :
Horrible sight!-Ay, now I see 't is true;
For the blood-boltered Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his.-What, is this so?
1st Witch. Ay, sir, all this is so: but why
Stands Macbeth thus amazédly?
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprights,
And shew the best of our delights;
I'll charm the air to give a sound,
While you perform your antique round:
That this great king may kindly say,
Our duties did his welcome pay.

[Music. The Witches dance, and vanish. Macb. Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour

Stand aye accursed in the calendar!—
Come in, without there!

Macb. Time, thou anticipat'st my dread exploits:
The flighty purpose never is o'ertook,
Unless the deed go with it: from this moment,
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand. And even now,
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought
and done:

The castle of Macduff I will surprise:
Seize upon Fife; give to the edge o' the sword
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a

fool;

This deed I 'il do before this purpose cool:

Whether it was his wisdom, or his fear.

L. Macd. Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave his babes,

His mansion, and his titles, in a place
From whence himself does fly? He loves us not;
He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight
(Her young ones in her nest) against the owl.
All is the fear, and nothing is the love;
As little is the wisdom, where the flight
So runs against all reason.

I pray you, school yourself: but, for your husband,
He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows
The fits o' the season. I dare not speak much
further:

But cruel are the times when we are traitors,
And do not know ourselves; when we hold rumour
From what we fear, yet know not what we fear;
But float upon a wild and violent sea,
Each way, and move.—I take my leave of you:
Shall not be long but I'll be here again :
Things at the worst will cease, or else climb
upward

To what they were before.-My pretty cousin,
Blessing upon you!

L. Macd. Fathered he is, and yet he's fatherless.

Rosse. I am so much a fool, should I stay longer, It would be my disgrace, and your discomfort: I take my leave at once. [Exit Rosse. L. Macd. Sirrah, your father's dead: And what will you do now? how will you live? Son. As birds do, mother.

L. Macd. What, with worms and flies? Son. With what I get, I mean; and so do they. L. Macd. Poor bird! thou 'dst never fear the net, nor lime,

The pit-fall, nor the gin.

Son. Why should I, mother? Poor birds they

are not set for.

My father is not dead, for all your saying.