As justice, verity, temperance, stableness,
Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness,
Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,
I have no relish of them; but abound

In the division of each several crime, [should
Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,
Uproar the universal peace, confound
All unity on earth.

Macd. O Scotland! Scotland!

Mal. If such a one be fit to govern, speak: I am as I have spoken.

Macd. Fit to govern!

No, not to live.-O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter'd,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again?
Since that the truest issue of thy throne
By his own interdiction stands accurs'd,
And does blaspheme his breed?-Thy royal
father
[thee,
Was a most sainted king; the queen, that bore
Oftner upon her knees than on her feet,
Died every day she lived. Fare thee well!
These evils, thou repeat'st upon thyself,
Have banish'd me from Scotland.-O, my
Thy hope ends here!
[breast,

Mal. Macduff, this noble passion,
Child of integrity, hath from my soul
Wip'd the black scruples, reconcil'd my
thoughts
fbeth
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Mac-
By many of these trains hath sought to win me
Into his power; and modest wisdom plucks me
From over-credulous haste:* But God above
Deal between thee and me! for even now
I put myself to thy direction, and
Unspeak mine own detraction: here abjure
The taints and blames I laid upon myself,
For strangers to my nature. I am yet
Unknown to woman; never was forsworn ;
Scarcely have coveted what was mine own;
At no time broke my faith; would not betray
The devil to his fellow; and delight
No less in truth, than life: my first false speak-
Was this upon myself: What I am truly,
Is thine, and my poor country's, to command
Whither, indeed, before thy here-approach,
Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men,
All ready at a point, was setting forth:
Now we'll together; And the chance, of good-
[silent?
Be like our warranted quarrel! Why are you
Macd. Such welcome and unwelcome things
"Tis hard to reconcile.
[at once,

ness,

Enter a DOCTOR.

[ing

Mal. Well; more anon.-Comes the king forth, I pray you?

Doct. Ay, Sir: there are a crew of wretched souls,

That stay his cure: their malady convincest
The great assay of art; but, at his touch,
Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand,
They presently amend.

Mal. I thank you, doctor. [Exit DOCTOR.
Macd. What is the disease he means?
Mal. "Tis call'd the evil:

The mere despair of surgery, he cures ;
Hanging a golden stamp* about their necks,
Put on with holy prayers: and 'tis spoken,
To the succeeding royalty he leaves [tue,
The healing benediction. With this strange vir-
He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy;
And sundry blessings hang about his throne,
That speak him full of grace.

Enter Rosse.

Macd. See, who comes here?

Mal. My countryman; but yet I know him

not.

Macd. My ever-gentle cousin, welcome hither.

Mal. I know him now: Good God, betimes The means that make us strangers! [remove Rosse. Sir, Amen.

Macd. Stands Scotland where it did?
Rosse. Alas, poor country;

Almost afraid to know itself! It cannot
Be call'd our mother, but our grave: where
nothing,

But who knows nothing, is once seen to smil-·
Where sighs, and groans, and shrieks that rem.
the air,
[seems
Are made, not mark'd; where violent sorrow
A modern ecstacy; the dead man's knell
Is there scarce ask'd, for who; and good men's
Expire before the flowers in their caps, [lives,
Dying, or ere they sicken.

Macd. O, relation,

Too nice, and yet too true!

Mal. What is the newest grief?

Rosse. That of an hour's age doth hiss the
Each minute teems a new one. [speaker;
Macd. How does my wife?
Rosse. Why, well.

Macd. And all my children?
Rosse. Well too.

Macd. The tyrant has not batter'd at their

peace?

Rosse. No; they were well at peace, when I

did leave them.

tidings,

Which I have heavily borne, there ran a rumour
Of many worthy fellows that were out;
Which was to my belief witness'd the rather,
For that I saw the tyrant's power a-foot:
Now is the time of help; your eye in Scotland
Would create soldiers, make our women fight,
To doff their dire distresses.

Mal. Be it their comfort,

We are coming thither: gracious England hath
Lent us good Siward, and ten thousand men ;
An older, and a better soldier, none
That Christendom gives out.

Rosse. 'Would I could answer
This comfort with the like! But I have words,
That would be howl'd out in the desert air,
Where hearing should not latch them.

Macd. What concern they?

The general cause? or is it a fee-grief,||
Due to some single breast?

Rosse. No mind, that's honest,

land,

I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven, Himself best knows: but strangely-visited people,

All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,

+ Overpowers, subdues.

Pertains to you alone. Macd. If it be mine,

[part

Rosse. Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever, [sound, Which shall possess them with the heaviest That ever vet they heard.

Macd. Humph! I guess at it.

Rosse. Your castle is surpriz'd: your wife, and babes,

Savagely slaughter'd: to relate the manner, Were, on the quarry* of these murder'd deer, To add the death of you.

Mal. Merciful heaven![brows; What, man! ne'er pull your hat upon your Give sorrow words: the grief, that does not speak, [break. Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it Macd. My children too?

Rosse. Wife, children, servants, all

That could be found.

Macd. And I must be from thence!

My wife kill'd too?

Rosse. I have said.

Mal. Be comforted:

Let's make us med'cines of our great revenge, To cure this deadly grief.

Macd. He has no children.-All my pretty

ones?

Did you say, all?-O, hell-kite!-All?
What, all my pretty chickens, and their dam,
At one fell swoop?

Mal. Dispute it like a man.

Macd. I shall do so;

But I must also feel it as a man:

I cannot but remember such things were, That were not precious to me. Did heaven look on,

And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff, They were all struck for thee! naught that I

am,

Not for their own demerits, but for mine, Fell slaughter on their souls: Heaven rest them now!

eyes,

Mal. Be this the whetstone of your sword: let grief [it. Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage Macd. O, I could play the woman with mine [heaven, And braggart with my tongue!But, gentle Cut short all intermission;t front to front, Bring thou this fiend of Scotland, and myself; Within my sword's length set him; if he 'scape, Heaven forgive him too!

Mal. This tune goes manly. Come, go we to the king; our power is ready; Our lack is nothing but our leave: Macbeth Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above Put on their instruments. Receive what cheer you may;

The night is long, that never finds the day.

ACT V.

[Exeunt.

Doct. A great perturbation in nature! to receive at once the benefit of sleep, and do the effects of watching.-In this slumbry agitation, besides her walking, and other actual performances, what, at any time, have you heard her say?

Gent. That, Sir, which I will not report after her.

Doct. You may, to me; and 'tis most meet you should.

Gent. Neither to you, nor any one; having no witness to confirm my speech.

Enter Lady MACBETH, with a Tuper. Lo you, here she comes! This is her very guise; and, upon my life, fast asleep. Observe her; stand close.

Doct. How came she by that light? Gent. Why, it stood by her: she has light by her continually; 'tis her command. Doct. You see, her eyes are open.

Gent. Ay, but their sense is shut. Doct. What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs her hands.

Gent. It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands; I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour. Lady M. Yet here's a spot.

Doct. Hark, she speaks: I will set down what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly.

Lady M. Out, damned spot! out, I say! One; Two; Why, then 'tis time to do't:Hell is murky!*-Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afear'd? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account! -Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?

Doct. Do you mark that?

Ludy M. The thane of Fife had a wife; Where is she now?- What, will these hands ne'er be clean ?--No more o'that, my lord, no more o'that: you mar all with this starting.

Doct. Go to, go to; you have known what you should not.

Gent. She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that: Heaven knows what she has known.

Lady M. Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! oh! oh!

Doct. What a sight is there! The heart is sorely charged.

Gent. I would not have such a heart in my bosom, for the dignity of the whole body. Doct. Well, well, well,

Gent. 'Pray God, it be, Sir.

Doct. This disease is beyond my practice: Yet I have known those which have walked in their sleep, who have died holily in their beds. Lady M. Wash your hands, put on your

again, Banquo's buried; he cannot come out of his grave.

Doct. Even so?

Lady M. To bed, to bed; there's knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand; What's done, cannot be undone : To bed, to bed, to bed. [Exit Lady MACBETH. Doct. Will she go now to bed? Gent. Directly.

Doct. Foul whisperings are abroad: Unna tural deeds

Dark.

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.t

Ang. Near Birnam wood [coming, Shall we well meet them; that way are they 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 unrought 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 Do call it valiant fury: but, for certain, [him, 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 on. in command,
Nothing in love: now does he feel the title
Hang loose about him, like a giant's roce
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 ow'd: Meet we the medecins 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, [weeds. To dew the sovereign flower, and drown the 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! [know

Was he not born of woman? The spirits that All mortal consequents, pronounc'd me thus: Fear not, Macbeth; no mun, that's born of woman, Shall e'er have power on thee.Then fly, false

thanes.

Enter a SERVANT.

41

[loon !❤

The devil damn thee black, thou cream-fac'd
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, wheyface?

Sere. 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 liv'd 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,
[dare not.
Which the poor heart would fain deny, but
Seyton!-

Enter SEYTON.

Sey. What is your gracious pleasure?
Mucb. 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.
Mach. I'll put it on.

Send out more horses, skirr the country round;
Hang those that talk of fear.-Give me mine
How does your patient, doctor? [armour.-

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 diseas'd; 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.

me:

[staff:Come, put mine armour on; give me my Seyton, send out.-Doctor, the thanes fly from [cast Come, Sir, despatch:-If thou could'st, doctor, 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 purgative drug, Would scour these English hence!-Hearest thou of them?

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

Mach. Bring it after me.

[tion

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.

Base fellow.

+ Dry.

[Exit,

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 less* have given him the revolt;
And none serve with him, but constrained
Whose hearts are absent too.
[things,

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, 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; [strength The cry is still, They come: Our castle's Will laugh a siege to scorn: here let them lie, Till famine, and the ague, eat them up: Were they not forc'd with those that should be ours, [beard, We might have met them dareful, beard to And beat them backward home. What is that noise? [A cry within, of Women. Sey. It is the cry of women, my good lord. Mucb. 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 fellt 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.-

1. e. Greater and less. + Determine. † Skin.

Enter a MESSENGER.

Thou com'st to use thy tongue; thy story quickly.

I shall report that which I say I saw,
Mess. Gracious my lord,
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!

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

I

so:

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,