would not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have a new father. L. Macd. Poor prattler! how thou talk'st. Enter a Messenger. Mess. Bless you, fair dame! I am not to you known, Though in your state of honour I am perfect. I doubt, some danger does approach you nearly : Be not found here; hence, with your little ones. To do worse to you, were fell cruelty, 8 Which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you! I dare abide no longer. L. Macd. Whither should I fly ? [Exit Messenger. I have done no harm. But I remember now I am in this earthly world; where, to do harm, Accounted dangerous folly: Why then, alas ! To say, I have done no harm ?-What are these faces? Mur. Where is your husband? L. Macd. I hope, in no place so unsanctified, Where such as thou may'st find him. Mur. He's a traitor. Son. Thou ly'st, thou shag-ear'd villain. Mur. What, you egg? Young fry of treachery? Son. He has killed me, mother: Run away, I pray you. [Stabbing him. [Dies. [Ex. L. MACD. crying murder, and pursued by the Murderers. SCENE III. England. A Room in the King's Palace. Enter MALCOLM and MACDUFF. Mal. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there Weep our sad bosoms empty. Macd. Let us rather Hold fast the mortal sword; and, like good men, (8) To do worse is to let her and her children be destroyed without warning. JOHNS. Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom:9 Each new morn, New widows howl; new orphans cry; new sorrows Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out Like syllable of dolour.1 Mal. What I believe, I'll wail; What know, believe; and, what I can redress, What you have spoke, it may be so, perchance. You may deserve of him through me; and wisdom 2 To appease an angry god. Macd. I am not treacherous. Mal. But Macbeth is. A good and virtuous nature may recoil, In an imperial charge. But 'crave your pardon; Macd. I have lost my hopes. Mal. Perchance, even there, where I did find my doubts. Why, in that rawness4 left you wife, and child, (Those precious motives, those strong knots of love,) Without leave-taking?-I pray you, Let not my jealousies be your dishonours, (9) The allusion is to a man from whom something valuable is about to be taken by violence, and who, that he may defend it without incumbrance, lays it on the ground, and stands over it with his weapon in his hand. Our birthdom, or birthright, says he, lies on the ground; let us, like men who are to fight for what is dearest to them, not abandon it, but stand over it and de. fend it. This is a strong picture of obstinate resolution, JOHNS. (1) The portents and prodigies in the skies. of which mention is made before, showed that heaven sympathised with Scotland. WARB. (2) That is, and 'tis wisdom. HEATH. (3) The meaning perhaps is this :-My suspicions cannot injure you, if you be virtuous, by supposing that a traitor may put on your virtuous appearance. I do not say that your virtuous appearance proves you a traitor; for virtue must wear its proper form, though that form be counterfeited by villainy. JOHNS. (4) Rawness-without previous provision, without due preparation, without maturity of counsel. JOHNS. But mine own safeties:-You may be rightly just, Macd. Bleed, bleed, poor country! Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, For goodness dares not check thee! wear thou thy wrongs, Thy title is affeer'd !5-Fare thee well, lord: I would not be the villain that thou think'st Mal. Be not offended: I speak not as in absolute fear of you. I think, our country sinks beneath the yoke; Macd. What should he be ? Mal. It is myself I mean :6 In whom I know Macd. Not in the legions Of horrid hell, can come a devil more damn'd Mal. I grant him bloody, (5) Affeer'd, a law term for confirm'd. POPE. To affeer (for so it should be written) is to assess, or reduce to certainty. All amerciaments-that is, judgments of any court of justice, upon a presentment or other proceeding, that a party shall be amerced, or in mercy,are by Magna Charta to be affeered by lawful men, sworn to be impartial. This is the ordinary practice of a Court Leet, with which Shakspeare seems to have been intimately acquainted, and where he might have occasionally acted as an affeerer. RITSON. (6) This conference of Malcolm with Macduff is taken out of the chroni cles of Scotland. POPE. That has a name: But there's no bottom, none, All continent impediments would o'er-bear, Macd. Boundless intemperance In nature is a tyranny; it hath been As will to greatness dedicate themselves, Mal. With this, there grows, In my most ill-compos'd affection, such Macd. This avarice Sticks deeper; grows with more pernicious root Mal. But I have none: The king-becoming graces, As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, Bounty, perséverance, mercy, lowliness, Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude, (7) The allusion is to plants: and the sense is." Avarice is a perennial weed; it has a deeper and more pernicious root than lust, which is but a mere annual, and lasts but for a summer, when it sheds its seed and decays." BLACKSTONE. (8) Foysons, plenty. POPE. Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should 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, When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again ? By his own interdiction stands accurs'd, And does blaspheme his breed?-Thy royal father Was a most sainted king; the queen, that bore thee, 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 breast, Mal. Macduff, this noble passion, Child of integrity, hath from my soul Wip'd the black scruples, reconcil'd my thoughts Unknown to woman; never was forsworn ; No less in truth, than life: my first false speaking |