The worthy thane of Rosse.

Len. What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look,

That seems to speak things strange.

Rosse.

God save the king!
Dun. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?
Rosse.
From Fife, great king,

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky,
And fan our people cold.

Norway himself, with terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor

The thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict:

Till that Bellona's bridegroom +, lapp'd in proof 3,
Confronted him with self-comparisons,
Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm,
Curbing his lavish spirit: And, to conclude,
The victory fell on us;

Dun.

Rosse. That now

Great happiness!

Thunder. Enter the three Witches.

1 Witch. Where hast thou been, sister?

2 Witch. Killing swine.

3 Witch. Sister, where thou?

1 Witch. A sailor's wife had chesnuts in her lap, And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd: Give me, quoth I:

Aroint thee, witch ! the rump-fed ronyon7 cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o'the Tiger:
But in a sieve I'll thither sail,
And, like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

2 Witch. I'll give thee a wind.
1 Witch. Thou art kind.

3 Witch. And I another.

1 Witch. I myself have all the other;
And the very ports they blow,
All the quarters that they know
I' the shipman's card. 8

I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall, neither night nor day,
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbid ? :
Weary seven nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-toss'd.
Look what I have.

2 Witch. Show me, show me. 1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wreck'd, as homeward he did come.

3 Witch. A drum, drum; Macbeth doth come.

[Drum within.

All. The weird sisters 1, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land,

Thus do go about, about;

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,
And thrice again, to make up nine:
Peace! - the charm's wound up.

Enter MACBETH and BANQUO.
Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
Ban. How far is't call'd to Fores- What are
these,

So wither'd, and so wild in their attire ;
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand

By each at once her choppy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips : You should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.

Macb. Speak, if you can;

What are you?

1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis !

2 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane

of Cawdor!

3 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter.

Ban. Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair?—I'the name of truth. Are ye fantastical, or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner You greet with present grace, and great prediction Of noble having 3, and of royal hope,

4

That he seems rapt withal; to me you speak not:
If you can look into the seeds of time,

And say, which grain will grow, and which will not;
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear,
Your favours, nor your hate.

1 Witch. Hail!

2 Witch. Hail!

3 Witch. Hail!

1 Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

2 Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier.

3 Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be

none :

So, all hail, Macbeth, and Banquo!

8 Compass.

9 Accursed.

2

Supernatural, spiritual.

1 Prophetic sisters. 3 Estate. 4 Abstracted.

Might have been mine! only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay.

Macb. 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 servants;
Which do but what they should, by doing every thing
Safe toward your love and honour.
Dun.

I have begun to plant thee, and
To make thee full of growing.

Welcome hither: will labour

Noble Banquo, That hast no less deserv'd, nor must be known No less to have done so, let me infold 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, [Aside. On which I must fall down, or else o'er-leap, 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 létter. 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 all hailed 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 mightest not lose the dues of rejoicing, 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 promised: - Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness,
To catch the nearest way: Thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition; but without

2 Full as valiant as described.

The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly,

That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win; thou'dst have 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 undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round +,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crown'd withal. - What is your tidings?
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
That tend on mortal 6 thoughts, unsex me here;
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood,
Stop up the access and passage to remorse 7;
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 ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief: Come, thick night,
And pall 8 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!

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.
Macb. We will speak further.

5 Supernatural 7 Pity.

Only look up clear;

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI. Before the Castle. Hautboys. Servants of Macbeth attending. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, BANQUO, LENOX, MACDUFF, ROSSE, ANGUS, and Attendants. Dun. This castle hath a pleasant scat; the air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses. Ban.

This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, By his lov'd mansienry, that the heaven's breath, Smells wooingly here: no jutty, fricze, buttress, Nor coigne of vantage', but this bird hath made His pendent bed, and procreant cradle: Where they Most breed and haunt, I have observ'd, the air Is delicate.

Dun.

Enter Lady MACBETH.

See, see! our honour'd hostess! The love that follows us, sometime is our trouble,

Which still we thank as love.

How shall bid God yield
you
And thank us for your trouble.
Lady M.

Herein I teach you,

us for your pains,

All our service

In every point twice done, and then done double,
Were poor and single business, to contend
Against those honours deep and broad, wherewith
Your majesty loads our house: For those of old,
And the late dignities heap'd up to them,
We rest your hermits.

Dun.

Where's the thane of Cawdor?
We cours'd him at the heels, and had a purpose
To be his purveyor: but he rides well;

And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him
To his home before us: Fair and noble hostess,
We are your guest to-night.
Lady M.

Your servants ever

Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs in compt3, To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, Still to return your own.

Give me your hand.

Dun. Conduct me to mine host; we love him highly, And shall continue our graces towards him. By your leave, hostess.

[Exeunt.

First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking off':
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin, hors'd
Upon the sightless couriers 5 of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'er-leaps itself,
And falls on the other. -
How now, what news?

Enter Lady MACBETH.

Lady M. He has almost supp'd: Why have you left the chamber?

Macb. Hath he ask'd for me?

Lady M. Know you not, he has? Macb. We will proceed no further in this business: He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people, Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, Not cast aside so soon. Lady M. Was the hope drunk, Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since? And wakes it now, to look so green and pale At what it did so freely? From this time, Such I account thy love.

now

Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis, to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from its boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn, as you
Have done to this.

If we should fail,

We fail!

Macb. Lady M. But screw your courage to the sticking place, And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep, (Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey Soundly invite him,) his two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassel 7 so convince ®, That memory, the warder 9 of the brain, Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason A limbeck only: When in swinish sleep Their drenched natures lie, as in a death, What cannot you and I perform upon

5 Winds; sightless is invisible. 6 In the same sense as cohere.

8 Overpower.

7 Intemperance. 9 Sentinel.

torch before them.

Ban. How goes the night, boy?

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

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.

Lady M. That which hath made them drunk, hath made me bold:

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

:

It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman,
Which gives the stern'st good night. He is about it:
The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms
Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg'd
their possets,

That death and nature do contend about them,
Whether they live or die.

Macb. [Within] Who's there? — what, ho! Lady M. Alack! I am afraid they have awak'd, And 'tis not done: - the attempt, and not the deed, 8 Drops.

7 Haft, handle.