DUNCAN, King of Scotland.
MALCOLM, son to Duncan.
DONALBAIN, son to Duncan.
MACBETH, (eneral of the King's army.
BANQUO, general of the King's army.
MACDUFF, a nobleman of Scotland.
LENOX, a nobleman of Scotland.
ROSSIE, a nobleman of Scotland.
MENTETH, a nobleman of Scotland.

ANGUS, a nobleman of Scotland.

CAITHNESS, a nobleman of Scotland.

FLEANCE, son to Banquo.

SIWARD, Earl of Northumberland, general of the English
forces.

Young SIWARD, son to the Earl of Northumberland.
SEYTON, an officer attending on Macbeth.
Son to Macduff. An English Doctor. A Scotch Doctor.
A Soldier. A Porter. An old Man.
LADY MACBETH. LADY MACDUFF.
Gentlewoman, attending on Lady Macbeth.
RECATE. Three Witches.

Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Attendants,
and Messengers. The Ghost of Banquo, and other
Apparitions.

SCENE. In the end of Act IV. in England; through the rest of the Play in Scotland.

Sold.

Doubtful it stood;
As two spent swimmers, that do cing together,
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald
(Worthy to be a rebel; for, to that,
The multiplying villainies of nature
Do swarm upon him) from the western isles
Of kernes and gallowglasses is supplied:
And fortune, on his damned quarry smiling,
Show'd like a rebel's whore: But all's too weak:
For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name),
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Watch smok'd with bloody execution,

Like valour s minion, carv'd out his passage,
Till he fac'd the slave;

Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

Dun. O, valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
Sold. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection
Shipwracking storms and direful thunders break;
So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd to

come,

Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark:
No sooner justice had, with valour arm'd,
Compell'd these skipping kernes to trust their
heels,

But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,
With furbished arms, and new supplies of men,
Began a fresh assault.

Dun. Dismay'd not this our captains, Macbeth
and Banquo?

Sold. Yes, as sparrows eagles, or the hare the
lion.

If I say sooth, I must report they were
As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks;
So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha,
I cannot tell:

But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.

Dun. So well thy words become thee as thy
wounds;

They smack of honour both:-Go, get him
surgeons.
[Exit Soldier attended
Enter ROSSE.

Who comes here?

Mal.
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

Ang.

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

SCENE IV.-Forres. A Room in the Palace.
Flourish. Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN,
LENOX, and Attendants.

Dun. Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
Those in commission yet return'd ?
Mal.
My liege,
They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
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

There's no art

Who was the thane, lives yet; As one that had been studied in his death, But under heavy judgment bears that life To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd. Which he deserves to lose. As 'twere a careless trifle. Dun. To find the mind's construction in the face: He was a gentleman on whom I built An absolute trust.-O worthiest cousin! 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 deserv'd;

In his country's wrack, I know not;
But treasons capital, confess'd and prov'd,
Have overthrown him.

Mach.

Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind. Thanks for your pains. Do you not hope your children shall be kings, When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me Promis'd no less to them?

Ban.

That, trusted home,
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange:
And oftentimes to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths;
Win us with honest trifles, to betray us

In deepest consequence.-
Cousins, a word, I pray you.

Mucb.

Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.-I thank you, gentlemen.
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 murther 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.
Mach. 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.

Macb.
Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
Ban. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.
Mach. 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.
Mach. Till then, enough.-Come, friends,

[Exeunt

Dun. True, worthy Banquo; he is full so | Nor Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark "Hold, hold!"- -Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor!

valiant;

And in his commendations I am fed;

It is a banquet to me. Let's 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 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 I have 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 promis'd:-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
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,
have it:

"Thus thou must do, if thou

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.

To cry,

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
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
This night's great business into my dispatch;
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
Mach. We will speak further.
Lady M.
Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear:
Leave all the rest to me.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.-The same. Before the Castle.
Hautboys. Servants of Macbeth attending.
Enter DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, BAN-
QUO, LENOX, MACDUFF, ROSSE, ANGUS, and
Attendants.

Dun. This castle hath a pleasant seat; 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 mansionry, 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:
Thou'rt mad to say it: Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ'd,
The air is delicate.

Atten. The king comes here to-night.
Lady M.

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, you spirits
That tend on mortal 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 reinorse;
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 murthering
ministers,

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;

Lady M.

All our service
In every point twice done, and then Jone 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
compt,

To make their audit at your highness' pleasure.
Still return to your own

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

[Exeunt. SCENE VIL.-The same. A Room in the Castle. Hautboys and torches. Enter and pass over the stage, a Sewer, and divers Servants with dishes and

service. Then enter MACBETH.

Mach. If it were done, when 'tis done. then
'twere well

It were done quickly: If the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
With his surcease, success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all, here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come.-But in these cases,
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. He's here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed: then, as his host,
Who should against his murtherer 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 cherubim, hors'd
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,

Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour,
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem;
Letting I dare not wait upon I would,
Like the poor cat i' the adage?
Macb.

I

Prithee, peace:

dare do all that may become a man ;
Who dares do more, is none.
Lady M.
What beast was't then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man ;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time, nor place,
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
They have made themselves, and that their
fitness 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 plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn,
As you have done to this.

If we should fail,

Macb.
Lady M.
We fail!
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 so convince,
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only: When in swinish sleep

That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur Their drenched natures lie, as in a death,

To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,

And falls on the other-How now, what news?

Enter Lady MACBETH.

What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spongy officers; who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
Mach.

Bring forth men-children only

Lady M. He has almost supp'd: why have you For thy undaunted mettle should compose
left the chamber?
Nothing but males. Will it not be receiv'd,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy

Mach. Hath he asked for me?
Lady M.
Know you not he has ?
Mach. 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 his time,