Who comes here? Mal. Enter Rosse. The worthy thane of Rossc. Len. What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look, That seems to speak things strange. Rosse. God save the king! Where the Norweyan banners flout' the sky, Norway himself, with terrible numbers, The thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict: Dun. Rosse. That now Great happiness! Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition; Dun. No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive Our bosom interest :-Go, pronounce his death, And with his former title greet Macbeth. Rosse. I'll see it done. Things that do sound so fair?-I'the name of truth, Are ye fantastical," or that indeed [Exeunt. Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner You greet with present grace, and great prediction Enter the Of noble having,10 and of royal hope, 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 ronyon' 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, I will drain him dry as hay: 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, a drum; Macbeth doth come. (1) Mock. [Drum within. (2) Shakspeare means Mars. (3) Defended by armour of proof. (4) Avaunt, begone. (5) A scurvy woman fed on offals. (6) Sailor's chart. (7) Accursed. That he seems rapt withal; to me you speak not: And say, which grain will grow, and which will not, 1 Witch. Hail! 2 Wilch. 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! 1 Witch. Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail! Macb. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more: By Sinel's death, I know, I am thane of Glamis; But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives, A prosperous gentleman; and to be king, Stands not within the prospect of belief, No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence You owe this strange intelligence? or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting?-Speak, I charge [Witches vanish. Macb. And thane of Cawdor too; went it not so? Without my stir. Enter Rosse and Angus. Rosse. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth, Ang. Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater honour, Ban. In borrow'd robes ? Macb. Ban. In deepest consequence.- Macb. New honours come upon him Like our strange garments; cleave not to their mould, But with the aid of use. With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains The leaf to read them.-Let us toward the king.- Ban. Very gladly. Macb. Till then, enough.-Come, friends. (Eze. SCENE IV.-Fores. A room in the Palace. Flourish. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lenox, and attendants. Dun. Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not Mal. An absolute trust.-O worthiest cousin! Enter Macbeth, Banquo, Rosse, and Angus. Two truths are told, In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part As happy prologues to the swelling act Of the imperial theme.-I thank you, gentlemen.-Are to your throne and state, children, and servants; This supernatural soliciting Cannot be ill; cannot be good: If ill, Ban. Look, how our partner's rapt. Macb. If chance will have ine king, why, chance may crown me, (1) As fast as they could be counted. (2) Title. (3) Stimulate. (5) Temptation. jecture. (4) Encitement. (6) Firmly fixed. Which do but what they should, by doing every thing (10) Owned, possessed. (9) Pardon. (11) We cannot construe the disposition of the (7) The powers of action are oppressed by con- mind by the lineaments of the face. (12) Exuberant. Our eldest, Malcolm; whom we name hereafter, Macb. The rest is labour, which is not us'd for you: Dun. On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, [Aside. For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires! 2 Attend. So please you, it is true; our thane is One of my fellows had the speed of him; Lady M. You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, Enter Macbeth. 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; Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter! and I have learned by the perfectest report, they Thy letters have transported me beyond have more in them than mortal knowledge. When This ignorant present,10 and I feel now I burned in desire to question them further, they The future in the instant. made themselves-air, into which they vanished. Macb. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came Duncan comes here to-night. 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 Shall sun that morrow see! have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest Your face, my thane, is as a book, where men partner of greatness; that thou mightest not lose May read strange matters:-To beguile the time, the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent and farewell. Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be To catch the nearest way: Thou would'st be great; My dearest love, flower, O, never, But be the serpent under it. He that's coming Only look up clear; That would'st thou holily; would'st not play false, To alter favour11 ever is to fear: That which cries; Thus thou must do, if thou have it; And that which rather thou dost fear to do, Enter an Attendant. SCENE VI.-The same. [Exeunt. Before the castle, Dun. This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air Ban. The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, Attend. The king comes here to-night. Is not thy master with him? who, were't so, (1) Full as valiant as described. (2) The best intelligence. (3) Messengers. (4) Diadem. (5) Supernatural. (9) Knife anciently meant a sword or dagger. (10) i. e. Beyond the present time, which is, according to the process of nature, ignorant of the future. (11) Look, countenance. (12) Convenient corner. |