I care not if thou dost for me as much.- To doubt the equivocation of the fiend, That lies like truth: Fear not, till Birnam wood Comes toward Dunsinane.-Arm, arm, and out!— I 'gin to be a-weary of the sun, And wish the estate o' the world were now undone.- SCENE VI. The same. A Plain before the Castle. Enter, with drums and colors, MALCOLM, Old SIWARD, MACDUFF, &c. and their Army, with boughs. Mal. Now near enough; your leavy screens throw down, And show like those you are.-You, worthy uncle, According to our order. Siw. Fare you well. Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night, Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight. Macd. Make all our trumpets speak; give them all breath, SCENE VII. The same. Another Part of the Plain. Enter МАСВЕТН. Macb. They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, But, bearlike, I must fight the course.'-What's he, That was not born of woman? Such a one Am I to fear, or none. Enter Young SIWARD. Yo. Siw. What is thy name? Macb. Thou'lt be afraid to hear it. Yo. Siw. No; though thou call'st thyself a hotter name Than any is in hell. Macb. My name's Macbeth. Yo. Siw. The devil himself could not pronounce a title More hateful to mine ear. Macb. No, nor more fearful. Yo. Siw. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with my sword prove the lie thou speak'st. I'll Macb. [They fight, and Young Siward is slain. But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, Alarums. Enter MACDUff. [Exit. Macd. That way the noise is.-Tyrant, show thy face: If thou be'st slain, and with no stroke of mine, My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still. 1 "But, bearlike, I must fight the course." This was a phrase at bearbaiting. "Also you shall see two ten dog courses at the great bear.”Antipodes, by Brome. I cannot strike at wretched kernes, whose arms I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be; [Exit. Alarum. Enter MALCOLM and Old SIWARD. Siw. This way, my lord.-The castle's gently rendered: The tyrant's people on both sides do fight; And little is to do. Macb. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die On mine own sword? Whiles I see lives, the gashes Do better upon them. Macd. Re-enter Macduff. Turn, hell-hound, turn. Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee; But get thee back; my soul is too much charged With blood of thine already. Macd. I have no words; My voice is in my sword; thou bloodier villain [They fight. 1 Bruited is reported, noised abroad; from bruit (Fr.). With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed. I bear a charmed life, which must not yield Macd. Despair thy charm; And let the angel, whom thou still hast served, Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb Untimely ripped. Macb. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, And be these juggling fiends no more believed, And break it to our hope.—I'll not fight with thee. And live to be the show and gaze o' the time. Painted upon a pole; and underwrit, Here may you see the tyrant. I'll not yield Macb. To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, And to be baited with the rabble's curse. Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, And thou opposed, being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield; lay on, Macduff; And damned be him that first cries, Hold, enough. [Exeunt, fighting. Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with drum and colors, MALCOLM, Old SIWARD, ROSSE, LENOX, ANGUS, CATHNESS, MENTETH, and Soldiers. Mal. I would the friends we miss were safe arrived. Siw. Some must go off; and yet, by these I see, So great a day as this is cheaply bought. Mal. Macduff is missing, and your noble son. 1 "That palter with us in a double sense," that shuffle with ambiguous expressions. Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt. He only lived but till he was a man ; The which no sooner had his prowess confirmed But like a man he died. Siw. Then he is dead? Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field; your cause of sorrow Must not be measured by his worth, for then It hath no end. Siw. Had he his hurts before? Rosse. Ay, on the front. Siw. Why, then, God's soldier be he! Had I as many sons as I have hairs, I would not wish them to a fairer death.1 And so his knell is knolled. Mal. And that I'll spend for him. Siw. He's worth more sorrow, He's worth no more; They say, he parted well, and paid his score; And so, God be with him!-Here comes newer comfort. Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head on a pole.2 Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art. stands Behold, where The usurper's cursed head: the time is free: I see thee compassed with thy kingdom's pearl,3 1 "When Siward, the martial earl of Northumberland, understood that his son, whom he had sent against the Scotchmen, was slain, he demanded whether his wounds were in the fore part or hinder part of his body. When it was answered, in the fore part,' he replied, 'I am right glad; neither wish I any other death to me or mine.”—Camden's Remaines. 2 These words, " on a pole," Mr. Steevens added to the stage direction from the Chronicle. The stage directions of the players are often incorrect, and sometimes ludicrous. 3 "Thy kingdom's pearl," thy kingdom's wealth or ornament. Rowe altered this to peers, without authority. |