The sovereignty* will fall upon Macbeth.

Macd. He is already named, and gone to Scone

Macd. Well, may you see things well done there;—adieu!— Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!

Rosse. Father, farewell.

Old M. God's benison go with you: and with those That would make good of bad, and friends of foes!

ACT III.

SCENE I. Forres. A Room in the Palace.

Enter BANQUO.

Ban. Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis,—all,

As the weird women promised; and, I fear,

Thou playedst most foully for't. Yet it was said

It should not stand in thy posterity,

But that myself should be the root and father

Of many kings. If there come truth from them,
(As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine,)
Why, by the verities on thee made good,
May they not be my oracles as well,

And set me up in hope? But, hush; no more.

[Exeunt.

Sovereignty. After the sons of Duncan, the next heir was Macbeth.-Scone. At ancient Scone, in Scotland, County of Perth, the kings of that country used to be crowned sitting on a famous stone now preserved in Westminster Abbey. It is placed as the seat of a wooden chair, which is still used at coronations.-Invested (Lat. vestire, to clothe), inaugurated. Colme-kill, Icolmkill (Isle of Columb's Cell), Iona, one of the Western Isles (Hebrides), the burial place, according to Holinshed, of the Scottish Kings. St. Columb, who flourished in the sixth century, was a native of Ireland. He is said to have founded an abbey here. Cell, Lat. cella, is chapel or church, the same as kil or kill; as in Kilpatrick, church of Patrick. For a long time Iona was the chief seat of learning in the north and the centre of missionary enterprise.-Benison (O. Fr. beniçon, blessing), benediction.

Speeches shine, predictions are sunshiny. "Shine' means prosper," says Warburton: Appear with all the lustre of conspicuous truth," is the stately paraphrase of Johnson.-My oracles. My is emphatic. So me in next line.-Hush. Why hush?

Thou hast it now, etc. This utterance I fancy to have been extremely slow, energetic, with long pauses. The ou, in foully, should be much prolonged, the diphthongal sound being @truck on a moderate pitch, but the voice sliding down to a deep tremulous pectoral on the last part of the syllable.

Yet it was said, etc. This is uttered in a matter-of-fact way, as far as, "But, hush." "Circumflex slides" (the voice passing through what would be termed in music "higher, lower, and higher," or "lower, higher, and lower," making a wave in the pitch) prevail. This wave of the voice is on the long sounds of the accented syllables.

Sennet sounded. Enter MACBETH, as King; Lady MACBETH, as Queen; LENOX, ROSSE, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants.

Mach. We should have else desired your good advice

(Which still hath been both grave and prosperous)

In this day's council; but we'll take to-morrow.
Is't far you ride?

Ban. As far, my lord, as will fill up the time
'Twixt this and supper: go not my horse the better,
I must become a borrower of the night

For a dark hour, or twain.

Macb. We hear, our bloody cousins are bestowed
In England and in Ireland; not confessing

Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
With strange invention. But of that to-morrow,
When, therewithal, we shall have cause of state
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse. Adieu,
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you?
Ban. Ay, my good lord: our time does call upon us.
Mach. I wish your horses swift, and sure of foot;
And so I do commend you to their backs.

Farewell.

Let every man be master of his time

[Exit BANQUO.

Till seven at night. To make society

The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself
Till supper-time alone.

While then, God b' wi' you.

[Exeunt Lady MACBETH, Lords, Ladies, etc.

* Sennet, a particular time or mode of martial music.-Solemn supper, a banquet with form and ceremony. See solempne, Index.-To the which, to which command; or, to whom (i. e., to your Highness).-The better. Better than to make night-travelling necessary.Cause of state, state affairs.-Commend. See p. 123.-While then, meanwhile, then; or, perhaps, till then.-God b' wi' you. This expression is said to be the original of “good-bye," which would appear to be a mere contraction; but see the unabridged dictionaries

Here's our chief guest, etc. The following dialogue requires only moderate force, time, etc., as far as, Bring them before us."

Atten. They are, my lord, without the palace gate.

Mach. Bring them before us.

[Exit Attendant.

To be thus is nothing;

But to be safely thus!-Our fears in Banquo

Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature

Reigns that which would be feared.-'Tis much he dares;

And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,

He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor

To act in safety. There is none but he

Whose being I do fear; and, under him,
My genius is rebuked; as, it is said,

Mark Antony's was by Cæsar. He chid the sisters
When first they put the name of King upon me,
And bade them speak to him: then, prophet-like,
They hailed him father to a line of kings!
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,

Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If it be so,

For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind;

For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered;
Put rancors in the vessel of my peace

Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,

To make them kings!-the seed of Banquo kings!

Rather than so, come, Fate, into the list,

And champion me to the utterance!-Who's there?—
Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers.

Now to the door, and stay there till we call.

Was it not yesterday we spoke together?

1st Mur. It was, so please your Highness.

[Exit Attendant.

* Sirrah (Sir, ha! O. Fr. sire, father; fr. Lat. senior, elder; senex, senis, old; Fr. seigneur, sieur; Ital. signor; Sp. señor; Eng. sir; or it may be fr. Ir. sirreach, poor, lean), sir. Now used rather contemptuously and rarely; but in Shakespeare's time used familiarly. It was usually addressed to males.-Attend, are in attendance on, await.Thus, in the condition of a king.-Would be feared. Would and should were interchangeable in Shakespeare's time. And to that, and in addition to that.-None but he, none other than he. But is primarily fr. be, be, and utan, outward, fr. út, out. Is but a preposition when it has the sense of except? May it be followed by him?-Mark Antony's was by Cæsar. Octavius Cæsar is meant. See Antony and Cleopatra, Act i., Scene 3, and Plutarch's Lives.-Filed (A. S. fylan, to pollute; akin to filth and foul), defiled.-Enemy, The word Satan means adversary-Utterance (Fr. à l'outrance, to extremity, to the last drop of blood. See, also, A. S. út, out; uter, exterior; útōr, outer), utmost, extremity.

To be thus is nothing, etc. Undertone, so as not to be heard far. Impatience and spite and towards the last, remorse; ending with angry defiance. "Vanishing stress' on the most impatient utterances. The forcible utterance of the last part of an accented vowel, the voice being jerked out at the end of the syllable, is particularly appropriate in the expression of vexation, impatience, etc..

Mach.

Well, then, now

Have you considered of my speeches? Know,
That it was he, in the times past, which held you
So under fortune; which, you thought, had been
Our innocent self. This I made good to you

In our last conference, passed in probation with you,'

How you were borne in hand; how crossed; the instruments;
Who wrought with them; and all things else, that might,

To half a soul, and to a notion crazed,

Say, "Thus did Banquo."

1st Mur.

You made it known to us.

Mach. I did so; and went further, which is now
Our point of second meeting. Do you find
Your patience so predominant in your nature
That you can let this go? Are you so gospelled
To pray for that good man, and for his issue,
Whose heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave,
And beggared yours for ever?

1st Mur.

We are men, my liege.

Mach. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men;

As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,
Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are cleped

All by the name of dogs! The valued file
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle,
The house-keeper, the hunter,—every one
According to the gift which bounteous Nature
Hath in him closed; whereby he does receive
Particular addition, from the bill

That writes them all alike: and so of men.

Now, if you have a station in the file,
Not in the worst rank of manhood, say it;
And I will put that business in your bosoms,
Whose execution takes your enemy off;
Grapples you to the heart and love of us,
Who wear our health but sickly in his life,
Which in his death were perfect.

* Probation with you, proving to you.-Borne in hand, deluded by fair promises never fulfilled.-Gospelled, obedient to the Gospel, which bids us pray for those who wrong us.-Spaniels (Lat. Hispania, Spain; Hispaniola, little Spain, i. e., Hayti, "where was the best breed of this dog ").-Shoughs (A. S. scacga, a bush of hair, that which is shaggy; Sw. skägg; Dan skäg, the beard; Eng. shag), shock-dogs. In Pope's Rape of the Lock, the dog is called shock, and the name is quite common.-Cleped (A. S. clepan, to call), called.-Valued file, descriptive list showing values and qualities.-Particular addition, particular title. Are you so gospelled? etc. Here we have the circumflex slides again. This wave of the voice is

especially adapted to irony, mockery, railing, etc. It usually expresses, indefinitely or conditionally, some idea contrasted with another to which the straight slide belongs. Now, if you have a station, etc. This is uttered with decision and energy, so as to inspire confidence. It is bold; quite loud, but not so as to be overheard; with radical stress; rather quick time; rather aspirated quality; not much volume. This manner prevails to the end of the colloquy. [The word worst here has the force of a dissyl.]

Macb. So is he mine, and in such bloody distance*
That every minute of his being thrusts

Against my near'st of life; and though I could
With bare-faced power sweep him from my sight,
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not,
For certain friends that are both his and mine;
Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall
Whom I myself struck down! and thence it is,
That I to your assistance do make love,
Masking the business from the common eye
For sundry weighty reasons.

Though our livesMach. Your spirits shine through you.

Within this hour, at most,

I will advise you where to plant yourselves,
Acquaint you, with a perfect spy, o' the time,
The moment on 't: for 't must be done to-night,
And something from the palace; always thought
That I require a clearness. And with him,
To leave no rubs nor botches in the work,
Fleance his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me

Than is his father's, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour. Resolve yourselves apart.

I'll come to you anon.

Hudson

*Distance, enmity. So Bacon uses it in his essay on Seditions and Troubles. interprets distance as here equivalent to degree. In fierce combat with swords, the less the distance, the bloodier the fight. With a perfect spy of, etc. I will acquaint [inform] you, with [by means of] a perfect [thoroughly well-informed] spy, of [in regard to] the time, etc. Some prefer to read "the perfect spy," meaning "the sure means of spying of knowing; but Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 has "a perfect spy." "-From [at a distance from] the palace.Always thought, it being always borne in mind that I must be unsuspected.-Botches (It. bozza, a swelling; Fr. bosse, bunch, swelling; Ger. boll, hard, bulbous), bungling patches.

So is he mine, etc. Secrecy, but such as befits a king: an undertone, therefore. Hate. Aspirated quality; low pitch; initial stress.