Lady. M. You have displac'd the mirth, broke the good

With most admir'd disorder.

Macb.

meeting

Can such things be,

And overcome us like a summer's cloud

Without our special wonder 200)? You make me strange

Even to the disposition that I owe 201),

When now I think you can behold such sights,

And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,

When mine are blanch'd with fear 202).

Rosse.

What sights, my lord?

Lady M. I pray you, speak not; he grows worse and

worse;

Question enrages him: at once, good night:

Stand not upon the order of

But go at once.

Len.

your going,

Good night, and better health

Attend his Majesty!

Lady M.

A kind good night to all.

[Exeunt Lords and Attendants.]

Mach. It will have blood. They say, blood will have

blood:

Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak 205); Augurs, and understood relations 204), have

200) The meaning is: can such wonders as these pass over. as without wonder, as a casual summer cloud passes over us. Johnson. 201) The meaning is: You prove to me that I am a stranger even to my own disposition, when I perceive that the very object which steals the colour from my cheek, permits it to remain in yours. In other words: You prove to me how false an opinion I have hitherto maintained of my own courage, when your's on the trial is found to exceed it. Steevens. 202) blanch'd with fear i. e. turn'd pale. Steevens. 203) Alluding perhaps to the vocal tree which (see the third book of the Aeneid) revealed the murder of Polydorus. Steevens, 204) By the word relation is understood the connection of effects with causes; understand relations as an augur, is to know, how those things relate to each other, which have no visible combinatiou or dependence. Johnson. Perhaps we should read auguries i. e. prognostications by means of omens and prodigies. These, together with the connection of effects with causes, being understood, (says he) have been instrumental in divulging the most secret marders. Steeven's.

to

1

By magot-pies 295), and choughs, and rooks, brought forth The secret'st man of blood. What is the night?

Lady M. Almost at odds with morning, which is which, Macb. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person, At our great bidding 206)?

Lady M. Did you send to him, Sir?

Mach. I hear it by the way; but I will send : There's not a one 207) of them, but in his house I keep a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow,

(Betimes I will,) unto the weird sisters:

More shall they speak; for now I am bent to know,
By the worst means, the worst: for mine own good,
All causes shall give way; I am in blood

Stept in so far, that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er:

Strange things I have in head, that will to hand;

Which must be acted, ere they may be scann'd 208).

Lady M. You lack the season of all natures, sleep 209).
Macb. Come, we'll to sleep, my strange and self-abuse

Is the initiate fear 210), that wants hard use.

We are yet but young in deed.

SCENE V.

The Heath.

[Exeunt.]

Thunder. Enter Hecate 211) meeting the three Witches. 71. Witch. Why, how now, Hecate? you look angerly. Hec. Have I not reason, beldams, as you are,

205) magot-pie is the original name of the bird: Magot being the familiar appellation given to pies, as we say Robin to a redbreast etc. The modern mag is the abbreviation of the an cient Magot. Steevens. 206) The circumstance on which this question is founded, took its rise from the old history. Macbeth sent to Macduff to assist in building the castle of Dunsinane. Mac duff sent workmen etc. but did not choose to trust his person in the tyrant's power. From that time he resolved on his death. Steevens. 207) a one of them i. e. an individual. Steevens. 208) to scan is to examine nicely. Steevens. 209). I take the meaning to be: you want sleep, which seasons, or gives the relish to, all nature. Johnson. 210) The initiate fear, is the fear that always attends the first initiation into guilt, before the mind becomes callous and insensible by frequent repetition of it, or (as the poet says) by hard use. Steevens. 211) Shakspeare

Saucy, and overbold! How did you dare
To trade and traffick with Macbeth,
In riddles, and affairs of death;
And I, the mistress of your charms,

The close contriver of all harms,

Was never call'd to bear my paft,
Or show the glory of our art?

And, which is worse, all you have done

Hath been but for a wayward son,

1

Spiteful and wrathful; who, as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for you.
But make amends now. Get you gone,
And at the pit of Acheron 212)
Meet me i' th' morning; thither he
Will come, to know his destiny.
Your vessels, and your spells, provide,
Your charms, and every thing beside.
I am for the air; this night I'll spend
Unto a dismal - fatal end,

Great business must be wrought ere noon;
Upon the corner of the moon

There hangs a vaporous drop profound 213);
I'll catch it ere it come to ground:

And that, distill'd by magic slights 214),

has been censured for introducing Hecate among the vulgar witches, and, consequently for confounding ancient with modern superstitions. He has, however, authority for giving a mistress to the witches. Delrio Disquis. Mag. lib. 2, quæst. 9, quotes a passage of Apulejus, Lib. de asino aureo: de quadam Caupona, regina Sagarum. And adds further: ut scias etiam tum quasdam ab iis hoc titulo honoratas. Shakspeare is therefore blameable only for calling his presiding character Hecate, as it might have been brought on with propriety under any other title whatever. Steevens. 212) Shakspeare seems to have thought it allowable to bestow the name of Acheron on any fountain, lake or pit, through which there was vulgarly supposed to be a communication between this and the infernal world. The true original Acheron was a river in Greece; and yet Virgil gives this name to his lake in the valley of Amsanctus in Italy. Steevens. 213) This vaporous drop seems to have been meant for the same as the virus lunare of the an cients, being a foam which the moon was supposed to shed on particular herbs, or other objects, when strongly solicited by en chantment. Steevens. 214) Arts; subtle practices. Johnson.

Shall raise such artificial sprights,
As, by the strength of their illusion,
Shall draw him on to his confusion:
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear:
And you all know, security

Is mortals' chiefest enemy.

Song. [within.] Come away, come away 215) etc.

Hark, I am call'd; my little spirit, see,

Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me.

[Exit.]

I. Witch. Come, let's make haste; she'll soon be back

"Fores. A Room in the Palace.

Enter Lenox and another Lord..

Len. My former speeches have but hit your thoughts,
Which can interpret further: only, I say,

Things have been strangely borne. The gracious Duncan
Was pitied of Macbeth:
marry, he was dead :

-

And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late;

Whom, you may say, if it please you, Fleance kill'd,
For Fleance fled. Men must not walk too late.

Who cannot 216) want the thought, how monstrous

It was for Malcolm, and for Donalbain

To kill their gracious father?, damned fact!

How it did grieve Macbeth! did he not straight
In pious rage, the two delinquents tear,

That were the slaves of drink, and thralls of sleep?
Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too;

For twould have anger'd any heart alive,

To hear the men deny it. So that, I say,
He has borne all things well; and I do think,

That, had he Duncan's sons under his key,

(As, an't please heav'n, he shall not) they should find

215) This entire song I found in a MS, dramatic piece, entitled:,, A Tragi-Coomodie called the witch; long since acted etc. written by Thomas Middleton." Steevens. 216) The sense réquires can; yet, I believe, the text is not corrupt. Shakspeare is sometimes incorrect in these minutia. Malone.

What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance.

But, peace!

for from broad words, and 'cause he fail'd

His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear,
Macduff lives in disgrace. Sir, can you tell

Where he bestows himself?

Lord.
The son of Duncan,
From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth,
Lives in the English court; and is receiv'd
Of the most pious Edward with such grace,
That the malevolence of fortune nothing
Takes from his high respect. Thither Macduff
Is gone to pray the holy king, on his aid
To wake Northumberland, and warlike Siward:
That, by the help of these, (with Him above
To ratify the work), we may again

Give to our tables meat, sleep to our nights;
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives;
Do faithful homage, and receive free honours 217),
All which we pine for now:
and this report
Hath so exasperate 218) the king 219), that he
Prepares for some attempt of war.

Len.

Sent he to Macduff?

Lord. He did; and with an absolute, Sir, not 'I,

The cloudy messenger turns me his back,

And hums; as who should say, You'll rue the time,
That clogs me with this answer.

Len.

And that well might

Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance
His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel
Fly to the court of England, and unfold
His message ere he come; that a swift blessing
May soon return to this our suffering country,
Under a hand accurs'd 220)!

Lord.

My prayers with him!

[Exeunt.]

217) free may be either honours freely bestowed, not purchased by crimes; or honours without slavery, without dread of a tyrant. Johnson. 218) exasperate i. e. exasperated. Steevens. 219) the king i. e. Macbeth. Steevens. 220) The construction is: to our country suffering under a band accursed. Malone.