Len.

May it please your highness sit? [The Ghost of BANQUO rises, and sits in MACBETH'S place.

Macb. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd,

Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present;
Whom I may rather challenge for unkindness,
Than pity for mischance!

Rosse.

His absence, sir,

Lays blame upon his promise. Please it your highness To grace us with your royal company?

Macb. The table's full.

Len.

Macb. Where?

Len.

Here's a place reserv'd, sir.

Here, my lord. What is't that

moves your highness?

Macb. Which of you have done this?

Lords.

What, my good lord!

Macb. Thou can'st not say, I did it: never shake Thy gory locks at me.

Rosse. Gentlemen, rise; his highness is not well. Lady M. Sit, worthy friends :-my lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat; The fit is momentary; upon a thought*

He will again be well: If much you note him,
You shall offend him, and extend his passion†;
Feed, and regard him not.-Are you a man?
Macb. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appal the devil.

Lady M.

O proper stuff: This the very painting of your fear:

This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said, Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws ‡, and starts, (Impostors to true fear) would well become

A woman's story, at a winter's fire,

Authoriz'd by her grandam. Shame itself!

Why do you make such faces? When all's done, You look but on a stool.

*As quick as thought. + Sudden gusts.

+ Prolong his suffering.

Macb. Pr'ythee, see there! behold! look! lo! how say you?

Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.-
If charnel-houses, and our graves, must send
Those that we bury, back, our monuments
Shall be the maws of kites.

Lady M.

[Ghost disappears. What! quite unmann'd in folly?

Macb. If I stand here, I saw him.
Lady M.

Fie, for shame!

Macb. Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal;

[time,

Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd
Too terrible for the ear: the times have been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end: but now, they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools: This is more strange
Than such a murder is.

Lady M.

My worthy lord,

Your noble friends do lack you.
Macb.

I do forget:

Do not muse* at me, my most worthy friends;

I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing

To those that know me. Come, love and health to all; Then I'll sit down: -Give me some wine, fill

full:

I drink to the general joy of the whole table,

[Ghost rises. And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss; Would he were here! to all, and him, we thirst, And all to all†.

Lords.

Our duties, and the pledge. Macb. Avaunt! and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!

Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;

Thou hast no speculation in those eyes

Which thou dost glare with!

Lady M.

Think of this, good peers,

* Wonder.

ti. e. All good wishes to all,

But as a thing of custom; 'tis no other;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.
Macb. What man dare, I dare:

Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger,
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble: Or, be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword;
If trembling I inhibit * thee, protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!
[Ghost disappears.
Unreal mockery, hence!—Why, so;—being gone,
I am a man again.-Pray you, sit still.

Lady M. You have displac'd the mirth, broke the
With most admir'd disorder.
[good meeting,
Can such things be,
And overcome† us like a summer's cloud,

Macb.

Without our special wonder? You make me strange Even to the disposition that I owe ‡,

When now I think you can behold such sights,

And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,

When mine are blanch'd with fear.

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 your going,

But go at once.

Len.

Attend his majesty!

Lady M.

Good night, and better health

A kind good night to all! [Exeunt Lords and Attendants.

Macb. It will have blood; they say, blood will

have blood:

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

[forth By magot-pies §, and choughs, and rooks, brought The secret'st man of blood.

* Forbid. + Pass over. + Possess. § Magpies.

I CONJURE you, by that which you profess,
(Howe'er you come to know it) answer me:
Though you untie the winds, and let them fight
Against the churches; though the yesty* waves
Confound and swallow navigation up; [down ;
Though bladed corn be lodg'dt, and trees blown
Though castles topple + on their warders' heads;
Though palaces, and pyramids, do slope

Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure
Of nature's germins § tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken, answer me
To what I ask you.

MALCOLM'S CHARACTER OF HIMSELF.

Mal. But I have none: The king-becoming graces, As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude, I have no relish of them: but abound

* Frothy.

+ Tumble.

+ Laid flat by the wind or rain.

§ Seeds which have begun to sprout.

In the division of each several crime,

Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I should Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,

Uproar the universal peace, confound

All unity on earth.

Macd.

O Scotland! Scotland!

Mal. If such a one be fit to govern, speak: I am as I have spoken.

Macd.

Fit to govern!

No, not to live.-O nation miserable,

With an untitled tyrant, bloody-scepter'd,

When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again?
Since that the truest issue of thy throne

By his own interdiction stands accurs'd,

And does blaspheme his breed?-Thy royal father
Was a most sainted king; the queen, that bore thee,
Oftner upon her knees than on her feet,

Died every day she lived. Fare thee well!
These evils, thou repeat'st upon thyself,

Have banish'd me from Scotland.-O, my breast,
Thy hopes end here!

Mal.

Macduff, this noble passion, Child of integrity, hath from my soul

Wip'd the black scruples, reconcil'd my thoughts
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth
By many of these trains hath sought to win me
Into his power; and modest wisdom plucks me
From over-credulous haste*: But God above
Deal between thee and me! for even now
I put myself to thy direction, and
Unspeak mine own detraction: here abjure
The taints and blames I laid upon myself,
For strangers to my nature. I am yet
Unknown to woman; never was forsworn ;
Scarcely have coveted what was mine own:
At no time broke my faith; would not betray
The devil to his fellow; and delight

No less in truth, than life: my first false speaking