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 No. 14. 
 
 October, 1900. 
 
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 Shakespeare's 
 
 Macbeth 
 
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THE TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 
 ' AND SCHOOL READINGS 
 
 UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF 
 
 W. M. DAVIDSON 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT OE THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF TOPEKA, KANSAS 
 
 Macbeth. 
 
TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS AND SCHOOL READINGS 
 
 
 SHAKESPEARE'S 
 
 MACBETH 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 
 BY 
 
 MARGARET HILL McGARTER, 
 
 Formerly Teacher of English and American Literature, 
 Topeka High School. 
 
 Crane & Company, Publishers 
 
 Topeka, Kansas 
 
 1900 
 
83425 
 
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 SECOND copy 
 
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 Copyrighted by 
 
 Crane & Company, Topeka, Kansas 
 
 1900 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. — Legendary Basis of the Play. 
 
 "We are impressed with the broad sameness of the human lot 
 that never alters in the main headings of its history, — hunger and 
 labor, seedtime and harvest, love and death." 
 
 With the accession of the House of Stuart to the throne 
 of England, things Scottish took on a degree of popularity 
 with the English people. The stage, always the exponent 
 of the common sentiment, must have been quick to note the 
 direction of public taste and to present those plays that had 
 to do with Scotch history and character. 
 
 While critics do not agree as to the exact date of the first 
 presentation of Macbeth, it is evidently one of the popular 
 plays of the early years of the reign of James I. In the 
 diary of one Dr. Eorman, entry is made of the writer hav- 
 ing seen the play at the Globe Theater on Saturday, April 
 20, 1610. It was first printed in the folio of 1623. 
 
 The sources of material for this play, partly legendary, 
 partly historical, are found mainly in Holinshed's "Chron- 
 icles." The poet, however, has drawn about equally from 
 the record of the murder of King Duffe by Donwald, and 
 the murder of Duncan by Macbeth. Briefly told, the story 
 of Duffe as found in the "Chronicles" is this : Duffe began 
 his reign in Scotland 968, A. D. His vigorous measures 
 with criminals, and other reforms in his kingdom, made 
 him so unpopular that there was much complaint of him, 
 and rebellion against his authority was not uncommon. 
 
 (5) 
 
q INTRODUCTION 
 
 Meanwhile lie fell sick of a seemingly incurable ailing. 
 While to outward appearance in perfect health, yet perspi- 
 ration of body and sleeplessness daily sapped his strength. 
 By-and-by it was whispered about that no natural illness 
 had befallen the king. Discovery was made of three 
 witches in Fores who by certain ceremonies of their arc 
 were wearing out his life. By the execution of these 
 witches the king was restored to perfect health. He at 
 once led an army into the land of Murray to attack a re- 
 bellious force there gathered. After its defeat and the 
 execution of its leaders, a new foe secretly rose up against 
 him. For among the noblemen executed were near rela- 
 tives of one Donwald, a loyal subject and soldier to the 
 king. So incensed was this Donwald by the slaughter of 
 his kinsman that he contrived to have King Duffe mur- 
 dered and himself to rule in the king's stead. 
 
 For the story of Macbeth, a concise and comprehensive 
 account is given by Sir Walter Scott, whose intimate knowl- 
 edge of traditional Scottish history and researches in Scot- 
 tish legendary lore make him valuable and interesting 
 authority on these incidents. 
 
 "Duncan, by his mother Beatrice a grandson of Malcolm 
 II., succeeded to the throne on his grandfather's death, in 
 1033 : he reigned only six years. Macbeth, his near rela- 
 tion, also a grandchild of Malcolm II., though by the 
 mother's side, was stirred up by ambition to contest the 
 throne with the possessor. The Lady of Macbeth also, 
 whose real name was Graoch, had deadly injuries to 
 avenge on the reigning prince. She was the granddaughter 
 of Kenneth IV., killed 1003, fighting against Malcolm II. ; 
 and other causes for revenge animated the mind of her 
 who has been since painted as the sternest of women. The 
 old annalists add some instigations of a supernatural kind 
 
INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 to the influence of a vindictive woman over an ambitious 
 husband. Three women, of more than human stature and 
 beauty, appeared to Macbeth in a dream or vision, and 
 hailed him successively by the titles of Thane of Cromarty, 
 Thane of Moray, which the king afterwards bestowed on 
 him, and finally by that of King of Scots; this dream, it 
 is said, inspired him with the seductive hopes so well ex- 
 pressed in the drama. 
 
 "Macbeth broke no law of hospitality in his attempt on 
 Duncan's life. He attacked and slew the king at a place 
 called Bothgowan, or the Smith's House, near Elgin, in 
 1039, and not, as has been supposed, in his own castle of 
 Inverness. The act was bloody, as was the complexion of 
 the times ; but, in very truth, the claim of Macbeth to the 
 throne, according to the rule of Scottish succession, was 
 better than that of Duncan. As a king, the tyrant so much 
 exclaimed against was, in reality, a firm, just, and equita- 
 ble prince. Apprehensions of danger from a party which 
 Malcolm, the eldest son of the slaughtered* Duncan, had set 
 on foot in Northumberland, and still maintained in Scot- 
 land, seem, in process of time, to have soured the temper 
 of Macbeth, and rendered him formidable to his nobility. 
 Against Macduff, in particular, the powerful Maormor of 
 Fife, he had uttered some threats which occasioned that 
 chief to fly from the court of Scotland. Urged by this new 
 counsellor, Si ward, the Danish Earl of Northumberland, 
 invaded Scotland in the year 1054, displaying his banner 
 in behalf of the banished Malcolm. Macbeth engaged the 
 foe in the neighborhood of his celebrated castle of Dun- 
 sinane. He was defeated, but escaped from the battle, and 
 was slain at Lumphanan in 1056." 
 
 So much for the meager outlines of the history of a 
 cruel warring age in Scotland. Out of these incidents the 
 poet has woven one of the greatest dramas of literature. 
 Its interest centers, not in the historical importance of the 
 
g INTRODUCTION 
 
 play, but in the mental state of the chief actor. Its tragical 
 element lies not nearly so much in the killing of a wicked 
 king as in the murder of a conscience; in the growth of 
 evil in a mind once noble. By a critical analysis of the 
 play we shall find the exemplification of the divine law: 
 ''Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 
 
 II. — Critical Analysis of the Play. 
 
 "Our deeds are like children that are born to us: they live and 
 act apart from our own will. Nay, children may be strangled, but 
 deeds never: they have an indestructible life both in and out of our 
 consciousness." 
 
 The drama portrays a conflict of ethical principles which 
 is mediated by the subordination of the lower to the higher. 
 In the drama of tragedy this mediation is accomplished 
 only when with the lower principle is destroyed also the 
 individual who is the bearer of that principle. In comedy, 
 though the cause be lost, the individual, by repentance or 
 other expiation, may yet be saved. Both tragedy and com- 
 edy admit of further classification according as the conflicts 
 that make them up are developed by external and natural 
 means, or by internal and sometimes supernatural ones. 
 
 The drama of Macbeth belongs to that group of plays 
 that is based upon legend. Its story, half record, half hear- 
 say, is neither wholly true nor wholly false. It is essen- 
 tially a tragedy, for the representative of selfish ambition, 
 passing from loyal patriotism to felony and treason, must 
 perish with his purposes. Since he chooses to a jump the 
 life to come," he shuts out repentance for himself and help 
 from that merciful One who, like as a father, pities the 
 sinful; and by whom alone crimson deeds may be made 
 like wool. Lastly, it is a tragedy of the mind, an internal 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 struggle wherein natural and supernatural means seem 
 blended into one. 
 
 The purpose of the poet whose themes were always uni- 
 versal is to show forth the growth of evil iu a conscience 
 that will not resist its promptings. The lessons of the 
 drama are as pertinent to-day as they were in that far-off 
 legendary age of Scottish annals, or when the poet framed 
 the drama. 
 
 It is not an easy matter to handle Macbeth. The tragedy- 
 is set in such a lurid light; its hold is upon things of 
 "such dreadful note" ; its sounds are so at variance with 
 
 "The hive-like hum 
 Of peaceful commonwealths" 
 
 to which we daily give ear, that we call up a sort of 
 courage to face it and follow out its finer meanings. 
 
 The drama divides itself into two parts. The first, in- 
 cluded in the first three acts, develops the crime. The 
 second, occupying the last two acts, unfolds the penalty. 
 The first division is introduced by the entrance of the 
 witches who control and direct the whole part. Coming 
 on to meet them are Macbeth and Banquo, loyal subjects 
 of King Duncan, victors over his enemies, the forces of 
 the invading and the rebellious Macdonwald. 
 
 Note Macbeth well, for at this moment only will he 
 command our admiration. A valiant general, a noble- 
 hearted patriot, a loving husband, there is about him some- 
 thing princely now as he rides home from battle. Let us 
 keep the picture while we may, for we must see him again 
 at the other end of the play, fighting like a wild beast, the 
 enemy of all mankind, his greatest foe himself, his dying 
 eyes looking only into eyes that hate him ; — let us not hurry 
 
10 INTRODUCTION 
 
 on from this first meeting. Not so with Banquo. Until 
 
 his hour of martyrdom we shall respect him more and 
 
 more. But even now with the sweetness of the well-earned 
 
 honors these two have won is mingled the bitterness of a 
 
 guilty wish. At this point the witches appear, uncanny 
 
 beings, who promise them the very things they have wished 
 
 for. Had they not come just here, temptation might have 
 
 passed by. Hardly are they gone before the fulfillment of 
 
 their promises begins. The thane of Glamis, by order of 
 
 the king, is made the thane of Cawdor. Then follows the 
 
 struggle in Macbeth's soul, — that battle that comes 
 
 "Between the acting of a dreadful thing 
 And the first motion." 
 
 It is the work of the first act to set forth this strife. Its 
 
 result might have been a victory greater than any ever 
 
 won on battlefields, had Macbeth fought with himself 
 
 alone. But one of two forces outside he must combat: 
 
 Banquo, shaming him into manhood again ; Lady Macbeth, 
 
 driving him headlong to the crowning of his wicked desire. 
 
 There is something exquisitely mournful in all this strife. 
 
 Not more do the virtues of the gracious' Duncan 
 
 "Plead like angels trumpet-tongu'd against 
 The deep damnation of his taking-off," 
 
 than do the virtues of Macbeth plead against his own self- 
 murder, — his soul suicide. 
 
 The second act embraces the murder of King Duncan, 
 the only crime Macbeth had purposed committing. To 
 compass that, however, two chamberlains must be slain. 
 The loyal subject who put down rebels has himself turned 
 traitor. To maintain this state he becomes a common as- 
 sassin. The third act marks Banquo's downfall. Two 
 
INTRODUCTION H 
 
 causes combined for this : Macbeth feared and hated 
 Banquo because he had done the tiling Macbeth should 
 have done, but did not do. Banquo stood a perpetual re- 
 buke to the murderer, whose mind was already full of 
 scorpions. This, combined with a bitter jealousy of 
 Banquo's children, and the promise to them, grew to be 
 cause sufficient for the hire of common ruffians to slay him. 
 The second great division of the drama developing the 
 penalty opens likewise with the witches, whose function 
 again is to set in motion the machinery, this time of retribu- 
 tive justice. But now it is Macbeth — who seeks the witches 
 himself. The meeting, as before, is a turning-point in his 
 career. Why does he come ? He has fulfillment now of 
 all they promised him. Brave Macbeth, who as a free man 
 rode proudly back from battle, lives now a cowardly slave. 
 To know his future and to get assurance as to Banquo's 
 issue, he seeks again those ministers of evil whom he fears 
 and hates. They tell him what he would know: that his 
 great enemy is Macduff ; that he bears a charmed life ; 
 that the sons of Banquo, some with "twofold balls and 
 treble scepters," shall by-and-by be rulers. Secure in their 
 prophecy, he is determined never to swerve from his bloody 
 course. In the last two acts the gathering of an army led 
 by Macduff and the final defeat and death of Macbeth are 
 accomplished. And when the curtain falls, Malcolm, 
 Duncan's son, is Scotland's ruler. 
 
 So much for the divisions of the drama and the purport 
 of its several acts. We turn now to a closer scrutiny of 
 the leading personages of the play and the lessons to be 
 drawn from the whole. 
 
 The drama is characterized throughout by a two-fold 
 
12 INTRODUCTION 
 
 element, — the natural and the supernatural. In the nat- 
 ural element the characters to be considered lived altogether 
 in the natural world. They saw no witches, nor "air-drawn 
 daggers," nor murdered men's ghosts, nor "damned spots" 
 that could not be washed out. Most important of these are 
 Macduff and Duncan. In the former we have the counter- 
 part of the many brave leaders who have helped to save 
 states from destruction. They are the power behind every 
 throne, finding their greatest good in loyal service to their 
 country. In Duncan we find the kindly-natured but weak 
 ruler, from whose lax hold sooner or later the scepter 
 would have been snatched. His subjects loved him, but 
 they did not fear him ; a condition in that age of history 
 suggestive of revolt, invasion, and overthrow. The men 
 on whom he "built an absolute trust" were traitors to him. 
 He could not read character well. His own was clear, and 
 he had no proper compass of the deeds of men who spoke 
 him fair. 
 
 In the supernatural realm are the Weird Sisters. Half- 
 way between it and the natural realm, tying the two to- 
 gether, is the group composed of Macbeth, Banquo, and 
 Lady Macbeth. They are of the natural world, yet over 
 them is extended the baleful influence of that world of 
 darkness and unreality to which the witches belong. These 
 Weird Sisters themselves are the representation of the 
 external mysterious influence controlling man's destiny. 
 Their setting is in the discordant elements of nature. Their 
 place, the blasted heath or the dreary cavern. Their en- 
 trance is attended with thunder and lightning. They are 
 creatures of the tempest, their companions, the repulsive 
 toad, "the brinded cat," the hedge-pig. In appearance they 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 personify the Ugly; strange sexless monstrosities, bearded 
 women. Their moral natures are in keeping with their 
 outward appearance. Filled with malice and envy, they 
 are the enemies of all that is good and beautiful. They 
 come into the play to work harm. With promises of pros- 
 perity, they lead men on to nothing but defeat and final 
 destruction of both soul and body. Their power lies in 
 their gift of prophecy, which power we may better under- 
 stand when we have considered a little further the purposes 
 for which these creatures exist. 
 
 The idea that Shakespeare himself believed in witches 
 and their influence over men we cannot accept. Why, then, 
 has he used the Weird Sisters to such powerful purpose in 
 Macbeth ? They are the embodiment of the sum of condi- 
 tions and qualities both internal and external that lead 
 men on to evil. Beings of the storm and darkness, com- 
 panions of what is hideous and loathsome, hostile, vengeful 
 enemies of man in his power for usefulness, creatures to 
 whom fair is foul and foul is fair, — they are the external 
 form of the internal man in his evil desire, his wrong am- 
 bition his selfish lust for gain or glory. They are the 
 malevolent power in monstrous human shape that incites 
 men on to guilty deeds and their terrible retribution. How 
 could they be otherwise than prophetic? They speak the 
 thing that man would be; they promise him what his 
 soul is bent upon attaining, — aye, they promise him more ; 
 for with the attainment of evil aims is born the power to 
 destroy him who attains, and "erime and punishment," as 
 Emerson has said, "grow out of one stem." 
 
 One or two points may be noted here. If Shakespeare 
 used the Weird Sisters only in a symbolic sense, how could 
 
14 INTRODUCTION 
 
 they appear to more than one person ? We must remember 
 that they were seen by Macbeth and Banquo, and that their 
 promises were possibilities to each man. For Macbeth was 
 in line of heirship to the throne, and, being childless, the 
 sons of Banquo were not impossible claimants to the succes- 
 sion. These two men returning home in the flush of victory 
 were filled with ambitious thoughts — the one for himself, 
 the other for his heirs. On the "blasted heath" as they ride 
 along, the wish to attain their desires by foul means sud- 
 denly projects itself externally in the form of the witches. 
 It is clear that Banquo will see them but once, for he put 
 away from him forever their evil promptings and kept his 
 "bosom franchis'd and allegiance clear." 
 
 The second point to be considered is the reason why 
 Shakespeare did not tell us that he used the Weird Sisters 
 only in a figurative sense. To have done this would have 
 marred the whole drama. That we should feel and see what 
 Macbeth felt and saw is the mark of skill in the play-writer. 
 To have disillusioned the audience would have degraded the 
 tragedy into weak comedy. When from our superior in- 
 sight Ave are able to give points of instruction to the hero, 
 the spell of the actor's power is ended. In the very height 
 of ridiculous comedy in Midsummer Night's Dream (Act 
 V., Scene V.,) the person who would represent the Avail 
 and tAvo of the audience discourse as folloAvs : 
 
 "Wall. In this same interlude it doth befall 
 
 That I, one Snout by name, present a wall. 
 
 The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak better? 
 
 Dem. It is the wittiest partition I ever heard discourse, my lord." 
 
 Even the great Teacher himself taught most in figures. 
 And once He said: 
 
INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 
 "Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in build- 
 ing, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 
 "But he spake of the temple of his body." 
 
 So may the poet leave it to the scholar to find out the 
 truth he hides in symbols. 
 
 We come now to that group of characters over whom the 
 witches exercised their art. They are altogether the most 
 important personages of the play. Among these our ad- 
 miration will center in Banquo, who met temptation, as he 
 met rebels, with his armor on. His was an active imagi- 
 nation. To him evil took on externality in the form of the 
 Weird Sisters, and prophecy was for him as for Macbeth. 
 Their dangerous power he resisted, as all men must who 
 would not, throughout their days, stagger under the heavy 
 burden of their own wrong-doing. 
 
 In striking contrast with Macbeth's flurried pretense of 
 
 grief is the calm speech of Banquo over the dead Duncan's 
 
 body: 
 
 "In the great hand of God I stand, and thence 
 Against the undivulged pretense I fight 
 Of treasonous malice." 
 
 However much neglected may be the teachings of that 
 Man of Galilee, the world never loses its admiration for 
 the standard of manhood He set up : "If the Son therefore 
 shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." It was this 
 freedom, this self-mastery, that constituted the difference 
 in the careers of the two great generals who had saved 
 Scotland for its king in the opening of the play. 
 
 We come next to a consideration of Lady Macbeth. Her 
 part is a great lesson in itself. Her life has been a for- 
 tunate one. The rank of a lady, the social distinction of 
 
16 INTRODUCTION 
 
 the wife of the greatest general of the realm, the undivided 
 
 love of her husband, the wide sympathies that motherhood 
 
 alone can give, the great tenderness that comes from having 
 
 buried a child, — all these were agencies that sought to 
 
 shape her life. What might she not have been? we sadly 
 
 ask. What she was, we must at once discover. Her very 
 
 first sentence gives the key to her character : 
 
 "Glamis thou art. and Cawdor, and shalt be 
 What thou art promised." 
 
 Her function in the play is to supply what her husband 
 lacked, namely, firmness of purpose and self-control. With 
 an ambition equal to his own, she leaps at once over every 
 obstacle to the goal of her desire. No morality of means 
 deters her thought for a moment. Her belief in the Weird 
 Sisters is supreme, for they tell her what her mind is ready 
 to receive. Yet she does not see them. Throughout the 
 first part of the drama her strong will is a bar to the fan- 
 tastic trickery of her imagination. At once a shrewd and 
 daring woman, she knows her husband thoroughly, and she 
 alone can give to his disposition the bent it needs to make 
 him king of Scotland. But note the price she pays. Eor 
 a queenhood she abjures her womanhood. For it she stifles 
 love and strangles pity. By this crushing out of her finer 
 emotions she gains, not the courage of a man, but the 
 brutal daring of a fiend. When retribution comes to her 
 it can but overwhelm her who would stop up "the access 
 and passage of remorse." 
 
 Withal she is a coward. She could not kill Duncan her- 
 self, because he resembled her father. She fell fainting 
 at the news of Macbeth's murder of the two chamberlains. 
 Caught unawares, her self-control deserts her. Therefore 
 we can anticipate her end. 
 
INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 Such now is Lady Macbeth. She attains the throne. 
 Will she rule a gracious, happy queen ? We shall see. 
 In the last part of the drama she appears but once, — walk- 
 ing in her sleep. Retribution in the form of an accusing 
 conscience has overtaken her, and she must reap the har- 
 vest of her own wrong-doing. Her self-control is gone, 
 and she is 
 
 "Troubled with thick-coming fancies 
 That keep her from her rest." 
 
 Over and over in her sleeping hours she lives through the 
 assassination of King Duncan. She is the prey of all the 
 Furies of Remorse that gnaw out her life. There is noth- 
 ing in all the drama of literature more heart-breaking 
 than that sad exclamation of hers, 
 
 "The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now?" 
 
 and the despairing sound of her final sigh. All the deep 
 strength of her murdered wifehood and womanhood cries 
 out against her here. Her conscience working through her 
 imagination destroys her. Self -doomed, more needed she 
 "the divine than the physician." The manner of her death 
 we are not told, but its cause is perfectly apparent. 
 
 The hero of the play is Macbeth. So many elements of 
 his character have already been suggested, that we are pre- 
 pared at once to discuss it. When first we meet him he is 
 by right of bravery and loyalty the foremost man in Scot- 
 land. In his own home he is an affectionate husband, 
 whose loving regard for his wife from first to last never 
 diminishes. This much is to be said in his favor. But 
 the natural suggestion of reward to follow his military 
 achievements, and the fact that he is in line of succession 
 
 —2 
 
18 INTRODUCTION 
 
 to the throne, give scope to his ambition, and lead on to 
 the inception of a horrible possibility, namely, the forcible 
 removal of King Duncan. The poet has not told ns this, 
 but he has brought in just here the external personifica- 
 tion of Macbeth's mind in the form of the Weird Sisters. 
 These first incite him to deeds of crime, and then lead him 
 on to punishment. So every evil choice carries with the 
 choosing, the penalty for the act; and he who holds the 
 assassin's knife in one hand, holds in the other the hang- 
 man's rope for his own neck. 
 
 Macbeth did not yield himself to the witches at once. 
 Few men do. His was a growth in wickedness, each wrong 
 step making the next a seeming necessity. The assassina- 
 tion of Duncan to obtain the throne, the slaughter of the 
 two attendants to conceal the act, the murder of Banquo to 
 allay suspicion, the butchery of Lady Macduff and her 
 helpless children in cruel spite, — what a chain of guilt has 
 been forged out of that first yielding to a temptation born 
 of wicked ambition ! And he w T ho saved the state grows 
 enemy to all within its borders. 
 
 Throughout the first part of the drama the imagination 
 of Macbeth controlled him. Daggers of air and ghosts of 
 dead men murdered were before his eyes. Agony of mind, 
 fever-sickness of soul, the galling slavery of sin, — these 
 were his daily portion. In the second part the imagination 
 loses its hold. After the visit to the Weird Sisters, remorse 
 is throttled, and there will be for him ' v no more sights." 
 As Lady Macbeth declines in self-control and grows in 
 feverish fancy, her husband shuts off all apparitions and 
 steels himself to play his desperate part to the end. 
 
 The first promise of the witches was promotion. The 
 
INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 second promise was security; the security that would de- 
 stroy him. His was a double destruction: the external 
 retribution that overwhelmed him when Birnam wood came 
 to Dunsinane; and the internal retribution that attended 
 him all the way. For he died many times before his death. 
 Life was for him but "a walking shadow," "a tale told by 
 an idiot, full of sound and fury," and he was u aweary of 
 the sun" long before Macduff's sword had run him through. 
 So clearly has the poet put this magnificent drama that 
 its teachings hardly need to be cited. It is a tragedy of 
 the imagination. This was the power that deluded Mac- 
 beth and destroyed his wife. Over it Banquo triumphed, 
 and thus became mightier than "he that taketh a city." 
 The play is marked by the absence of love. In the dread- 
 ful deeds of this tragedy tenderness and sympathy have no 
 place, for Shakespeare does not violate harmony of motive 
 or action. The surety of the great law of retribution both 
 external and internal, the growth of evil action, the curse 
 of giving lodgment to evil thoughts, the penalty of waver- 
 ing purpose to the right, the price of ineffectual dependent 
 kingship, the outward success that bankrupts the soul, the 
 need of constant self-mastery, — these are universal themes 
 as true in their teachings to-day as they w r ere when Scot- 
 land shuddered at a tyrant's cruelty. For the world has 
 not yet lost its Macbeths nor Duncans nor Banquos. And 
 that man is still the greatest sovereign, who, God helping 
 him, can righteously rule the kingdom of his own soul. 
 
 MARGARET HILL McCARTER. 
 October, 1900. 
 
Macbeth 
 
 (21- 
 
DRAMATIS PERSONS. 
 
 His sons. 
 
 Generals of the king's 
 army. 
 
 Noblemen of Scotland. 
 
 Duncan, King of Scotland. 
 Malcolm, ) 
 
 DoNALBAIN, ) 
 
 Macbeth, ) 
 
 Banquo, ) 
 
 Macduff, 
 
 Lennox, 
 
 Ross, 
 
 Menteith, 
 
 Angus, 
 
 Caithness, 
 
 Fleance, Son to Banquo. 
 
 Siward, Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces. 
 Young Siward, his Son. 
 Seyton, an Officer attending on Macbeth. 
 Boy, son to Macduff. 
 An English Doctor. 
 A Scotch Doctor. 
 A Sergeant. 
 A Porter. 
 An Old Man. 
 Lady Macbeth. 
 Lady Macduff. 
 
 Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth. 
 Hecate. 
 Three Witches. 
 Apparitions. 
 
 Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, Attendants, and 
 
 Messengers. 
 
 Scene: Scotland; England. 
 
 ( 22 
 
ACT I. 
 
 Scene I. A Desert Place. 
 Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches. 
 
 First Witch. When shall we three meet again 
 In thunder, lightning, or in rain? 
 
 Second Witch. When the hurly-burly 's clone, 
 When the battle 's lost and won. 
 
 Third Witch. That will be ere the set of sun. 
 
 First Witch. Where the place? 
 
 Second Witch. Upon the heath. 
 
 Third Witch. There to meet with Macbeth. 
 
 First Witch. I come, Graymalkin ! 
 
 Second Witch. Paddock calls. 
 
 Third Witch. Anon. 10 
 
 All. Fair is foul, and foul is fair: 
 Hover through the fog and filthy air. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene II. A Camp near Forres. 
 Alarum within. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbatx, 
 Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Sergeant. 
 Duncan. What bloody man is that? He can report, 
 As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt 
 The newest state. 
 
 Malcolm. This is the sergeant 
 
 Who like a good and hardy soldier fought 
 'Gainst my captivity. — Hail, brave friend ! 
 Say to the king the knowledge of the broil 
 
 (23) 
 
24- TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act I 
 
 As thou didst leave it. 
 
 Sergeant. Doubtful it stood, 
 
 As two spent swimmers that do cling together 
 And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald — 
 Worthy to be a rebel, for to that 10 
 
 The multiplying villainies of nature 
 Do swarm upon him — from the western isles 
 Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied; 
 And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling, 
 Show'd like a rebel's whore : but all 's too weak ; 
 For brave Macbeth — well he deserves that name — 
 Disdaining Fortune, with his brandish' d steel, 
 Which smok'd with bloody execution, 
 Like valour's minion carv'd out his passage 
 Till he fac'd the slave; 20 
 
 Which ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him, 
 Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, 
 And fix'd his head upon our battlements. 
 
 Duncan. O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! 
 
 Sergeant. As whence the sun gins his reflection 
 Shipwracking storms and direful thunders break, 
 So from that spring whence comfort seem'd to come 
 Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, mark : 
 No sooner justice had with valour arm'd 
 Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels, 30 
 But the JSTorweyan lord, surveying vantage, 
 With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men 
 Began a fresh assault. 
 
 Duncan. Dismay'd not this 
 
 Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo ? 
 
 Sergea?it. Yes ; 
 
scene ii] MACBETH 25 
 
 As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion. 
 
 If I say sooth, I must report they were 
 
 As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks; 
 
 So they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe: 
 
 Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, 
 
 Or memorize another Golgotha, 
 
 I cannot tell — 
 
 But I am faint, my gashes cry for help. 
 
 Duncan. So well thy words become thee as thy wounds ; 
 They smack of honour both. — Go get him surgeons. 
 
 [Exit Sergeant, attended. 
 Who comes here? 
 
 Enter Koss. 
 
 Malcolm. The worthy thane of Eoss. 
 
 Lennox. What a haste looks through his eyes! So 
 should he look 
 That seems to speak things strange. 
 
 Ross. God save the king! 
 
 Duncan. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane? 
 
 Ross. From Fife, great king; 
 
 Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky 
 And fan our people cold. Norway himself, 
 With terrible numbers, 
 Assisted by that most disloyal traitor, 
 The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict ; 
 Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof, 
 Confronted him with self-comparisons, 
 Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm, 
 Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude, 
 The victory fell on us. 
 
 Duncan. Great happiness ! 
 
26 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act i 
 
 Ross. That now 
 
 Sweno, the Nbrways' king, craves composition; 
 Nor would we deign him burial of his men 
 Till he disbursed at Saint Colme's Inch 
 Ten thousand dollars to our general use. 
 
 Duncan. No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive 
 Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death, 
 And with his former title greet Macbeth. 
 
 Ross. I '11 see it done. 
 
 Duncan. What he hath lost noble Macbeth hath won. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 Scene III. A Heath. 
 
 Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 
 
 First Witch. Where hast thou been, sister ? 
 
 Second Witch. Killing swine. 
 
 Third Witch. Sister, where thou % 
 
 First Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap, 
 And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'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 '11 thither sail, 
 And, like a rat without a tail, 
 I '11 do, I '11 do, and I' 11 do. 10 
 
 Second Witch. I'll give thee a wind. 
 
 First Witch. Thou 'rt kind. 
 
 Third Witch. And I another. 
 
 First Witch. I myself have all the other, 
 And the very ports they blow, 
 All the quarters that they know 
 I' the shipman's card. 
 
scene in] MACBETH 27 
 
 I '11 drain him dry as hay ; 
 Sleep shall neither night nor day 
 Hang upon his pent-house lid ; 
 He shall live a man forbid : 
 Weary se'nnights nine times nine 
 Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine: 
 Though his bark cannot be lost, 
 Yet it shall be tempest-tost. 
 Look what I have. 
 
 Second Witch. Show me, show me. 
 
 First Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, 
 Wrack'd as homeward he did come. [Drum within. 
 
 Third Witch. A drum, a drum ! 30 
 
 Macbeth doth come. 
 
 All. The weird sisters, hand in hand, 
 Posters of the sea and land, 
 Thus do go about, about: 
 Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, 
 And thrice again, to make up nine. 
 Peace ! the charm ? s wound up. 
 
 Enter Macbeth and Banquo. 
 
 Macbeth. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. 
 
 Banquo. How far is 't call'd to Forres \ What are these 
 So wither' d and so wild in their attire, 
 That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, 
 And yet are on 't ? — Live you ? or are you aught 
 That man may question ? You seem to understand me, 
 By each at once her choppy finger laying 
 Upon her skinny lips : you should be women, 
 And yet your beards forbid me to interpret 
 That you are so. 
 
28 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act i 
 
 Macbeth. Speak, if you can: what are you? 
 
 First Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of 
 Glamis ! 
 
 Second Witch. All hail, Macbeth ! hail to thee, thane of 
 Cawdor ! 
 
 Third Witch. All hail, Macbeth! that shall be king 
 hereafter ! 
 
 Banquo. Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear 
 Things that do sound so fair ? — V the name of truth, 
 Are ye fantastical, or that indeed 
 Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner 
 You greet with present grace and great prediction 
 Of noble having and of royal hope, 
 That he seems rapt withal ; to me you speak not. 
 If you can look into the seeds of time, 
 And say which grain will grow and which will not, 
 Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear 
 Your favors nor your hate. 
 
 First Witch. Hail! 
 
 Second Witch. Hail! 
 
 Third Witch. Hail! 
 
 First Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 
 
 Second Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier. 
 
 Third Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none : 
 So all hail, Macbeth and Banqno ! 
 
 First Witch. Banquo and Macbeth, all hail ! 
 
 Macbeth. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more : 70 
 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, 
 
scene in] MACBETH 29 
 
 Xo more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence 
 Yon owe this strange intelligence? or why 
 Upon this blasted heath yon stop our way 
 With such prophetic greeting ? speak, I charge you. 
 
 [Witches vanish. 
 
 Banquo. The earth hath bubbles as the water has, 
 And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd ? 80 
 
 Macbeth. Into the air; and what seem'd corporal melted 
 As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd I 
 
 Banquo. Were such things here as we do speak about? 
 Or have we eaten on the insane root 
 That takes the reason prisoner? 
 
 Macbeth. Your children shall be kings. 
 
 Banquo. You shall be a king. 
 
 Macbeth. And thane of Cawdor too : went it not so ? 
 
 Banquo. To the selfsame tune and words. Who 's here ? 
 Enter Ross and Angus. 
 
 Boss. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth, 
 The news of thy success ; and when he reads 90 
 
 Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight, 
 His wonders and his praises do contend 
 Which should be thine or his : silenc'd with that, 
 In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day, 
 He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks, 
 Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, 
 Strange images of death. As thick as tale 
 Came post with post, and every one did bear 
 Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence, 
 And pour'd them down before him. 
 
 Angus. We are sent 10 ° 
 
 To give thee from our royal master thanks ; 
 
30 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act i 
 
 Only to herald thee into his sight, 
 Not pay thee. 
 
 Ross. And for an earnest of a greater honour, 
 He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor: 
 In which addition, hail, most worthy thane! 
 For it is thine. 
 
 Banquo. What, can the devil speak true? 
 
 Macbeth. The thane of Cawdor lives : why do you dre^s 
 me 
 In borrow' d robes ? 
 
 Angus. Who was the thane lives yet, 
 
 But under heavy judgment bears that life 
 Which he deserves to lose, Whether he was combin'd 
 With those of Norway, or did line the rebel 
 With hidden help and vantage, or that with both 
 He labour' d in his country's wrack, I know not; 
 But treasons capital, confess' d and prov'd, 
 Have overthrown him. 
 
 Macbeth. [Aside'] Glamis, and thane of Cawdor ! 
 
 The greatest is behind. — Thanks for your pains. — 
 Do you not hope your children shall be kings, 
 When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me 
 Promis'd no less to them? 
 
 Banquo. That trusted home 
 
 Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, 
 Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 't is strange : 
 And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, 
 The instruments of darkness tell us truths, 
 Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's 
 In deepest consequence. — 
 Cousins, a word, I pray you. 
 
scene in] MACBETH 31 
 
 Macbeth. [Aside] Two truths are told, 
 
 As happy prologues to the swelling act 
 Of the imperial theme. — I thank you, gentlemen. 
 [Aside] This supernatural soliciting 
 Cannot be ill, cannot he good: if ill, 
 Why hath it given me earnest of success, 
 Commencing in a truth ? I am thane of Cawdor : 
 If good, why do I yield to that suggestion 
 Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair 
 And make my seated heart knock at my ribs, 
 Against the use of nature? Present fears 
 Are less than horrible imaginings: 
 My thought, whose murther yet is but fantastical, 
 Shakes so my single state of man that function 14 ° 
 
 Is smother' d in surmise, and nothing is 
 But what is not. 
 
 Banquo. Look how our partner 's rapt. 
 
 Macbeth. [Aside] If chance Avill have me king, why, 
 chance may crown me, 
 Without my stir. 
 
 Banquo. New honours come upon him, 
 
 Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould 
 But with the aid of use. 
 
 Macbeth. [Aside] Come what come may, 
 
 Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. 
 
 Banquo. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure. 
 
 Macbeth. Give me your favour: my dull brain was 
 wrought 
 With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains 150 
 Are register' d where every day I turn 
 The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king. — 
 
32 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act i 
 
 Think upon what hath chanc'd, and at more time, 
 The interim having weigh' d it, let us speak 
 Our free hearts each to other. 
 
 Banquo. Very gladly. 
 
 Macbeth. Till then, enough. — Come, friends. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene IV. Forres. The Palace. 
 Flourish. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Len- 
 nox, and Attendants. 
 
 Duncan. Is execution done on Cawdor ? Are not 
 Those in commission yet returned ? 
 
 Malcolm. My liege, 
 
 They are not yet come back. But I have spoke 
 With one that saw him die, who did report 
 That very frankly he confess'd his treasons, 
 Implor'd your highness' pardon, and set forth 
 A deep repentance: nothing in his life 
 Became him like the leaving it; he died 
 As one that had been studied in his death 
 To throw away the dearest thing he owed 10 
 
 As 't were a careless trifle. 
 
 Duncan. There 's no art 
 
 To find the mind's construction in the face : 
 He was a gentleman on whom I built 
 An absolute trust. — 
 
 Enter Macbeth, Banquo, Ross, and Angus. 
 O worthiest cousin ! 
 The sin of my ingratitude even now 
 Was heavy on me: thou art so far before 
 That swiftest wing of recompense is slow 
 To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserv'd, 
 
scene iv] MACBETH 33 
 
 That the proportion both of thanks and payment 
 
 Might have been mine ! only I have left to say, 20 
 
 More is thy due than more than all can pay. 
 
 Macbeth. The service and the loyalty I owe, 
 In doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part 
 Is to receive our duties: and our duties 
 Are to your throne and state children and servants; 
 Which do but what they should, by doing every thing 
 Safe toward your love and honour. 
 
 Duncan. Welcome hither: 
 
 I have begun to plant thee, and will labour 
 To make thee full of growing. — Noble Banquo, 
 That hast no less deserv'd, nor must be known 
 No less to have done so, let me infold thee 
 And hold thee to my heart, 
 
 Banquo. There if I grow, 
 
 The harvest is your own. 
 
 Duncan. My plenteous joys, 
 
 Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves 
 In drops of sorrow. — Sons, kinsmen, thanes, 
 And you whose places are the nearest, know 
 We will establish our estate upon 
 Our eldest, Malcolm, wdiom we name hereafter 
 The Prince of Cumberland; which honour must 
 Not unaccompanied invest him only, 40 
 
 But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine 
 On all deservers. — From hence to Inverness, 
 And bind us further to you. 
 
 Macbeth. The rest is labour, which is not us'd for you. 
 I '11 be myself the harbinger and make joyful 
 The hearing of my wife with your approach; 
 
 —3 
 
34 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act 1 
 
 So humbly take my leave. 
 
 Duncan. My worthy Cawdor ! 
 
 Macbeth. [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! that is 
 a step 
 On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, 
 For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires ! 
 Let not light see my black and deep desires: 
 The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be 
 Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. [Exit. 
 
 Duncan. True, worthy Banquo: he is full so valiant, 
 And in his commendations I am fed; 
 It is a banquet to me. Let 's after him, 
 Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome : 
 It is a peerless kinsman. [Flourish. Exeunt. 
 
 Scene V. Inverness. A Boom in Macbeth's Castle. 
 Enter Lady Macbeth, reading a letter. 
 
 Lady Macbeth [Heads]. They met me in the day of suc- 
 cess: and I have learned by the perfectest report, they have 
 more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in 
 desire to question them further, they made themselves air, 
 into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the won- 
 der of it, came missives from the Icing, who all-hailed me 
 "Thane of Cawdor ; by which title, before, these weird sis- 
 ters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, 
 with 'Hail, king that shall beT This have I thought good 
 to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou 
 mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of 
 what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and 
 farewell. 
 Glamis thou are, and Cawdor, and shalt be 
 
scene v] MACBETH 35 
 
 What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; 
 
 It is too full o' the milk of human kindness 
 
 To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great ; 
 
 Art not without ambition, but without 
 
 The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly, 
 
 That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, 
 
 And yet wouldst wrongly win : thou 'dst have, great Glamis, 
 
 That which cries, 'Thus thou must do, if thou have it;' 21 
 
 And that which rather thou dost fear to do 
 
 Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither, 
 
 That I may pour my spirits in thine ear, 
 
 And chastise with the valour of my tongue 
 
 All that impedes thee from the golden round 
 
 Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem 
 
 To have thee crown'd withal. 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 What is your tidings ? 
 
 Messenger. The king comes here to-night. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Thou 'rt mad to say it : 
 
 Is not thy master with him ? who, were ? t so, 
 Would have informed for preparation. 
 
 Messenger. So please you, it is true : our thane is com- 
 ing. 
 One of my fellows had the speed of him, 
 Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more 
 Than would make up his message. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Give him tending ; 
 
 He brings great news. [Exit Messenger. 
 
 The raven himself is hoarse 
 That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan 
 Under my battlements. Come, you spirits 
 
36 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act i 
 
 That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, 
 
 And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full 
 
 Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood; 
 
 Stop up the access and passage to remorse, 
 
 That no compunctious visitings of nature 
 
 Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between 
 
 The effect and it ! Como to my woman's breasts, 
 
 And take my milk for gall, you murthering ministers, 
 
 Wherever in your sightless substances 
 
 You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night, 
 
 And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, 
 
 That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, 
 
 Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, 
 
 To cry 'Hold, hold !' 
 
 Enter Macbeth. 
 
 Great Glamis ! worthy Cawdor ! 
 Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter! 
 Thy letters have transported me beyond 
 This ignorant present, and I feel now 
 The future in the instant. 
 
 Macbeth. My dearest love, 
 
 Duncan comes here to-night. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. And when goes hence ? 
 
 Macbeth. To-morrow, as he purposes. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. O, never 
 
 Shall sun that morrow see ! 
 Your face, my thane, is as a book where men 
 May read strange matters. To beguile the time, 
 Look like the time ; bear welcome in your eye, 
 Your hand, your tongue : look like the innocent flower, 
 But be the serpent under ? t. He that ? s coming 
 
scenic VI] MACBETH 37 
 
 Must be provided for : and you shall put 
 This night's great business into my dispatch ; 
 Which shall to all our nights and days to come 
 Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. 
 
 Macbeth. We will speak further. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Only look up clear; 
 
 To alter favor ever is to fear: 70 
 
 Leave all the rest to me. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene VI. Before Macbeth' s Castle. 
 
 Hautboys and torches. Enter Duncan, Malcolm, Don- 
 
 albain, Banquo, Lennox, Macduff, Ross, Angus, 
 
 and Attendants. 
 
 Duncan. This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air 
 Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself 
 Unto our gentle senses. 
 
 Banquo. This guest of summer, 
 
 The temple-haunting martlet, does approve 
 By his lov'd mansionry that the heaven's breath 
 Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, 
 Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird 
 Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle: 
 Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ'd 
 The air is delicate. 
 
 Enter Lady Macbeth. 
 
 Duncan. See, see, our honor' d hostess ! 10 
 
 The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, 
 Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you 
 How you shall bid God 'ield us for your pains 
 And thank us for your trouble. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. All our service 
 
38 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act i 
 
 In every point twice done and then done double 
 Were poor and single business, to contend 
 Against those honours deep and broad wherewith 
 Your majesty loads our house : for those of old, 
 And the late dignities heap'd up to them, 
 We rest your hermits. 
 
 Duncan. Where 's the thane of Cawdor ? 20 
 
 We cours'd him at the heels, and had a purpose 
 To be his purveyor; but he rides well, 
 And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him 
 To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, 
 We are your guests to-night. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Your servants ever 
 
 Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt, 
 To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, 
 Still to return your own. 
 
 Duncan. Give me your hand; 
 
 Conduct me to mine host: we love him highly, 
 And shall continue our graces towards him. 30 
 
 By your leave, hostess. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene VII. Macbeth 's Castle. 
 Hautboys and torches. Enter a Sewer, and divers Serv- 
 ants with dishes amd service, and pass over the stage. 
 Then enter Macbeth. 
 
 Macbeth. If it were dune when 't is done, then 't were 
 well 
 It were done quickly: if the assassination 
 Could trammel up the consequence, and catch 
 With his surcease success; that but this blow 
 Might be the be-all and the end-all here, 
 
scene vii] MACBETH 39 
 
 But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, 
 
 We ? d jump the life to come. But in these cases 
 
 We still have judgment here; that we hut teach 
 
 Bloody instructions, which being taught return 
 
 To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice 10 
 
 Commends the ingredients of our poison' d chalice 
 
 To our own lips. He 's here in double trust : 
 
 First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, 
 
 Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, 
 
 Who should against his murtherer shut the door, 
 
 ISTot bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan 
 
 Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been 
 
 So clear in his great office, that his virtues 
 
 Will plead like angels trumpet-tongu'd against 
 
 The deep damnation of his taking-off ; 20 
 
 And pity, like a naked new-born babe, 
 
 Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin, hors'd 
 
 Upon the sightless couriers of the air, 
 
 Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye 7 
 
 That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur 
 
 To prick the sides of my intent, but only 
 
 Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself 
 
 And falls on the other. 
 
 Enter Lady Macbeth. 
 
 How now ! what news '. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. He has almost supp'd: why have you 
 left the chamber? 
 
 Macbeth. Hath he ask'd for me ? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Know you not he has ? 30 
 
 Macbeth. We will proceed no further in this business : 
 He hath honour' d me of late ; and I have bought 
 
40 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act I 
 
 Golden opinions from all sorts of people, 
 Which would be worn now in their newest gloss, 
 ISTot cast aside so soon. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Was the hope drunk 
 
 Wherein you dress' d yourself ? hath it slept since ? 
 And wakes it now, to look so green and pale 
 At what it did so freely ? From this time 
 Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard 
 To be the same in thine own act and valour 40 
 
 As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that 
 Which thou esteem' st the ornament of life, 
 And live a coward in thine own esteem, 
 Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would/ 
 Like the poor cat i' the adage ? 
 
 Macbeth. Prithee, peace: 
 
 I dare do all that may become a man; 
 Who dares do more is none. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. What beast was 't then 
 
 That made you break this enterprise to me ? 
 When you durst do it, then you were a man ; 
 And, to be more than what you were, you would 50 
 
 Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place 
 Did then adhere, and yet you would make both : 
 They have made themselves, and that their fitness now 
 Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know 
 How tender 't is to love the babe that milks me : 
 I would, while it was smiling in my face, 
 Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums 
 And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you 
 Have done to this. 
 
 Macbeth. If we should fail? 
 
scene vii] MACBETH 4| 
 
 Lady Macbeth. We fail. 
 
 But screw your courage to the sticking-place, 60 
 
 And we J ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep — 
 Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey 
 Soundly invite him — his two chamberlains 
 Will I with wine and wassail so convince 
 That memory, the warder of the brain, 
 Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason 
 A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep 
 Their drenched natures lie as in a death, 
 What cannot you and I perform upon 
 The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon 70 
 
 His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt 
 Of our great quell? 
 
 Macbeth. Bring forth men-children only ; 
 
 For thy undaunted mettle should compose 
 Nothing but males. Will it not be received, 
 When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two 
 Of his own chamber and us'd their very daggers, 
 That they have done 't ? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Who dares receive it other, 
 
 As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar 
 Upon his death ? 
 
 Macbeth. I am settled, and bend up 
 
 Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. 80 
 
 Away, and mock the time with fairest show: 
 False face must hide what the false heart doth know. 
 
 {Exeunt. 
 
ACT II. 
 
 Scene I. Court of Maebeth's Castle. 
 Enter Banquo, and Fleance bearing a torch before him. 
 Banquo. How goes the night, boy ? 
 Fleance. The moon is down, I have not heard the clock. 
 Banquo. And she goes down at twelve. 
 Fleance. I take 't, 't is later, sir. 
 
 Banquo. Hold, take my sword. — There 's husbandry in 
 heaven ; 
 Their candles are all out. — Take thee that too. — 
 A heavy summons lies like lead upon me. 
 And yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers, 
 Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature 
 Gives way to in repose! — 
 
 Enter Macbeth, and a Servant with a torch. 
 
 Give me my sword. — 
 Who's there? 10 
 
 Macbeth. A friend. 
 
 Banquo. What, sir, not yet at rest ? The king 's abed : 
 He hath been in unusual pleasure, and 
 Sent forth great largess to your offices. 
 This diamond he greets your wife withal, 
 By the name of most kind hostess; and shut up 
 In measureless content. 
 
 Macbeth. Being unprepared, 
 
 Our will became the servant to defect, 
 Which else should free have wrought. 
 
 (42) 
 
scene I] MACBETH 43 
 
 Banquo. All 's well. 
 
 I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters : 20 
 
 To you they have show'd seme truth. 
 
 Macbeth. I think not of them : 
 
 Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve, 
 We would spend it in some words upon that business, 
 If you would grant the time. 
 
 Banquo. At your kindest leisure. 
 
 Macbeth. If you shall cleave to my consent, when ? t is, 
 It shall make honour for you. 
 
 Banquo. So I lose none 
 
 In seeking to augment it, but still keep 
 My bosom franchis'd and allegiance clear, 
 I shall be counselled. 
 
 Macbeth. Good repose the while! 
 
 Banquo. Thanks, sir : the like to you ! 30 
 
 [Exeunt Banquo and Fleance. 
 
 Macbeth. Go bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready, 
 She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed. — 
 
 [Exit Servant. 
 Is this a dagger which I see before me, 
 The handle toward my hand ? — Come, let me clutch thee, 
 I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. 
 Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible 
 To feeling as to sight? or art thou but 
 A dagger of the mind, a false creation, 
 Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? 
 I see thee yet, in form as palpable 40 
 
 As this which now I draw. 
 
 Thou marshall'st me the way that I was going; 
 And such an instrument I was to use. — 
 Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses, 
 
44 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act 11 
 
 Or else worth all the rest: I see thee still; 
 
 And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, 
 
 Which was not so before. — There 's no such thing : 
 
 It is the bloody business which informs 
 
 Thus to mine eyes. — "Now o'er the one half world 
 
 Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse 
 
 The curtain' d sleep; witchcraft celebrates 
 
 Pale Hecate's offerings, and withered murther, 
 
 Alarum'd by his sentinel the wolf, 
 
 Whose howl 's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, 
 
 With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design 
 
 Moves like a ghost. — Thou sure and firm-set earth, 
 
 Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear 
 
 Thy very stones prate of my whereabout, 
 
 And take the present horror from the time, 
 
 Which now suits with it. — Whiles I threat he lives : 60 
 
 Words to the heat of deeds too cool breath gives. 
 
 \_A bell rings. 
 I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. — 
 Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell 
 That summons thee to heaven or to hell. [Exit. 
 
 Scene II. The Same. 
 Enter Lady Macbeth. 
 Lady Macbeth. That which hath made them drunk hath 
 made me bold; 
 What hath quench' d them hath given me fire. — Hark ! 
 
 Peace ! 
 It was the owl that shriek' d, the fatal bellman, 
 Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it: 
 The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms 
 
scene II] MACBETH 45 
 
 Do mock their charge with snores; I have drugg'd their 
 
 possets, 
 That death and nature do contend about them, 
 Whether they live or die. 
 
 Macbeth. [Within] Who's there? what, ho! 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Alack, I am afraid they have awak'd, 
 And 't is not done. The attempt and not the deed 
 Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready; 
 He could not miss 'em. Had he not resembled 
 My father as he slept, I had done 't. — My husband ! 
 Enter Macbeth. 
 
 Macbeth. I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear 
 a noise ? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. I heard the owl scream and the crickets 
 cry. 
 Did not you speak? 
 
 Macbeth, When ? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. !Now. 
 
 Macbeth. As I descended ? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Ay. 
 
 Macbeth. Hark! 
 Who lies i' the second chamber ? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Donalbain. 
 
 Macbeth. This is a sorry sight. [Looking on his hands. 20 
 
 Lady Macbeth. A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. 
 
 Macbeth. There 's one did laugh in 's sleep, and one 
 cried 'Murther !' 
 That they did wake each other: I stood and heard them: 
 But they did say their prayers, and address' d them 
 Again to sleep. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. There are two lodg'd together. 
 
46 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act ii 
 
 Macbeth. One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the 
 other ; 
 As they had seen me with these hangman's hands, 
 Listening their fear. I could not say 'Amen' 
 When they did say 'God bless us !' 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Consider it not so deeply. 
 
 Macbeth. But wherefore could not I pronounce 'Amen' ? 
 I had most need of blessing, and 'Amen' 
 Stuck in my throat. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. These deeds must not be thought 
 
 After these ways ; so, it will make us mad. 
 
 Macbeth. Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no mors ! 
 Macbeth doth murther sleep' — the innocent sleep, 
 Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, 
 The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, 
 Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, 
 Chief nourisher in life's feast, — 
 
 Lady Macbeth. What do you meak ? 40 
 
 Macbeth. Still it cried 'Sleep no more !' to all the house : 
 'Glamis hath murther'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor 
 Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more.' 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Who was it that thus cried? Why, 
 worthy thane, 
 You do unbend your noble strength, to think 
 So brainsickly of things. Go get some water, 
 And wash this filthy witness from your hand. 
 Why did you bring these daggers from the place? 
 They must lie there: go carry them, and smear 
 The sleepy grooms with blood. 
 
 Macbeth. I'll go no more: r>0 
 
 I am afraid to think what I have done: 
 
scene II] MACBETH 47 
 
 Look on 't again I dare not. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Infirm of purpose ! 
 
 (Jive me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead 
 Are but as pictures; ? t is the eye of childhood 
 That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, 
 I '11 gild the faces of the grooms withal; 
 For it must seem their guilt. [Exit. Knocking within. 
 
 Macbeth. Whence is that knocking? 
 
 How is 't with me, when every noise appals me ? 
 What hands are here? Ha! they pluck out mine eyes. 
 Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 60 
 
 ( !lean from my hand ? ^o ; this my hand will rather 
 The multitudinous seas incarnadine, 
 Making the green one red. 
 
 Re-enter Lady Macbeth. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. My hands are of your colour; but I 
 shame 
 To wear a heart so white. [Knocking within.] I hear a 
 
 knocking 
 At the south entry: retire we to our chamber. 
 A little water clears us of this deed : 
 How easy is it, then ! Your constancy 
 Hath left you unattended. [Knocking within.'] Hark! 
 
 more knocking. 
 Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us T0 
 
 Ajad show us to be watchers. Be not lost 
 So poorly in your thoughts. 
 
 Macbeth. To know my deed, 't were best not know my- 
 self. [Knocking within. 
 Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst ! 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
48 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act II 
 
 Scene III. The Same. 
 Enter a Porter. Knocking within. 
 
 Porter. Here 's a knocking indeed ! If a man were por- 
 ter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. {Knock- 
 ing within.] Knock, knock, knock! Who's there, i' the 
 name of Beelzebub ? Here 's a farmer, that hanged himself 
 on th' expectation of plenty : come in time ; have napkins 
 enow about you ; here you '11 sweat for 't. {Knocking 
 within.] Knock, knock! Who 's there, in the other devil's 
 name ? Faith, here 's an equivocator, that could swear in 
 both the scales against either scale; who committed trea- 
 son enough for God's s,ake, yet could not equivocate to 
 heaven: O, come in, equivocator. {Knocking within.'] 
 Knock, knock, knock ! Who 's there ? Faith, here 's an 
 English tailor come hither, for stealing out of a French 
 hose: come in, tailor; here you may roast your goose. 
 {Knocking within.] Knock, knock; never at quiet! What 
 are you ? But this place is too cold for hell. I '11 devil- 
 porter it no further : I had thought to have let in some of 
 all professions, that go the primrose way to the everlasting 
 bonfire. — {Knocking within.] Anon, anon! I pray you, 
 remember the porter. {Opens the gate. 
 
 Enter Macduff and Lennox. 
 
 Macduff. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, 20 
 That you do lie so late ? 
 
 Porter. Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second 
 cock. 
 
 Macduff. Is thy master stirring? 
 Enter Macbeth. 
 Our knocking has awak'd him; here he comes. 
 
scene in] MACBETH 49 
 
 Lennox. Good morrow, noble sir. 
 
 Macbeth. Good morrow, both. 
 
 Macduff. Is the king stirring, worthy thane ? 
 
 Macbeth. Not vet. 
 
 Macduff. He did command me to call timely on him : 
 I have almost slipp'd the hour. 
 
 Macbeth. I '11 bring you to him. 
 
 Macduff. I know this is a joyful trouble to you; 
 But yet 't is one. 50 
 
 Macbeth. The labour we delight in physics pain. 
 This is the door. 
 
 Macduff. I '11 make so bold to call, 
 
 For 't is my limited service. [Exit. 
 
 Lennox. Goes the king hence to-day ? 
 
 Macbeth. He does: he did appoint so. 
 
 Lennox. The night has been unruly; where we lay, 
 Our chimneys were blown down, and, as they say, 
 Lamentings heard i' the air, strange screams of death, 
 And prophesying with accents terrible 
 Of dire combustion and confus'd events 
 Xew hatch'd to the woeful time ; the obscure bird 40 
 
 Clamour' d the livelong night; some say the earth 
 Was feverous and did shake. 
 
 Macbeth. 'T was a rough night. 
 
 Lennox. My young remembrance cannot parallel 
 A fellow to it. 
 
 Re-enter Macduff. 
 
 Macduff. O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart 
 Cannot conceive nor name thee ! 
 
 Lennox. 
 
 h. j 
 
 , What 's the matter ? 
 Macbeth. 
 
 —4 
 
50 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act 11 
 
 Macduff. Confusion now hath made his masterpiece. 
 Most sacrilegious murther hath broke ope 
 The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence 
 The life o' the building. 
 
 Macbeth. What is ? t you say? the life? 50 
 
 Lennox. Mean you his majesty? 
 
 Macduff. Approach the chamber, and destroy your sight 
 With a new Gorgon. Do not bid me speak ; 
 See, and then speak yourselves. 
 
 [Exeunt Macbeth and Lennox. 
 Awake, awake! 
 Ring the alarum-bell. — Murther and treason ! — 
 Banquo and Donalbain !— Malcolm ! awake! 
 Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, 
 And look on death itself! up, up, and see 
 The great doom's image ! — Malcolm ! Banquo ! 
 As from your graves rise up, and walk like sprites, G0 
 To countenance this horror. Ring the bell. [Bell rings. 
 Enter* Lady Macbeth. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. What's the business, 
 That such a hideous trumpet calls to parley 
 The sleepers of the house ? speak, speak ! 
 
 Macduff. . O gentle lady, 
 
 'T is not for you to hear what I can speak: 
 The repetition, in a woman's ear, 
 Would murther as it fell. — 
 
 Enter Banquo. 
 
 O Banquo, Banquo ! 
 Our royal master's murther'd. 
 
 Liady Mac h eth. W oe, a las! 
 
 What, in our house ? 
 
scene in] MACBETH 51 
 
 Banquo. Too cruel any where. 
 
 Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself, 71 
 
 And say it is not so. 
 
 Re-enter Macbeth and Lennox. 
 
 Macbeth. Had I but died an hour before this chance, 
 I had liv'd a blessed time ; for from this instant 
 There 7 s nothing serious in mortality : 
 All is but toys : renown and grace is dead ; 
 The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees 
 Is left this vault to brag of. 
 
 Enter Malcolm and Donalbain. 
 
 Donalbain. What is amiss ? 
 
 Macbeth. You are, and do not know 't : 
 
 The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood 
 Is stopp'd, — the very source of it is stoppM. 80 
 
 Macduff. Your royal father 's murther d. 
 
 Malcolm. O, by whom ? 
 
 Lennox. Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done 't. 
 Their hands and faces were all badg'd with blood; 
 So were their daggers, which unwip'd we found 
 Upon their pillows: 
 
 They star'd and were distracted; no man's life 
 Was to be trusted with them. 
 
 Macbeth. O, yet I do repent me of my fury, 
 That I did kill them. 
 
 Macduff. Wherefore did you so ? 
 
 < Macbeth. Who can be wise, amazVl, temperate and fu- 
 rious, 
 Loyal and neutral, in a moment ? ~No man : 90 
 
 The expedition of my violent love 
 Outrun the pauser reason. Here lay Duncan, 
 
52 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act ii 
 
 His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood, 
 And his gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature 
 For ruin's wasteful entrance; there, the murtherers, 
 Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers 
 Unmannerly breech' d with gore: who could refrain, 
 That had a heart to love, and in that heart 
 Courage to make 's love known ? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Help me hence, ho! 1 °° 
 
 Macduff. Look to the lady. 
 
 Malcolm. [Aside to Donalbain^] Why do we hold our 
 tongues, 
 That most may claim this argument for ours ? 
 
 Donalbain. [Aside to Malcolm] What should be spoken 
 here, where our fate, 
 Hid in an auger-hole, may rush, and seize us ? 
 Let 's away ; 
 Our tears are not yet brew'd. 
 
 Malcolm. [Aside to Donalbain] Nor our strong sorrow 
 Upon the foot of motion. 
 
 Banquo. Look to the lady : — 
 
 [Lady Macbeth is carried out. 
 And when we have our naked frailties hid, 
 That suffer in exposure, let us meet, 
 
 And question this most bloody piece of work, 110 
 
 To know it further. Fears and scruples shake us : 
 In the great hand of God I stand, and thence 
 Against the undivulg'd pretence I fight 
 Of treasonous malice. 
 
 Macduff. And so do I. 
 
 All. So all. 
 
 Macbeth. Let's briefly put on manly readiness, 
 And meet i' the hall together. 
 
scene IV] MACBETH 53 
 
 All. Well contented. 
 
 [Exeunt all but Malcolm and Donalbain. 
 
 Malcolm. What will you do? Let's not consort with 
 them: 
 To show an unfelt sorrow is an office 
 Which the false man does easy. I '11 to England. 
 
 Donalbain. To Ireland, I: our separated fortune 12 ° 
 Shall keep us both the safer; where we are, 
 There 's daggers in men's smiles : the near in blood, 
 The nearer bloody. 
 
 Malcolm. This murtherous shaft that 's shot 
 
 Hath not yet lighted, and our safest way 
 Is to avoid the aim. Therefore, to horse; 
 And let us not be dainty of leave-taking, 
 But shift away : there 's warrant in that theft 
 Which steals itself when there 's no mercy left. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene IV. Without the Castle. 
 Enter Eoss and an old Man. 
 
 Old Man. Threescore and ten I can remember well : 
 Within the volume of which time I have seen 
 Hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore night 
 Hath trifled former knowings. 
 
 Ross. Ah, good father, 
 
 Thou seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act, 
 Threaten his bloody stage : by the clock 't is day, 
 And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp. 
 Is 't night's predominance, or the day's shame, 
 That darkness does the face of earth entomb, 
 When living light should kiss it ? 
 
 Old Man. 'T is unnatural, 10 
 
54 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act ii 
 
 Even like the deed that 's done. On Tuesday last, 
 A falcon, towering in her pride of place, 
 Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd. 
 
 Ross. And Duncan's horses — a thing most strange and 
 certain — 
 Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, 
 Turn'd wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out, 
 Contending 'gainst obedience, as they would make 
 War with mankind. 
 
 Old Man. 'T is said they eat each other. 
 
 Ross. They did so, to the amazement of mine eyes 
 That look'd upon 't. Here comes the good Macduff. — 20 
 
 Enter Macduff. 
 How goes the world, sir, now ? 
 
 Macduff. Why, see you not? 
 
 Ross. Is 't known who did this more than bloody deed ? 
 
 Macduff. Those that Macbeth hath slain. 
 
 Ross. Alas, the day ! 
 
 What good could they pretend ? 
 
 Macduff. T'hey were suborn'd : 
 
 Malcolm and Donalbain, the king's two sons, 
 Are stolen away and fled, which puts upon them 
 Suspicion of the deed. 
 
 Ross. 'Gainst nature still: 
 
 Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up 
 Thine own life's means ! Then 't is most like 
 The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth. 
 
 Macduff. He is already nam'd, and gone to Scone 
 To be invested. 
 
 Ross. Where is Duncan's body? 
 
 Macduff. Carried to Colme-kill, 
 
scene iv] MACBETH 55 
 
 The sacred storehouse of his predecessors 
 And guardian of their bones. 
 
 Ross. Will you to Scone? 
 
 Macduff. Xo, cousin, I '11 to Fife. 
 
 Ross. Well, I will thither. 
 
 Macduff. Well, may you see things well done there: 
 adieu ! 
 Lest our old robes sit easier than our new ! 
 
 Ross. Farewell, father. 
 
 Old Man. God's benison go with you, and with those 40 
 That would make good of bad, and friends of foes ! 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
ACT III. 
 
 Scene I. Forres. A Boom in the Palace. 
 Enter Banquo. 
 
 Banquo. Thou hast it now, — king, Cawdor, Glamis, 
 all. — 
 As the weird women promis'd, and I fear 
 Thou play'dst 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. 10 
 
 Sennet sounded. Enter Macbeth, as Icing; Lady Mac- 
 beth, as queen; Lennox, Ross, Lords, Ladies, and 
 
 Attendants. 
 
 Macbeth. Here 7 s our chief guest. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. If he had been forgotten, 
 
 It had been as a gap in our great feast, 
 And all-thing unbecoming. 
 
 Macbeth. To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir, 
 And I'll request your presence. 
 
 Banquo. Let your highness 
 
 Command upon me, to the which my duties 
 
 Are with a most indissoluble tie 
 
 For ever knit. 
 
 (56) 
 
scene i] MACBETH 57 
 
 Macbeth. Ride you this afternoon? 
 
 Banquo. Ay, my good lord. 19 
 
 Macbeth. We should have else desir'd 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 ? 
 
 Banquo. 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. 
 
 Macbeth. Fail not our feast. 
 
 Banquo. My lord, I will not. 
 
 Macbeth. We hear our bloody cousins are bestow'd 
 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? 
 
 Banquo. Ay, my good lord : our time does call upon 's. 
 
 Macbeth. I wish your horses swift and sure of foot; 
 And so I do commend you to their backs. 
 Farewell. — [Exit Banquo. 
 
 Let every man be master of his time J0 
 
 Till seven at night. To make society 
 The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself 
 Till supper-time alone : while then, God be with you ! 
 
 [Exeunt all but Macbeth and an Attendant. 
 Sirrah, a word with you: attend those men 
 Our pleasure ? 
 
 Attendant. They are, my lord, without the palace gate. 
 
58 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act hi 
 
 Macbeth. 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 fear'd : 't is much he dares, 5 
 And, to that dauntless temper of his mind, 
 He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour 
 To act in safety. There is none but he 
 Whose being I do fear: and under him 
 My Genius is rebuk'd, as it is said 
 Mark Antony's was by Caesar. He chid the sisters, 
 When first they put the name of king upon me, 
 And bade them speak to him; then prophet-like 
 They hail'd him father to a line of kings. 
 Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown, 
 And put a barren sceptre in my gripe, 
 Thence to be wrench' d with an unlineal hand, 
 ISTo son of mine succeeding. If 't be so, 
 For Banquo' s issue have I fil'd my mind; 
 For them the gracious Duncan have I murthered ; 
 Put rancours in the vessel of my peace 
 Only for them; and mine eternal jewel 
 (liven 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 tiro Murderers. 
 
 Xow go to the door, and stay there till we call. — 
 
 [Exit Attendant. 
 Was it not yesterday we spoke together ? 
 
 First Murderer. It was, so please your highness. 
 
scene I] MACBETH 59 
 
 Macbeth. Well then, now 
 
 Have you considered of my speeches ? Know 
 That it was he in the times past which held yon 
 So under fortune, which you thought had been 
 Our innocent self. This I made good to you 
 In our last conference, pass'd in probation with you, so 
 How you were borne in hand, how cross'd, the instruments, 
 Who wrought with them, and all things else that might 
 To half a soul and to a notion craz'd 
 Say 'Thus did Banquo.' 
 
 First Murderer. You made it known to us. 
 
 Macbeth. 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 gospell'd 
 To pray for this good man and for his issue, 
 Whose heavy hand hath bow'd you to the grave 
 And beggar'd yours forever ? 
 
 First Murderer. We are men, my liege. 
 
 Macbeth. Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men, 
 As hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs, 
 Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are clept 
 All by the name of dogs: the valued file 
 Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the subtle, 
 The housekeeper, the hunter, every one 
 According to the gift which bounteous nature 
 Hath in him clos'd ; whereby he does receive 
 Particular addition, from the bill 
 
 That writes them all alike: and so of men. 10 ° 
 
 Now if you have a station in the file, 
 Not i' the worst rank of manhood, say 't, 
 
60 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act ui 
 
 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 this life, 
 Which in his death were perfect. 
 
 Second Murderer. I am one, my liege, 
 
 Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world 
 Have so incens'd that I am reckless what 
 I do to spite the world. 
 
 First Murderer. And I another 110 
 
 So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune, 
 That I would set my life on any chance, 
 To mend it or be rid on ? t. 
 
 Macbeth. Both of you 
 
 Know Banquo was your enemy. 
 
 Both Murderers. True, my lord. 
 
 Macbeth. 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 barefac'd 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, 12 ° 
 
 Whose loves I may not drop, but wail his fall 
 Who 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. 
 
 Second Murderer. We shall, my lord, 
 
 Perform what you command us. 
 
 First Murderer. Though our lives — 
 
 Macbeth. Your spirits shine through you. Within this 
 hour at most 
 
scene ii] MACBETH 61 
 
 I will advise you where to plant yourselves, 
 Acquaint with you with the 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. Kesolve yourselves apart: 
 I '11 come to you anon. 
 
 Both Murderers. We are resolv'd, my lord. 
 
 Macbeth. I'll call upon you straight: abide within. 
 
 [Exeunt Murderers. 
 
 It is concluded: Banquo, thy soul's flight, 
 
 If it find heaven, must find it out to-night. [Exit. 
 
 Scene II. The Same. Another Room. 
 Enter Lady Macbeth and a Servant. 
 Lady Macbeth. Is Banquo gone from court ? 
 Servant. Ay, madam, but returns again to-night. 
 Lady Macbeth. Say to the king, I would attend his 
 leisure 
 For a few words. 
 
 Servant. Madam, I will. [Exit. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Nought 's had, all 's spent, 
 
 Where our desire is got without content: 
 'T is safer to be that which we destroy 
 Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. 
 
 Enter Macbeth. 
 How now, my lord! why do you keep alone, 
 Of sorriest fancies your companions making, 
 
62 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act in 
 
 Using those thoughts which should indeed have died 10 
 With them thej think on ? Things without all remedy 
 Should be without regard : what 's done is done. 
 
 Macbeth. We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it: 
 She '11 close and be herself, whilst our poor malice 
 Remains in danger of her former tooth. 
 But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer, 
 Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep 
 In the affliction of these terrible dreams 
 That shake us nightly; better be with the dead. 
 Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace, 
 Than on the torture of the mind to lie 
 In restless ecstacy. Duncan is in his grave; 
 After life's fitful fever he sleeps well ; 
 Treason has done his worst : nor steel, nor poison, 
 Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, 
 Can touch him further. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Come on; 
 
 Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks ; 
 Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night. 
 
 Macbeth. So shall I, love ; and so, I pray, be you : 
 Let your remembrance apply to Banquo; 
 Present him eminence, both with eye and tongue: 
 Unsafe the while that we 
 
 Must lave our honours in these flattering streams, 
 And make our faces visards to our hearts, 
 Disguising what they are. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. You must leave this. 
 
 Macbeth. O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! 
 Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. But in them nature's copy 's not eterne. 
 
scene in] MACBETH 63 
 
 Macbeth. There's comfort yet; they are assailable; 
 Then be thou jocund. Ere the bat hath flown 
 His cloister' d flight, ere to black Hecate's summons 
 The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums 
 Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done 
 A deed of dreadful note. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. What 's to be done ? 
 
 Macbeth. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, 
 Till thou applaud the deed. — Come, seeling night, 
 Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day, 
 And with thy bloody and invisible hand 
 Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond 
 Which keeps me pale ! — Light thickens, and the crow 50 
 Makes wing to the rooky wood: 
 Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, 
 Whiles night's black agents to their preys do rouse. 
 Thou marvell'st at my words ; but hold thee still : 
 Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill. 
 So, prithee, go with me. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene III. A Park near the Palace. 
 Enter three Murderers. 
 First Murderer. But who did bid thee join with us ? 
 Third Murderer. Macbeth. 
 
 Second Murderer. He needs not our mistrust, since he 
 delivers 
 Our offices and what we have to do 
 To the direction just. 
 
 First Murderer. Then stand with us. 
 
 The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day: 
 Now spurs the lated traveller apace 
 To gain the timely inn, and near approaches 
 
64 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act hi 
 
 The subject of our watch. 
 
 Third Murderer. Hark! I hear horses. 
 
 Banquo. [Within] Give us a light there, ho! 
 
 Second Murderer. Then 't is he : the rest 
 
 That are within the note of expectation 
 Already are i' the court. 
 
 First Murderer. His horses go about. 
 
 Third Murderer. Almost a mile: but he does usually, 
 So all men do, from hence to the palace gate 
 Make it their walk. 
 
 Second Murderer. A light, a light! 
 
 Enter Banquo, and Fleance with a torch. 
 
 Third Murderer. 'T is he. 
 
 First Murderer. Stand to 't. 
 
 Banquo. It will be rain to-night. 
 
 First Murderer. Let it come down. 
 
 [They set upon Banquo. 
 
 Banquo. O, treachery ! Fly, good Lleance, fly, fly, fly ! 
 Thou mayst revenge. — slave ! — [Dies. Fleance escapes. 
 
 Third Murderer. Who did strike out the light ? 
 
 First Murderer. Was 't not the way ? 
 
 Third Murderer. There 's but one down; the son is fled. 
 
 Second Murderer. We have lost 
 
 Best half of our affair. 21 
 
 First Murderer. Well, let 's away and say how much is 
 done. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene IV. Hall in the Palace. 
 A Banquet prepared. Enter Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, 
 Boss, Lennox, Lords, and Attendants. 
 Macbeth. You know your own degrees ; sit down : at first 
 And last the hearty welcome. 
 
scene iv] MACBETH 65 
 
 Lords. Thanks to your majesty. 
 
 Macbeth. Ourself will mingle with society 
 And play the humble host. 
 Our hostess keeps her state, but in best time 
 We will require her welcome. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our 
 friends ; 
 For my heart speaks they are welcome. 
 
 First Murderer appears at the door. 
 Macbeth. See, they encounter thee with their hearts' 
 thanks. — 
 Both sides are even : here I '11 sit i' the midst. 
 Be large in mirth ; anon we '11 drink a measure 
 The table round. — [Approaching the door] There "s blood 
 upon thy face. 
 Murderer. J T is Banquo's then. 
 Macbeth. 'T is better thee without than he within. 
 Is he dispatch'd ? 
 
 Murderer. My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for 
 
 him. 
 Macbeth. Thou art the best o 1 the cut-throats : yet he 's 
 good 
 That did the like for Fleance: if thou didst it, 
 Thou art the nonpareil. 
 
 Murderer. Most royal sir, 
 
 Fleance is scap'd. 20 
 
 Macbeth. [Aside] Then comes my fit again: I had else 
 been perfect, 
 Whole as the marble, founded as the rock, 
 As broad and general as the casing air; 
 But now I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confm'd, bound in 
 -5 
 
66 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act hi 
 
 To saucy doubts and fears. — But Banquo ? s safe? 
 
 Murderer. Ay, my good lord: safe in a ditch he bides 
 With twenty trenched gashes on his head, 
 The least a death to nature. 
 
 Macbeth. Thanks for that. 
 
 [Aside'] There the grown serpent lies; the worm that 's fled 
 Hath nature that in time will venom breed, 
 Xo teeth for the present. — Get thee gone: to-morrow 
 We '1! hear ourselves again. [Exit Murderer. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. My royal lord, 
 
 Yon do not give the cheer; the feast is sold 
 That is not often vouch/d, while 't is a-making, 
 'T is given with welcome: to feed were best at home; 
 From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony; 
 Meeting were bare without it. 
 
 Mdcbeth. Sweet remembrancer! 
 
 Now good digestion wait on appetite, 
 And health on both ! 
 
 Lennox. May 't please your highness sit. • 
 
 [The Ghost of Bancfiio rulers, and sits in Macbeth 's place. 
 
 Macbeth. Here had w r e now our country's honour roof'd. 
 Were the grae'd person of our Banquo present; 41 
 
 Who may I rather challenge for unkindness 
 Than pity for mischance! 
 
 Ross. Ilis absence, sir, 
 
 Lays blame upon his promise. Please T your highness 
 To grace us with your royal company. 
 
 Macbeth. The table 's full. 
 
 Lennox. Here is a place rescrv'd, sir. 
 
 Macbeth. Where? 
 
 Lennox. Here, my good lord. What is ? t that moves 
 your highness ? 
 
scene iv] MACBETH 67 
 
 Macbeth. Which of you have done this? 
 
 Lords. What, my good lord ? 
 
 Macbeth. Thou canst not say I did it: never shake 50 
 Thy gory locks at me. 
 
 Ross. Gentlemen, rise: his highness is not well. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. 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 ? 
 
 Macbeth. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that 
 Which might appal the devil. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. O proper stuff ! 
 
 This is 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. 
 
 Macbeth. Prithee, see there ! behold ! look ! lo ! ho 
 
 w 
 
 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. [Ghost vanishes. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. What, quite unmann'd in folly 1 
 
 Macbeth. If I stand here, I saw him. 
 
68 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act hi 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Fie, for shame! 
 
 Macbeth. Blood hath, been shed ere now, i' the olden 
 time, 
 Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal; 
 Ay, and since too, murthers have been perform'd 
 Too terrible for the ear: the time has been, 
 That when the brains were out the man would die, 
 And there an end ; but now they rise again, 
 With twenty mortal murthers on their crowns, 
 And push us from our stools. This is more strange 
 Than such a murther is. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. My worthy lord, 
 
 Your noble friends do lack you. 
 
 Macbeth. 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 '11 sit down. — Give me some wine, fill full. — 
 I drink to the general joy o' the whole table, 
 And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss; d0 
 
 Would he were here! to all and him wc thirst, 
 And all to all. 
 
 Lords. Our duties, and the pledge. 
 
 Re-enter Ghost. 
 
 Macbeth. 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 Macbeth. Think of this, good peers, 
 
 But as a thing of custom : 't is no other ; 
 
scene iv] MACBETH 69 
 
 Only it spoils the pleasure of the time. 
 
 Macbeth. What man dare, I dare: 
 Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, 10 ° 
 
 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 inhabit then, protest me 
 The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow ! 
 Unreal mockery, hence! [Ghost vanishes. 
 
 Why, so: being gone, 
 I am a man again. — Pray you, sit still. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. You have displac'd the mirth, broke the 
 good meeting, 
 With most admir'd disorder. 
 
 Macbeth. Can such things be, no 
 
 And overcome us like a summer's cloud, 
 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 is blanch'd with fear. 
 
 Ross. What sights, my lord ? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. 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. 
 
 Lennox. Goodnight; and better health 120 
 
 Attend his majesty ! 
 
 Lady Macbeth. A kind good night to all ! 
 
 [Exeunt all but Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. 
 
70 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act hi 
 
 Macbeth. It will have blood, they say; blood will have 
 blood : 
 Stones have been known to move and trees to speak; 123 
 Augurs and understood relations have 
 By magot-pies and choughs and rooks brought forth 
 The secret'st man of blood. — What is the night? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Almost at odds with morning, which is 
 which. 
 
 Macbeth. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his per- 
 son 
 At our great bidding? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Did you send to him, sir ? 
 
 Macbeth. I hear it by the way, but I will send: 130 
 
 There 's not a one of them but in his house 
 I keep a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow, 
 And betimes I will, to 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 
 Stepp'd 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 banc 1 
 Which must be acted ere they may be scanned. 140 
 
 Lady Macbeth. You lack the season of all natures, sleep. 
 
 Macbeth. Come, we Tl to sleep. My strange and self- 
 abuse 
 Is the initiate fear that wants hard use: 
 We are yet but young in deed. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene V. A Heath. 
 Thunder. Enter the three Witches, meeting Hecate. 
 First Witch. Why, how now, Hecate ! you look angerly. 
 
scene v] MAGBETH 71 
 
 Hecate. Have I not reason, beldams as you are, 
 Saucy and overbold? How did you dare 
 To trade and traffic 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 part, 
 Or show the glory of our art ? 
 
 And, which is worse, all you have done 10 
 
 Hath been but for a wayward son, 
 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 
 Meet me i' the 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 '11 spend 20 
 
 Unto a dismal and a fatal end: 
 Great business must be wrought ere noon. 
 Upon the corner of the moon 
 There hangs a vaporous drop profound; 
 I'll catch it ere it come to ground: 
 And that, distilPd by magic sleights, 
 Shall raise such artificial sprites 
 As by the strength of their illusion 
 Shall draw him on to his confusion. 
 
 He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear so 
 
 His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear : 
 And you all know security 
 
72 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act hi 
 
 Is mortals' chiefest enemy. 
 
 [Music and a song within: 'Come away, came away/ etc. 
 
 Hark! I am call'd ; my little spirit, see. 
 
 Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me. [Exit. 
 
 First Witch. Come, let 's make haste ; she '11 soon be 
 
 back again. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene VI. Forres. The Palace. 
 Enter Lennox and another Lord. 
 Lennox. My former speeches have but hit your thoughts, 
 Which can interpret farther: 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 't please you, Fleance kill'd. 
 For Fleance fled: men must not walk too late. 
 Who cannot want the thought, how monstrous 
 It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain 
 To kill their gracious father? damned fact! 10 
 
 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 't would have angered any heart alive 
 To hear the men deny 't. 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 heaven, he shall not — they should find 
 What 't were to kill a father ; so should Fleance. 20 
 
 But, peace ! for from broad words, and 'cause he fail'd 
 His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear 
 
scene vi] MACBETH 73 
 
 Macduff lives in disgrace. Sir, can you tell 
 Where lie 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, upon his aid 30 
 
 To wake Northumberland and warlike Siward; 
 That by 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; 
 All which we pine for now. And this report 
 Hath so exasperate the king that he 
 Prepares for some attempt of war. 
 
 Lennox. Sent he to Macduff % 
 
 Lord. He did: and with an absolute k Sir, not 1/ 40 
 The cloudy messenger turns me his back, 
 And hums, as who should say 'You '11 rue the time 
 That clogs me with this answer.' 
 
 Lennox. And that well might- 
 
 Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance 
 His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel 
 Ely 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 ! 
 
 Lord. I '11 send my prayers with him ! 
 
 [Exeunt 
 
ACT IV. 
 
 Scene I. A Cavern. Li the Middle, a Boiling Cauldron. 
 Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 
 
 First Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. 
 
 Second Witch. Thrice and once the hedge-pig whin VI. 
 
 Third Witch. Harpier cries, — 't is time, 't is time. 
 
 First Witch. Round about the cauldron go; 
 In the poison'd entrails throw. 
 Toad, that under cold stone 
 Days and nights has thirty-one 
 Swelter'd venom sleeping got, 
 Boil thou first i' the charmed pot. 
 
 All. Double, double toil and trouble ; 10 
 
 Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 
 
 Second Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake, 
 In the cauldron boil and bake; 
 Eye of newt and toe of frog, 
 Wool of bat and tongue of dog, 
 Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, 
 Lizard's le^ and howlet's wins:, 
 For a charm of powerful trouble, 
 Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. 
 
 All. Double, double toil and trouble; 20 
 
 Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 
 
 Third Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, 
 Witches' mummy, maw and gulf 
 Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark, 
 
 (74) 
 
scene i] MACBETH 75 
 
 Rout of hemlock digg'd i' the dark, 
 
 Liver of blaspheming Jew, 
 
 Gall of goat, and slips of yew 
 
 Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse, 
 
 Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips, 
 
 Finger of birth-strangled babe 30 
 
 Ditch-deliver'd by a drab, 
 
 Make the gruel thick and slab: 
 
 Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, 
 
 For the ingredients of our cauldron. 
 
 All. Double, double toil and trouble; 
 Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 
 
 Second Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood, 
 Then the charm is firm and good. 
 
 Enter Hecate. 
 
 Hecate. O, well done! I commend your pains; 
 And every one shall share i' the gains : 40 
 
 And now about the cauldron sing, 
 Like elves and fairies in a ring, 
 Enchanting all that you put in. 
 
 [Music and a song: 'Black spirits,' etc. Hecate retires. 
 
 Second Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, 
 Something wicked this way comes. 
 Open, locks, 
 Whoever knocks ! 
 
 Enter Macbeth. 
 
 Macbeth. How now, you secret, black, and midnight 
 hags! 
 What is 't you do ? 
 
 All. A deed without a name. 
 
 Macbeth. I conjure you, by that which you profess, 50 
 
76 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act iv 
 
 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 ; 
 
 Though bladed corn be lodg'd and trees blown down ; 
 
 Though castles topple on their warders' heads; 
 
 Though palaces and pyramids do slope 
 
 Their heads to their foundations ; though the treasure 
 
 Of nature's germens tumble all together, 
 
 Even till destruction sicken ; answer me 
 
 To what I ask you. 
 
 First Witch. Speak. 
 
 Second Witch. Demand. 
 
 Third Witch. We '11 answer. 
 
 First Witch. Say, if thou 'dst rather hear it from our 
 mouths, 
 Or from our masters. 
 
 Macbeth. Call 'em; let me see 'em. 
 
 First Witch. Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten 
 Her nine farrow ; grease that 's sweaten 
 From the murtherer's gibbet throw 
 Into the flame. 
 
 All. Come, high or low; 
 
 Thyself and office deftly show! 
 
 Thunder. First Apparition: an armed Head. 
 
 Macbeth. Tell me, thou unknown power, — 
 
 First Witch. He knows thy thought: 
 
 Hear his speech, but say thou nought. 70 
 
 First Apparition. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! be- 
 ware Macduff; 
 Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me: enough. 
 
 [Descends. 
 
scene i] MACBETH 77 
 
 Macbeth. Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution thanks : 
 Thou hast harp'd my fear aright: but one word more, — 
 
 First Witch. He will not be commanded : here 's another, 
 More potent than the first. 
 
 Thunder. Second Apparition: a bloody Child. 
 
 Second Apparition. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! 
 
 Macbeth. Had I three ears, I'd heard thee: 
 
 Second Apparition. Be bloody, bold, and resolute ; laugh 
 to scorn 
 The power of man, for none of woman born 80 
 
 Shall harm Macbeth. [Descends. 
 
 Macbeth. Then live, Macduff : what need I fear of thee i 
 But yet I '11 make assurance doubly sure, 
 And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live; 
 That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, 
 And sleep in spite of thunder. 
 
 Thunder. Third Apparition : a Child crowned, with a tree 
 in his hand. 
 
 What is this, 
 That rises like the issue of a king, 
 And wears upon his baby brow the round 
 And top of sovereignty % 
 
 All. Listen, but speak not to 't. 
 
 Third Apparition. Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no 
 care 
 Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are: 91 
 
 Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until 
 Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill 
 Shall come against him. [Descends. 
 
 Macbeth. That will never be: 
 
78 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act iv 
 
 Who can impress the forest, bid the tree 
 
 Unfix his earth-bound root ? Sweet bodements ! good ! 
 
 Rebellion's head, rise never, till the wood 
 
 Of Birnam rise, and our high-placd Macbeth 
 
 Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath 
 
 To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart 
 
 Throbs to know one thing: tell me, — if your art 
 
 Can tell so much, — shall Banquo's issue ever 
 
 Reign in this kingdom? 
 
 All. Seek to know no more. 
 
 Macbeth. I will be satisfied : deny me this, 
 And an eternal curse fall on you ! Let me know — 
 Why sinks that cauldron ? and what noise is this ? 
 
 First Witch. Show! [Hautboys. 
 
 Second Witch. Show! 
 
 Third Witch. Show! 
 
 All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; 110 
 
 Come like shadows, so depart ! 
 
 A shoiv of eight Kings, the last with a glass in his hand; 
 Banquo's Ghost following. 
 
 Macbeth. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo ; down ! 
 Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs. — And thy hair, 
 Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first. — 
 A third is like the former. — Filthy hags ! 
 Why do you show me this ? — A fourth ! — Start, eyes ! — 
 What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom ! — 
 Another yet ! — A seveuth ! — I '11 see no more : — 
 And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass 
 Which shows me many more; and some I see 120 
 
 That two-fold balls and treble sceptres carry: 
 Horrible sight ! — Now I see 't is true ; 
 
scene I] MACBETH 79 
 
 For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me, 
 And points at them for his. — [Apparitions vanish. 
 
 What, is this so? 
 
 First Witch. Ay, sir, all this is so: but why 
 Stands Macbeth thus amazedly ? 
 Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprights, 
 And show the best of our delights : 
 I 11 charm the air to give a sound, 
 
 While you perform your antic round, 130 
 
 That this great king may kindly s,ay, 
 Our duties did his welcome pay. 
 f Music. The Witches dance, and then vanish, with Hecate. 
 
 Macbeth. Where are they ? Gone? Let this pernicious 
 hour 
 Stand aye accursed in the calendar! — 
 Come in, without there ! 
 
 Enter Lennox. 
 
 Lennox. What ? s your grace's will ? 
 
 Macbeth. Saw you the weird sisters? 
 
 Lennox. !No, my lord. 
 
 Macbeth. Came they not by you? 
 
 Lennox. ~No indeed, my lord. 
 
 Macbeth. Infected be the air whereon they ride; 
 And damnVl all those that trust them! — I did hear 
 The galloping of horse: who was 't came by? 14 ° 
 
 Lennox 'T is two or three, my lord, that bring you 
 word 
 Macduff is fled to England. 
 
 Macbeth. Fled to England! 
 
 Lennox. Ay, my good lord. 
 
§0 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act rv 
 
 Macbeth. [Aside'] Time, thou anticipate my dread 
 exploits : 
 The flighty purpose never is o'ertook 
 Unless the deed go with it. From this moment 
 The very firstlings of my heart shall be 
 The firstlings of my hand. And even now, 
 To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done: 
 The castle of Macduff I will surprise, 15 ° 
 
 Seize upon Fife, give to the edge o' the sword 
 His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls 
 That trace him in his line. ~No boasting like a fool; 
 This deed I '11 do before this purpose cool. 
 But no more sights ! — Where are these gentlemen ? 
 Come, bring me where they are. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene TI. Fife. A Room in Macduff's Castle. 
 Enter Lady Macduff, her Son, and Ross. 
 Lady Macduff. What had he done, to make him fly the 
 
 land ? 
 Ross. You must have patience, madam. 
 Lady Macduff. He had none ; 
 
 His flight was madness : when our actions do not, 
 Our fears do make us traitors. 
 
 Ross. You know not 
 
 Whether it was his wisdom or his fear. 
 
 Lady Macduff. Wisdom ! to leave his wife, to le,ave his 
 babes, 
 His mansion and his titles, in a place 
 From whence himself does fly? He loves us not; 
 He wants the natural touch : for the poor wren, 
 The most diminutive of birds, will fight, 10 
 
scene ii] MACBETH gj 
 
 Her young ones in her nest, against the owl. 
 All is the fear, and nothing is the love; 
 As little is the wisdom, where the flight 
 So runs against all reason. 
 
 Ross. My dearest coz, 
 
 I pray you, school yourself: but for your husband, 
 He is noble, wise, judicious, and best knows 
 The fits o' the season. I dare not speak much further; 
 But cruel are the times, when we are traitors 
 And do not know ourselves ; when we hold rumour 
 From what we fear, yet know not what we fear, 20 
 
 But float upon a wild and violent sea 
 Each way and move. I take my leave of you ; 
 Shall not be long but I '11 be here again. 
 Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward 
 To what they were before. My pretty cousin, 
 Blessing upon you! 
 
 Lady Macduff. Father'd he is, and yet he 's fatherless. 
 
 Ross. I am so much a fool, should I stay longer, 
 It would be my disgrace and your discomfort: 
 I take my leave at once. [Exit. 
 
 Lady Macduff. Sirrah, your father 's dead : 30 
 
 And what will you do now ? How will you live ? 
 
 Son. As birds do, mother. 
 
 Lady Macduff. What, with worms and flies ? 
 
 Son. With what I get, I mean; and so do they. 
 
 Lady Macduff. Poor bird ! thou 'dst never fear the net 
 nor lime, 
 The pitfall nor the gin. 
 
 Son. Why should I, mother? Poor birds they are not 
 set for. 
 
 —6 
 
82 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act iv 
 
 My father is not dead, for all your saying. 
 
 Lady Macduff. Yes, he is dead: how wilt thou do for 
 a father ? 
 
 #or?/. Nay, how will you do for a husband ? 
 
 Lady Macduff. Why, I can buy me twenty at any 
 market. 
 
 Son. Then you '11 buy 'em to sell again. 
 
 Lady Macduff. Thou speak'st with all thy wit, and yet, 
 i' faith, 
 With wit enough for thee. 
 
 Son. Was my father a traitor, mother? 
 
 Lady Macduff. Ay, that he was. 
 
 Son. What is a traitor ? 
 
 Lady Macduff. Why, one that swears and lies. 
 
 Son. And be all traitors that do so ? 
 
 Lady Macduff. Every one that does so is a traitor, and 
 must be hanged. 
 
 Son. And must they all be hanged that swear and lie ? 
 
 Lady Macduff. Every one. 
 
 #07i. Who must hang them? 
 
 Lady Macduff. Why, the honest men. 
 
 Son. Then the liars and swearers are fools, for there are 
 liars and swearers enow to beat the honest men and hang 
 up them. 
 
 Lady Macduff. Now, God help thee, poor monkey ! But 
 how wilt thou do for a father? 
 
 Son. If he wore dead, you'd weep for him; if you 
 would not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have 
 a new father. 
 
 Lady Macduff. Poor prattler, how thou tabVst! 
 
scene ii] MACBETH 83 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 Messenger. Bless you, fair dame! I am not to you 
 known, 
 Though in your state of honour I am perfect. 
 I doubt some danger does approach you nearly: 
 If you will take a homely man's advice, 
 Be not found here; hence, with your little ones. 
 To fright you thus, me thinks I am too savage ; 
 To do worse to you were fell cruelty, 
 Which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you ! 
 I dare abide no longer. [Exit. 
 
 Lady Macduff. Whither should I fly? 
 
 I have done no harm. But I remember now 
 I am in this earthly world, where to do harm 
 Is often laudable, to do good sometime 
 Accounted dangerous folly : why then, alas, 
 Do I put up that womanly defence, 
 To say I have done no harm? — 
 
 Enter Murderers. 
 
 What are these faces ? 
 
 First Murderer. Where is your husband? 
 
 Lady Macduff. I hope, in no place so unsanctified 80 
 Where such as thou mayst find him. 
 
 First Murderer. He 's a traitor. 
 
 Son. Thou liest, thou shag-hair'd villain ! 
 
 First Murderer. What, you ego : 
 
 [Stabbing him. 
 Young fry of treachery ! 
 
 Son. He has kill'd me, mother: 
 
 Kun away, I pray you ! [Dies. 
 
 [Exit Lady Macduff,, crying 'Murther !' 
 Exeunt Murderers, following her. 
 
84 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act iv 
 
 Scene III. England. Before the King's Palace. 
 Enter Malcolm and Macduff. 
 
 Malcolm. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there 
 Weep our sad bosoms empty. 
 
 Macduff. Let us rather 
 
 Hold fast the mortal sword, and like good men 
 Bestride our down-fallen birthdom. Each new morn 
 New widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows 
 Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds 
 As if it felt with Scotland and yell'd out 
 Like syllable of dolour. 
 
 Malcolm, What I believe, I '11 wail ; 
 
 What know, believe ; and what I can redress, 
 As I shall find the time to friend, I will. 
 What you have spoke, it may be so perchance. 
 This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues, 
 W T as once thought honest: you have lov'd him well; 
 He hath not touch' d you yet. I am young; but something 
 You may deserve of him through me, and wisdom 
 To offer up a weak poor innocent lamb 
 To appease an angry god. 
 
 Macduff. I am not treacherous. 
 
 Malcolm. But Macbeth is. 
 
 A good and virtuous nature may recoil 
 In an imperial charge. But I shall crave your pardon ; 20 
 That which you are my thoughts cannot transpose ; 
 Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell ; 
 Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, 
 Yet grace must still look so. 
 
 Macduff. I have lost my hopes. 
 
scene in] MACBETH 85 
 
 Malcolm. Perchance even there where I did find my 
 doubts. 
 Why in that rawness left your wife and child, 
 Those precious motives, those strong knots of love, 
 Without leave-taking? I pray you, 
 Let not my jealousies be your dishonours, 
 But mine own safeties : you may be rightly just, 30 
 
 Whatever I shall think. 
 
 Macduff. Bleed, bleed, poor country ! 
 
 Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, 
 For goodness dare not check thee ! wear thou thy wrongs ; 
 The title is affeer'd ! — Fare thee well, lord : 
 I would not be the villain that thou think'st 
 For the whole space that 's in the tyrant's grasp, 
 And the rich East to boot. 
 
 Malcolm. Be not offended : 
 
 I speak not as in absolute fear of you. 
 I think our country sinks beneath the yoke; 
 It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash 40 
 
 Is added to her wounds : I think withal 
 There would be hands uplifted in my right; 
 And here from gracious England have I offer 
 Of goodly thousands ; but for all this, 
 When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head, 
 Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country 
 Shall have more vices than it had before, 
 More suffer, and more sundry ways than ever, 
 By him that shall succeed. 
 
 Macduff. What should he be? 
 
 Malcolm. It is myself I mean ; in whom I know 50 
 All the particulars of vice so grafted 
 
ao 
 
 86 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act iv 
 
 That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth 
 Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state 
 Esteem him as a lamb, being compar'd 
 With my confineless harms. 
 
 Macduff. Not in the legions 
 
 Of horrid hell can come a devil more damnd 
 In evils to top Macbeth. 
 
 Malcolm. I grant him bloody, 
 
 Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, 
 Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin 
 That has a name ; but there 's no bottom, none, 
 In my voluptuousness : your wives, your daughters, 
 Your matrons and your maids, could not fill up 
 The cistern of my lust, and my desire 
 All continent impediments would o'erbear 
 That did oppose my will. Better Macbeth 
 Than such an one to reign. 
 
 Macduff. Boundless intemperance 
 
 In nature is a tyranny ; it hath been 
 The untimely emptying of the happy throne, 
 And fall of many kings. But fear not yet 
 To take upon you what is yours ; you may 
 Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty, 
 And yet seem cold, the time you may so hoodwink. 
 We have willing dames enough; there cannot be 
 That vulture in you, to devour so many 
 As will to greatness dedicate themselves, 
 Finding it so inclin'd. 
 
 Malcolm. With this there grows 
 
 In my most ilbcompos'd affection such 
 A stanchless avarice that, were I king, 
 
scene in] MACBETH 87 
 
 I should cut off the nobles for their lands, 
 
 Desire his jewels and this other's house; 80 
 
 Arid my more-having would be as a sauce 
 To make me hunger more, that I should forge 
 Quarrels unjust against the good and loyal, 
 Destroying them for wealth. 
 
 Macduff. This avarice 
 
 Sticks deeper, grows with more pernicious root 
 Than summer-seeming lust, and it hath been 
 The sword of our slain kings: yet do not fear; 
 Scotland hath foisons to fill up your will, 
 Of your mere own. All these are portable, 
 With other graces weigh' d. 90 
 
 Malcolm. But I have none: the king-becoming graces, 
 As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, 
 Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowlme 
 Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude, 
 I have no relish of them, but abound 
 hi the division of each several crime, 
 Acting it in 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. 
 
 Macduff. O Scotland, Scotland! 10 ° 
 
 Malcolm. If such a one be fit to govern, speak: 
 I am as I have spoken. 
 
 Macduff. 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 
 
88 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act iv 
 
 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, 
 
 Oftener upon her knees than on her feet, 110 
 
 Died every day she liv'd. — Fare thee well ! 
 
 These evils thou repeat'st upon thyself 
 
 Have banish'd me from Scotland. — O my breast, 
 
 Thy hope ends here! 
 
 Malcolm. 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 130 
 Was this upon myself. What I am truly 
 Is thine and my poor country's to command ; 
 Whither indeed, before thy here-approaeh, 
 Old Siward, with ten thousand warlike men, 
 Already at a point, was setting forth. 
 Now we Tl together, and the chance of goodness 
 Be like our warranted quarrel! Why are you silent? 
 
scene in] MACBETH 89 
 
 Macduff. Such welcome and unwelcome things at once 
 'T is hard to reconcile. 
 
 Enter a Doctor. 
 Malcolm, Well, more anon. — Comes the king forth, I 
 
 9 140 
 
 pray you I 
 
 Doctor. Ay, sir; there are a crew of wretched souls 
 That stay his cure: their malady convinces 
 The great assay of art; but at his touch, 
 Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand, 
 They presently amend. 
 
 Malcolm. I thank you, doctor. [Exit Doctor. 
 
 Macduff. What 's the disease he means I 
 
 Malcolm. 7 T is call'd the evil: 
 
 A most miraculous work in this good king; 
 Which often, since my here-remain in England, 
 I have seen him do. How he solicits heaven, 
 Himself best knows : but strangely-visited people, 150 
 
 All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye, 
 The mere despair of surgery, he cures, 
 Hanging a golden stamp about their necks, 
 Put on with holy prayers ; and 't is spoken, 
 To the succeeding royalty he leaves 
 The healing benediction. With this strange virtue, 
 He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy, 
 And sundry blessings hang about his throne 
 That speak him full of grace. 
 
 Enter Ross. 
 
 Macduff. See, who comes here ? 
 
 Malcolm. My countryman ; but yet I know him not. 16 ° 
 Macduff. My ever-gentle cousin, welcome hither. 
 
90 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act iv 
 
 Malcolm. I know him now. Good God, betimes remove 
 The means that makes us strangers ! 
 
 Ross. Sir, amen. 
 
 Macduff. Stands Scotland where it did? 
 
 Ross. Alas, poor country ! 
 
 Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot 
 Be call'd our mother, but our grave; where nothing, 
 But who knows nothing, is once seen to smile; 
 Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rent the air 
 Are made, not mark'd; where violent sorrow seems 
 A modern ecstacy: the dead man's knell 17 ° 
 
 Is there scarce ask'd for who; and good men's lives 
 Expire before the flowers in their caps, 
 Dying or ere they sicken. 
 
 Macduff. O, relation 
 
 Too nice, and yet too true ! 
 
 Malcolm. What's the newest grief? 
 
 Ross. That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker; 
 Each minute teems a new one. 
 
 Macduff. How does my wife? 
 
 Ross. Why, well. 
 
 Macduff. And all my children ? 
 
 Ross. Well too. 
 
 Macduff. The tyrant has not batter' d at their peace ? 
 
 Ross. No ; they were well at peace when I did leave 'em. 
 
 Macduff. Be not a niggard of your speech : how goes 't ? 
 
 Ross. When I came hither to transport the tidings 181 
 Which I have heavily borne, there ran a rumour 
 Of many worthy fellows that were out; 
 Which was to my belief witness'd the rather, 
 For that I saw the tyrant's power afoot. 
 
scene in] MACBETH 91 
 
 Now is the time of help; your eye in Scotland 
 Would create soldiers, make our women fight, 
 To doff their dire distresses. 
 
 Malcolm. Be 't their comfort 
 
 We are coming thither; gracious England hath 
 Lent us good Siward and ten thousand men ; 190 
 
 An older and a better soldier none 
 That Christendom gives out. 
 
 Boss. Would I could answer 
 
 This comfort with the like! But I have words 
 That would be howl'd out in the desert air, 
 Where hearing should not latch them. 
 
 Macduff. What concern they I 
 
 The general cause ? or is it a fee-grief 
 Due to some single breast? 
 
 Boss. No mind that 's honest 
 
 But in it shares some woe, though the main part 
 Pertains to you alone. 
 
 Macduff. If it be mine, 
 
 Keep it not from me, quickly let me have it. 2u0 
 
 Boss. Let not your ears despise my tongue for ever, 
 Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound 
 That ever yet they heard. 
 
 Macduff. Hum ! I guess at it. 
 
 Boss. Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes 
 Savagely slaughter' d : to relate the manner, 
 Were, on the quarry of these murther'd deer, 
 To add the death of you. 
 
 Malcolm. Merciful heaven ! — 
 
 Whatj man ! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows ; 
 Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak 
 
92 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act iv 
 
 Whispers the o'er-fr aught heart, and bids it break. 21 ° 
 
 Macduff. My children too ? 
 
 Boss. Wife, children, servants, all. 
 
 That could be found. 
 
 Macduff. And I must be from thence ! — 
 
 My wife kill'cl too ? 
 
 Ross. I have said. 
 
 Malcolm. Be comforted: 
 
 Let 's make us medicines of our great revenge, 
 To cure this deadly grief. 
 
 Macduff. He has no children. — All my pretty ones ? 
 Did you say all ?— O hell-kite !— All % 
 What, all my pretty chickens and their dam 
 At one fell swoop ? 
 
 Malcolm. Dispute it like a man. 
 
 Macduff. I shall do so; 220 
 
 But I must also feel it as a man : 
 I cannot but remember such things were, 
 That were most precious to me. — Did heaven look on, 
 And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff, 
 They were all struck for thee ! naught that I am, 
 Not for their own demerits, but for mine, 
 Fell slaughter on their souls. Heaven rest them now ! 
 
 Malcolm. Be this the whetstone of your sword : let grief 
 Convert to anger; blunt not the heart, enrage it. 
 
 Macduff. O, I could play the woman with mine eyes, 230 
 And braggart with my tongue ! — But, gentle heavens, 
 Cut short all intermission ; front to front 
 Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself; 
 Within my sword's length set him; if he scape, 
 Heaven forgive him too ! 
 
scene in] MACBETH 93 
 
 Malcolm. This tune goes manly. 
 
 Come, go we to the king: our power is ready; 
 Our lack is nothing but our leave. Macbeth 
 Is ripe for shaking, and the powers above 
 Put on their instruments. Receive what cheer you may; 
 The night is long that never finds the day. 240 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
ACT V. 
 
 Scene I. Dunsinane. A Room in the Castle. 
 Enter a Doctor of Physic and a Waiting Gentlewoman. 
 
 Doctor. I have two nights watched with yon, but can per 
 ceive no truth in your report. When was it she last walked ? 
 
 Gentlewoman. Since his majesty went into the field, I 
 have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown npon 
 her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon 
 't, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed ; yet 
 all this while in a most fast sleep. 
 
 Doctor. A great' perturbation in nature, to receive at once 
 the benefit of sleep and do the effects of watching! In this 
 slumbery agitation, besides her walking and other actual 
 performances, what at any time have you heard her say ? n 
 
 Gentlewoman. That, sir, which I will not report after 
 her. 
 
 Doctor. You may to me, and 't is most meet you should. 
 
 Gentlewoman. Neither to you nor any one, having no 
 witness to confirm my speech. 
 
 Enter Lady Macbeth, with a taper. 
 Lo you, here she comes ! This is her very guise; and, upon 
 my life, fast asleep. Observe her ; stand close. 
 
 Doctor. How came she by that light? 
 
 Gentlewoman. Why, it stood by her: she has light by 
 her continually; 't is her command. 20 
 
 Doctor. You see, her eyes are open. 
 
 Gentlewoman. Ay, but their sense is shut. 
 
 (94) 
 
scene i] MACBETH 95 
 
 Doctor. What is it she does now? Look, how she rubs 
 her hands. 
 
 Gentlewoman. It is an accustomed action with her, to 
 seem thus washing her hands : I have known her continue 
 in this a quarter of an hour. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Yet here 's a spot. 
 
 Doctor. Hark! she speaks: I will set down what comes 
 from her, to satisfy my remembrance the more strongly. 30 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Out, damned spot! out, I say! — One: 
 two: why, then 't is time to do 't. — Hell is murky! — Fie, 
 my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard ? What need we fear 
 who knows it, when none can call our power to account? — 
 Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so 
 much blood in him? 
 
 Doctor. Do you mark that? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. The thane of Fife had a wife: where is 
 she now ? — What, will these hands ne'er be clean ? — No 
 more o' that, my lord, no more o' that: you mar all with 
 this starting. 41 
 
 Doctor. Go to, go to ; you have known what you should 
 not. 
 
 Gentlewoman. She has spoke what she should not, I am 
 sure of that: heaven knows what she has known. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Here 's the smell of the blood still : all 
 the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. 
 Oh, oh, oh ! 
 
 Doctor. What a sigh is there ! The heart is sorely 
 charged. 50 
 
 Gentlewoman. I would not have such a heart in my 
 bosom for the dignity of the whole body. 
 
 Doctor. Well, well, well, — 
 
96 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act v 
 
 Gentlewoman. Pray God it be, sir. 
 
 Doctor. This disease is beyond my practice : yet I have 
 known those which have walked in their sleep who have 
 died holily in their beds. 
 
 Lady Macbeth. Wash your hands, put on your night- 
 gown ; look not so pale. — I tell you yet again, Banquo 's 
 buried ; he cannot come out on 's grave. 60 
 
 Doctor. Even so ? 
 
 Lady Macbeth. To bed, to bed ! there ? s knocking at the 
 gate ; come, come, come, come, give me your hand. What 
 ? s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed ! [Exit. 
 
 Doctor. Will she go now to bed ? 
 
 Gentlewoman. Directly. 
 
 Doctor. Foul whisperings are abroad. Unnatural deeds 
 Do breed unnatural troubles : infected minds 
 To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. 
 More needs she the divine than the physician. — 
 God, God forgive us all ! — Look after her ; 
 Remove from her the means of all annoyance, 
 And still keep eyes upon her. So, good night: 
 My mind she has mated, and amaz'd my sight. 
 I think, but dare not speak. 
 
 Gentlewoman. Good night, good doctor. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene II. The Country near Dunsinane. 
 Drum and colours. Enter Menteith, Caithness, Angus, 
 Lennox, and Soldiers. 
 Menteith. The English power is near, led on by Mal- 
 colm, 
 His uncle Siward, and the good Macduff. 
 
scene ii] MACBETH 97 
 
 Revenges burn in them; for their dear causes 
 Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm 
 Excite the mortified man. 
 
 Angus. Near Birnam wood ■ 
 
 Shall we well meet them ; that way are they coining. 
 
 Caithness. Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother? 
 
 Lennox. For certain, sir, he is not. I have a file 
 Of all the gentry: there is Siward's son, 
 And many unrough youths, that even now 10 
 
 Protest their first of manhood. 
 
 Menteith. What does the tyrant? 
 
 Caithness. Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies. 
 Some say he 's mad ; others, that lesser hate him, 
 Do call it valiant fury : but, for certain, 
 He cannot buckle his distemperd cause 
 Within the belt of rule. 
 
 Angus. Now does he feel 
 
 His secret murthers sticking on his hands; 
 Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach: 
 Those he commands move only in command, 
 Nothing in love; now does he feel his title 
 Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe 
 Upon a dwarfish thief. 
 
 Menteith. Who then shall blame 
 
 His pester' d senses to recoil and start, 
 When all that is within him does condemn 
 Itself for being there ? 
 
 Caithness. Well, march we on, 
 
 To give obedience where 't is truly owed: 
 Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal, 
 And with him pour we in our country's purge 
 -7 
 
98 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act v 
 
 Each drop of us. 
 
 Lennox. Or so much as it needs, 
 
 To dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds. 
 Make we our march towards Birnam. {Exeunt, marching. 
 
 Scene III. Dunsinane. A Room in the Castle. 
 Enter Macbeth, Doctor, and Attendants. 
 
 Macbeth. Bring me no more reports ; let them fly all : 
 Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane, 
 I cannot taint with fear. What 's the boy Malcolm ? 
 Was he not born of woman ? The spirits that know 
 All mortal consequences have pronounc'd me thus: 
 Tear not, Macbeth ; no man that 's born of woman 
 Shall e'er have power upon thee.' Then fly/false thanes, 
 And mingle with the English epicures : 
 The mind I sway by and the heart I bear 
 Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear. 10 
 
 Enter a Servant. 
 The devil damn thee black, thou cream-fac'd loon! 
 Where gott'st thou that goose look ? 
 
 Servant. There is ten thousand — 
 
 Macbeth. Geese, villain? 
 
 Servant. Soldiers, sir. 
 
 Macbeth. Go prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, 
 Thou lily-liver' d boy. What soldiers, patch ? 
 Death of thy soul ! those linen cheeks of thine 
 Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face? 
 
 Servant. The English forces, so please you. 
 
 Macbeth. Take thy face hence. — [Exit Servant. 
 
 Seyton! — I am sick at hear:, 
 When I behold— Seyton, I say!— This push 20 
 
scene m] MACBETH 99 
 
 Will cheer me ever, or dis-ease me now. 
 
 I have liv'd long enough : my way of life 
 
 Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf, 
 
 And that which should accompany old age, 
 
 As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, 
 
 I must not look to have; but, in their stead, 
 
 Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, 
 
 Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not. — 
 
 Seyton ! 
 
 Enter Seyton. 
 
 Seyton. What 's your gracious pleasure ? 
 
 Macbeth. What news more ? 30 
 
 Seyton. All is confirm'd, my lord, which was reported. 
 
 Macbeth. I '11 fight till from my bones my flesh be 
 hack'd. 
 Give me my armour. 
 
 Seyton. 'T is not needed yet. 
 
 Macbeth. I '11 put it on. 
 Send out moe horses, skirr the country round; 
 Hang those that talk of fear. Give me mine armour. — 
 How does your patient, doctor? 
 
 Doctor. Not so sick, my lord, 
 
 As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies, 
 That keep her from her rest. 
 
 Macbeth. Cure her of that. 
 
 Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, 
 Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, 
 Raze out the written troubles of the brain, 
 And with some sweet oblivious antidote 
 Cleanse the stuff' d bosom of that perilous stuff 
 Which weighs upon the heart? 
 
 LofC. 
 
100 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act v 
 
 Doctor. Therein the patient 
 
 Must minister to himself. 
 
 Macbeth. Throw physic to the dogs, I '11 none of it. — 
 Come, put mine armour on ; give me my staff. — 
 Seyton, send out. — Doctor, the thanes fly from me. — 
 Come, sir, dispatch. — If thou couldst, doctor, cast 
 The water of my land, find her disease, 
 And purge it to a sound and pristine health, 
 I would applaud thee to the very echo, 
 That should applaud again. — Pull 't off, I say. — 
 What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug, 
 Would scour these English hence ? Hear'st thou of them ? 
 
 Doctor. Ay, my good lord ; your roj T al preparation 
 Makes us hear something. 
 
 Macbeth. Bring it after me. — 
 
 I will not be afraid of death and bane 
 Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane. [Exit. 
 
 Doctor. W T ere I from Dunsinane away and clear, 
 Profit again should hardly draw me here. [Exit. 
 
 Scene IV. Country near Birnam Wood. 
 Drum, and colours. Enter Malcolm, old Siwawv and his 
 
 Son, Macduff, Menteith, Caithness, Angus, Len- 
 nox, Ross, and Soldiers, marching. 
 
 Malcolm. Cousins, I hope the days are near at hand 
 That chambers will be safe. 
 
 Menteith. We doubt it nothing. 
 
 Siward. What wood is this before us ? 
 
 Menteith. The wood of Birnam. 
 
 Malcolm. Let every soldier hew him down a bough, 
 And bear 7 t before him; thereby shall we shadow 
 
scene iv] MACBETH 101 
 
 The numbers of our host, and make discovery 
 Err in report of us. 
 
 Soldiers. It shall "be done. 
 
 Siward. We learn no other but the confident tyrant 
 Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure 
 Our setting down before 't. 
 
 Malcolm. 'T is his main hope; 10 
 
 For where there is advantage to be given, 
 Both more and less have given him the revolt, 
 And none serve with him but constrained things 
 Whose hearts are absent too. 
 
 Macduff. Let our just censures 
 
 Attend the true event, and put we on 
 Industrious soldiership. 
 
 Siward. The time approaches 
 
 That will with due decision make us know 
 What we shall say we have and what we owe. 
 Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate, 
 But certain issue strokes must arbitrate ; 
 Towards which advance the war. [Exeunt, marching. 
 
 Scene V. Dunsinane. Within the Castle. 
 Enter Macbeth, Seyton, and Soldiers, with drum and 
 
 colours. 
 Macbeth. Hang out our banners on the outward walls ; 
 The cry is still They come !' Our castle's strength 
 Will laugh a siege to scorn ; here let them lie 
 Till famine and the ague eat them up. 
 Were they not forc'd with those that should be ours, 
 We might have met them dareful, beard to beard, 
 And beat them backward home. [A cry of women within. 
 
102 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act v 
 
 What is that noise ? 
 
 Seyton. It is the cry of women, my good lord. [Exit. 
 
 Macbeth. I have almost forgot the taste of fears : 
 The time has been, my senses would have cool'd 
 To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair 
 Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir 
 As life were in 't. I have supp'd full with horrors ; 
 Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts, 
 Cannot once start me. — 
 
 Re-enter Seyton". 
 
 Wherefore was that cry? 
 
 Seyton. The queen, my lord, is dead. 
 
 Macbeth. She should have died hereafter; 
 There would have been a time for such a word. 
 To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, 
 Creeps in this petty pace from day to day 
 To the last syllable of recorded time, 
 And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
 The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle ! 
 Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player 
 That struts and frets his hour upon the stage' 
 And then is heard no more; it is a tale 
 Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 
 Signifying nothing. 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 Thou com'st to use thy tongue; thy story quickly. 
 
 Messenger. Gracious my lord, 30 
 
 I should report that which I say I saw, 
 But know not how to do it. 
 
 Macbeth. Well, say, sir. 
 
 Messenger. As I did stand my watch upon the hill, 
 
scene vi] MACBETH 103 
 
 I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought, 
 The wood began to move. 
 
 Macbeth. Liar and slave! 
 
 Messenger. Let me endure your wrath, if 't be not so : 
 Within this three mile you may see it coming; 
 I say, a moving grove. 
 
 Macbeth. If thou speak'st false, 
 
 Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive 
 Till famine cling thee; if thy speech be sooth, 40 
 
 I care not if thou dost for me as much. — 
 I pull in resolution, and begin 
 To doubt the equivocation of the fiend 
 That lies like truth: Tear not, till Birnam wood 
 Do come to Dunsinane;' and now a wood 
 Comes toward Dunsinane. — Arm, arm, and out! — 
 If this which he avouches does appear, 
 There is nor flying hence nor tarrying here. 
 I gin to be aweary of the sun. 
 
 And wish the estate o' the world were now undone. — 50 
 Ring the alarum-bell ! — Blow, wind ! come, wrack ! 
 At least we ? 11 die with harness on our back. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene VI. Dunsinane. Before the Castle. 
 Drum and colours. Enter Malcolm, old Siward, Mac- 
 duff, and their Army, with boughs. 
 Malcolm. Now near enough: your leavy screens throw 
 down, 
 And show like those you are. — You, worthy uncle, 
 Shall with my cousin, your right-noble son, 
 Lead our first battle ; worthy Macduff and we 
 Shall take upon 's what else remains to do, 
 
104 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act v 
 
 According to our order. 
 
 Siward. Fare you well. 
 
 Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night, 
 Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight. 
 
 Macduff. Make all our trumpets speak; give them all 
 breath, 
 Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene VII. Another Part of the Field. 
 Alarums. Enter Macbeth. 
 Macbeth. They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, 
 But, bear-like, 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. 
 Young Siward. What is thy name? 
 Macbeth. Thou 'It be afraid to hear it. 
 
 Young Siward. No; though thou call' st thyself a hotter 
 name 
 Than any is in hell. 
 
 Macbeth. My name 's Macbeth. 
 
 Young Siward. The devil himself could not pronounce 
 a title 
 More hateful to mine ear. 
 
 Macbeth. No, nor more fearful. 
 
 Young Siward. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with my 
 sword 
 I '11 prove the lie thou speak'st. 
 
 [They fight, and young Siward is stain. 
 Macbeth. Thou wast born of woman. — 
 
 But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, 
 Brandish'd bv man that 's of a woman born. [Exit. 
 
scene vin] MACBETH 105 
 
 Alarums. Enter Macduff. 
 Macduff. 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. 
 I cannot strike at wretched kerns, whose arms 
 Are hir'd to bear their staves: either thou, Macbeth, 
 Or else my sword with an unbatter'd edge 
 I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be; 20 
 By this great clatter, one of greatest note 
 Seems bruited. Let me find him, 'fortune! 
 And more I beg not. [Exit. Alarums. 
 
 Enter Malcolm and old Siwaed. 
 Siward. This way, my lord. The castle 's gently ren- 
 der'd: 
 The tyrant's people on both sides do fight; 
 The noble thanes do bravely in the war ; 
 The day almost itself professes yours, 
 And little is to do. 
 
 Malcolm. We have met with foes 
 
 That strike beside us. 
 
 Siward. Enter, sir, the castle. 
 
 [Exeunt. Alarum. 
 
 Scene VIII. Another part of the Field. 
 Enter Macbeth. 
 Macbeth. Why should I play the Koman fool, and die 
 On mine own sword ? whiles I see lives, the gashes 
 Do better upon them. 
 
106 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act v 
 
 Enter Macduff. 
 
 Macduff. Turn, hell-hound, turn! 
 
 Macbeth. Of all men else I have avoided thee: 
 But get thee back ; my soul is too much charg'd 
 With blood of thine already. 
 
 Macduff. I have no words; 
 
 My voice is in my sword, thou bloodier villain 
 Than terms can give thee out ! [They figJtt. 
 
 Macbeth. Thou losest labour. 
 
 As easy mayst thou the intrenchant air 
 With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed : J ° 
 
 Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests; 
 I bear a charmed life, which must not yield 
 To one of woman born. 
 
 Macduff. Despair thy charm, 
 
 And let the angel whom thou still hast serv'd 
 Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb 
 Untimely ripp'd. 
 
 Macbeth. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, 
 For it hath cow'd my better part of man ! 
 And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd, 
 That palter with us in a double sense; 20 
 
 That keep the word of promise to our ear, 
 And break it to our hope. — I '11 not fight with thee. 
 
 Macduff. Then yield thee, coward, 
 And live to be the show and gaze o' the time: 
 We '11 have thee, as our rarer monsters are, 
 Painted upon a pole, and underwrit, 
 llere may you see the tyrant.' 
 
 Macbeth. I will not yield, 
 
 To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, 
 
scene viii] MACBETH 107 
 
 And to be baited with the rabble's curse. 
 Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, 
 And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born, 
 Yet I will try the last. Before my body 
 I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff, 
 And damn'd be him that first cries 'Hold, enough!' 
 
 [Exeunt, fighting. Alarums. 
 Retreat. Flourish. Enter, with drum and colours, Mal- 
 colm, old Siward, Ross, the other Thanes, and Soldiers. 
 
 Malcolm. I would the friends we miss were safe arriv'd. 
 
 Siward. Some must go off ; and yet, by these I see, 
 So great a day as this is cheaply bought. 
 
 Malcolm. Macduff is missing, and your noble son. 
 
 Ross. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt: 
 He only liv'd but till he was a man ; 40 
 
 The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd 
 In the unshrinking station where he fought, 
 But like a man he died. 
 
 Siward. Then he is dead ? 
 
 Ross. Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of 
 sorrow 
 Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then 
 It hath no end. 
 
 Siward. Had he his hurts before ? 
 
 Ross. Ay, on the front. 
 
 Siward. 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; 
 And so his knell is knoll'd. 
 
 Malcolm. He ? s worth more sorrow, 60 
 
 And that I '11 spend for him. 
 
108 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS [act v 
 
 Siward. 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. 
 
 Macduff. Hail, king! for so thou art. Behold, where 
 stands 
 The usurper's cursed head; the time is free. 
 I see thee compass' d with thy kingdom's pearl, 
 That speak my salutation in their minds; 
 Whose voices I desire aloud with mine: 
 Hail, King of Scotland! 
 
 All. Hail, King of Scotland! [Flourish. 
 
 Malcolm. We shall not spend a large expense of time 60 
 Before we reckon with your several loves, 
 And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen, 
 Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland 
 In such an honour nam'd. W T hat 's more to do, 
 Which would be planted newly with the time, — 
 As calling home our exil'd friends abroad 
 That fled the snares of watchful tyranny, 
 Producing forth the cruel ministers 
 Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen, 
 Who, as 't is thought, by self and violent hands 70 
 
 Took off her life, — this, and what needful else 
 That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace 
 We will perform in measure, time, and place: 
 So, thanks to all at once and to each one, 
 Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone. 
 
 [Flourish. Exeunt. 
 
NOTES TO MACBETH. 
 
ABBKEVIATIONS. 
 
 Adjective Adj. 
 
 Adverb Adv. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra. A. & G. 
 
 Dictionary Diet. 
 
 Edition Ed. 
 
 English Grammar Eng. Gram. 
 
 Hamlet Ham. 
 
 Julius Caesar J. G. 
 
 Lady Macbeth Lady M. 
 
 Macbeth Macb. 
 
 Obsolete Obs. 
 
 Shakespeare Shak. 
 
 (110) 
 
NOTES. 
 
 ACT I. 
 
 Scene I. Note the stage setting of this scene. 
 
 8. Graymalkin. Grimalkin, a gray cat. 
 
 9. Paddock. A toad. 
 
 Scene II.— 6. Say. Tell. Broil. Battle. 
 
 9. Choke their art. Prevent any skill in the art of swimming 
 by clinging together and hindering each other's movements. 
 10. To that. To that end. 
 
 13. Of kerns and gallowglasses. With light-armed and heavy- 
 armed foot soldiers from Ireland and the Western Isles. 
 
 14. Quarrel. Occasion of strife. 
 19. Minion. Favorite one. 
 
 22. From the nave to the chaps. From the navel to the throat. 
 
 25. Gins. Begins. The simile here used refers to the conditions 
 attending the spring equinox. Although it marks the approach of a 
 pleasant season, it is attended with dangerous storms. 
 
 31. Surveying vantage. Seeing his opportunity. 
 
 32. Furbished. Burnished. 
 
 37. Cracks. Figure of metonymy. 
 
 40. Memorize. Make memorable. 
 
 41. / cannot tell . Completed, "I cannot tell what they meant 
 
 to do, if not this." 
 
 53. Cawdor. "Cawdor Castle is about five miles south of Nairn 
 and about fifteen from Inverness. The royal license to build it was 
 granted by James II., in 1454. There is a tradition that a 'wise 
 man' counseled the Thane of Cawdor to load an ass with a chest full 
 of gold, and to use the money in building a castle at the third haw- 
 thorn tree at which the beast should stop. The advice was followed, 
 and the castle built round the tree, the trunk of which is still shown 
 in the basement of the tower. The castle is still in excellent preserva- 
 tion, being used as a summer residence by the Earl of Cawdor." 
 
 (HI) 
 
112 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 
 
 54. Bellona's bridegroom. Bellona, the companion, wife, or sister 
 of Mars. Shak. evidently compares Macbeth to Mars. 
 
 Lapp'd in proof. Wrapped or clothed in the armor of proof. 
 
 55. Him. Antecedent is Norway. 
 
 56. Rebellious. Resisting. 
 
 57. Lavish. Unrestrained. 
 59. Composition. (See Diet.) 
 
 61. Saint Colnie's Inch. Incheolm, an island in the Firth of 
 Forth. 
 
 62. Dollars. An anachronism. 
 
 64. Bosom interest. Affection, or intimate concern. 
 Present. Immediate. 
 
 Scene III. Note setting of this scene. 
 
 6. Aroint. (See Diet.) 
 Rump-fed. Well fed. 
 Rom/on. (See Diet.) 
 
 7. Aleppo. A city in Turkey in Asia. In early times the city 
 was one of the great emporiums of trade between Europe and the 
 East. In Hakluyt's Voyages are found accounts of the ship Tiger 
 of London making a voyage to Aleppo in 1583. 
 
 8. A sieve. Used by witches for a boat. 
 
 9. Without a tail. Witches might take the form of any animal, 
 but the tail would be lacking. 
 
 10. / '11 do. That is, gnaw through the ship's bottom, and 
 wreck it. 
 
 11. I'll give thee a wind, Witches were supposed to sell winds. 
 The giving was a mark of kindness. 
 
 17. The shopman's card. The card of the compass. 
 21. Forbid. Under a curse. 
 33. Posters. "Speedy travelers." (Schmidt.) 
 35. Thrice-nine, Three and nine and their multiples were favor- 
 ite numbers of the witches. 
 
 38. So fair anil foul a day. Compare I., 1, 11. A reflection of the 
 witches' words is here. Macb. may have referred to the hard fight- 
 ing and final victories of the day. For him it was both foul and fair, 
 for he was at the height of honest greatness and on the brink of 
 his downfall. 
 
 39. Forres. A city on the Moray Frith, a few miles from Inver- 
 ness. Near by it is the "blasted heath." Of this dismal tract of 
 land Knight says: "There is not a more dreary piece of moorland 
 
NOTES 113 
 
 to be found in all Scotland. It is without tree or shrub. A few 
 patches of oats are visible here and there, and the eye reposes on a 
 fir plantation at one extremity; but all around is bleak and brown, 
 made up of peat and bog-water, white stones, and bushes of furze. 
 The desolation of the scene in stormy weather, or when the twilight 
 fogs are trailing over the pathless heath or settling down upon the 
 pools, must be indescribable." 
 
 48. Glamis. Pronounced by the Scotch, "Glams." The castle of 
 Glamis and the little village near it are situated north of Perth. 
 The castle was at one time used as the king's residence. In describ- 
 ing it Sir Walter Scott says: "It was the scene of the murder of 
 a Scottish king of great antiquity; not indeed the gracious Dun- 
 can, with whom the name naturally associates it, but Malcolm II. 
 It contains also a curious monument of the peril of feudal time*, 
 being a secret chamber, the entrance to which, by the law or custom 
 of the family, must only be known to three persons at once — the 
 Earl of Strathmore, his heir-apparent, and any third person whom 
 they may take into their confidence. The extreme antiquity of the 
 building is vouched by the immense thickness of the walls, and the 
 wild and straggling arrangement of the accommodation within- 
 doors." 
 
 53. Fantastical. That is, creations of the mind, or fancy. 
 
 66. Happy. Fortunate. 
 
 67. Get. Beget. 
 
 71. Sinel. Holinshed thinks this was Macbeth's father. 
 
 72-75. But how of Cawdor? etc. Cawdor was not prosperous, for 
 he had just suffered defeat as a rebel. There is a suggestion of deceit 
 in Macbeth's language here. 
 
 76. Owe. Own, or possess. 
 
 81. Corporal. Now usually written corporeal. 
 
 82. As breath into the wind. An exquisite simile. 
 84. On. Of. See J. C— I., 2, 71. "Jealous on me." 
 
 Insane root. The root causing insanity. Very probably, hem- 
 lock is meant. The witches used it in their composition of evil 
 stuffs for a charm. 
 
 91. Thy personal venture. The combat between Macbeth and 
 Macdonwald. 
 
 92-93. His wonders, etc. A conflict in the king's mind between 
 his astonishment and his admiration as to which should be greater. 
 
114 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 
 
 That refers to this conflict. 
 
 he cannot decide, he gives up trying. 
 
 97. As thick as tale. A much-disputed line. The folio has tale. 
 Some editors change to hail, which was a common expression among 
 early writers. 
 
 106. Addition. Title. 
 
 114. Wrack. (See Diet.) See V., 5, 51. "Blow, wind! come, 
 wrack ! " 
 
 128. Swelling act. (See Diet.) 
 
 137. Use of nature. See J. C— II., 2, 25. "Beyond all use." 
 
 Present fears, etc. Action is checked by the presence of 
 these "horrible imaginings." 
 
 147. Time and the hour. Time and the proper settlement of 
 things will go on as appointed, outside of man's power. 
 
 Scene IV.— 10. Owed. See I., 3, 76. 
 
 11. There's no art. There was none for Duncan, who turned 
 without reflection from one traitor to build "an absolute trust" on 
 his successor, the doubly treacherous Macbeth. 
 
 39. Cumberland. The title of the Crown Prince of Scotland was 
 Prince of Cumberland. 
 
 50. Stars, hide your fires. Compare Lady M.'s speech, I., 5, 48. 
 "Come, thick night," etc. 
 
 Scene V. — 2. Perfcctcst report. By the best kind of knowledge, — 
 the fulfillment of their promises having already begun. 
 5. Missives. Those sent; messengers. 
 
 14-23. Yet I do fear, etc. Here is Lady M.'s estimate of Mae- 
 beth's character. 
 
 26. Golden round. The crown. 
 
 27. Metaphysical. Here meaning supernatural, — an obsolete use. 
 In reality, the present use of metaphysical is also applicable, for 
 the mind had created this aid. 
 
 29. Thou 'rt mad to say it. Lady M., taken suddenly with the 
 news, loses her self-control. It is madness in Duncan to go straight 
 to his doom; for she knows the coming will result in his death. 
 
 36. The raven. The bird of ill-omen, hoarse from croaking Dun- 
 can's fate. 
 
 39. Mortal. Deadly. 
 
 42. Remorse. Relenting pity. A common use of the term by 
 Shak. 
 
NOTES 1J5 
 
 47. Sightless substances. Invisible forms. 
 
 70. Favour. Appearance. To wear an altered appearance begets 
 the fear in others that is in oneself. 
 
 Scene VI. — 7. Coign of vantage. An external angle offering a 
 favorable situation. 
 
 14. God Held. God yield. 
 
 20. Hermits. Beadsmen, praying for you. 
 26. In compt. In account. 
 
 Scene VII. This scene opens with one of the finest passages in 
 the whole play. Contrast lines 1-28 with V., 3, 20-28; V., 5, 
 9-28, 49-52. 
 
 4. His surcease. Its conclusion. 
 
 6. Bank and shoal of time. Some critics render, "this bench and 
 school" where "bloody instruction" is taught; schoole being the 
 term used in the folios. Others render it bank and shallow, as con- 
 trasted with the wide deeps of Eternity. The latter is certainly a 
 fine figure. 
 
 7. We'd jump the life to come. Jump = risk. If there were 
 no retribution to follow guilt in this world, Macb. would not con- 
 cern himself about the punishment in the next. 
 
 8. That. So that. 
 
 11. Commends. (See Diet.) 
 17. Faculties. (See Diet.) 
 
 21. Like a naked new-born babe, etc. One of Shak.'s extravagant 
 similes. 
 
 22. Cherubin. (Obs.) 
 
 23. Sightless couriers. Invisible couriers. See I., 5, 47. 
 
 25. I have no spur, etc. Notice the two metaphors in the lines. 
 
 35. Was the hope drunk, etc. A mixture of metaphors. Hope is 
 first personified, then compared to a garment. The passage is, how- 
 ever, very strong. Lady M. goads her husband on to the. murder by 
 calling him a coward not to do it. 
 
 45. The poor cat, etc. "The cate would eate fishe but would not 
 wet her fete." Heywood's Proverbs. 
 
 52. Adhere. Cohere. 
 
 53. That their fitness. See J. C— II., 1, 112. "This our lofty 
 scene." 
 
 64. (See Diet.) 
 
 65. That memory, etc. According to early students of anatomy, 
 
116 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 
 
 the brain was divided into three parts. In the cerebellum, memory 
 was placed to guard the reason. When, therefore, memory became 
 a fume, the receptacle of reason became an alembic to hold this 
 fume or vaporized memory filling the brain. In such condition, 
 little chance was there for the exercise of the intelligence. 
 68. A death. A kind of death, or deepest sleep. 
 
 72. Quell. A softer word for murder. 
 
 73. Mettle. Metal. 
 
 80. Each corporal agent. All the powers of the body. 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 Scene I. — 14. Offices. Servants' quarters. 
 
 16. Shut up. In measureless content he shut up the jewel in 
 its case. So Hunter decides. Other critics understand it as finish- 
 ing or concluding the giving "in measureless content." 
 
 28. Franchis'd. (See Diet.) 
 
 62. The bell invites me. An arrangement previously made with 
 Lady M. 
 
 63. Knell. The bell rung when a person was dying. 
 
 Scene II. — 1. That which hath made them drunk. Of the several 
 interpretations of this passage, the clearest one seems to be that 
 Lady M. was stimulated by the night-cup which, drugged, had made 
 drunk the grooms. 
 
 3. Owl. Always with the English a bird of superstition. 
 
 6. Possets. "Hot milk poured on ale or sack, having sugar, 
 grated biscuit, and eggs, with other ingredients boiled in it, which 
 goes all to a curd." — Academy of Armorie. 
 
 23. That. So that. 
 
 24. Addressed. Prepared. 
 
 27. Hangman's. Executioner's. 
 
 31. But wherefore, etc. An effort of Macbeth to respect himself 
 still. His mind will soon be too "full of scorpions" for him to ask 
 such questions. 
 
 35. Sleep no more, etc. See R. G. White, "The Lady Gruach's 
 Husband." Macb. did murder sleep for Lady M. and for himself. 
 See V., 1. 
 
 37. RavelVd sleave. Tangled knitting silk. 
 
 38-40. Notice the beautiful metaphors here grouped. 
 
 46. Brainsickly. Madly. 
 
 Go get some water. See V., 1, 58. 
 
NOTES 117 
 
 56. Oild. Paint with blood. Gold was then called red, (see II., 
 3, 94,) and golden blood was a not uncommon term; hence "gild 
 the faces." 
 
 60. Will all great Neptune's ocean, etc. Compare V., 1, 49. 
 "All the perfumes of Arabia," etc. 
 
 63. Making the green one red. Making the green sea entirely red, 
 all of one color, — red. 
 
 67. A little water clears us of this deed. The only water that 
 could clear them is that used to typify the inward cleansing, and 
 put on only "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost." 
 
 70. Nightgown. A robe-de-chambre. 
 
 Scene III. The much-discussed Porter, it is conceded by the 
 best critics, belongs to Shak. and not to some play-tinker who put 
 him in to "split the ears of the groundlings." The tension of the 
 audience is here relieved for a moment by this drunken watchman's 
 speech. Shak. understood the need of this, and his hand must have 
 depicted the coarse old Scotchman who guarded the gate. 
 2. Old. A colloquial term. 
 
 4. A farmer. In 1606 there was promise of unusual crops. 
 Wheat was sold at a lower price than it was at any time during 
 the next thirteen years. 
 
 5. Napkins. Handkerchiefs. 
 Enow. Plural of enough. 
 
 8. An equivocator. Probably Shak. here refers to the Jesuits, 
 who were a powerful order then, and who justified any means to 
 the end of increasing the power of the Pope of Rome. 
 
 17. The primrose way, etc. See Ham. I., 3, 50. "The primrose 
 path of dalliance." 
 
 22. The second cock. Three o'clock. 
 
 27. Timely. The common use of adj. for adv. by Shak. 
 
 31. Physics. Cures. 
 
 33. Limited. Set, or appointed. 
 
 35-41. Compare with J. C. — I., 3. 
 
 - The obscure bird. See J. C— I., 3, 26. "The bird of night." 
 
 53. Gorgon. (See Diet.) 
 
 59. The great doom's image. Image or type of the Judgment Day. 
 
 74. Mortality. Human life. 
 
 83. Badg'd. Used as a verb but once. 
 
118 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 
 
 93. Lav'd. Ornamented as with lace-work. 
 Golden blood. See II., 2, 56. 
 
 98. Breech'd. Sheathed. 
 
 100. Although some critics have regarded the fainting of Lady 
 M. as feigned, it seems a truer painting of her character to consider 
 it real. It is the bravery that is feigned. The woman is, in fact, 
 overwhelmed with horror at the whole transaction. From this time 
 on, with one or two ineffectual rallies, she will decline in will-power, 
 and become more and more a prey to remorse. 
 
 102. Argument. (See Diet.) 
 
 104. Hid in an auger-hole. In any little unsuspected place. 
 
 113. Pretense. Intention. (Obs.) 
 
 115. Manly readiness. The terms ready, and readiness, imply the 
 condition of being dressed as prepared for immediate action. 
 
 122. The near in blood, etc. The most nearly related one was 
 the guiltiest one. 
 
 Scene IV. — 8. Is 't night's predominance, etc. Is night aggres- 
 sive, or day ashamed? 
 
 12. Towering — mousing. Notice contrast between the two ad- 
 jectives. 
 
 15. Minions. See I., 2, 19. 
 
 24. Pretend. See II., 3, 113. 
 
 29. Like. Likely. 
 
 31. Scone. This place is now almost unmarked. A little por- 
 tion of Scone Abbey is still on what is now the estate of the Earl 
 of Mansfield. The famous "stone of Scone," on which the kings of 
 Scotland were crowned, is now in Westminster Abbey, a part of 
 the coronation-seat there. 
 
 33. Golme-kill. See I., 2, 61 (Note). The island of Iona, west 
 of Scotland, was the earliest seat of Christianity in the north. Here 
 St. Colomba founded a monastery, in 563 A. D. There was an old 
 belief that in the final destruction of the earth Iona would be last 
 to be destroyed. Hence its soil was sacred, and only saints and 
 kings might be buried there. At one time on this island three hun- 
 dred and fifty carved stone crosses marked tombs of important per- 
 sonages or commemorated their deeds. All but two of these were 
 destroyed in the latter part of the 16th century, by the anti-Catholic 
 power. 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 Scene I. In the opening of this act, Banquo renounces the evil 
 power of the Weird Sisters forever. 
 
NOTES 119 
 
 13. All-thing. Everything. 
 
 14. Solemn supper. An a flair of state. 
 43. While then. Till then. 
 
 Ecstacy. (See Diet.) 
 
 55. "My genius;' etc. See A. & C— II., 3, 19. 
 
 64. Fil'd. Defiled. 
 
 67. Eternal jewel. Immortal soul. Recall here Macbeth's speech 
 in the beginning of Scene VII., Act 1. 
 
 71. Champion me to the utterance. Fight with me a outranpe. 
 The term used when the challenge was to mortal combat, not to a 
 mere test of skill. 
 
 80. Probation. Act of proving. (Obs. use.) 
 
 93. Clept. Called. 
 
 96. House-keeper. Watchdog. 
 
 99. Addition. See I., 3, 106. 
 
 137. Resolve yourselves. Decide on your course. 
 
 Scene II. — 21. On the torture. On the torture-rack. 
 27. Gentle my lord. My gentle lord. 
 
 Sleek. A term applied to the hair. 
 41. Cloister d flight. Circling about the cloister towers at night- 
 fall. 
 
 46. Seeling. Blinding, a term used in falconry. 
 
 Scene III. The third murderer is generally supposed to be Macb. 
 
 himself. 
 
 2. He needs not our mistrust, etc. We may trust him. 
 10. Note of expectation. List of expected guests. 
 
 Scene IV.— 5. Her state. Her chair of state. 
 
 14. >T is better thee, etc. Differently interpreted. 1. Thee (the 
 murderer) without. He (Banquo) within. 2. Outside of thee,— that 
 is, the blood,— than within Banquo. 
 
 23. Casing. Enveloping. 
 
 32. Ourselves. Each other. 
 
 35. To feed. Mere eating. 
 
 36. From thence. Away from home. 
 101. Arm'd. Armored. 
 
 Hyrcan tiger. Hyrcania was a region southeast of the Cas- 
 pian Sea. The allusion is poetical rather than accurate in fact. 
 105. Inhabit. Live, or abide. (See Diet.) 
 
120 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 
 
 110. Admir'd. Strange. The early meaning of the verb was 
 "wonder." 
 
 111. Overcome. Overshadow. 
 
 112*. You make me strange. You make me a stranger. 
 
 119. Stand not upon the order of your going. Do not wait to 
 go out in order of your rank, as court etiquette demanded. 
 
 123. Stones. That is, stones of judgment used by the Druids. 
 
 Trees. Probably the allusion here is to the story of Poly- 
 dorus. 
 
 128. How say'st thou? What think'st thou of the refusal? etc.. 
 
 138. As go o'er. As going, or to go o'er. See Eng. Gram, 
 on the use of infinitives and participles. 
 
 141. Season. (See Diet.) 
 
 142. My strange and self-abuse, etc. My strange self-deception is 
 the fear of the beginner that lacks experience. 
 
 Scene V.— 7. Close. Secret. (See Diet.) 
 
 24. Profound. Having remarkable properties. 
 
 26. Magic sleights. Tricks of magic. 
 
 32-33. How full of meaning are these two lines, when we reflect 
 on Macbeth's position. 
 
 Scene VI. According to the Introduction to this edition, Scene 
 VI closes the first great division of the drama. How admirably it 
 leads up to the last two acts, preparing us at once for the final 
 action of the play. Withal, there is in the scene something of 
 nobility, of loyalty, and of hope, that refreshes the mind reduced 
 by the horror and repellent loathing produced by the two scenes 
 preceding this one. 
 
 ACT IV. 
 
 Scene I. — 3. Harpier. Probably a corrupt form of harpy. 
 
 8. Swelter'd venom. Some naturalists formerly believed that 
 the toad was venomous, and this venom lying underneath the skin, 
 exuded in perspiration. 
 
 22. Mummy. (See Diet.) 
 Gulf. Gullet. 
 
 23. Ravin'd. Ravenous. 
 
 27. Yew. Considered poisonous. 
 
 28. Eclipse. An unlucky time. 
 
 32. Slab. Slimy. 
 
 33. Chaudron. Entrails. 
 
NOTES 121 
 
 44. Pricking. An ancient belief was that a sudden pricking or 
 sensation of pain in the body that seemed to have no apparent 
 cause, was a sign of some coming event. 
 
 59. Germens. Germs. 
 
 68. The commonly accepted interpretation of the apparitions is 
 that the first represents Macbeth's head cut off by Macduff; the 
 second is Macduff; the third is Malcolm. 
 
 84. Take a bond of fate. Evidently Macb. does not credit the 
 witches. Why should he harm Macduff if the second apparition has 
 spoken the truth? 
 
 88. The round. The crown. See I., 5, 26. "The golden round." 
 
 93. Birnam wood — Dunsinane hill. Birnam village is now a 
 suburb of Dunkeld. Twelve miles distant are the Dunsinane Hills. 
 Only one or two trees at present remain of what was once the great 
 forest of Birnam. 
 
 95. Impress. Press into service. 
 
 96. Bodements. Prophecies. 
 
 99. Lease of nature. "Lease on life." 
 
 121. Tioo-fold balls and treble sceptres. Suggestive of the sov- 
 ereignty over England, Scotland, and Ireland. 
 
 123. Blood-bolter 'd. Boltered is a Warwickshire provincialism, 
 meaning the matting of the hair by perspiration on horses or other 
 animals. 
 
 127. Sprights. Spirits. 
 
 Scene II. — 17. Fits o' the season. Uncertain condition of the 
 times. 
 
 19. When we hold rumour, etc. When we believe dreadful things 
 will happen because we fear; yet have no reason to fear, since we 
 have done no wrong. 
 
 28. I am so much a fool. I am bo weak I should cry like a 
 woman, and so be disgraced. 
 
 34. Lime. Bird-lime. 
 
 35. Gin. Snare. 
 
 Scene III.— 3. Mortal. Deadly. 
 4. Bestride. Stand up over. 
 Bvrthdom. Fatherland. 
 
 25. Perchance, etc. Perhaps because you left your wife I have 
 cause to mistrust. 
 
 26. Rawness. Without preparation. 
 
122 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 
 
 29. Jealousies. Suspicions caused by reports from Scotland. 
 
 34. Affeer'd. Confirmed. 
 
 48. More sundry ways. In more sundry ways. 
 
 52. Open'd. Unfolded like buds, following out the figure in 
 "grafted." 
 
 58. Luxurious. Lustful. 
 
 71. Convey your pleasures, etc. Indulge secretly. 
 
 8G. Summer-seeming. Pertaining to the summer-time of life. 
 Avarice is a life-long vice in contrast to the years of youthful 
 passion. 
 
 88. Foisons. Rich harvests. 
 
 111. Died every day she lived. Lived a life of daily self-denial. 
 
 134. Old Siward. The Earl of Northumberland, father-in-law 
 of Duncan. 
 
 145. Presently. Immediately. 
 
 146. The evil. The king's evil, or scrofula. The power of curing 
 this disease was claimed for most of the English sovereigns from 
 Edward the Confessor down to the time of the Hanoverian rule. 
 
 152. Mere. (See Diet.) 
 
 153. A golden stamp. A coin hung about the neck of the person 
 cured. A custom observed by the kings who succeeded Edward. It 
 was called the "touch-piece." The one worn by Dr. Johnson, given 
 him by Queen Anne, is now in the British Museum. 
 
 172. Flowers in their caps. Referring to the custom of the High- 
 landers, who put sprigs of heather in their caps when on the march. 
 174. Too nice. Too exact. 
 
 183. Were out. Had taken the field. 
 
 184. Witness'd. Made credible. 
 
 195. Latch. Catch. (See Diet.) 
 
 196. Fee-grief. "A grief that hath a single owner." (Johnson.) 
 212. Must be. It was my fate to be. 
 
 220. Dispute it. Contend with it. Fight it down. 
 239. Put on. "Set to work." (Schmidt.) 
 
 ACT V. 
 
 Scene I.— 9. Effects. Acts. 
 
 10. Actual. Pertaining to action as distinguished from words. 
 
 31-41. In these lines Lady M., seems to live through the murder 
 
 of Duncan, the butchery of Macduff's family, and the assassination 
 
NOTES 123 
 
 of Banquo, the three great crimes of Macbeth. The words, "No more 
 o' that," etc., refer to the appearance of Banquo's ghost. 
 
 72. Remove, etc. To prevent suicide. 
 
 74. Mated. Bewildered. 
 
 Scene II. — 5. Mortified man. "The veriest ascetic." (Moberly.) 
 "Apathetic, insensible." (Scnmidt.) 
 
 10. U nrough. Beardless. 
 
 20. Now does he feel, etc. Notice the strength of the simile. 
 
 Scene III. — 1. Them. The thanes. 
 
 8. English epicures. The Scotch charged the English with 
 being gluttonous. 
 
 20. Push. Attack. 
 
 22. May. Johnson suggests May as contrasted to autumn, the 
 time of the "sear and yellow leaf." 
 
 35. Moe. More. Skirr. Scour. 
 
 47-56. Notice the change from the Doctor to Seyton and back 
 again. How nervously Macb. demands his armor put on and then 
 pulled off and brought after him. 
 
 Scene IV. — 10. Our setting down. Beginning of siege. 
 
 14. Our just censures. Let us wait and see by actual battle how 
 many followers attend Macb. Meanwhile let us be industrious sol- 
 diers. Here the truth of Hecate's words, "Security is mortals' 
 chiefest enemy," might have been verified. 
 
 Scene V. — 5. Forced. Reinforced. 
 
 11. Fell. Skin. (See Diet.) 
 
 12. Treatise. Story. 
 14. Direness. Horror. 
 
 42. Pull in. Check or rein in. 
 50. Estate. Established order. 
 
 Scene VII. — 1. They have tied me, etc. A figure based upon 
 bear-baiting. The bear was tied to a stake, and a certain number 
 of dogs allowed to make an attack at once upon him. These attacks 
 were called courses. 
 
 22. Bruited. Announced. 
 
 24. Gently. Easily. 
 
 29. Strike beside us. Macbeth's people aimed aside to save Mac- 
 beth's enemies, and so fought with them rather than against them. 
 
124 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 
 
 Scene VIII. — 1 Roman fool. Referring to the suicide of Brutus 
 and Cassius. 
 
 9. Intrenchment. (See Diet.) 
 14. Angel. Genius, or ruling spirit. 
 20. Palter. Equivocate. 
 
 26. Upon a pole. Upon a cloth or poster hung on a pole. 
 36. Go off. Die. 
 
John Brown, 
 
 ...BY... 
 
 WILLIAM ELSEY CONNELLEY. 
 
 Full Cloth, 426 pages, Antique Paper, $1.00, Prepaid. 
 
 The two numbers of the Classic, "John Brown," bound in book 
 form, with very copious notes and some additional text. The 
 notes are full, and it is believed they are indispensable to a right 
 understanding of the Territorial history of Kansas. Matters are 
 discussed in them not mentioned in the Classics; this is especially 
 true of the criticism of authorities. The notes give the text its 
 full meaning — something it cannot always convey in their absence. 
 Contains a complete index, making it a work of 426 pages. 
 
 An accurate portrait of the grand old man forms the frontis- 
 piece. 
 
 This is the latest and most complete and valuable Life of 
 John Brown published. Everything the research of the last fifteen 
 years has brought to light will be found in this work. It is here 
 conclusively shown that the attacks of those Free-State men who 
 were opposed to him were in some cases inspired by town-site pro- 
 moters, in others by jealousy and personal spite. In this volume 
 the old hero and martyr finds his right place in the history of 
 Kansas and the country. Every Kansan should have this great 
 work. We have made the price very low. 
 
 Crane & Company, Publishers, 
 
 Topeka, Kansas. 
 
Economics, 
 
 BY. 
 
 FRANK W. BLACKMAR, Ph. D., 
 
 Professor of Sociology and Economics in the University of Kansas. 
 
 A new text-book for use in Schools and Colleges. 
 Concise, scholarly, well arranged, and containing 
 the latest conclusions of the most advanced stu- 
 dents in this important field. 526 pages, Cloth, 
 $1.00, postpaid. 
 
 Professor Blackmar lias a national reputation as teacher and 
 essayist. No man in the country has made more rapid advance to 
 the first place in higher educational matters than has Mr. Black- 
 mar. He is a thorough investigator and student, a successful 
 teacher, and a sound thinker on social, political, and economic sub- 
 jects. 
 
 This book presents a complete working manual for students and 
 instructors. It covers the entire field of economics, and presents all 
 the elements of the science in a clear and concise manner. 
 
 No attempt is made to elaborate particular theories. Only prin- 
 ciples that have become permanently established are insisted upon. 
 The methods are those demonstrated the best by long use in the class- 
 room by the foremost instructors in the highest institutions. It is 
 a model text-book, consisting of a well-arranged course of study, 
 and having the leading principles of each subject presented in short 
 paragraphs. 
 
 This is the latest and best book upon this subject. We invite cor- 
 respondence with a view to introduction. 
 
 CRANE & CO. 
 
THE JOHN BROWN PAPERS 
 
 A Historical Collection of Original Documents and 
 Letters, Public, Private, and Family ; with Letters 
 of the Men Connected with Osawatomie and Har- 
 per's Ferry. 
 
 The Editors of this Great Work are Colonel RICHARD J. HINTON. 
 
 of Brooklyn, New York, and WILLIAM ELSEY 
 
 CONNELLEY, of Topeka. 
 
 Colonel Hinton is one of the few surviving pioneers of Kansas. He gave 
 the best years of his life to her cause. He has written much on Kansas 
 History. He knew personally all the great characters who fought and 
 labored for Kansas freedom. He was one of the trusted friends of John 
 Brown. Every man who went to Harper's Ferry was his friend and compan- 
 ion. For him a man was tried and executed by the State of Virginia. Colo- 
 nel Hinton's John Brown and His Men is one of the great historical works 
 of the time. He has written a great many other able and valuable works. 
 
 Mr. Connelley has written much and well on Kansas history, having just 
 completed a Life of John Brown. His works are recognized as authority. 
 He is a student, — one not afraid of work. He investigates. He digs 
 down to the origin of things in every department of his subject. He be- 
 lieves that much of genius lies in hard work. 
 
 John Brown will live in history as the greatest of American reformers. 
 The heroic age of any people is that in which its pioneers grapple with 
 and subdue the wild forces of nature, — when savage men and primeval 
 forests are made to bow to progress and civilization. In this conflict 
 men try as in a balance their institutions. In this fierce retort is their sys- 
 tem of government purified. What is fundamentally wrong is here cor- 
 rected and eliminated. The true course of national life is discovered and 
 defined. The truly great men of our country, Benton, Brown, Clay, Har- 
 rison, Jefferson, Jackson, Washington, and Franklin, learned the ways of 
 men and the spirit of liberty on the frontiers of the nation. 
 
 In the heroic age of our country John Brown grew up in the wilderness 
 of the Ohio Valley. The spirit of the Puritan Pilgrim was here quickened 
 in him. He became the disciple of Jefferson, and lived to make a reality 
 
 (127) 
 
what Jefferson left a theory. Here he developed the spirit of liberty which 
 made him the hero of the people and a martyr for humanity. He changed 
 our history and the course of our national life. No man is well informed 
 in the history of America who has not carefully and deeply studied the life 
 and times of John Brown. This fact makes his writings invaluable. The 
 published biographies contain some of his letters and documents, but they 
 are edited, corrected and changed. Students now demand to see exact 
 facsimiles of documents ; they desire to decide for themselves their meaning. 
 To supply this want is one of the purposes of the John Brown Papers. 
 But it is to do much more than that. It will be a great work, worthy of the 
 man and of the nation's cause. The letters will be grouped in a way to exhibit 
 the forces generated on the frontiers of the Anglo-Saxon civilization in the 
 forests of America. They will reveal phases of American life now past 
 forever, but the effects of which will remain our most potent forces as long 
 as we are a people. To these forces did John Brown owe much of the inspi- 
 ration of his life. Every American should be familiar with them. He can- 
 not rightly understand the institutions of our country without a thorough 
 knowledge of their origin, operation, and effect. This the work is designed 
 to facilitate. 
 
 We solicit subscriptions to this great work. It will be a folio volume, 
 embracing the Historical Papers of John Brown and his men, printed on 
 fine paper, from new type, with wide margins, fine illustrations and auto- 
 graph facsimiles, including an engraving of John Brown from the most cor- 
 rect portrait in existence. It will be handsomely bound, and will contain 
 about 550 pages. 
 
 We have placed it at the extremely low price of $2.50. 
 
 Fill out the following subscription blank and forward it to us : 
 
 CRANE & COMPANY, 
 
 Topeka, Kansas. 
 
 Gentlemen :— I hereby subscribe for THE JOHN BROWN PAPERS, 
 edited by Colonel Richard J. Hinton and William E. Connelley; price, 
 $2.50, prepaid. 
 
 If more than one 
 
 copy is desired, Name, -• 
 
 please indicate 
 
 the number Postoffice , 
 
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 No , Street. 
 
 County, State, 
 
 (128) 
 
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