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

Lady M. Almost a odds with morning, which is

which.

Macb. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his At our great bidding? [person, Did you send to him, sir? Macb. I hear it by the way; but I will send : . There's not a one of them, but in his house

Lady M.

I keep a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow,

(Betimes I will,) unto the weird sisters:

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

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

o'cr:

Strange things I have in head, that will to hand;
Which must be acted, ere they may be scann'd.

2

Lady M. You lack the season of all natures, sleep. Macb. Come, we'll to sleep: My strange and selfIs the initiate fear, that wants hard use:

We are yet but young in deed.

SCENE V.—The heath.

[abuse3 [Exeunt.

Thunder. Enter HECATE, meeting the three Witches. 1 Witch. Why, how now, Hecate? you look angerly. Hec. Have I not reason, beldams, as you are,

Saucy, and overbold? How did you

To trade and traffick with Macbeth,
In riddles, and affairs of death;
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of all harms,
Was never call'd to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?

dare

1 magpies. 2 i. e. the refreshing, restoring virtue of sleep. 3 strange and self-abuse, torturing disquietude, agonizing compunctions.

And, which is worse, all you have done
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' th' morning; thither he
Will come to know his destiny

Your vessels, and your spells, provide,
Your charms, and every thing beside:
I am for th'air; this night I'll spend
Unto a dismal-fatal end.

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

There hangs a vaporous drop profound;
I'll catch it ere it come to ground :
And that, distill'd by magick slights,
Shall raise such artificial sprights,
As, by the strength of their illusion,
Shall draw him on to his confusion:
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear:
And you all know, security

Is mortals' chiefest enemy.

SONG. [Within.] Come away, come away, &c.

Hark, I am call'd; my little spirit, see,
Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me.

[Exit.

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

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.-Fores. A room in the palace.

Enter LENOX and another Lord.

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

Things have been strangely borne: The gracious

Duncan

Was pitied of Macbeth :-marry, he was dead :—
And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late;
Whom, you may say, if it please you, Fleance kill'd,
For Fleance fled. Men must not walk too late.
Who cannot want the thought, how monstrous
It was for Malcolm, and for Donalbain,
To kill their gracious father? damned fact !
How it did grieve Macbeth! did he not straight,
In pious rage, the two delinquents tear,

That were the slaves of drink, and thralls of sleep?
Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too;
For 'twould have anger'd any heart alive,
To hear the men deny it. So that, I say,
He has borne all things well: and I do think,
That, had he Duncan's sons under his key,

(As, an't please heaven, he shall not,) they should find
What 'twere to kill a father; so should Fleance.
But, peace!-for from broad words, and 'cause he fail'd
His presence at the tyrant's feast, I hear,

Macduff lives in disgrace: Sir, can you tell
Where he bestows himself?

Lord.

The son of Duncan,

From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth,
Lives in the English court; and is receiv'd
Of the most pious Edward with such grace,
That the malevolence of fortune nothing
Takes from his high respect: Thither Macduff
gone to pray the holy king, on his aid

Is

To wake Northumberland, and warlike Siward :
That, by the help of these, (with Him above
To ratify the work,) we may again

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

The sense requires-Who can want the thought, &c.

Len.

Sent he to Macduff?

Lord. He did and with an absolute, Sir, not I, The cloudy messenger turns me his back, And hums; as who should say, You'll rue the time, That clogs me with this answer.

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

Lord.

My prayers with him! [Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. A dark cave. In the middle, a cauldron

Thunder.

boiling.

Enter the three Witches.

1 Witch. Thrice the brinded' cat hath mew'd.
2 Witch. Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 Witch. Harper' cries:-'Tis time, 'tis time.
1 Witch. Round about the cauldron go:

In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under coldest stone,
Days and nights hast thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' th' charmed pot!
All. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.
2 Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake:

1 streaked.

2

Harper, some imp.

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

All. Double, double toil and trouble
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.

e;

3 Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw, and gulf,'
Of the ravin'd' salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock, digg'd i' th' dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew,
Sliver'd3 in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe,
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab :
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,5
For th' ingredients of our cauldron.

All. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.

2 Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood, Then the charm is firm and good.

Enter HECATE and the other three Witches.
Hec. O, well done! I commend your pains;
And every one shall share i' th' gains.
And now about the cauldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in.

1

SONG.

Black spirits and white,
Red spirits and grey;
Mingle, mingle, mingle,
You that mingle may.

gulf, the swallow, the throat. 3 To sliver is to cut, or slice.

5 chaudron, entrails.

2 ravin'd, glutted with prey. 4 drab, a common woman.