Mal. We have met with foes
That strike beside us.
Siw. Enter, sir, the castle. [Exeunt. Alarum.

Re-enter MACBETH.
Macb. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
On mine own sword ?' whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better

upon

them.

Re-enter MACDUFF. Macd. Turn, hell-hound, turn.

Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee:
But get thee back, my soul is too much charg'd
With blood of thine already.

Macd. I have no words,
My voice is in my sword; thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out !

[They fight.
Macb. Thou losest labour:
As easy may'st thou the intrenchant aire
With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed :
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests ;
I bear a charmed life,' which must not yield
To one of woman born.

Macd. Despair thy charm;
And let the angel, whom thou still hast servid,
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd.

Macb. 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 ;*
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope.--I'll not fight with thee

Macd. Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the show and gaze o' th’ time.
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted upon a pole ; and underwrit,
Here may you see the tyrant.

Macb. I'll not yield, (1) Alluding, perhaps, to the suicide of Cato (licensis. STEEVENS. (2) Tbat is, air, which cannot be cut. 13) In the days of chivalry, the champion's arms being ceremoniously blessed, each took an oath that he used no charmed weapons. Macheth, according to the law of arms, or perhaps only in allusion to this custom, tells Macduff of the security be had in the prediction of the spirit.

[4] That shuffle with ambiguous expressions. JOHNSON

JOHNSON

UPTON

:

To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet,
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 Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with Drum and Colours,

Malcolm, old SJWARD, Rosse, Lenox, Angus, CATHNESS,
Menteth, and Soldiers.
Mal. I would, the friends we miss were safe arriv'd.

Siw. Some must go off : and yet, by these I see,
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.

Mal. Macduff is missing, and your noble son.

Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt :
He only liv'd but till he was a man ;
The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.

Siw. Then be is dead ?
Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field : your cause of

:

sorrow

Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then
It hath no end.

Siw. Had he his hurts before ?
Rosse. Ay, on the front.

Siw. 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 :3
And so his knell is knoll’d.

Mal. He's worth more sorrow,
And that I'll spend for him.

Siw. He's worth no more ;
They say, he parted well, and paid bis score :
So, God be with him !-Here comes newer comfort.

(5) This incident is thus related from Henry of Huntingdon, hy Camden, in his Remains, from which our author probably cripied it :-When Siward, the martial ear! of Northumberland, understood that his son, whom he had sent in service against the Scotchmen, was slain, he demanded whether his wound were in the fore part or hinder part of his body. When it was answered, iu the fore part, be replied, “I am right glad; neither wish I any other death to me or mine."

JOHNSON

:

Re-enter MACDUFF, with Macbeth's Head on a Pole.
Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art : Behold, where

stands
Che 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 !
AN. King of Scotland, hail !

(Flourish.
Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time,
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. What'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 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
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.

It may be worth while to remark, that Milton, who left behind him a list of po less than CIÍ, dramatic subjects, had fixed on the story of this play among the rest. His intention was to have begun with the arrival of Malcolm at Macduff's castle." The matter of Duncan (says be) may be expressed by the appearing of his ghost." It should seem froin this last memorandum, that Milton disliked the license bis predecessor had taken in comprehending a history of such length within the short compass of a play, and would have uew written the whole on the plan of the ancient drama. He could not surely have indulged so vain a hope, as that of excelling Sbakespeare in cbe tragedy of Macbeth. STEEVENS.

END OF VOL. IV.

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