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.

2 Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes: Open, locks, whoever knocks.

Enter MACBeth.

Macb. How now, you secret, black, and midnight you do?

What is't
All.

A deed without a name.

[hags?

Macb. I conjure you, by that which you profess, (Howe'er you come to know it,) answer me: Though you untie the winds, and let them fight Against the churches: though the yesty' waves Confound and swallow navigation up;

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 germins' tumble all together,

Even till destruction sicken, answer me

To what I ask you.

1 Witch.

2 Witch.

3 Witch.

Speak.

Demand.

We'll answer.

1 Witch. Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our

Or from our masters'.

Macb.

[mouths,

Call them, let me see them.

I Witch. Pour in sow's blood, that hath eaten

Her nine farrow; grease, that's sweaten

From the murderer's gibbet, throw

Into the flame.

All.

Come, high, or low;

Thyself, and office, deftly 3 show.

Thunder. An Apparition of an armed Head rises.

Macb. Tell me, thou unknown power,

1

frothy or foaming.

2 i. e. seeds which have begun to germinate or sprout.

dextrously, adroitly.

He knows thy thought:

1 Witch. Hear his speech, but say thou nought. App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff;

Beware the thane of Fife.-Dismiss me:-Enough.

[Descends.

Macb. What-e'er thou art, for thy good caution,

thanks;

Thou hast harp'd' my fear aright:-But one word

more:

1 Witch. He will not be commanded: Here's anMore potent than the first.

[other, Thunder. An Apparition of a bloody Child rises. App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!— Macb. Had I three ears, I'd hear thee. App. Be bloody, bold, And resolute: laugh to scorn the power of man, For none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.

[Descends. Macb. Then live, Macduff; What need I fear of

But yet I'll make assurance double 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.-What is this,

[thec?

Thunder. An Apparition of a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand, rises.

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. App. Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are: Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until

To harp, is to touch on a passion as a harper touches a string. 2 The round is that part of the crown that encircles the head. The top is the ornament that rises above it.-JOHNSON.

[Descends.

Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.
Macb.
That will never be;
Who can impress1 the forest; bid the tree
Unfix his earth-bound root? sweet bodements! good!
Rebellious head, rise never, till the wood
Of Birnam rise, and our high-plac'd 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. Macb. 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?

[Hautboys. 1 Witch. Show! 2 Witch. Show! 3 Witch. Show! All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; Come like shadows, so depart.

Eight Kings appear, and pass over the stage in order, the last with a glass in his hand; BANQUO following.

Macb. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo; down!

:

Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls:-And thy air,
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 th' crack of doom?
Another yet?-A seventh ?--I'll see no more:-
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass,
Which shows me many more; and some I see,
That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry:2

2

1i. e. command to service like an impressed soldier.

2

A compliment to James I., who first united the two islands,

and the three kingdoms, under one head; whose house too was said to be descended from Banquo.-WARBURton.