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MACBETH.

LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE.

IN this was chess tragedy Shakspeare has closely adhered to historical fact, excepting that Banquo, out of com pliment to bis descendant James I. is excluded from all participation in the murder of Duncan. In the reign of Charles II. the songs of the witches were set to music by the celebrated Matthew Lock, and the play regarded as a semi-opera. The ghosts and witches, though admirably pourtrayed, have been censured as an insult to common sense; and cautions have been held out to the young and uninformed against imbibing the absurd principles of fatalism which are seemingly countenanced in many parts of this piece. But in the time of Shakspeare, the doctrine of witchcraft was at once established by law and by fashion, and it became not only unpolite, but criminal, to doubt it.---King James himself in his dialogues of Damonologie, re-printed in Loudon soon after his succession, has speculated deeply on the illusions of spirits, the compact of witches, &c.; and our dramatist only turned to his advantage a system universally admitted. In representation, some un interesting scenes are omitted; many of the witches' dialogues adapted to beautiful music, and a song or two, probably written by Sir W. Davenant, added to the parts. Betterton, amidst many bad alterations, hit upon the plan of making the witches deliver all the prophecies, by which a deal of the trap-work is avoided, and Garrick substituted some excellent passages to be uttered by Macbeth, whilst expiring, in lieu of the disgusting exposure of his head by Macduff. The neatest criticism upon the play, and the most concise record of its historical facts, are contained in the following extract from a standard publication: "Macbeth flourished in Scotland about the middle of the tenth century. At this period Duncan was king, a mild and humane prince, but not at all possessed of the genius requisite for governing a country so turbulent, and so infested by the intrigues and animosities of the great Macbeth, a powerful nobleman, and nearly allied to the crown. Not con. tented with curbing the king's authority, carried still further his mad ambition; he murdered Duncan at Inverness, and then seized upon the throne. Fearing lest his ill-gotten power should be stripped from him, be chased Malcolm Kenmore, the son and heir, into England, and put to death Mac Gill and Banquo, the two most powerful men in his dominions. Macduff next becoming the object of his suspicion, he escaped into England; but the inhuman usurper wreaked his vengeance on his wife and children, whom he caused to be cruelly butchered. Siward, whose daughter was married to Duncan, embraced, by Edward's orders, the protection of his distressed family. He marched an army into Scotland, and having defeated and killed Macbeth in battle, be restored Malcolm to the throne of his ancestors. The tragedy founded upon the history of Macbeth, though contrary to the rules of the drama, contains an infinity of beauties with respect to language, character, passion, and incident; and is thought to be one of the very best pieces of the very best masters in this kind of writing that the world ever produced. The danger of ambition is well described, and the passions are directed to their true ends, so that it is not only admirable as a poem, but one of the most moral pieces existing."

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SCENE, in the end of the fourth act, lies in England; through the rest of the play, in Scotland; and, chiefly, at Macbeth's Castle.

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SCENE II-A Camp near Fores. Alarum within. Enter King DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENOX, with ATTENDANTS, meeting a bleeding SOLDIER.

Dun. What bloody man is that? He can report,

As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.

Mal. This is the sergeant,

Who, like a good aud hardy soldier, fought
'Gainst my captivity :-Hail, brave friend!
Say to the king the knowledge of the broil,
As thou didst leave it.

Sold. Doubtfully 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

The multiplying villanies of nature

Do swarm upon him,) from the western isles,
Of kernes 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; And ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to bim,

Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps, And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

Dun. O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! Sold. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break; So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd to come,

Discomfort + swells. Mark, king of Scotland,

mark:

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Mal. The worthy thane of Rosse.

Len. What a haste looks through his eyes!
So should he look,

That seems to speak things strange.
Rosse. God save the king!

Dun. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?
Rosse. 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, 'gan a dismal conflict:
Till that Bellona's bridegroom,tt lapp'd in proof,

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Confronted him with self-comparisons,
Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm,
Curbing his lavish spirit: And, to conclude,
The victory fell on us ;-

Dun. Great happiness!
Rosse. That now

Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition;
Nor would we deign him burial of his men,
Till he disbursed, at Saint Colmes' inch,*
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.

Dun. No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive

Our bosom interest :-Go, pronounce his death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
Rosse. I'll see it done.

Dun. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath [Exeunt.

Won.

SCENE III-A Heath.-Thunder.

Enter the three WITCHES.

1 Witch. Where hast thou been, sister? 2 Witch. Killing swine.

3 Witch. Sister, where thou ?

1 Witch. A Sailor's wife had chesnuts in ber lap,

And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd :Give me, quoth 1:

Aroint thee, witch! the rump-fed ronyou cries.

Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o'the
And, like a rat without a tail,
But in a sieve I'll thither sail,

I'll do, I'll do, I'll do.

2 Witch. I'll give thee a wind. 1 Witch. Thou art kind.

3 Witch. And I another.

1 Witch. I myself have all the other;
All the quarters that they know
And the very ports they blow,
I'the shipman's card. §

I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall, neither night nor day,
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbid: ||
Weary sev'n-nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-toss'd.
Look what I have.

2 Witch. Show me, show me.

1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wreck'd, as homeward he did come.

3 Witch. A drum, a drum ; Macbeth doth come.

[Tiger:

[Drum within.

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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.

Mucb. Speak, if you can ;-What are you?
1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee,
thane of Glamis !

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Prophetic sisters: the fates of the northern nations,

the three hand-maids of Odin.

2 Witch. All bail, Macbeth thane of Cawdor!

hail to thee, | In which addition, hail, most worthy thane ! For it is thine.

3 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter.

Ban. Good Sir, why do you start, and seem

to fear

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By Sinel's death 5 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, No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence You owe this strange intelligence? or why Upon this blasted heath you stop our way With such prophetic greeting ?-Speak, I charge [WITCHES vanish. Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, [nish'd? And these are of them :-Whither are they vaMacb. Into the air; and what seem'd corporal melted

you.

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Or have we eaten of the insane root,

That takes the reason prisoner ?

Macb. Your children shall be kings.
Ban. You shall be king.

Macb. And thane of Cawdor too; went it

not so? [here? Ban. To the self-same tune and words. Who's

Enter ROSSE and ANGUS.

Rosse. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth,

The news of thy success; and when he reads
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 self- same day,
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan rauks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as tale, T
Came post with post; and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defence,
And pour'd them down before him.

Ang. We are sent,

To give thee, from our royal master, thanks;
To herald thee into his sight, not pay thee.
Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater ho-

nour,

He bade me, from him, call thee thane of Cawdor:

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Ban. What, can the devil speak true? Mucb. The thane of Cawdor lives: Why do you dress me

In borrow'd robes ?

Ang. Who was the thane, lives yet;
But under heavy judgment bears that life
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was
Combin'd with Norway; or did line the rebel
With hidden help and vantage; or that with
both

He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not;
But treasons capital, confess'd and prov❜d,
Have overthrown him.

Macb. Glamis and thane of Cawdor:
The greatest is

pains.

behind.-Thanks for your

Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to
Promis'd no less to them?
[me,

Ban. That trusted home,

Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange :
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths;
Win us with honest trifles, to betray us
In deepest consequence.-
Cousins, a word, I pray you.

Macb. Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.-I thank you, gentle-
This supernatural soliciting t
[men.-
Cannot be ill; caunot be good :—If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Caw-
dor:
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 : [tical,
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantas-
Shakes so my single state of man, that function
Is smother'd in surmise; ** and nothing is,
But what is not.

Ban. Look, how our partner's rapt. Macb. If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,

Without my stir.

Ban. New honours come upon him Like our strange garments; cleave not to the mould, But with the aid of use.

Macb. Come what come may;

Time and the hour + runs through the roughest day.

Ban. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.

Macb. Give me your favour : ‡‡-my dull brain was wrought [pains With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your The leaf to read them.-Let us toward the Are register'd where every day I turn [time, Think upon what hath chanc'd; and, at more The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak Our free hearts each to other. Ban. Very gladly.

king;

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To find the mind's construction in the face : +
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.-O worthiest cousin!

Enter MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSSE, and ANGUS.
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;

That the proportion both of thanks and payment Might have been mine! only I have left to say, More is thy due than more than all can pay.

Mach. 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.

Dun. Welcome hither:

I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
To make thee full of growing. -Noble Banquo,
That bast no less deserv'd, nor must be known
No less to have done so, let me infold thee,
And hold thee to my heart.

Ban. There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.

Dun. 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
[after,
Our eldest Malcolm; whom we name here.
The prince of Cumberland which honour must
Not, unaccompanied, invest him only,
But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers.-From hence to Inverness, §
And bind us further to you.

Macb. The rest is labour, which is not us'd for you:

I'll be myself the harbinger, and make joyful
The hearing of my wife with your approach;
So, humbly take my leave.

Dun. My worthy Cawdor!

Macb. The prince of Cumberland !-That is a step,

On which I must fall down, or else o'er-leap, [Aside.

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. Dun. True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant ; ||

And in his commendations, 1 am fed;
It is a banquet to me. Let us after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome :
It is a peerless kinsman. [Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE V.-Inverness.-A Room in
MACBETH'S Castle.

Enter Lady MACBETH, reading a letter.
Lady M.
They met me in the day of suc-
cess; and I have learned by the perfectest

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| report, they have more in them than morta, knowledge. When I burned in desire question them further, they made themselves -air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, cume missives † from the king, who all-hailed me, Thane of Cawdor; by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with Hail king that shalt be! This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness; that thou mightest not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell. Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promis'd:-Yet do I fear thy

nature;

It is too full o'the milk of human kindness, To catch the nearest way: Thou would'st be great;

Art not without ambition; but without
The illness should attend it. What thou would'st
highly,
[false,
That would'st thou holily; would'st not play
And yet would'st wrongly win: thou'd'st have
great Glamis,
[have it;
That which cries, Thus thou must do, if thou
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 metaphysicalý aid doth seem
To have thee crown'd withal.-
-What is your
tidings?

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That tend on mortal || thought, 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! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring
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, Cawdor! To cry, Hold, Hold!--Great Glamis ! worthy

Enter MACBETH

Greater than both, by the all-bail hereafter !
Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present, ‡‡ and I feel now
The future in the instant.

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Mecb. My dearest love,

Duncan comes here to-night.

Lady M. And when goes bence ?

Macb. To-morrow,-as he purposes. Lady M. Oh! 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 it. He that's coming
Must be provided for and you shall put
This night's great business into my despatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
Macb. We will speak further.
Lady M. Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear:
Leave all the rest to me.

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you,

How you shall bid God yield us for your pains,

And thauk us for your trouble.

Lady M. All our service

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.

Dun. Where's the thane of Cawdor?
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 guest to-night.

Lady M. Your servants ever

Have their's, themselves, and what is their's, in compt, ||

To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, Still to return your own.

Dun. Give me your hand :

Conduct me to mine host; we love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him.
By your leave, hostess.

[Exeunt.

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SCENE VII.-The same.-A Room in the Castle.

Hautboys and torches. Enter, and pass over the stage, a Sewer, and divers Ser

vants with dishes and service. Then enter MACBETH.

Macb. If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere 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,
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 but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: This even-handed jus-
tice
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 murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Dun

can

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off:
And pity, like a naked new-born babe,
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd
Upon the sightless couriers + of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind.-1 have no
spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'er-leaps itself,
And falls on the other.-How now, what news?

Enter Lady MACBETH.

Lady M. He has almost supp'd; Why have you left the chamber? Macb. Hatn he ask'd for me?

Lady M. Know you not, he has ?

Macb. We will proceed no further in this

business :

He hath honour'd me of late; and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Not cast aside so soon.
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,

Lady M. Was the hope drunk,

Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
since?
At what it did so freely? From this time,
To be the same in thine own act and valour,
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
Would'st thou have
As thou art in desire?

that

Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem;
Like the poor cat i'the adage?
Letting I dare not wait upon I would,

I dare do all that may become a man;
Macb. Pr'ythee, peace:
Who dares do more, is none.

Lady M. What beast was it then,
That made you break this enterprize to me?
And, to be more than what you were, you
When you durst do it, then you were a man ;
[place,
Be so much more the man. Nor time, not
Did then adhere, and yet you would make
both:

would

They have made themselves, and that their fit. [know Does unmake you. I have given suck; and

ness now

An officer so called from his placing the dishes on the table.

+ Winds; sightless is invisible. In the same sense as cohere.

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