By the sweet power of music. Therefore the poet Let no such man be trusted-Mark the music. Enter Portia and Nerissa at a distance. Por. That light we see is burning in my hall: So shines a good deed in a naughty world. Ner. When the moon shone, we did not see the candle. Ner. It is your music, Madam, of the house. FROM AS YOU LIKE IT. ACT II. SC. 1. THE EXILED DUKE'S PHILOSOPHY. Now, my co-mates, and brothers in exile, Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, Which, when it bites and blows upon my body, 1 Unless considered relatively. So Shakespeare coins co-mart, Ham. Act I. Sc. 1.-Malone. Н [Music This is no flattery; these are counsellors Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, ACT II. SC. 7. JACQUEZ DESCRIBES THE CLOWN TOUCHSTONE. A fool, a fool;—I met a fool i'th' forest, A motley fool-(a miserable world !)— As I do live by food, I met a fool, Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun, In good set terms-and yet a motley fool. "Good morrow, fool," quoth I-"No, Sir," quoth he, "Call me not fool, 'till heav'n have sent me fortune." And then he drew a dial from his poke, And looking on it with lack-lustre eye, "Thus may we see," quoth he, "how the world wags: An hour by his dial. O noble fool! ACT II. SC. 9. THE WORLD A STAGE.-Jaquez. Jaq. ALL the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; And then-the whining School-boy, with his satchel, 1 A belief of Shakespeare's age. Unwillingly to school. And then-the Lover, Made to his mistress' eye-brow. Then-a Soldier, And then-the Justice, In fair round belly, with good capon lin❜d, With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side; Is second childishness, and mere oblivion, FROM MACBETH. ACT I. SC. 3. INTERVIEW WITH THE WITCHES. Enter Macbeth and Banquo, with Soldiers and other Attendants. Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. Ban. How far is't call'd to Forres ?-What are these, So wither'd, and so wild in their attire, That look not like th' inhabitants o' th' 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, Macb. Speak, if you can. What are you? 1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis ! 2 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! 3 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be King hereafter. Ban. Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair? I' th' name of truth, Are ye fantastical,1 or that indeed [To the Witches. Which outwardly ye shew? My noble partner That he seems rapt withal; to me you speak not. And say which grain will grow and which will not, Illusions of the fancy. 2 Possession. Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear 1 Witch. Hail! 2 Witch. Hail! 3 Witch. Hail! 1 Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 3 Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! 1 Witch. Banquo and Macbeth, all hail! Macb. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more. No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has; 'Would they had staid! Ban. Were such things here as we do speak about? Or have we eaten of the insane3 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? Ban. To th' self same tune and words. Who's here? Enter Rosse and Angus. Rosse. The king hath happily received, Macbeth, The news of thy success; and when he reads Thy personal venture in the rebel's fight, His wonders and his praises do contend Which should be thine, or his. Ang. We are sent To give thee, from our royal master, thanks; Not pay thee. Rosse. 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. 2 Possess; this meaning of the word occurs repeatedly in Shakespeare. The heraldic term for titles of dignity. 1 His father. Ban. What, can the devil speak true? [Aside. Macb. Glamis and Thane of Cawdor! Ban. That trusted home Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange; The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray us Cousins, a word, I pray you. Macb. Two truths are told, As happy prologues to the swelling act [To Rosse and Angus. [Aside. [To Rosse and Angus. Of the imperial theme. I thank you, gentlemen. This supernatural soliciting Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill, Why hath it giv'n me earnest of success, Commencing in a truth? I'm Thane of Cawdor: Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,3 Is smothered in surmise; and nothing is, But what is not.* Ban. Look, how our partner's wrapt! Macb. If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir.5 Ban. New honours come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould But with the aid of use. 1 Compare Othello, I. 3. [Aside. In my imagination. 2 Incitement; one of the Latin senses of solicitare. "All powers of action are oppressed by one overwhelming image in the mind, and nothing is present to me but that which is really future."-Jonson. Single, feeble, unsupported. See Gifford's Ben Jonson, vol. ii. p. 74. A natively good disposition reluctantly yielding to overpowering temptation forms an important element in Shakespeare's construction of Macbeth's character. |