Macb. Blood hath been fhed ere now i'th' olden

time,

Ere human ftatute purg'd the gen'ral weal;
Ay, and fince too, murthers have been perform'd
Too terrible for th' ear: the times have been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end; but now they rife again
With twenty mortal murthers on their crowns,.
And pufh us from our stools; this is more strange
Than fuch a murther is.

Lady. My worthy lord,

Your noble friends to lack you.

Mach. I do forget.

Do not mufe at me, my moft worthy friends,

I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing

To thofe that know me. Come, love and health to all!

I

Then I'll fit down give me fome wine, fill full-
I drink to th' general joy of the whole table,
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss ;
Would he were here to all, and him, we thirst,
And all to all.

Lords. Our duties, and the pledge.

[The ghoft rifes again. Macb. Avaunt, and quit my fight! Let the earth hide thee!

Thy bones are marrowlefs, thy blood is cold;
Thou haft no speculation in those eyes,
Which thou doft glare with.

Lady. Think of this, good peers,
But as a thing of cuftom; 'tis no other;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.
Macb. What man dare, I dare:
Approach thou like the rugged Ruffian bear.
The arm'd rhinoceros or Hyrcanian tyger,

H 3

Take

Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shail never tremble: or, be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy fword;
If trembling I inhibit, then protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible fhadow!
Unreal mock'ry, hence! Why, fo,—being gone,
[The ghost vanishes..
[The lords rife.
broke the good

I am a man again; pray you, fit ftill.
Lady. You have displac'd the mirth,
meeting

With most admir'd diforder.

Macb. (14) Can fuch things be,

And overcome us like a fummer's cloud,

Without our special wonder? You make me ftrange
Ev'n to the difpofition that (15) I owe,

When now I think, you can behold fuch fights;
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,,

When mine is blanch'd with fear,

Roffe. What fights my lord?

Lady. I pray you, fpeak not; he grows worse and worfe ;

Queftion enrages him: at once, good night.
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once.

Len. Good night, and better health
Attend his majefty !

Lady. Good night, to all.

[Exeunt lords.

(14) Can, &c.] Mr. Warburton's alteration of this paffage is very wonderful, nothing can be plainer than the meaning of it ; "Can fuch things be, can fuch dreadful fights as this of the ghoft come over us, overcaft us like a dreadful black fummer cloud, without our fhewing any amazement, without being at all moved at it?"

(5) That I owe.] Mr. Johnson here would read know: "Though I had before feen many inftances of your courage, yet it now appears in a Degree altogether new: So that my long acquaintance with your difpofition, does not hinder me from that aftonishment which novelty produces."

Macb

Macb. It will have blood, (they say) blood will have blood:

Stones have been known to move, and trees to fpeak;
Augurs, that understood (16) relations, have
By magpies, and by coughs, and rooks brought
forth

The fecret'ft man of blood.

(17) I conjure you, by that which you profess, (How e'er you come to know it) answer me. Though you untie the winds, and let them fight Against the churches; though the yefty waves Confound and fwallow navigation up;

Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown

down,

Though caftles topple on their warders heads;
Though palaces and pyramids do flope

Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure
*Of nature's germins tumble all together,
Even till destruction ficken; answer me
To what I ask you.

SCENE IV. Malcolm's Character of himself.

Mal. But I have none; the king-becoming graces, As juftice, verity, temp'rance, ftableness, Bounty, perfev'rance, mercy, lowliness,

(16) Relations. By the word relation, is understood the connection of effects with caufes; to understand relations as an augur, is to know how those things relate to each other, which have no visible combination or dependance, JOHNSON.

(17) See Vol. I. p. 116, and n. 21.

See king Lear, p. 125. n. 15.

H4

Devo.

Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude,
I have no relish of them; but abound
In the divifion of each feveral crime,

Acting it many ways. Nay, had I power, I fhould Pour the fweet milk of concord into hell,

Uproar the univerfal peace, confound
All unity on earth.

Mard. Oh Scotland! Scotland!

Mal. If fuch a one be fit to govern, speak :

I'm as I have fpoken.

?

Macd. Fit to govern
No, not to live. Oh, nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant, bloody-fceptred!
When fhalt thou fee thy wholesome days again?
Since that the trueft iffue of thy throne

By his own interdiction ftands accurst,

And does blafpheme his breed. Thy royal father Was a most fainted king; the queen that bore thee, Oftner upon her knees than on her feet, *Dy'd every day fhe liv'd. Oh! fare thee well! 'I hefe evils, thou repeat'ft upon thyself, Have banish'd me from Scotland. Thy hope ends here.

Oh, my breast!

Mal. Macduff, this noble paffion,
Child of integrity, hath from my foul
Wip'd the black fcruples; reconcil'd my thoughts
To thy good truth and honour. Devilish Macbeth
By many of these trains hath fought to win me
Into his pow'r and modest wisdom plucks me
From over-credulous hafte; but God above
Deal between thee and me! for even now

I

put my self to thy direction, and

* Unspeak mine own detraction; here abjure

*Dy'd, &c.] This is plainly taken from St. Paul, I die daily.

*See the whole fcene.

The

The taints and blames I laid upon myself,

For ftrangers to my nature.
I am yet
Unknown to woman, never was forfworn,
Scarcely have coveted what was mine own,
At no time broke my faith, would not betray
The devil to his fellow, and delight

No lefs in truth, than life: my firft falfe-speaking

Was this upon myself. What I am truly,
Is thine, and my poor country's, to command.

SCENE VI. An opprefs'd Country.

Alas, poor country,

Almost afraid to know itself! It cannot

Be call'd our mother, but our grave; where nothing,
But who knows nothing, is once feen to smile :
Where fighs and groans, and shrieks that rend the air,
Are made, not mark'd; where violent forrow feems
A modern ecstasy: the dead-man's knell

Is there scarce afk'd, for whom and good mens lives
Expire before the flowers in their caps,
Dying, or ere they ficken.

Macduff, on the Murder of his Wife and Children.

Roffe. 'Would, I could anfwer

This comfort with the like! but I have words,
That would be howl'd out in the defart air,
Where hearing should not catch them.
Macd. What concern they?
The gen'ral caufe? or is it a fee-grief,
Due to fome fingle breast?

C 0-12 2

Roffe. No mind, that's honeft,

But in it fhares fome woe; tho' the main part
Pertains to you alone.

Macd. If it be mine,

Keep