In feeking to augment it, but ftill keep

My bofom franchis'd, and allegiance clear,
I fhall be counsell'd.

Mac. Good repose the while!

Ban. Thanks, fir; the like to you.

[Exeunt Ban, and Fle.

SCEN E II.

Mac. Go, bid thy miftrefs, when my drink is ready,

She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed.

Is this a dagger which I fee before me,

[Exit fervant.

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I fee thee ftill.

Art thou not, fatal vifion, fenfible
To feeling as to fight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a falfe creation
Proceeding from the heat-oppreffed brain?
I fee thee as yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.-

Thou marshall'ft me the way that I was going;
And fuch an inftrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' th' other senses,
"Or elfe worth all the reft-I fee thee ftill;

* All before T. omit and Fleance,

And

• And on thy blade and dudgeon, "gouts of blood, Which was not so before.-There's no fuch thing.It is the bloody bufinefs, which informs.

Thus to mine eyes. -* Now o'er the one half world
Nature feems dead, and wicked dreams abuse

The curtain'd fleep; now witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings: and wither'd Murther,

Alarum'd by his centinel, the wolf,

Whose howl's his watch, thus with his ftealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravifhing

с

a

ftrides, towards his defign

b

Moves like a ghoft.-Thou found and firm-fet earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very ftones prate of my where-about,

d

And take the present horror from the time,

Which now fuits with it. Whiles I threat, he livesWords to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

z A lady proposes, with her for wi- in the text, but preferved in the mar

ther'd.

gin.

D

I go,

I I go, and it is done;, the bell invites me;
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That fummons thee to heaven, or to hell.

[A bell rings.

[Exit.

Lady. That which hath made them drunk, hath made me

bold;

What hath quench'd them, hath given me fire. Hark!

- peace!

It was the owl that fhriek'd, the fatal bell-man,

Which gives the ftern'ft good-night-He is about it —
The doors are open; and the furfeited grooms

Do mock their charge with fnores. I have drugg'd their poffets,

That death and nature do contend about them,

Whether they live or die.

Enter Macbeth.

Mac. Who's there? what ho?

Lady. Alack! I am afraid, they have awak'd;
And 'tis not done. Th' attempt and not the deed,
Confounds us-hark!-I laid their daggers ready,
He could not mifs 'em. - Had he not resembled
My father as he flept, I had done 't-My husband?

f This is Sc. II. in the fo's and

C.

g The fo's, R. P. T. and W..omit Macbeth.

Mac.

Mac. I have done the deed-Didft thou not hear a noife?
Lady. I heard the owl fcream, and the crickets cry.

Did not you speak?

Mac. When?

Lady. Now.

Mac. As I defcended?

Lady. Ay.

Mac. Hark!-who lies i' th' fecond chamber?

Lady. Donalbain.

Mac. This is a forry fight.

[Looks on his hands.

Lady. A foolish thought, to fay a forry fight.

Mac. There's one did laugh in 's fleep, and one cry'd murther!

That they did wake each other; I ftood and heard them; But they did fay their prayers, and addreft them

Again to fleep.

Lady. There are two lodg'd together.

Mac. One cry'd, God blefs us, and, Amen, the other; As they had seen me with these hangman's hands;

Liftning their fear, I could not say, Amen,

When they did fay, God blefs us.

Lady. Confider it not fo deeply.

Mac. But wherefore could not I pronounce, Amen? I had most need of blessing, and Amen

Stuck in my throat.

Lady. Thefe deeds must not be thought After these ways; fo, it will make us mad.

P. and all after, except C. alter this beard them. line as follows,

They wak'd each other; and I flood and

k

i T. W. and J. address for addrest. * H. and C. add on after thought.

52

M A CB E T H.
СВЕТ Н.

Mac. Methought I heard a voice cry, "Sleep no more; Macbeth does murther fleep; the innocent fleep;

'Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd m fleave of care,
The death of each day's life, fore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's fecond course,
Chief nourisher in life's feaft.—”

Mac. Still it cry'd, Sleep no more, to all the house; Glamis hath murther'd fleep: And therefore. Cawdor

Shall fleep no more; Macbeth hall fleep no more!"
Lady. Who was it that thus cry'd? Why, worthy Thane,
You do unbend your noble ftrength, to think
So brain-fickly of things. Go, get fome water,
And wash this filthy witnefs from your hand.
Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
They muft lie there: Go carry them, and finear
The fleepy grooms with blood.

I am afraid to think what I have done;

Look on 't again, I dare not..

Lady. Infirm of purpose!

Give me the daggers. The fleeping and the dead,
Are but as pictures; 'tis the
pictures; 'tis the eye of childhood,

I P. and H. omit this line in their duce to order all that confufion and vexa