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And Fortune, on his damned quarrel ) smiling,
Show'd like a rebel's whore 9). But all's to 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 farewel to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the nape to the chops,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements..

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Dun. O, valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!

Sold. As whence the sun 'gins his reflexion 10),
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break;
So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd to come,
Discomfort) swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark;
No sooner Justice had, with valour arm'd,

Compell'd these skipping Kernes to trust their heels;
But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,

With furbish'd arms and new snpplies of men
Began a fresh assault.

Dun.

Dismay'd not this

Yes;

Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

Sold..

As sparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion.

I

If I say sooth ), I must report, they were

As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks 13);

So they

Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe;

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,

8) quarrel was formerly used for cause. Johnson. 9) I suppose the meaning is, that Fortune, while she smiled on him, deceived him. Shakspeare probably alludes to Macdowald's first successful action, elated by which he attempted to pursue his fortune, but lost his life. Malone, 10) As whence the sun 'gins his reflexion. The thought is expressed with some obscurity, but the plain meaning is this:,, As the same quarter, whence the blessing of day-light arises, sometimes sends us, by a dreadful reverse, the calamities of storms and tempests; so the glorious event of Macbeth's victory, which promised us the comforts of peace, 'was immediately succeeded by the alarming news of the Norweyan invasion." Steevens. 1) Discomfort the natural opposite to comfort. 12) sooth, truth, reality, 13) That is, with double charges: a metonymy of the effect for the cause. Heath

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But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.

Dun. So well thy words become thee, as thy wounds;
Go, get him surgeons.

They smack of honour both.

Who comes here?

Mal.

[Exit Soldier, attended.]

Enter Rosse.

The worthy Thane 15) of Rosse.

Len. What a haste looks through his eyes? So should

he look,

That seems to speak things strange 16).

Rosse.

God save the King!

Dun. Whence cam'st thou, worthy Thane?
Rosse.

From File, great King;

Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky,
And ran our people cold 17).

Norway himself, with terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor 4

The Thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict:
Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapt in proof 18),
Confronted him with self- comparisons 19),
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 Norway's King, craves composition;
Nor would we deigu him burial of his men,

1) That is, or make another Golgatha, which should be celebrated and delivered down to posterity, with as frequent mention as the first. Heath. 15) Thane war ein alter Schottischer Ehrenname, ungefähr so viel als Baron. 16) That seems to speak things strange, i. e. that seems about to speak strange things. Malone. 17) The meaning seems to be, not that the Norweyan banners proudly insulted the sky; but that the standards being taken by Duncan's forces, and fixed in the ground, the colours idly flapped about, serving only to cool the conquerors, instead of being proudly displayed by their possessors. Malone. 1) lapt in proof, is, defended by armour of proof. Steevens. 19) with self-comparisons i. e. gave him as good as he brought, shew'd he was his equal. Warburton.

Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme's 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 won.

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[Exeunt.]

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 her lap, And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd. Give me, quoth 1: Aroint thee 1), witch! the rump- -fed ronyon 22) cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone: master o' the Tiger: But in a sieve I'll thither sail,

And like a rat without a tail 23),

Fll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

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20) Colme's inch, now called Inchcomb, is a small island lying in the Firth of Edinburgh, with an abbey upon it, dedicated to St. Columb. Inch in the Irish and Erse languages signifies an island. Steevens. 21) aroint thee, witch! Aroint, or avaunt, be gone. Pope. 22) ronyon, i. e. scabby, or mangy person.' Steevens. rump-fed. The chief cooks in noblemen's families, colleges, religious houses, hospitals etc. anciently claimed the emoluments or kitchen fees of kidneys, fat, trotters, rumps etc.,, which they sold to the poor. The weird sister in this scene, as an insult on the poverty of the woman, who had called her witch, reproaches her poor abject state, as not being able to procure better provision than offals, which are considered as the refuse of the tables of others. Colepeper. 23) It should be remembered (as it was the belief of the times,) that though a witch could assume the form of any animal she pleased, the tail would still be wanting. The reason given by some of the old writers, for such a deficiency, is that though the hands and feet, by an easy change might be converted into the four paws of a beast, there was still no part about a woman which corresponded with the length of tail common to almost all four-footed creatures. Stee

vens.

2. Witch. I'll give thee a wind 24).
I. Witch. Thou art kind.

3. Witch. And I another.

1. Witch. I myself have all the other; And the very ports they blow 25); ·

All the quarters that they know,

I the shipman's tard 26).

I will drain him dry as hay:!
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid;
He shall live a man forbid 27);
Weary sev'n-nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle 28), peak, and pine;
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest - tost,
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.

[Drum within.]

All. The weird 29) sisters, hand in hand,

Posters of the sea and land,

Thus do go about, about;

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,

And thrice again to make up nine.

Peace! the charm's wound up.

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Enter Macbeth and Banquo.

Mach. So foul and fair a day I have not seen,

24) This free gift of a wind is to be considered as an act of sisterly friendship, for witches were supposed to sell them. Steevens. 25) In ancient language to blow sometimes means to

blow upon. The very ports are the exact ports. Very is

used here (as in thousand instances which might be brought) to express the declaration more emphatically. Steevens. 26, The card is the paper on which the winds are marked under the pilot's needle; or perhaps the sea-chart, so called in our author's age. Steevens. 27 i. e. as one under a curse, an interdiction. Theobald, 28) This mischief was supposed to be put in execution by means of a waxen figure, which represented the person who was to be consumed by slow degrees. Stevens. 29) Weird is used substantively signifying a prophecy by some, and by others, Destinies. Steevens.

Ban. How fat is't call'd to Fores 30)? What are these,

So wither'd, and so wild in their attire;

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That look not like the inhabitants of the earth,

And yet are on't! Live you? or are you aught

That man may question 31)? You seem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying

Upon her skinny lips. You should be women;

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And yet your beards forbid me to interpret

That you are so.

Macb.

1. Witch.

2. Witch.

3. Witch.

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All- hail 32), Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane

of Glamis !

All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee! Thane of
Cawdor!

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' the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical 33), or that indeed

Which outwardly ye shew? My noble partner

You greet with present grace, and great prediction

Of noble having 34), and of royal hope,

That he seems rapt 5) withal: to me you speak not."

If you can look into the seeds of time,

And say, which grain will grow, and which will not;
Speak then to me, who neither beg, nor fear,
Your favours, nor your hate.

1. Witch. Hail!

2. Witch. Hail!

3. Witch. Hail!

I. Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
2. Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier.

30) The King at this time resided at Fores, a town in Murray, not far from Inverness. Steevens. 31) That man may question? Are ye any beings with which man is permitted to hold converse, or of whom it is lawful to ask questions? Johuson. 32) All hail is a corruption of al-hael, Sax. i. e. ave, salve. Malone. 33) By fantastical he means creatures of fantasy or imagination. The question is: Are these real beings before or are we deceived by illusions of fancy? Johnson. 34) Having is estate, possession, fortune, Steevens. 35) Rapt is rapturously affected, extra se raptus. Steevens.

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