Chor. Many more murders must this cne ensue;

Dread horrors still abound,
And every place surround,
As if in death were found
Propagation too.

1st Witch. He must

2d Witch. He shall

3d Witch. He will spill much more blood, And become worse, to make his title good. 1st Witch. Now let's dance.

2d Witch. Agreed.

3d Witch. Agreed.

Chor. We should rejoice when good kings bleed. 1st Witch. When cattle die, about we go; When lightning and dread thunder

Rend stubborn rocks in sunder,

And fill the world with wonder,
What should we do?

Chor. Rejoice, we should rejoice.

21 Witch. When winds and waves are warring, Earthquakes the mountains tearing,

And monarchs die despairing,

What should we do?

Chor. Rejoice, we should rejoice.

3d Witch. Let's have a dance upon the heath, We gain more life by Duncan's death.

1st Witch. Sometimes like brinded cats we show,

Having no music but our mew,

To which we dance in some old mill,

Upon the hopper, stone, or wheel,

To some old saw, or bardish rhyme,—

Chor. Where still the mill clack does keep time.

2d Witch. Sometimes about a hollow tree,

Around, around, around dance we;
Thither the chirping cricket comes,
And beetles singing drowsy hums;
Sometimes we dance o'er ferns or furze,
To howls of wolves, or barks of curs;
And when with none of these we meet-

Chor. We dance to the echoes of our feet. 3d Witch. At the night raven's dismal voice, When others tremble, we rejoice.

Chor. And nimbly, nimbly, dance we still,

To th' echoes from a hollow hill. [Exeunt different ways.

END OF ACT II.

ACT III.

SCENE I.-Macbeth's Castle at Inverness.

Len. How

Enter MACDUFF, meeting LENOX.

goes the world, sir, now?

Macd. Why, see you not?

Len. Is't known who did this more than bloody deed? Macd. Those that Macbeth hath slain.

Len. Alas the day!

What good could they pretend?

Macd. They were suborned:

Malcolm and Donalbain, the king's two sons,
Are stol'n away and fled: which puts upon them
Suspicion of the deed.

Len. 'Gainst nature still;

Thriftless ambition, that will raven up

Thine own life's means!-Then 'tis most like,
The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth.

Macd. He is already named; and gone to Scone

To be invested.

Len. Where is Duncan's body?

Macd. Carried to Colmes-kill;

The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,

And guardian of his bones.

Len. Will you to Scone?

Macd. No, cousin, I'll to Fife.

Len. Well, I will thither.

Macd. Well, may you see things well done there!—

adieu,

Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!

[Exeunt, Macduff, R., Lenox, L.

SCENE II.-The Palace at Fores.

Enter BANQUO and FLEANCE, r.

Ban. Thou hast it now. King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,

As the weird women promised; and, I fear,
Thou playedst most foully for't; yet it was said,
It should not stand in thy posterity;

But that myself should be the root and father
Of many kings; if there come truth from them,
(As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine,)
Why, by the verities on thee made good,

May they not be my oracles as well,

And set me up in hope? [Flourish of Trumpets & Drums But hush; no more.

Enter MACBETH, as King; SEYTON, LENOX, Rosse, and ATTENDANTS, m. d.

Mach. [To Banquo.] Here's our chief guest:

If he had been forgotten,

It had been as a gap in our great feast,

And all things unbecoming.

To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir,
And I'll request your presence.

Ban. Let your highness

Command upon me; to the which, my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie

Forever knit.

Mach. Ride you this afternoon?

Ban. Ay, my good lord.

Macb. We should have else desired your good advice (Which still hath been both grave and prosperous,) In this day's council; but we'll take to-morrow.

Is't far you ride?

Ban. As far, my lord, as will fill up the time 'Twixt this and supper: go not my horse the better, I must become a borrower of the night,

For a dark hour or twain.

Macb. Fail not our feast.
Ban. My lord, I will not.

Mach. We hear, our bloody cousins are bestowed
In England, and in Ireland; not confessing
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
With strange invention: But of that to-morrow;
When, therewithal, we shall have cause of state,
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse: Adieu,
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you?

Ban. Ay, my good lord; our time does call upon us. Macb. I wish your horses swift, and sure of foot; And so I do commend you to their backs.

Farewell.

[Exeunt Banquo and Fleance, L.

Let every man be master of his time

Till seven at night: to make society

The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself

Till supper-time alone: while then, Heaven be with you! [Exeunt all but Macbeth and Seyton, M. D. Sirrah, a word: Attend those men our pleasure?

Sey. They are, my lord, without the palace gate.
Mach. Bring them before us.-

To be thus, is nothing:

Exit Seyton, L.

But to be safely thus :-Our fears in Banquo
Stick deep:-

He chid the sisters,

When first they put the name of King upon me,
And bade them speak to him; then, prophet-like,
They hailed him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown,
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand.
No son of mine succeeding. If it be so,
For Banquo's issue have I filed my mind;

For them, the gracious Duncan have I murdered;
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace

Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man

To make them kings-The seed of Banquo kings!-
Rather than so, come, Fate, into the list,

And champion me to the utterance!-Who's there?

Enter SEYTON, with two OFFICERS, L.-Exit Seyton, L.

Was it not yesterday we spoke together? 1st Off. It was, so please your highness. Mach. Well then, now,

Have you considered of my speeches?

you find

Your patience so predominant in your nature,
That you can let this go? Are you so gospelled.
То pray for this good man, and for his issue,
Wise heavy hand hath bowed you to the grave,

And beggared yours forever?

2d Off. I am one, my liege.

Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world
Have so incensed, that I am reckless what
I do to spite the world.

1st Off. And I another,

So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune,
That I would set my life on any chance,

To mend it, or be rid on't.

Macb. Both of you

Know Banquo was your enemy.

1st Off. True, my lord.

Macb. So is he mine; and in such bloody distance
That every minute of his being thrusts

Against my near'st of life: and though I could
With bare-faced power sweep him from my sight,
And bid my will avouch it, yet I must not,
For sundry weighty reasons.

2d Off. We shall, my lord, Perform what you command us1st Off. Though our lives

Mach. Your spirits shine through you. Within this hour, at most,

I will advise you where to plant yourselves;
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time—
The moment on't; for't must be done to-night,
And something from the palace; always thought,
That I require a clearness: And with him,
(To leave no rubs, nor botches, in the work,)
Fleance, his son, that keeps him company,
Whose absence is no less material to me,
Than is his father's, must embrace the fate
Of that dark hour: Resolve yourselves apart;
I'll come to you anon.

1st Off. We are resolved, my lord.

Mach. I'll call upon you straight; abide within.
[Exeunt Officers, L

It is concluded:-Banquo, thy soul's flight,
If it find heaven, must find it out to-night.

[Exit L.

Enter LADY MACBETH, as Queen, and SEXTON, r.

La ly M. Is Banquo gone from court?