SCENE II.
A Camp near Fores.
Alarum within. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm,
Donalbain, Lenox, with Attendants, meeting
a bleeding Soldier1 note.
Dun.
What bloody man is that? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.
Mal.
This is the sergeant8 note
,
-- 16 --
Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought
'Gainst my captivity:—Hail, brave friend!
Say to the king the knowledge of the broil,
As thou didst leave it.
Sold.
Doubtful it stood9 note
;
As two spent swimmers, that do cling together,
And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald1 note
(Worthy to be a rebel; for, to that2 note
,
The multiplying villainies of nature
Do swarm upon him,) from the western isles
Of Kernes and Gallowglasses is supplied3 note
:
-- 17 --
And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling4 note
,
Show'd like a rebel's whore5 note: But all's too weak:
-- 18 --
For brave Macbeth, (well he deserves that name,)
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
-- 19 --
Which smok'd with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion,
Carv'd out his passage, till he fac'd the slave6 note
;
And ne'er shook hands7 note
, nor bade farewell to him,
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps8 note
,
-- 20 --
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.
Dun.
O, valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!
Sold.
As whence the sun 'gins his reflexion9 note
-- 21 --
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break1 note
;
So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd to come,
Discomfort swells2 note. 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 supplies of men,
Began a fresh assault.
Dun.
Dismay'd not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Sold.
Yes3 note
;
-- 22 --
As sparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion.
If I say sooth, I must report they were
As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks4 note
;
So they
Doubly redoubled strokes5 note
upon the foe:
-- 23 --
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
Or memorize another Golgotha6 note
,
I cannot tell:—
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.
Dun.
So well thy words become thee, as thy wounds;
They smack of honour both:—Go, get him surgeons.
[Exit Soldier, attended.
Enter Rosse7 note
.
Who comes here8 note
?
-- 24 --
Mal.
The worthy thane of Rosse.
Len.
What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look,
That seems to speak things strange9 note
.
-- 25 --
Rosse.
God save the king!
Dun.
Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?
Rosse.
From Fife, great king.
Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky1 note
And fan our people cold2 note.
-- 26 --
Norway himself, with terrible numbers,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
The thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict:
Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof3 note
,
Confronted him with self-comparisons4 note
,
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
-- 27 --
Sweno, the Norways' king5 note
, craves composition;
Nor would we deign him burial of his men,
Till he disbursed, at Saint Colmes' inch6 note
,
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.
Dun.
No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest:—Go, pronounce his present death7 note
,
And with his former title greet Macbeth.
Rosse.
I'll see it done.
Dun.
What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.
[Exeunt.
-- 28 --
James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
