SCENE II.
Changes to the Palace at Foris.
Enter King, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lenox, with attendants, meeting a bleeding Captain.
King.
What bloody man is that? he can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.
Mal.
This is the Serjeant,
Who like a good and hardy soldier fought
'Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend!
-- 373 --
Say to the King the knowledge of the broil,
As thou didst leave it.
Cap.
Doubtful long it stood,
As two spent swimmers that do cling together,
And choak their Art. The merciless Macdonal,
Worthy to be a Rebel; for to That
The multiplying villanies of nature
Do swarm upon him, 3 note
from the western isles
Of Kernes and Gallow-glasses was supply'd;
4 note
And fortune on his damned quarrel smiling,
Shew'd like a rebel's whore. But all too weak;
For brave Macbeth, well he deserves that name,
Disdaining fortune, with his brandisht steel,
Which smoak'd with bloody execution,
Like Valour's Minion carved out his passage,
'Till he fac'd the slave;
Who ne'er shook hands nor bid farewel to him,
'Till 5 note
he unseam'd him from the nave to th' chops,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements.
-- 374 --
King.
Oh, valiant Cousin! worthy Gentleman!
Cap.
6 note
As whence the sun 'gins his reflection,
Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break;
So from that Spring, whence Comfort seem'd to come,
-- 375 --
7 note
Discomforts well'd. Mark, King of Scotland, mark;
No sooner justice had, with valour arm'd,
Compell'd these skipping Kermes to trust their heels;
But the Norweyan lord, surveying 'vantage,
With furbisht arms and new supplies of men
Began a fresh assault.
King.
Dismay'd not this
Our Captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
Cap.
Yes,
As sparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion.
If I say sooth, I must report, they were
8 note
As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks,
-- 376 --
So they redoubled strokes upon the foe.
Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,
9 noteOr memorize another Golgotha,
I cannot tell—
But I am faint, my gashes cry for help.—
King.
So well thy words become thee, as thy wounds;
They smack of honour both. Go, get him surgeons.
Enter Rosse and Angus.
But who comes here?
Mal.
The worthy Thane of Rosse.
Len.
What haste looks through his eyes?
1 note
So should he look, that seems to speak things strange.
-- 377 --
Rosse.
God save the King!
King.
Whence cam'st thou, worthy Thane?
Rosse.
From Fife, great King,
Where the Norweyan banners 2 noteflout the sky,
And fan our people cold.
Norway, himself, with numbers terrible,
Assisted by that most disloyal traitor
The Thane of Cawdor, 'gan a dismal conflict.
'Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapt in proof,
3 note
Confronted him 4 notewith self-comparisons,
Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm,
Curbing his lavish spirit. To conclude,
The victory fell on us.
King.
Great happiness!
Rosse.
Now Sweno, Norway's King, craves composition;
Nor would we deign him burial of his men,
'Till he disbursed, at Saint Colmes-kill-isle,
Ten thousand dollars, to our gen'ral use.
King.
No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom-int'rest. Go, pronounce his death;
And with his former Title greet Macbeth.
Rosse.
I'll see it done.
King.
What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.
[Exeunt.
-- 378 --
Samuel Johnson [1765], The plays of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added notes by Sam. Johnson (Printed for J. and R. Tonson [and] C. Corbet [etc.], London) [word count] [S11001].
