Macb.
You know your own Degrees, sit down.

Seat.
Thanks to your Majesty.

Macb.
Our self will keep you company,
And play the humble Host to entertain you:
Our Lady keeps her State; but you shall have her welcome too.

La. Macb.
Pronounce it for me Sir, to all our Friends. Enter first Murtherer.

Macb.
Both sides are even; be free in Mirth, anon
We'l drink a measure about the Table.
There's blood upon thy face.

Mur.
'Tis Banquo's then.

Macb.
Is he dispatch'd?

Mur.
My Lord his Throat is cut: that I did for him.

Macb.
Thou art the best of Cut throats;
Yet he is good that did the like for Flean.

Mur.
Most Royal Sir, he scap'd.

Macb.
Then comes my sit again, I had else been perfect,
Firm as a Pillar founded on a Rock!
As unconfin'd as the free spreading Air.
But now I'm check'd with sawcy Doubts and fears.
But Banquo's safe?

Mur.
Safe in a Ditch he lies,
With twenty gaping wounds on his head,
The least of which was Mortal.

Macb.
There the ground Serpent lies; the worm that's fled
Hath Nature, that in time will Venom breed.
Though at present it wants a Sting, to morrow,
To morrow you shall hear further. [Exit. Mur.

La. Macb.
My Royal Lord, you spoil the Feast,
The Sauce to Meat is chearfulness. Enter the Ghost of Banquo and sits in Macbeth's place.

Macb.
Let good digestion wait on Appetite,
And Health on both.

Len.
May it please your Highness to sit.

Macb.
Had we but here our Countreys honour;
Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present,
Whom we may justly challenge for unkindness.

Seat.
His absence Sir,
Lays blame upon his promise; please your Highness,
To grace us with your company?

Macb.
Yes, I'le sit down. The Table's full

Len.
Here is a place reserv'd Sir:

Macb.
Where Sir?

Len.
Here. What is't that moves your Highness?

Macb.
Which of you have done this?

Lords.
Done what?

Macb.
Thou canst not say I did it; never shake
Thy goary Locks at me.

Seat.
Gentlemen rise, his Highness is not well.

La. Macb.
Sit worthy friends, my Lord is often thus,
And hath been from his youth; pray keep your Seats,
The fit is ever sudden if you take notice of it,
You shall offend him, and provoke his passion,
In a moment he'l be well again.
Are you a man?

Macb.
Ay, and a bold one; that dare look on that
Which wou'd distract the Devil

La. Macb.
O proper stuff:
This is the very painting of your fear:
This is the Air-drawn Dagger, which you said
Led you to Duncan. O these Fits and Starts,
(Impostors to true fear) wou'd well become
A womans story, authoriz'd by her Grandam,
Why do you stare thus? when all's done
You look but on a Chair.

Macb.
Prethee see there, how say you now!
Why, what care I, if thou canst nod; speak too.
If Charnel-houses and our Graves must send
Those that we bury, back; our Monuments
Shall be the maws of Kites.

La. Macb.
What quite unmann'd in folly? [The Ghost descends.

Macb.
If I stand here, I saw it:

La. Macb.
Fye, for shame.

Macb.
'Tis not the first of Murders; blood was shed
E're humane Law decreed it for a sin.
Ay, and since Murthers too have been committed
Too terrible for the Ear. The time has been,
That when the brains were out, the man wou'd dye;
And there lie still; but now they rise again
And thrust us from our Seats.

La. Macb.
Sir, your noble Friends do lack you.

Macb.
Wonder not at me my most worthy Friends,

I have a strange Infirmity; 'tis nothing
To those that know me. Give me some Wine,
Here's to the general Joy of all the Table,
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss,
Wou'd he were here: to all, and him, we drink.

Lords.
Our Duties are to pledge it. [the Ghost of Ban. rises at his feet.

Macb.
Let the earth hide thee: thy blood is cold,
Thou hast no use now of thy glaring Eyes.

La. Macb.
Think of this good my Lords, but as a thing
Of Custom: 'tis no other,
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.

Macb.
What man can dare, I dare:
Approach thou like the rugged Russian Bear,
The Arm'd Rhinoceros, or the Hircanian Tigre:
Take any shape but that; and my firm Nerves
Shall never tremble; or revive a while,
And dare me to the Desart with thy Sword,
If any Sinew shrink, proclaim me then
The Baby of a Girl. Hence horrible shadow. [Ex. Ghost.
So, now I am a man again: pray you sit still.

La. Macb.
You have disturb'd the Mirth;
Broke the glad Meeting with your wild disorder.

Macb.
Can such things be without Astonishment.
You make me strange,
Even to the disposition that I owe,
When now I think you can behold such sights,
And keep the natural colour of your Cheeks,
Whilst mine grew pale with fear.

Seat.
What sights?

La. Macb.
I pray you speak not, he'l grow worse and worse;
Questions enrage him, at once good night:
Stand not upon the Order of your going.

Len.
Good night, and better health attend his Majesty.

La. Macb.
A kind good night to all. [Exeunt Lords.

Macb.
It will have Blood they say. Blood will have blood.
Stones have been known to move, and Trees to speak.
Augures well read in Languages of Birds
By Magpies, Rooks, and Dawes, have reveal'd
The secret Murther. How goes the night?

La. Macb.
Almost at odds with morning, which is which.

Macb.
Why did Macduff after a solemn Invitation,
Deny his presence at our Feast?

La. Macb.
Did you send to him Sir?

Macb.
I did; but I'll send again,
There's not one great Thane in all Scotland,
But in his house I keep a Servant,
He and Banquo must embrace the same Fate.
I will to morrow to the Weyward Sisters,
They shall tell me more; for now I am bent to know
By the worst means, the worst that can befall me:
All Causes shall give way; I am in bloud
Stept in so far, that should I wade no more,
Returning were as bad, as to go o're,

La. Macb.
You lack the season of all Natures, sleep.

Macb.
VVell I'll in
And rest; if sleeping I repose can have,
VVhen the Dead rise and want it in the Grave. [Exeunt. Enter Macduff and Lady Macduff.

La. Macd.
Are you resolved then to be gone?

Macd.
I am:
I know my Answer cannot but inflame
The Tyrants fury to pronounce my death,
My life will soon be blasted by his breath.

La. Macd.
But why so far as England must you fly?

Macd.
The farthest part of Scotland is too nigh.

La. Macd.
Can You leave me, your Daughter and young Son,
To perish by that Tempest which you shun.
VVhen Birds of stronger VVing are fled away,
The Ravenous Kite do's on the weaker prey.

Macd.
He will not injure you, he cannot be
Possest with such unmanly cruelty:
You will your safety to your weakness owe
As Grass escapes the Syth by being low.
Together we shall be too slow to fly:
Single, we may out-ride the Enemy.
I'll from the English King such Succours crave,
As shall revenge the Dead, and Living save.
My greatest misery is to remove,
VVith all the wings of haste from what I love.

La. Macd.
If to be gone seems misery to you,

Good Sir, let us be miserable too.

Macd.
Your Sex which here is your security,
Will by the toyls of flight your Danger be. [Enter Messenger.
What fatal News do's bring thee out of breath?

Mess.
Sir, Banquo's kill'd.

Macd.
Then I am warn'd of Death.
Farewell; our safety, Us, a while must sever:

La. Macd.
Fly, fly, or we may bid farewel for ever.

Macd.
Flying from Death, I am to life unkind,
For leaving you, I leave my Life behind. [Exit.

La. Macd.
Oh my dear Lord, I find now thou art gone,
I am more valiant when unsafe alone.
My heart feels man-hood, it does Death despise,
Yet I am still a Woman in my eyes.
And of my Tears thy absence is the cause,
So falls the Dew when the bright Sun withdraws. [Exeunt. Enter Lenox and Seaton.

Len.
My former speeches have but hit your thoughts
Which can interpret further; Only I say
Things have been strangely carry'd.
Duncan was pitti'd, but he first was dead.
And the right Valiant Banquo walk'd too late:
Men must not walk so late: who can want Sense
To know how monstrous it was in Nature,
For Malcolme and Donalbain, to kill,
Their Royal Father; horrid Fact! how did
It grieve Macbeth, did he not straight
In Pious rage the two Delinquents kill,
That were the slaves of Drunkenness and Sleep?
Was not that nobly done?

Seat.
Ay, and wisely too:
For 'twou'd have anger'd any Loyal heart
To hear the men deny it.

Len.
So that I say he has born all things well:
And I do think that had he Duncan's Sons
Under his power (as may please Heaven he shall not)
They shou'd find what it were to kill a Father.
So shou'd Flean: but peace; I hear Macduff
Deny'd his presence at the Feast: For which
He lives in disgrace. Sir, can you tell

Where he bestows himself?

Seat.
I hear that Malcolme lives i'th' English Court,
And is receiv'd of the most Pious Edward,
With such Grace, that the Malevolences of Fortune
Takes nothing from his high Respect; thither
Macduff is gone to beg the Holy King's
Kind aid, to wake Northumberland
And Warlike Seyward, and by the help of these,
To finish what they have so well begun.
This report
Do's so Exasperate the King, that he
Prepares for some attempt of War.

Len.
Sent he to Macduff?

Seat.
He did, his absolute Command.

Len.
Some Angel fly toth' English Court, and tell
His Message e're he come; that some quick blessing,
To this afflicted Country, may arrive
whilst those that merit it are yet alive. [Exeunt. Thunder, Enter three Witches meeting Hecat.

1 Witch.
How? Hecat, you look angerly.

Hecat.
Have I not reason Beldams?
Why did you all Traffick with Macbeth
'Bout Riddles and affairs of Death,
And call'd not me? All you have done
Hath been but for a Weyward Son:
Make some amends now: get you gon,
And at the pit of Achæron
Meet me i'th' morning: Thither he
Will come to know his Destiny.
Dire business will be wrought e're Noon,
For on a corner of the Moon,
A drop my Spectacles have found,
I'll catch it e're it come to ground.
And that distill'd shall yet e're night,
Raise from the Center such a Spright:
As by the strength of his Illusion,
Shall draw Macbeth to his Confusion. [Musick and Song.

Heccate, Heccate, Heccate! O come away:

Hark, I am call'd, my little Spirit see,
Sits in a foggy Cloud, and stays for me.

Sing within. [Machine descends.
Come away Heccate, Heccate! Oh come away:

Hec.
I come, I come, with all the speed I may,
With all the speed I may.
Where's Stadling?

2.
Here.

Hec.
Where's Puckle?

3.
Here, and Hopper too, and Helway too.

1.
We want but you, we want but you:
Come away, make up the Count.

Hec.
I will but Noint, and then I mount,
I will but, &c.

1.
Here comes down one to fetch his due, a Kiss,
A Cull, a sip of bloud.
And why thou stay'st so long, I muse.
Since th' Air's so sweet and good.

2.
Oh art thou come! What News?
All goes fair for our delight,
Either come, or else refuse,
Now I'm furnish'd for the flight,
Now I go, and now I fly,
Malking my sweet Spirit and I.

3.
Oh what a dainty pleasure's this!
To sail i'th' Air
While the Moon shines fair;
To Sing, to Toy, to Dance and Kiss;
Over Woods, high Rocks and Mountains;
Over Hills, and misty Fountains;
Over Steeples, Towers, and Turrets:
We fly by night 'mongst troops of Spirits.
No Ring of Bells to our Ears sounds,
No Howls of Wolves, nor Yelps of Hounds;
No, nor the noise of Waters breach,
Nor Cannons Throats our Height can reach.

1.
Come let's make haste, she'll soon be back again.

2.
But whilst she moves through the foggy Air,
Let's to the Cave and our dire Charms prepare. Finis Actus III.

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