Macb.
You know your own degrees; sit down: at first ^{note note}
And last ^note the hearty welcome. ^note

Lords.
Thanks to your majesty.

Macb.
Ourself will mingle with society
And play the humble host.
Our hostess keeps her state, but in best ^note time
We will require her welcome.

Lady M.
Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends,
For my heart speaks they are ^note welcome. Enter first Murderer to the door. ^note

Macb.
See, they encounter thee with their hearts' thanks.
Both sides are even: here I'll sit i the midst:
Be large in mirth; anon we'll drink a measure
The table round. [Approaching the door ^note] There's blood upon thy face.

Mur.
'Tis Banquo's then.

Macb. ^note
'Tis better thee without than he ^note within.
Is he dispatch'd?

Mur.
My lord, his throat is cut; that I did ^note for him.

Macb.
Thou art the best o' the ^note cut-throats: yet he's good ^note
That did the like for Fleance: if thou didst it,
Thou art the nonpareil. ^note

Mur.
Most royal sir,
Fleance is 'scaped.

Macb. [Aside ^note]
Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect, ^note
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,
As broad and general as the casing air:
But now I am ^note cabin'd, cribb'd, confined, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears.—But Banquo's safe?

Mur.
Ay, my good lord: safe in a ditch he bides,
With twenty trenched gashes on his head;
The least a death to nature.

Macb.
Thanks for that. [Aside ^note]
There the grown serpent lies; the worm that's fled
Hath nature that in time will venom breed,
No teeth for the present. Get thee gone: to-morrow
We'll hear ourselves ^{note note} again. ^note [Exit Murderer.

Lady M.
My royal lord,
You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold ^note
That is not often vouch'd ^note, while 'tis a-making, ^note
'Tis given with welcome: to feed ^note were best at home;
From thence the sauce to meat is ceremony;
Meeting were bare without it.

Macb.
Sweet remembrancer!

Now good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both!

Len.
May't please your highness sit. [The Ghost ^note of Banquo enters, and sits in Macbeth's place.

Macb.
Here had we now our country's honour roof'd,
Were the graced person of our Banquo present;
Who ^note may I rather challenge for unkindness
Than pity for mischance! ^note

Ross.
His absence, sir,
Lays blame upon his promise. Please't ^note your highness ^note
To grace us with your royal company. ^note

Macb.
The table's full.

Len.
Here is ^note a place reserved, sir.

Macb.
Where?

Len.
Here, my good lord ^note. What is't that moves your highness? ^note

Macb.
Which of you have done this?

Lords.
What, my good lord?

Macb.
Thou canst not say I did it: never shake
Thy gory locks at me.

Ross.
Gentlemen, rise; his highness is not well.

Lady M.
Sit, worthy friends: my lord is often thus,
And hath been from his youth: pray you, keep seat;
The fit is momentary ^note; upon ^note a thought
He will again be well: if much you note him,
You shall offend him and extend his passion: ^note
Feed ^note, and regard him not. Are you a man?

Macb.
Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appal the devil.

Lady M.
O ^note proper stuff! ^note
This is the very painting of your fear:
This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said,
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts,
Impostors to true ^note fear, would well become
A woman's story at a winter's fire,
Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!
Why do you make such faces? When all's done,
You look but on a stool.

Macb. ^note
Prithee, see there! behold! look! lo! how say you? ^note
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. [Exit Ghost. ^note

Lady M.
What, quite unmann'd in folly ^note?

Macb.
If I stand here, I saw him.

Lady M.
Fie, for shame!

Macb.
Blood hath been shed ere now, i' the olden ^note time,
Ere humane ^note statute purged the gentle ^note weal;
Ay, and since too, murders have been ^note perform'd
Too terrible for the ear: the time has ^note been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end; but now they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools: this is more strange
Than such a murder is. ^note

Lady M.
My worthy lord,
Your noble friends do lack you.

Macb.
I do forget ^note.
Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends;
I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing
To those that know me. Come, ^note love and health to all;
Then I'll sit down. Give me some wine, fill full.
I drink to the general joy o' ^note the whole table,
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss;
Would he were here! to all and him we thirst,
And all ^note to all.

Lords.
Our duties, and the pledge. Re-enter Ghost. ^note

Macb. ^note
Avaunt! and quit my sight! let the earth hide thee!
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes
Which thou dost glare with.

Lady M.
Think of this, good peers,
But as a thing of custom: 'tis no other;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.

Macb.
What man dare, I dare:
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan ^note tiger;
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble: or be alive ^note again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword;
If trembling I inhabit then, ^note protest ^note me

The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible ^note shadow!
Unreal mockery, hence! [Exit Ghost.3 ^note
Why, so: being gone ^note, ^note
I am a man again. Pray you, sit still.

Lady M.
You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting,
With most admired disorder. ^note

Macb.
Can such things be,
And overcome us like a summer's cloud,
Without our special wonder? You ^note make me strange
Even to ^note the disposition that I owe ^note,
When now ^note I think you can behold such sights,
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks ^note,
When mine is ^note blanch'd with fear.

Ross.
What sights ^note, my lord?

Lady M.
I pray you, speak not; he grows worse and worse;
Question enrages him: at once, good night:
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once.

Len.
Good night; and better health
Attend his majesty!

Lady M.
A kind ^note good night to all! [Exeunt ^note all but Macbeth and Lady M.

Macb.
It will have blood: ^note they say ^note blood will have blood:
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;
Augures ^{note note} and understood ^note relations have
By maggot-pies and ^note choughs ^note and rooks brought forth
The secret'st man of blood. What is the night?

Lady M.
Almost at odds with morning, which is which.

Macb.
How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person
At our great bidding?

Lady M.
Did you send to him, sir? ^note

Macb.
I hear ^note it by the way, but I will send:
There's not a one ^{note note} of them but in his house
I keep ^note a servant fee'd. I will to-morrow,
And betimes I will ^note, to ^note the weird ^note sisters: ^note
More shall they speak, for now I am ^note bent to know,
By the worst means, the worst. For mine own good ^note
All causes shall give way: I am in blood
Stepp'd ^note in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go ^note o'er:
Strange things I have in head that will to hand,

Which must be acted ere they may be scann'd.

Lady M.
You lack the season of all natures ^note, sleep.

Macb.
Come, we'll to ^note sleep. My strange and self-abuse
Is the initiate fear that wants hard use:
We are ^note yet but young in deed ^note. [Exeunt. ^note

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