Enter Macduff.

Whated.

Donalbain,

How goes the world, sir, now?
Macd.

Why, see you not? Rosse. Is't known, who did this more than bloody

deed? Macd. Those that Macbeth hath slain. Rosse.

Alas, the day! What good could they pretend ?3

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

'Gainst nature still:
Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up
Thine own life's means !—Then 'tis most like,
The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth.

Macd. He is already nam'd; and gone to Scone, To be invested.

Rosse. Where is Duncan's body?
Macd. Carried to Colmes-kill ;4
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors,
And guardian of their bones.
Rosse.

Will you to Scone?
Macd. No, cousin, I'll to Fife.
Rosse.

Well, I will thither. Macd. Well, may you see things well done there;

-adieu! Lest our old robes sit easier than our new!

Rosse. Father, farewell.

- they pretend?) i. e. intend, or design. 4- Colmes-kill;] Or Colm-kill, is the famous Iona, one of the western isles, which Dr. Johnson visited, and describes in his Tour. It is now called Icolmkill. Kill, in the Erse language, signifies a burying-place.

Old M. God's benison go with you; and with those That would make good of bad, and friends of foes !

[Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE 1. Fores. A Room in the Palace.

Enter Banquo.
Ban. Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis,

all,
As the weird women promis'd; and, I fear,
Thou play’dst 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? But, hush; no more.

Senet sounded. Enter MACBETH, as King; Lady
Macbeth, as Queen; Lenox, Rosse, Lords,
Ladies, and Attendants.
Macb. Here's our chief guest.
Lady M.

If he had been forgotten,
It had been as a gap in our great feast,
And all-things unbecoming.

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

Let your highness
Command upon me; to the which, my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie
For ever knit.

Macb. Ride you this afternoon?
Ban.

Ay, my good lord. Macb. We should have else desir’d 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.

Macb. We hear, our bloody cousins are bestow'd
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.

[Exit BANQUO. 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, God be with you.

[Exeunt Lady Macbeth, Lords, Ladies, &c. Sirrah, a word: Attend those men our pleasure? Atten. They are, my lord, without the palace

gate. Mack. Bring them before 11s.—[Exit Atten.]

To be thus, is nothing;
But to be safely thus:-Our fears in Banquo

Stick deep; and in his royalty of natures
Reigns that, which would be fear’d: 'Tis much he

dares;
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety. There is none, but he
Whose being I do fear: and, under him,
My genius is rebuk’d; as, it is said,
Mark Antony's was by Cæsar. He chid the sisters,
When first they put the name of King upon me,
And bade them speak to him; then, prophet-like,
They hail'd him father to a line of kings:
Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown,
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,
Thence to be wrench’d with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If it be so,
For Banquo's issue have I fil'd' my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder’d;
Put rancours in the vessel of my peace
Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,8
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?

royalty of nature-] Royalty, in the present instance, signifies nobleness, supreme excellence.

6- to-] i, e, in addition to.
? For Banquo's issue have I fild-] i. e. defiled.

8 — the common enemy of man,] It is always an entertainment to an inquisitive reader, to trace a sentiment to its original source; and therefore, though the term enemy of man, applied to the devil, is in itself natural and obvious, yet some may be pleased with being informed, that Shakspeare probably borrowed it from the first lines of The Destruction of Troy, a book which he is known to have read. This expression, however, he might have had in many other places. The word fiend signifies enemy.

— come, fate, into the list,
And champion me to the utterance ! ] This passage will be best

Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers. Now to the door, and stay there till we call.

[Exit Attendant. Was it not yesterday we spoke together?

i Mur. It was, so please your highness. Macb.

Well then, now Have you consider'd of my speeches? Know, That it was he, in the times past, which held you So under fortune; which, you thought, had been Our innocent self: this I made good to you In our last conference; pass'd in probation with you, How you were borne in hand;' how cross'd; the

instruments; Who wrought with them; and all things else, that

might, To half a soul, and a notion craz'd, Say, Thus did Banquo. i Mur.

You made it known to us. Macb. I did so; and went further, which is now Our point of second meeting. Do you find Your patience so predominant in your nature,

explained by translating it into the language from whence the only word of difficulty in it is borrowed. Que la destinée se rende en lice, et qu'elle me donne un defi à l'outrance. A challenge, or a combat à l'outrance, to extremity, was a fixed term in the law of arms, used when the combatants engaged with an odium internecinum, an intention to destroy each other, in opposition to trials of skill at festivals, or on other occasions, where the contest was only for reputation or a prize. The sense therefore is: Let fate, that has fore-doomed the exaltation of the sons of Banquo, enter the lists against me, with the utmost animosity, in defence of its own decrees, which I will endeavour to invalidate, whatever be the danger. Johnson. i pass'd in probation with you,

How you were borne in hand; &c.] Pass'd in probation is, perhaps, only a bulky phrase, employed to signify-proved.—To bear in hand is, to delude by encouraging hope and holding out fair prospects, without any intention of performance.