Fle.

I take't, 'tis later, sir.

Ban. Hold, take my sword.-There's husbandry in

heaven;

Their candles are all out.-Take thee that too.
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
And yet I would not sleep. Merciful powers!
Restrain in me the cursed thoughts, that nature
Gives way to in repose.'-Give me my sword

;

Enter MACBETH, and a Servant with a torch. Who's there?

Macb. A friend.

Ban. What, sir, not yet at rest? The king's abed.
He hath been in unusual pleasure, and
Sent forth great largess to your officers: 2
This diamond he greets your wife withal,

By the name of most kind hostess; and shut
In measureless content.

Macb.

Being unprepared,

Our will became the servant to defect;
Which else should free have wrought."

Ban.

up

3

All's well.

I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters:
To you they have showed some truth.

Macb.

I think not of them; Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,

1 It is apparent from what Banquo says afterwards, that he had been solicited in a dream to attempt something in consequence of the prophecy of the witches, that his waking senses were shocked at; and Shakspeare has here most exquisitely contrasted his character with that of Macbeth. Banquo is praying against being tempted to encourage thoughts of guilt even in his sleep; while Macbeth is hurrying into temptation, and revolving in his mind every scheme, however flagitious, that may assist him to complete his purpose. The one is unwilling to sleep, lest the same phantoms should assail his resolution again, while the other is depriving himself of rest through impatience to commit the murder.

2 The old copy reads offices. Officers of a household was the common term for servants.

3 Steevens has explained "to shut up," by "to conclude," and the examples he has adduced are satisfactory.

4 Being unprepared, our desire to entertain the king honorably was constrained by defective means, otherwise our zeal should have been manifest by more liberal entertainments.

Would spend it in some words upon that business,
If you would grant the time.

Ban.

At your kind'st leisure. Macb If you shall cleave to my consent,'-when

'tis,

It shall make honor for you.

So I lose none,

Ban.
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchised, and allegiance clear,
I shall be counselled.

Macb.

Good repose, the while! Ban. Thanks, sir; the like to you!

[Exit BAN. Mach. Go, bid thy mistress, when my drink is

ready,

She strike upon the bell. Get thee to bed.

Is this a dagger, which I see before me,

[Exit Servant.

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch

thee;

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling, as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind; a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable

As this which now I draw.

Thou marshal'st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still;
And on thy blade, and dudgeon, gouts of blood,
Which was not so before.-There's no such thing:

1 Consent is accord, agreement, a combination for a particular purpose. By "if you shall cleave to my consent," Macbeth means, "if you shall adhere to me (i. e. agree or accord with my views), when 'tis (i. e. when events shall fall out as they are predicted), it shall make honor for you." Macbeth mentally refers to the crown which he expected to obtain in consequence of the murder that he was about to commit. We comprehend all that passes in his mind; but Banquo is still in ignorance of it.

2 Dudgeon, for handle; "a dudgeon dagger is a dagger whose handle is made of the root of box."

3 Gouts, drops; from the French gouttes.

It is the bloody business, which informs

Thus to mine eyes.-Now o'er the one half world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep: now witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and withered murder,
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,

Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost.2- -Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my where-about,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it.3-Whiles I threat, he lives;
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.

I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven, or to hell.

SCENE II. The same.

Enter LADY MACBETH.

[A bell rings.

[Exit.

Lady M. That which hath made them drunk, hath made me bold;

What hath quenched them, hath given me fire.— Hark!-peace!

It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman, Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it: The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms

1 Steevens proposed to substitute the word "sleeper" for "sleep," and to erase the word "now," in order to render the measure harmonious.

2 The old copy reads sides: Pope made the alteration. Johnson objects to the epithet ravishing strides. But a stride was not always an action of violence, impetuosity, or tumult. Thus in The Faerie Queene, b. iv. c. viii.,

"With easy steps so soft as foot could stride."

3 Macbeth would have nothing break through the universal silence that added such horror to the night, as well suited with the bloody deed he was about to perform.