SCENE VII. The same. Another Part of the Plain.

Enter MACBETH.

Macb. They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, But, bearlike, I must fight the course.'-What's he, That was not born of woman? Such a one Am I to fear, or none.

Enter Young SIWARD.

Yo. Siw. What is thy name?
Macb.

name

Than any is in hell.

Thou❜lt be afraid to hear it. Yo. Siw. No; though thou call'st thyself a hotter

Macb.

My name's Macbeth.

Yo. Siw. The devil himself could not pronounce a title

More hateful to mine ear.
Macb.

Yo. Siw. Thou liest,
sword

I'll prove the lie thou speak'st.

[They fight, and Young Siward is slain. Macb. Thou wast born of woman. But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, Brandished by man that's of a woman born.

[Exit.

No, nor more fearful. abhorred tyrant; with my

Alarums. Enter MACDUff.

Macd. That way the noise is.-Tyrant, show thy face:

If thou be'st slain, and with no stroke of mine,
My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still.

1 "But, bearlike, I must fight the course." This was a phrase at bearbaiting. "Also you shall see two ten dog courses at the great bear.". Antipodes, by Brome.

I cannot strike at wretched kernes, whose arms
Are hired to bear their staves; either thou, Macbeth,
Or else my sword, with an unbattered edge,
I sheathe again undeeded. There thou shouldst be;
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited.1 Let me find him, fortune!
And more I beg not.

[Exit. Alarum.

Enter MALCOLM and Old SIWARD.

Siw. This way, my lord.-The castle's gently rendered:

The tyrant's people on both sides do fight;
The noble thanes do bravely in the war;
The day almost itself professes yours,
And little is to do.

Mal.

That strike beside us.

Siw.

We have met with foes

Enter, sir, the castle.

[Exeunt. Alarum.

Re-enter MACBETH.

Macb. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die On mine own sword? Whiles I see lives, the gashes Do better upon them.

Re-enter MACDUFF.

Macd.

Turn, hell-hound, turn. Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee; But get thee back; my soul is too much charged With blood of thine already.

Macd.
I have no words;
My voice is in my sword; thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out!

[They fight Macb. Thou losest labor: As easy may'st thou the intrenchant air 2

1 Bruited is reported, noised abroad; from bruit (Fr.).
2 "The intrenchant air," the air which cannot be cut.

With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed.
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield
To one of woman born.

Macd.

Despair thy charm;
And let the angel, whom thou still hast served,
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripped.

Macb. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cowed my better part of man:
And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter1 with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope.-I'll not fight with thee.
Macd. Then yield thee, coward,

And live to be the show and gaze o' the time.
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted upon a pole; and underwrit,
Here may you see the tyrant.

Macb. I'll not yield To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, And to be baited with the rabble's curse. Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, And thou opposed, being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield; lay on, Macduff; And damned be him that first cries, Hold, enough. [Exeunt, fighting.

Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with drum and colors, MALCOLM, Old SIWARD, ROSSE, LENOX, Angus, CATHNESS, MENTETH, and Soldiers.

Mal. I would the friends we miss were safe arrived. Siw. Some must go off; and yet, by these I see, So great a day as this is cheaply bought.

Mal. Macduff is missing, and your noble son.

1 "That palter with us in a double sense," that shuffle with ambiguous expressions.

Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt. He only lived but till he was a man ; The which no sooner had his prowess confirmed In the unshrinking station where he fought, But like a man he died.

Siw.

Then he is dead?

Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field; your cause of sorrow

Must not be measured by his worth, for then

It hath no end.

Siw.
Rosse. Ay, on the front.
Siw.

Had he his hurts before?

Why, then, God's soldier be he!

Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death.1

And so his knell is knolled.

Mal.

He's worth more sorrow,

And that I'll spend for him.
Siw.
He's worth no more ;
They say, he parted well, and paid his score;
And so, God be with him!-Here comes newer
comfort.

Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head on a pole.2 Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art. Behold, where stands

The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:

I see thee compassed with thy kingdom's pearl,3
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,-
Hail, king of Scotland!

1 "When Siward, the martial earl of Northumberland, understood that his son, whom he had sent against the Scotchmen, was slain, he demanded whether his wounds were in the fore part or hinder part of his body. When it was answered, in the fore part,' he replied, 'I am right glad ; neither wish I any other death to me or mine." Camden's Remaines.

2 These words, " on a pole," Mr. Steevens added to the stage direction from the Chronicle. The stage directions of the players are often incorrect, and sometimes ludicrous.

3 "Thy kingdom's pearl," thy kingdom's wealth or ornament. Rowe altered this to peers, without authority.

All.

Hail, king of Scotland!

[Flourish.

Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time, Before we reckon with your several loves,

And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honor named.1 What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,-
As calling home our exiled friends abroad,
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers

Of this dead butcher, and his fiendlike queen;
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life;—this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place;
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crowned at Scone.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

1 "Malcolm, immediately after his coronation, called a parliament at Forfair; in the which he rewarded them with lands and livings that had assisted him against Macbeth. Manie of them that were before thanes were at this time made earles; as Fife, Menteith, Atholl, Levenox, Murrey, Caithness, Rosse, and Angus."—Holinshed's History of Scotland, P. 176.

THIS play is deservedly celebrated for the propriety of its fictions, and solemnity, grandeur, and variety of its action; but it has no nice discriminations of character: the events are too great to admit the influence of particular dispositions, and the course of the action necessarily determines the conduct of the agents.

The danger of ambition is well described; and I know not whether it may not be said, in defence of some parts which now seem improbable, that in Shakspeare's time it was necessary to warn credulity against vain and illusive predictions.

The passions are directed to their true end. Lady Macbeth is merely detested; and though the courage of Macbeth preserves some esteem, yet every reader rejoices at his fall.

JOHNSON.