SCENE III. England. A Room in the King's Palace. Enter MALCOLM and MACDUFF. Mal. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there Weep our sad bosoms empty. Macd. Let us rather Hold fast the mortal sword; and, like good men, Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds Like syllable of dolour. Mal. What I believe, I'll wail; What know, believe; and, what I can redress, thing You may deserve of him through me; and wisdom3 Macd. I am not treacherous. 1 Bestride our down-fall'n birthdom:] The allusion is to a man from whom something valuable is about to be taken by violence, and who, that he may defend it without incumbrance, lays it on the ground, and stands over it with his weapon in his hand. Our birthdom, or birthright, says he, lies on the ground; let us, like men who are to fight for what is dearest to them, not abandon it, but stand over it and defend it. This is a strong picture of obstinate resolution. 2 3 to friend,] i. e. to befriend. and wisdom - That is, and 'tis wisdom. Mal. But Macbeth is. A good and virtuous nature may recoil, In an imperial charge. But crave your pardon†; That which you are, my thoughts cannot transpose. Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell : Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, Yet grace must still look so. Macd. I have lost my hopes. Mal. Perchance, even there, where I did find my doubts. Why in that rawness left you wife, and child, (Those precious motives, those strong knots of love,) Without leave-taking ?-I pray you, Let not my jealousies be your dishonours, But mine own safeties:-You may be rightly just, Whatever I shall think. Macd. Bleed, bleed, poor country ! Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, For goodness dares not check thee! wear thou thy wrongs, Thy title is affeer'd' ! -Fare thee well, lord : I would not be the villain that thou think'st For the whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp, And the rich East to boot. Mal. Be not offended: I speak not as in absolute fear of you. 4 A good and virtuous nature may recoil, In an imperial charge.] A good mind may recede from good ness in the execution of a royal commission. Johnson. † "But I shall crave your pardon;"-MALONE. 5 Though all things foul, &c.] This is not very clear. The meaning, perhaps, is this: My suspicions cannot injure you, if you be virtuous, by supposing that a traitor may put on your virtuous appearance. I do not say that your virtuous appearance proves you a traitor ; for virtue must wear its proper form, though that form be counterfeited by villainy. JOHNSON. 6 Why in that rawness -) Without previous provision, with out due preparation, without maturity of counsel. 7 Thy title is affeer'd!] Affeer'd, a law term for confirmed. I think, our country sinks beneath the yoke; Macd. What should he be? Mal. It is myself I mean: in whom I know That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth With my confineless harms. Macd. Not in the legions Of horrid hell, can come a devil more damn'd In evils, to top Macbeth. I grant him bloody, Mal. That has a name: But there's no bottom, none, In my voluptuousness: your wives, your daughters, Your matrons, and your maids, could not fill up The cistern of my lust; and my desire All continent impediments would o'er-bear, That did oppose my will: Better Macbeth, Than such a one to reign. Macd. Boundless intemperance In nature is a tyranny; it hath been The untimely emptying of the happy throne, And yet seem cold, the time you may so hood-wink. We have willing dames enough; there cannot be That vulture in you, to devour so many As will to greatness dedicate themselves, Finding it so inclin'd. Mal. With this, there grows, In my most ill-compos'd affection, such A stanchless avarice, that, were I king, I should cut off the nobles for their lands; Macd. This avarice Sticks deeper; grows with more pernicious root Mal. But I have none: The king-becoming graces, Than summer-seeding lust;] The allusion is to plants; and the sense is,-"Avarice is a perennial weed; it has a deeper and more pernicious root than lust, which is a mere annual, and lasts but for a summer, when it sheds its seed and decays." BLACKSTONE. But Mr. Malone reads, "summer-seeming." 9 All these are portable,] Portable, i. e. bearable. Macd. O Scotland! Scotland! Mal. If such a one be fit to govern, speak: I am as I have spoken. Fit to govern! No, not to live. - O nation miserable, With an untitled tyrant bloody-scepter'd, When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again? Since that the truest issue of thy throne By his own interdiction stands accurs'd, And does blaspheme his breed? - Thy royal father Was a most sainted king: the queen, that bore thee, Oft'ner upon her knees than on her feet, Died every day she lived. Fare thee well ! These evils, thou repeat'st upon thyself, Have banish'd me from Scotland.-0, my breast, Thy hope ends here! Mal. Macduff, this noble passion, Child of integrity, hath from my soul No less in truth, than life: my first false speaking 1 From over-credulous haste:] From over-hasty credulity. |