Ham. [They play. One. No. Judgment. Well,-again. King. Stay, give me drink: Hamlet, this pearl is thine; Osr. A hit, a very palpable hit. Here's to thy health.-Give him the cup. He's fat, and scant of breath. Ham. Come, for the third, Laertes: You do but dally; [They play. pray you, pass with your best violence; I am afeard you make a wanton of me. Laer. Say you so? come on. Osr. Nothing neither way. Laer. Have at you now. [LAER. wounds HAM.; then, in scuffling, they change rapiers, and HAM. wounds LAER. King. Part them, they are incens'd. Ham. Nay, come again. [The QUEEN falls. Osr. Look to the queen there, ho! Hor. They bleed on both sides :-How is it, my lord? Osr. How is 't, Laertes? [Osric; Laer. Why, as a woodcock to my own springe, I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery. Ham. How does the queen? King. She swoons to see them bleed. Queen. No, no, the drink, the drink,-O my dear Hamlet! The drink, the drink;-I am poison'd! [Dies. No medicine in the world can do thee good, Envenom'd too!-Then, venom, to thy work. Osr. and Lords. Treason! treason! {hurt. Drink off this potion :-Is the union here? Laer. [KING dies. He is justly serv'd; It is a poison temper'd by himself.Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet: Mine and my father's death come not upon thee; Nor thine on me! [Dies. Ham. Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee. I am dead, Horatio:-Wretched queen, adieu !— Never believe it; I am more an antique Roman than a Dane, To the ambassadors of England gives Ham. O, I die, Horatio; The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit; I cannot live to hear the news from England: But I do prophesy the election lights On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice; So tell him, with the occurrents, more or less, Which have solicited, -The rest is silence. [Dies. Hor. Now cracks a noble heart;-Good night, sweet prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! Fort. Where is this sight? Hor. What is it you would see? If aught of woe, or wonder, cease your search. Fort. This quarry** cries on havoc !++-O proud What feast is toward in thine eternal cell, [death! That thou so many princes, at a shot, So bloodily hast struck? 1 Amb. The sight is dismal; And our affairs from England come too late: The ears are senseless that should give us hearTo tell him his commandment is fulfill'd, [ing, That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead: Where should we have our thanks? Not from his mouth, Hor. Had it the ability of life to thank you; He never gave commandment for their death. But since, so jump ‡‡ upon this bloody question, You from the Polack ? wars, and you from England, Incited. 22 Polish. And from his mouth whose voice will draw on But let this same be presently perform'd, On plots and errors, happen. [sage, Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage; Take up the bodies:-Such a sight as this INTRODUCTION TO MACBETH. 66 "THIS play (says Dr. Johnson) is deservedly printed in London; and those who desired precelebrated for the propriety of its fictions, and ferment at court, flattered it; and, thus countesolemnity, grandeur, and variety of its actions; nanced, witchcraft soon gained belief. It caught but it has no nice discriminations of character: the Parliament; and, in the first year of James, the events are too great to admit of the influ- a law was enacted, by which "any person who ence of particular dispositions, and the course invoked the aid of, or employed or fed, &c., any of the action necessarily determines the conduct wicked spirit, &c., or used the bones of dead of the agents. The passions are directed to persons in witchcraft, sorcery, charm, &c., by their true end: Lady Macbeth is merely de- which persons should be destroyed, or any part tested; and, though the courage of Macbeth of the body lamed, &c., such person, being conpreserves some esteem, yet every reader re- victed, should suffer death." This law was joices at his fall. To make a true estimate of repealed in our own time. Thus, in the time of the abilities and merits of a writer, it is always Shakespeare, was the doctrine of witchcraft at necessary to examine the genius of his age, once established by law and fashion; and not and the opinions of his contemporaries. A poet only was it unpolite, but criminal, to doubt it. who should now make the whole action of his Witches were now daily discovered. Bishop drama depend on enchantment, and produce the Hall mentions a village in Lancashire where chief events by the assistance of supernatural they exceeded the number of houses. Jesuits agents, would be censured as transgressing the and sectaries took advantage of this universal bounds of probability, and be banished from the error to assist their parties by the pretended theatre to the nursery. Shakespeare was in no cure of persons afflicted with spirits; but they danger of such censures, since he only turned were detected and exposed by the clergy of the the system that was universally admitted to his established church. On this popular superstition advantage. The reality of witchcraft or en- Shakespeare might easily be allowed to found a chantment, which, though not strictly the same, play, especially as he followed such histories are confounded in this play, has in all ages and as were then thought true; nor can it be doubted countries been credited by the common people, that scenes of enchantment, however they may and in most by the learned themselves." This now be ridiculed (concludes Dr. Johnson), were, kind of credulity, though existing long before, both by himself and his audience, thought awful seems to have been at its height during the Holy and affecting." Here (says Steveens) Dr. JohnWar, when the Christians attributed their de-son seems to apprehend that "the fame of Shakefeats to the diabolical opposition of evil spirits, and their successes to the aid of military saints. The learned Dr. Warburton seems to have believed (Supplement to the Introduction to Don Quixote) the first accounts were brought into Europe by those who returned from the eastern wars; but, according to Olympiodorus in Photius's Extracts, and St. Chrysostome's book, De Sacerdotio, enchantments, not exceeded by any romance of the middle ages, existed long before. In the reign of King James (during which Shakespeare wrote this tragedy), many circumstances occurred to confirm the belief of goblins and witchcraft. The king, before his arrival in England, had examined a woman accused of it, and given a formal account of the practices of evil spirits, compacts of witches, manner of detecting them, and the justice of punishing them, in his Dæmonologie, written in the Scottish dialect, and published in Edinburgh. This book was speare's magic may be endangered by modern ridicule. I shall not hesitate, however, to predict its security till our national taste is wholly corrupted, and we no longer deserve the first of all dramatic enjoyments; for such, in my opinion at least, is the tragedy of Macbeth." Dr. Warburton observes, speaking of the witch scene"As extravagant as all this is, the play has had the power to charm and bewitch every audience from that to this time." Malone believed it to have been written A.D. 1606. THE PLOT.-The scene opens in Scotland, with witches on a heath preparing to meet Macbeth, who is returning victorious, having quelled a rebellion headed by one Macdonwald, and also routed an army which the King of Norway, taking advantage of the revolt, had sent against the Scots. On learning his success and bravery, the king creates Macbeth thane of Cawdor, a title forfeited by a rebel lord. The witches intercept Macbeth and Banquo, and hail the first as Thane of Cawdor and Glamis, and tell him he shall be king hereafter; adding, to Barquo, that he himself should beget kings, though himself be none. Being soon after met by some nobles from the king, they greet Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor, which, agreeing with the first prophecy of the witches, rouses ambitious hopes in his mind for the fulfilment of the third. The king receives him with favour, and proposes a visit to Macbeth's castle at Inverness. Malcolm is by the king created Prince of Cumberland, the title borne by the successor to the throne; on which, resolving to murder his sovereign, Macbeth hastens forward to warn his wife of the king's approach, and to acquaint her with the prediction of the witches. She, at once roused to the highest pitch of ambition, subdues the scruples of her lord, and urges him to kill the king whilst sleeping. He consents, and executes his bloody purpose; which, the better to conceal, Lady Macbeth enters the bloody chamber, smears the faces of the two attendants sleeping in the king's bed-chamber with blood, and places two daggers on their pillows; who, being discovered in that plight by Macduff in the morning, Macbeth murders them also, to prevent discovery, pretending to have done it in the heat of passion, moved by his love for the murdered king. Malcolm and Donalbain, the sons of Duncan, not deeming themselves safe in Scotland, the first seeks an asylum in England, and the other in Ireland: which gives rise to a suspicion that they participated in the bloody deed with the murdered chamberlains. But Banquo, remembering the prediction of the witches, suspects Macbeth as the murderer, and is himself soon after waylaid and killed; but his son Fleance, who was in company with him, escapes. At a feast, to which he had invited Banquo, Macbeth, who had now assumed the sovereignty, is surprised to behold the spirit of Banque, whom he had caused to be murdered, seated in the royal chair; and the guests are suddenly dismissed. Macduff, suspicious of the tyrant's views, flees to England for help; whilst DUNCAN, King of Scotland. MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, S Macbeth, tortured with doubt, seeks the weird sisters, to learn the worst. With incantations they raise several apparitions before him: the first (an armed head) bids him beware of Macduff; the second (a bloody child) tells him, that none of woman born shall harm Macbeth; the third (a child crowned, with a tree in its hand) tells him he shall not be vanquished till Birnam Wood shall come to Dunsinane; the fourth is an apparition of eight kings, followed by the ghost of Banquo, pointing to the badges of royalty. Learning Macduff's flight, the cruel Macbeth murders his wife, his children, and his servants in revenge; which reaching his ears, Macduff redoubles his exertions; and, receiving a succour of ten thousand men, under the command of Siward, he hastens to punish the tyrant, and relieve his country. On reaching Scotland, Macduff is joined by many of his countrymen; and, the better to conceal their numbers, he commands each soldier to cut a bough from Birnam Wood, which, seeing approaching from the walls of his castle, shakes the confidence of Macbeth. He, however, rallies, on remembering that none of woman born should subdue him. His castle is taken; and, after having slain young Siward, who accompanied his veteran father, Macbeth encounters Macduff, whom he treats lightly; but, learning that he was untimely ripped from his mother's womb, he then refuses to fight him; till at length, frantic with despair, he attacks and is slain by him, who beheads the monster. Lady Macbeth kills herself in the interim; and the whole concludes by Macduff and the army declaring Malcolm king. MORAL. In this play Shakespeare has finely depicted the length to which unprincipled ambition will carry mankind, when once their imaginations are possessed with it. We behold Macbeth, cherished and rewarded by his sovereign, and beloved by his compeers and his country, suddenly become the murderer of the two first, and the scourge of the last. He succeeds, it is true; but his fall is more rapid than his exaltation. Macbeth. Persons Represented. his Sons. YOUNG SIWARD, his Son. SEYTON, an Officer attending on Macbeth. An English Doctor. A Scotch Doctor. LADY MACBETH. LADY MACDuff. Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth. Lords, Gentlemen, Officers, Soldiers, Murderers, The Ghost of Banquo, and several other Apparitions. SCENE-In the end of the Fourth Act, lies in England; through the rest of the play, in Scotland; and, chiefly, at Macbeth's Castle. Act First. SCENE I.-An open Place. Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches. 1 Witch. WHEN shall we three meet again, In thunder, lightning, or in rain? 2 Witch. When the hurlyburly's When the battle's lost and won: 3 Witch. That will be ere set of sun. 1 Witch. Where the place? * Tumult. done, 2 Witch. Upon the heath: 3 Witch. There to meet with Macbeth. 1 Witch. I come, Graymalkin! [Witches vanish. SCENE II.-A Camp near Fores. Alarum within. Enter KING DUNCAN, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN, LENOX, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Soldier. Dun. What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state. Mal. This is the sergeant, Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought 'Gainst my captivity :-Hail, brave friend! Say to the king the knowledge of the broil, As thou didst leave it. Doubtfully it stood; Sold. As two spent swimmers, that do cling together, And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald (Worthy to be a rebel; for, to that, The multiplying villainies of nature Do swarm upon him) from the western isles Carv'd out his passage, till he fac'd the slave; Dun. O, valiant cousin! worthy gentleman! Sold. As whence the sun 'gins his reflection Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break; So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd to [mark: Discomfort swells. Mark, king of Scotland, No sooner justice had, with valour arm'd, Compell'd these skipping Kernes to trust their heels; come, Dun. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane? Norway himself, with terrible numbers, Dun. Rosse. That now, Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition; Nor would we deign him burial of his men, Till he disbursed, at Saint Colmes' Inch, Ten thousand dollars to our general use. [ceive Dun. No more that thane of Cawdor shall deOur bosom interest :-Go, pronounce his death, And with his former title greet Macbeth. Rosse. I'll see it done. Dun. What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won. SCENE III.-A Heath. [Exeunt. Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 1 Witch. Where hast thou been, sister? 2 Witch. Killing swine. 3 Witch. Sister, where thou? [lap, 1 Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd:-"Give me," quoth I: [cries. "Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed ronyon¶ Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the But in a sieve I'll thither sail, [Tiger : And, like a rat without a tail, I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do. 2 Witch. I'll give thee a wind. 1 Witch. I myself have all the other; I will drain him dry as hay: 2 Witch. Show me, show me. 3 Witch. A drum, a drum; Macbeth doth come. [Drum within. All. The weird sisters,++ hand in hand, Enter MACBETH and BANQUO. Mach. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. Ban. How far is 't call'd to Fores ?-What are So wither'd, and so wild in their attire; [these, |