A Cavern. In the middle, a boiling Cauldron. | |
| |
Thunder. Enter the three Witches. | |
| First Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d. | |
| Sec. Witch. Thrice and once the hedge-pig whin’d. | 4 |
| Third Witch. Harper cries: ’Tis time, ’tis time. | |
| First Witch. Round about the cauldron go; | |
| In the poison’d entrails throw. | |
| Toad, that under cold stone | 8 |
| Days and nights hast thirty-one | |
| Swelter’d venom sleeping got, | |
| Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot. | |
| All. Double, double toil and trouble; | 12 |
| Fire burn and cauldron bubble. | |
| Sec. Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake, | |
| In the cauldron boil and bake; | |
| Eye of newt, and toe of frog, | 16 |
| Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, | |
| Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, | |
| Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing, | |
| For a charm of powerful trouble, | 20 |
| Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. | |
| All. Double, double toil and trouble; | |
| Fire burn and cauldron bubble. | |
| Third Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, | 24 |
| Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf | |
| Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark, | |
| Root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark, | |
| Liver of blaspheming Jew, | 28 |
| Gall of goat, and slips of yew | |
| Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse, | |
| Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips, | |
| Finger of birth-strangled babe | 32 |
| Ditch-deliver’d by a drab, | |
| Make the gruel thick and slab: | |
| Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron, | |
| For the ingredients of our cauldron. | 36 |
| All. Double, double toil and trouble; | |
| Fire burn and cauldron bubble. | |
| Sec. Witch. Cool it with a baboon’s blood, | |
| Then the charm is firm and good. | 40 |
| |
Enter HECATE. | |
| Hec. O! well done! I commend your pains, | |
| And every one shall share i’ the gains. | |
| And now about the cauldron sing, | 44 |
| Like elves and fairies in a ring, | |
| Enchanting all that you put in. [Music and a song, ‘Black Spirits,’ &c. | |
| Sec. Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, | |
| Something wicked this way comes. | 48 |
| Open, locks, | |
| Whoever knocks. | |
| |
Enter MACBETH. | |
| Macb. How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags! | 52 |
| What is ’t you do? | |
| All. A deed without a name. | |
| Macb. I conjure you, by that which you profess,— | |
| Howe’er you come to know it,—answer me: | 56 |
| Though you untie the winds and let them fight | |
| Against the churches; though the yesty waves | |
| Confound and swallow navigation up; | |
| Though bladed corn be lodg’d and trees blown down; | 60 |
| Though castles topple on their warders’ heads; | |
| Though palaces and pyramids do slope | |
| Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure | |
| Of Nature’s germens tumble all together, | 64 |
| Even till destruction sicken; answer me | |
| To what I ask you. | |
| First Witch. Speak. | |
| Sec. Witch. Demand. | 68 |
| Third Witch. We’ll answer. | |
| First Witch. Say if thou’dst rather hear it from our mouths, | |
| Or from our masters’? | |
| Macb. Call’em: let me see ’em. | 72 |
| First Witch. Pour in sow’s blood, that hath eaten | |
| Her nine farrow; grease, that’s sweaten | |
| From the murderer’s gibbet throw | |
| Into the flame. | 76 |
| All. Come, high or low; | |
| Thyself and office deftly show. | |
| Thunder. First Apparition of an armed Head. | |
| Macb. Tell me, thou unknown power,— | 80 |
| First Witch. He knows thy thought: | |
| Hear his speech, but say thou nought. | |
| First App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff; | |
| Beware the Thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough. [Descends. | 84 |
| Macb. Whate’er thou art, for thy good caution thanks; | |
| Thou hast harp’d my fear aright. But one word more,— | |
| First Witch. He will not be commanded: here’s another, | |
| More potent than the first. | 88 |
| Thunder. Second Apparition, a bloody Child. | |
| Sec. App. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!— | |
| Macb. Had I three ears, I’d hear thee. | |
| Sec. App. Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn | 92 |
| The power of man, for none of woman born | |
| Shall harm Macbeth. [Descends. | |
| Macb. Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee? | |
| But yet I’ll make assurance double sure, | 96 |
| And take a bond of fate: thou shalt not live; | |
| That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, | |
| And sleep in spite of thunder. | |
| Thunder. Third Apparition, a Child crowned, with a tree in his hand. | 100 |
| What is this, | |
| That rises like the issue of a king, | |
| And wears upon his baby brow the round | |
| And top of sovereignty? | 104 |
| All. Listen, but speak not to ’t. | |
| Third App. Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care | |
| Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are: | |
| Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until | 108 |
| Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill | |
| Shall come against him. [Descends. | |
| Macb. That will never be: | |
| Who can impress the forest, bid the tree | 112 |
| Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements! good! | |
| Rebellion’s head, rise never till the wood | |
| Of Birnam rise, and our high-plac’d Macbeth | |
| Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath | 116 |
| To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart | |
| Throbs to know one thing: tell me—if your art | |
| Can tell so much,—shall Banquo’s issue ever | |
| Reign in this kingdom? | 120 |
| All. Seek to know no more. | |
| Macb. I will be satisfied: deny me this, | |
| And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know. | |
| Why sinks that cauldron? and what noise is this? [Hautboys. | 124 |
| First Witch. Show! | |
| Sec. Witch. Show! | |
| Third Witch. Show! | |
| All. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart; | 128 |
| Come like shadows, so depart. | |
| |
A show of Eight Kings; the last with a glass in his hand: BANQUO’S Ghost following. | |
| Macb. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo; down! | |
| Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs: and thy hair, | 132 |
| Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first: | |
| A third is like the former. Filthy hags! | |
| Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes! | |
| What! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom? | 136 |
| Another yet? A seventh! I’ll see no more: | |
| And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass | |
| Which shows me many more; and some I see | |
| That two-fold balls and treble sceptres carry. | 140 |
| Horrible sight! Now, I see, ’tis true; | |
| For the blood-bolter’d Banquo smiles upon me, | |
| And points at them for his. [Apparitions vanish. | |
| What! is this so? | 144 |
| First Witch. Ay, sir, all this is so: but why | |
| Stands Macbeth thus amazedly? | |
| Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites, | |
| And show the best of our delights. | 148 |
| I’ll charm the air to give a sound, | |
| While you perform your antick round, | |
| That this great king may kindly say, | |
| Our duties did his welcome pay. [Music. The Witches dance, and then vanish with HECATE. | 152 |
| Macb. Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour | |
| Stand aye accursed in the calendar! | |
| Come in, without there! | |
| |
Enter LENNOX. | 156 |
| Len. What’s your Grace’s will? | |
| Macb. Saw you the weird sisters? | |
| Len. No, my lord. | |
| Macb. Came they not by you? | 160 |
| Len. No indeed, my lord. | |
| Macb. Infected be the air whereon they ride, | |
| And damn’d all those that trust them! I did hear | |
| The galloping of horse: who was’t came by? | 164 |
| Len. ’Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word | |
| Macduff is fled to England. | |
| Macb. Fled to England! | |
| Len. Ay, my good lord. | 168 |
| Macb. Time, thou anticipat’st my dread exploits; | |
| The flighty purpose never is o’ertook | |
| Unless the deed go with it; from this moment | |
| The very firstlings of my heart shall be | 172 |
| The firstlings of my hand. And even now, | |
| To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done: | |
| The castle of Macduff I will surprise; | |
| Seize upon Fife; give to the edge of the sword | 176 |
| His wife, his babes; and all unfortunate souls | |
| That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool; | |
| This deed I’ll do, before this purpose cool: | |
| But no moresights! Where are these gentlemen? | 180 |
| Come, bring me where they are. [Exeunt. | |