(Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him,) his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassel so convince,
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie, as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spungy officers; who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
Macb. Bring forth men children only!
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be received,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two
Of his own chamber, and used their very daggers,
That they have done't?
Lady. Who dares receive it other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?
Mach. I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show:
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
MACBETH'S Castle at Inverness.
Enter BANQUO and FLEANCE, with a Torch.
Ban. How goes the night, boy?
Fle. The moon is down; I have not heard the clock.
Ban. And she goes down at twelve.
Fle. I take't, 'tis later, sir.
Ban. There's husbandry in Heaven,
Their candles are all out.-
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!
Enter SEYTON, with a Torch, and MACBETH.
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:
This diamond he greets your wife withal,
By the name of most kind hostess; and shut up
In measureless content.
Macb. Being unprepared,
Our will became the servant to defect;
Which else should free have wrought.
I dream'd last night of the three weird sisters:
To you they have shew'd some truth.
Macb. I think not of them:
Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,
We 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 honour for you.
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchis'd, and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsel'd.
(Whereto the rather shall his day's hard journey
Soundly invite him,) his two chamberlains
Will I with wine and wassel so convince,
That memory, the warder of the brain,
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep
Their drenched natures lie, as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
The unguarded Duncan? what not put upon
His spungy officers; who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
Mach. Bring forth men children only!
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males. Will it not be received,
When we have mark'd with blood those sleepy two
Of his own chamber, and used their very daggers,
That they have done't?
Lady. Who dares receive it other,
As we shall make our griefs and clamour roar
Upon his death?
Mach. I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.-
Away, and mock the time with fairest show :
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
MACBETH'S Castle at Inverness.
Enter BANQUO and FLEANCE, with a Torch.
Ban. How goes the night, boy?
Fle. The moon is down; I have not heard the clock,
Ban. And she goes down at twelve.
Fle. I take't, 'tis later, sir.
Ban. There's husbandry in Heaven,
Their candles are all out.-
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!
Enter SEYTON, with a Torch, and MACBETH.
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:
This diamond he greets your wife withal,
By the name most kind hostess; and shut up
In measureless content.
Macb. Being unprepared,
Our will became the servant to defect;
Which else should free have wrought.
Ban. All's well.-
I dream'd last night of the three weird sisters:
To you they have shew'd some truth.
Macb. I think not of them:
Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,
We 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 honour for you. Ban. So I lose none,
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchis'd, and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsel'd.
Macb. Good repose, the while!
Ban. Thanks, sir: the like to you!
[Exeunt FLEANCE and BANQUO. Macb. 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,
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 that 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:
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 curtain'd sleep; now witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd Murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy
Moves like a ghost.-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. [A Clock strikes Two.
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