Compell'd these skipping kernes to trust their heels, With furbish'd arms, and new supplies of men, Dun. Dismay'd not this our captains, Macbeth and Banquo? Sold. Yes : As sparrows, eagles; or the hare, the lion. If I say sooth, I must report they were As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks; I cannot tell : But I am faint, my gashes cry for help. Dun. So well thy words become thee as thy wounds; They smack of honour both :-Go, get him surgeons. [Exit Soldier, attended. Who comes here? Mal. Enter RossE. The worthy thane of Rosse. Len. What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look that seems to speak things strange. Rosse. God save the king! Dun. Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane? Rosse. From Fife, great king, Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky, And fan our people cold. Norway himself, with terrible numbers, The thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict: Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm,b a Bellona's bridegroom is here undoubtedly Macbeth. This is the original punctuation, which we think, with Tieck, is better than "Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm." Curbing his lavish spirit: And, to conclude, Dun. Rosse. That now Great happiness! Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition; Ten thousand dollars to our general use. Dun. No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive Our bosom interest :-Go, pronounce his present 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. Thunder. Enter the three Witches. 1 Witch. Where hast thou been, sister? 2 Witch. Killing swine. 3 Witch. Sister, where thou? [Exeunt. 1 Witch. A sailor's wife had chesnuts in her lap, And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd :-"Give me," quoth I: "Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed ronyon b cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger: But in a sieve I'll thither sail, 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. Th' art kind. 3 Witch. And I another. 1 Witch. I myself have all the other; And the very ports they blow, All the quarters that they know a Aroint thee.-See King Lear, Act III. Scene 4. I' the shipman's card. I'll drain him dry as hay: Weary sev'n-nights, nine times nine, 2 Witch. Show me, show me. 1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb, Wrack'd, as homeward he did come. 3 Witch. A drum, a drum: Macbeth doth come. All. The weird a sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land, Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, [Drum within. Enter MACBETH and BANQUO. Macb. So foul and fair a day I have not seen. So wither'd and so wild in their attire; That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth, And yet are on 't? Live you? or are you aught That man may question? You seem to understand me, Upon her skinny lips :-You should be women, That you are so. a Weird. There can be no doubt that this term is derived from the Anglo-Saxon wyrd, word spoken; and in the same way that the word fate is anything spoken, weird and fatal are synonymous, and equally applicable to such mysterious beings as Macbeth's witches. Macb. Speak, if you can ;-What are you? 1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis ! 2 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! 3 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter. Ban. Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear Things that do sound so fair?—I' the name of truth, Are ye fantastical,a or that indeed Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner That he seems rapt withal; to me you speak not: And say, which grain will grow, and which will not, Your favours nor your 1 Witch. Hail! 2 Witch. Hail! 3 Witch. Hail! hate. 1 Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 2 Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier. 3 Witch. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none : So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! 1 Witch. Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail! Macb. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more: No more than to be Cawdor. Say, from whence With such prophetic greeting ?-Speak, I charge you. [Witches vanish. a Fantastical-belonging to fantasy-imaginary. Ban. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, As breath into the wind.-'Would they had staid! You shall be king. Macb. Your children shall be kings. Enter Rosse and ANGUS. Who's Rosse. The king hath happily receiv'd, Macbeth, Which should be thine, or his: Silenc'd with that Ang. Rosse. And, for an earnest of a greater honour, Ban. What, can the devil speak true? a Henbane is called insana in an old book of medicine, which Shakspere might have consulted. |