SCENE IV.

A Room of State in the Palace.

A Banquet prepared. Enter MACBETH, Lady MACBETH. ROSSE, LENOx, Lords, and Attendants.

Macb. You know your own degrees, sit down; at first And last, the hearty welcome.a

Lords.

Thanks to your majesty.

Macb. Ourself will mingle with society,

And play the humble host.

Our hostess keeps her state; but, in best time,

We will require her welcome.

Lady M. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends; For my heart speaks, they are welcome.

Enter first Murderer, to the door.

Macb. See, they encounter thee with their hearts' thanks :

Both sides are even: Here I'll sit i'the midst :
Be large in mirth: anon, we'll drink a measure
The table round.-There's blood upon thy face.
Mur. 'Tis Banquo's then.

Macb. 'Tis better thee without, than he within.

Is he dispatch'd?

Mur. My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him.

Macb. Thou art the best o'the cut throats: Yet he's

[good

That did the like for Fleance: if thou didst it,

Thou art the nonpareil.

Mur.

Fleance is 'scap'd.

Most royal sir,

Macb. Then comes my fit again: I had else been perWhole as the marble, founded as the rock;

2- at first

[fect;

And last a hearty welcome.] I believe the right reading is "to first and last" -i. e. to all of whatever degree from the highest to the lowest.-JOHNSON. b Our hostess keeps her state; &c.] i. e. Continues in her chair of state at the head of the table. State was the old word for a royal chair with a conopy over it.

'Tis better thee without than he within.] i. e. I am better pleased that the blood of Banquo should be on thy face than in his body.-JOHNSON.

As broad, and general, as the casing air:
But now, I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo's safe?
Mur. Ay, my good lord; safe in a ditch he bides,
With twenty trenched gashes on his head;

The least a death to nature.

Mach

Thanks for that:

There the grown serpent lies: the worm, that's fled,
Hath nature that in time will venom breed,

No teeth for the present.-Get thee gone; to-morrow
We'll hear, ourselves again.

Lady M.

[Exit Murderer.

My royal lord,

You do not give the cheer: the feast is sold,'

This is not often vouch'd, while 'tis a making,

"Tis given with welcome: To feed, were best at home; From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony,

Meeting were bare without it.

Macb.

Sweet remembrancer!—

Now, good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both!

Len.

May it please your highness sit?

[The Ghost of BANQUO rises, and sits in MACBETH's place.

Macb. Here had we now our country's honour roof'd, Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present;

Who may I rather challenge for unkindness,

Than pity for mischance!

Rosse.

His absence, sir,

Lays blame upon his promise. Please it your highness

To grace us with your royal company?

e

the feast is sold, &c.] The meaning is,-That which is not given cheerfully, cannot be called a gift, it is something that must be paid for.

JOHNSON.

Macb. Thou canʼst not say, I did it: never shake Thy gory locks at me.

Rosse. Gentlemen, rise; his highness is not well.

Lady M. Sit, worthy friends :-my lord is often thus, And hath been from his youth: 'pray you, keep seat; The fit is momentary; upon a thought'

He will again be well; If much you note him,
You shall offend him, and extend his passion ;
Feed, and regard him not.-Are you a man?
Macb. Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appal the devil.

Lady M.

O proper stuff!
This is the very painting of your fear :

This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said,
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts,
(Impostors to true feari) would well become
A woman's story, at a winter's fire,

Authoriz'd by her grandam. Shame itself!

Why do you make such faces? When all's done,
You look but on a stool.

Macb. Pr'ythee, see there! behold! look! lo! how say you?

Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.

If charnel-houses, and our graves, must send

Those that we bury, back, our monuments

Shall be the maws of kites.

Lady M.

[Ghost disappears.

What! quite unmann'd in folly?

Fye, for shame!

Macb. If I stand here, I saw him.
Lady M.

Macb. Blood hath been shed ere now, i'the olden time, Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal ;*

Ay, and since too, murders have been perform'd

f

upon a thought-] i. e. As speedily as thought can be exerted.

8— extend his passion;] i. e. Prolong his suffering.-JOHNSON.

h

- flaws,] i. e. Sudden gusts.

i Impostors to true fear,] No explanation has been given to these words by the commentators that at all satisfy the understanding. I suspect that Shakspeare used the word impostor in a forced sense; and meant by "impostors to true fear," introducers of a true subject of alarm on account of the suspicion that bis "flaws and starts" would excite among his guests.

Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal;] The gentle weal, is, the peaceable community, the state made quiet and safe by human statutes.-JOHNSON. I should prefer reading ungentle with Seymour or general with Capel.

Too terrible for the ear: the times have been,
That when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end: but now, they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools: This is more strange
Than such a murder is.

Lady M.

My worthy lord,

Your noble friends do lack you.

Macb.

I do forget:-
Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends;
I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing
To those that know me.
Then I'll sit down :-

Come, love and health to all;
Give me some wine, fill full :-
I drink to the general joy of the whole table

Ghost rises.

And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss ;
Would he were here! to all, and him, we thirst,m
And all to all."

Lords.

Our duties, and the pledge.

Macb. Avaunt! and quit my sight! Let the earth

hide thee!

Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;

Thou hast no speculation in those eyes

Which thou dost glare with!

Lady M.

Think of this, good peers,

But as a thing of custom: 'tis no other;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.

Macb. What man dare, I dare:

Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger,
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble: Or, be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword;
If trembling I inhibit thee, protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow !

m

we thirst,] i. e. We desire to drink.

[Ghost disappears.

And all to all.] i. •. All good wishes to all; such as he had named above, love, health, and joy.

inhibit] i. e. Forbid.

Unreal mockery, hence!-Why so ;-being gone,

I am a man again.-Pray you, sit still.

Lady M. You have displac'd the mirth, broke the good

meeting,

With most admir'd disorder.

Macb.

Can such things be,

And overcome us like a summer's cloud,

Without our special wonder? You make me strange
Even to the disposition that I owe,"

When now I think you can behold such sights,

And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,

When mine are blanch'd with fear.

Rosse.

What sights, my lord?

Lady M. I pray you, speak not; he grows worse and

worse;

Question enrages him: at once, good night :

Stand not upon the order of your going,

Macb. It will have blood; they say, blood will have

blood:

Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak;
Augurs, and understood relations, have

By magot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth
The secret'st man of blood.-What is the night?

Lady M. Almost at odds with morning, which is which. Macb. How say'st thou, that Macduff denies his person, At our great bidding?s

P

You make me strange

Even to the disposition that I owe,] i. e. You produce in me an alienation of mind.-JOHNSON.

9 Augurs, and understood relations, &c.] This passage as it stands is incomprehensible. Mr. Monk Mason proposes to read "Augurs, that understood relations." Steevens recommends the changing the word augurs to auguries. Either emendation will render the passage intelligible. By relations I presume Shakspeare to mean the connexion that subsists between the omen and the event that it foretels.

magot-pies,] The original name of the mag-pie.

How say'st thou, &c.] i. e. What do you think of this circumstance, that Macduff denies to come at our great bidding? What do you infer from thence? What is your opinion of the matter?-M. MASON. The circumstance on which this