Macb. Why should I play the Roman fool', and die
On mine own sword? whiles I see lives, the gashes
Do better upon them.

Macd.

Re-enter MACDUFF.

Turn, hell-hound, turn.

Macb. Of all men else, I have avoided thee: But get thee back, my soul is too much charged With blood of thine already.

Macd.

I have no words,

My voice is in my sword; thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out.

Macb.

[They fight.

Thou losest labour.

As easy may'st thou the intrenchant air

With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed:
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;

I bear a charmèd life, which must not yield
To one of woman born.

Macd.

Despair thy charm,

And let the angel, whom thou still hast served,
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripped.

Macb. Accursed be the tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cowed my better part of man!

And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter2 with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,

And break it to our hope. -I'll not fight with thee.
Macd. Then yield thee, coward,

And live to be the show and gaze of the time.
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,

Painted upon a pole, and underwrit,

"Here may you see the tyrant."

Macb.

I will not yield

To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet,

And to be baited with the rabble's curse.

1 An allusion to Cato of Utica. 2 Prevaricate, deal ambiguously. See note on line 522 of Thomson's

"Winter."

Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou opposed, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body

I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff!

Retreat.

[Exeunt, fighting.

Flourish. Re-enter, with Drum and Colours,

MALCOLM, old SIWARD, ROSSE, LENOX, AUGUS, CATHNESS, MENTETH, and Soldiers.

Mal. I would the friends we miss were safe arrived.

Siw. Some must go off; and yet, by these I see,

So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
Mal. Macduff is missing, and

your noble son.

confirmed

Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt;
He only lived but till he was a man;
The which no sooner had his prowess
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he died.

Siw.

Then he is dead?

Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow Must not be measured by his worth, for then

It hath no end.

Siw.

Had he his hurts before?

Rosse. Ay, on the front.
Siw.

Why then, God's soldier be he!

Had I as many sons as I have hairs,

I would not wish them to a fairer death:

And so, his knell is knolled.

Mal.

And that I'll spend for him.

Siw.

He's worth more sorrow,

He's worth no more;

They say he parted well, and paid his score;

And so, God be with him!-Here comes newer comfort.

Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH'S Head.

Macd. Hail king! for so thou art.

Behold, where stands

The usurper's cursed head: the time is free.

I see thee compassed with thy kingdom's pearl',
That speaks my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,-
Hail, king of Scotland!

1 The nobles.

All.

Hail, king of Scotland! [Flourish.

Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time,
Before we reckon with your several loves,

And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour named. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time, -
As calling home our exiled friends abroad,
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers

Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen;
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life;-This, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crowned at Scone.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

EXAMINATION ON ACT V.

1. Explain the terms "mated," "sagg," "skirr," "fell of hair," and "bruited."

2. Quote two remarkably beautiful passages in this act.

3. Analyse these passages; and endeavour to show the principle of their beauty; whether in poetical expression, moral truth, or depth of philosophy, &c.

4. What great moral lesson is to be drawn from this drama?

5. Does the character of Macbeth excite any sympathy?

6. Can this be reckoned among the finest of Shakspere's dramas?

7. How may this play be generally distinguished from the "Tempest "?

PRINCE HENRY, his Son (afterwards Henry III.).

ARTHUR, Duke of Bretagne, Son of Geffrey, late Duke of Bretagne, the elder Brother of King John.

WILLIAM MARESHALL, Earl of Pembroke.

GEFFREY FITZ-PETER, Earl of Essex, Chief Justiciary of England.

WILLIAM LONGSWORD, Earl of Salisbury.

ROBERT BIGOT, Earl of Norfolk.

HUBERT DE BURGH, Chamberlain to the King.

ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, Son of Sir Robert Faulconbridge.

PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, his half-Brother, natural Son of King Richard I. PETER OF POMFRET, a Prophet.

PHILIP II., King of France.

LEWIS, the Dauphin.

Archduke of AUSTRIA.

CARDINAL PANDULPH, the Pope's Legate.

MELUN, a French Lord.

CHATILLON, Ambassador from France to King John.

ELINOR, Widow of King Henry II., and Mother of King John.

CONSTANCE, Mother to Arthur.

BLANCH, Daughter to Alphonso of Castile, and Niece to King John.

Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE, sometimes in France, sometimes in England.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Northampton. A Room of State in the Palace.

Enter, King JOHN, Queen ELINOR, PEMBROKE, ESSEX, SALISBURY, and others, with CHATILLON.

K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with us? Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of France, In my behaviour, to the majesty,

The borrowed majesty of England here.

Eli. A strange beginning;-borrowed majesty!
K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the embassy.
Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf
Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son,

Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim

1 Haviour, or behaviour, from "have," the manner of having (or conducting) one's self.

To this fair island, and the territories;

To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine:
Desiring thee to lay aside the sword,

Which sways usurpingly these several titles;
And put the same into young Arthur's hand,
Thy nephew, and right royal sovereign.

K. John. What follows, if we disallow of this?
Chat. The proud control of fierce and bloody war,

To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.

K. John. Here we have war for war, and blood for blood, Controlment for controlment: so answer France.

Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth,

The furthest limit of my embassy.

K. John. Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace:
Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;
For ere thou canst report I will be there,
The thunder of my cannon shall be heard:
So, hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,
And sullen presage of your own decay,
An honourable conduct let him have:
Pembroke, look to it: Farewell, Chatillon.

[Exeunt CHAT. and PEMB.

Eli. What now, my son? have I not ever said,
How that ambitious Constance would not cease,
Till she had kindled France, and all the world,
Upon the right and party of her son?

This might have been prevented, and made whole,
With very easy arguments of love;

Which now the manage 1 of two kingdoms must

With fearful bloody issue arbitrate.

K. John. Our strong possession, and our right, for us.
Eli. Your strong possession, much more than your right;

Or else it must go wrong with you and me:

So much my conscience whispers in your ear;

Which none but heaven, and you, and I, shall hear.

Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers ESSEX. Essex. My liege, here is the strangest controversy,

Come from the country to be judged by you,

That e'er I heard: Shall I produce the men?
K. John. Let them approach.

Our abbeys, and our priories, shall pay

1 Government.

[Exit Sheriff.