HECATE, and the three Witches.
1. W. Why, how now, Hecat? you look angerly. HEC. Have I not reason, beldams, as you are, Saucy, and over-bold? How did you dare
To trade and traffick with Macbeth,
In riddles, and affairs of death?
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The clofe contriver of all harms,
Was never call'd to bear my part,
Or fhew the glory of our art?
And, which is worse, all you have done
Hath been but for a weyward fon,
Spiteful, and wrathful; who, as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for you.
But make amends now: Get you gone,
And at the pit of Acheron
Meet me i'the morning; thither he
Will come to know his destiny.
Your veffels, and your fpells, provide,
Your charms, and every thing befide:
I am for the air; this night I'll spend
Unto a dismal, fatal end.
Great business must be wrought ere noon :
Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vap'rous drop profound;
I'll catch it ere it come to ground:
And that, diftill'd by magick flights,
Shall raise fuch artificial fprights,
As, by the ftrength of their illusion,
Shall draw him on to his confusion :
He fhall spurn fate, fcorn death, and bear
His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear :
And you all know, fecurity
Is mortals' chiefest enemy.
SONG. [within.] Come away, Come
Hark, I am call'd; my little fpirit, see,
Sits in a foggy cloud, and stays for me.
1. W. Come, let's make hafte, fhe'll foon be back again.
SCENE VI. Foris. A Room in the Palace.
Enter LENOX, and another Lord.
LEN. My former speeches have but hit your thoughts, Which can interpret farther: only, I say,
Things have been ftrangely born: The gracious Duncan
Was pity'd of Macbeth: marry, he was dead:
And the right-valiant Banquo walk'd too late;
(Whom you may fay, if it please you, Fleance kill'd,
For Fleance fled) Men muft not walk too late.
Who cannot want the thought, how monsterous
It was for Malcolm, and for Donalbain,
To kill their gracious father? damned fact !
How it did grieve Macbeth! Did he not straight,
In pious rage, the two delinquents tear,
That were the flaves of drink, and thralls of fleep?
Was not that nobly done? Ay, and wisely too;
For 'twould have anger'd any heart alive,
To hear the men deny it. So that, I fay,
He has born all things well: and I do think,
That, had he Duncan's fons under his key,
(As, an't please heaven, he fhall not) they should find. What 'twere to kill a father; fo fhould Fleance.
But, peace; for from broad words, and 'cause he fail'd His presence at the tyrant's feaft, I hear,
Macduff lives in difgrace: Sir, can you telf
Where he bestows himself?
Lor. The fon of Duncan,
From whom this tyrant holds the due of birth,
Lives in the English court; and is receiv'd
Of the moft pious Edward with fuch grace,
That the malevolence of fortune nothing
Takes from his high refpect: Thither Macduff
Is gone; to pray the holy king, on his aid
To wake Northumberland, and warlike Seyward:
That, by the help of these, (with Him above,
To ratify the work) we may again
Give to our tables meat, fleep to our nights;
Free from our feasts and banquets bloody knives;
Do faithful homage, and receive free honours,
All which we pine for now: And this report
Hath fo exafperate the king, that he
Prepares for fome attempt.
LEN. Sent he to Macduff?
Lor. He did and, with an abfolute Sir,-not-I,
The cloudy meffenger turns me his back,
And hums; as who should fay, You'll rue the time
That clogs me with this answer.
LEN. And that well might
Advise him to a caution, to hold what distance
His wisdom can provide. Some holy angel
Fly to the court of England, and unfold
His meffage ere he come; that a swift bleffing
May foon return to this our fuffering country,
Under a hand accurft!
Lor. I'll fend my prayers with him.
3 Sonnes 9 upon his 17 their King 18 attempt of Warre,
SCENE I. A Cavern:
A Cauldron, in the Middle, boiling.
Thunder. Enter the three Witches.
1. W. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. 2. W. Thrice, and once, the hedge-pig whin'd. 3. W. Harper cries, 'tis time, 'tis time.
W. Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under the cold ftone
Days and nights haft thirty one
Swelter'd venom fleeping got,
Boil thou firft i'the charm'd pot.
all.
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.
2. W. Fillet of a fenny fnake,
In the cauldron † boil and bake :
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's Tfting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
all.
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.
3. W. Scale of dragon, tooth of † wolf,
Witches' mummy; maw, and gulf,
Of the ravin'd falt-fea fhark;
Root of hemlock, dig'd i'the' dark;
of blafpheming Jew;
Gall of goat; and flips of yew,
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's † lips;
Finger of birth-ftrangl'd babe,
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and flab:
Add thereto a tyger's † chaudron,
For th' ingredience of our cauldron.
all. Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.
2. W. Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
Enter HECATE, and other three Witches.
HEC. O, well done! I commend your pains;
And every one shall share i'the gains.
And now about the cauldron fing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Inchanting all that you put in.
SONG. Black Spirits, &c.
2. W. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes : —
Open, locks, Whoever knocks.
Enter MACBETH.
MAC. How now, you fecret, black, and midnight hags? What is't you do?
all. A deed without a name.
MAC. I conjure you, by that which you profess,
(Howe'er you come to know it) anfwer me:
Though you untye the winds, and let them fight
Against the churches; though the yefty waves
Confound and fwallow navigation up;
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