With thy keen sword impress, as make me beed. I bear a charmed life, which must not yield 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 that tongue that tells me so, And break it to our hope.-I'll not fight with thee. And live to be the show and gaze o' the time. Painted upon a pole; and underwrit, Here may you see the tyrant. I'll not yield Macb. To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, And to be baited with the rabble's curse. 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; And damned be him that first cries, Hold, enough. [Exeunt, fighting. Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with drum and colors, MALCOLM, Old SIWARD, ROSSE, LENOX, ANGUS, 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. 1 "That palter with us in a double sense," that shuffle with ambigu ous expressions. Rosse Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt. He only ved but till he was a man; The whica no sooner had his prowess confirmed 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.1 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 on a pole.2 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,3 Hail, king of Scotland! 1 "When Siward, the martial earl of Northumberland, understood that his son, whom he had sent against the Scotchmen, was slain, he demanded whether his wounds were in the fore part or hinder part of his body. When it was answered, in the fore part,' he replied, I am right glad; neither wish I any other death to me or mine.""-Camden's Remaines. 2 These words, " on a pole," Mr. Steevens added to the stage direction from the Chronicle. The stage directions of the players are often incorrect, and sometimes ludicrous. 36 Thy kingdom's pearl," thy kingdom's wealth or ornament. Rowe altered this to peers, without auth rity. All. Hail, king of Scotland! [Flourish Of this dead butcher, and his fiendlike queen; [Flourish. Exeunt. 1 "Malcolm, immediately after his coronation, called a parliament at Forfair; in the which he rewarded them with lands and livings that had assisted him against Macbeth. Manie of them that were before thanes were at this time made earles; as Fife, Menteith, Atholl, Levenox, Murrey, Caithness, Rosse, and Angus.”—Holinshed's History of Scotland, p. 176. THIS play is deservedly celebrated for the propriety of its fictions, and solemnity, grandeur, and variety of its action; but it has no nice discriminations of character: the events are too great to admit the influence of particular dispositions, and the course of the action necessarily determines the conduct of the agents. The danger of ambition is well described; and I know not whether It may not be said, in defence of some parts which now seem improbable, that in Shakspeare's time it was necessary to warn credulity against vain and illusive predictions. The passions are directed to their true end. Lady Macbeth is merely detested; and though the courage of Macbeth preserves some esteem, yet every reader rejoices at his fail. JOHNSON. |