ACT IV.

SCENE I. A dark Cave. In the middle, a Cauldron boiling. Thunder. Enter the three WITCHES.

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 WITCH. Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 WITCH. Harper cries:-'Tis time, 'tis time.
1 WITCH. Round about the cauldron go;
In the poifon'd entrails throw.-
Toad, that under coldest stone,
Days and nights haft thirty one
Swelter'd venom fleeping got,
Boil thou firft i'the charmed pot!

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.
2 WITCH. 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 fting,
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 WITCH. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw, and gulf,
Of the ravin'd falt fea-fhark;

Root of hemlock, digg'd i'the dark;
Liver 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-strangled babe,
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,

Make the gruel thick and flab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.

2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon's blood, Then the charm is firm and good.

Enter HECATE, and the 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,

Enchanting all that you put in.

SONG.

Black fpirits and white,

Red fpirits and grey ;
Mingle, mingle, mingle,

You that mingle may.

2WITCH. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes :——

Open, locks, whoever knocks.

Enter MACBETH.

[Mufick.

MACB. How now, you fecret, black, and midnight

What is't you do?

ALL. A deed without a name.

[hags ?

MACB. I conjure you, by that which you profess,

(Howe'er you come to know it,) answer me:

Though you

untie the winds, and let them fight

Against the churches; though the yesty waves
Confound and fwallow navigation up;

Though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blown down; Though caftles topple on their warders' heads; Though palaces, and pyramids, do flope

Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure Of nature's germins tumble all together,

Even till deftruction ficken, anfwer me

To what I ask you.

1 WITCH. Speak.

2 WITCH. Demand.

3

WITCH. We'll answer.

[mouths,

I WITCH. Say, if thou'dft rather hear it from our Or from our masters'?

MACB. Call them, let me fee them.

1 WITCH. Pour in fow's blood, that hath eaten Her nine farrow; greafe, that's sweaten

From the murderer's gibbet, throw

Into the flame.

ALL. Come, high, or low;

Thyfelf, and office, deftly fhow.

Thunder. An Apparition of an armed head rises.
MACB. Tell me, thou unknown power,-

1 WITCH. He knows thy thought;

Hear his speech, but fay thou nought.

-

APP. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff Beware the thane of Fife.-Difmifs me :-Enough.

[defcends MACB. Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution

thanks;

Thou haft harp'd my fear aright:-But one word more:-
I WITCH. He will not be commanded: Here's another
More potent than the first.

Thunder. An Apparition of a bloody child rifes.
APP. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!-

MACB. Had I three ears, I'd hear thee.

APP. Be bloody, bold, and refolute : laugh to fcorn of man; for none of woman born

The
power
Shall harm Macbeth.

[defcends.

MACB. Then live, Macduff; What need I fear of thee?

But yet I'll make affurance double fure,

And take a bond of fate: thou fhalt not live;

That I may tell pale-hearted fear, it lies,

And fleep in spite of thunder.—What is this, Thunder. An Apparition of a child crowned, with a tree in his hand, rifes.

That rifes like the iffue of a king;

And wears upon his baby brow the round

And

top of fovereignty?

ALL. Liften, but speak not.

APP. Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where confpirers are: Macbeth fhall never vanquish'd be, until

Great Birnam wood to high Dunfinane hill

Shall come against him.

MACB. That will never be:

Who can imprefs the foreft; bid the tree

[defcends

Unfix his earth-bound root? fweet bodements! good!
Rebellious head, rise never, till the wood

Of Birnam rise, and our high-plac'd Macbeth
1 Shall live the leafe of nature, pay his breath
To time, and mortal cuftom.-Yet my heart
Throbs to know one thing; tell me, (if your art
Can tell fo much,) fhall Banquo's iffue ever

Reign in this kingdom?

ALL. Seek to know no more.

MACB. I will be fatisfied: deny me this,

And an eternal curfe fall on you! Let me know :-

Why finks that cauldron ? and what noise is this?

[Hautboys. I WITCH. Show! 2 WITCH. Show! 3 WITCH. Show! ALL. Show his eyes, and grieve his heart;

Come like fhadows, fo depart.

Eight kings appear, and pass over the stage, in order; the laft, with a glass in his band: BANQUO following.

MACB. Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo; down!
Thy crown does fear mine eye-balls:-And thy hair,
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first :—
A third is like the former :-Filthy hags!

Why do you show me this?-A fourth ?-Start, eyes!
What! will the line ftretch out to the crack of doom?
Another yet ?-A feventh? I'll fee no more :-
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass,
Which shows me many more; and fome I fee,
That twofold balls and treble scepters carry:
Horrible fight!—Ay, now, I fee, 'tis true;
For the blood-bolter'd Banquo fmiles upon me,
And points at them for his.-What, is this fo?

1 WITCH. Ay, fir, all this is so :-But why
Stands Macbeth thus amazedly?—
Come, fifters, cheer we up his fprights,
And fhow the best of our delights;
I'll charm the air to give a found,
While you perform your antique round:
That this great king may kindly fay,

Our duties did his welcome pay.

[Mufick. The WITCHES dance, and vanish.

MACB. Where are they? Gone?-Let this pernicious

hour

Stand aye accurfed in the calendar!—

Come in, without there!