Do mock their charge with snores. I have drugged their possets, That death and nature do contend about them, Macb. [Within.] Who's there?-what, ho! Lady M. Alack! I am afraid, they have awaked, And 'tis not done;-the attempt, and not the deed, Confounds us.-Hark!-I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss them.-Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done't.-My husband? Enter MACBETH. Macb. I have done the deed.-Didst thou not hear a noise? Lady M. I heard the owl scream, and the crickets [Looking on his hands. Lady M. A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. cried, murder! That they did wake each other; I stood and heard them: But they did say their prayers, and addressed them There are two lodged together. other; As they had seen me, with these hangman's hands. 1 As for as if. Listening their fear,' I could not say, amen, Lady M. Consider it not so deeply. Mach. But wherefore could not I pronounce, amen? I had most need of blessing, and amen Stuck in my throat. Lady M These deeds must not be thought After these ways; so, it will make us mad. Macb. Methought, I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep, the innocent sleep; Lady M. What do you mean? Macb. Still it cried, Sleep no more! to all the house. Glamis hath murdered sleep; and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more-Macbeth shall sleep no more! Lady M. Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane, You do unbend your noble strength, to think Macb. I'll go no more. I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on't again, I dare not. Lady M. Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping, and the dead, Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood, That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, 1 i. e. listening to their fear; the particle omitted. 2 Sleave is unwrought silk, sometimes, also, called floss silk. It appears to be the coarse, ravelled part separated by passing through the slaie (reed comb) of the weaver's loom; and hence called sleaved or sleided silk. Sleeveless, which has puzzled the etymologists, may be that which cannot be sleaved, sleided, or unravelled; and therefore useless: thus a sleeveless errand would be a fruitless one. I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, Macb. [Exit. Knocking within. Whence is that knocking? How is't with me, when every noise appals me? Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather Making the green-one red.2 Re-enter LADY MACBETH. Lady M. My hands are of your color; but I shame To wear a heart so white. [Knock.] I hear a knocking At the south entry;-retire we to our chamber. A little water clears us of this deed: How is it then! Your constancy easy Hath left you unattended.3-[Knocking.] Hark! more knocking: Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us, And show us to be watchers.-Be not lost So poorly in your thoughts. Macb. To know my deed,-'twere best not know myself.1 [Knock. Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst ! 1 To incarnardine is to stain of a red color. 2 In the old copy the line stands thus: "Making the Green one, Red." [Exeunt. The punctuation in the text was adopted by Steevens at the suggestion of Murphy. Malone prefers the old punctuation. Steevens has well defended the arrangement of his text, which seems to deserve the preference. 3 "Your constancy hath left you unattended."-Vide note on Xing Henry V. Act v. Sc. 2. 4 This is an answer to Lady Macbeth's reproof. "While I have the thoughts of this deed, it were best not know, or be lost to myself.” SCENE III. The same. Enter a Porter. 2 [Knocking within. Porter. Here's a knocking, indeed! If a man were porter of hell-gate, he should have old' turning the key. [Knocking.] Knock, knock, knock. Who's there, the name of Belzebub? Here's a farmer, that. hanged himself on the expectation of plenty. Come in time; have napkins enough about you; here you'll sweat for't. [Knocking.] Knock, knock. Who's there, i' the other devil's name? 'Faith, here's an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale; who committed treason enough for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to Heaven. O, come in, equivocator. [Knocking.] Knock, knock, knock. Who's there? 'Faith, here's an English tailor come hither, for stealing out of a French hose. Come in, tailor; herc you may roast your goose. [Knocking.] Knock, knock. Never at quiet! What are you?-But this place is too cold for hell. I'll devil-porter it no further. I had thought to have let in some of all professions, that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire. [Knocking.] Anon, anon; I pray you, remember the porter. [Opens the gate. Enter MACDUFF and LENOX. Macd. Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, That you do lie so late? 1 i. e. frequent. 2 i. e. handkerchiefs. In the dictionaries of the time sudarium is rendered by "napkin or handkerchief, wherewith we wipe away the sweat." 3 i. e. a Jesuit. That order was held in odium in the reigns of Elizabeth and James. 4 So in Hamlet : "Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads." And in All's Well that Ends Well:-" The flowery way that leads to the great fire." Port. 'Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second cock;1 and drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things. Macd. What three things does drink especially provoke ? Port. Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance. Therefore, much drink may be said to be an equivocator with lechery: it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and not stand to: in conclusion, equivocates him in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him. Macd. I believe drink gave thee the lie, last night. Port. That it did, sir, i' the very throat o' me. But I requited him for his lie; and, I think, being too strong for him, though he took up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him. Macd. Is thy master stirring ? Our knocking has awaked him; here he comes. Enter MACBETH. Len. Good-morrow, noble sir! Macb. Good-morrow, both! Not yet. Macd. Is the king stirring, worthy thane? Macb. I have almost slipped the hour. Macb. But yet, 'tis one. Macb. The labor, we delight in, physics3 pain. This is the door. Macd. I'll make so bold to call, For 'tis my limited service.1 [Exit MACDUFF. 1 i. e. till three o'clock. 2 In for into. 4 i. e. appointed service. |