Ment. The wood of Birnam.

Mal. Let ev'ry foldier hew him down a bough,
And bear 't before him; thereby fhall we shadow
The numbers of our hoft, and make discovery
Err in report of us.

Sold. It fhall be done.

Sey. We learn no other, but the confident tyrant
Keeps ftill in Dunfinane, and will endure
Our fetting down before 't.

Mal. 'Tis his main hope:

For where there is advantage to be given,
Both more and less have given him the revolt;
And none serve with him but constrained things,
Whose hearts are abfent too.

Macd. Let our " just cenfures

* Attend the true event, and put we on Industrious foldiership.

Sey. The time approaches,

That will with due decifion make us know

What we shall say we have, and what we owes
Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate,
But certain iffue ftrokes muft arbitrate;
Towards which advance the war.

[Exeunt marching.

SCENE. V.

* The Cafle. of Dunsinane.

Enter Macbeth, Seyton, and Soldiers with drum and colours.

Mach. Hang out our bahners on the outward walls;
The cry is ftill, They come: Our caftle's ftrength
Will laugh a fiege to fcorn. Here let them lie,
'Till famine and the ague eat them up;

Were they not forc'd with those that should be ours,
We might have met them dareful, beard to beard,
And beat them backward home. What is that noife?

[A cry within of women.

Sey. It is the cry of women, my good Lord. Macb. I have almoft forgot the taste of fears; The time has been, my fenfes would have cool'd To hear a night-fhriek, and my fell of hair

Would at a difmal treatife rouze and ftir,

As life were in 't. I have a fupt full with horrors;
Direnefs, familiar to my flaughterous thoughts,
Cannot once start me. Wherefore was that cry?
Sey. The queen, my Lord, is dead.

C. Dunfinane. A plat-form within

ibe caftle. No defcription in fo's, Y forc'd for reinforc'd. P.

2 fell is fkin. J.

a H. furfeited for fupt full.
b H. nozu for once.

Mach.

Macb. She fhould have dy'd hereafter;

There would have been a time for fuch a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last fyllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have, lighted fools

The way to dufty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking fhadow, a poor Player,
That ftruts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of found and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Enter a Messenger.

Thou com'ft to use thy tongue: Thy story quickly.

Mef. Gracious my Lord,

I should report that which I fay I faw,

But know not how to do 't.

Macb. Well, fay, fir.

ཀ

Meff. As I did ftand my watch upon the hill, I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought,

The wood began to move.

Macb. Liar, and flave!

[ Striking him.

Mef. Let me endure your wrath if 't.be not fo..
Within this three mile may you see it coming;
I fay, a moving grove.

C 7. propofes to read,―There would bave been a time for-Such a world !— Tomorrow, &c.

The three laft fo's, R. P. and C. Audy for dufy; H. and W. dusky. This emendation was hinted by T. though

not put in his text.

e So the first f. and C; the rest, My gracious Lord, &c.

f H. and C. I'd for I.

P. and all after add it after say. h This direction not in the fo's.

Mach.

Mach. If thou fpeak'ft false,

Upon the next tree fhalt thou hang alive,
'Till famine cling thee: if thy fpeech be footh,
I care not if thou doft for me as much.-

I pull in resolution, and begin

To doubt th' equivocation of the fiend,

That lies like truth. "Fear not, till * Birnam-wood
Do come to Dunfinane”—and now a wood
Comes 1 toward Dunfinane. Arm, arm, and out!

If this which he avouches does appear,

There is no flying hence, nor tarrying here;
I'gin to be a weary of the fun

And wish th' eftate o' th' world were now undone.
Ring the alarum bell. Blow, wind! come, wrack!
At least we 'll die with harness on our back.

[Exeunt.

i7. propofes pall for pull.

k Firft f. Byrnane-zuced. In this edition it is in different places variously Spelt, viz. Byrnam, Byrnan, Birnane and Byrnane.

W. and J. torcards,

m_The two first fo's, T. W. J. and C. nor for no.

n J. omits a.

So all before P; he and all after, except C. the flate for ib` estate.

SCENE

SCENE VI.

Before Dunfinane.

• Drum and Colours. Enter Malcolm, Seyward, Macduff, and their Army with Boughs.

Mal. Now, near enough. Your leavy screens throw down,I And fhew like thofe you are. You, worthy uncle,

Shall with my coufin, your right noble fon,

Lead our firft battle. I

Worthy Macduff and we

Shall take upon 's what else remains to do,

According to our order.

Sey. Fare you well.

•Do we but find the Tyrant's power to-night,

Let us be beaten if we cannot fight.

Macd. Make all our trumpets speak, give them all breath,

Thofe clamorous harbingers of blood and death.

Enter Macbeth,"

[Exeunt.. [Alarums continued.

Mach. They have tied me to a flake, I cannot fly, But, bear-like, I must fight the course. What's he That was not born of woman? fuch a one

Am I to fear, or none.

This description not in fo's.

All but fo's and C. omit Drum and

colours.

for worthy.

* P. and H. Let us but find, &c. The fo's and C. here begin the 7th

P. and all after, except C. brave fcene, which they make the laft.

Enter