1256Macb. You know your owne degrees, sit downe:

1257At first and last, the hearty welcome.

1258Lords. Thankes to your Maiesty.

1259Macb. Our selfe will mingle with Society,

1260And play the humble Host:

1261Our Hostesse keepes her State, but in best time

1262We will require her welcome.

1263La. Pronounce it for me Sir, to all our Friends,

1264For my heart speakes, they are welcome.

1266Macb. See they encounter thee with their harts thanks

1267Both sides are euen: heere Ile sit i'th'mid'st,

1268Be large in mirth, anon wee'l drinke a Measure

1269The Table round. There's blood vpon thy face.

1270Mur. 'Tis Banquo's then.

1271Macb. 'Tis better thee without, then he within.

1272Is he dispatch'd?

1273Mur. My Lord his throat is cut, that I did for him.

1274Mac. Thou art the best o'th'Cut-throats,

1275Yet hee's good that did the like for Fleans:

1276If thou did'st it, thou art the Non-pareill.

1277Mur. Most Royall Sir

1278Fleans is scap'd.

1279Macb. Then comes my Fit againe:

1280I had else beene perfect;

1281Whole as the Marble, founded as the Rocke,

1282As broad, and generall, as the casing Ayre:

1283But now I am cabin'd, crib'd, confin'd, bound in

1284To sawcy doubts, and feares. But Banquo's safe?

1285Mur. I, my good Lord: safe in a ditch he bides,

1286With twenty trenched gashes on his head;

1287The least a Death to Nature.

1288Macb. Thankes for that:

1289There the growne Serpent lyes, the worme that's fled

1290Hath Nature that in time will Venom breed,

1291No teeth for th'present. Get thee gone, to morrow

1292Wee'l heare our selues againe. Exit Murderer.

1293Lady. My Royall Lord,

1294You do not giue the Cheere, the Feast is sold

1295That is not often vouch'd, while 'tis a making:

1296'Tis giuen, with welcome: to feede were best at home:

1297From thence, the sawce to meate is Ceremony,

1298Meeting were bare without it.

1300Macb. Sweet Remembrancer:

1301Now good digestion waite on Appetite,

1302And health on both.

1303Lenox. May't please your Highnesse sit.

1304Macb. Here had we now our Countries Honor, roof'd,

1305Were the grac'd person of our Banquo present:

1306Who, may I rather challenge for vnkindnesse,

1307Then pitty for Mischance.

1308Rosse. His absence (Sir)

1309Layes blame vpon his promise. Pleas't your Highnesse

1310To grace vs with your Royall Company?

1311Macb. The Table's full.

1312Lenox. Heere is a place reseru'd Sir.

1313Macb. Where?

1314Lenox. Heere my good Lord.

1315What is't that moues your Highnesse?

1316Macb. Which of you haue done this?

1317Lords. What, my good Lord?

1318Macb. Thou canst not say I did it: neuer shake

1319Thy goary lockes at me.

1320Rosse. Gentlemen rise, his Highnesse is not well.

1321Lady. Sit worthy Friends: my Lord is often thus,

1322And hath beene from his youth. Pray you keepe Seat,

1323The fit is momentary, vpon a thought

1324He will againe be well. If much you note him

1325You shall offend him, and extend his Passion,

1326Feed, and regard him not. Are you a man?

1327Macb. I, and a bold one, that dare looke on that

1328Which might appall the Diuell.

1329La. O proper stuffe:

1330This is the very painting of your feare:

1331This is the Ayre-drawne-Dagger which you said

1332Led you to Duncan. O, these flawes and starts

1333(Impostors to true feare) would well become

1334A womans story, at a Winters fire

1335Authoriz'd by her Grandam: shame it selfe,

1336Why do you make such faces? When all's done

1337You looke but on a stoole.

1338Macb. Prythee see there:

1339Behold, looke, loe, how say you:

1340Why what care I, if thou canst nod, speake too.

1341If Charnell houses, and our Graues must send

1342Those that we bury, backe; our Monuments

1343Shall be the Mawes of Kytes.

1344La. What? quite vnmann'd in folly.

1345Macb. If I stand heere, I saw him.

1346La. Fie for shame.

1347Macb. Blood hath bene shed ere now, i'th'olden time

1348Ere humane Statute purg'd the gentle Weale:

1349I, and since too, Murthers haue bene perform'd

1350Too terrible for the eare. The times has bene,

1351That when the Braines were out, the man would dye,

1352And there an end: But now they rise againe

1353With twenty mortall murthers on their crownes,

1354And push vs from our stooles. This is more strange

1355Then such a murther is.

1356La. My worthy Lord

1357Your Noble Friends do lacke you.

1358Macb. I do forget:

1359Do not muse at me my most worthy Friends,

1360I haue a strange infirmity, which is nothing

1361To those that know me. Come, loue and health to all,

1362Then Ile sit downe: Giue me some Wine, fill full:

1364I drinke to th'generall ioy o'th'whole Table,

1365And to our deere Friend Banquo, whom we misse:

1366Would he were heere: to all, and him we thirst,

1367And all to all.

1368Lords. Our duties, and the pledge.

1369Mac. Auant, & quit my sight, let the earth hide thee:

1370Thy bones are marrowlesse, thy blood is cold:

1371Thou hast no speculation in those eyes

1372Which thou dost glare with.

1373La. Thinke of this good Peeres

1374But as a thing of Custome: 'Tis no other,

1375Onely it spoyles the pleasure of the time.

1376Macb. What man dare, I dare:

1377Approach thou like the rugged Russian Beare,

1378The arm'd Rhinoceros, or th' Hircan Tiger,

1379Take any shape but that, and my firme Nerues

1380Shall neuer tremble. Or be aliue againe,

1381And dare me to the Desart with thy Sword:

1382If trembling I inhabit then, protest mee

1383The Baby of a Girle. Hence horrible shadow,

1384Vnreall mock'ry hence. Why so, being gone

1385I am a man againe: pray you sit still.

1386La. You haue displac'd the mirth,

1387Broke the good meeting, with most admir'd disorder.

1388Macb. Can such things be,

1389And ouercome vs like a Summers Clowd,

1390Without our speciall wonder? You make me strange

1391Euen to the disposition that I owe,

1392When now I thinke you can behold such sights,

1393And keepe the naturall Rubie of your Cheekes,

1394When mine is blanch'd with feare.

1395Rosse. What sights, my Lord?

1396La. I pray you speake not: he growes worse & worse

1397Question enrages him: at once, goodnight.

1398Stand not vpon the order of your going,

1399But go at once.

1400Len. Good night, and better health

1401Attend his Maiesty.

1402La. A kinde goodnight to all. Exit Lords.

1403Macb. It will haue blood they say:

1404Blood will haue Blood:

1405Stones haue beene knowne to moue, & Trees to speake:

1406Augures, and vnderstood Relations, haue

1407By Maggot Pyes, & Choughes, & Rookes brought forth

1408The secret'st man of Blood. What is the night?

1409La. Almost at oddes with morning, which is which.

1410Macb. How say'st thou that Macduff denies his person

1411At our great bidding.

1412La: Did you send to him Sir?

1413Macb. I heare it by the way: But I will send:

1414There's not a one of them but in his house

1415I keepe a Seruant Feed. I will to morrow

1416(And betimes I will) to the weyard Sisters.

1417More shall they speake: for now I am bent to know

1418By the worst meanes, the worst, for mine owne good,

1419All causes shall giue way. I am in blood

1420Stept in so farre, that should I wade no more,

1421Returning were as tedious as go ore:

1422Strange things I haue in head, that will to hand,

1423Which must be acted, ere they may be scand.

1424La. You lacke the season of all Natures, sleepe.

1425Macb. Come, wee'l to sleepe: My strange & self-abuse

1426Is the initiate feare, that wants hard vse:

1427We are yet but yong indeed. Exeunt.