SCENE II. Fife. A Room in Macduff's Castle. Enter LADY MACDUFF, her Son, and ROSSE. L. Macd. What had he done, to make him fly the land? Rosse. You must have patience, madam. He had none; L. Macd. His flight was madness: When our actions do not, Our fears do make us traitors 1. Rosse. You know not, Whether it was his wisdom, or his fear. L. Macd. Wisdom! to leave his wife, to leave his babes, His mansion, and his titles, in a place From whence himself does fly? He loves us not; Rosse. But cruel are the times, when we are traitors, Our fears do make us traitors.' Our flight is considered as evidence of our treason. 2 Natural touch, natural affection. 3 The fits o' the season should appear to be the violent disorders of the season, its convulsions: as we still say figuratively the temper of the times. So in Coriolanus : but that The violent fit o' th' times craves it as physic.' From what we fear, yet know not what we fear*; But float wild and violent sea, upon a Each way, and move.—I take my leave of you: Things at the worst will cease, or else climb upward To what they were before.-My pretty cousin, Blessing upon you! L. Macd. Father'd he is, and yet he's fatherless. Rosse. I am so much a fool, should I stay longer, It would be my disgrace, and your discomfort: I take my leave at once. [Exit ROSSE. Sirrah 5, your father's dead; And what will you do now? How will you live? Son. As birds do, mother. L. Macd. L. Macd. What, with worms and flies? Son. With what I get, I mean; and so do they. L. Macd. Poor bird! thou'dst never fear the net, nor lime, The pit-fall, nor the gin. Son. Why should I, mother? Poor birds they are not set for. My father is not dead, for all your saying. L. Macd. Yes, he is dead; how wilt thou do for a father? 4 The best I can make of this passage is,' says Steevens:The times are cruel when our fears induce us to believe, or take for granted, what we hear rumoured or reported abroad; and yet at the same time, as we live under a tyrannical government, where will is substituted for law, we know not what we have to fear, because we know not when we offend.' Or, when we are led by our fears to believe every rumour of danger we hear, yet are not conscious to ourselves of any crime for which we should be disturbed with fears.' A passage like this occurs in King John: Possess'd with rumours, full of idle dreams, Not knowing what they fear, but full of fear.' 5 Sirrah was not in our author's time a term of reproach, but sometimes used by masters to servants, parents to children, &c. Son. Nay, how will you do for a husband? market. Son. Then you'll buy 'em to sell again. L. Macd. Thou speak'st with all thy wit; and yet i'faith, With wit enough for thee. Son. Was my father a traitor, mother? Son. What is a traitor? L. Mac. Why, one that swears and lies. L. Macd. Every one that does so, is a traitor, and must be hanged. Son. And must they all be hanged, that swear and lie? L. Macd. Every one. Son. Who must hang them? L. Macd. Why, the honest men. Son. Then the liars and swearers are fools: for there are liars and swearers enough to beat the honest men, and hang up them. L. Macd. Now, God help thee, poor monkey! But how wilt thou do for a father? Son. If he were dead, you'd weep for him: if you would not, it were a good sign that I should quickly have a new father. L. Macd. Poor prattler! how thou talk'st. Enter a Messenger. Mess. Bless you, fair dame! I am not to you known, Though in your state of honour I am perfect". I doubt, some danger does approach you nearly: 6 i. e. I am perfectly acquainted with your rank. If you will take a homely man's advice, Be not found here; hence, with your little ones. Which is too nigh your person. Heaven preserve you! I dare abide no longer. L. Macd. I have done no harm. [Exit Messenger. Whither should I fly? But I remember now I am in this earthly world; where, to do harm, To say, I have done no harm? faces? Enter Murderers. Mur. Where is your husband? -What are these L. Macd. I hope, in no place so unsanctified, Where such as thou may'st find him. Mur. He's a traitor. Son. Thou ly'st, thou shag-ear'd' villain. Mur. What, you egg! [Stabbing him. Young fry of treachery! Son. Run away, I pray you. He has killed me, mother; [Dies. [Exit LADY MACDUFF, crying murder, and pursued by the Murderers. 7'Shag-ear'd villain.' It has been suggested that we should read shag-hair'd, an abusive epithet frequent in our old plays. Hair being formerly spelt heare, the corruption would easily arise. In Lodge's Incarnate Devils of this Age, 1596, 4to. p. 37, we have it thus: 'shag-heard slave,' SCENE III. England. A Room in the King's Palace. Enter MALCOLM and MACDUFF1. Mal. Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there Weep our sad bosoms empty. Macd. Let us rather Hold fast the mortal sword; and, like good men, Mal. What you have spoke, it may be so, perchance. This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues, Was once thought honest: you have lov'd him well; He hath not touch'd you yet. I am young; but something deserve1 You may of him through me; and wisdom This scene is almost literally taken from Holinshed's Chronicle, which is in this part an abridgment of the chronicle of Hector Boece, as translated by John Bellenden. From the recent reprints of both the Scottish and English chroniclers, quotations from them become the less necessary; they are now accessible to the reader curious in tracing the poet to his sources of information. 2 Birthdom, for the place of our birth, our native land. Thus in the Second Part of King Henry IV. Morton says: 3 i. e. befriend. he doth bestride a bleeding land.' 4. You may deserve of him through me.' The old copy reads discerne. The emendation was made by Theobald. In the subsequent part of the line something is wanted to complete the |