University of Virginia Library

SCENE X.

Lady, Macbeth and Baudron.
LADY.
Macbeth! Why start you so aghast, my thane?
Why touch you thus, and look to the old man?
Thy cheek is ashy, and thy restless eye
Denotes strange fear and doubt mysterious.

MACBETH.
Alas! the constancy of my sad mind
Is put to dreadful proof. Around me rise
Such prodigies and omens of dismay,
That were my spirit fram'd of temper'd steel,
And to the stroke invulnerably firm,
I need must quake to witness what I see.

LADY.
I left him hopeful—tell me how is this?
Hast thou been with thy priestly exhortation,
Cowing the hope that he so much requires?

MACBETH.
Oh! there are things in this mirac'lous world,
Which time, nor learning, never can explain.

LADY.
Good, good, my lord—but to the council come;
Malignant Fortune wins by our default.
This fatal sadness, that unmans you so,
Would better suit the weak of my disease.