University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

Macbeth and Lady.
MACBETH.
The wood of Birnam comes to Dunsinane!

LADY.
Art thou Macbeth, and wear'st these looks of fear,
E'en while the men of Malcom, from thine eye,
Hide their pale faces with the forest boughs?
For such must be this daunting miracle.

MACBETH.
But they that did forewarn me of the sign,
Bade me to dread no danger till it came.
Behold it doth arrive.

LADY.
They warn'd thee well:
But the prediction has been read amiss.
We should have stood expecting fortune's change,
And been so ripe in all the means of war,
That Birnam forest, moving from its site,
Should e'en have found our full matur'd array,
Prepared for chances supernatural.
But my enfeebled limbs foregoe their office,
And to my couch I must again return.
Go to thy men, and with thy wonted fire,
Inflame their bosoms to th'accustom'd zeal.