My voice is in my sword; thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out!

Macb.

[They fight.

Thou losest labour:

As easy may'st thou the entrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed:
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield

To one of woman born.

Macd.

Despair thy charm;
And let the angel, whom thou still hast serv'd,
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd.

Macb. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cow'd my better part of man!
And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd,
That palter with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope. I'll not fight with thee.

Macd. Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the show and gaze o'the time.
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted upon a pole; and underwrit,
Here may you see the tyrant.

I'll not yield,

Macb.
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet,
And to be baited with the rabble's curse.
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last: Before my body
I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff;
And damn'd be him that first cries, Hold, enough.

[Exeunt, fighting.

Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with Drum and Colours, MALCOLM, Old SIWARD, ROSSE, LENOX, ANGUS, CATHNESS, MENTETH, and Soldiers.

Mal. I would the friends we miss were safe arriv'd.
Siw. Some must go off: and yet, by these I see,

So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
Mal. Macdaff is missing, and your noble son.
Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's, debt :

Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of

sorrow

Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then

It hath no end.

Siw.

Had he his hurts before?

Rosse. Ay, on the front.

Siw.

Why then, God's soldier be he!

Had I as many sons as I have hairs,

I would not wish them to a fairer death:

And so his knell is knoll'd.

Mal.

He's worth more sorrow,

And that I'll spend for him.

Siw.

He's worth no more;

They say, he parted well, and paid his score;
So, God be with him!-Here comes newer comfort.

Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH'S Head on a Pole.
Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art: Behold where

stands
The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:
I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,-

Hail, king of Scotland!

All.

King of Scotland, hail !

[Flourish.

Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time, Before we reckon with your several loves, And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen, Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland In such an honour nam'd. What's more to do, Which would be planted newly with the time,As calling home our exil'd friends abroad, That fled the snares of watchful tyranny; Producing forth the cruel ministers

Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen;
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life; -This, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

This play is deservedly celebrated for the propriety of its fiction, and solemnity, grandeur, and variety of its action; but it has no nice discriminations of character; the events are too great to admit the influence of particular dispositions, and the course of the action necessarily determines the conduct of the agents.

The danger of ambition is well described; and I know not whether it may not be said, in defence of some parts which now seem improbable, that in Shakspeare's time it was necessary to warn credulity against vain and illusive predictions.

The passions are directed to their true end. Lady Macbeth is merely detested; and though the courage of Macbeth preserves some esteem, yet every reader rejoices at his fall.

JOHNSON.

C. Whittingham, Printer, Chiswick.

King John:

DRAMATIS PERSONA.

Prince Henry, his Son; afterwards King Henry III. Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, Son of Geffrey, late Duke of of King John.

Bretagne, the elder Brother of Kin

William Mareshall, Earl of Pembroke.

Geffrey Fitz-Peter, Earl of Essex, Chief Justiciary of

England.

William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury.

Robert Bigot, Earl of Norfolk.

Hubert de Burgh, Chamberlain to the King.

Robert Faulconbridge, Son of Sir Robert Faulcon

bridge:

Philip Faulconbridge, his Half-Brother, Bastard Son

to King Richard the First.

James Gurney, Servant to Lady Faulconbridge.

Peter of Pomfret, a Prophet.

Philip, King of France.

Lewis, the Dauphin.

Archduke of Austria.

Cardinal Pandulph, the Pope's Legate.

Melun, a French Lord.

Chatillon, Ambassador from France to King John.

Elinor, the Widow of King Henry II. and Mother of

King John.

Constance, Mother to Arthur.

Blanch, Daughter to Alphonso, King of Castile, and

Niece to King John.

Lady Faulconbridge, Mother to the Bastard, and Ro

bert Faulconbridge.

Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE, sometimes in England, and sometimes in France.