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ACT IV

SCENE I

A dark Cave. In the middle, a Cauldron boiling.
Thunder

Enter the three Witches

1 Witch. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 Witch. Thrice; and once the hedge-pig whined.
3 Witch. Harpier cries:- - 'tis time, 'tis time.
1 Witch. Round about the cauldron go;

In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under the cold stone
Days and nights hast thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
All. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

2 Witch. Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake:

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

All. Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
3 Witch. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock, digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe,
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,-
Make the gruel thick and slab;
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
All. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

2 Witch. Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

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30

Enter HECATE, to the other three Witches

Hec. O, well done! I commend your pains;
40 And every one shall share i' the gains.
And now about the cauldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in.

SONG

Black spirits and white,
Red spirits and gray,
Mingle, mingle, mingle,
You that mingle may.

2 Witch. By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes:

50 Open, locks, whoever knocks.

Enter MACBETH

Macb. How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags,

What is't you do?

All.

A deed without a name.

Macb. I conjure you, by that which you profess, (Howe'er you come to know it,) answer me : Though you untie the winds, and let them fight Against the churches: though the yesty waves

Confound and swallow navigation up;

Though bladed corn be lodg'd and trees blown down; Though castles topple on their warders' heads;

Though palaces and pyramids do slope

Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure Of nature's germens tumble all together,

Even till destruction sicken; answer me

To what I ask you.

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1 Witch. Say, if thou'dst rather hear it from our

mouths,

Or from our masters?

Macb.

Call them, let me see them.

1 Witch. Pour in sow's blood that hath eaten

Her nine farrow; grease that's sweaten

From the murderer's gibbet throw

Into the flame.

All.

Come, high or low;

Thyself and office deftly show.

Thunder. An Apparition of an armed Head rises

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