Page:Macbeth (1918) Yale.djvu/36

24

I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

Exit.

Lady M. That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold,

What hath quench'd them hath given me fire. Hark! Peace!

It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman,

Which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it:

The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms

Do mock their charge with snores: I have drugg'd their possets,

That death and nature do contend about them,

Whether they live or die.

Macb. [Within.] Who's there? what, ho!

Lady M. Alack! I am afraid they have awak'd,

And 'tis not done; the attempt and not the deed

Confounds us. Hark! I laid their daggers ready;

He could not miss them. Had he not resembled

My father as he slept I had done 't. My husband!

Macb. I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?

 3 bellman: watchman; cf. n.

5 surfeited: over-filled (with food or drink)

6 possets: a kind of milk-punch

12 Confounds: will ruin

