Page:Macbeth (1918) Yale.djvu/58

46

We will require her welcome.

Lady M. Pronounce it for me, sir, to all our friends;

For my heart speaks they are welcome.

Macb. See, they encounter thee with their hearts' thanks;

Both sides are even: here I'll sit i' the midst:

Be large in mirth; anon, we'll drink a measure

The table round. [Approaching the door.] There's blood upon thy face.

Mur. 'Tis Banquo's, then.

Macb. 'Tis better thee without than he within.

Is he dispatch'd?

Mur. My lord, his throat is cut; that I did for him.

Macb. Thou art the best o' the cut-throats; yet he's good

That did the like for Fleance: if thou didst it,

Thou art the nonpareil.

Mur. Most royal sir,

Fleance is 'scap'd.

Macb. Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect;

Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,

As broad and general as the casing air:

But now I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd, bound in

To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo's safe?

Mur. Ay, my good lord; safe in a ditch he bides,

With twenty trenched gashes on his head;

The least a death to nature.

Macb. Thanks for that.

 14 thee without: outside thee

19 nonpareil: unequaled one

23 casing: surrounding

25 saucy: insistent

27 trenched: cut

