—­lines which tell of that freedom of heart, and that sympathetic sense of peace and beauty, which the Macbeth of the tragedy could never feel.

But now Banquo’s sky begins to darken.  At the opening of the Second Act we see him with Fleance crossing the court of the castle on his way to bed.  The blackness of the moonless, starless night seems to oppress him.  And he is oppressed by something else.

     A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,
     And yet I would not sleep:  merciful powers,
     Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature
     Gives way to in repose!

On Macbeth’s entrance we know what Banquo means:  he says to Macbeth—­and it is the first time he refers to the subject unprovoked,

     I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters.

His will is still untouched:  he would repel the ‘cursed thoughts’; and they are mere thoughts, not intentions.  But still they are ‘thoughts,’ something more, probably, than mere recollections; and they bring with them an undefined sense of guilt.  The poison has begun to work.

The passage that follows Banquo’s words to Macbeth is difficult to interpret: 

     I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters: 
     To you they have show’d some truth.

Macb. I think not of them:  Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve, We would spend it in some words upon that business, If you would grant the time.

     Ban. At your kind’st leisure.

     Macb. If you shall cleave to my consent, when ’tis,
     It shall make honour for you.

Ban. So I lose none In seeking to augment it, but still keep My bosom franchised and allegiance clear, I shall be counsell’d.

     Macb. Good repose the while!

     Ban. Thanks, sir:  the like to you!

Macbeth’s first idea is, apparently, simply to free himself from any suspicion which the discovery of the murder might suggest, by showing himself, just before it, quite indifferent to the predictions, and merely looking forward to a conversation about them at some future time.  But why does he go on, ‘If you shall cleave,’ etc.?  Perhaps he foresees that, on the discovery, Banquo cannot fail to suspect him, and thinks it safest to prepare the way at once for an understanding with him (in the original story he makes Banquo his accomplice before the murder).  Banquo’s answer shows three things,—­that he fears a treasonable proposal, that he has no idea of accepting it, and that he has no fear of Macbeth to restrain him from showing what is in his mind.

Duncan is murdered.  In the scene of discovery Banquo of course appears, and his behaviour is significant.  When he enters, and Macduff cries out to him,

O Banquo, Banquo,
Our royal master’s murdered,