Tales from Shakespeare illustrated by Louis Rhead, 2nd part

But the wicked suggestions of the witches had sunk too deep
into the mind of Macbeth to allow him to attend to the warnings
of the good Banquo. From that time he bent all his thoughts
how to compass the throne of Scotland.

So with her own hands armed with a dagger she approached the king's bed, having taken care to ply the grooms of his chamber so with wine that they slept intoxicated and careless of their charge.

So, taking the dagger in his hand, he softly stole in the dark to the room where Duncan lay; and as he went he thought he saw another dagger in the air, with the handle toward him, and on the blade and at the point of it drops of blood; but when he tried to grasp at it itwas nothing but air, a mere phantasm proceeding from his own hot and oppressed brain and the business hehad in hand.

And they called the spirits, which were three. And the first arose in the likeness of an armed head, and he called Macbeth by name and bid him beware of the Thane of Fife; for which

caution Macbeth thanked him; for Macbeth had entertained a jealousy of Macduff, the Thane of Fife.

With these frantic words he threw himself upon Macduff, who, after a severe struggle, in the end overcame him, and, cutting off his head, made a present of it to the young and lawful king,

Malcolm, who took upon him the government which, by the machinations of the usurper, he had so long been deprived of, and ascended the throne of Duncan the Meek amid the acclamations of the nobles and the people.

…and the endearing sweetness of her manners so charmed Bertram that he vowed she should be his wife.

it being soon apparent of what manner of gentleness she was composed, for her music-master rushed into the room to complain that the gentle Katharine, his pupil, had broken his head

with her lute for presuming to find fault with her performance; which, when Petruchio heard,

he said:

"It is a brave wench. I love her more than ever, and long to have some chat with her."

He claimed a husband's right to dispose of his wife as he pleased, and away he hurried Katharine off; he seeming so daring and resolute that no one dared attempt to stop him.

He found the same fault with the bed, throwing the pillows and bedclothes about the room, so

that she was forced to sit down in a chair, where, if she chanced to drop asleep, she was presently awakened by the loud voice of her husband storming at the servants for the ill-making of his wife's bridal-bed.

The Duke of Ephesus, taking a liking to young Antipholus, when he grew up made him an officer in his army, in which he distinguished himself by his great bravery in the wars,…

"Alas!" said he, "this gentleman whom I would save had an honorable father, for whose sake I

pray you pardon the young man's transgression."

"Alas!" said Isabel, "what poor ability is there in me to do him good ? I doubt I have no power to move Angelo."

"How! Bribe me?" said Angelo, astonished that she should think of offering him a bribe.

"And what is her history?" said Orsino.

"Whence come you, sir?" said Olivia. "I can say little more than I have studied,' replied Viola,

"and that question is out of my part." "Are you a comedian?” said Olivia.

But in vain the lady wooed. Viola hastened from her presence, threatening never more to come to plead Orsino's love; and all the reply she made to Olivia's fond solicitation was, a

declaration of a resolution Never to love any woman.

But now the time was come that Timon could shut his ears no longer to the representations of this faithful steward. Money must be had;…

…and the first sight of his master, the once noble Timon, in that abject condition, naked as he was born, living in the manner of a beast among beasts, looking like his own sad ruins and a monument of decay, so affected this good servant that he stood speechless

Then Timon told them that he had a tree, which grew near his cave, which he should shortly have occasion to cut down, and he invited all his friends in Athens, high or low, of what

degree soever, who wished to shun affliction, to come and take a taste of his tree before he cut it down; meaning that they might come and hang themselves on it and escape affliction that way.

Mercutio being dead, Romeo kept his temper no longer, but returned the scornful appellation of villain which Tybalt had given him, and they fought till Tybalt was slain by Romeo.

…and she kissed his still warm lips to try if any poison yet did hang upon them; then hearing a nearer noise of people coming, she quickly unsheathed a dagger which she wore, and, stabbing herself, died by her true Romeo's side.

That as he was sleeping in his garden, his custom always in the afternoon, his treasonous brother stole upon him in his sleep and poured the juice of poisonous henbane into his ears, which has such an antipathy to the life of man that, swift as quicksilver, it courses through all the veins of the body, baking up the blood and spreading a crust-like leprosy all over the skin.

…he drew his sword and stabbed at the place where the voice came from, as he would have

stabbed a rat that ran there, till, the voice ceasing, he concluded the person to be dead. But when he dragged forth the body it was not the king, but Polonius, the old, officious counselor, that had planted himself as a spy behind the hangings.

…so affected this tender young maid that in a little time she grew perfectly distracted, and would go about giving flowers away to the ladies of the court, and saying that they were for her father's burial, singing songs about love and about death, and sometimes such as had no meaning at all, as if she had no memory of what happened to her.

That night Iago began his deep-laid plans of mischief. Under color of loyalty and love to the general, he enticed Cassio to make rather too free with the bottle (a great fault in an officer upon guard).

He despised himself.

Sometimes he thought his wife honest,…

"Patience, good sir," said Lychorida, "here is all that is left alive of our dead queen, a little

daughter, and for your child's sake be more manly. Patience, good sir, even for the sake of

this precious charge."