e home;
but he soon came, when they all got into a coach, and away they drove.

The play was to be Macbeth, which Charles said was very fortunate,
because he had read about him in 'Tales of a Grandfather,' but Peter had
never read 'Tales of Grandfather,' nor any history of Scotland, so he
did not know who Macbeth was, therefore Mr. Barker was kind enough to
tell him the whole story as they went along; that he might be able to
understand what he was going to see. Perhaps some other little boys
would like to hear it too, so I will tell it.

"There was once a king of Scotland, named Duncan, who was a good man,
and much beloved by his subjects. This king had a cousin named Macbeth,
who being the bravest general in Scotland, was employed by Duncan to
fight all his battles for him, when he was too old to fight them
himself; but Macbeth, although a brave man, was not a good man, and
besides that, he had a very wicked wife, who wanted to be a queen, and
therefore she tried to persuade her husband to kill Duncan, that he
might be made king in his stead.

"At this time the Danes, who came from Denmark, invaded Scotland; that
is, they came there to fight the Scots, and try to conquer the country:
but they were disappointed, for Macbeth went with a large army to the
place where they had landed, and having killed a great number of them in
a battle, he forced the rest to return to Denmark.

"When Duncan heard that Macbeth had gained this victory, and driven his
enemies out of Scotland, he was so much pleased, that he went, with his
two sons, to pay him a visit at his castle; but he little thought, poor
old man, what was going to happen, for in the middle of the night, when
he was fast asleep, Macbeth went softly into his room, and killed him
with a dagger. So in the morning, when it became known that the king was
murdered, Macbeth pretended to be very much surprised and grieved at it,
and although the people all thought he had done it himself, they were
afraid to say so; and he was made king of Scotland. But wickedness is
sure to be punished, as you shall hear; for the two young Princes,
Malcolm and Donald Bane, as soon as they heard their father was dead,
escaped from the castle, fearing that if they staid they might be killed
too.

"Now happened that at that very time there was in England a very good
king, called Edward the Confessor, who was an enemy to all bad men;
therefore the Scottish princes determined to go to his court