o he shut himself up in his castle, whose impregnable
strength was such as defied a siege: here he sullenly waited the
approach of Malcolm. When, upon a day, there came a messenger to him,
pale and shaking with fear, almost unable to report that which he had
seen; for he averred, that as he stood upon his watch on the hill, he
looked towards Birnam, and to his thinking the wood began to move! "Liar
and slave!" cried Macbeth; "if thou speakest false, thou shalt hang
alive upon the next tree, till famine end thee. If thy tale be true, I
care not if thou dost as much by me;" for Macbeth now began to faint in
resolution, and to doubt the equivocal speeches of the spirits. He was
not to fear till Birnam wood should come to Dunsinane; and now a wood
did move! "However," said he, "if this which he avouches be true, let us
arm and out. There is no flying hence, nor staying here. I begin to be
weary of the sun, and wish my life at an end." With these desperate
speeches he sallied forth upon the besiegers, who had now come up to the
castle.

The strange appearance which had given the messenger an idea of a wood
moving is easily solved. When the besieging army marched through the
wood of Birnam, Malcolm, like a skilful general, instructed his soldiers
to hew down every one a bough and bear it before him, by way of
concealing the true numbers of his host. This marching of the soldiers
with boughs had at a distance the appearance which had frightened the
messenger. Thus were the words of the spirit brought to pass, in a sense
different from that in which Macbeth had understood them, and one great
hold of his confidence was gone.

And now a severe skirmishing took place, in which Macbeth, though feebly
supported by those who called themselves his friends, but in reality
hated the tyrant and inclined to the party of Malcolm and Macduff, yet
fought with the extreme of rage and valour, cutting to pieces all who
were opposed to him, till he came to where Macduff was fighting. Seeing
Macduff, and remembering the caution of the spirit who had counselled
him to avoid Macduff, above all men, he would have turned, but Macduff,
who had been seeking him through the whole fight, opposed his turning,
and a fierce contest ensued; Macduff giving him many foul reproaches for
the murder of his wife and children. Macbeth, whose soul was charged
enough with blood of that family already, would still have declined the
combat; but Macduff still urged him