And in his commendations I am fed;
It is a banquet to me. Let us after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome;
It is a peerless kinsman.

[Flourish of Trumpets and Drums.-Exeunt, R.

SCENE V.- Macbeth's Castle at Inverness.

Enter LADY MACBETH, R., reading a Letter.

Lady M.-" They met me in the day of success; and I have learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge. When I burned in desire to question them farther, they made themselves-air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the King, who all-hailed me, Thane of Cawdor; by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with, Hail, king that shalt be! This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightest not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and farewell." Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised! - Yet do 1 fear thy nature: It is too full o' the milk of human kindness, To catch the nearest way. Thou would'st be great; Art not without ambition: but without The illness should attend it. What thou would'st highly, That would'st thou holily; would'st not play false, And yet would'st wrongly win: thou'dst have, great Gla

mis,

That which cries, "Thus thou must do, if thou have it;"
And that, which rather thou dost fear to do,
Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crowned withal.

Enter SEYTON, L.

What is your tidings ?

Sey. The King comes here to-night.

Lady M. Thou'rt mad to say it!
Is not thy master with him? who, were't so,
Would have informed for preparation.

Sey. So please you, it is true: our Thane is coming:

One of my fellows had the speed of him;

Who, almost dead for breath, had scarcely more

Than would make up his message.

Lady M. Give him tending一

[Exit Seyton, I..

He brings great news.
The raven himself is hoarse,
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, all you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here;
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up th' access and passage to remorse;
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose; nor keep pace between
The effect, and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances

You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell!
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry, "Hold, hold!"-

Enter MACBETH, L.

Great Glamis! worthy Cawdor!
Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!
Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant.

Mach. My dearest love,
Duncan comes here to-night.

Lady M. And when goes hence ?
Mach. To-morrow-as he purposes.
Lady M. Oh, never

Shall sun that morrow see!

Your face, my Thane, is as a book, where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,

Your hand, your tongue; look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it. He that's coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put

This night's great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our days and nights to come,
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
Macb. We will speak further.

Lady M. Only look up clear;

To alter favour ever is to fear:

Leave all the rest to me.

[Excunt, R.

SCENE VI. The Gates of Inverness Castle. Flourish of

Trumpets and Drums.

Enter KING DUNCAN, BANQUO, MALCOLM, DONALBAIN,
MACDUFF, LENOX, Rosse, and ATTENDANTS, R.

King. This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.

Ban. This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet,* does approve,
By his loved mansionry, that the Heaven's breath
Smells wooingly here; no jutty frieze,
Buttress, or coignet of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle.
Where they most breed and haunt, -I have observed
The air is delicate.

Enter LADY MACBETH, SEYTON, and two LADIES, from the

Castle Gates.

King. See, see! our honoured hostess!

The love that follows us sometimes is our trouble,
Which still we thank as love. Herein I teach you,
How you shall bid Heaven yield us for your pains,
And thank us for your trouble.

Lady M. All our service

In every point twice done, and then done double,
Were poor and single business, to contend
Against those honours, deep and broad, wherewith
Your majesty loads our house: For those of old,

And the late dignities heaped up to them,

We rest your hermits.

King. Where's the Thane of Cawdor?
We coursed him at the heels, and had a purpose
To be his purveyor; but he rides well;
And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him
To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess,

We are your guest to-night.

Lady M. Your servants ever

Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt,*
To make their audit at your highness' pleasure,
Still to return your own.

King. Give me your hand;

Conduct ine to mine host; we love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him.
By your leave, hostess.

[Flourish of Trumpets and Drums.-Exeunt through the Castle Gates.

SCENE VII. - Macbeth's Castle at Inverness.

Enter MACBETH, R.

Mach. If it 'were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere

well,

It were done quickly. If the assassination
Could trammelt up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease, success! - That but this blow
Might be the be-all, and the end-all, here-
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'd jump the life to come. But, in these cases,
We still have judgment here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips.-He's here in double trust :
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,—
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself.-Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been

So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
The deep damnation of his taking-off:

I have no spur

To prick the sides of my intent, but only

Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself,

And falls on the other side-How now! what news ?

Enter LADY MACBETH, R.

Lady M. He has almost supped: why have you left the

chamber?

Mach. Hath he asked for me?
Lady M. Know you not, he has ?

Mach. We will proceed no further in this business:
He hath honoured me of late; and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,

Which should be worn now in their newest gloss,
Not cast aside so soon.

Lady M. Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dressed yourself? hath it slept since,
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time,
Such I account thy love.-Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour,
As thou art in desire? Would'st thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem, -
Letting I dare not, wait upon I would,
Like the poor cat i' th' adage ?

Mach. 'Pr'ythee, peace:
I dare do all that may become a man-
Who dares do more, is none.

[Crossing, L.

Lady M. What beast was it, then, That made you break the enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And, to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more than man. Nor time, nor place, Did then adhere, and yet you would make both : They have made themselves, and that their fitness now Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me : I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn As you have done to this!