They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
With one that saw him die: who did report
That

very frankly he confess'd his treasons,
Implored your highness' pardon and set forth
A deep repentance: nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it; he died
As one that had been studied in his death
To throw away the dearest thing he owed,
As 'twere a careless trifle.
Dun.

There's no art
To find the mind's construction in the face :
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.
Enter MACBETH, BANQUo, Ross, and Angus.

O worthiest cousin !
The sin of my ingratitude even now
Was heavy on me: thou art so far before
That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
To overtake thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,
That the proportion both of thanks and payment
Might have been mine! only I have left to say,
More is thy due than more than all can pay.

MACB. The service and the loyalty I owe, In doing it, pays

itself. Your highness' part Is to receive our duties; and our duties Are to your throne and state children and servants, Which do but what they should, by doing everything Safe toward your love and honour. Dun.

Welcome hither : I have begun to plant thee, and will labour To make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,

That hast no less deserved, nor must be known
No less to have done so, let me infold thee
And hold thee to my heart.
BAN.

There if I grow,
The harvest is your own.
Dun.

My plenteous joys,
Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
And

you whose places are the nearest, know
We will establish our estate upon
Our eldest, Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
The Prince of Cumberland ; which honour must
Not unaccompanied invest him only,
But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine
On all deservers. From hence to Inverness,
And bind us further to you.

Mace. The rest is labour, which is not used for you:
I'll be myself the harbinger and make joyful
The hearing of my wife with your approach ;
So humbly take my

leave. Dun.

My worthy Cawdor! MACB. [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! that

is a step On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your

fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires : The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be, Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see. [Exit.

Dun. True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant, And in his commendations I am fed ; It is a banquet to me.

Let's after him,

Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome :
It is a peerless kinsman. [Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE V. Inverness. MACBETH's castle. Enter Lady MACBETH, 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 further, they made themselves air, into which they vanished. Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who allhailed 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 mightst' 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 I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great ; Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst

highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou ’ldst have,

great Glamis, 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 crown'd withal.

Enter a Messenger.

What is your tidings ?. Mess. 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 inform’d for preparation.

Mess. So pleaseyou, 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 message. Lady M.

Give him tending; He brings great news.

Exit Messenger.

The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under

my

battlements. Come, 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; the access and

passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace 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

his

Stop up

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.

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.
МАСв. .

My dearest love,
Duncan comes here to-night.
LADY M.

And when goes hence ?
MACB. To-morrow, as he purposes.
LADY M.

O, 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't. 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 nights and days 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.

[Ereunt.