Extract from MACBETH

ACT I.
SCENE V. Inverness. A Room in Macbeth's Castle.
	[Enter Lady Macbeth, reading a letter.]
LADY MACBETH.
	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 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 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 promis'd; 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'dst 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 valor 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 an Attendant.]
	What is your tidings?
ATTENDANT.
	The king comes here tonight.
LADY MACBETH.
	Thou'rt mad to say it:
	Is not thy master with him? who, were't so,
	Would have inform'd for preparation.
ATTENDANT.
	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 MACBETH.
	Give him tending;
	He brings great news.
	[Exit Attendant.]
	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,
	Stop up 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, your 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.]
	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.
MACBETH.
	My dearest love,
	Duncan comes here tonight.
LADY MACBETH.
	And when goes hence?
MACBETH.
	To-morrow,--as he purposes.
LADY MACBETH.
	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 despatch;
	Which shall to all our nights and days to come
	Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
MACBETH.
	We will speak further.
LADY MACBETH.
	Only look up clear;
	To alter favor ever is to fear:
	Leave all the rest to me.
	[Exeunt.]