MACDUFF
Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
'Tis hard to reconcile.
Enter a Doctor.
MALCOLM
136 Well, more anon.-Comes the king forth, I pray you?
DOCTOR
Ay, sir. There are a crew of wretched souls
140 That stay his cure. Their malady convinces 142 The great assay of art; but at his touch, Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand,
They presently amend.
MALCOLM I thank you, doctor.
Exit [Doctor].
MACDUFF
143 What's the disease he means?
MALCOLM 'Tis called the evil.
A most miraculous work in this good king,
Which often since my here-remain in England
I have seen him do: how he solicits heaven
146 Himself best knows, but strangely visited people, All swoll'n and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye,
150 The mere despair of surgery, he cures, 152 Hanging a golden stamp about their necks, 153 Put on with holy prayers, and 'tis spoken To the succeeding royalty he leaves
The healing benediction. With this strange virtue,154
He hath a heavenly gift of prophecy,
And sundry blessings hang about his throne
That speak him full of grace.156
Enter Ross.159
MACDUFF See who comes here.
MALCOLM
My countryman; but yet I know him not.160
MACDUFF
My ever gentle cousin, welcome hither.