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Beshrew your heart, for sending me about,
To catch my death with jaunting up and down!
Jul. I'faith, I am sorry that thou art not well:
Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me what says my
love?

Nurse. Your love says like an honest gentleman,
And a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome, and
I warrant, a virtuous:-Where is your mother?
Jul. Where is my mother?-why, she is within;
Where should she be? How oddly thou reply'st?
Your love says like an honest gentleman,-
Where is your mother?

Nurse. O, God's lady dear!

Are you so hot? Marry, come up, I trow;
Is this the poultice for my aking bones?
Henceforward do your messages yourself.
Jul. Here's such a coil;-Come, what says
Romeo?

Nurse. Have you got leave to go to shrift to-day?
Jul. I have.

That after-hours with sorrow chide us not! Rom. Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can, It cannot countervail the exchange of joy That one short minute gives me in her sight: 5 Do thou but close our hands with holy words, Then love-devouring death do what he dare, It is enough I may but call her mine,

10

Friar. These violent delights have violent ends, And in their triumph die; like fire, and powder, Which, as they kiss, consume; The sweetest honey

Is loathsome in his own deliciousness, And in the taste confounds the appetite: Therefore, love moderately; long love doth so; 15 Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow; Enter Juliet.

Here comes the lady :-O, so light a foot Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint; A lover may bestride the gossamour' 20 That idles in the wanton summer air, And yet not fall; so light is vanity. Jul. Good even to my ghostly confessor, Friar. Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both. [much, Jul. As much to him, else are his thanks too Rom. Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy Be heap'd like mine, and that thy skill be more To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath This neighbour air, and let rich musick's tongue 30 Unfold the imagin'd happiness that both

[cell, 25

Nurse. Then hie you hence to friar Lawrence' There stays a husband to make you a wife: Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks, They'll be in scarlet straight at any news. Hie you to church; I must another way, To fetch a ladder, by the which your love Must climb a bird's nest soon, when it is dark: I am the drudge, and toil in your delight; But you shall bear the burthen soon at night. Go, I'll to dinner; hie you to the cell. Jul. Hie to high fortune!-honest nurse, farewell. [Exeunt.

SCENE VI,

Friar Lawrence's Cell.

Enter Friar Lawrence, and Romeo. Friar. So smile the heavens upon this holy act,

Receive in either by this dear encounter.

Jul. Conceit,more rich in matter than in words, Brags of his substance, not of ornament: They are but beggars that can count their worth; 35 But my true love is grown to such excess, I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth,

Friar. Come, come with me, and we will make short work;

For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone, 40 Till holy church incorporate two in one,

[Exeunt.

АСТ

SCENE I.

A Street.

55

Enter Mercutio, Benvolio, Page, and Sercants. Ben. I PRAY thee, good Mercutio, let's retire; The day is hot, the Capulets abroad, And, if we meet, we shall not 'scape a brawl; For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring. Mer. Thou art like one of those fellows, that, when he enters the confines of a tavern, claps me his sword upon the table, and says, God send me no 60 need of thee! and, by the operation of the second cup, draws it on the drawer, when, indeed, there is no need.

III.

Ben, Am I like such a fellow?

Mer. Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy; and as soon mov'd to be moody, and as soon moody to be mov'd. Ben. And what to?

Mer. Nay, an there were two such, we should have none shortly, for one would kill the other. Thou! why thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes; what eye, but such an eye, would spy out such a quarrel? Thy lhead is as full of quarrels, as an egg is full of meat;

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and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg, for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrell'd with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath waken'd thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a taylor for wearing 5 his new doublet before Easter? with another, for tying his new shoes with old ribband? and yet thou wilt tutor me for quarrelling!

Ben. An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter.

Mer. The fee-simple? O simple!

Enter Tybalt, and others.

your nine lives; that I mean to make bold withal,
and, as you shall use me hereafter, dry-beat the
rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out
of his pilcher by the cars? make haste, lest mine
be about your ears ere it be out.
Tyb. I am for you.
[Drawing.
Rom. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up.
Mer. Come, sir, your passado. [They fight.
Rom. Draw, Benvolio;

10 Bear down their weapons:-Gentlemen, for shame
Forbear this outrage ;-Tybalt-Mercutio—
The prince expressly hath forbid this bandying
In Verona streets :-hold, Tybalt ;-good Mer-
[Exit Tybalt,

Ben. By my head, here come the Capulets.
Mer. By my heel, I care not. [them.-15
Tyb. Follow me close, for I will speak to
Gentlemen, good den: a word with one of you.
Mer. And but one word with one of us?
Couple it with something; make it a word and a
blow.

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Mer. Could you not take some occasion without giving?

20

Tyb. Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo,- 25
Mer. Consort! what, dost thou make us min-
strels? an thou make minstrels of us, look to hear
nothing but discords: here's my fiddlestick; here's
that shall make you dance. 'Zounds, consort!
Ben. We talk here in the public haunt of men: 30
Either withdraw into some private place,
Or reason coldly of your grievances,
Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.
Mer. Men's eyes were made to look, and let
them gaze;

I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I.
Enter Romeo.

my man.

cutio.

Mer. I am hurt ;

A plague o' both the houses!-I am sped :-
Is he gone, and hath nothing?

Ben. What, art thou hurt?
[enough.-
Mer. Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis
Where is my page?-go, villain, fetch a surgeon.
[Exit Puge.

Rom. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. Mer. No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 'tis enough; 'twill serve : ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I am pepper'd, I warrant, for this world.-A plague o' both your houses! What! a dog, a rat,a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetick!-Why, the devil, came you between us? I was hurt under your arın.

Rom. I thought all for the best.

Mer. Help me into some house, Benvolio,
Or I shall faint.-A plague o' both your houses!
33 They have made worm's meat of me:
I have it, and soundly too:-Your houses!
[Exeunt Mercutio, and Benvolio.
Rom. This gentleman, the prince's near ally,
My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt
In my behalf; my reputation stain'd
With Tybalt's slander, Tybalt, that an hour
Hath been my kinsman:-O sweet Juliet,
Thy beauty hath made me effeminate,
And in my temper soften'd valour's steel.
Re-enter Benvolio.

Tyb. Well, peace be with you, sir! here comes
[livery
Mer. But I'll be hang'd, sir, if he wear your 40
Marry, go first to field, he 'll be your follower;
Your worship, in that sense, may call him-man.

Tyb. Romeo, the hate I bear thee, can afford
No better term than this-Thou art a villain.
Rom.Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee 45]
Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
To such a greeting:-Villain I am none;
Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not.

Tub. Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries
That thou hast done me; therefore turn and 50
Rom. I do protest, I never injur'd thee; [draw]
But love thee better than thou canst devise,
'Till thou shalt know the reason of my love:
And so, good Capulet,-which name I tender
As dearly as my own, be satisfied.

Mer. O calin, dishonourable, vile submission!
A la stoccata carries it away.-

Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?
Tyb. What would'st thou have with me?

Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead;
That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds,
Which too untimely here did scorn the earth.
Rom. This day's black fate on more days doth
depend3;

This but begins the woe, others must end.
Re-enter Tybalt.

Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.
Rom. Alive! in triumph! and Mercutio slain!

55 Away to heaven, respective lenity,
And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now !—
Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again,
That late thou gav'st me; for Mercutio's soul
Is but a little way above our heads,

Aler. Good king of cats, nothing but one of 60 Staying for thine to keep him company;

Stoccata is the Italian term for a thrust or stab with a rapier.

2 Dr. Warburton says, we should 1i. e. 'I his day's un

read pilche, which signifies a cloke or coat of skins, meaning the scabbard.
happy destiny hangs over the days yet to come. There will yet be more mischief.

Of

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Ben. Romeo, away, be gone!
The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain :— [death,)
Stand not amaz'd: the prince will doom thee
If thou art taken:-hence!-be gone!-away!
Rom. O! I am fortune's fool!
Ben. Why dost thou stay?
Enter Citizens, &c.

[Exit Romco.

Cit. Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio? Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he? Ben. There lies that Tybalt.

Cit. Up, sir, go with me;

I charge thee in the prince's name, obey.
Enter Prince, Montague, Capulet, their Wives, &c.
Prin. Where are the vile beginners of this fray
Ben. O, noble prince, I can discover all
The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl:
There lies the man, slain by young Romeo,
That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio.
La. Cap. Tybalt, my cousin!-

ther's child!

O my bro

O prince!-O husband!--O, the blood is spill'd
Of my dear kinsman!-Prince, as thou art true',
For blood of ours, shed blood of Montague.-
O cousin, cousin!

10

15

This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.

La. Cup. He is a kinsman to the Montague,
Affection makes him false, he speaks not true:
Some twenty of them fought in this black strife,
And all those twenty could but kill-one life:
I beg for justice, which thou, prince, must give;
Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.

Prin. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio;
Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?
La. Mon. Not Romeo, prince; he was Mer-
cutio's friend;

His fault concludes but what the law should end,
The life of Tybalt.

Prin. And, for that offence,
Immediately we do exile him hence:

I have an interest in your hates' proceeding, [ing;
My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleed-
But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine,
That you shall all repent the loss of mine:
20I will be deaf to pleading and excuses;
Nor tears, nor prayers, shall purchase out abuses,
Therefore use none : let Romeo hence in haste,
Else, when he's found, that hour is his last.
Bear hence this body, and attend our will:
Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.
[Exeunt.

25

Prin. Benvolio, who began this bloody fray? 30
Ben. Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand

did slay;

Romeo that spoke him fair, bid him bethink
How nice the quarrel was, and urg'd withal
Your high displeasure: all this-utter'd
With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly
bow'd,-

Could not take truce with the unruly spleen
Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts
With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast;
Who, all as hot, turns deadly point to point,
And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats
Cold death aside, and with the other sends
It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity
Retorts it: Romeo he cries aloud,
Hold, friends! friends, part! and, swifter than
his tongue,

His agile arm beats down their fatal points,
And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm
An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life
Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled:
But by-and-by comes back to Romeo,
Who had but newly entertain'd revenge,
And to't they go like lightning; for, ere I

SCENE II.

An Apartment in Capulet's House.
Enter Juliet.

Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus' mansion; such a waggoner
As Phaeton would whip you to the west,
35 And bring in cloudy night immediately.-
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night!
That run-away's eyes may wink 4; and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk'd of, and unseen !----
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
40 By their own beauties: or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night.--Come, civil ' night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play'd for a pair of stainless maiden-hoods;
45 Hood my unmann'd blood baiting in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle; 'till strange love grown

bold,

Thinks true love acted, simple modesty. [night! Come, night!--Come, Romeo! come, thou day in 50 For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-brow'd night,

Give me my Romeo: and when he shall die,

Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain; 55 lake him and cut him out in little stars,

And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly:

And he will make the face of heaven so fine,

2i. e. as thou art

I am always running in the way of evil fortune, like the fool in the play. just and upright. how slight, how unimportant, how petty. Juliet would have night's darkness obscure the great eye of the day, the sun; whom considering in a poetical light as Phebus, drawn in his car with fiery-footed steeds, and posting through the heavens, she very properly calls him, with regard to the swiftness of his course, the run-away. Civil is grave, decently solemn. "These are terms of falconry. An unmanned hawk is one that is not brought to endure company.-Bating is fluttering with the wings as striving to fly away. 3 K 4

That

That all the world shall be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish' sun.—
O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess'd it; and, though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy'd: So tedious is this day,
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child, that hath new robes,
And may not wear them. O,here comes my nurse,
Enter Nurse, with cords.

And she brings news; and every tongue, thatspeaks
But Romeo's name, speaks heavenly eloquence.--
Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there?
the cords,

That Romeo bid thee fetch?

Nurse. Ay, ay, the cords.

Jul. Ay me! what news? why dost thou wring thy hands?

[dead! Nurse. Ah well-a-day! he's dead, he's dead, he's We are undone, lady, we are undone !Alack the day!--he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead! Jul. Can heaven be so envious? Nurse. Romeo can,

Though heaven cannot:-O Romeo! Romeo!-| Who ever would have thought it?-Romeo!

Ju!. What devil art thou, that dost torment

me thus?

This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.
Hath Romeo slain himself? say thou but I,
And that bare vowel I shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice :
I am not I, if there be such an I;

Or those eves shut, that make thee answer, I.
If he be slain, say-I; or if not, no:
Brief sounds determine of my weal, or woc.
Nurse. I saw the wound, I saw it with mine

eyes,

God save the mark!-here on his manly breast:
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;
Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood,
All in gore blood:-I sownded at the sight.
Jul. Ö break, my heart!-poor bankrupt, break

at once!

To prison, eyes! ne'er look on liberty!
Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here;
And thou, and Romeo, press one heavy bier!
Nurs.OTybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!
O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman!
That ever I should live to see thee dead!

Jul. What storm is this that blows so contrary
Is Romeo slaughter'd? and is Tybalt dead?
My dear-lov'd cousin, and my dearer lord?—
Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom!
For who is living, if those two are gone?

Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banish'd;
Romeo, that kill'd him, he is banish'd;
Jul. O God!-did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's
blood?

Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! Despised substance of divinest show! Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st, 5 A damned saint, an honourable villain !O, nature! what hadst thou to do in hell, When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh ?— Was ever book, containing such vile matter, So fairly bound? O, that deceit should dwell In such a gorgeous palace!

Nurse. There's no trust,

No faith, no honesty in men; all perjur'd, All forsworn, all nought, all dissemblers.15Ah, where 's my man? give me some aqua vitæ :-These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.

Shame come to Romeo!

Jul, Blister'd be thy tongue,

20 For such a wish! he was not born to shame : Upon his brow shame is asham'd to sit;

25

For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd Sole monarch of the universal earth.

O, what a beast was I to chide at him!

Nurse. Will you speak well of him that kill'd

your cousin?

Jul. Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy

name,

30 When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it ?— But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband; Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring; Your tributary drops belong to woe,

35 Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.

My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain ; AndTybaltdead, that wouldhaveslainmyhusband: All this is comfort; Wherefore weep I then? Some word there was worser than Tybalt's death, 40 That murder'd me: I would forget it fain ; But, O! it presses to my memory,

Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds: Tybalt is dead, and Romeo-banished; That-banished, that one word-banished, 45 Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts'. Tybalt's death Was woe enough, if it had ended there: Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship,

And needly will be rank'd with other griefs,Why follow'd not, when she said—Tybalt 's dead, 50Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both, Which modern lamentation might have mov'd? But, with a rear-ward following Tybalt's death, Romeo is banished,-to speak that word, Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, [55]All slain, all dead :: -Romeo is banished,There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, .n that word's death; no words can that woe sound.

Nurse. It did, it did; alas the day! it did.
Jul. O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring 60
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? [face!

Where is my father, and my mother, nurse? Nurse. Weeping and wailingoyerTybalt'scorse: Will you go to them? I will bring you thither.

Garish is gaudy, showy. In our author's time, the affirmative adverb ay was generally written I: and by this means it both becomes a towel, and answers in sound to eye, upon which the conceit turns in the second line. ? Hath put Tybalt out of my mind, as if out of being.

Jul.

Jul. Wash they his wounds with tears? mine] shall be spent,

[bed;i

When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment.
Take up those cords:-Poor ropes, you are be-
Both you and I; for Romeo is exil'd: [guil'd,
He made you for a highway to my bed;
But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed.
Come, cords; come, nurse; I'll to my wedding-
And death, not Romeo, take my maiden-head!
Nurse. Hie to your chamber: I'll find Romeo
To comfort you;-I wot well where he is.
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night;
I'll to him; he is hid at Lawrence' cell.

Jul. O, find him! give this ring to my true
knight,

And bid him come to take his last farewell.

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JAnd steal immortal blessings from her lips;
Who, even in pure and vestal modesty,
Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin:
Flies may do this, when I from this must fly;
5They are free men, but I am banished.
And say'st thou yet, that exile is not death?
But Romeo may not; he is banished. [knife,
Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground
No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,
But-banished-to kill me?-banished?

10

15

O friar, the damned use that word in hell;
Howlings attend it: How hast thou the heart,
Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,

A sin-absolver, and my friend profest,
To mangle me with that word-banishment?
Fri. Thou fond mad man, hear me but speak a
word.

Rom. O, thou wilt speak again of banishment. Fri. I'll give thee armour to keep off that word; 20 Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy,

25

30

Fri. A gentler judgement vanish'd from his lips, 35 Not body's death, but body's banishment.

40

To comfort thee, though thou art banished.
Rom. Yet banished?-Hang up philosophy!"
Unless philosophy can make a Juliet,
Displant a town, reverse a prince's doom;
It helps not, it prevails not, talk no more.
Fri. O, then I see that mad, en have no ears.
Rom. How should they, when that wise men
have no eyes?

Fri. Let me dispute with thee of thy estate.
Rom. Thou canst not speak of what thou dost
not feel:

Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love,
An hour but marry'd, Tybalt murdered,
Doating like me, and like me banished,
Then might'st thou speak, then might'st thou tear
thy hair,

And fall upon the ground, as I do now,
Taking the measure of an unmade grave.
Fri. Arise; one knocks; good Romeo, hide
[Knock within.
Rom. Not I; unless the breath of heart-sick

thyself.

groans,

Mist-like, infold me from the search of eyes.
[Knock.

Rom. Ha! banishment? be merciful, say-death;|
For exile hath more terror in his look,
Much more than death: do not say-banishment.
Fri. Here from Verona art thou banished:
Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.
Rom. There is no world without Verona walls,
But purgatory, torture, hell itself.
Hence-banished is banish'd from the world,
And world's exile is death; then banishment
Is death mis-term'd; calling death-banishment,
Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe,
And smil'st upon the stroke that murders me.
Fri. O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness! Run to my study-By-and-by:-God's will!
Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind prince, 50 What wilfulness is this?—I come, I come.

Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law,
And turn'd that black word death to banishment:
This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not.

Rom. 'Tis torture, and not mercy; heaven is
here,

Where Juliet lives; and every cat, and dog,
And little mouse, every unworthy thing,
Live here in heaven, and may look on her,
But Romeo may not.- More validity,
More honourable state, more courtship' lives
In carrion flies, than Romeo: they may seize
On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand,

45

55

Fri, Hark, how they knock!-Who's there?
Romeo, arise;

Thou wilt be taken :-Stay a while:--stand up:

[Knock.

[Knock.

Who knocks so hard? whence come you? what's

your will?

Nurse. [within.] Let me come in, and you shall know my errand;

I come from lady Juliet.

Fri. Welcome then.

Enter Nurse.

Nurse. O holy friar, O tell me, holy friar,

60 Where is my lady's lord, where's Romeo?

Fri. There, on the ground, with his own tears made drunk.

Validity seems here to mean worth or dignity; and courtship the state of a courtier permitted to

approach the highest presence.

Nurse.

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