courtesy; but, I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb. Go thy ways, wench; serve God.-What, have you dined at home?

Ju. No, no: but all this did I know before. What says he of our marriage? what of that? Nurse. Lord, how my head aches! what a head have I !

It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.

My back o' t' other side;—O, my back, my back!Beshrew 1 your heart, for sending me about,

1

To catch my death with jaunting up and down!

Ju. 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 :

mother?

-Where is your

Ju. Where is my mother?—why, she is within ; Where should she be ? How oddly thou repliest! '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 aching bones?

Henceforward do your messages yourself.

Ju. Here's such a coil! -Come, what says Romeo?

Nurse. Have you got leave to go to shrift to

day?

Ju. I have.

Nurse. Then hie you hence to friar Laurence'

cell,

There stays a husband to make you a wife:

cheeks;

Now comes the wanton blood up in your
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;
you shall bear the burden soon at night.
Go; I'll to dinner; hie you to the cell.

But

Ju. Hie to high fortune!-honest nurse, farewell.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Friar Laurence's cell.

Enter FRIAR LAURENCE and ROMEO.

F. Lau. So smile the heavens upon this holy act, That after-hours with sorrow chide us not!

Ro. Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can,
It cannot countervail the exchange of joy
That one short minute gives me in her sight.
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.

F. Lau. 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;
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 gossamers 1
That idle in the wanton summer air,
And yet not fall; so light is vanity.

Ju. Good even to my ghostly confessor.

F. Lau. Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both.

Ju. As much to him; else are his thanks too

much.

Ro. 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 neighbor air, and let rich music's tongue
Unfold the imagined happiness that both
Receive in either by this dear encounter.

Ju. Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, Brags of his substance, not of ornament.

They are but beggars that can count their worth: But my true love is grown to such excess,

1 The long white filament which flies in the air.
2 Imagination.

I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth.

F. Lau. Come, come with me, and we will make

short work;

For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone,

Till holy church incorporate two in one.

[Exeunt.

ACT II I.

SCENE I.

A public place.

Enter MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, Page, and Servants. 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 need of thee!' and, by the operation of the second cup, draws it on the drawer, when, indeed, there is no need.

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 moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.

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 head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat; and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter? with another, for tying his new shoes with old riband? and yet thou wilt tutor me from 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.

Ben. By my head, here come the Capulets.
Mer. By my heel, I care not.

Ty. Follow me close, for I will speak to them.— Gentlemen, good den: 1 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. Ty. You will find me apt enough to that, sir, if you will give me occasion.

Good even.