Jul. It may be so, for it is not mine own.Are you at leisure, holy father, now; Or shall I come to yon at evening mass? Fri. My leisure serves me, pensive daughter,

now:

My lord, we must entreat the time alone.
Par. God shield, I should disturb devo-
tion!-

Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse you:
Till then, adieu! and keep this holy kiss.

[Exit PARIS. Jul. O shut the door! and when thou hast done so,

Come weep with me; Past hope, past cure, past help!

Fri. Ah! Juliet, I already know thy grief;
It strains me past the compass of my wits:
I hear thou must, and nothing must prorogue it,
On Thursday next be married to this county.
Jul. Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of
this,

Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it:
If, in thy wisdom, thou canst give no help,
Do thou but call my resolution wise,
And with this knife I'll help it presently.
God join'd my heart aud Romeo's, thou

hands:

our

And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd,
Shall be the label to another deed,
Or my true heart with treacherous revolt
Turn to another, this shall slay them both:
Therefore, out of thy long-experienc'd time,
Give me some present counsel; or, behold,
'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife
Shall play the umpire; arbitrating' that
Which the commission of thy years and art
Could to no issue of true honour bring.
Be not so long to speak; I long to die,
If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy.
Fri. Hold, daughter; I do spy a kind of
Which craves as desperate an execution [hepe,
As that is desperate which we would prevent.
If, rather than to marry county Paris,
Thou hadst the strength of will to slay thyself;
Then is it likely, thou wilt undertake

A thing like death to chide away this shame,
That cop'st with death himself to scape from it;
And, if thou dar'st, I'll give thee remedy.

Jul. O bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, From off the battlements of yonder tower; Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk Where serpents are; chain me with roaring Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house, [bears; O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling

bones, With reeky shanks, and yellow chapless sculls; Or bid me go into a new-made grave, And bide me with a dead man in his shroud; Things that, to hear thein told, have made me tremble:

And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.
Fri. Hold, then; go home, be merry, give
consent

To marry Paris; Wednesday is to-morrow;
To-morrow night look that thou lie alone,
Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber:
Take thou this phial, being then in bed,
And this distilled liquor drink thou off:
When, presently, through all thy veins shall run
A cold and drowsy humour, which shall seize
Each vital spirit; for no pulse shall keep
His natural progress, but aurcease to beat :
No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou liv'st;
The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade
To paly ashes; thy eyes' windows fall,
Like death when he shuts up the day of life;
Each part, depriv'd of supple government,
Shall stiff, and stark, and cold appear like
death:

And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death
Thou shalt remain full two and forty hours,

⚫ Decide the struggle between me and my distresses. Authori y or power.

comes

And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.
Now when the bridegroom in the morning
[dead:
To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou
Then (as the manner of our country is,)
In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier,
Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault,
Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.
In the meantime, against thou shalt awake,
Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift;
And hither shall he come and he and I
Will watch thy waking, and that very night
Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.
And this shall free thee from this present shame;
If no unconstant toy, nor womanish fear,
Abate thy valour in the acting it.

Jul. Give me, O give me ! tell me not of fear. Fri. Hold; get you gone, be strong and prosperous

In this resolve: I'll send a friar with speed
To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.
Jul. Love, give me strength! and strength
shall help afford.
Farewell, dear father.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II-A Room in CAPULET's House.

Enter CAPULET, LADY CAPULET, NURSE, and SERVANTS.

writ.

Cap. So many guests invite as here are [Exit SERVANT. Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks.

2 Serv. You shall have none ill, Sir; for I'll try if they can lick their fingers.

Cap. How canst thou try them so?

2 Serv. Marry, Sir, 'tis an ill cook that can not lick his own fingers: therefore he that cannot lick his fingers goes not with me.

Cap. Go, begone.— [Exit SERVANT. We shall be much unfurnish'd for this time.-What is my daughter gone to friar Laurence? Nurse. Ay, forsooth.

Cap. Well, he may chance to do some good on her :

A prevish self-will'd harlotry it is.

Enter JULIET.

Nurse. See, where she comes from sbrist⚫ with inerry look.

Cap. How now, my beadstrong? where have you been gadding?

Jul. Where I have learn'd me to repent the Of disobedient opposition

[sin

To you and your behests; + and am enjoin'd`
By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here,
And beg your pardon-Pardou, I beseech
Henceforward I am ever rul'd by you. [you!
Cap. Send for the county; go tell him of
this;
[ing.
I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morn-
Jul. I met the youthful lord at Laurence'
cell;

And gave him what becomed love I might,
Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty.

Cap. Why, I am glad on't; this is well,

stand up:

This is as't should be.-Let me see the county;
Ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither.-
Now, afore God, this reverend holy friar,
All our whole city is much bound to him.
Jul. Nurse, will you go with me into my
closet,

To help me sort such needful ornaments
As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow?
La. Cap. No, not till Thursday; there is
time enough.

Cap. Go, nurse, go with her :-We'll to church

Go thou to Juliet, help to deck up her ;
I'll not to bed to-night ;-let me alone; [ho!
I'll play the housewife for this once.-What,
They are all forth: well, I will walk myself
To county Paris, to prepare him up [light,
Against to-morrow: my heart is wondrous
Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd.
[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-JULIET's Chamber.

Enter JULIET and NURSE.

Jul. Ay, those attires are best :-But, genthe nurse,

I pray thee, leave me to myself to-night;
For I have need of many orisons

To move the heavens to smile upon my state, Which, well thou know'st, is cross and full of sin.

Enter LADY CAPULET.

La. Cap. What, are you busy? do you need my help?

Jul. No, madam; we have cull'd such necessaries

As are behoveful for our state to-morrow :
So please you, let me now be left alone,
And let the nurse this night sit up with you;
For, I am sure, you have your hands full all
In this so sudden business.

La. Cap. Good night!

Get thee to bed, and rest; for thou hast need. [Exeunt Lady CAPULET and NURSE. Jul. Farewell!-God knows, when we shall meet again.

I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins,

That almost freezes up the heat of life:
I'll call them back again to comfort me :-
Nurse! - What should she do here?

My dismal scene I needs must act alone.-
Come phial.-

What if this mixture do not work at all?
Must I of force be married to the county?
No, no ;-this shall forbid it :-lie thon there.-
[Laying down a Dagger.
What if it be a poison, which the friar
Subtly bath minister'd to have me dead,
Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd,
Because he married me before to Romeo?

I fear, it is and yet methinks it should not,
For he hath still been tried a holy man :
I will not entertain so bad a thought.-
How if, when I am laid into the tomb,
I wake before the time that Romeo

Come to redeem me? there's a fearful point!
Shall I not then be stifled in the vault,
Το whose foul mouth no healthsome

breathes in,

air

And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?
Or, if I live, is it not very like

The horrible conceit of death and night,
Together with the terror of the place,-
As in a vault, and ancient receptacle,
Where, for these many hundred years, the
bones

Of all my buried ancestors are pack'd ;
Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth,
Lies fest'ring in his shroud; where, as they
say,

At some hours in the night spirits resort;-
Alack, alack! is it not like that I,

So early waking,-what with loathsome smells; And shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth,

That living mortals, hearing them, run mad;
Oh! if I wake, shall I not be distraught, t
Environed with all these hideous fears?
And madly play with my forefathers' joints?

And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud?
And, in this rage, with some great kinsman's boue,
As with a club, dash out my desperate brains?
O look! methiuks, I see my cousin's ghost
Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body
Upon a rapier's point:-Stay, Tybalt, stay !---
Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee.

[She throws herself on the Bed

SCENE IV.-CAPULET'S Hall.

Enter Lady CAPULET and NURSE. La. Cap. Hold, take these keys, and fetch more spices, nurse.

Nurse. They call for dates and quinces in the pastry.

Enter CAPULET.

Cap. Come, stir, stir, stir! the second cock hath crow'd,

The curfeu bell hath rung, 'tis three o'clock :-
Look to the bak'd meats, good Angelica:
Spare not for cost.

Nurse. Go, go, you cot quean, go,

Get you to bed; 'faith, you'll be sick to-morrow For this night's watching.

Cap. No, not a whit; What! I have watch'd

ere now

All night for lesser cause, and ne'er been sick. La. Cap. Ay, you have been a mouse hunt ↑ in your time :

But I will watch you from such watching-now, [Exeunt Lady CAPULET and NURSE. Cap. A jealous-hood, a jealous-hood !-Now, fellow, What's there?

Enter SERVANTS with Spits, Logs, and Baskets.

1 Serv. Things for the cook, Sir; but I know not what.

Cap. Make haste, make haste. [Exit 1 SERV.] Sirrah, fetch drier logs ;

Call Peter, he will shew thee where they are. 2 Serv. I have a head, Sir, that will find out

logs,

And never trouble Peter for the matter.

[Exit. Cap. 'Mass, and well said; a merry whoreson! ha,

Thou shalt be logger-head.-Good faith 'tis day:
The county will be hear with music straight,
[Music within.
For so he said he would. I hear him near:-
Nurse-Wife! what, ho!-what, Nurse, I say!
Enter NURSE.

Go, waken Juliet, go, and trim her up;
I'll go and chat with Paris :-Hie, make baste,
Make haste! the bridegroom he is come al-
ready:
Make haste, I say!

[Exeunt.

Sleep for a week:-for the next night, I warThe county Paris hath set up his rest, That you shall rest but little.-God forgive me, (Marry and amen!) how sound is she asleep! t needs must wake her: Madam, madam, madam !

Ay, let the county, take you in your bed;

• The room where pics were made.

† Moure was a term of endearment to a woman.

Not get a messenger to bring it thee,
So fearful were they of infection.

Lau. Unhappy fortune! by my brotherhood,
The letter was not nice, but full of charge,
Of dear import; and the neglecting it
May do much danger: Friar John, go hence;
Get me an iron crow, and bring it straight
Unto my cell.

John. Brother, I'll go and bring't thee. [Exit. Lau. Now must I to the monument alone; Within this three hours will fair Juliet wake; She will beshrew me much, that Romeo Hath had no notice of these accidents : But I will write again to Mautua, And keep her at my cell till Romeo come; Poor living corse, clos'd in a dead man's tomb! [Exit. SCENE III-A Church-Yard; in it, a Monument belonging to the CAPULETS. Enter PARIS, and his PAGE bearing Flowers and a Torch.

That murder'd my love's cousin ;-with which grief,

It is supposed the fair creature died,

And here is come to do some villanous shame
To the dead bodies: I will apprehend him.—
[Advances.

Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague;
Can vengeance be pursu'd farther than death?
Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee :
Obey, and go with me; for thou must die.

Rom. I must, indeed; and therefore came I bither.

stand aloof;

Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.
Under yon yew-trees lay thee all along,
Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground;
So shall no foot upon the church-yard tread,
(Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves,)
But thou shalt hear it: whistle then to me,
As signal that thou hear'st something approach.
Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go.
Page. I am almost afraid to stand alone
Here in the church-yard; yet I will adventure.
[Retires.

Par. Sweet flower, with flowers I strew thy bridal bed:

Sweet tomb, that in thy circuit dost contain
The perfect model of eternity;
Fair Juliet, that with angels dost remain,
Accept this latest favour at my hands;
That living honour'd thee, and, being dead,
With funeral praises do adorn thy tomb!
[The boy whistles.
The boy gives warning, something doth ap-
proach.

What cursed foot wanders this way to-night,
To cross my obsequies, and true-love's rites?
What, with a torch!-muffle me, night, a while.
[Retires.
Enter ROMEO and BALTHAZAR with a Torch,
Mattock, &c.

Rom. Give me that mattock, and the wrenching iron.

Hold, take this letter; early in the morning
See thou deliver it to my lord and father.
Give me the light: Upon thy life I charge thee,
Whate'er thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof,
And do not interrupt me in my course.
Why I descend into this bed of death,
Is partly, to behold my lady's face:
But, chiefly, to take hence from her dead finger
A precious ring; a ring that I must use
In dear employment: therefore hence, be-
But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry [gone :-
In what I further shall intend to do,
By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint,

gone;

Let them affright thee.-I beseech thee, youth,
Heap not another sin upon my head,

By urging me to fury:-O be gone!
By heaven, I love thee better than myself:
For I come hither arm'd against myself:
Stay not, begone ;-live, and hereafter say-
A madmans mercy bade thee run away.
Par. I do defy thy conjurations,
And do attach thee as a felon here.
Rom. Wilt thou provoke me? then have at
thee, boy.
[They fight.

Page. O lord! they fight: I will go call the
watch.
[Exit PAGE.
Par. O I am slain! [Falls.]-If thou be
merciful,

Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet. [Dies. Rom. In faith, I will:-Let me peruse this face;

Mercutio's kinsman, noble county Paris:-
What said my man, when my betossed soul
Did not attend him as we rode ? I think,
He told me Paris should have married Juliet:
Said he not eo? or did I dream it so ?
Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,
To think it was so?-O give me thy hand,
One writ with me in sour misfortune's book!
I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave,-
A grave? O no; a lantern, + slaughter'd youth,
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence full of light.
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd.
[Laying PARIS in the Monument.
How oft when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry? which their keepers
call

A lightning before death: Oh! how may I
Call this a lightning ?-O my love! my wife!
Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips, and in thy cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not advanced there.-
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
Oh! what more favour can I do to thee,

limbs ;

The time and my intents are savage-wild;

More fierce, and more inexorable far,
Than empty tigers, or the roaring sea.

twain,

To sunder his that was thine enemy? Forgive me, cousin!—Ah ! dear Juliet, Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe

you.

And that the lean abhorred monster keeps

Take thou that:

Live and be prosperous, and farewell, good

fellow.

Bal. For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout;

I. e. On a trivial or idle subject.
te. Action of importance.

For fear of that, I will still stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
De art again; here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids ; O here

I refuse to do as thou conjurest me to do, i. e. depart. The allusion is to a louvre or turret full of window by means of which ancient halls, &c. are illuminated. Presence chamber.