<h3 id="id00139" style="margin-top: 3em">ACT III. Scene I. A public place.</h3>
<p id="id00140">Enter Mercutio, Benvolio, and Men.</p>
<p id="id00141"> Ben. I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire.<br/>
The day is hot, the Capulets abroad.<br/>
And if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl,<br/>
For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.<br/>
Mer. Thou art like one of these fellows that, when he enters<br/>
the<br/>
confines of a tavern, claps me his sword upon the table and<br/>
says<br/>
'God send me no need of thee!' and by the operation of the<br/>
second<br/>
cup draws him on the drawer, when indeed there is no need.<br/>
Ben. Am I like such a fellow?<br/>
Mer. Come, come, thou art as hot a jack in thy mood as any in<br/>
Italy; and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be<br/>
moved.<br/>
Ben. And what to?<br/>
Mer. Nay, an there were two such, we should have none shortly,<br/>
for<br/>
one would kill the other. Thou! why, thou wilt quarrel with a<br/>
man<br/>
that hath a hair more or a hair less in his beard than thou<br/>
hast.<br/>
Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no<br/>
other<br/>
reason but because thou hast hazel eyes. What eye but such an<br/>
eye<br/>
would spy out such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of quarrels<br/>
as<br/>
an egg is full of meat; and yet thy head hath been beaten as<br/>
addle as an egg for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrell'd with a<br/>
man<br/>
for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened thy dog<br/>
that<br/>
hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a<br/>
tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter, with<br/>
another<br/>
for tying his new shoes with an old riband? And yet thou wilt<br/>
tutor me from quarrelling!<br/>
Ben. An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should<br/>
buy<br/>
the fee simple of my life for an hour and a quarter.<br/>
Mer. The fee simple? O simple!<br/></p>
<p id="id00142"> Enter Tybalt and others.</p>
<p id="id00143"> Ben. By my head, here come the Capulets.<br/>
Mer. By my heel, I care not.<br/>
Tyb. Follow me close, for I will speak to them.<br/>
Gentlemen, good den. A word with one of you.<br/>
Mer. And but one word with one of us?<br/>
Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow.<br/>
Tyb. You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, an you will<br/>
give me<br/>
occasion.<br/>
Mer. Could you not take some occasion without giving?<br/>
Tyb. Mercutio, thou consortest with Romeo.<br/>
Mer. Consort? What, dost thou make us minstrels? An thou make<br/>
minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords. Here's my<br/>
fiddlestick; here's that shall make you dance. Zounds,<br/>
consort!<br/>
Ben. We talk here in the public haunt of men.<br/>
Either withdraw unto some private place<br/>
And reason coldly of your grievances,<br/>
Or else depart. Here all eyes gaze on us.<br/>
Mer. Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze.<br/>
I will not budge for no man's pleasure,<br/></p>
<p id="id00144"> Enter Romeo.</p>
<p id="id00145"> Tyb. Well, peace be with you, sir. Here comes my man.<br/>
Mer. But I'll be hang'd, sir, if he wear your livery.<br/>
Marry, go before to field, he'll be your follower!<br/>
Your worship in that sense may call him man.<br/>
Tyb. Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford<br/>
No better term than this: thou art a villain.<br/>
Rom. Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee<br/>
Doth much excuse the appertaining rage<br/>
To such a greeting. Villain am I none.<br/>
Therefore farewell. I see thou knowest me not.<br/>
Tyb. Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries<br/>
That thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw.<br/>
Rom. I do protest I never injur'd thee,<br/>
But love thee better than thou canst devise<br/>
Till thou shalt know the reason of my love;<br/>
And so good Capulet, which name I tender<br/>
As dearly as mine own, be satisfied.<br/>
Mer. O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!<br/>
Alla stoccata carries it away. [Draws.]<br/>
Tybalt, you ratcatcher, will you walk?<br/>
Tyb. What wouldst thou have with me?<br/>
Mer. Good King of Cats, nothing but one of your nine lives.<br/>
That I<br/>
mean to make bold withal, and, as you shall use me hereafter,<br/></p>
<p id="id00146"> dry-beat the rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out<br/>
of<br/>
his pitcher by the ears? Make haste, lest mine be about your<br/>
ears<br/>
ere it be out.<br/>
Tyb. I am for you. [Draws.]<br/>
Rom. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up.<br/>
Mer. Come, sir, your passado!<br/>
[They fight.]<br/>
Rom. Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons.<br/>
Gentlemen, for shame! forbear this outrage!<br/>
Tybalt, Mercutio, the Prince expressly hath<br/>
Forbid this bandying in Verona streets.<br/>
Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!<br/>
Tybalt under Romeo's arm thrusts Mercutio in, and flies<br/>
[with his Followers].<br/>
Mer. I am hurt.<br/>
A plague o' both your houses! I am sped.<br/>
Is he gone and hath nothing?<br/>
Ben. What, art thou hurt?<br/>
Mer. Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch. Marry, 'tis enough.<br/>
Where is my page? Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.<br/>
[Exit Page.]<br/>
Rom. Courage, man. The hurt cannot be much.<br/>
Mer. No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church<br/>
door;<br/>
but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. Ask for me to-morrow, and you<br/>
shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this<br/>
world. A plague o' both your houses! Zounds, a dog, a rat, a<br/>
mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue,<br/>
a<br/>
villain, that fights by the book of arithmetic! Why the devil<br/>
came you between us? I was hurt under your arm.<br/>
Rom. I thought all for the best.<br/>
Mer. Help me into some house, Benvolio,<br/>
Or I shall faint. A plague o' both your houses!<br/>
They have made worms' meat of me. I have it,<br/>
And soundly too. Your houses!<br/>
[Exit. [supported by Benvolio].<br/>
Rom. This gentleman, the Prince's near ally,<br/>
My very friend, hath got this mortal hurt<br/>
In my behalf- my reputation stain'd<br/>
With Tybalt's slander- Tybalt, that an hour<br/>
Hath been my kinsman. O sweet Juliet,<br/>
Thy beauty hath made me effeminate<br/>
And in my temper soft'ned valour's steel.<br/></p>
<p id="id00147"> Enter Benvolio.</p>
<p id="id00148"> Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead!<br/>
That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds,<br/>
Which too untimely here did scorn the earth.<br/>
Rom. This day's black fate on moe days doth depend;<br/>
This but begins the woe others must end.<br/></p>
<p id="id00149"> Enter Tybalt.</p>
<p id="id00150"> Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.<br/>
Rom. Alive in triumph, and Mercutio slain?<br/>
Away to heaven respective lenity,<br/>
And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now!<br/>
Now, Tybalt, take the 'villain' back again<br/>
That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio's soul<br/>
Is but a little way above our heads,<br/>
Staying for thine to keep him company.<br/>
Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.<br/>
Tyb. Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here,<br/>
Shalt with him hence.<br/>
Rom. This shall determine that.<br/>
They fight. Tybalt falls.<br/>
Ben. Romeo, away, be gone!<br/>
The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain.<br/>
Stand not amaz'd. The Prince will doom thee death<br/>
If thou art taken. Hence, be gone, away!<br/>
Rom. O, I am fortune's fool!<br/>
Ben. Why dost thou stay?<br/>
Exit Romeo.<br/>
Enter Citizens.<br/></p>
<p id="id00151"> Citizen. Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio?<br/>
Tybalt, that murtherer, which way ran he?<br/>
Ben. There lies that Tybalt.<br/>
Citizen. Up, sir, go with me.<br/>
I charge thee in the Prince's name obey.<br/></p>
<p id="id00152"> Enter Prince [attended], Old Montague, Capulet, their Wives,<br/>
and [others].<br/></p>
<p id="id00153"> Prince. Where are the vile beginners of this fray?<br/>
Ben. O noble Prince. I can discover all<br/>
The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl.<br/>
There lies the man, slain by young Romeo,<br/>
That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio.<br/>
Cap. Wife. Tybalt, my cousin! O my brother's child!<br/>
O Prince! O husband! O, the blood is spill'd<br/>
Of my dear kinsman! Prince, as thou art true,<br/>
For blood of ours shed blood of Montague.<br/>
O cousin, cousin!<br/>
Prince. Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?<br/>
Ben. Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did stay.<br/>
Romeo, that spoke him fair, bid him bethink<br/>
How nice the quarrel was, and urg'd withal<br/>
Your high displeasure. All this- uttered<br/>
With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd-<br/>
Could not take truce with the unruly spleen<br/>
Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts<br/>
With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast;<br/>
Who, all as hot, turns deadly point to point,<br/>
And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats<br/>
Cold death aside and with the other sends<br/>
It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity<br/>
Retorts it. Romeo he cries aloud,<br/>
'Hold, friends! friends, part!' and swifter than his tongue,<br/>
His agile arm beats down their fatal points,<br/>
And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm<br/>
An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life<br/>
Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled;<br/>
But by-and-by comes back to Romeo,<br/>
Who had but newly entertain'd revenge,<br/>
And to't they go like lightning; for, ere I<br/>
Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain;<br/>
And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly.<br/>
This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.<br/>
Cap. Wife. He is a kinsman to the Montague;<br/>
Affection makes him false, he speaks not true.<br/>
Some twenty of them fought in this black strife,<br/>
And all those twenty could but kill one life.<br/>
I beg for justice, which thou, Prince, must give.<br/>
Romeo slew Tybalt; Romeo must not live.<br/>
Prince. Romeo slew him; he slew Mercutio.<br/>
Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?<br/>
Mon. Not Romeo, Prince; he was Mercutio's friend;<br/>
His fault concludes but what the law should end,<br/>
The life of Tybalt.<br/>
Prince. And for that offence<br/>
Immediately we do exile him hence.<br/>
I have an interest in your hate's proceeding,<br/>
My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding;<br/>
But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine<br/>
That you shall all repent the loss of mine.<br/>
I will be deaf to pleading and excuses;<br/>
Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses.<br/>
Therefore use none. Let Romeo hence in haste,<br/>
Else, when he is found, that hour is his last.<br/>
Bear hence this body, and attend our will.<br/>
Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.<br/>
Exeunt.<br/></p>
<h2 id="id00154" style="margin-top: 4em">Scene II. Capulet's orchard.</h2>
<p id="id00155">Enter Juliet alone.</p>
<p id="id00156"> Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,<br/>
Towards Phoebus' lodging! Such a wagoner<br/>
As Phaeton would whip you to the West<br/>
And bring in cloudy night immediately.<br/>
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,<br/>
That runaway eyes may wink, and Romeo<br/>
Leap to these arms untalk'd of and unseen.<br/>
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites<br/>
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,<br/>
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,<br/>
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,<br/>
And learn me how to lose a winning match,<br/>
Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods.<br/>
Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,<br/>
With thy black mantle till strange love, grown bold,<br/>
Think true love acted simple modesty.<br/>
Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;<br/>
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night<br/>
Whiter than new snow upon a raven's back.<br/>
Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-brow'd night;<br/>
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,<br/>
Take him and cut him out in little stars,<br/>
And he will make the face of heaven so fine<br/>
That all the world will be in love with night<br/>
And pay no worship to the garish sun.<br/>
O, I have bought the mansion of a love,<br/>
But not possess'd it; and though I am sold,<br/>
Not yet enjoy'd. So tedious is this day<br/>
As is the night before some festival<br/>
To an impatient child that hath new robes<br/>
And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse,<br/></p>
<p id="id00157"> Enter Nurse, with cords.</p>
<p id="id00158"> And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks<br/>
But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence.<br/>
Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there? the cords<br/>
That Romeo bid thee fetch?<br/>
Nurse. Ay, ay, the cords.<br/>
[Throws them down.]<br/>
Jul. Ah me! what news? Why dost thou wring thy hands?<br/>
Nurse. Ah, weraday! he's dead, he's dead, he's dead!<br/>
We are undone, lady, we are undone!<br/>
Alack the day! he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead!<br/>
Jul. Can heaven be so envious?<br/>
Nurse. Romeo can,<br/>
Though heaven cannot. O Romeo, Romeo!<br/>
Who ever would have thought it? Romeo!<br/>
Jul. What devil art thou that dost torment me thus?<br/>
This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.<br/>
Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but 'I,'<br/>
And that bare vowel 'I' shall poison more<br/>
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice.<br/>
I am not I, if there be such an 'I';<br/>
Or those eyes shut that make thee answer 'I.'<br/>
If he be slain, say 'I'; or if not, 'no.'<br/>
Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe.<br/>
Nurse. I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,<br/>
(God save the mark!) here on his manly breast.<br/>
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;<br/>
Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood,<br/>
All in gore-blood. I swounded at the sight.<br/>
Jul. O, break, my heart! poor bankrout, break at once!<br/>
To prison, eyes; ne'er look on liberty!<br/>
Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here,<br/>
And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier!<br/>
Nurse. O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!<br/>
O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman<br/>
That ever I should live to see thee dead!<br/>
Jul. What storm is this that blows so contrary?<br/>
Is Romeo slaught'red, and is Tybalt dead?<br/>
My dear-lov'd cousin, and my dearer lord?<br/>
Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom!<br/>
For who is living, if those two are gone?<br/>
Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished;<br/>
Romeo that kill'd him, he is banished.<br/>
Jul. O God! Did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?<br/>
Nurse. It did, it did! alas the day, it did!<br/>
Jul. O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face!<br/>
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?<br/>
Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!<br/>
Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb!<br/>
Despised substance of divinest show!<br/>
Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st-<br/>
A damned saint, an honourable villain!<br/>
O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell<br/>
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend<br/>
In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?<br/>
Was ever book containing such vile matter<br/>
So fairly bound? O, that deceit should dwell<br/>
In such a gorgeous palace!<br/>
Nurse. There's no trust,<br/>
No faith, no honesty in men; all perjur'd,<br/>
All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.<br/>
Ah, where's my man? Give me some aqua vitae.<br/>
These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.<br/>
Shame come to Romeo!<br/>
Jul. Blister'd be thy tongue<br/>
For such a wish! He was not born to shame.<br/>
Upon his brow shame is asham'd to sit;<br/>
For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd<br/>
Sole monarch of the universal earth.<br/>
O, what a beast was I to chide at him!<br/>
Nurse. Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin?<br/>
Jul. Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?<br/>
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name<br/>
When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?<br/>
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?<br/>
That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband.<br/>
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring!<br/>
Your tributary drops belong to woe,<br/>
Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.<br/>
My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;<br/>
And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband.<br/>
All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?<br/>
Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death,<br/>
That murd'red me. I would forget it fain;<br/>
But O, it presses to my memory<br/>
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds!<br/>
'Tybalt is dead, and Romeo- banished.'<br/>
That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,'<br/>
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death<br/>
Was woe enough, if it had ended there;<br/>
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship<br/>
And needly will be rank'd with other griefs,<br/>
Why followed not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead,'<br/>
Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,<br/>
Which modern lamentation might have mov'd?<br/>
But with a rearward following Tybalt's death,<br/>
'Romeo is banished'- to speak that word<br/>
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,<br/>
All slain, all dead. 'Romeo is banished'-<br/>
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,<br/>
In that word's death; no words can that woe sound.<br/>
Where is my father and my mother, nurse?<br/>
Nurse. Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse.<br/>
Will you go to them? I will bring you thither.<br/>
Jul. Wash they his wounds with tears? Mine shall be spent,<br/>
When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment.<br/>
Take up those cords. Poor ropes, you are beguil'd,<br/>
Both you and I, for Romeo is exil'd.<br/>
He made you for a highway to my bed;<br/>
But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed.<br/>
Come, cords; come, nurse. I'll to my wedding bed;<br/>
And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead!<br/>
Nurse. Hie to your chamber. I'll find Romeo<br/>
To comfort you. I wot well where he is.<br/>
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night.<br/>
I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell.<br/>
Jul. O, find him! give this ring to my true knight<br/>
And bid him come to take his last farewell.<br/>
Exeunt.<br/></p>
<h2 id="id00159" style="margin-top: 4em">Scene III. Friar Laurence's cell.</h2>
<p id="id00160">Enter Friar [Laurence].</p>
<p id="id00161"> Friar. Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man.<br/>
Affliction is enanmour'd of thy parts,<br/>
And thou art wedded to calamity.<br/></p>
<p id="id00162"> Enter Romeo.</p>
<p id="id00163"> Rom. Father, what news? What is the Prince's doom<br/>
What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand<br/>
That I yet know not?<br/>
Friar. Too familiar<br/>
Is my dear son with such sour company.<br/>
I bring thee tidings of the Prince's doom.<br/>
Rom. What less than doomsday is the Prince's doom?<br/>
Friar. A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips-<br/>
Not body's death, but body's banishment.<br/>
Rom. Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say 'death';<br/>
For exile hath more terror in his look,<br/>
Much more than death. Do not say 'banishment.'<br/>
Friar. Hence from Verona art thou banished.<br/>
Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.<br/>
Rom. There is no world without Verona walls,<br/>
But purgatory, torture, hell itself.<br/>
Hence banished is banish'd from the world,<br/>
And world's exile is death. Then 'banishment'<br/>
Is death misterm'd. Calling death 'banishment,'<br/>
Thou cut'st my head off with a golden axe<br/>
And smilest upon the stroke that murders me.<br/>
Friar. O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness!<br/>
Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind Prince,<br/>
Taking thy part, hath brush'd aside the law,<br/>
And turn'd that black word death to banishment.<br/>
This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not.<br/>
Rom. 'Tis torture, and not mercy. Heaven is here,<br/>
Where Juliet lives; and every cat and dog<br/>
And little mouse, every unworthy thing,<br/>
Live here in heaven and may look on her;<br/>
But Romeo may not. More validity,<br/>
More honourable state, more courtship lives<br/>
In carrion flies than Romeo. They may seize<br/>
On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand<br/>
And steal immortal blessing from her lips,<br/>
Who, even in pure and vestal modesty,<br/>
Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin;<br/>
But Romeo may not- he is banished.<br/>
This may flies do, when I from this must fly;<br/>
They are free men, but I am banished.<br/>
And sayest thou yet that exile is not death?<br/>
Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife,<br/>
No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,<br/>
But 'banished' to kill me- 'banished'?<br/>
O friar, the damned use that word in hell;<br/>
Howling attends it! How hast thou the heart,<br/>
Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,<br/>
A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd,<br/>
To mangle me with that word 'banished'?<br/>
Friar. Thou fond mad man, hear me a little speak.<br/>
Rom. O, thou wilt speak again of banishment.<br/>
Friar. I'll give thee armour to keep off that word;<br/>
Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy,<br/>
To comfort thee, though thou art banished.<br/>
Rom. Yet 'banished'? Hang up philosophy!<br/>
Unless philosophy can make a Juliet,<br/>
Displant a town, reverse a prince's doom,<br/>
It helps not, it prevails not. Talk no more.<br/>
Friar. O, then I see that madmen have no ears.<br/>
Rom. How should they, when that wise men have no eyes?<br/>
Friar. Let me dispute with thee of thy estate.<br/>
Rom. Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel.<br/>
Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love,<br/>
An hour but married, Tybalt murdered,<br/>
Doting like me, and like me banished,<br/>
Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair,<br/>
And fall upon the ground, as I do now,<br/>
Taking the measure of an unmade grave.<br/>
Knock [within].<br/>
Friar. Arise; one knocks. Good Romeo, hide thyself.<br/>
Rom. Not I; unless the breath of heartsick groans,<br/>
Mist-like infold me from the search of eyes. Knock.<br/>
Friar. Hark, how they knock! Who's there? Romeo, arise;<br/>
Thou wilt be taken.- Stay awhile!- Stand up; Knock.<br/>
Run to my study.- By-and-by!- God's will,<br/>
What simpleness is this.- I come, I come! Knock.<br/>
Who knocks so hard? Whence come you? What's your will?<br/>
Nurse. [within] Let me come in, and you shall know my errand.<br/>
I come from Lady Juliet.<br/>
Friar. Welcome then.<br/></p>
<p id="id00164"> Enter Nurse.</p>
<p id="id00165"> Nurse. O holy friar, O, tell me, holy friar,<br/>
Where is my lady's lord, where's Romeo?<br/>
Friar. There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk.<br/>
Nurse. O, he is even in my mistress' case,<br/>
Just in her case!<br/>
Friar. O woeful sympathy!<br/>
Piteous predicament!<br/>
Nurse. Even so lies she,<br/>
Blubb'ring and weeping, weeping and blubbering.<br/>
Stand up, stand up! Stand, an you be a man.<br/>
For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand!<br/>
Why should you fall into so deep an O?<br/>
Rom. (rises) Nurse-<br/>
Nurse. Ah sir! ah sir! Well, death's the end of all.<br/>
Rom. Spakest thou of Juliet? How is it with her?<br/>
Doth not she think me an old murtherer,<br/>
Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy<br/>
With blood remov'd but little from her own?<br/>
Where is she? and how doth she! and what says<br/>
My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love?<br/>
Nurse. O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps;<br/>
And now falls on her bed, and then starts up,<br/>
And Tybalt calls; and then on Romeo cries,<br/>
And then down falls again.<br/>
Rom. As if that name,<br/>
Shot from the deadly level of a gun,<br/>
Did murther her; as that name's cursed hand<br/>
Murder'd her kinsman. O, tell me, friar, tell me,<br/>
In what vile part of this anatomy<br/>
Doth my name lodge? Tell me, that I may sack<br/>
The hateful mansion. [Draws his dagger.]<br/>
Friar. Hold thy desperate hand.<br/>
Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art;<br/>
Thy tears are womanish, thy wild acts denote<br/>
The unreasonable fury of a beast.<br/>
Unseemly woman in a seeming man!<br/>
Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both!<br/>
Thou hast amaz'd me. By my holy order,<br/>
I thought thy disposition better temper'd.<br/>
Hast thou slain Tybalt? Wilt thou slay thyself?<br/>
And slay thy lady that in thy life lives,<br/>
By doing damned hate upon thyself?<br/>
Why railest thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth?<br/>
Since birth and heaven and earth, all three do meet<br/>
In thee at once; which thou at once wouldst lose.<br/>
Fie, fie, thou shamest thy shape, thy love, thy wit,<br/>
Which, like a usurer, abound'st in all,<br/>
And usest none in that true use indeed<br/>
Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit.<br/>
Thy noble shape is but a form of wax<br/>
Digressing from the valour of a man;<br/>
Thy dear love sworn but hollow perjury,<br/>
Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish;<br/>
Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,<br/>
Misshapen in the conduct of them both,<br/>
Like powder in a skilless soldier's flask,<br/>
Is set afire by thine own ignorance,<br/>
And thou dismemb'red with thine own defence.<br/>
What, rouse thee, man! Thy Juliet is alive,<br/>
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead.<br/>
There art thou happy. Tybalt would kill thee,<br/>
But thou slewest Tybalt. There art thou happy too.<br/>
The law, that threat'ned death, becomes thy friend<br/>
And turns it to exile. There art thou happy.<br/>
A pack of blessings light upon thy back;<br/>
Happiness courts thee in her best array;<br/>
But, like a misbehav'd and sullen wench,<br/>
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love.<br/>
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.<br/>
Go get thee to thy love, as was decreed,<br/>
Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her.<br/>
But look thou stay not till the watch be set,<br/>
For then thou canst not pass to Mantua,<br/>
Where thou shalt live till we can find a time<br/>
To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,<br/>
Beg pardon of the Prince, and call thee back<br/>
With twenty hundred thousand times more joy<br/>
Than thou went'st forth in lamentation.<br/>
Go before, nurse. Commend me to thy lady,<br/>
And bid her hasten all the house to bed,<br/>
Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto.<br/>
Romeo is coming.<br/>
Nurse. O Lord, I could have stay'd here all the night<br/>
To hear good counsel. O, what learning is!<br/>
My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come.<br/>
Rom. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide.<br/>
Nurse. Here is a ring she bid me give you, sir.<br/>
Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late. Exit.<br/>
Rom. How well my comfort is reviv'd by this!<br/>
Friar. Go hence; good night; and here stands all your state:<br/>
Either be gone before the watch be set,<br/>
Or by the break of day disguis'd from hence.<br/>
Sojourn in Mantua. I'll find out your man,<br/>
And he shall signify from time to time<br/>
Every good hap to you that chances here.<br/>
Give me thy hand. 'Tis late. Farewell; good night.<br/>
Rom. But that a joy past joy calls out on me,<br/>
It were a grief so brief to part with thee.<br/>
Farewell.<br/>
Exeunt.<br/></p>
<h2 id="id00166" style="margin-top: 4em">Scene IV. Capulet's house</h2>
<p id="id00167">Enter Old Capulet, his Wife, and Paris.</p>
<p id="id00168"> Cap. Things have fall'n out, sir, so unluckily<br/>
That we have had no time to move our daughter.<br/>
Look you, she lov'd her kinsman Tybalt dearly,<br/>
And so did I. Well, we were born to die.<br/>
'Tis very late; she'll not come down to-night.<br/>
I promise you, but for your company,<br/>
I would have been abed an hour ago.<br/>
Par. These times of woe afford no tune to woo.<br/>
Madam, good night. Commend me to your daughter.<br/>
Lady. I will, and know her mind early to-morrow;<br/>
To-night she's mew'd up to her heaviness.<br/>
Cap. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender<br/>
Of my child's love. I think she will be rul'd<br/>
In all respects by me; nay more, I doubt it not.<br/>
Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed;<br/>
Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love<br/>
And bid her (mark you me?) on Wednesday next-<br/>
But, soft! what day is this?<br/>
Par. Monday, my lord.<br/>
Cap. Monday! ha, ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon.<br/>
Thursday let it be- a Thursday, tell her<br/>
She shall be married to this noble earl.<br/>
Will you be ready? Do you like this haste?<br/>
We'll keep no great ado- a friend or two;<br/>
For hark you, Tybalt being slain so late,<br/>
It may be thought we held him carelessly,<br/>
Being our kinsman, if we revel much.<br/>
Therefore we'll have some half a dozen friends,<br/>
And there an end. But what say you to Thursday?<br/>
Par. My lord, I would that Thursday were to-morrow.<br/>
Cap. Well, get you gone. A Thursday be it then.<br/>
Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed;<br/>
Prepare her, wife, against this wedding day.<br/>
Farewell, my lord.- Light to my chamber, ho!<br/>
Afore me, It is so very very late<br/>
That we may call it early by-and-by.<br/>
Good night.<br/>
Exeunt<br/></p>
<h2 id="id00169" style="margin-top: 4em">Scene V. Capulet's orchard.</h2>
<p id="id00170">Enter Romeo and Juliet aloft, at the Window.</p>
<p id="id00171"> Jul. Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.<br/>
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,<br/>
That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear.<br/>
Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree.<br/>
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.<br/>
Rom. It was the lark, the herald of the morn;<br/>
No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks<br/>
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder East.<br/>
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day<br/>
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.<br/>
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.<br/>
Jul. Yond light is not daylight; I know it, I.<br/>
It is some meteor that the sun exhales<br/>
To be to thee this night a torchbearer<br/>
And light thee on the way to Mantua.<br/>
Therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone.<br/>
Rom. Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death.<br/>
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.<br/>
I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye,<br/>
'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;<br/>
Nor that is not the lark whose notes do beat<br/>
The vaulty heaven so high above our heads.<br/>
I have more care to stay than will to go.<br/>
Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.<br/>
How is't, my soul? Let's talk; it is not day.<br/>
Jul. It is, it is! Hie hence, be gone, away!<br/>
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,<br/>
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.<br/>
Some say the lark makes sweet division;<br/>
This doth not so, for she divideth us.<br/>
Some say the lark and loathed toad chang'd eyes;<br/>
O, now I would they had chang'd voices too,<br/>
Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,<br/>
Hunting thee hence with hunt's-up to the day!<br/>
O, now be gone! More light and light it grows.<br/>
Rom. More light and light- more dark and dark our woes!<br/></p>
<p id="id00172"> Enter Nurse.</p>
<p id="id00173"> Nurse. Madam!<br/>
Jul. Nurse?<br/>
Nurse. Your lady mother is coming to your chamber.<br/>
The day is broke; be wary, look about.<br/>
Jul. Then, window, let day in, and let life out.<br/>
[Exit.]<br/>
Rom. Farewell, farewell! One kiss, and I'll descend.<br/>
He goeth down.<br/>
Jul. Art thou gone so, my lord, my love, my friend?<br/>
I must hear from thee every day in the hour,<br/>
For in a minute there are many days.<br/>
O, by this count I shall be much in years<br/>
Ere I again behold my Romeo!<br/>
Rom. Farewell!<br/>
I will omit no opportunity<br/>
That may convey my greetings, love, to thee.<br/>
Jul. O, think'st thou we shall ever meet again?<br/>
Rom. I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve<br/>
For sweet discourses in our time to come.<br/>
Jul. O God, I have an ill-divining soul!<br/>
Methinks I see thee, now thou art below,<br/>
As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.<br/>
Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale.<br/>
Rom. And trust me, love, in my eye so do you.<br/>
Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu!<br/>
Exit.<br/>
Jul. O Fortune, Fortune! all men call thee fickle.<br/>
If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him<br/>
That is renown'd for faith? Be fickle, Fortune,<br/>
For then I hope thou wilt not keep him long<br/>
But send him back.<br/>
Lady. [within] Ho, daughter! are you up?<br/>
Jul. Who is't that calls? It is my lady mother.<br/>
Is she not down so late, or up so early?<br/>
What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither?<br/></p>
<p id="id00174"> Enter Mother.</p>
<p id="id00175"> Lady. Why, how now, Juliet?<br/>
Jul. Madam, I am not well.<br/>
Lady. Evermore weeping for your cousin's death?<br/>
What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?<br/>
An if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live.<br/>
Therefore have done. Some grief shows much of love;<br/>
But much of grief shows still some want of wit.<br/>
Jul. Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss.<br/>
Lady. So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend<br/>
Which you weep for.<br/>
Jul. Feeling so the loss,<br/>
I cannot choose but ever weep the friend.<br/>
Lady. Well, girl, thou weep'st not so much for his death<br/>
As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him.<br/>
Jul. What villain, madam?<br/>
Lady. That same villain Romeo.<br/>
Jul. [aside] Villain and he be many miles asunder.-<br/>
God pardon him! I do, with all my heart;<br/>
And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart.<br/>
Lady. That is because the traitor murderer lives.<br/>
Jul. Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands.<br/>
Would none but I might venge my cousin's death!<br/>
Lady. We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not.<br/>
Then weep no more. I'll send to one in Mantua,<br/>
Where that same banish'd runagate doth live,<br/>
Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dram<br/>
That he shall soon keep Tybalt company;<br/>
And then I hope thou wilt be satisfied.<br/>
Jul. Indeed I never shall be satisfied<br/>
With Romeo till I behold him- dead-<br/>
Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vex'd.<br/>
Madam, if you could find out but a man<br/>
To bear a poison, I would temper it;<br/>
That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof,<br/>
Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhors<br/>
To hear him nam'd and cannot come to him,<br/>
To wreak the love I bore my cousin Tybalt<br/>
Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him!<br/>
Lady. Find thou the means, and I'll find such a man.<br/>
But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl.<br/>
Jul. And joy comes well in such a needy time.<br/>
What are they, I beseech your ladyship?<br/>
Lady. Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child;<br/>
One who, to put thee from thy heaviness,<br/>
Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy<br/>
That thou expects not nor I look'd not for.<br/>
Jul. Madam, in happy time! What day is that?<br/>
Lady. Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn<br/>
The gallant, young, and noble gentleman,<br/>
The County Paris, at Saint Peter's Church,<br/>
Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.<br/>
Jul. Now by Saint Peter's Church, and Peter too,<br/>
He shall not make me there a joyful bride!<br/>
I wonder at this haste, that I must wed<br/>
Ere he that should be husband comes to woo.<br/>
I pray you tell my lord and father, madam,<br/>
I will not marry yet; and when I do, I swear<br/>
It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate,<br/>
Rather than Paris. These are news indeed!<br/>
Lady. Here comes your father. Tell him so yourself,<br/>
And see how he will take it at your hands.<br/></p>
<p id="id00176"> Enter Capulet and Nurse.</p>
<p id="id00177"> Cap. When the sun sets the air doth drizzle dew,<br/>
But for the sunset of my brother's son<br/>
It rains downright.<br/>
How now? a conduit, girl? What, still in tears?<br/>
Evermore show'ring? In one little body<br/>
Thou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a wind:<br/>
For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea,<br/>
Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is<br/>
Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs,<br/>
Who, raging with thy tears and they with them,<br/>
Without a sudden calm will overset<br/>
Thy tempest-tossed body. How now, wife?<br/>
Have you delivered to her our decree?<br/>
Lady. Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you thanks.<br/>
I would the fool were married to her grave!<br/>
Cap. Soft! take me with you, take me with you, wife.<br/>
How? Will she none? Doth she not give us thanks?<br/>
Is she not proud? Doth she not count her blest,<br/>
Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought<br/>
So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?<br/>
Jul. Not proud you have, but thankful that you have.<br/>
Proud can I never be of what I hate,<br/>
But thankful even for hate that is meant love.<br/>
Cap. How now, how now, choplogic? What is this?<br/>
'Proud'- and 'I thank you'- and 'I thank you not'-<br/>
And yet 'not proud'? Mistress minion you,<br/>
Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds,<br/>
But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next<br/>
To go with Paris to Saint Peter's Church,<br/>
Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.<br/>
Out, you green-sickness carrion I out, you baggage!<br/>
You tallow-face!<br/>
Lady. Fie, fie! what, are you mad?<br/>
Jul. Good father, I beseech you on my knees,<br/>
Hear me with patience but to speak a word.<br/>
Cap. Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch!<br/>
I tell thee what- get thee to church a Thursday<br/>
Or never after look me in the face.<br/>
Speak not, reply not, do not answer me!<br/>
My fingers itch. Wife, we scarce thought us blest<br/>
That God had lent us but this only child;<br/>
But now I see this one is one too much,<br/>
And that we have a curse in having her.<br/>
Out on her, hilding!<br/>
Nurse. God in heaven bless her!<br/>
You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.<br/>
Cap. And why, my Lady Wisdom? Hold your tongue,<br/>
Good Prudence. Smatter with your gossips, go!<br/>
Nurse. I speak no treason.<br/>
Cap. O, God-i-god-en!<br/>
Nurse. May not one speak?<br/>
Cap. Peace, you mumbling fool!<br/>
Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl,<br/>
For here we need it not.<br/>
Lady. You are too hot.<br/>
Cap. God's bread I it makes me mad. Day, night, late, early,<br/>
At home, abroad, alone, in company,<br/>
Waking or sleeping, still my care hath been<br/>
To have her match'd; and having now provided<br/>
A gentleman of princely parentage,<br/>
Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train'd,<br/>
Stuff'd, as they say, with honourable parts,<br/>
Proportion'd as one's thought would wish a man-<br/>
And then to have a wretched puling fool,<br/>
A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender,<br/>
To answer 'I'll not wed, I cannot love;<br/>
I am too young, I pray you pardon me'!<br/>
But, an you will not wed, I'll pardon you.<br/>
Graze where you will, you shall not house with me.<br/>
Look to't, think on't; I do not use to jest.<br/>
Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise:<br/>
An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend;<br/>
An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets,<br/>
For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee,<br/>
Nor what is mine shall never do thee good.<br/>
Trust to't. Bethink you. I'll not be forsworn. Exit.<br/>
Jul. Is there no pity sitting in the clouds<br/>
That sees into the bottom of my grief?<br/>
O sweet my mother, cast me not away!<br/>
Delay this marriage for a month, a week;<br/>
Or if you do not, make the bridal bed<br/>
In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.<br/>
Lady. Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word.<br/>
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee. Exit.<br/>
Jul. O God!- O nurse, how shall this be prevented?<br/>
My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven.<br/>
How shall that faith return again to earth<br/>
Unless that husband send it me from heaven<br/>
By leaving earth? Comfort me, counsel me.<br/>
Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems<br/>
Upon so soft a subject as myself!<br/>
What say'st thou? Hast thou not a word of joy?<br/>
Some comfort, nurse.<br/>
Nurse. Faith, here it is.<br/>
Romeo is banish'd; and all the world to nothing<br/>
That he dares ne'er come back to challenge you;<br/>
Or if he do, it needs must be by stealth.<br/>
Then, since the case so stands as now it doth,<br/>
I think it best you married with the County.<br/>
O, he's a lovely gentleman!<br/>
Romeo's a dishclout to him. An eagle, madam,<br/>
Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye<br/>
As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart,<br/>
I think you are happy in this second match,<br/>
For it excels your first; or if it did not,<br/>
Your first is dead- or 'twere as good he were<br/>
As living here and you no use of him.<br/>
Jul. Speak'st thou this from thy heart?<br/>
Nurse. And from my soul too; else beshrew them both.<br/>
Jul. Amen!<br/>
Nurse. What?<br/>
Jul. Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much.<br/>
Go in; and tell my lady I am gone,<br/>
Having displeas'd my father, to Laurence' cell,<br/>
To make confession and to be absolv'd.<br/>
Nurse. Marry, I will; and this is wisely done. Exit.<br/>
Jul. Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend!<br/>
Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn,<br/>
Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue<br/>
Which she hath prais'd him with above compare<br/>
So many thousand times? Go, counsellor!<br/>
Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain.<br/>
I'll to the friar to know his remedy.<br/>
If all else fail, myself have power to die. Exit.<br/></p>
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