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 fignal that thou hear'st something approach.
Give me thofe flowers. Do as I bid thee, go.
Page. I am almost afraid to stand alone
Here in the church-yard; yet I will adventure.

[Exit.

Par. Sweet flower, with flowers I ftrew thy
bridal bed:
[Strewing flowers.

Sweet tomb, that in thy circuit doft contain
The perfect model of eternity;

Fair Juliet, that with angels doft remain,
Accept this latest favour at my hands;
That living honour'd thee, and, being dead,
With funeral praises do adorn thy tomb!

Par. This is that banish'd haughty Montague,
That murder'd mylove's coufin ;--with which grief,
It is fuppofed, the fair creature dy'd,

And here is come to do some villainous shame
5 To the dead bodies: I will apprehend him.———
Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague;
Can vengeance be pursu'd further than death?
Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee:
Obey, and go with me; for thou must die.
Rom. I muft, indeed; and therefore came I hi
ther.

15

[The boy wbifiles. 20
The boy gives warning; fomething doth approach.
What curfed foot wanders this way to-night,
To cross my obfequies, and true love's rites?
What, with a torch!-Muffle me, night, a while.

Enter Romeo, and Balthafar with a torch, &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 defcend into this bed of death
Is, partly, to behold my lady's face:
But, chiefly, to take thence from her dead finger
A precious ring; a ring, that I must use

In dear employment: therefore hence, bel
gone :-

But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry
On what I further shall intend to do,
By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint,
And ftrew this hungry church-yard with thy limbs :
The time and my intents are favage-wild;
More fierce, and more inexorable far,
Than empty tygers, or the roaring fea.

Balth. I will be gone, fir, and not trouble you.
Rom. So fhalt thou fhew me friendship.-Take
thou that:

Live, and be profperous; and farewel, good fellow.
Baltb. For all this fame, I'll hide me hereabout;
His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt.

[Exit Balthafar.
Rom. Thou deteftable maw, thou womb of death,
Gorg'd with the deareft morfel of the earth,
Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open,

[Breaking up the monument.

And, in despight, I'll cram thee with more food!

25

Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man,
Fly hence and leave me;-think upon these gone;
Let them affright thee.-I beseech thee, youth,
Pull not another fin 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, be gone ;-live, and hereafter say➡➡
A madman's mercy bade thee run away.
Par. I do defy thy conjuration2,

And apprehend thee for a felon here.

Rom. Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee, boy. [They fight, Paris falls. Page. O lord! they fight: I will go call the watch. Par. O, I am flain!-If thou be merciful, Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.

[Dies.

Rom. In faith, I will: Let me peruse this
face ;-

30 Mercutio's kinsman, noble county Paris :---
What said my man, when my betossed foul
Did not attend him as we rode? I think,
He told me, Paris should have marry'd Juliet:
Said he not fo? or did I dream it fo?
35 Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,
To think it was fo?---O, give me thy hand,
One writ with me in four misfortune's book!
I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave,——
A grave? O, no; a lanthorn, slaughter'd youth,
40 For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feafting prefence 3 full of light.
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd.

[Laying Paris in the mɛnument.
How oft when men are at the point of death
45 Have they been merry? which their keepers call
A lightning before death: O, how may I
Call this a lightning?—O, my love! my wife!
Death, that hath fuck'd the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
50 Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's enfign yet
Is crimson in thy lips, and in thy cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not advanced there.---
Tybalt, ly'ft thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favour can I do to thee,
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain,
To funder his that was thine enemy?

55

Forgive me, coufin !---Ah, dear Juliet,

2 Paris

1 That is, action of importance. Gems were supposed to have great powers and virtues. conceived Romeo to have burft open the monument for no other purpose than to do fome villainous fhame on the dead bodies, fuch as witches are reported to have practifed; and therefore tells him he defies him, and the magic arts which he suspects he is preparing to ule. To defy, also anciently meant to refuse or deny; therefore Paris may mean---I refuse to do as thou conjureft me to do, i. e. to depart. 3 A prefence is a public room.

3S2

Why

Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe-
I will believe (come lie thou in my arms)
That unfubftantial death is amorous;
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour.
For fear of that, I will stay with thee;

[laft!

5

I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am:-Where is my Romeo?

[Noife within. Law. I hear fome noise.-Lady, come from that neft

Of death, contagion, and unnatural ✦ sleep;
A greater power than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents; come, come away:
Thy husband in thy bofom there lies dead;
10 And Paris too; come, I'll difpofe of thee
Among a fifterhood of holy nuns :

And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids; O, here
Will I fet up my everlasting rest 1;
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh.---Eyes, look your
Arms, take your last embrace! and lips, O you
The doors of breath, feal with a righteous kifs
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!-
Come, bitter condu&2, come, unfavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy fea-fick weary bark!
Here's to thy health, where'er thou tumbleft in :
Here's to my love!—[Drinks ;] O, true apothecary!|20|Haply, fome poison yet doth hang on them,

Thy drugs are quick.--Thus with a kifs I die. [Dies.
Enter Friar Lawrence, with a lantborn, crow and

Spade.

Stay not to queftion, for the watch is coming; Come, go, good Juliet,—[noise again.] I dare ftay no longer. [Exit. 15 Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.— What's here? a cup, clos'd in my true love's hand? Poison, I fee, hath been his timeless end :—— O churl! drink all; and leave no friendly drop, To help me after?—I will kifs thy lips;

Law.Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night Have my old feet stumbled at graves 3?-Who's 25 there?

Enter Balthafar.

Baltb. Here's one, a friend, and one that knows

you well.

Law.Blifs be upon you! Tell me, good my friend, 30
What torch is yond', that vainly lends his light
To grubs and eyelefs fculls? As I discern,

It burneth in the Capulets' monument.

Balth. It doth fo, holy fir; and there's my master, One that you love.

To make me die with a restorative.
Thy lips are warm!

[Kiffes bim.

Watch. [within] Lead, boy :-Which way? Jul. Yea, noife?-then I'll be brief.—O happy dagger! [Snatching Romes's dagger. This is thy fheath; [ftabs berself.] there rust, and

let me die.

Enter Watch, with the Page of Paris. Page. This is the place; there, where the torch doth burn.

Watch. The ground is bloody; Search about the
church-yard;

Go, fome of you, whome'er you find, attach.`
[Exeunt fame.

35 Pitiful fight! here lies the county flain ;-
And Juliet bleeding; warm, and newly dead,
Who here hath lain these two days buried.-
Go, tell the prince,-run to the Capulets,—————
Raife up the Montagues,-some others fearch :-
40 We fee the ground whereon these woes do lie;
But the true ground of all these piteous woes
We cannot without circumstance defcry.
Enter fome of the Watch, with Balthafar.

2 Watch. Here's Romeo's man, we found him in the church-yard.

I Watch. Hold him in fafety, 'till the prince
come hither.

Enter another Watchman, with Friar Lawrence.
3 Watch. Here is a friar, that trembles, fight,

and weeps:

We took this mattock and this fpade from him,
As he was coming from this church-yard fide.
1 Watch. A great fufpicion; Stay the friar too.
Enter the Prince, and Attendants.
Prince. What misadventure is fo early up,
That calls our person from our morning's reft?
Enter Capulet, and Lady Capulet, &c.
Cap. What should it be, that they fo fhriek abroad?
La. Cap. The people in the street cry-Romeo,
Some-Juliet, and fome---Paris; and all run,

• See a note on scene 5th of the preceding act. To fet up one's reft is to be determined to any certain purpose, to reft in perfect confidence and refolution, to make up one's mind. 2 Condu& for condu&ter. 3 This accident was reckoned ominous. 4 Shakspeare alludes to the sleep of Juliet, which was natural, being brought on by drugs.

With

It appears that the dagger was anciently worn bebind the back.

Prince. A glooming peace this morning with it

brings;

The fun for forrow, will not fhew his head : Go hence, to have more talk of these fad things;

Some fhall be pardon'd, and fome punished 1?

For never was a ftory of more woe,

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. [Exeunt omnes.

Mr. Steevens fays, that this line has reference to the novel from which the fable is taken. Here we read that Juliet's female attendant was banished for concealing her marriage; Romeo's fervant let at liberty because he had only acted in obedience to his master's orders; the apothecary taken, tortured, condemned, and hanged; while Friar Lawrence was permitted to retire to a hermitage in the neighbourhood of Verona, where he ended his life in penitence and peace.

HAMLET.

Lords, Ladies, Players, Grave-diggers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants.

1 The original story on which this play is built, may be found in Saxo Grammaticus the Danish hiftorian. 2 i.e. me who am already on the watch, and have a right to demand the watch-word.

3 Rivals for partners, according to Warburton. Hanmer fays, that by rivals of the watch are meant thofe who were to watch on the next adjoining ground. Rivals, in the original fenfe of the word, were proprietors of neighbouring lands, parted only by a brook, which belonged equally to both.

354

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