Rom. Come hither, man.-I see that thou art poor: Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have A dram of poison; such soon-speeding geer As will disperse itself through all the veins, That the life-weary taker may fall dead, And that the trunk may be discharged of breath As violently as hasty powder fired Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb. Apoth. Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law Is death to any he that utters them. Rom. Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness, And fear'st to die? Famine is in thy cheeks, Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes, Contempt and beggary hang upon thy back; The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law: The world affords no law to make thee rich; Then be not poor, but break it, and take this. Apoth. My poverty, but not my will, consents. Rom. I pay thy poverty, and not thy will. Apoth. Put this in any liquid thing you will, And drink it off; and, if you had the strength Of twenty men, it would despatch you straight. Rom. There is thy gold: worse poison to men's souls; Doing more murders in this loathsome world Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell: I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none. SCENE II.-FRIAR LAURENCE's Cell. Enter FRIAR LAURENCE. Lau. This same should be the voice of Friar John. Welcome from Mantua. What says Romeo? Lau. Who bare my letter, then, to Romeo? John. I could not send it, here it is again,Nor 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 it 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 Mantua, And keep her at my cell till Romeo come: Poor living corse, closed in a dead man's tomb! [Exit. SCENE III-A Churchyard: in it, a Monument belonging to the CAPULETS. Enter PARIS, and his Page, bearing flowers and a torch. Par. Give me thy torch, boy. Hence, and stand aloof: Yet put it out, for I would not be seen. Par. Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew. O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones, Which with sweet water nightly I will dew; Or, wanting that, with tears distilled by moans: The obsequies that I for thee will keep, Nightly shall be, to strew thy grave and weep. [The Boy whistles. The boy gives warning something doth approach. 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 Balthasar, with a torch, mattock, &c. Rom. Give me that mattock and the wrenching-iron. Hold, take this letter: early in the morning Whate'er thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof, But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger In dear employment: therefore hence, begone: you. Live and be prosperous; and farewell, good fellow. [Breaking open the door of the Monument. And, in despite, I'll cram thee with more food! Par. This is that banished haughty Montague, That murdered my love's cousin ;—with which grief It is supposed the fair creature died ;- Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague: Rom. I must indeed, and therefore came I hither. Rom. Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee, boy. [They fight. Page. O lord! they fight: I will go call the watch. [Exit. 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 betosséd soul And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars last! Arms, take your last embrace! and lips, O you, Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. [Dies. Enter, at the other end of the churchyard, FRIAR LAURENCE, with a lantern, crow, and spade. Fri. Saint Francis be my speed! how oft tonight Have my old feet stumbled at graves!—Who's there? Who is it that consorts, so late, the dead? Romeo! [Advances. Fri. Alack, alack, what blood is this which stains The stony entrance of this sepulchre? What mean these masterless and gory swords To lie discoloured by this place of peace? [Enters the Monument. Romeo! O, pale!-Who else? what, Paris, too; And steeped in blood!—Ah, what an unkind hour Is guilty of this lamentable chance!— The lady stirs. [JULIET wakes and stirs. Jul. O, comfortable friar, where is my lord? I do remember well where I should be, And there I am.-Where is my Romeo? [Noise within. Fri. I hear some noise.-Lady, come from that nest Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep: stay no longer. Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.— What's here? a cup, closed in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.— O chur!! drink all; and leave no friendly drop To help me after? I will kiss thy lips: Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, To make me die with a restorative. [Kisses him. Thy lips are warın! 1st Watch [within]. Lead, boy:—which way? Jul. Yea, noise? then I'll be brief.-O happy dagger! [Snatching RoMEO's dagger. This is thy sheath [Stabs herself]: there rust, and let me die. [Falls on ROMEO's body, and dies. Erter Watch, with the Page of PARIS. Page. This is the place: there, where the torch doth burn. 1st Watch. The ground is bloody: search about the churchyard. Go, some of you; whoe'er you find, attach. Pitiful sight! here lies the County slain : We Enter some of the Watch, with BALTHASAR. 2nd Watch. Here's Romeo's man; we found him in the churchyard. 1st Watch. Hold him in safety till the Prince come hither. Enter another Watchman, with FRIAR LAURENCE. 3rd Watch. Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs, and weeps: We took this mattock and this spade from him, As he was coming from this churchyard side. 1st Watch. A great suspicion: stay the friar too. Enter the PRINCE and Attendants. Prince. What misadventure is so early up, That calls our person from our morning's rest? Enter CAPULET, LADY CAPULET, and others. Cap. What should it be, that they so shriek abroad? Lady C. The people in the street cry "Romeo;" Some "Juliet ;" and some "Paris:" and all run, With open outcry, toward our monument. Prince. What fear is this which startles in our ears? 1st Watch. Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain; And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before, Prince. Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes. 1st Watch. Here is a friar, and slaughtered Romeo's man ; With instruments upon them, fit to open Cap. O, heavens!-O wife! look how our daughter bleeds! This dagger hath mista'en, for lo! his house That warns my old age to a sepulchre. Enter MONTAGUE and others. Prince. Come, Montague; for thou art early up, To see thy son and heir more early down. Mon. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night: Grief of my son's exíle hath stopped her breath: What further woe conspires against mine age? Prince. Look, and thou shalt see. Mon. O thou untaught! what manners is in this, To press before thy father to a grave? Prince. Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, Till we can clear these ambiguities, And know their spring, their head, their true descent: And then will I be general of your woes, Fri. I am the greatest, able to do least, Prince. Then say at once what thou dost know in this. Fri. I will be brief; for my short date of breath Is not so long as is a tedious tale :— Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet, And she, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife: I married them; and their stolen marriage-day Was Tybalt's doomsday, whose untimely death Banished the new-made bridegroom from this city; For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined. You, to remove that siege of grief from her, Betrothed and would have married her perforce To County Paris. Then comes she to me; And with wild looks, bid me devise some means To rid her from this second marriage, Or in my cell there would she kill herself. Then gave I her, so tutored by my art, A sleeping potion; which so took effect As I intended, for it wrought on her The form of death. Meantime I writ to Romeo That he should hither come as this dire night, To help to take her from her borrowed grave, Prince. We still have known thee for a holy man. Where's Romeo's man? what can he say in this? Bal. I brought my master news of Juliet's death: And then in post he came from Mantua Prince. Give me the letter; I will look on it.— Where is the County's page, that raised the watch? Sirrah, what made your master in this place? Page. He came with flowers to strew his lady's grave; And bid me stand aloof, and so I did: Prince. This letter doth make good the friar's words; Their course of love, the tidings of her death: And I, for winking at your discords, too, Cap. O, brother Montague, give me thy hand: |