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La. Cap. Evermore weeping for your coufin's death?

What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?

[live;

An if thou could'st, thou could'ft not make him
Therefore, have done: Some grief fhews much of

love;

But much of grief fhews still some want of wit.
Jul. Yet let me weep for fuch a feeling lofs.

5

He shall not make me there a joyful bride.
wonder at this hafte; that I must wed
Ere he, that fhould be husband, comes to woo.
I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam,
I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear
It fhall be Romeo, whom you know I hate,
Rather than Paris:-Thefe are news indeed!
La. Cap. Here comes your father; tell him fo
yourself,

La. Cap. So fhall you feel the loss, but not the 10 And see how he will take it at your hands.

Which you weep for.

Jul. Feeling fo the lofs,

[friend

I cannot choose but ever weep the friend.
La. Cap. Well, girl, thou weep'ft not so much
for his death,

As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him.
Jul. What villain, madam?

La. Cap. That fame villain, Romeo.

Enter Capulet, and Nurse.

Cap. When the fun fets, the air doth drizzle

dew;

But for the fun-fet of my brother's fon,

15 It rains downright.

Jul. Villain and he are many miles asunder. God pardon him! I do with all my heart; And yet no man, like he, doth grieve my heart. La. Cap. That is, because the traitor murderer [hands: Jul. Ay, madam, from the reach of thefe my "Would, none but I might venge my coufin's 25

lives.

death!

[not:

How now? a conduit, girl? what, ftill in tears?
Evermore fhowering? In one little body
Thou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a wind:

For ftill thy eyes, which I may call the fea,

20 Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is,
Sailing in this falt flood; the winds, thy fighs;
Who,---raging with thy tears, and they with them,
Without a fudden calm, will overfet
Thy tempeft-toffed body.---How now, wife?
Have you deliver'd to her our decree?

30

La. Cap. We will have vengeance for it, fear thou
Then weep no more. I'll fend to one in Mantua,
Where that fame banish'd runagate doth live,-
That shall bestow on him so sure a draught,
That he fhall foon keep Tybalt company :
And then, I hope, thou wilt be fatisfied.
Jul. Indeed, I never fhall be satisfied
With Romeo, 'till I behold him---dead---
Is my poor heart fo for a kinfman vext :---
Madam, if you could find out but a man
To bear a poison, I would temper it ;
That Romeo fhould, upon receipt thereof,
Soon fleep in quiet.---O, how my heart abhors
To hear him nam'd,---and cannot come to him;---40
To wreak the love I bore my coufin Tybalt,
Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him!

La. Cap. Find thou the means, and I'll find
fuch a man.

But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl.

Jul. And joy comes well in fuch a needful time: What are they, I befeech your ladyship?

La. Cap. Well, well, thou haft a careful fa-
ther, child;

One, who, to put thee from thy heaviness,
Hath forted out a sudden day of joy,

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35

La. Cap. Ay, fir; but he will none, she gives
you thanks:

I would, the fool were married to her grave!
Cap. Soft, take me with you, take me with
you, wife.

How! will the none? doth the not give us thanks?
Is the not proud? doth the not count her bleft,
Unworthy as the is, that we have wrought
So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?
Jul. Not proud, you have; but thankful, that
you have:

Proud can I never be of what I hate ;
But thankful even for hate, that is meant love.
Cap. How now! how now! chop logick?---

What is this?

Proud---and, I thank you---and, I thank you not---
And yet not proud---Mistress minion, you,
Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds,
But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next,
45 To go with Paris to Saint Peter's church,
Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.
Out, you green-fickness carrion! out, you baggage!
You tallow-face!

La. Cap. Fie! fie! what, are you mad?
50 Jul. Good father, I beseech you on my knees,
Hear me with patience but to speak a word.

Cap. Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch !

I tell thee what,---get thee to church o' Thursday, 55 Or never after look me in the face:

Speak not, reply not, do not answer me;

My fingers itch.---Wife, we scarce thought us bleft,
That God hath fent us but this only child;
But now I fee this one is one too much,

1 It is remarked, that "Paris, though in one place called Earl, is most commonly stiled the Countie in this play. Shakspeare feems to have preferred, for fome reafon or other, the Italian cemte to our count; perhaps he took it from the old English novel, from which he is faid to have taken his plot." He certainly did fo: Paris is there first ftiled a young earle, and afterwards counte, counter, and county; according to the unfettled orthography of the time.

And

And that we have a surfe in having her:

Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.

[Exit. Jul. O God! -O nurfe!-how fhall this be prevented?

Out on her, hilding!

Nurfe. God in heaven bless her !--You are to blame, my lord, to rate her fo.

Cap. And why, my lady wisdom? hold your 5 My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven;

tongue,

Good prudence; fmatter with your goffips, go.
Nurfe. I fpeak no treason.
Cap. O, God ye good den!

Nurfe. May not one speak?

Cap. Peace, you mumbling fool!

Utter your gravity o'er a goffip's bowl,
For here we need it not.

La. Cap. You are too hot.

How fhall that faith return again to earth, Unless that husband fend it me from heaven By leaving earth ?-comfort me, counsel me.Alack, alack, that heaven should practise ftratagems 10 Upon fo foft a subject as myself!—

What fay'ft thou? haft thou not a word of joy? Some comfort, nurse.

Nurfe. 'Faith, here 'tis : Romeo

Is banished; and all the world to nothing,

Cap. God's bread! it makes me mad: Day, 15 That he dares ne'er come back to challenge you;

night, late, early,

At home, abroad, alone, in company,
Waking, or fleeping, ftill my care hath been
To have her match'd: and having now provided
A gentleman of princely parentage,

Of fair demefnes, youthful, and nobly train'd,
Stuff'd (as they fay) with honourable parts,
Proportion'd as one's thought would wish a man,---|
And then to have a wretched puling fool,
A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender,
To answer--- I'll not wed,---I cannot love,---

I am too young,---I pray you, pardon me ;'-
But, an you will not wed, I'll pardon you: [me;
Graze where you will, you fhall not houfe with
Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jeft.
Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise :
An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend;
An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die i'the ftreets,
For, by my foul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee,
Nor what is mine fhall never do thee good:
Truft to't, bethink you, I'll not be forfworn.

[Exit.

Jul. Is there no pity fitting in the clouds,
That fees into the bottom of my grief?---
O, fweet my mother, caft me not away!
Delay this marriage for a month, a week;
Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed
In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.
La. Cap. Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a
word;

Or, if he do, it needs must be by stealth. Then, fince the cafe fo ftands as now it doth, I think it beft you married with the county. Oh! he's a lovely gentleman!

20 Romeo's a difh-clout to him; an eagle, madam, Hath not fo green, so quick, so fair an eye As Paris hath. Befhrew my very heart,

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[Exit.

Jul. Ancient damnation! O moft wicked fiend! Is it more fin-to wish me thus forfworn, 40 Or to difpraise my lord with that fame tongue Which he hath prais'd him with above compare So many thousand times?-Go, counsellor; Thou and my bofom henceforth fhall be twain. I'll to the friar, to know his remedy:

45

If all elfe fail, myself have power to die. [Exit,

Fri.

ACT

SCENE I.

Friar Lawrence's Cell.

Enter Friar Lawrence, and Paris.

ΟΝ

N Thursday, fir? the time is very fhort.
Par. My father Capulet will have it fo;
And I am nothing flow, to flack his hafte.
Fri. You fay, you do not know the lady's mind;
Uneven is the course, I like it not.

Par. Immoderately the weeps for Tybalt's death,|
And therefore little have I talk'd of love;
For Venus fmiles not in a house of tears.

IV.

Now, fir, her father counts it dangerous,
55 That the do give her forrow so much sway;
And, in his wifdom, haftes our marriage,
To ftop the inundation of her tears;
Which, too much minded by herself alone,
May be put from her by fociety:

60 Now do you know the reason of this hafte.

Fri. I would I knew not why it should be slow'd. [Afide.

Look, fir, here comes the lady towards my cell. Enter Juliet. 165) Par. Happily met, my lady, and my wife'

Jul.

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That cop'ft with death himself to scape from it:
And, if thou dar'ft, I'll give thee remedy.

Jul. O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;
Or walk in thievifh ways; or bid me lurk
Where ferpents are; chain me with roaring bears;
Or hide me nightly in a charnel house,
O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones,
With reeky fhanks, and yellow chapless fculls;
10 Or bid me go into a new-made grave,

And hide me with a dead man in his shroud, Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble;

And I will do it without fear or doubt, 15 To live an unftain'd wife to my sweet love. Fri. Hold, then; go home; be merry, give

Jul. That is no flander, fir, which is a truth;
And what I fpake, I spake it to my face. [it.
Par. Thy face is mine, and thou haft flander'd 20
Jul. It may be fo, for it is not mine own.-
Are you at leifure, holy father, now;
Or fhall I come to you at evening mass?

Fri. My leisure ferves me, penfive daughter,

now :

My lord, we must intreat the time alone.

Par. God fhield, I fhould disturb devotion!Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouze you : Till then, adieu! and keep this holy kifs.

[help!

[Exit Paris. Jul. O, fhut the door! and when thou haft done fo, Come weep with me; Paft hope, paft cure, paft Fri. Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief; It trains me paft the compafs of my wits: I hear thou muft, and nothing may prorogue it, On Thursday next be married to this county.

Jul. Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'ft 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 refolution wife, And with this knife I'll help it presently. God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands; And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo feal'd, Shall be the label to another deed, Or my true heart with treacherous revolt Turn to another, this fhall flay them both: Therefore, out of thy long-experienc'd time, Give me fome prefent counfel; or, behold, 'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that Which the commiffion of thy years and art Could to no iffue of true honour bring. Be not fo long to fpeak; I long to die, If what thou speak'it speak not of remedy.

Fri. Hold, daughter; I do fpy a kind of hope, Which craves as defperate an execution As that is defperate which we would prevent. If, rather than to marry county Paris, Thou haft the strength of will to flay thyself; Then is it likely, thou wilt undertake A thing like death to chide away this shame,

confent

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 diftilled liquor drink thou off: When, presently, through all thy veins fhall run A cold and drowsy humour, which shall feize 25 Each vital fpirit; for no pulfe fhall keep

30

His natural progrefs, but furceafe to beat: No warmth, no breath, fhall testify thou liv'ft; The rofes in thy lips and cheeks fhall fade To paly afhes; thy eyes' windows fall, Like death, when he shuts up the day of life; Each part, depriv'd of fupple government, Shall ftiff, and ftark, and cold appear like death: And in this borrow'd likeness of fhrunk death Thou fhalt remain full two and forty hours, 35 And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.

Now when the bridegroom in the morning comes
To roufe thee from thy bed, there art thou dead:
Then (as the manner of our country is)
In thy beft robes uncover'd on the bier,
40 Thou shalt be borne to that fame ancient vault,
Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.
In the mean time, against thou shalt awake,
Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift;
And hither fhall he come; and he and I

45 Will watch thy waking, and that very night
Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.
And this fhall free thee from this present shame;
If no unconftant toy 2, nor womanish fear,
Abate thy valour in the acting it.

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Capulet's Houfe.

60 Enter Capulet, Lady Capulet, Nurfe, and Servants. Cap. So many guests invite as here are writ.Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks.

Commiffion for authority or power. 2 If no fickle freak, no light aprice, no change of fancy, hinder

the performance.

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Nurfe. See, where she comes from shrift with
[been gadding? 15
Cap. How now, my head-strong? where have you
Jul., Where I have learnt me to repent the fin
Of difobedient oppofition

To you, and your behefts; and am enjoin'd
By holy Lawrence to fall proftrate here,
And beg your pardon :-Pardon, I beseech you!
Henceforward I am ever rul'd by you.

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Get thee to bed, and reft; for thou haft need.
[Exeunt Lady, and Nurfe.
Jul. Farewel!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 ;-
Nurfe!---What should she do here?

20 My difmal fcene I needs must act alone.-
Come, phial.

Cap. Send for the county; go, tell him of this;
I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning.
Jul. I met the youthful lord at Lawrence' cell; 25
And gave him what becomed love I might,
Not stepping o'er the bounds of modeity.

[up:

Cap. Why, I am glad on 't; this is well, ftand
This is as 't fhould be.-Let me fee the county;
Ay, marry, go, I fay, and fetch him hither.-
Now, afore God, this reverend holy friar,
All our whole city is much bound to him.
Jul. Nurfe, will you go with me into my closet,
To help me fort fuch 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 to-morrow. [Exeunt Juliet, and Nurfe. La. Cap. We fhall be short in our provifion; 'Tis now near night.

Cap. Tufh! I will stir about,

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

[Exeunt Capulet, and Lady Capulet.
SCENE III.

Juliet's Chamber.

Enter Juliet, and Nurfe.

ful. Ay, thofe attires are beft:---But, gentle

nurse,

I pray thee, leave me to myfelf to-night;
For I have need of many orifons

To move the heavens to fmile upon my state,

What if this mixture do not work at all?
Shall I of force be married to the count?-
No, no;---this fhall forbid it :---lie thou there.---
[Laying down a dagger2,

What if it be a poifon, which the friar
Subtly hath minifter'd to have me dead;
Left in this marriage he should be dishonour'd,
Because he married me before to Romeo?
30I fear, it is: and yet, methinks, it should not,
For he hath ftill been tried a holy man :
I will not entertain fo bad a thought.
How if, when I am laid into the tomb,
I wake before the time that Romeo

35 Come to redeem me? there's a fearful point!
Shall I not then be ftifled in the vauit,

To whole foul mouth no healthfome air breathes in,
And there die ftrangled ere my Romeo comes?
Or, if I live, is it not very like,

40 The horrible conceit of death and night,
Together with the terror of the place,-
As in a vault, an 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 3,
Lies feft'ring 4 in his fhroud; where, as they fay,
At fome hours in the night fpirits refort ;---
Alack, alack! is it not like, that I,

145

So early waking,---what with loathfome fmells;
50 And fhrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth,
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad-
O! if I wake, fhall I not be distraught 5,
Environed with all thefe hideous fears?
And madly play with my forefathers' joints?
55 And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his fhroud?
And, in this rage, with fome great kinfman's bone,
As with a club, dash out my desperate brains?
O, look! methinks I fee my cousin's ghoft
Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body
160lUpon a rapier's point :---Stay, Tybalt, stay!-

i. e. from confeffion. 2 This ftage-direction has been fupplied by the modern editors. The quarto, 1597, reads: "Knife, lie thou there." It appears from feveral paffages in our old plays, that knives were formerly part of the accoutrements of a bride. 3 i. e. fresh in earth, newly buried. 4 To fefter is to corrupt. 5 Diftraught is distracted.

Romeo,

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|(Marry, and amen!) how found is the asleep!
I muft needs wake her: Madam! madam! madam!
Ay, let the county take you in your bed;
He'll fright you up, î' faith.-Will it not be?
5 What, dreft! and in your clothes! and down again!
I muft needs wake you :-Lady! lady! lady!
Alas! alas!-Help! help! my lady's dead!-
O, well-a-day, that ever I was born!-
Some aqua-vitæ, ho!-My lord!---my lady!
Enter Lady Capulet.

IO

15

20

But I will watch you from fuch watching now.
[Exeunt Lady Capulet, and Nurfe. 25
Cap. A jealous-hood, a jealous-hood!-Now,
fellow,
What's there?
Enter three or four, with Spits, and logs, and baskets.
Serv. Things for the cook, fir; but I know not 30

what.

[logs!

Cap. Make haste, make haste. Sirrah, fetch drier
Call Peter, he will fhew thee where they are.

Serv. I have a head, fir, that will find out logs,
And never trouble Peter for the matter. [Exit. 35
Cap. 'Mafs, and well faid; A merry whorefon! ha,
Thou shalt be logger-head.-Good faith, 'tis day:
The county will be here with mufick ftraight,
[Mufick within.
For fo he faid he would. I hear him near :-
Nurfe!-Wife!-what, ho!-what, Nurse, I fay
Enter Nurfe.

La. Cap. What noise is here ?

Nurse. O lamentable day!

La. Cap. What's the matter?

Nurfe. Look, look! O heavy day!

La. Cap. O me, O me !---my child, my only life!
Revive, look up, or I will die with thee!-
Help, help!---call help.

come.

Enter Capulet.

Cap. For fhame, bring Juliet forth; her lord is
[day!
Nurfe. She's dead, deceas'd, fhe's dead; alack the
La. Cap. Alack the day! she's dead, the's dead,
fhe's dead.

Cap. Ha! let me fee her :---Out, alas! she's cold;
Her blood is fettled, and her joints are stiff;
Life and thefe lips have long been separated :
Death lies on her, like an untimely froft
Upon the fweetest flower of all the field,
Accurfed time! unfortunate old man!
Nurfe. O lamentable day!
La. Cap. O woeful time!

Cap. Death, that hath ta'en her hence to make

me wail,

Ties up my tongue, and will not let me speak.
Enter Friar Lawrence, and Paris, with Muficians.
Fri. Come, is the bride ready to go to church?
Cap. Ready to go, but never to return :---
O fon, the night before thy wedding-day
Hath death lain with thy bride :---See, there the lies
40 Flower as the was, deflowered now by him.
Death is my fon-in-law, death is my heir;
My daughter he hath wedded! I will die,
And leave him all; life leaving, all is death's.
Par. Have I thought long to fee this morning's
face,

Go, waken Juliet, go, and trim her up;
I'll go and chat with Paris:-Hie, make haste,
Make hafte! the bridegroom he is come already:45
Make hafte, I fay!

SCENE

[Exeunt.

V.

Juliet's Chamber; Juliet on the Bed.

Enter Nurfe.

Nurfe. Miftrefs!-what, mistress !—Juliet !— faft, I warrant her :

Why, lamb!-why, lady!-fie, you flug a-bed!Why, love, I fay !-madam! fweet-heart!why, bride!

What, not a word?

worths now;

-you take your penny

Sleep for a week; for the next night, I warrant,
The county Paris hath fet up his reft,

And doth it give me fuch a fight as this?

La. Cap. Accurs'd, unhappy, wretched, hateful
Moft miferable hour, that time e'er saw [day!
In lafting labour of his pilgrimage!
50 But one, poor one, one poor and loving child,
But one thing to rejoice and folace in,
And cruel death hath catch'd it from my fight.
Nurfe. O woe! O woeful, woeful, woeful day!
Moft lamentable day! moft woeful day,
55 That ever, ever, I did yet behold!
O day! O day! O day! O hateful day!
Never was feen fo black a day as this:
O woeful day, O woeful day!

Par. Beguil'd, divorced,wronged, spighted, flain! That you shall reft but little.God forgive me, 60 Most detestable death, by thee beguil'd,

This expreffion, which is frequently employed by the old dramatic writers, Mr. Steevens fays, is taken from the manner of firing the harquebufs. This was fo heavy a gun, that the foldiers were obliged to carry a fupporter called a reff, which they fixed in the ground before they levelled to take

aim.

By

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