Mer. Could you not take some occasion without giving? Tyb. Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo.Mer. Consort! what! dost thou make us minstrels ? an thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords: here's my fiddlestick; here's that shall make you dance. 'Zounds, consort! [Striking his hilt.' Ben. We talk here in the public haunt of men : Either withdraw unto some private place, And reason coldly of your grievances, Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.2 cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetic !—Why, the devil, came you between us? I was hurt under your arm. Rom. I thought all for the best. Mer. Help me into some house, Benvolio, I have it, and soundly too :-your houses! [Exeunt MERCUTIO and BENVOLIO. Rom. This gentleman, the prince's near ally, Mer. Men's eyes were made to look, and let them My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt gaze : I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I. Enter ROMEO. In my behalf; my reputation stain'd Tyb. Well, peace be with you, sir. Here comes my Thy beauty hath made me effeminate, man. Mer. But, I'll be hang'd, sir, if he wear your livery: Rom. Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee Mer. O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! [Draws as TYBALT is going. Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk? Tyb. What wouldst thou have with me? Mer. Good king of cats, nothing, but one of your nine lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and, as you shall use me hereafter, dry-beat the rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears? make haste, lest mine be about your ears ere it be out. Tyb. I am for you. [Drawing. [They fight. Rom. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up. Beat down their weapons.-Gentlemen, for shame, What! art thou hurt? Mer. Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 't is enough. And in my temper soften'd valour's steel. Ben. O Romeo, Romeo! brave Mercutio 's dead Rom. This day's black fate on more days doth This but begins the woe others must end. Re-enter TYBALT. Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again. And fire-ey'd' fury be my conduct now !— here, Rom. This shall determine that. Ben. Romeo, away! begone! Why dost thou stay? [Exit ROMEO. 1 Cit. Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio? You, sirgo with me; I charge thee in the prince's name, obey. Prin. Where are the vile beginners of this fray? La. Cap. Tybalt, my cousin!-O my brother's child! Where is my page ?—go, villain, fetch a surgeon. Prin. Who began this bloody fray? Ben. Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay: 6 Not in f. e. I Not in f. e. 2 This and the next speech, are not in quarto, 1597. 3 the love I bear thee doth excuse the appertaining rage to such a word: in quarto, 1597. 4 scabbard: in quarto, 1597. 3 The passages from this to the exit of TYBALT, are not in quarto, 1597. 7 barn in quarto. 8 So the quarto, 1597; other old copies: He gone in triumph. 9 and: in all old copies, but the quarto, 1597. How nice1 the quarrel was; and urg'd withal It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity Retorts it home." Romeo he cries aloud, Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.- Hold, friends! friends, part!" and, swifter than his To an impatient child that hath new robes, His agile arm beats down their fatal points, And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm, 3 La. Cap. He is a kinsman to the Montague; Prin. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio; Prin. And for that offence, Immediately we do exile him hence : I have an interest in your hate's proceeding, My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a bleeding; I will be deaf to pleading and excuses, Nor tears, nor prayers, shall purchase out abuses; SCENE II.-A Room in CAPULET'S House. Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Thou sober-suited matron, all in black, 8 Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks, Come night, come Romeo, come thou day in night ; And may not wear them. O! here comes my nurse. And she brings news; and ev'ry tongue, that speaks That Romeo bade thee fetch? Nurse. Ay, ay, the cords. [Throws them down. Jul. Ah me! what news? why dost thou wring thy hands? Nurse. Ah well-a-day! he's dead, he's dead, he's dead! We are undone, lady, we are undone !— I am not I, if there be such an I; I. Nurse. I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,— Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood, Jul. O break, my heart!-poor bankrupt, break at once ! To prison, eyes; ne'er look on liberty: Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here, Jul. What storm is this that blows so contrary? Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished: Jul. O God!-did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood ? Nurse. It did, it did; alas the day! it did. Jul. O serpent heart,12 hid with a flowering face! Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb ! 1 Trifling. 2 This word is not in f. e. 5 This line is not in quarto, 1597. 4 This and the next speech, are not in quarto, 1597. 5 So the quarto, 1597; other old copies: dwelling. The rest of the soliloquy, is not in quarto, 1597. 6 7 Most f. e. runaways. Dyce reads: roving. 89 Terms of falconry-to man a hawk, is to accustom her to the person who trains her; bating is beating the air with the wings, in striv ing to get away. 10 The old spelling of ay. 11 So the quarto, 1597; other old copies: dearest. 12 serpent's hate: in quarto, 1597. Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st Nurse. There's no trust, Jul. Blister'd be thy tongue, For such a wish! he was not born to shame: Upon his brow shame is asham'd to sit; For 't is a throne where honour may be crown'd O, what a beast was I to chide at him! Jul. O, find him! give this ring to my true knight, Fri. Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful And thou art wedded to calamity. Rom. Father, what news? what is the prince's doom? Fri. Too familiar Is my dear son with such sour company: I bring thee tidings of the prince's doom. Rom. What less than dooms-day is the prince's Fri. A gentler judgment parted from his lips, Rom. Ha! banishment? be merciful, say—death; Nurse. Will you speak well of him that kill'd your Much more than death: do not say-banishment. cousin ? Jul. Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain; Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds: In that word's death; no words can that woe sound. Nurse. Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse : be spent, 4 When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment. Come, cords; come, nurse: I'll to my wedding bed; Nurse. Hie to your chamber; I'll find Romeo Fri. Hence from Verona art thou banished: Rom. There is no world without Verona walls, Hence banished is banish'd from the world, Fri. O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness! Rom. 'T is torture, and not mercy heaven is here, O friar! the damned used that word in hell; A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd, To mangle me with that word-banished? To comfort thee, though thou art banished. Rom. Yet banished?-Hang up philosophy : 1 So the undated quarto; others and folio: dim. 2 So the undated quarto; other old copies: bower. 3 Common. and the previous line, are not in folio. Not in f. e. 5 This Fri. O then I see that madmen have no ears. Rom. How should they, when that wise men have no eyes? Fri. Let me dispute with thee of thy estate. I thought thy disposition better temper'd. Rom. Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel. Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth? Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, An hour but married, Tybalt murdered, Doting like me, and like me banished, Since birth, and heaven, and earth, all three do meet Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy Which, like an usurer, abound'st in all, hair, 1 And fall upon the ground, as I do now, Thou wilt be taken.-Stay a while.-Stand up; [Knocking. Run to my study.—By and by.—God's will What wilfulness is this!-I come, I come. [Knocking. Who knocks so hard? whence come you? what's your will? Nurse. [Within.] Let me come in and you shall know my errand: I come from lady Juliet. Fri. Welcome, then. Enter Nurse. Nurse. O holy friar! O! tell me, holy friar, Where is my lady's lord? where 's Romeo? Fri. There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk. Nurse. O! he is even in my mistress' case; Just in her case. Fri. O woful sympathy! Piteous predicament! Even so lies she, Nurse. Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering.Stand up, stand up; stand, an you be a man: For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand Why should you fall into so deep an O? [ROMEO groans. Rom. Nurse! [Rising suddenly. Nurse. Ah sir! ah sir!-Death is the end of all. Rom. Spak'st thou of Juliet? how is it with her? Doth she not think me an old murderer, Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy With blood remov'd but little from her own? Where is she? and how doth she? and what says My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love? 3 Nurse. O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps; And now falls on her bed; and then starts up, And Tybalt calls; and then on Romeo cries, And then down falls again. Rom. As if that name, Shot from the deadly level of a gun, Did murder her; as that name's cursed hand Murder'd her kinsman.-O! tell me, friar, tell me, In what vile part of this anatomy Doth my name lodge? tell me, that I may sack The hateful mansion. [Drawing his Sword. Fri. Hold thy desperate hand! Art thou a man? thy form cries out, thou art; Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote The unreasonable fury of a beast: Unseemly woman, in a seeming man ; Or ill-beseeming beast, in seeming both! Thou hast amaz'd me: by my holy order, And usest none in that true use indeed Nurse. O Lord! I could have stay'd here all the night, Rom. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide. Nurse. Here is a ring she bid me give you, sir. Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late. [Exit Nurse. Rom. How well my comfort is reviv'd by this! Fri. Go hence. Good night; and here stands all Either be gone before the watch be set, [your state :Or by the break of day disguis'd from hence. Sojourn in Mantua; I'll find out your man, And he shall signify from time to time Every good hap to you that chances here. Give me thy hand: 't is late; farewell; good night. Rom. But that a joy past joy calls out on me, It were a grief so brief to part with thee: Farewell. [Exeunt. SCENE IV.-A Room in CAPULET'S House. Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, and PARIS. Cap. Things have fallen out, sir, so unluckily, That we have had no time to move our daughter. Look you, she lov'd her kinsman Tybalt dearly, And so did I:-well, we were born to die. 1 2 3 Not in f. e. 4 This and the sixteen following lines, are not in quarto, 1597. 5 This and the next line, are not in quarto, 1597 6 This and the next four lines, are not in quarto, 1597. 'T is very late, she 'll not come down to-night: I promise you, but for your company, I would have been a-bed an hour ago. Par. These times of woe afford no time to woo.Madam, good night commend me to your daughter. La. Cap. I will, and know her mind early to-morrow ; To night she 's mew'd up in her heaviness. Cap. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday next- Par. Monday, my lord. Cap. Monday? ha! ha! Well, Wednesday is too O' Thursday let it be :-o' Thursday, tell her, [soon; She shall be married to this noble earl.Will you be ready? do you like this haste? We'll keep no great ado :-a friend, or two;For hark you, Tybalt being slain so late, It may be thought we held him carelessly, Being our kinsman, if we revel much. Therefore, we'll have some half a dozen friends, And there an end. But what say you to Thursday? Par. My lord, I would that Thursday were to-morrow. Cap. Well, get you gone: o' Thursday be it then. Go you to Juliet, ere you go to bed, Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day.Farewell, my lord.-Light to my chamber, ho! Afore me! it is so very late, that we May call it early by and by.-Good night. SCENE V.-JULIET'S Chamber. Enter ROMEO and JULIET. [Exeunt. Jul. Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear; Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree. Believe me, love, it was the nightingale. Rom. It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east. Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops: I must be gone and live, or stay and die. Jul. Yon light is not day-light; I know it, I: It is some meteor that the sun exhales, To be to thee this night a torch-bearer, And light thee on thy way to Mantua: Therefore, stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone. Rom. Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death; I am content, so thou wilt have it so. I'll say, yon grey is not the morning's eye, 'T is but the pale reflex of Cynthia's bow ;' Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat The vaulty heaven so high above our heads: I have more care to stay, than will to go :Come, death, and welcome: Juliet wills it so.— How is 't, my soul? let's talk, it is not day. .1 Jul. It is, it is; hie hence, be gone, away! It is the lark that sings so out of tune, Straining harsh discords, and unpleasing sharps. Some say, the lark makes sweet division; This doth not so, for she divideth us: Some say, the lark and loathed toad change eyes; O! now I would they had chang'd voices too, Nurse. Your lady mother's coming to your chamber: The day is broke; be wary, look about. [Exit Nurse. Jul. Then, window, let day in, and let life out. Rom. Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll descend. [Descending. Jul. Art thou gone so? love, lord! ay, husband, I must hear from thee every hour in the day, [friend For in a minute there are many days: O! by this count I shall be much in years, Ere I again behold my Romeo. Rom. Farewell! I will omit no opportunity That may convey my greetings, love, to thee. Jul. O! think'st thou, we shall ever meet again? Rom. I doubt it not :3 and all these woes shall serve For sweet discourses in our time to come. Jul. O God! I have an ill-divining soul: [Exit ROMEO. Jul. O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle : La. Cap. [Within.] Ho! daughter, are you up? La. Cap. Why, how now, Juliet ? Jul. Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss. La. Cap. So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend Which you weep for. Jul. Feeling so the loss, I cannot choose but ever weep the friend. As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him. La. Cap. That same villain, Romeo. Jul. Villain and he are many miles asunder. God pardon him! I do, with all my heart And yet no man, like him, doth grieve my heart. La. Cap. That is, because the traitor murderer lives. Jul. Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands. Would none but I might venge my cousin's death! La. Cap. We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not : Then, weep no more. I'll send to one in Mantua,—— Where that same banish'd runagate doth live,Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dram" 3 No doubt, no doubt: in quarto, 1597. 4 This and the next two The scene was much altered subsequently 1 brow in f. e. 2 The name of a tune to summon hunters. speeches, are wanting in the quarto, 1597. 5 I think, thou 'lt: in quarto, 1597. quartos. 7 That should bestow on him so sure a draught: quarto, 1597. 6 Not in |