SCENE I.

The Street.

Enter Romeo alone.

ACT II.

But, foft! what light through yonder windów
It is the eaft, and Juliet is the fun!- [breaks?
[Juliet appears above at a window.
Arife, fair fun, and kill the envious moon,

AN I go forward, when my heart is 5 Who is already fick and pale with grief,

Rom.

CAN

here?

Turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out.

Enter Benvolio, with Mercutio.

Ben. Romeo! my coufin Romeo!

Mer. He is wife;

That thou her maid art far more fair than the:

Be not her maid, fince the is envious;

[Exit.

Her veftal livery is but fick and green,

And, on my life, hath ftol'n him home to bed.
Ben. He ran this way,and leap'd this orchard wall:
Call, good Mercutio.

Mer. Nay, I'll conjure too.

Why, Romeo! humours! madman! paffion! lover!
Appear thou in the likeness of a figh,
Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied;
Cry but-Ay me! couple but-love and dove;
Speak to my goffip Venus one fair word,
One nick-name to her purblind fon and heir,
Young Adam Cupid, he that fhot fo trim,
When king Cophetua lov'd the beggar maid .-
He heareth not, he ftirreth not, he moveth not;
The ape is dead, and I must conjure him.-
I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes,
By her high forehead, and her fcarlet lip,

By her fine foot, ftraight leg, and quivering thigh,
And the demeines that there adjacent lie,
That in thy likenefs thou appear to us.

Ben. An if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him.
Mer. This cannot anger him: 'twould anger him
To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle

Of some strange nature, letting it there ftand
"Till fhe had laid it, and conjur'd it down;
That were some spight: my invocation

Is fair and honeft, and, in his miftrefs' name,
I conjure only but to raise up him.

[trees,

Ben. Come, he hath hid himfelf among thofe To be conforted with the humourous night: Blind is his love, and beft befits the dark.

And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.

10 It is my lady: O, it is my love:

15

O, that she knew fhe were!

She fpeaks, yet she says nothing; What of that?
Her eye difcourfes, I will anfwer it.

I am too bold, 'tis not to me it speaks:

Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having fome business, do intreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres 'till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would fhame thofe stars,
20 As day-light doth a lamp: her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright,
That birds would fing, and think it were not night.
See, how the leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!
Jul. Ay me!

25

Rom. She fpeaks:

O, fpeak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
30 As is the winged meffenger of heaven

Unto the white up-turned wond'ring eyes
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him,
When he beftrides the lazy-pacing clouds,
And fails upon the bofom of the air.

35 Jul. O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou
Romeo?

401

Deny thy father, and refufe thy name:
Or, if thou wilt not, be but fworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Rom. Shall I hear more, or fhall 1 fpeak at this?
[Afide.

Jul. 'Tis but thy name, that is my enemy;
Thou art thyfelf, though not a Montague 3.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part:
What's in a name? That which we call a rofe,
By any other name would fmell as fweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes,
50 Without that title:-Romeo, doif thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myfelf.

Rom. I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd;

Rom. He jefts at fcars, that never felt a wound.-155 Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

2 Shak

Alluding to an old ballad preferved in Dr. Percy's Reliques of ancient English Poetry. fpeare means humid, the moift dewy night. 3 The fenfe is, Thou art thyfelf (i. e. a being of diftinguished excellence), though thou art not what thou appearest to others, akin to thy family in malice.

Jul.

Jul. What man art thou, that, thus befcreen'd in night,

So ftumbleft on my counsel?

Rom. By a name

I know not how to tell thee who I am:

5

15

Rom. Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow, That tips with filver all these fruit-tree tops,— Jul. O, fwear not by the moon, the inconstant

moon,

That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Left that thy love prove likewise variable.
Rom. What shall I swear by ?

Jul. Do not swear at all;

Or, if thou wilt, fwear by thy gracious felf,
Which is the god of my idolatry,
And I'll believe thee.

Rom. If my heart's dear love

Jul. Well, do not swear; although I joy in thee,

I have no joy of this contract to-night:

It is too rafh, too unadvis'd, too fudden;
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be,
Ere one can fay-It lightens. Sweet, good night!
This bud of love, by fummer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
20 Good night, good night! as fweet repofe and reft
Come to thy heart, as that within my breaft!
Rom. O, wilt thou leave me fo unsatisfied?
Jul. What fatisfaction canft thou have to-night?
Rom. The exchange of thy love's faithful vow
for mine.

Jul. If they do fee thee, they will murder thee. Rom. Alack! there lies more peril in thine eye, Than twenty of their fwords; look thou but sweet, 25 And I am proof against their enmity.

Jul. I would not for the world, they faw thee

here.

[fight;

Rom. I have night's cloak to hide me from their
And, but thou love me, let them find me here;
My life were better ended by their hate,
Than death prorogu'd', wanting of thy love.

Jul. By whofe direction found'ft thou out this
place?

Rom. By love,who first did prompt me to enquire;
He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes.
I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far

As that vaft shore wafh'd with the fartheft sea,

I would adventure for fuch merchandize.

30

Jul. I gave thee mine before thou didst request it: And yet I would it were to give again.

Rom. Would'st thou withdraw it? for what pur

pofe, love?

Jul. But to be frank, and give it thee again.
And yet I wish but for the thing I have:

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
35I hear fome noife within; Dear love, adieu!
[Nurfe calls witbia.
Anon, good nurfe !-Sweet Montague, be true.
Stay but a little, I will come again. [Exit.
Rom. O bleffed bleffed night! I am afeard,

Jul. Thou know'st, the mask of night is on 40 Being in night, all this is but a dream,

my face;

Elfe would a maiden blush bepaint my check,
For that which thou haft heard me speak to-night.
Fain would I dwell on form, fain fain deny
What I have spoke; But farewel compliment!
Doft thou love me? I know, thou wilt fay-Ay;
And I will take thy word: yet, if thou swear'st,
Thou may'ft prove false; at lovers' perjuries,
They fay, Jove laughs. O, gentle Romeo,
If thou doft love, pronounce it faithfully:
Or if thou think'ft I am too quickly won,
I'll frown, and be perverfe, and say thee nay,
So thou wilt woo; but, elfe, not for the world.
In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond;
And therefore thou may'ft think my haviour light:
But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true,
Than those that have more cunning to be ftrange.
I should have been more strange, I muft confefs,
But that thou over-heardft, ere I was ware,
My true love's paffion: therefore pardon me;
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered.

ic. delayed.

Re-enter

Jul. At what o'clock to-morrow Shall I fend to thee?

Rom. By the hour of nine.

Jul. I will not fail; 'tis twenty years 'till then.

I have forgot why I did call thee back.

JO, mickle is the powerful grace 3, that lies
In plants, herbs, ftones, and their true qualities:
For nought fo vile that on the earth doth live,
But to the earth fome special good doth give;

5 Nor aught fo good, but, ftrain'd from that fair use,
Revolts from true birth, ftumbling on abuse:
Virtue itself turns vice, being mifapplied;
And vice fometime's by action dignify'd.
Within the infant rind of this fmall flower
1 Poifon hath refidence, and med'cine power:
Forthis, being fmelt, with that part chears each part;
Being tafted, flays all fenfes with the heart.
Two fuch opposed foes encamp them ftill
In man as well as herbs, grace, and rude will;
15 And, where the worfer is predominant,
Full foon the canker death eats up that plant.
Enter Romeo.

Rom. Let me ftand here 'till thou remember it. Jul. I fhall forget, to have thee still stand there, 20 Rememb'ring how I love thy company.

Rom. And I'll ftill stay, to have thee still forget,
Forgetting any other home but this.

Jul. Tis almoft morning, I would have thee gone;
And yet no further than a wanton's bird;
Who lets it hop a little from her hand,
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a filk thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.

Rom. I would, I were thy bird.
Jul. Sweet, fo would I ;

Yet I fhould kill thee with much cherishing.
Good night, good night! parting is such sweet
forrow,

That I fhall fay-good night, 'till it be morrow.

[Exit.

Fri. The grey-ey'd morn fmiles on the frowning night,

Checkering the eastern clouds with streaks of light;
And flecked 2 darkness like a drunkard reels

Rom. Good morrow, father!

Fri. Benedicite!

What early tongue fo fweet faluteth me?-
Young fon, it argues a diftemper'd head,
So foon to bid good morrow to thy bed:
Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye,
And where care lodges, fleep will never lie;
25 But where unbruised youth with unftuft brain
Doth couch his limbs, there golden fleep doth reign:
Therefore thy carliness doth me affure,
Thou art up-rouz'd by fome diftemp'rature;
Or if not fo, then here I hit it right-

30 Our Romeo hath not been in bed to-night.

35

Rom. That laft is true, the sweeter reft was mine.
Fri. God pardon fin! waft thou with Rofaline?
Rom. With Rofaline, my ghoftiy father? no;
I have forgot that name, and that name's woe.
Fri. That's my good fon: But where haft thou
been then?

Rom. I'll tell thee, ere thou afk it me again.
I have been feafting with mine enemy;
Where, on a fudden, one hath wounded me,
40 That's by me wounded; both our remedies
Within thy help and holy phyfick lies:

I bear no hatred, bleffed man; for, lo,
My interceffion likewife fteads my foe.

Fri. Be plain, good fon, and homely in thy drift;

45 Riddling confeffion finds but riddling fhrift.
Rom. Then plainly know, my heart's dear love
is fet

On the fair daughter of rich Capulet:

As mine on hers, fo hers is fet on mine;

From forth day's path-way,made by Titan's wheels: 50 And all combin'd, fave what thou must combine

Now ere the fun advance his burning eye,
The day to chear, and night's dank dew to dry,
I must up-fill this ofier cage of ours
With baleful weeds, and precious-juiced flowers.
The earth, that's nature's mother, is her tomb;
What is her burying grave, that is her womb:
And from her womb children of divers kind
We fucking on her natural bofom find;
Many for many virtues excellent,

None but for fome, and yet all different.

55

By holy marriage: When, and where, and how,
We met, we woo'd, and made exchange of vow,
I'll tell thee as we pafs; but this I pray,
That thou confent to marry us this day.

Fri. Holy Saint Francis! what a change is here!
Is Rofaline, whom thou didst love fo dear,
So foon forfaken? Young men's love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.
Holy Saint Francis! what a deal of brine
60 Hath wash'd thy fallow cheeks for Rofaline!

1 The taffel or tiercel (for so it should be spelt) is the male of the gofshark; so called, because it is a

tierce or third lefs than the female.

dappled, ftreak'd, or variegated,

This is equally true of all birds of prey.

3 i. e. efficacious virtue.

3 R

Flecked is fpotted,

How

How much falt water thrown away in waste,
To feafon love, that of it doth not taste!
The fun not yet thy fighs from heaven clears,
Thy old groans ring yet in my ancient ears;
Lo, here upon thy cheek the ftain doth fit
Of an old tear, that is not wash'd off yet:
If e'er thou waft thyself, and these woes thine,
Thou and thefe woes were all for Rofaline;
And art thou chang'd? Pronounce this fentence
then

Women may fall, when there's no strength in men.
Rom. Thou chidd'ft me oft for loving Rofaline.
Fri. For doating, not for loving, pupil mine.
Rom. And bad'ft me bury love.

Mer. Where the devil fhould this Romeo be? Came he not home to-night?

Ben. Not to his father's; I fpoke with his man. Mer. Why, that fame pale hard-hearted wench, that Rofaline,

Torments him fo, that he will fure run mad.

Ben. Tybalt, the kinfman of old Capulet,
Hath fent a letter to his father's house.
Mer. A challenge, on my life.

Ben. Romeo will answer it.

Mer. Any man, that can write, may answer a letter.

Ben. Nay, he will anfwer the letter's mafter, how he dares, being dar'd.

Mer. Alas, poor Romeo, he is already dead! ftabb'dwith a whitewench'sblack eye,fhot thorough the ear with a love-fong; the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's but-fhaft;| And is he a man to encounter Tybalt? Ben. Why, what is Tybalt?

Mer. More than prince of cats I, I can tell you. O, he is the courageous captain of compliments: he fights as you fing prick-fong, keeps time, diftance, and proportion; he rests his minim, one, 5 two, and the third in your bofom: the very butcher of a filk button, a duellift, a duellift; a gentleman of the very first house;-of the first and second caufe :-Ah, the immortal paffado! the punto reverfo! the hay 3 !

Ben. Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo. Mer. Without his roe, like a dried herring :O flesh, fiefh, how art thou fifhified!-Now is he 25 for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in: Laura, to his lady, was but a kitchen-wench ;-marry, the had a better love to be-rhyme her: Dido, a dowdy; Cleopatra, a gipfey; Helen and Hero, hildings and harlots; Thibé, a grey eye or so, but not to the 20purpofe. Signior Romeo, bon jour! there's a French falutation to your French flops. You gave us the counterfeit fairly laft night.

1451

Mer. Thou haft most kindly hit it.

Rom. A most courteous expofition.

Mer. Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy.
Rom. Pink for flower.

Mer. Right.

Rom. Why, then is my pump well flower'd 7,

Mer. Well faid: follow me this jeft now, 'till thou haft worn out thy pump; that, when the 50fingle fole of it is worn, the jeft may remain, after the wearing, folely fingular.

Rom. O fingle-fol'd jest, folely fingular for the fingleness!

Tylert, the name given to the Cat, in the story-book of Reynard the Fox. 2 That is, a gentleman of the first rank, of the firft eminence among thefe duellifts; and one who understands the whole fcience of quarrelling, and will tell you of the firft caufe, and the second cause, for which a man is to fight. 3 The bay is the word bai, you have it, ufed when a thruft reaches the antagonist. How ridiculous they make themselves in crying out good, and being in ecftafies with every trifle. 5 Slops are large loofe breeches or trowfers worn at prefent only by failors. To understand this play

4 i. e.

upon the words counterfeit and slip, it should be observed, that in our author's time there was a counterfeit piece of money diftinguished by the name of a flip. 7 Dr. Johnson fays, Here is a vein of wit too thin to be cafily found. The fundamental idea is, that Romeo wore pinked pumps, that is, punched with holes in figures.

Mer. Come between us, good Benvolio; my wit faints.

Rom. Switch and fpurs, fwitch and fpurs; or I'll cry a match.

Mer. Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goofe chafe, 5 I am done; for thou haft more of the wild-goofe in one of thy wits, than, I am fure, I have in my whole five: Was I with you there for the goofe?

Rom. Thou waft never with me for any thing, when thou waft not there for the goofe.

Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jeft.
Rom. Nay, good goofe, bite not.

Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting '; it is a most sharp fauce.

Rom. And is it not well ferv'd in to a fweet goofe 15 Mer. O, here's a wit of cheverel 2, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad!

Rom. I ftretch it out for that word-broad,] which added to the goofe, proves thee far and wide a broad goofe.

Rom. One, gentlewoman, that God hath made himfelf to mar.

Nurfe. By my troth, it is well faid ;—For himfelf to mar, quoth 'a ?-Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I may find the young Romeo?

Rem. I can tell you; but young Romeo will be older when you have found him, than he was when you fought him: I am the youngest of that name, for fault of a worse.

Nurfe. You fay well.

Mer. Yea, is the worst well? very well took, 'faith; wifely, wifely.

Nurfe. If you be he, fir, I defire fome confidence with you.

Ben. She will indite him to fome fupper.
Mer. A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! So ho!

Rom. What haft thou found?

Mer. No hare, fir; unless a hare, fir, in a lenten pye, that is something ftale and hoar ere it 20 be spent.

Mer. Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now thou art fociable, now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature: for this driveling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide 25 his bauble in a hole 3.

Ben. Stop there, stop there.

Mer. Thou defireft me to stop in my tale against

the hair 4.

Ben. Thou would'ft elfe have made thy tale large. 30 Mer, O, thou art deceiv'd, I would have made it fhort: for I was come to the whole depth of my tale; and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer.

Rem. Here's goodly geer!

Enter Nurse, and Peter.

Mer. A fail, a fail, a ful!

Ben. Two, two; a fhirt, and a smock.
Nurfe. Peter!

Peter. Anon?

Nurfe. My fan 5, Peter.

Mer. Do, good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan's the fairer of the two.

Nurfe. God ye good morrow, gentlemen.
Mer. God ye good den 6, fair gentlewoman.
Nurfe. Is it good den?

Mer. 'Tis no lefs, I tell you; for the bawdy hand

of the dial is now upon the prick of noon.

Nurfe. Out upon you! what a man are you?

35

Is

An old bare boar 7,

And an old bare boar,

very good meat in lent t
But a bare that is boar,

Is too much for a feore,

When it boars ere it be spent.

Romeo, will you come to your father's? we'll to dinner thither.

Rom. I will follow you.

Mer. Farewel, ancient lady; farewel, lady, lady, lady 8.

[Exeunt Mercutio, and Benvolio. Nurfe. I pray you, fir, what faucy merchant was this, that was fo full of his ropery 10?

Ram. A gentleman, nurfe, that loves to hear himfelf talk; and will fpeak more in a minute, than he will stand to in a month.

Nurfe. An 'a fpeak any thing against me, I'll take him down an 'a were luftier than he is, and 40twenty fuch Jacks; and if I cannot, I'll find those that fhall. Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirtgills; I am none of his fkains-mates :-And thou muft ftand by too, and suffer every knave to ufe me at his pleasure?

A bitter fweeting is an apple of that name. 2 Cheverel is foft leather for gloves; from chevreau, a kid, Fr. 3 It has been already obferved, in a note on All's Well, &c. that a bauble was one of the accoutrements of a licensed fool or jester. 4 An expression equivalent to one which we now use→ "against the grain." 5 The bufineis of Peter carrying the Nurse's fan feems ridiculous according to modern manners; but fuch was formerly the practice. i. e. God give you a good even. 1 Hear, or beary, is often used for mouldy, as things grow white from moulding. 8 The burthen of an old fong. 9 Mr. Steevens obferves, that the term merchant, which was, and even now is, frequently applied to the lowest fort of dealers, feems anciently to have been used on thefe familiar occafions in contradiftinction to ge-tleman; fignifying that the perfon fhewed by his behaviour he was a low fellow. The term chap, i. e. chapman, a word of the fame import with merchant in its lefs refpe&table sense, is ftill in common ufe among the vulgar, as a general denomination for any person of whom they mean to speak with freedom or disrespect. 10. e. roguery. 11 A fkein or fkain was either a knife or a foort dagger. By skains-mates the nurse means, none of his loose companions who frequent the fencingschool with him, where we may fuppofe the exercife of this weapon was taught.

3 R 2

Nurfe