Out of his shriving place he commes with pleasant cheere;
The shamfast mayde with bashfull brow to himward draweth

neere.

Some great offence (quod he) you have committed late,

Perhaps you have displeasd your frend by geving him a mate. Then turning to the nurce and to the other mayde,

Go heare a masse or two, (quod he) which straightway shall be sayde.

For, her confession heard, I will unto you twayne

The charge that I received of you restore to you agayne.
What, was not Juliet, trow you, right well apayde,

That for this trusty fryre hath chaungd her yong mistrusting

mayde?

I dare well say, there is in all Verona none,

But Romeus, with whom she would so gladly be alone.
Thus to the fryers cell they both forth walked byn;

He shuts the doore as soon as he and Juliet were in.

But Romeus her frend, was entered in before,

And there had wayted for his love, two houres large and more.
Eche minute seemd an houre, and every howre a day,

Twixt hope he lived and despayre of cumming or of stay.
Now wavering hope and feare are quite fled out of sight,
For, what he hopde he hath at hande, his pleasant cheefe delight.
And joyfull Juliet is healde of all her smart,

For now the rest of all her parts hath found her straying hart.
Both theyr confessions fyrst the fryer hath heard them make,
And then to her with lowder voyce thus fryer Lawrence spake :
Fayre lady Juliet, my gostly daughter deere,

As farre as I of Romeus learne, who by you stondeth here,
Twixt you it is agreed, that you shal be his wyfe,

And he your spouse in steady truth, till death shall end your life.

Are you both fully bent to kepe this great behest?

And both the lovers said, it was theyr onely harts request.

When he did see theyr myndes in linkes of love so fast,

When in the prayse of wedlock state some skilfull talke was past.
When he had told at length the wyfe what was her due,
His duty eke by gostly talke the youthfull husband knew;

How that the wyfe in love must honour and obey,

What love and honor he doth owe, a dette that he must pay,The woords pronounced were which holy church of olde Appoynted hath for mariage, and she a ring of golde Received of Romeus; and then they both arose.

To whom the frier then said: Perchaunce apart you will disclose,
Betwixt your selfe alone, the bottome of your hart;

Say on at once, for time it is that hence you should depart.
Then Romeus said to her, (both loth to part so soone)

"Fayre lady, send to me agayne your nurce thys afternoone.

Of corde I will bespeake a ladder by that time;

By which, this night, while other sleepe, I will your windowe clime. Then will we talke of love and of our old dispayres,

And then with longer laysure had dispose our great affayres."

These sayd, they kisse, and then part to theyr fathers house, The joyfull bryde unto her home, to his eke goth the spouse; Contented both, and yet both uncontented still,

Till Night and Venus child geve leave the wedding to fulfill.
The painfull souldiour, sore y-bet with wery warre,

The merchant eke that nedefull thinges doth dred to fetch from

farre,

The ploughman that, for doute of feerce invading foes,
Rather to sit in ydle ease then sowe his tilt hath chose,
Rejoice to hear proclaymd the tydings of the peace;

Not pleasurd with the sound so much, but, when the warres do

cease,

Then ceased are the harmes which cruel warre bringes foorth : The merchant then may boldly fetch his wares of precious woorth; Dredeless the husbandman doth till his fertile feeld.

For welth, her mate, not for her selfe, is peace so precious held:
So lovers live in care, in dred, and in unrest,

And dedly warre by striving thoughts they kepe within their brest;
But wedlocke is the peace whereby is freedome wonne
To do a thousand pleasant thinges that should not els be donne.
The newes of ended warre these two have heard with joy,
But now they long the fruite of peace with pleasure to enjoy.
In stormy wind and wave, in daunger to be lost,

Thy stearles ship, O Romeus, hath been long while betost;
The seas are now appeasd, and thou, by happy starre,

Art come in sight of quiet haven; and, now the wrackfull barre
Is hid with swelling tyde, boldly thou mayst resort
Unto thy wedded ladies bed, thy long-desyred port.

God graunt, no follies mist so dymme thy inward sight,

That thou do misse the channel that doth leade to thy delight!
God graunt, no daungers rocke, y-lurking in the darke,
Before thou win the happy port, wracke thy sea-beaten barke.
A servant Romeus had, of woord and deede so just,

That with his lyfe, if nede requierd, his maister would him trust.
His faithfulnes had oft our Romeus proved of olde;

And therefore all that yet was done unto his man he tolde.
Who straight, as he was charged, a corden ladder lookes,
To which he hath made fast two strong and crooked yron hookes.
The bryde to send the nurce at twylight fayleth not,

To whom the brydegroome geven hath the ladder that he got.
And then to watch for him appoynted her an howre,

For, whether Fortune smyle on him, or if she list to lowre,
He will not misse to come to hys appoynted place,

Where wont he was to take by stelth the view of Juliets facę.
How long these lovers thought the lasting of the day,
Let other judge that woonted are lyke passions to assay:
For my part, I do gesse eche howre seemes twenty yere ;
So that I deeme, if they might have (as of Alcume we heare)
The sunne bond to theyr will, if they the heavens might gyde,
Black shade of night and doubled darke should straight all over-

Thappointed howre is comme; he, clad in riche araye, Walkes toward his desyred home:-good fortune gyde his way! Approaching nere the place from whence his hart had lyfe, So light he wox, he lept the wall, and there he spyde his wyfe, Who in the window watcht the comming of her lord; Where she so surely had made fast the ladder made of corde, That daungerles her spouse the chaumber window climes, Where he ere then had wisht himselfe above ten thousand tymes. The windowes close are shut; els looke they for no gest; To light the waxen quariers, the auncient nurce is prest, Which Juliet had before prepared to be light,

That she at pleasure might behold her husbands bewty bright, A carchef white as snowe ware Juliet on her hed,

Such as she wonted was to weare, atyre meete for the bed.

As soon as she hym spide, about his necke she clong,

And by her long and slender armes a great while there she

hong.

A thousand times she kist, and him unkist againe,

Ne could she speake a woord to him, though would she nere so

fayne.

And like betwixt his armes to faint his lady is;

She fets a sigh and clappeth close her closed mouth to his :

And ready then to sownde, she looked ruthfully,

That lo, it made him both at once to live and eke to dye.
These piteous painfull panges were haply overpast,

And she unto herselfe againe retorned home at last.

Then, through her troubled brest, even from the farthest part, An hollow sigh, a messenger she sendeth from her hart.

O Romeus, (quod she) in whom all vertues shine,

Welcome thou art into this place, where from these eyes of mine
Such teary streames did flowe, that I suppose wel ny
The source of all my bitter teares is altogether drye.
Absence so pynde my heart, which on thy presence fed,
And of thy safety and thy health so much I stood in dred.
But now what is decreed by fatall desteny,

I force it not; let Fortune do and death their woorst to me.

Full recompensd am I for all my passed harmes,

In that the Gods have graunted me to claspe thee in mine armes. The chrystall teares began to stand in Romeus eyes,

When he unto his ladies woordes gan auns were in this wise: "Though cruell Fortune be so much my deadly foe,

That I ne can by lively proofe cause thee, fayre dame, to know How much I am by love enthralled unto thee,

Ne yet what mighty powre thou hast, by thy desert, on me,

Ne torments that for thee I did ere this endure,

Yet of thus much (ne will I fayne) I may thee well assure;
The least of many paines which of thy absence sproong,
More painfully than death it selfe my tender hart hath wroọng.
Ere this, one death had reft a thousand deathes away,
But life prolonged was by hope of this desyred day;
Which so just tribute payes of all my passed mone,
That I as well contented am as if my selfe alone

Did from the ocean reigne unto the sea of Ynde.

Wherefore now let us wipe away old cares out of our mynde;
For, as the wretched state is now redrest at last,

So is it skill behind our backe the cursed care to cast.
Since Fortune of her grace hath place and time assinde,
Where we with pleasure may content our uncontented mynde,
In Lethes hyde we depe all greefe and all annoy,

Whilst we do bathe in blisse, and fill our hungry harts with joye.
And, for the time to comme, let be our busy care

So wisely to direct our love, as no wight els be ware;
Lest envious foes by force despoyle our new delight,

And us threw backe from happy state to more unhappy plight.”
Fayre Juliet began to auns were what he sayde,

But foorth in hast the old nurce stept, and so her auns were stayde. Who takes no time (quoth she) when time well offred is,

An other time shall seeke for tyme, and yet of time shall misse.

And when occasion serves, who so doth let it slippe,

Is worthy sure, if I might judge, of lashes with a whippe.
Wherefore if eche of you hath harmde the other so,

And eche of you hath ben the cause of others wayled woe,
Lo here a field (she shewd a field-bed ready dight)

Where you may, if you list, in armes revenge yourself by fight.
Whereto these lovers both gan easely assent,

And to the place of mylde revenge with pleasant cheere they

went,

Where they were left alone-(the nurce is gone to rest)

How can this be? they restless lye, ne yet they feele unrest.

I graunt that I envie the blisse they lived in;

O that I might have found the like! I wish it for no sin,

But that I might as weli with pen their joyes depaynt,

As heretofore I have displayd their secret hidden playnt.

Of shyvering care and dred I have felt many a fit,

But Fortune such delight as theyrs dyd never graunt me yet. By proofe no certain truth can I unhappy write,

But what I gesse by likelihod, that dare I to endyte,

The blindfold goddesse that with frowning face doth fraye,
And from theyr seate the mighty kinges throwes down with head-

long sway,

Begynneth now to turne to these her smyling face;

Nedes must they tast of great delight, so much in Fortunes grace. If Cupid, god of love, be god of pleasant sport,

I think, O Romeus, Mars himselfe envies thy happy sort.

Ne Venus justly might (as I suppose) repent,

If in thy stead, O Juliet, this pleasant time she spent.

Thus passe they foorth the night, in sport, in joly game; The hastines of Phoebus steeds in great despyte they blame. And now the vyrgins fort hath warlike Romeus got,

In which as yet no breache was made by force of canon shot,
And now in ease he doth possesse the hoped place :

How glad was he, speake you, that may your lovers parts embrace.
The mariage thus made up, and both the parties pleasd,
The nigh approche of dayes retoorne these sely soles diseasd.

And for they might no while in pleasure passe theyr time,
Ne leysure had they much to blame the hasty mornings crime,
With friendly kisse in armes of her his leave he takes,
And every other night, to come, a solemn othe he makes,
By one selfe meane, and eke to come at one selfe howre:
And so he doth, till Fortune list to sawse his sweete with sowre.
But who is he that can his present state assure?

And say unto himselfe, thy joyes shall yet a day endure?
So wavering Fortunes whele, her chaunges be so straunge;
And every wight y-thralled is by Fate unto her chaunge:
Who raignes so over all, that eche man hath his part,
Although not aye, perchaunce, alike of pleasure and of smart.
For after many joyes some feele but little paine,

And from that little greefe they toorne to happy joy againe.
But other some there are, that living long in woe,

At length they be in quiet ease, but long abide not so;

Whose greefe is much increast by myrth that went before,

Because the sodayne chaunge of thinges doth make it seeme the

more.

Of this unlucky sorte our Romeus is one,

For all his hap turnes to mishap, and all his myrth to mone.
And joyfull Juliet another leafe must toorne;

As woont she was, (her joyes bereft) she must begin to moorne.
The summer of their blisse doth last a month or twayne,
But winters blast with spedy foote doth bring the fall agayne.
Whom glorious Fortune erst had heaved to the skies,
By envious Fortune overthrowne, on earth ow groveling lyes.
She payd theyr former greefe with pleasures doubled gayne,
But now, for pleasures usury, ten folde redoubleth payne.

The prince could never cause those housholds so agree, But that some sparcles of theyr wrath as yet remayning bee; Which lye this while raaked up in ashes pale and ded,

Till tyme do serve that they agayne in wasting flame may spred.
At holiest times, men say, most heynous crimes are donne;
The morrowe after Easter-day the mischiefe new begonne.
A band of Capilets dyd meet (my hart it rewes)

Within the walles, by Pursers gate, a band of Montagewes.
The Capilets as cheefe a yong man have chose out,
Best exercisd in feates of armes, and noblest of the rowte,
Our Juliets unkles sonne, that cleped was Tibalt ;

He was of body tall and strong, and of his courage halt.
They neede no trumpet sounde to byd them geve the charge,
So lowde he cryde with strayned voyce and mouth out-stretched

large:

"Now, now, quoth he, my friends, our selfe so let us wreake, That of this dayes revenge and us our childrens heyres may speake. Now once for all let us their swelling pryde asswage;

Let none of them escape alive."-Then he with furious rage,
And they with him, gave charge upon theyr present foes,
And then forthwith a skirmish great upon this fray arose.
For loe the Montagewes thought shame away to flye,

And rather than to live with shame, with prayse did choose to dye.