SCENE I.

The Street.

Enter Romeo alone.

ACT

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

5

II.

But soft! what light through yonder window
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!— [breaks?
[Juliet appears above at a windows.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,

That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.—
10 It is my lady: O, it is my love:
O, that she knew she were!-

[wall:
[lover15

Mer. Nay, I'll conjure too.—
Why, Romeo! humours! madman! passion!
Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh,
Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied;
Cry but-Ay me! couple but-love and dove;
Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word,
One nick-name to her purblind son and heir,
Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim,
When king Cophetua lov'd the beggar maid'.——
He heareth not, he stirreth 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 scarlet lip,
By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh,
And the demesnes that there adjacent lie,
That in thy likeness thou appear to us.

Ben. An if he hear thee, thou wilt auger him.
Mer.This cannot anger him : 'twould anger him
To raise a spirit in his inistress' circle
Of some strangé nature, letting it there stand
'Till she had laid it, and conjur'd it down;
That were some spight: my invocation
Is fair and honest, and, in his mistress' name,
I conjure only but to raise up him.

[trees,

Ben. Come, he hath hid himself among those
To be consorted with the humourous night:
Blind is his love, and best befits the dark. [mark.
Mer. If love be blind, love cannot hit the
Now will he sit under a medlar tree,
And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit,
As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone.
Romeo, good night;-I'll to my truckle-bed;
This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep:
Come, shall we go?

Ben. Go, then; for 'tis in vain

She speaks, yet she says nothing; What of that?
Her eye discourses, I will answer it.-

I am too bold, 'tis not to me it speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do intreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres 'till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightnessofher cheek wouldshamethosestars,
20 As day-light doth a lamp: her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright,
That birds would sing, and think it were not night.
See, how she 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 speaks:

O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
30 As is the winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white up-turned wond'ring eyes
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him,
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds,
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

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

[Aside.

Jul. 'Tis but thy name, that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague'.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
45 Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part :
What's in a name? That which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes,

To seek him here, that means not to be found. 50 Without that title:-Romeo, doff thy name;

[Exeunt.

Rom.Hejests at scars, that never felt a wound.-55

And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Rom. I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new-baptiz'd;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

'Alluding to an old ballad preserved in Dr. Percy's Reliques of ancient English Poetry.

speare means humid, the moist dewy night.

3

2 ShakThe sense is, Thou art thyself (i. e. a being of distinguished excellence), though thou art not what thou appearest to others, akin to thy family in malice.

Jul.

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

So stumblest on my counsel ?

Rom. By a name

Had I it written, I would tear the word. [words
Jul. My ears have yet not drunk a hundred
Of that tongue's uttering, yet I know the sound; 10
Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?

Rom. Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.
Jul. How cam'st thou hither, tell me; and
wherefore?

The orchard walls are high, and hard to climb;
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.

Rom. With love's light wings did I o'er-perch
these walls;

For stony limits cannot hold love out:
And what love can do, that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.

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

Jul. I would not for the world, they saw thee here.

[sight: Rom. I have night's cloak to hide me from their And, but thou love me, let them find me here; 30 My life were better ended by their hate, Than death prorogu'd, wanting of thy love. Jul. By whose direction found'st thou out this place?

Rom. By love, who first did prompt me to en-35I hear some noise within; Dear love, adieu! He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes.

[Nurse calls within. Anon, good nurse!-Sweet Montague, be true, Stay but a little, I will come again. [Exit. Rom. O blessed blessed night! I am afeard,

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

1i. e. delayed.

Re-enter Juliet again, above.

Jul. Hist! Romeo, hist!-O, for a faulconer's
voice,

To lure this tassel-gentle back again!
Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud;
Else would I tear the cave where echo lies,
And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine
With repetition of my Romeo's name.

Rom. It is my soul, that calls upon my name:
How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,
Like softest musick to attending ears!

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

Rom. And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget,
Forgetting any other home but this. [gone;
Jul. 'Tis almost morning, I would have thee
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 silk thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.

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

Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.

Good night, good night! parting is such sweet

That I shall say-good night, 'till it be morrow. 35 [Exit.

Rom. Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in

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

This is equally true of all birds of prey. 1 Flecked is spotted, 3 i.e. efficacious virtue.

3 R

.

How much salt water thrown away in waste,
To season love, that of it doth not taste!
The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears,
Thy old groans ring yet in my ancient ears;
Lo, here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit
Of an old tear, that is not wash'd off yet:
If e'er thou wast thyself, and these woes thine,
Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline;
And art thou chang'd? Pronounce this sentence
then-

Mer. More than prince of cats', I can tell you. O, he is the courageous captain of compliments: he fights as you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance, and proportion; he rests his minim, one, 5 two, and the third in your bosom: the very butcher of a silk button, a duellist, a duellist; a gentleman of the very first house;-of the first and second cause:-Ah, the immortal passado! the punto reverso! the hay 3!

[men. 10

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

Fri. Not in a grave,

To lay one in, another out to have.

Rom. I pray thee, chide not: she, whom I love

now,

Doth grace for grace, and love for love allow;
The other did not so.

Enter Benvolio, and Mercutio.
Mer. Where the devil should this Romeo be?-
Came he not home to-night?

Ben. Not to his father's; I spoke with his man.
Mer. Why, that same pale hard-hearted wench,|
that Rosaline,

Torments him so, that he will sure run mad.
Ben. Tybalt, the kinsman of old Capulet,
Hath sent 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 answer the letter's master, how he dares, being dar'd.

Ben. The what?

Mer. The pox of such antick, lisping, affecting fantasticoes; these new tuners of accent!By-a very good blade!- -a very tall man!a very good whore!Why, is not this a lamen15 table thing, grandsire, that we should be thus afflicted with these strange flies, these fashion-mongers, these Pardonnez-moy's, who stand so much Jon the new form, that they cannot sit at ease on the old bench? O, their bon's, their bon's*! Enter Romeo.

20

Ben. Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo. Mer. Without his roe, like a dried herring:-0 flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified!-Now is he for 25the numbers that Petrarch flowed in: Laura, to his lady, was but a kitchen-wench;—marry, she had a better love to be-rhyme her: Dido,a dowdy; Cleopatra, a gypsey; Helen and Hero, hildings and harlots; Thisbé, a grey eye or so, but not to 30 the purpose.- -Signior Romeo, bon jour ! there's a French salutation to your French slop'. You gave us the counterfeit fairly last night. Rom. Good-morrow to you both. What counterfeit did I give you? [ceive? Mer. The slip, sir, the slip'; Can you not conRom. Pardon, good Mercutio, my business was great; and, in such a case as mine, a man may strain courtesy.

1351

Mer. That's as much as to say--such a case as 40 yours constrains a man to bow in the hams. Rom. Meaning-to curt'sy.

43

Mer. Alas, poor Romeo, he is already dead!! stabb'd with a white wench's black eye, shot thorough the ear with a love-song; the very pin of his 50 heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's but-shaft; And is he a man to encounter Tybalt? Ben. Why, what is Tybalt?

Mer. Thou hast most kindly hit it.

Rom. A most courteous exposition.

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

Mer. Right.

Rom. Why, then is my pump well flower'd'. Mer. Well said: follow me this jest now, 'till thou hast worn out thy pump; that, when the single sole of it is worn, the jest may remain, after the wearing, solely singular.

Rom. O single-sol'd jest, solely singular for the singleness!

Tybert, 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 first eminence among these duellists; and one who understands the whole science of quarrelling, and will tell you of the first cause, and the second cause, for which a man is to fight. 'The hay is the word hai, you have it, used when a thrust reaches the antagonist. * i. e. How ridiculous they make themselves in crying out good, and being in ecstacies with every trifle. Slops are large loose breeches or trowsers, worn at present only by sailors. To understand this play upon the words counterfeit and slip, it should be observed, that in our author's time there was a counterfeit piece of money distinguished by the name of a slip. 'Dr. Johnson says, Here is a vein of wit too thin to be easily found. The fundamental idea is, that Romeo wore pinked pumps, that is, punched with holes in figures.

6

Mer.

Rom. Switch and spurs, switch and spurs; or I'll cry a match.

Mer. Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chase, 5 I am done; for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits, than, I am sure, I have in my whole five: Was 'I with you there for the goose?

Rom. Thou wast never with me for any thing, when thou wast not there for the goose.

Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jest.
Rom. Nay, good goose, bite not.
Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting'; it is a
most sharp sauce.

10

Rom. And is it not well serv'd in to a sweet goose? 15 Mer. O, here's a wit of cheverel2, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad!

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

Nurse. You say well.

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

Nurse. If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with you.

Ben. She will indite him to some supper.
Mer. A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! So ho!
Rom. What hast thou found?

Mer. No hare, sir; unless a hare, sir, in a lenten pye, that is something stale and hoar ere 20t be spent.

Mer. Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now thou art sociable, 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 25 hide his bauble in a hole 3.

Ben. Stop there, stop there.

Mer. Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair *.

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

Rom. Here's goodly geer!

Enter Nurse, and Peter.

Mer. A sail, a sail, a sail!

Ben. Two, two; a shirt, and a smock.
Nurse. Peter!

9

3

35

An old hare hoar',
And an old hare hoar,
Is very good meat in lent:
But a hure that is hoar,
Is too much for a score,
When it hours ere it be spent.-

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

Rom. I will follow you.

Mer. Farewell, ancient lady; farewell, lady, lady, lady 8.

[Exeunt Mercutio, and Benvolio. Nurse. I pray you, sir, what saucy merchant", was this, that was so full of his ropery 10?

Rom. A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk; and will speak more in a minute, than he will stand to in a month.

Nurse. An 'a speak any thing against me, I'll take him down an 'a were lustier than he is, and 40twenty such Jacks; and if I cannot, I'll find those that shall. Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirtgills; I am none of his skains-mates":--And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure?

45

Pet. I saw no man use you at his pleasure; if I had, my weapon should quickly have been out, I warrant you: I dare draw as soon as another man, if I see occasion in a good quarrel, and the law lon my side.

6

A bitter sweeting is an apple of that name. 2 Cheverel is soft leather for gloves; from cherreau, a kid, Fr. It has been already observed, in a note on All's Well, &c., that a bauble was one of the accoutrements of a licensed fool or jester. An expression equivalent to one which we now use"against the grain." "The business of Peter carrying the Nurse's fan seems ridiculous according to modern manners; but such was formerly the practice. i. e. God give you a good even. 1 Hoar, or hoary, is often used for mouldy, as things grow white from moulding. The burthen of an old song. ? Mr. Steevens observes, that the term merchant, which was, and even now is, frequently applied to the lowest sort of dealers, seems anciently to have been used on these familiar occasions in contradistinction to gentleman; signifying that the person shewed by his behaviour he was a low fellow.-The term chap, i. e. chapman, a word of the same import with merchant in its less respectable sense, is still in common use among the vulgar, as a general denomination for any person of whom they mean to speak with freedom or disrespect. 10 i. e. roguery. 11 A skein or skin was either a knife or a short dagger. By skains-mates the nurse means, none of his loose companions who frequent the fencing-school with him, where we may suppose the exercise of this weapon was taught.

3 R 2

Nurse.