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

8

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

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

here.

Rom. I have night's cloak to hide me from their

sight;

And, but thou love me, let them find me here:
My life were better ended by their hate,
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.

Jul. By whose direction found'st thou out this place?

Rom. By love, who first did prompt me to inquire;

He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes.
I am no pilot; yet, wert thou às far

As that vast shore wash'd with the furthest sea,
I would adventure for such merchandise.

Jul. Thou know'st, the mask of night is on my face;

Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek,
For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night..
Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain, deny
What I have spoke: But farewell compliment !
Dost thou love me? I know, thou wilt say - Ay;
And I will take thy word: yet, if thou swear'st,
Thou may'st prove false; at lovers' perjuries,
They say, Jove laughs. O, gentle Romeo,
If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully :
Or, if thou think'st I am too quickly won,
I'll frown, and be perverse, and say thee nay,
So thou wilt woo; but else, not for the world.
In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond;

8 Hinderance.

VOL. X.

9 Unless.

E

And therefore thou may'st think my 'haviour light:
But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true
Than those that have more cunning to be strange.
I should have been more strange, I must confess,
But that thou over-heard'st, ere I was ware,
My true love's passion: therefore pardon me;
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered.

Rom. Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear,
That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops,
Jul. O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant

moon

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

Do not swear at all;

Jul.
Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,
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 rash, too unadvis'd, too sudden;

Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be,
Ere one can say It lightens. Sweet, good night!
This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night! as sweet repose and rest
Come to thy heart, as that within my breast!

Rom. O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?

Jul. What satisfaction canst thou have to-night? Rom. The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.

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 purpose, love?

1 Shy.

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.

[Nurse calls within. I hear some noise within: Dear love, adieu! Anon good nurse! - Sweet Montague, be true. Stay but a little, I will come again.

[Exit. Rom. O blessed blessed night! I am afeard, Being in night, all this is but a dream, Too-flattering-sweet to be substantial.

Re-enter JULIET, above.

Jul. Three words, dear Romeo, and good night, indeed.

2

If that thy bent of love be honourable,

Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow,
By one that I'll procure to come to thee,
Where, and what time, thou wilt perform the rite;
And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay,

And follow thee my lord throughout the world:
Nurse. [Within.] Madam.

Jul. I come, anon: well,

I do beseech thee,

But if thou mean'st not

Nurse. [Within.] Madam.

Jul.

By and by, I come :

To cease thy suit, and leave me to my grief:
To-morrow will I send.

Rom.

So thrive my soul,

[Exit.

Jul. A thousand times good night!
Rom. A thousand times the worse, to want thy

light.

• Inclination.

Love goes toward love, as school-boys from their

books;

But love from love, toward school with heavy looks. [Retiring slowly.

Re-enter JULIET, above.

Jul. Hist! Romeo, hist! - O, for a falconer'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.

Jul. I will not fail;

At what o'clock to-morrow

At the hour of nine.

'tis twenty years till then.

I have forgot why I did call thee back.

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

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

Jul. 'Tis almost 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 silk thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.

Rom. I would, I were thy bird.

The teircel is the male hawk, the falcon the female. 4 Fetters.

Jul.

Sweet, so would I :

Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.

Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sor

row,

That I shall say — good night, till it be morrow.

Rom. Sleep dwell

breast!

[Exit.

upon thine eyes, peace in thy

'Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest! Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell;

His help to crave, and my dear hap' to tell. [Exit.

SCENE III.

Friar Laurence's Cell.

Enter Friar LAURENCE, with a Basket.

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

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

From forth day's path-way, made by Titan's ' wheels:

Now ere the sun advance his burning eye,
The day to cheer, and night's dank dew to dry,
I must fill up this osier 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 sucking on her natural bosom find;
Many for many virtues excellent,

None but for some, and yet all different.
O, mickle is the powerful grace, that lies

In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities:

5 Chance, fortune.

6 Spotted, streaked.

7 The sun.