4

Could to no iffue of true honour bring:
'Speak now, be brief; for I defire to die,
If what thou speak'ft fpeak not of remedy.

Fri. Hold, daughter, I do 'fpy a kind of hope,
Which craves as defperate an execution,

As that is defp'rate which we would prevent,
If rather than to marry County Paris

Thou haft the ftrength or will to flay thy felf,
Then it is likely thou wilt undertake

A thing like death to chide away this fhame,
That copes with death himself, to 'fcape from it:
And if thou dar'ft, I'll give thee remedy.

Jul. O bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;
Or chain me to fome fteepy mountain's top
Where roaring bears and favage lions roam;
Or fhut me nightly in a charnel house,
O'er-cover'd quite with dead mens ratling bones,
With reeky fhanks, and yellow chaplefs fculls;
Or bid me go into a new-made grave,

And hide me with a dead man in his fhroud;

Things that to hear them nam'd, have made me tremble; And I will do it without fear or doubt, .

To live an unftain'd wife to my fweet love.

Fri. Hold, Juliet: hye thee home, get thee to bed : (Let not thy Nurfe lye with thee in thy chamber :) And when thou art alone, take thou this vial, And this diftilled liquor drink thou off; When presently through all thy veins fhall run A cold and drowfie humour, which fhall feize Each vital fpirit; for no pulfe fhall keep His nat'ral progrefs, but furceafe to beat, No warmth, no breath fhall testify thou liveft; The rofes in thy lips and cheeks fhall fade To paly afhes; the eyes windows fall Like death, when he fhuts up the day of life; And in this borrowed likeness of fhrunk death

T 3

4 Be not fo long to fpeak; I long to dye,

Thou

Thou fhalt continue two and forty hours,

And then awake, as from a pleafant fleep.
Now when the bridegroom in the morning comes
To rowfe thee from thy bed, there art thou dead:
Then, as the manner of our country is,

In thy beft robes uncover'd on the bier,
Thou shalt be born to that fame ancient vault,
Where all the kindred of the Capulets lye.
In the mean time, against thou fhalt awake,
Shall Romeo by my letters Know our drift,
And hither fhall he come; and he and I
Will watch thy waking, and that very night
Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua;
If no unconftant toy nor womanish fear
Abate thy valour in the acting it.

Jul. Give me, oh give me, tell not me of fear.

[Taking the vial. Fri. Hold, get you gone, be ftrong and profperous

In this refolve; I'll fend a Friar with speed

To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.

[afford.

[Exeunt.

Jul. Love give me ftrength! and ftrength fhall help Farewel, dear father

SCENE II.

Capulet's House.

Enter Capulet, Lady Capulet, Nurfe, and two or three

Servants.

Cap. So many guests invite as here are writ ;
Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks. "

(a) twenty cunning cooks.

a

We

Ser. You fhall have none ill, Sir, for I'll try if they can lick their fingers.

Cap. How canft thou try them fo?

Ser. Marry, Sir, 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers: therefore he that cannot lick his fingers, goes not with me.

Cap. Go, be gone.

We fhall be much &c.

We fhall be much unfurnifh'd for this time:

What, is my daughter gone to Friar Lawrence?
Nurfe. Ay forfooth.

Cap. Well, he may chance to do fome good on her: A peevish felf-will'd harlotry it is.

Enter Juliet.

Nurfe. See where fhe comes from her confeffion. Cap. How now, my head-ftrong? where have you been gadding?

ful. Where I have learnt me to repent the fin Of disobedient oppofition

To you and your behefts; and am enjoyn'd
By holy Lawrence, to fall proftrate here,
And beg your pardon: pardon I beseech you!
Henceforward I am ever rul'd by you.

Cap. Send for the County, go, tell him of this,
I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning.
Jul. I met the youthful Lord at Lawrence' cell,
And gave him what becoming love I might,
Not stepping o'er the bounds of modefty.

Cap. Why, I am glad on't, this is well, ftand up;
This is as't fhould be; let me fee the County:
Ay marry, go I fay, and fetch him hither.
Now afore God, this reverend holy Friar,
All our whole city is much bound to him.

Jul. Nurfe, will you go with me into my closet,
To help me fort fuch needful ornaments
As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow?

La. Cap. No, not 'till Thursday, there is time enough.
Cap. Go, nurse, go with her; we'll to church to-morrow.
[Exeunt Juliet and Nurfe.
La. Cap. We fhall be fhort in our provifion;

'Tis now near night.

Cap. Tufh, I will stir about,

And all things fhall be well, I warrant thee, wife:

Go thou to Juliet, help to deck up her,

I'll not to bed to-night, let me alone:

T 4

I'll

I'll play the housewife for this once.
They are all forth; well, I will walk
To County Paris, to prepare him up

my

What, ho!

felf

Against to-morrow. My heart's wondrous light,
Since this fame way-ward girl is fo reclaim'd.

[Exeunt Capulet and Lady Capulet.

Ful. AY, thofe attires are best; but, gentle nurse,

I pray thee leave me to my felf to-night:

For I have need of many orifons

To move the heav'ns to fimile upon my state,
Which well thou know'ft is crofs and full of fin.

Enter Lady Capulet.

La. Cap. What, are you bufie, do you need my help?
Jul. No, Madam, we have cull'd fuch neceffaries
As are behoveful for our ftate to-morrow:

So please you, let me now be left alone,
And let the nurse this night fit up with you;
For I am fure you have your hands full all,
In this fo fudden bufinefs.

La. Cap. Good-night,

Get thee to bed and reft, for thou haft need.

[Exeunt.

Jul. Farewel-God knows, when we shall meet again!

I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins,

That almoft freezes up the heat of life.
I'll call them back again to comfort me.
Nurfe! what fhould fhe do here?
My difmal scene I needs must act alone :
Come, vial.

What if this mixture do not work at all?

Shalt

Shall I of force be marry'd to the Count?
No, no, this fhall forbid it; lye thou there

[Pointing to a dagger.

What if it be a poifon, which the Friar
Subtly hath miniftred, to have me dead,
Left in this marriage he should be dishonour'd,
Because he married me before to Romeo?

I fear it is; and yet methinks it fhould not,
For he hath still been tried a holy man.
How, if when I am laid into the tomb,

I wake before the time that Romeo

Comes to redeem me? there's a fearful point!
Shall I not then be ftifled in the vault,

To whofe foul mouth no healthfome air breathes in?
Or if I live, is it not very like,

The horrible conceit of death and night,

Together with the terror of the place,
(As in a vault, an ancient receptacle,
Where, for thefe many hundred years, the bones
Of all my buried ancestors are packt;

Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth,
Lyes feft'ring in his fhroud; where, as they fay,
At fome hours in the night fpirits refort--)
Alas, alas! is it not like, that I

So early waking, what with loathfome fmells,
And fhrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth,
That living mortals hearing them run mad
'Oh! if I wake, fhall I not be distraught,
(Invironed with all these hideous fears,)
And madly play with my fore-fathers joints,
And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud?
And in this rage, with fome great kinfman's bone
As with a club, dafh out my defp'rate brains?
O look! methinks I fee my cousin's ghoft
Seeking out Romeo Stay, Tybalt, stay!
Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee.

[She throws herfelf on the bed. SCENE