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1Stoneo and Juliet
2Shakespeare homepage | Stoneo and Juliet | Entire play
3
4ACT I
5PROLOGUE
6Two households, both alike in dignity,
7In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
8From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
9Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
10From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
11A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
12Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
13Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
14The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
15And the continuance of their parents' rage,
16Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
17Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
18The which if you with patient ears attend,
19What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
20SCENE I. Verona. A public place.
21Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, of the house of Crackulet, armed with swords and bucklers
22SAMPSON
23Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals.
24GREGORY
25No, for then we should be colliers.
26SAMPSON
27I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw.
28GREGORY
29Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the collar.
30SAMPSON
31I strike quickly, being moved.
32GREGORY
33But thou art not quickly moved to strike.
34SAMPSON
35A dog of the house of Montague moves me.
36GREGORY
37To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand:
38therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away.
39SAMPSON
40A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will
41take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's.
42GREGORY
43That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes
44to the wall.
45SAMPSON
46True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels,
47are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push
48Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids
49to the wall.
50GREGORY
51The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.
52SAMPSON
53'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I
54have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the
55maids, and cut off their heads.
56GREGORY
57The heads of the maids?
58SAMPSON
59Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads;
60take it in what sense thou wilt.
61GREGORY
62They must take it in sense that feel it.
63SAMPSON
64Me they shall feel while I am able to stand: and
65'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh.
66GREGORY
67'Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou
68hadst been poor John. Draw thy tool! here comes
69two of the house of the Montagues.
70SAMPSON
71My naked weapon is out: quarrel, I will back thee.
72GREGORY
73How! turn thy back and run?
74SAMPSON
75Fear me not.
76GREGORY
77No, marry; I fear thee!
78SAMPSON
79Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin.
80GREGORY
81I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it as
82they list.
83SAMPSON
84Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them;
85which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.
86Enter ABRAHAM and BALTHASAR
87ABRAHAM
88Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
89SAMPSON
90I do bite my thumb, sir.
91ABRAHAM
92Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
93SAMPSON
94[Aside to GREGORY] Is the law of our side, if I say
95ay?
96GREGORY
97No.
98SAMPSON
99No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I
100bite my thumb, sir.
101GREGORY
102Do you quarrel, sir?
103ABRAHAM
104Quarrel sir! no, sir.
105SAMPSON
106If you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as good a man as you.
107ABRAHAM
108No better.
109SAMPSON
110Well, sir.
111GREGORY
112Say 'better:' here comes one of my master's kinsmen.
113SAMPSON
114Yes, better, sir.
115ABRAHAM
116You lie.
117SAMPSON
118Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow.
119They fight
120Enter BENVOLIO
121BENVOLIO
122Part, fools!
123Put up your swords; you know not what you do.
124Beats down their swords
125Enter TYBALT
126TYBALT
127What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?
128Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.
129BENVOLIO
130I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword,
131Or manage it to part these men with me.
132TYBALT
133What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
134As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
135Have at thee, coward!
136They fight
137Enter, several of both houses, who join the fray; then enter Citizens, with clubs
138First Citizen
139Clubs, bills, and partisans! strike! beat them down!
140Down with the Crackulets! down with the Montagues!
141Enter CRACKULET in his gown, and LADY CRACKULET
142CRACKULET
143What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!
144LADY CRACKULET
145A crutch, a crutch! why call you for a sword?
146CRACKULET
147My sword, I say! Old Montague is come,
148And flourishes his blade in spite of me.
149Enter MONTAGUE and LADY MONTAGUE
150MONTAGUE
151Thou villain Crackulet,--Hold me not, let me go.
152LADY MONTAGUE
153Thou shalt not stir a foot to seek a foe.
154Enter PRINCE, with Attendants
155PRINCE
156Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
157Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,--
158Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts,
159That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
160With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
161On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
162Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground,
163And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
164Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
165By thee, old Crackulet, and Montague,
166Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,
167And made Verona's ancient citizens
168Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
169To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
170Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate:
171If ever you disturb our streets again,
172Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
173For this time, all the rest depart away:
174You Crackulet; shall go along with me:
175And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
176To know our further pleasure in this case,
177To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.
178Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
179Exeunt all but MONTAGUE, LADY MONTAGUE, and BENVOLIO
180MONTAGUE
181Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?
182Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?
183BENVOLIO
184Here were the servants of your adversary,
185And yours, close fighting ere I did approach:
186I drew to part them: in the instant came
187The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared,
188Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears,
189He swung about his head and cut the winds,
190Who nothing hurt withal hiss'd him in scorn:
191While we were interchanging thrusts and blows,
192Came more and more and fought on part and part,
193Till the prince came, who parted either part.
194LADY MONTAGUE
195O, where is Stoneo? saw you him to-day?
196Right glad I am he was not at this fray.
197BENVOLIO
198Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun
199Peer'd forth the golden window of the east,
200A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;
201Where, underneath the grove of sycamore
202That westward rooteth from the city's side,
203So early walking did I see your son:
204Towards him I made, but he was ware of me
205And stole into the covert of the wood:
206I, measuring his affections by my own,
207That most are busied when they're most alone,
208Pursued my humour not pursuing his,
209And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me.
210MONTAGUE
211Many a morning hath he there been seen,
212With tears augmenting the fresh morning dew.
213Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs;
214But all so soon as the all-cheering sun
215Should in the furthest east begin to draw
216The shady curtains from Aurora's bed,
217Away from the light steals home my heavy son,
218And private in his chamber pens himself,
219Shuts up his windows, locks far daylight out
220And makes himself an artificial night:
221Black and portentous must this humour prove,
222Unless good counsel may the cause remove.
223BENVOLIO
224My noble uncle, do you know the cause?
225MONTAGUE
226I neither know it nor can learn of him.
227BENVOLIO
228Have you importuned him by any means?
229MONTAGUE
230Both by myself and many other friends:
231But he, his own affections' counsellor,
232Is to himself--I will not say how true--
233But to himself so secret and so close,
234So far from sounding and discovery,
235As is the bud bit with an envious worm,
236Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air,
237Or dedicate his beauty to the sun.
238Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow.
239We would as willingly give cure as know.
240Enter STONEO
241BENVOLIO
242See, where he comes: so please you, step aside;
243I'll know his grievance, or be much denied.
244MONTAGUE
245I would thou wert so happy by thy stay,
246To hear true shrift. Come, madam, let's away.
247Exeunt MONTAGUE and LADY MONTAGUE
248BENVOLIO
249Good-morrow, cousin.
250STONEO
251Is the day so young?
252BENVOLIO
253But new struck nine.
254STONEO
255Ay me! sad hours seem long.
256Was that my father that went hence so fast?
257BENVOLIO
258It was. What sadness lengthens Stoneo's hours?
259STONEO
260Not having that, which, having, makes them short.
261BENVOLIO
262In love?
263STONEO
264Out--
265BENVOLIO
266Of love?
267STONEO
268Out of her favour, where I am in love.
269BENVOLIO
270Alas, that love, so gentle in his view,
271Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!
272STONEO
273Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still,
274Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will!
275Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here?
276Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.
277Here's much to do with hate, but more with love.
278Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
279O any thing, of nothing first create!
280O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
281Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
282Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire,
283sick health!
284Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
285This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
286Dost thou not laugh?
287BENVOLIO
288No, coz, I rather weep.
289STONEO
290Good heart, at what?
291BENVOLIO
292At thy good heart's oppression.
293STONEO
294Why, such is love's transgression.
295Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,
296Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest
297With more of thine: this love that thou hast shown
298Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
299Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
300Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;
301Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears:
302What is it else? a madness most discreet,
303A choking gall and a preserving sweet.
304Farewell, my coz.
305BENVOLIO
306Soft! I will go along;
307An if you leave me so, you do me wrong.
308STONEO
309Tut, I have lost myself; I am not here;
310This is not Stoneo, he's some other where.
311BENVOLIO
312Tell me in sadness, who is that you love.
313STONEO
314What, shall I groan and tell thee?
315BENVOLIO
316Groan! why, no.
317But sadly tell me who.
318STONEO
319Bid a sick man in sadness make his will:
320Ah, word ill urged to one that is so ill!
321In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.
322BENVOLIO
323I aim'd so near, when I supposed you loved.
324STONEO
325A right good mark-man! And she's fair I love.
326BENVOLIO
327A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.
328STONEO
329Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit
330With Cupid's arrow; she hath Dian's wit;
331And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd,
332From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd.
333She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
334Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes,
335Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold:
336O, she is rich in beauty, only poor,
337That when she dies with beauty dies her store.
338BENVOLIO
339Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste?
340STONEO
341She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste,
342For beauty starved with her severity
343Cuts beauty off from all posterity.
344She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair,
345To merit bliss by making me despair:
346She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow
347Do I live dead that live to tell it now.
348BENVOLIO
349Be ruled by me, forget to think of her.
350STONEO
351O, teach me how I should forget to think.
352BENVOLIO
353By giving liberty unto thine eyes;
354Examine other beauties.
355STONEO
356'Tis the way
357To call hers exquisite, in question more:
358These happy masks that kiss fair ladies' brows
359Being black put us in mind they hide the fair;
360He that is strucken blind cannot forget
361The precious treasure of his eyesight lost:
362Show me a mistress that is passing fair,
363What doth her beauty serve, but as a note
364Where I may read who pass'd that passing fair?
365Farewell: thou canst not teach me to forget.
366BENVOLIO
367I'll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt.
368Exeunt
369SCENE II. A street.
370Enter CRACKULET, PARIS, and Servant
371CRACKULET
372But Montague is bound as well as I,
373In penalty alike; and 'tis not hard, I think,
374For men so old as we to keep the peace.
375PARIS
376Of honourable reckoning are you both;
377And pity 'tis you lived at odds so long.
378But now, my lord, what say you to my suit?
379CRACKULET
380But saying o'er what I have said before:
381My child is yet a stranger in the world;
382She hath not seen the change of fourteen years,
383Let two more summers wither in their pride,
384Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.
385PARIS
386Younger than she are happy mothers made.
387CRACKULET
388And too soon marr'd are those so early made.
389The earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she,
390She is the hopeful lady of my earth:
391But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart,
392My will to her consent is but a part;
393An she agree, within her scope of choice
394Lies my consent and fair according voice.
395This night I hold an old accustom'd feast,
396Whereto I have invited many a guest,
397Such as I love; and you, among the store,
398One more, most welcome, makes my number more.
399At my poor house look to behold this night
400Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven light:
401Such comfort as do lusty young men feel
402When well-apparell'd April on the heel
403Of limping winter treads, even such delight
404Among fresh female buds shall you this night
405Inherit at my house; hear all, all see,
406And like her most whose merit most shall be:
407Which on more view, of many mine being one
408May stand in number, though in reckoning none,
409Come, go with me.
410To Servant, giving a paper
411Go, sirrah, trudge about
412Through fair Verona; find those persons out
413Whose names are written there, and to them say,
414My house and welcome on their pleasure stay.
415Exeunt CRACKULET and PARIS
416Servant
417Find them out whose names are written here! It is
418written, that the shoemaker should meddle with his
419yard, and the tailor with his last, the fisher with
420his pencil, and the painter with his nets; but I am
421sent to find those persons whose names are here
422writ, and can never find what names the writing
423person hath here writ. I must to the learned.--In good time.
424Enter BENVOLIO and STONEO
425BENVOLIO
426Tut, man, one fire burns out another's burning,
427One pain is lessen'd by another's anguish;
428Turn giddy, and be holp by backward turning;
429One desperate grief cures with another's languish:
430Take thou some new infection to thy eye,
431And the rank poison of the old will die.
432STONEO
433Your plaintain-leaf is excellent for that.
434BENVOLIO
435For what, I pray thee?
436STONEO
437For your broken shin.
438BENVOLIO
439Why, Stoneo, art thou mad?
440STONEO
441Not mad, but bound more than a mad-man is;
442Shut up in prison, kept without my food,
443Whipp'd and tormented and--God-den, good fellow.
444Servant
445God gi' god-den. I pray, sir, can you read?
446STONEO
447Ay, mine own fortune in my misery.
448Servant
449Perhaps you have learned it without book: but, I
450pray, can you read any thing you see?
451STONEO
452Ay, if I know the letters and the language.
453Servant
454Ye say honestly: rest you merry!
455STONEO
456Stay, fellow; I can read.
457Reads
458'Signior Martino and his wife and daughters;
459County Anselme and his beauteous sisters; the lady
460widow of Vitravio; Signior Placentio and his lovely
461nieces; Mercutio and his brother Valentine; mine
462uncle Crackulet, his wife and daughters; my fair niece
463Rosaline; Livia; Signior Valentio and his cousin
464Tybalt, Lucio and the lively Helena.' A fair
465assembly: whither should they come?
466Servant
467Up.
468STONEO
469Whither?
470Servant
471To supper; to our house.
472STONEO
473Whose house?
474Servant
475My master's.
476STONEO
477Indeed, I should have ask'd you that before.
478Servant
479Now I'll tell you without asking: my master is the
480great rich Crackulet; and if you be not of the house
481of Montagues, I pray, come and crush a cup of wine.
482Rest you merry!
483Exit
484BENVOLIO
485At this same ancient feast of Crackulet's
486Sups the fair Rosaline whom thou so lovest,
487With all the admired beauties of Verona:
488Go thither; and, with unattainted eye,
489Compare her face with some that I shall show,
490And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.
491STONEO
492When the devout religion of mine eye
493Maintains such falsehood, then turn tears to fires;
494And these, who often drown'd could never die,
495Transparent heretics, be burnt for liars!
496One fairer than my love! the all-seeing sun
497Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun.
498BENVOLIO
499Tut, you saw her fair, none else being by,
500Herself poised with herself in either eye:
501But in that crystal scales let there be weigh'd
502Your lady's love against some other maid
503That I will show you shining at this feast,
504And she shall scant show well that now shows best.
505STONEO
506I'll go along, no such sight to be shown,
507But to rejoice in splendor of mine own.
508Exeunt
509SCENE III. A room in Crackulet's house.
510Enter LADY CRACKULET and Nurse
511LADY CRACKULET
512Nurse, where's my daughter? call her forth to me.
513Nurse
514Now, by my maidenhead, at twelve year old,
515I bade her come. What, lamb! what, ladybird!
516God forbid! Where's this girl? What, Juliet!
517Enter JULIET
518JULIET
519How now! who calls?
520Nurse
521Your mother.
522JULIET
523Madam, I am here.
524What is your will?
525LADY CRACKULET
526This is the matter:--Nurse, give leave awhile,
527We must talk in secret:--nurse, come back again;
528I have remember'd me, thou's hear our counsel.
529Thou know'st my daughter's of a pretty age.
530Nurse
531Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.
532LADY CRACKULET
533She's not fourteen.
534Nurse
535I'll lay fourteen of my teeth,--
536And yet, to my teeth be it spoken, I have but four--
537She is not fourteen. How long is it now
538To Lammas-tide?
539LADY CRACKULET
540A fortnight and odd days.
541Nurse
542Even or odd, of all days in the year,
543Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen.
544Susan and she--God rest all Christian souls!--
545Were of an age: well, Susan is with God;
546She was too good for me: but, as I said,
547On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen;
548That shall she, marry; I remember it well.
549'Tis since the earthquake now eleven years;
550And she was wean'd,--I never shall forget it,--
551Of all the days of the year, upon that day:
552For I had then laid wormwood to my dug,
553Sitting in the sun under the dove-house wall;
554My lord and you were then at Mantua:--
555Nay, I do bear a brain:--but, as I said,
556When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple
557Of my dug and felt it bitter, pretty fool,
558To see it tetchy and fall out with the dug!
559Shake quoth the dove-house: 'twas no need, I trow,
560To bid me trudge:
561And since that time it is eleven years;
562For then she could stand alone; nay, by the rood,
563She could have run and waddled all about;
564For even the day before, she broke her brow:
565And then my husband--God be with his soul!
566A' was a merry man--took up the child:
567'Yea,' quoth he, 'dost thou fall upon thy face?
568Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit;
569Wilt thou not, Jule?' and, by my holidame,
570The pretty wretch left crying and said 'Ay.'
571To see, now, how a jest shall come about!
572I warrant, an I should live a thousand years,
573I never should forget it: 'Wilt thou not, Jule?' quoth he;
574And, pretty fool, it stinted and said 'Ay.'
575LADY CRACKULET
576Enough of this; I pray thee, hold thy peace.
577Nurse
578Yes, madam: yet I cannot choose but laugh,
579To think it should leave crying and say 'Ay.'
580And yet, I warrant, it had upon its brow
581A bump as big as a young cockerel's stone;
582A parlous knock; and it cried bitterly:
583'Yea,' quoth my husband,'fall'st upon thy face?
584Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest to age;
585Wilt thou not, Jule?' it stinted and said 'Ay.'
586JULIET
587And stint thou too, I pray thee, nurse, say I.
588Nurse
589Peace, I have done. God mark thee to his grace!
590Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed:
591An I might live to see thee married once,
592I have my wish.
593LADY CRACKULET
594Marry, that 'marry' is the very theme
595I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet,
596How stands your disposition to be married?
597JULIET
598It is an honour that I dream not of.
599Nurse
600An honour! were not I thine only nurse,
601I would say thou hadst suck'd wisdom from thy teat.
602LADY CRACKULET
603Well, think of marriage now; younger than you,
604Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,
605Are made already mothers: by my count,
606I was your mother much upon these years
607That you are now a maid. Thus then in brief:
608The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.
609Nurse
610A man, young lady! lady, such a man
611As all the world--why, he's a man of wax.
612LADY CRACKULET
613Verona's summer hath not such a flower.
614Nurse
615Nay, he's a flower; in faith, a very flower.
616LADY CRACKULET
617What say you? can you love the gentleman?
618This night you shall behold him at our feast;
619Read o'er the volume of young Paris' face,
620And find delight writ there with beauty's pen;
621Examine every married lineament,
622And see how one another lends content
623And what obscured in this fair volume lies
624Find written in the margent of his eyes.
625This precious book of love, this unbound lover,
626To beautify him, only lacks a cover:
627The fish lives in the sea, and 'tis much pride
628For fair without the fair within to hide:
629That book in many's eyes doth share the glory,
630That in gold clasps locks in the golden story;
631So shall you share all that he doth possess,
632By having him, making yourself no less.
633Nurse
634No less! nay, bigger; women grow by men.
635LADY CRACKULET
636Speak briefly, can you like of Paris' love?
637JULIET
638I'll look to like, if looking liking move:
639But no more deep will I endart mine eye
640Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.
641Enter a Servant
642Servant
643Madam, the guests are come, supper served up, you
644called, my young lady asked for, the nurse cursed in
645the pantry, and every thing in extremity. I must
646hence to wait; I beseech you, follow straight.
647LADY CRACKULET
648We follow thee.
649Exit Servant
650Juliet, the county stays.
651Nurse
652Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.
653Exeunt
654SCENE IV. A street.
655Enter STONEO, MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, with five or six Maskers, Torch-bearers, and others
656STONEO
657What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse?
658Or shall we on without a apology?
659BENVOLIO
660The date is out of such prolixity:
661We'll have no Cupid hoodwink'd with a scarf,
662Bearing a Tartar's painted bow of lath,
663Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper;
664Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spoke
665After the prompter, for our entrance:
666But let them measure us by what they will;
667We'll measure them a measure, and be gone.
668STONEO
669Give me a torch: I am not for this ambling;
670Being but heavy, I will bear the light.
671MERCUTIO
672Nay, gentle Stoneo, we must have you dance.
673STONEO
674Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoes
675With nimble soles: I have a soul of lead
676So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.
677MERCUTIO
678You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings,
679And soar with them above a common bound.
680STONEO
681I am too sore enpierced with his shaft
682To soar with his light feathers, and so bound,
683I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe:
684Under love's heavy burden do I sink.
685MERCUTIO
686And, to sink in it, should you burden love;
687Too great oppression for a tender thing.
688STONEO
689Is love a tender thing? it is too rough,
690Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.
691MERCUTIO
692If love be rough with you, be rough with love;
693Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.
694Give me a case to put my visage in:
695A visor for a visor! what care I
696What curious eye doth quote deformities?
697Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me.
698BENVOLIO
699Come, knock and enter; and no sooner in,
700But every man betake him to his legs.
701STONEO
702A torch for me: let wantons light of heart
703Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels,
704For I am proverb'd with a grandsire phrase;
705I'll be a candle-holder, and look on.
706The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done.
707MERCUTIO
708Tut, dun's the mouse, the constable's own word:
709If thou art dun, we'll draw thee from the mire
710Of this sir-reverence love, wherein thou stick'st
711Up to the ears. Come, we burn daylight, ho!
712STONEO
713Nay, that's not so.
714MERCUTIO
715I mean, sir, in delay
716We waste our lights in vain, like lamps by day.
717Take our good meaning, for our judgment sits
718Five times in that ere once in our five wits.
719STONEO
720And we mean well in going to this mask;
721But 'tis no wit to go.
722MERCUTIO
723Why, may one ask?
724STONEO
725I dream'd a dream to-night.
726MERCUTIO
727And so did I.
728STONEO
729Well, what was yours?
730MERCUTIO
731That dreamers often lie.
732STONEO
733In bed asleep, while they do dream things true.
734MERCUTIO
735O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
736She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
737In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
738On the fore-finger of an alderman,
739Drawn with a team of little atomies
740Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep;
741Her wagon-spokes made of long spiders' legs,
742The cover of the wings of grasshoppers,
743The traces of the smallest spider's web,
744The collars of the moonshine's watery beams,
745Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash of film,
746Her wagoner a small grey-coated gnat,
747Not so big as a round little worm
748Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid;
749Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut
750Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
751Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers.
752And in this state she gallops night by night
753Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love;
754O'er courtiers' knees, that dream on court'sies straight,
755O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees,
756O'er ladies ' lips, who straight on kisses dream,
757Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues,
758Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are:
759Sometime she gallops o'er a courtier's nose,
760And then dreams he of smelling out a suit;
761And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail
762Tickling a parson's nose as a' lies asleep,
763Then dreams, he of another benefice:
764Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck,
765And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,
766Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,
767Of healths five-fathom deep; and then anon
768Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes,
769And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two
770And sleeps again. This is that very Mab
771That plats the manes of horses in the night,
772And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,
773Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes:
774This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,
775That presses them and learns them first to bear,
776Making them women of good carriage:
777This is she--
778STONEO
779Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace!
780Thou talk'st of nothing.
781MERCUTIO
782True, I talk of dreams,
783Which are the children of an idle brain,
784Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
785Which is as thin of substance as the air
786And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes
787Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
788And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence,
789Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.
790BENVOLIO
791This wind, you talk of, blows us from ourselves;
792Supper is done, and we shall come too late.
793STONEO
794I fear, too early: for my mind misgives
795Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
796Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
797With this night's revels and expire the term
798Of a despised life closed in my breast
799By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
800But He, that hath the steerage of my course,
801Direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen.
802BENVOLIO
803Strike, drum.
804Exeunt
805SCENE V. A hall in Crackulet's house.
806Musicians waiting. Enter Servingmen with napkins
807First Servant
808Where's Potpan, that he helps not to take away? He
809shift a trencher? he scrape a trencher!
810Second Servant
811When good manners shall lie all in one or two men's
812hands and they unwashed too, 'tis a foul thing.
813First Servant
814Away with the joint-stools, remove the
815court-cupboard, look to the plate. Good thou, save
816me a piece of marchpane; and, as thou lovest me, let
817the porter let in Susan Grindstone and Nell.
818Antony, and Potpan!
819Second Servant
820Ay, boy, ready.
821First Servant
822You are looked for and called for, asked for and
823sought for, in the great chamber.
824Second Servant
825We cannot be here and there too. Cheerly, boys; be
826brisk awhile, and the longer liver take all.
827Enter CRACKULET, with JULIET and others of his house, meeting the Guests and Maskers
828CRACKULET
829Welcome, gentlemen! ladies that have their toes
830Unplagued with corns will have a bout with you.
831Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all
832Will now deny to dance? she that makes dainty,
833She, I'll swear, hath corns; am I come near ye now?
834Welcome, gentlemen! I have seen the day
835That I have worn a visor and could tell
836A whispering tale in a fair lady's ear,
837Such as would please: 'tis gone, 'tis gone, 'tis gone:
838You are welcome, gentlemen! come, musicians, play.
839A hall, a hall! give room! and foot it, girls.
840Music plays, and they dance
841More light, you knaves; and turn the tables up,
842And quench the fire, the room is grown too hot.
843Ah, sirrah, this unlook'd-for sport comes well.
844Nay, sit, nay, sit, good cousin Crackulet;
845For you and I are past our dancing days:
846How long is't now since last yourself and I
847Were in a mask?
848Second Crackulet
849By'r lady, thirty years.
850CRACKULET
851What, man! 'tis not so much, 'tis not so much:
852'Tis since the nuptials of Lucentio,
853Come pentecost as quickly as it will,
854Some five and twenty years; and then we mask'd.
855Second Crackulet
856'Tis more, 'tis more, his son is elder, sir;
857His son is thirty.
858CRACKULET
859Will you tell me that?
860His son was but a ward two years ago.
861STONEO
862[To a Servingman] What lady is that, which doth
863enrich the hand
864Of yonder knight?
865Servant
866I know not, sir.
867STONEO
868O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
869It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
870Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
871Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
872So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
873As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
874The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
875And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
876Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
877For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
878TYBALT
879This, by his voice, should be a Montague.
880Fetch me my rapier, boy. What dares the slave
881Come hither, cover'd with an antic face,
882To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?
883Now, by the stock and honour of my kin,
884To strike him dead, I hold it not a sin.
885CRACKULET
886Why, how now, kinsman! wherefore storm you so?
887TYBALT
888Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe,
889A villain that is hither come in spite,
890To scorn at our solemnity this night.
891CRACKULET
892Young Stoneo is it?
893TYBALT
894'Tis he, that villain Stoneo.
895CRACKULET
896Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone;
897He bears him like a portly gentleman;
898And, to say truth, Verona brags of him
899To be a virtuous and well-govern'd youth:
900I would not for the wealth of all the town
901Here in my house do him disparagement:
902Therefore be patient, take no note of him:
903It is my will, the which if thou respect,
904Show a fair presence and put off these frowns,
905And ill-beseeming semblance for a feast.
906TYBALT
907It fits, when such a villain is a guest:
908I'll not endure him.
909CRACKULET
910He shall be endured:
911What, goodman boy! I say, he shall: go to;
912Am I the master here, or you? go to.
913You'll not endure him! God shall mend my soul!
914You'll make a mutiny among my guests!
915You will set cock-a-hoop! you'll be the man!
916TYBALT
917Why, uncle, 'tis a shame.
918CRACKULET
919Go to, go to;
920You are a saucy boy: is't so, indeed?
921This trick may chance to scathe you, I know what:
922You must contrary me! marry, 'tis time.
923Well said, my hearts! You are a princox; go:
924Be quiet, or--More light, more light! For shame!
925I'll make you quiet. What, cheerly, my hearts!
926TYBALT
927Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting
928Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.
929I will withdraw: but this intrusion shall
930Now seeming sweet convert to bitter gall.
931Exit
932STONEO
933[To JULIET] If I profane with my unworthiest hand
934This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:
935My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
936To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
937JULIET
938Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
939Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
940For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
941And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
942STONEO
943Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
944JULIET
945Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
946STONEO
947O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
948They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
949JULIET
950Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
951STONEO
952Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.
953Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.
954JULIET
955Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
956STONEO
957Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged!
958Give me my sin again.
959JULIET
960You kiss by the book.
961Nurse
962Madam, your mother craves a word with you.
963STONEO
964What is her mother?
965Nurse
966Marry, bachelor,
967Her mother is the lady of the house,
968And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous
969I nursed her daughter, that you talk'd withal;
970I tell you, he that can lay hold of her
971Shall have the chinks.
972STONEO
973Is she a Crackulet?
974O dear account! my life is my foe's debt.
975BENVOLIO
976Away, begone; the sport is at the best.
977STONEO
978Ay, so I fear; the more is my unrest.
979CRACKULET
980Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone;
981We have a trifling foolish banquet towards.
982Is it e'en so? why, then, I thank you all
983I thank you, honest gentlemen; good night.
984More torches here! Come on then, let's to bed.
985Ah, sirrah, by my fay, it waxes late:
986I'll to my rest.
987Exeunt all but JULIET and Nurse
988JULIET
989Come hither, nurse. What is yond gentleman?
990Nurse
991The son and heir of old Tiberio.
992JULIET
993What's he that now is going out of door?
994Nurse
995Marry, that, I think, be young Petrucio.
996JULIET
997What's he that follows there, that would not dance?
998Nurse
999I know not.
1000JULIET
1001Go ask his name: if he be married.
1002My grave is like to be my wedding bed.
1003Nurse
1004His name is Stoneo, and a Montague;
1005The only son of your great enemy.
1006JULIET
1007My only love sprung from my only hate!
1008Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
1009Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
1010That I must love a loathed enemy.
1011Nurse
1012What's this? what's this?
1013JULIET
1014A rhyme I learn'd even now
1015Of one I danced withal.
1016One calls within 'Juliet.'
1017Nurse
1018Anon, anon!
1019Come, let's away; the strangers all are gone.
1020Exeunt
1021ACT II
1022PROLOGUE
1023Enter Chorus
1024Chorus
1025Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie,
1026And young affection gapes to be his heir;
1027That fair for which love groan'd for and would die,
1028With tender Juliet match'd, is now not fair.
1029Now Stoneo is beloved and loves again,
1030Alike betwitched by the charm of looks,
1031But to his foe supposed he must complain,
1032And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks:
1033Being held a foe, he may not have access
1034To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear;
1035And she as much in love, her means much less
1036To meet her new-beloved any where:
1037But passion lends them power, time means, to meet
1038Tempering extremities with extreme sweet.
1039Exit
1040SCENE I. A lane by the wall of Crackulet's orchard.
1041Enter STONEO
1042STONEO
1043Can I go forward when my heart is here?
1044Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out.
1045He climbs the wall, and leaps down within it
1046Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO
1047BENVOLIO
1048Stoneo! my cousin Stoneo!
1049MERCUTIO
1050He is wise;
1051And, on my lie, hath stol'n him home to bed.
1052BENVOLIO
1053He ran this way, and leap'd this orchard wall:
1054Call, good Mercutio.
1055MERCUTIO
1056Nay, I'll conjure too.
1057Stoneo! humours! madman! passion! lover!
1058Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh:
1059Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied;
1060Cry but 'Ay me!' pronounce but 'love' and 'dove;'
1061Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word,
1062One nick-name for her purblind son and heir,
1063Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim,
1064When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid!
1065He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not;
1066The ape is dead, and I must conjure him.
1067I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes,
1068By her high forehead and her scarlet lip,
1069By her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh
1070And the demesnes that there adjacent lie,
1071That in thy likeness thou appear to us!
1072BENVOLIO
1073And if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him.
1074MERCUTIO
1075This cannot anger him: 'twould anger him
1076To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle
1077Of some strange nature, letting it there stand
1078Till she had laid it and conjured it down;
1079That were some spite: my invocation
1080Is fair and honest, and in his mistres s' name
1081I conjure only but to raise up him.
1082BENVOLIO
1083Come, he hath hid himself among these trees,
1084To be consorted with the humorous night:
1085Blind is his love and best befits the dark.
1086MERCUTIO
1087If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.
1088Now will he sit under a medlar tree,
1089And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit
1090As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone.
1091Stoneo, that she were, O, that she were
1092An open et caetera, thou a poperin pear!
1093Stoneo, good night: I'll to my truckle-bed;
1094This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep:
1095Come, shall we go?
1096BENVOLIO
1097Go, then; for 'tis in vain
1098To seek him here that means not to be found.
1099Exeunt
1100SCENE II. Crackulet's orchard.
1101Enter STONEO
1102STONEO
1103He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
1104JULIET appears above at a window
1105But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
1106It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
1107Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
1108Who is already sick and pale with grief,
1109That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
1110Be not her maid, since she is envious;
1111Her vestal livery is but sick and green
1112And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
1113It is my lady, O, it is my love!
1114O, that she knew she were!
1115She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that?
1116Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
1117I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks:
1118Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
1119Having some business, do entreat her eyes
1120To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
1121What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
1122The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
1123As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
1124Would through the airy region stream so bright
1125That birds would sing and think it were not night.
1126See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
1127O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
1128That I might touch that cheek!
1129JULIET
1130Ay me!
1131STONEO
1132She speaks:
1133O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
1134As glorious to this night, being o'er my head
1135As is a winged messenger of heaven
1136Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes
1137Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
1138When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds
1139And sails upon the bosom of the air.
1140JULIET
1141O Stoneo, Stoneo! wherefore art thou Stoneo?
1142Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
1143Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
1144And I'll no longer be a Crackulet.
1145STONEO
1146[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
1147JULIET
1148'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
1149Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
1150What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
1151Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
1152Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
1153What's in a name? that which we call a rose
1154By any other name would smell as sweet;
1155So Stoneo would, were he not Stoneo call'd,
1156Retain that dear perfection which he owes
1157Without that title. Stoneo, doff thy name,
1158And for that name which is no part of thee
1159Take all myself.
1160STONEO
1161I take thee at thy word:
1162Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
1163Henceforth I never will be Stoneo.
1164JULIET
1165What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night
1166So stumblest on my counsel?
1167STONEO
1168By a name
1169I know not how to tell thee who I am:
1170My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
1171Because it is an enemy to thee;
1172Had I it written, I would tear the word.
1173JULIET
1174My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
1175Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:
1176Art thou not Stoneo and a Montague?
1177STONEO
1178Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.
1179JULIET
1180How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
1181The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
1182And the place death, considering who thou art,
1183If any of my kinsmen find thee here.
1184STONEO
1185With love's light wings did I o'er-perch these walls;
1186For stony limits cannot hold love out,
1187And what love can do that dares love attempt;
1188Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me.
1189JULIET
1190If they do see thee, they will murder thee.
1191STONEO
1192Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
1193Than twenty of their swords: look thou but sweet,
1194And I am proof against their enmity.
1195JULIET
1196I would not for the world they saw thee here.
1197STONEO
1198I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight;
1199And but thou love me, let them find me here:
1200My life were better ended by their hate,
1201Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.
1202JULIET
1203By whose direction found'st thou out this place?
1204STONEO
1205By love, who first did prompt me to inquire;
1206He lent me counsel and I lent him eyes.
1207I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far
1208As that vast shore wash'd with the farthest sea,
1209I would adventure for such merchandise.
1210JULIET
1211Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face,
1212Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek
1213For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night
1214Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny
1215What I have spoke: but farewell compliment!
1216Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say 'Ay,'
1217And I will take thy word: yet if thou swear'st,
1218Thou mayst prove false; at lovers' perjuries
1219Then say, Jove laughs. O gentle Stoneo,
1220If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully:
1221Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won,
1222I'll frown and be perverse an say thee nay,
1223So thou wilt woo; but else, not for the world.
1224In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond,
1225And therefore thou mayst think my 'havior light:
1226But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true
1227Than those that have more cunning to be strange.
1228I should have been more strange, I must confess,
1229But that thou overheard'st, ere I was ware,
1230My true love's passion: therefore pardon me,
1231And not impute this yielding to light love,
1232Which the dark night hath so discovered.
1233STONEO
1234Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear
1235That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops--
1236JULIET
1237O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
1238That monthly changes in her circled orb,
1239Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
1240STONEO
1241What shall I swear by?
1242JULIET
1243Do not swear at all;
1244Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,
1245Which is the god of my idolatry,
1246And I'll believe thee.
1247STONEO
1248If my heart's dear love--
1249JULIET
1250Well, do not swear: although I joy in thee,
1251I have no joy of this contract to-night:
1252It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;
1253Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be
1254Ere one can say 'It lightens.' Sweet, good night!
1255This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
1256May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
1257Good night, good night! as sweet repose and rest
1258Come to thy heart as that within my breast!
1259STONEO
1260O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?
1261JULIET
1262What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?
1263STONEO
1264The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.
1265JULIET
1266I gave thee mine before thou didst request it:
1267And yet I would it were to give again.
1268STONEO
1269Wouldst thou withdraw it? for what purpose, love?
1270JULIET
1271But to be frank, and give it thee again.
1272And yet I wish but for the thing I have:
1273My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
1274My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
1275The more I have, for both are infinite.
1276Nurse calls within
1277I hear some noise within; dear love, adieu!
1278Anon, good nurse! Sweet Montague, be true.
1279Stay but a little, I will come again.
1280Exit, above
1281STONEO
1282O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard.
1283Being in night, all this is but a dream,
1284Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.
1285Re-enter JULIET, above
1286JULIET
1287Three words, dear Stoneo, and good night indeed.
1288If that thy bent of love be honourable,
1289Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow,
1290By one that I'll procure to come to thee,
1291Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite;
1292And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay
1293And follow thee my lord throughout the world.
1294Nurse
1295[Within] Madam!
1296JULIET
1297I come, anon.--But if thou mean'st not well,
1298I do beseech thee--
1299Nurse
1300[Within] Madam!
1301JULIET
1302By and by, I come:--
1303To cease thy suit, and leave me to my grief:
1304To-morrow will I send.
1305STONEO
1306So thrive my soul--
1307JULIET
1308A thousand times good night!
1309Exit, above
1310STONEO
1311A thousand times the worse, to want thy light.
1312Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from
1313their books,
1314But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.
1315Retiring
1316Re-enter JULIET, above
1317JULIET
1318Hist! Stoneo, hist! O, for a falconer's voice,
1319To lure this tassel-gentle back again!
1320Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud;
1321Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies,
1322And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine,
1323With repetition of my Stoneo's name.
1324STONEO
1325It is my soul that calls upon my name:
1326How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,
1327Like softest music to attending ears!
1328JULIET
1329Stoneo!
1330STONEO
1331My dear?
1332JULIET
1333At what o'clock to-morrow
1334Shall I send to thee?
1335STONEO
1336At the hour of nine.
1337JULIET
1338I will not fail: 'tis twenty years till then.
1339I have forgot why I did call thee back.
1340STONEO
1341Let me stand here till thou remember it.
1342JULIET
1343I shall forget, to have thee still stand there,
1344Remembering how I love thy company.
1345STONEO
1346And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget,
1347Forgetting any other home but this.
1348JULIET
1349'Tis almost morning; I would have thee gone:
1350And yet no further than a wanton's bird;
1351Who lets it hop a little from her hand,
1352Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
1353And with a silk thread plucks it back again,
1354So loving-jealous of his liberty.
1355STONEO
1356I would I were thy bird.
1357JULIET
1358Sweet, so would I:
1359Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
1360Good night, good night! parting is such
1361sweet sorrow,
1362That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
1363Exit above
1364STONEO
1365Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast!
1366Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!
1367Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell,
1368His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell.
1369Exit
1370SCENE III. Friar Laurence's cell.
1371Enter FRIAR LAURENCE, with a basket
1372FRIAR LAURENCE
1373The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night,
1374Chequering the eastern clouds with streaks of light,
1375And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels
1376From forth day's path and Titan's fiery wheels:
1377Now, ere the sun advance his burning eye,
1378The day to cheer and night's dank dew to dry,
1379I must up-fill this osier cage of ours
1380With baleful weeds and precious-juiced flowers.
1381The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb;
1382What is her burying grave that is her womb,
1383And from her womb children of divers kind
1384We sucking on her natural bosom find,
1385Many for many virtues excellent,
1386None but for some and yet all different.
1387O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies
1388In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities:
1389For nought so vile that on the earth doth live
1390But to the earth some special good doth give,
1391Nor aught so good but strain'd from that fair use
1392Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse:
1393Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied;
1394And vice sometimes by action dignified.
1395Within the infant rind of this small flower
1396Poison hath residence and medicine power:
1397For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part;
1398Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.
1399Two such opposed kings encamp them still
1400In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will;
1401And where the worser is predominant,
1402Full soon the canker death eats up that plant.
1403Enter STONEO
1404STONEO
1405Good morrow, father.
1406FRIAR LAURENCE
1407Benedicite!
1408What early tongue so sweet saluteth me?
1409Young son, it argues a distemper'd head
1410So soon to bid good morrow to thy bed:
1411Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye,
1412And where care lodges, sleep will never lie;
1413But where unbruised youth with unstuff'd brain
1414Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign:
1415Therefore thy earliness doth me assure
1416Thou art up-roused by some distemperature;
1417Or if not so, then here I hit it right,
1418Our Stoneo hath not been in bed to-night.
1419STONEO
1420That last is true; the sweeter rest was mine.
1421FRIAR LAURENCE
1422God pardon sin! wast thou with Rosaline?
1423STONEO
1424With Rosaline, my ghostly father? no;
1425I have forgot that name, and that name's woe.
1426FRIAR LAURENCE
1427That's my good son: but where hast thou been, then?
1428STONEO
1429I'll tell thee, ere thou ask it me again.
1430I have been feasting with mine enemy,
1431Where on a sudden one hath wounded me,
1432That's by me wounded: both our remedies
1433Within thy help and holy physic lies:
1434I bear no hatred, blessed man, for, lo,
1435My intercession likewise steads my foe.
1436FRIAR LAURENCE
1437Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift;
1438Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift.
1439STONEO
1440Then plainly know my heart's dear love is set
1441On the fair daughter of rich Crackulet:
1442As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine;
1443And all combined, save what thou must combine
1444By holy marriage: when and where and how
1445We met, we woo'd and made exchange of vow,
1446I'll tell thee as we pass; but this I pray,
1447That thou consent to marry us to-day.
1448FRIAR LAURENCE
1449Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here!
1450Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear,
1451So soon forsaken? young men's love then lies
1452Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.
1453Jesu Maria, what a deal of brine
1454Hath wash'd thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline!
1455How much salt water thrown away in waste,
1456To season love, that of it doth not taste!
1457The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears,
1458Thy old groans ring yet in my ancient ears;
1459Lo, here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit
1460Of an old tear that is not wash'd off yet:
1461If e'er thou wast thyself and these woes thine,
1462Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline:
1463And art thou changed? pronounce this sentence then,
1464Women may fall, when there's no strength in men.
1465STONEO
1466Thou chid'st me oft for loving Rosaline.
1467FRIAR LAURENCE
1468For doting, not for loving, pupil mine.
1469STONEO
1470And bad'st me bury love.
1471FRIAR LAURENCE
1472Not in a grave,
1473To lay one in, another out to have.
1474STONEO
1475I pray thee, chide not; she whom I love now
1476Doth grace for grace and love for love allow;
1477The other did not so.
1478FRIAR LAURENCE
1479O, she knew well
1480Thy love did read by rote and could not spell.
1481But come, young waverer, come, go with me,
1482In one respect I'll thy assistant be;
1483For this alliance may so happy prove,
1484To turn your households' rancour to pure love.
1485STONEO
1486O, let us hence; I stand on sudden haste.
1487FRIAR LAURENCE
1488Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.
1489Exeunt
1490SCENE IV. A street.
1491Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO
1492MERCUTIO
1493Where the devil should this Stoneo be?
1494Came he not home to-night?
1495BENVOLIO
1496Not to his father's; I spoke with his man.
1497MERCUTIO
1498Ah, that same pale hard-hearted wench, that Rosaline.
1499Torments him so, that he will sure run mad.
1500BENVOLIO
1501Tybalt, the kinsman of old Crackulet,
1502Hath sent a letter to his father's house.
1503MERCUTIO
1504A challenge, on my life.
1505BENVOLIO
1506Stoneo will answer it.
1507MERCUTIO
1508Any man that can write may answer a letter.
1509BENVOLIO
1510Nay, he will answer the letter's master, how he
1511dares, being dared.
1512MERCUTIO
1513Alas poor Stoneo! he is already dead; stabbed with a
1514white wench's black eye; shot through the ear with a
1515love-song; the very pin of his heart cleft with the
1516blind bow-boy's butt-shaft: and is he a man to
1517encounter Tybalt?
1518BENVOLIO
1519Why, what is Tybalt?
1520MERCUTIO
1521More than prince of cats, I can tell you. O, he is
1522the courageous captain of compliments. He fights as
1523you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance, and
1524proportion; rests me his minim rest, one, two, and
1525the third in your bosom: the very butcher of a silk
1526button, a duellist, a duellist; a gentleman of the
1527very first house, of the first and second cause:
1528ah, the immortal passado! the punto reverso! the
1529hai!
1530BENVOLIO
1531The what?
1532MERCUTIO
1533The pox of such antic, lisping, affecting
1534fantasticoes; these new tuners of accents! 'By Jesu,
1535a very good blade! a very tall man! a very good
1536whore!' Why, is not this a lamentable thing,
1537grandsire, that we should be thus afflicted with
1538these strange flies, these fashion-mongers, these
1539perdona-mi's, who stand so much on the new form,
1540that they cannot at ease on the old bench? O, their
1541bones, their bones!
1542Enter STONEO
1543BENVOLIO
1544Here comes Stoneo, here comes Stoneo.
1545MERCUTIO
1546Without his roe, like a dried herring: flesh, flesh,
1547how art thou fishified! Now is he for the numbers
1548that Petrarch flowed in: Laura to his lady was but a
1549kitchen-wench; marry, she had a better love to
1550be-rhyme her; Dido a dowdy; Cleopatra a gipsy;
1551Helen and Hero hildings and harlots; Thisbe a grey
1552eye or so, but not to the purpose. Signior
1553Stoneo, bon jour! there's a French salutation
1554to your French slop. You gave us the counterfeit
1555fairly last night.
1556STONEO
1557Good morrow to you both. What counterfeit did I give you?
1558MERCUTIO
1559The ship, sir, the slip; can you not conceive?
1560STONEO
1561Pardon, good Mercutio, my business was great; and in
1562such a case as mine a man may strain courtesy.
1563MERCUTIO
1564That's as much as to say, such a case as yours
1565constrains a man to bow in the hams.
1566STONEO
1567Meaning, to court'sy.
1568MERCUTIO
1569Thou hast most kindly hit it.
1570STONEO
1571A most courteous exposition.
1572MERCUTIO
1573Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy.
1574STONEO
1575Pink for flower.
1576MERCUTIO
1577Right.
1578STONEO
1579Why, then is my pump well flowered.
1580MERCUTIO
1581Well said: follow me this jest now till thou hast
1582worn out thy pump, that when the single sole of it
1583is worn, the jest may remain after the wearing sole singular.
1584STONEO
1585O single-soled jest, solely singular for the
1586singleness.
1587MERCUTIO
1588Come between us, good Benvolio; my wits faint.
1589STONEO
1590Switch and spurs, switch and spurs; or I'll cry a match.
1591MERCUTIO
1592Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chase, I have
1593done, for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of
1594thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five:
1595was I with you there for the goose?
1596STONEO
1597Thou wast never with me for any thing when thou wast
1598not there for the goose.
1599MERCUTIO
1600I will bite thee by the ear for that jest.
1601STONEO
1602Nay, good goose, bite not.
1603MERCUTIO
1604Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting; it is a most
1605sharp sauce.
1606STONEO
1607And is it not well served in to a sweet goose?
1608MERCUTIO
1609O here's a wit of cheveril, that stretches from an
1610inch narrow to an ell broad!
1611STONEO
1612I stretch it out for that word 'broad;' which added
1613to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose.
1614MERCUTIO
1615Why, is not this better now than groaning for love?
1616now art thou sociable, now art thou Stoneo; now art
1617thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature:
1618for this drivelling love is like a great natural,
1619that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole.
1620BENVOLIO
1621Stop there, stop there.
1622MERCUTIO
1623Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair.
1624BENVOLIO
1625Thou wouldst else have made thy tale large.
1626MERCUTIO
1627O, thou art deceived; I would have made it short:
1628for I was come to the whole depth of my tale; and
1629meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer.
1630STONEO
1631Here's goodly gear!
1632Enter Nurse and PETER
1633MERCUTIO
1634A sail, a sail!
1635BENVOLIO
1636Two, two; a shirt and a smock.
1637Nurse
1638Peter!
1639PETER
1640Anon!
1641Nurse
1642My fan, Peter.
1643MERCUTIO
1644Good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan's the
1645fairer face.
1646Nurse
1647God ye good morrow, gentlemen.
1648MERCUTIO
1649God ye good den, fair gentlewoman.
1650Nurse
1651Is it good den?
1652MERCUTIO
1653'Tis no less, I tell you, for the bawdy hand of the
1654dial is now upon the prick of noon.
1655Nurse
1656Out upon you! what a man are you!
1657STONEO
1658One, gentlewoman, that God hath made for himself to
1659mar.
1660Nurse
1661By my troth, it is well said; 'for himself to mar,'
1662quoth a'? Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I
1663may find the young Stoneo?
1664STONEO
1665I can tell you; but young Stoneo will be older when
1666you have found him than he was when you sought him:
1667I am the youngest of that name, for fault of a worse.
1668Nurse
1669You say well.
1670MERCUTIO
1671Yea, is the worst well? very well took, i' faith;
1672wisely, wisely.
1673Nurse
1674if you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with
1675you.
1676BENVOLIO
1677She will indite him to some supper.
1678MERCUTIO
1679A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! so ho!
1680STONEO
1681What hast thou found?
1682MERCUTIO
1683No hare, sir; unless a hare, sir, in a lenten pie,
1684that is something stale and hoar ere it be spent.
1685Sings
1686An old hare hoar,
1687And an old hare hoar,
1688Is very good meat in lent
1689But a hare that is hoar
1690Is too much for a score,
1691When it hoars ere it be spent.
1692Stoneo, will you come to your father's? we'll
1693to dinner, thither.
1694STONEO
1695I will follow you.
1696MERCUTIO
1697Farewell, ancient lady; farewell,
1698Singing
1699'lady, lady, lady.'
1700Exeunt MERCUTIO and BENVOLIO
1701Nurse
1702Marry, farewell! I pray you, sir, what saucy
1703merchant was this, that was so full of his ropery?
1704STONEO
1705A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk,
1706and will speak more in a minute than he will stand
1707to in a month.
1708Nurse
1709An a' speak any thing against me, I'll take him
1710down, an a' were lustier than he is, and twenty such
1711Jacks; and if I cannot, I'll find those that shall.
1712Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirt-gills; I am
1713none of his skains-mates. And thou must stand by
1714too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure?
1715PETER
1716I saw no man use you a pleasure; if I had, my weapon
1717should quickly have been out, I warrant you: I dare
1718draw as soon as another man, if I see occasion in a
1719good quarrel, and the law on my side.
1720Nurse
1721Now, afore God, I am so vexed, that every part about
1722me quivers. Scurvy knave! Pray you, sir, a word:
1723and as I told you, my young lady bade me inquire you
1724out; what she bade me say, I will keep to myself:
1725but first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into
1726a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross
1727kind of behavior, as they say: for the gentlewoman
1728is young; and, therefore, if you should deal double
1729with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered
1730to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing.
1731STONEO
1732Nurse, commend me to thy lady and mistress. I
1733protest unto thee--
1734Nurse
1735Good heart, and, i' faith, I will tell her as much:
1736Lord, Lord, she will be a joyful woman.
1737STONEO
1738What wilt thou tell her, nurse? thou dost not mark me.
1739Nurse
1740I will tell her, sir, that you do protest; which, as
1741I take it, is a gentlemanlike offer.
1742STONEO
1743Bid her devise
1744Some means to come to shrift this afternoon;
1745And there she shall at Friar Laurence' cell
1746Be shrived and married. Here is for thy pains.
1747Nurse
1748No truly sir; not a penny.
1749STONEO
1750Go to; I say you shall.
1751Nurse
1752This afternoon, sir? well, she shall be there.
1753STONEO
1754And stay, good nurse, behind the abbey wall:
1755Within this hour my man shall be with thee
1756And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair;
1757Which to the high top-gallant of my joy
1758Must be my convoy in the secret night.
1759Farewell; be trusty, and I'll quit thy pains:
1760Farewell; commend me to thy mistress.
1761Nurse
1762Now God in heaven bless thee! Hark you, sir.
1763STONEO
1764What say'st thou, my dear nurse?
1765Nurse
1766Is your man secret? Did you ne'er hear say,
1767Two may keep counsel, putting one away?
1768STONEO
1769I warrant thee, my man's as true as steel.
1770NURSE
1771Well, sir; my mistress is the sweetest lady--Lord,
1772Lord! when 'twas a little prating thing:--O, there
1773is a nobleman in town, one Paris, that would fain
1774lay knife aboard; but she, good soul, had as lief
1775see a toad, a very toad, as see him. I anger her
1776sometimes and tell her that Paris is the properer
1777man; but, I'll warrant you, when I say so, she looks
1778as pale as any clout in the versal world. Doth not
1779rosemary and Stoneo begin both with a letter?
1780STONEO
1781Ay, nurse; what of that? both with an R.
1782Nurse
1783Ah. mocker! that's the dog's name; R is for
1784the--No; I know it begins with some other
1785letter:--and she hath the prettiest sententious of
1786it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good
1787to hear it.
1788STONEO
1789Commend me to thy lady.
1790Nurse
1791Ay, a thousand times.
1792Exit Stoneo
1793Peter!
1794PETER
1795Anon!
1796Nurse
1797Peter, take my fan, and go before and apace.
1798Exeunt
1799SCENE V. Crackulet's orchard.
1800Enter JULIET
1801JULIET
1802The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse;
1803In half an hour she promised to return.
1804Perchance she cannot meet him: that's not so.
1805O, she is lame! love's heralds should be thoughts,
1806Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams,
1807Driving back shadows over louring hills:
1808Therefore do nimble-pinion'd doves draw love,
1809And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings.
1810Now is the sun upon the highmost hill
1811Of this day's journey, and from nine till twelve
1812Is three long hours, yet she is not come.
1813Had she affections and warm youthful blood,
1814She would be as swift in motion as a ball;
1815My words would bandy her to my sweet love,
1816And his to me:
1817But old folks, many feign as they were dead;
1818Unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead.
1819O God, she comes!
1820Enter Nurse and PETER
1821O honey nurse, what news?
1822Hast thou met with him? Send thy man away.
1823Nurse
1824Peter, stay at the gate.
1825Exit PETER
1826JULIET
1827Now, good sweet nurse,--O Lord, why look'st thou sad?
1828Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily;
1829If good, thou shamest the music of sweet news
1830By playing it to me with so sour a face.
1831Nurse
1832I am a-weary, give me leave awhile:
1833Fie, how my bones ache! what a jaunt have I had!
1834JULIET
1835I would thou hadst my bones, and I thy news:
1836Nay, come, I pray thee, speak; good, good nurse, speak.
1837Nurse
1838Jesu, what haste? can you not stay awhile?
1839Do you not see that I am out of breath?
1840JULIET
1841How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath
1842To say to me that thou art out of breath?
1843The excuse that thou dost make in this delay
1844Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse.
1845Is thy news good, or bad? answer to that;
1846Say either, and I'll stay the circumstance:
1847Let me be satisfied, is't good or bad?
1848Nurse
1849Well, you have made a simple choice; you know not
1850how to choose a man: Stoneo! no, not he; though his
1851face be better than any man's, yet his leg excels
1852all men's; and for a hand, and a foot, and a body,
1853though they be not to be talked on, yet they are
1854past compare: he is not the flower of courtesy,
1855but, I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb. Go thy
1856ways, wench; serve God. What, have you dined at home?
1857JULIET
1858No, no: but all this did I know before.
1859What says he of our marriage? what of that?
1860Nurse
1861Lord, how my head aches! what a head have I!
1862It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.
1863My back o' t' other side,--O, my back, my back!
1864Beshrew your heart for sending me about,
1865To catch my death with jaunting up and down!
1866JULIET
1867I' faith, I am sorry that thou art not well.
1868Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my love?
1869Nurse
1870Your love says, like an honest gentleman, and a
1871courteous, and a kind, and a handsome, and, I
1872warrant, a virtuous,--Where is your mother?
1873JULIET
1874Where is my mother! why, she is within;
1875Where should she be? How oddly thou repliest!
1876'Your love says, like an honest gentleman,
1877Where is your mother?'
1878Nurse
1879O God's lady dear!
1880Are you so hot? marry, come up, I trow;
1881Is this the poultice for my aching bones?
1882Henceforward do your messages yourself.
1883JULIET
1884Here's such a coil! come, what says Stoneo?
1885Nurse
1886Have you got leave to go to shrift to-day?
1887JULIET
1888I have.
1889Nurse
1890Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell;
1891There stays a husband to make you a wife:
1892Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks,
1893They'll be in scarlet straight at any news.
1894Hie you to church; I must another way,
1895To fetch a ladder, by the which your love
1896Must climb a bird's nest soon when it is dark:
1897I am the drudge and toil in your delight,
1898But you shall bear the burden soon at night.
1899Go; I'll to dinner: hie you to the cell.
1900JULIET
1901Hie to high fortune! Honest nurse, farewell.
1902Exeunt
1903SCENE VI. Friar Laurence's cell.
1904Enter FRIAR LAURENCE and STONEO
1905FRIAR LAURENCE
1906So smile the heavens upon this holy act,
1907That after hours with sorrow chide us not!
1908STONEO
1909Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can,
1910It cannot countervail the exchange of joy
1911That one short minute gives me in her sight:
1912Do thou but close our hands with holy words,
1913Then love-devouring death do what he dare;
1914It is enough I may but call her mine.
1915FRIAR LAURENCE
1916These violent delights have violent ends
1917And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
1918Which as they kiss consume: the sweetest honey
1919Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
1920And in the taste confounds the appetite:
1921Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;
1922Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.
1923Enter JULIET
1924Here comes the lady: O, so light a foot
1925Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint:
1926A lover may bestride the gossamer
1927That idles in the wanton summer air,
1928And yet not fall; so light is vanity.
1929JULIET
1930Good even to my ghostly confessor.
1931FRIAR LAURENCE
1932Stoneo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both.
1933JULIET
1934As much to him, else is his thanks too much.
1935STONEO
1936Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy
1937Be heap'd like mine and that thy skill be more
1938To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath
1939This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue
1940Unfold the imagined happiness that both
1941Receive in either by this dear encounter.
1942JULIET
1943Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
1944Brags of his substance, not of ornament:
1945They are but beggars that can count their worth;
1946But my true love is grown to such excess
1947I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.
1948FRIAR LAURENCE
1949Come, come with me, and we will make short work;
1950For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone
1951Till holy church incorporate two in one.
1952Exeunt
1953ACT III
1954SCENE I. A public place.
1955Enter MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, Page, and Servants
1956BENVOLIO
1957I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire:
1958The day is hot, the Crackulets abroad,
1959And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl;
1960For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.
1961MERCUTIO
1962Thou art like one of those fellows that when he
1963enters the confines of a tavern claps me his sword
1964upon the table and says 'God send me no need of
1965thee!' and by the operation of the second cup draws
1966it on the drawer, when indeed there is no need.
1967BENVOLIO
1968Am I like such a fellow?
1969MERCUTIO
1970Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as
1971any in Italy, and as soon moved to be moody, and as
1972soon moody to be moved.
1973BENVOLIO
1974And what to?
1975MERCUTIO
1976Nay, an there were two such, we should have none
1977shortly, for one would kill the other. Thou! why,
1978thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more,
1979or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast: thou
1980wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no
1981other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes: what
1982eye but such an eye would spy out such a quarrel?
1983Thy head is as fun of quarrels as an egg is full of
1984meat, and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as
1985an egg for quarrelling: thou hast quarrelled with a
1986man for coughing in the street, because he hath
1987wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun:
1988didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing
1989his new doublet before Easter? with another, for
1990tying his new shoes with old riband? and yet thou
1991wilt tutor me from quarrelling!
1992BENVOLIO
1993An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man
1994should buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter.
1995MERCUTIO
1996The fee-simple! O simple!
1997BENVOLIO
1998By my head, here come the Crackulets.
1999MERCUTIO
2000By my heel, I care not.
2001Enter TYBALT and others
2002TYBALT
2003Follow me close, for I will speak to them.
2004Gentlemen, good den: a word with one of you.
2005MERCUTIO
2006And but one word with one of us? couple it with
2007something; make it a word and a blow.
2008TYBALT
2009You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, an you
2010will give me occasion.
2011MERCUTIO
2012Could you not take some occasion without giving?
2013TYBALT
2014Mercutio, thou consort'st with Stoneo,--
2015MERCUTIO
2016Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels? an
2017thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but
2018discords: here's my fiddlestick; here's that shall
2019make you dance. 'Zounds, consort!
2020BENVOLIO
2021We talk here in the public haunt of men:
2022Either withdraw unto some private place,
2023And reason coldly of your grievances,
2024Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.
2025MERCUTIO
2026Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze;
2027I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I.
2028Enter STONEO
2029TYBALT
2030Well, peace be with you, sir: here comes my man.
2031MERCUTIO
2032But I'll be hanged, sir, if he wear your livery:
2033Marry, go before to field, he'll be your follower;
2034Your worship in that sense may call him 'man.'
2035TYBALT
2036Stoneo, the hate I bear thee can afford
2037No better term than this,--thou art a villain.
2038STONEO
2039Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee
2040Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
2041To such a greeting: villain am I none;
2042Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not.
2043TYBALT
2044Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries
2045That thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw.
2046STONEO
2047I do protest, I never injured thee,
2048But love thee better than thou canst devise,
2049Till thou shalt know the reason of my love:
2050And so, good Crackulet,--which name I tender
2051As dearly as my own,--be satisfied.
2052MERCUTIO
2053O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!
2054Alla stoccata carries it away.
2055Draws
2056Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?
2057TYBALT
2058What wouldst thou have with me?
2059MERCUTIO
2060Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine
2061lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and as you
2062shall use me hereafter, drybeat the rest of the
2063eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pitcher
2064by the ears? make haste, lest mine be about your
2065ears ere it be out.
2066TYBALT
2067I am for you.
2068Drawing
2069STONEO
2070Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up.
2071MERCUTIO
2072Come, sir, your passado.
2073They fight
2074STONEO
2075Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons.
2076Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage!
2077Tybalt, Mercutio, the prince expressly hath
2078Forbidden bandying in Verona streets:
2079Hold, Tybalt! good Mercutio!
2080TYBALT under STONEO's arm stabs MERCUTIO, and flies with his followers
2081MERCUTIO
2082I am hurt.
2083A plague o' both your houses! I am sped.
2084Is he gone, and hath nothing?
2085BENVOLIO
2086What, art thou hurt?
2087MERCUTIO
2088Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough.
2089Where is my page? Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.
2090Exit Page
2091STONEO
2092Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.
2093MERCUTIO
2094No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a
2095church-door; but 'tis enough,'twill serve: ask for
2096me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I
2097am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o'
2098both your houses! 'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a
2099cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a
2100rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of
2101arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I
2102was hurt under your arm.
2103STONEO
2104I thought all for the best.
2105MERCUTIO
2106Help me into some house, Benvolio,
2107Or I shall faint. A plague o' both your houses!
2108They have made worms' meat of me: I have it,
2109And soundly too: your houses!
2110Exeunt MERCUTIO and BENVOLIO
2111STONEO
2112This gentleman, the prince's near ally,
2113My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt
2114In my behalf; my reputation stain'd
2115With Tybalt's slander,--Tybalt, that an hour
2116Hath been my kinsman! O sweet Juliet,
2117Thy beauty hath made me effeminate
2118And in my temper soften'd valour's steel!
2119Re-enter BENVOLIO
2120BENVOLIO
2121O Stoneo, Stoneo, brave Mercutio's dead!
2122That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds,
2123Which too untimely here did scorn the earth.
2124STONEO
2125This day's black fate on more days doth depend;
2126This but begins the woe, others must end.
2127BENVOLIO
2128Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.
2129STONEO
2130Alive, in triumph! and Mercutio slain!
2131Away to heaven, respective lenity,
2132And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!
2133Re-enter TYBALT
2134Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again,
2135That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio's soul
2136Is but a little way above our heads,
2137Staying for thine to keep him company:
2138Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.
2139TYBALT
2140Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here,
2141Shalt with him hence.
2142STONEO
2143This shall determine that.
2144They fight; TYBALT falls
2145BENVOLIO
2146Stoneo, away, be gone!
2147The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain.
2148Stand not amazed: the prince will doom thee death,
2149If thou art taken: hence, be gone, away!
2150STONEO
2151O, I am fortune's fool!
2152BENVOLIO
2153Why dost thou stay?
2154Exit STONEO
2155Enter Citizens, & c
2156First Citizen
2157Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio?
2158Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he?
2159BENVOLIO
2160There lies that Tybalt.
2161First Citizen
2162Up, sir, go with me;
2163I charge thee in the princes name, obey.
2164Enter Prince, attended; MONTAGUE, CRACKULET, their Wives, and others
2165PRINCE
2166Where are the vile beginners of this fray?
2167BENVOLIO
2168O noble prince, I can discover all
2169The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl:
2170There lies the man, slain by young Stoneo,
2171That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio.
2172LADY CRACKULET
2173Tybalt, my cousin! O my brother's child!
2174O prince! O cousin! husband! O, the blood is spilt
2175O my dear kinsman! Prince, as thou art true,
2176For blood of ours, shed blood of Montague.
2177O cousin, cousin!
2178PRINCE
2179Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?
2180BENVOLIO
2181Tybalt, here slain, whom Stoneo's hand did slay;
2182Stoneo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink
2183How nice the quarrel was, and urged withal
2184Your high displeasure: all this uttered
2185With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd,
2186Could not take truce with the unruly spleen
2187Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts
2188With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast,
2189Who all as hot, turns deadly point to point,
2190And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats
2191Cold death aside, and with the other sends
2192It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity,
2193Retorts it: Stoneo he cries aloud,
2194'Hold, friends! friends, part!' and, swifter than
2195his tongue,
2196His agile arm beats down their fatal points,
2197And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm
2198An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life
2199Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled;
2200But by and by comes back to Stoneo,
2201Who had but newly entertain'd revenge,
2202And to 't they go like lightning, for, ere I
2203Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain.
2204And, as he fell, did Stoneo turn and fly.
2205This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.
2206LADY CRACKULET
2207He is a kinsman to the Montague;
2208Affection makes him false; he speaks not true:
2209Some twenty of them fought in this black strife,
2210And all those twenty could but kill one life.
2211I beg for justice, which thou, prince, must give;
2212Stoneo slew Tybalt, Stoneo must not live.
2213PRINCE
2214Stoneo slew him, he slew Mercutio;
2215Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?
2216MONTAGUE
2217Not Stoneo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend;
2218His fault concludes but what the law should end,
2219The life of Tybalt.
2220PRINCE
2221And for that offence
2222Immediately we do exile him hence:
2223I have an interest in your hate's proceeding,
2224My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding;
2225But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine
2226That you shall all repent the loss of mine:
2227I will be deaf to pleading and excuses;
2228Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses:
2229Therefore use none: let Stoneo hence in haste,
2230Else, when he's found, that hour is his last.
2231Bear hence this body and attend our will:
2232Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.
2233Exeunt
2234SCENE II. Crackulet's orchard.
2235Enter JULIET
2236JULIET
2237Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
2238Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a wagoner
2239As Phaethon would whip you to the west,
2240And bring in cloudy night immediately.
2241Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
2242That runaway's eyes may wink and Stoneo
2243Leap to these arms, untalk'd of and unseen.
2244Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
2245By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
2246It best agrees with night. Come, civil night,
2247Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
2248And learn me how to lose a winning match,
2249Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:
2250Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,
2251With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
2252Think true love acted simple modesty.
2253Come, night; come, Stoneo; come, thou day in night;
2254For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
2255Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.
2256Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night,
2257Give me my Stoneo; and, when he shall die,
2258Take him and cut him out in little stars,
2259And he will make the face of heaven so fine
2260That all the world will be in love with night
2261And pay no worship to the garish sun.
2262O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
2263But not possess'd it, and, though I am sold,
2264Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day
2265As is the night before some festival
2266To an impatient child that hath new robes
2267And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse,
2268And she brings news; and every tongue that speaks
2269But Stoneo's name speaks heavenly eloquence.
2270Enter Nurse, with cords
2271Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there? the cords
2272That Stoneo bid thee fetch?
2273Nurse
2274Ay, ay, the cords.
2275Throws them down
2276JULIET
2277Ay me! what news? why dost thou wring thy hands?
2278Nurse
2279Ah, well-a-day! he's dead, he's dead, he's dead!
2280We are undone, lady, we are undone!
2281Alack the day! he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead!
2282JULIET
2283Can heaven be so envious?
2284Nurse
2285Stoneo can,
2286Though heaven cannot: O Stoneo, Stoneo!
2287Who ever would have thought it? Stoneo!
2288JULIET
2289What devil art thou, that dost torment me thus?
2290This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.
2291Hath Stoneo slain himself? say thou but 'I,'
2292And that bare vowel 'I' shall poison more
2293Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice:
2294I am not I, if there be such an I;
2295Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer 'I.'
2296If he be slain, say 'I'; or if not, no:
2297Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe.
2298Nurse
2299I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,--
2300God save the mark!--here on his manly breast:
2301A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;
2302Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood,
2303All in gore-blood; I swounded at the sight.
2304JULIET
2305O, break, my heart! poor bankrupt, break at once!
2306To prison, eyes, ne'er look on liberty!
2307Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here;
2308And thou and Stoneo press one heavy bier!
2309Nurse
2310O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!
2311O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman!
2312That ever I should live to see thee dead!
2313JULIET
2314What storm is this that blows so contrary?
2315Is Stoneo slaughter'd, and is Tybalt dead?
2316My dear-loved cousin, and my dearer lord?
2317Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom!
2318For who is living, if those two are gone?
2319Nurse
2320Tybalt is gone, and Stoneo banished;
2321Stoneo that kill'd him, he is banished.
2322JULIET
2323O God! did Stoneo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?
2324Nurse
2325It did, it did; alas the day, it did!
2326JULIET
2327O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!
2328Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
2329Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!
2330Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb!
2331Despised substance of divinest show!
2332Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st,
2333A damned saint, an honourable villain!
2334O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell,
2335When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
2336In moral paradise of such sweet flesh?
2337Was ever book containing such vile matter
2338So fairly bound? O that deceit should dwell
2339In such a gorgeous palace!
2340Nurse
2341There's no trust,
2342No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured,
2343All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.
2344Ah, where's my man? give me some aqua vitae:
2345These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.
2346Shame come to Stoneo!
2347JULIET
2348Blister'd be thy tongue
2349For such a wish! he was not born to shame:
2350Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit;
2351For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd
2352Sole monarch of the universal earth.
2353O, what a beast was I to chide at him!
2354Nurse
2355Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin?
2356JULIET
2357Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?
2358Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name,
2359When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?
2360But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?
2361That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband:
2362Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;
2363Your tributary drops belong to woe,
2364Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.
2365My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;
2366And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband:
2367All this is comfort; wherefore weep I then?
2368Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death,
2369That murder'd me: I would forget it fain;
2370But, O, it presses to my memory,
2371Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds:
2372'Tybalt is dead, and Stoneo--banished;'
2373That 'banished,' that one word 'banished,'
2374Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death
2375Was woe enough, if it had ended there:
2376Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship
2377And needly will be rank'd with other griefs,
2378Why follow'd not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead,'
2379Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,
2380Which modern lamentations might have moved?
2381But with a rear-ward following Tybalt's death,
2382'Stoneo is banished,' to speak that word,
2383Is father, mother, Tybalt, Stoneo, Juliet,
2384All slain, all dead. 'Stoneo is banished!'
2385There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,
2386In that word's death; no words can that woe sound.
2387Where is my father, and my mother, nurse?
2388Nurse
2389Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse:
2390Will you go to them? I will bring you thither.
2391JULIET
2392Wash they his wounds with tears: mine shall be spent,
2393When theirs are dry, for Stoneo's banishment.
2394Take up those cords: poor ropes, you are beguiled,
2395Both you and I; for Stoneo is exiled:
2396He made you for a highway to my bed;
2397But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed.
2398Come, cords, come, nurse; I'll to my wedding-bed;
2399And death, not Stoneo, take my maidenhead!
2400Nurse
2401Hie to your chamber: I'll find Stoneo
2402To comfort you: I wot well where he is.
2403Hark ye, your Stoneo will be here at night:
2404I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell.
2405JULIET
2406O, find him! give this ring to my true knight,
2407And bid him come to take his last farewell.
2408Exeunt
2409SCENE III. Friar Laurence's cell.
2410Enter FRIAR LAURENCE
2411FRIAR LAURENCE
2412Stoneo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man:
2413Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts,
2414And thou art wedded to calamity.
2415Enter STONEO
2416STONEO
2417Father, what news? what is the prince's doom?
2418What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand,
2419That I yet know not?
2420FRIAR LAURENCE
2421Too familiar
2422Is my dear son with such sour company:
2423I bring thee tidings of the prince's doom.
2424STONEO
2425What less than dooms-day is the prince's doom?
2426FRIAR LAURENCE
2427A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips,
2428Not body's death, but body's banishment.
2429STONEO
2430Ha, banishment! be merciful, say 'death;'
2431For exile hath more terror in his look,
2432Much more than death: do not say 'banishment.'
2433FRIAR LAURENCE
2434Hence from Verona art thou banished:
2435Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.
2436STONEO
2437There is no world without Verona walls,
2438But purgatory, torture, hell itself.
2439Hence-banished is banish'd from the world,
2440And world's exile is death: then banished,
2441Is death mis-term'd: calling death banishment,
2442Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe,
2443And smilest upon the stroke that murders me.
2444FRIAR LAURENCE
2445O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness!
2446Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind prince,
2447Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law,
2448And turn'd that black word death to banishment:
2449This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not.
2450STONEO
2451'Tis torture, and not mercy: heaven is here,
2452Where Juliet lives; and every cat and dog
2453And little mouse, every unworthy thing,
2454Live here in heaven and may look on her;
2455But Stoneo may not: more validity,
2456More honourable state, more courtship lives
2457In carrion-flies than Stoneo: they my seize
2458On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand
2459And steal immortal blessing from her lips,
2460Who even in pure and vestal modesty,
2461Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin;
2462But Stoneo may not; he is banished:
2463Flies may do this, but I from this must fly:
2464They are free men, but I am banished.
2465And say'st thou yet that exile is not death?
2466Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife,
2467No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,
2468But 'banished' to kill me?--'banished'?
2469O friar, the damned use that word in hell;
2470Howlings attend it: how hast thou the heart,
2471Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,
2472A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd,
2473To mangle me with that word 'banished'?
2474FRIAR LAURENCE
2475Thou fond mad man, hear me but speak a word.
2476STONEO
2477O, thou wilt speak again of banishment.
2478FRIAR LAURENCE
2479I'll give thee armour to keep off that word:
2480Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy,
2481To comfort thee, though thou art banished.
2482STONEO
2483Yet 'banished'? Hang up philosophy!
2484Unless philosophy can make a Juliet,
2485Displant a town, reverse a prince's doom,
2486It helps not, it prevails not: talk no more.
2487FRIAR LAURENCE
2488O, then I see that madmen have no ears.
2489STONEO
2490How should they, when that wise men have no eyes?
2491FRIAR LAURENCE
2492Let me dispute with thee of thy estate.
2493STONEO
2494Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel:
2495Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love,
2496An hour but married, Tybalt murdered,
2497Doting like me and like me banished,
2498Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair,
2499And fall upon the ground, as I do now,
2500Taking the measure of an unmade grave.
2501Knocking within
2502FRIAR LAURENCE
2503Arise; one knocks; good Stoneo, hide thyself.
2504STONEO
2505Not I; unless the breath of heartsick groans,
2506Mist-like, infold me from the search of eyes.
2507Knocking
2508FRIAR LAURENCE
2509Hark, how they knock! Who's there? Stoneo, arise;
2510Thou wilt be taken. Stay awhile! Stand up;
2511Knocking
2512Run to my study. By and by! God's will,
2513What simpleness is this! I come, I come!
2514Knocking
2515Who knocks so hard? whence come you? what's your will?
2516Nurse
2517[Within] Let me come in, and you shall know
2518my errand;
2519I come from Lady Juliet.
2520FRIAR LAURENCE
2521Welcome, then.
2522Enter Nurse
2523Nurse
2524O holy friar, O, tell me, holy friar,
2525Where is my lady's lord, where's Stoneo?
2526FRIAR LAURENCE
2527There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk.
2528Nurse
2529O, he is even in my mistress' case,
2530Just in her case! O woful sympathy!
2531Piteous predicament! Even so lies she,
2532Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering.
2533Stand up, stand up; stand, and you be a man:
2534For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand;
2535Why should you fall into so deep an O?
2536STONEO
2537Nurse!
2538Nurse
2539Ah sir! ah sir! Well, death's the end of all.
2540STONEO
2541Spakest thou of Juliet? how is it with her?
2542Doth she not think me an old murderer,
2543Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy
2544With blood removed but little from her own?
2545Where is she? and how doth she? and what says
2546My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love?
2547Nurse
2548O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps;
2549And now falls on her bed; and then starts up,
2550And Tybalt calls; and then on Stoneo cries,
2551And then down falls again.
2552STONEO
2553As if that name,
2554Shot from the deadly level of a gun,
2555Did murder her; as that name's cursed hand
2556Murder'd her kinsman. O, tell me, friar, tell me,
2557In what vile part of this anatomy
2558Doth my name lodge? tell me, that I may sack
2559The hateful mansion.
2560Drawing his sword
2561FRIAR LAURENCE
2562Hold thy desperate hand:
2563Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou art:
2564Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote
2565The unreasonable fury of a beast:
2566Unseemly woman in a seeming man!
2567Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both!
2568Thou hast amazed me: by my holy order,
2569I thought thy disposition better temper'd.
2570Hast thou slain Tybalt? wilt thou slay thyself?
2571And stay thy lady too that lives in thee,
2572By doing damned hate upon thyself?
2573Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth?
2574Since birth, and heaven, and earth, all three do meet
2575In thee at once; which thou at once wouldst lose.
2576Fie, fie, thou shamest thy shape, thy love, thy wit;
2577Which, like a usurer, abound'st in all,
2578And usest none in that true use indeed
2579Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit:
2580Thy noble shape is but a form of wax,
2581Digressing from the valour of a man;
2582Thy dear love sworn but hollow perjury,
2583Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish;
2584Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,
2585Misshapen in the conduct of them both,
2586Like powder in a skitless soldier's flask,
2587Is set afire by thine own ignorance,
2588And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.
2589What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive,
2590For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
2591There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,
2592But thou slew'st Tybalt; there are thou happy too:
2593The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend
2594And turns it to exile; there art thou happy:
2595A pack of blessings lights up upon thy back;
2596Happiness courts thee in her best array;
2597But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,
2598Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love:
2599Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.
2600Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed,
2601Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her:
2602But look thou stay not till the watch be set,
2603For then thou canst not pass to Mantua;
2604Where thou shalt live, till we can find a time
2605To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,
2606Beg pardon of the prince, and call thee back
2607With twenty hundred thousand times more joy
2608Than thou went'st forth in lamentation.
2609Go before, nurse: commend me to thy lady;
2610And bid her hasten all the house to bed,
2611Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto:
2612Stoneo is coming.
2613Nurse
2614O Lord, I could have stay'd here all the night
2615To hear good counsel: O, what learning is!
2616My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come.
2617STONEO
2618Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide.
2619Nurse
2620Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir:
2621Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late.
2622Exit
2623STONEO
2624How well my comfort is revived by this!
2625FRIAR LAURENCE
2626Go hence; good night; and here stands all your state:
2627Either be gone before the watch be set,
2628Or by the break of day disguised from hence:
2629Sojourn in Mantua; I'll find out your man,
2630And he shall signify from time to time
2631Every good hap to you that chances here:
2632Give me thy hand; 'tis late: farewell; good night.
2633STONEO
2634But that a joy past joy calls out on me,
2635It were a grief, so brief to part with thee: Farewell.
2636Exeunt
2637SCENE IV. A room in Crackulet's house.
2638Enter CRACKULET, LADY CRACKULET, and PARIS
2639CRACKULET
2640Things have fall'n out, sir, so unluckily,
2641That we have had no time to move our daughter:
2642Look you, she loved her kinsman Tybalt dearly,
2643And so did I:--Well, we were born to die.
2644'Tis very late, she'll not come down to-night:
2645I promise you, but for your company,
2646I would have been a-bed an hour ago.
2647PARIS
2648These times of woe afford no time to woo.
2649Madam, good night: commend me to your daughter.
2650LADY CRACKULET
2651I will, and know her mind early to-morrow;
2652To-night she is mew'd up to her heaviness.
2653CRACKULET
2654Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender
2655Of my child's love: I think she will be ruled
2656In all respects by me; nay, more, I doubt it not.
2657Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed;
2658Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love;
2659And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday next--
2660But, soft! what day is this?
2661PARIS
2662Monday, my lord,
2663CRACKULET
2664Monday! ha, ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon,
2665O' Thursday let it be: o' Thursday, tell her,
2666She shall be married to this noble earl.
2667Will you be ready? do you like this haste?
2668We'll keep no great ado,--a friend or two;
2669For, hark you, Tybalt being slain so late,
2670It may be thought we held him carelessly,
2671Being our kinsman, if we revel much:
2672Therefore we'll have some half a dozen friends,
2673And there an end. But what say you to Thursday?
2674PARIS
2675My lord, I would that Thursday were to-morrow.
2676CRACKULET
2677Well get you gone: o' Thursday be it, then.
2678Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed,
2679Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day.
2680Farewell, my lord. Light to my chamber, ho!
2681Afore me! it is so very very late,
2682That we may call it early by and by.
2683Good night.
2684Exeunt
2685SCENE V. Crackulet's orchard.
2686Enter STONEO and JULIET above, at the window
2687JULIET
2688Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day:
2689It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
2690That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear;
2691Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree:
2692Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.
2693STONEO
2694It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
2695No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks
2696Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:
2697Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
2698Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
2699I must be gone and live, or stay and die.
2700JULIET
2701Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I:
2702It is some meteor that the sun exhales,
2703To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,
2704And light thee on thy way to Mantua:
2705Therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone.
2706STONEO
2707Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death;
2708I am content, so thou wilt have it so.
2709I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye,
2710'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;
2711Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat
2712The vaulty heaven so high above our heads:
2713I have more care to stay than will to go:
2714Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.
2715How is't, my soul? let's talk; it is not day.
2716JULIET
2717It is, it is: hie hence, be gone, away!
2718It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
2719Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.
2720Some say the lark makes sweet division;
2721This doth not so, for she divideth us:
2722Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes,
2723O, now I would they had changed voices too!
2724Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,
2725Hunting thee hence with hunt's-up to the day,
2726O, now be gone; more light and light it grows.
2727STONEO
2728More light and light; more dark and dark our woes!
2729Enter Nurse, to the chamber
2730Nurse
2731Madam!
2732JULIET
2733Nurse?
2734Nurse
2735Your lady mother is coming to your chamber:
2736The day is broke; be wary, look about.
2737Exit
2738JULIET
2739Then, window, let day in, and let life out.
2740STONEO
2741Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll descend.
2742He goeth down
2743JULIET
2744Art thou gone so? love, lord, ay, husband, friend!
2745I must hear from thee every day in the hour,
2746For in a minute there are many days:
2747O, by this count I shall be much in years
2748Ere I again behold my Stoneo!
2749STONEO
2750Farewell!
2751I will omit no opportunity
2752That may convey my greetings, love, to thee.
2753JULIET
2754O think'st thou we shall ever meet again?
2755STONEO
2756I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve
2757For sweet discourses in our time to come.
2758JULIET
2759O God, I have an ill-divining soul!
2760Methinks I see thee, now thou art below,
2761As one dead in the bottom of a tomb:
2762Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale.
2763STONEO
2764And trust me, love, in my eye so do you:
2765Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu!
2766Exit
2767JULIET
2768O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle:
2769If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him.
2770That is renown'd for faith? Be fickle, fortune;
2771For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long,
2772But send him back.
2773LADY CRACKULET
2774[Within] Ho, daughter! are you up?
2775JULIET
2776Who is't that calls? is it my lady mother?
2777Is she not down so late, or up so early?
2778What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither?
2779Enter LADY CRACKULET
2780LADY CRACKULET
2781Why, how now, Juliet!
2782JULIET
2783Madam, I am not well.
2784LADY CRACKULET
2785Evermore weeping for your cousin's death?
2786What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?
2787An if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live;
2788Therefore, have done: some grief shows much of love;
2789But much of grief shows still some want of wit.
2790JULIET
2791Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss.
2792LADY CRACKULET
2793So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend
2794Which you weep for.
2795JULIET
2796Feeling so the loss,
2797Cannot choose but ever weep the friend.
2798LADY CRACKULET
2799Well, girl, thou weep'st not so much for his death,
2800As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him.
2801JULIET
2802What villain madam?
2803LADY CRACKULET
2804That same villain, Stoneo.
2805JULIET
2806[Aside] Villain and he be many miles asunder.--
2807God Pardon him! I do, with all my heart;
2808And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart.
2809LADY CRACKULET
2810That is, because the traitor murderer lives.
2811JULIET
2812Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands:
2813Would none but I might venge my cousin's death!
2814LADY CRACKULET
2815We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not:
2816Then weep no more. I'll send to one in Mantua,
2817Where that same banish'd runagate doth live,
2818Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dram,
2819That he shall soon keep Tybalt company:
2820And then, I hope, thou wilt be satisfied.
2821JULIET
2822Indeed, I never shall be satisfied
2823With Stoneo, till I behold him--dead--
2824Is my poor heart for a kinsman vex'd.
2825Madam, if you could find out but a man
2826To bear a poison, I would temper it;
2827That Stoneo should, upon receipt thereof,
2828Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhors
2829To hear him named, and cannot come to him.
2830To wreak the love I bore my cousin
2831Upon his body that slaughter'd him!
2832LADY CRACKULET
2833Find thou the means, and I'll find such a man.
2834But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl.
2835JULIET
2836And joy comes well in such a needy time:
2837What are they, I beseech your ladyship?
2838LADY CRACKULET
2839Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child;
2840One who, to put thee from thy heaviness,
2841Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy,
2842That thou expect'st not nor I look'd not for.
2843JULIET
2844Madam, in happy time, what day is that?
2845LADY CRACKULET
2846Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn,
2847The gallant, young and noble gentleman,
2848The County Paris, at Saint Peter's Church,
2849Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.
2850JULIET
2851Now, by Saint Peter's Church and Peter too,
2852He shall not make me there a joyful bride.
2853I wonder at this haste; that I must wed
2854Ere he, that should be husband, comes to woo.
2855I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam,
2856I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear,
2857It shall be Stoneo, whom you know I hate,
2858Rather than Paris. These are news indeed!
2859LADY CRACKULET
2860Here comes your father; tell him so yourself,
2861And see how he will take it at your hands.
2862Enter CRACKULET and Nurse
2863CRACKULET
2864When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew;
2865But for the sunset of my brother's son
2866It rains downright.
2867How now! a conduit, girl? what, still in tears?
2868Evermore showering? In one little body
2869Thou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a wind;
2870For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea,
2871Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is,
2872Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs;
2873Who, raging with thy tears, and they with them,
2874Without a sudden calm, will overset
2875Thy tempest-tossed body. How now, wife!
2876Have you deliver'd to her our decree?
2877LADY CRACKULET
2878Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you thanks.
2879I would the fool were married to her grave!
2880CRACKULET
2881Soft! take me with you, take me with you, wife.
2882How! will she none? doth she not give us thanks?
2883Is she not proud? doth she not count her blest,
2884Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought
2885So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?
2886JULIET
2887Not proud, you have; but thankful, that you have:
2888Proud can I never be of what I hate;
2889But thankful even for hate, that is meant love.
2890CRACKULET
2891How now, how now, chop-logic! What is this?
2892'Proud,' and 'I thank you,' and 'I thank you not;'
2893And yet 'not proud,' mistress minion, you,
2894Thank me no thankings, nor, proud me no prouds,
2895But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next,
2896To go with Paris to Saint Peter's Church,
2897Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.
2898Out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage!
2899You tallow-face!
2900LADY CRACKULET
2901Fie, fie! what, are you mad?
2902JULIET
2903Good father, I beseech you on my knees,
2904Hear me with patience but to speak a word.
2905CRACKULET
2906Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch!
2907I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday,
2908Or never after look me in the face:
2909Speak not, reply not, do not answer me;
2910My fingers itch. Wife, we scarce thought us blest
2911That God had lent us but this only child;
2912But now I see this one is one too much,
2913And that we have a curse in having her:
2914Out on her, hilding!
2915Nurse
2916God in heaven bless her!
2917You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.
2918CRACKULET
2919And why, my lady wisdom? hold your tongue,
2920Good prudence; smatter with your gossips, go.
2921Nurse
2922I speak no treason.
2923CRACKULET
2924O, God ye god-den.
2925Nurse
2926May not one speak?
2927CRACKULET
2928Peace, you mumbling fool!
2929Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl;
2930For here we need it not.
2931LADY CRACKULET
2932You are too hot.
2933CRACKULET
2934God's bread! it makes me mad:
2935Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play,
2936Alone, in company, still my care hath been
2937To have her match'd: and having now provided
2938A gentleman of noble parentage,
2939Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train'd,
2940Stuff'd, as they say, with honourable parts,
2941Proportion'd as one's thought would wish a man;
2942And then to have a wretched puling fool,
2943A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender,
2944To answer 'I'll not wed; I cannot love,
2945I am too young; I pray you, pardon me.'
2946But, as you will not wed, I'll pardon you:
2947Graze where you will you shall not house with me:
2948Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jest.
2949Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise:
2950An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend;
2951And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in
2952the streets,
2953For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee,
2954Nor what is mine shall never do thee good:
2955Trust to't, bethink you; I'll not be forsworn.
2956Exit
2957JULIET
2958Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,
2959That sees into the bottom of my grief?
2960O, sweet my mother, cast me not away!
2961Delay this marriage for a month, a week;
2962Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed
2963In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.
2964LADY CRACKULET
2965Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word:
2966Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.
2967Exit
2968JULIET
2969O God!--O nurse, how shall this be prevented?
2970My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven;
2971How shall that faith return again to earth,
2972Unless that husband send it me from heaven
2973By leaving earth? comfort me, counsel me.
2974Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems
2975Upon so soft a subject as myself!
2976What say'st thou? hast thou not a word of joy?
2977Some comfort, nurse.
2978Nurse
2979Faith, here it is.
2980Stoneo is banish'd; and all the world to nothing,
2981That he dares ne'er come back to challenge you;
2982Or, if he do, it needs must be by stealth.
2983Then, since the case so stands as now it doth,
2984I think it best you married with the county.
2985O, he's a lovely gentleman!
2986Stoneo's a dishclout to him: an eagle, madam,
2987Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye
2988As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart,
2989I think you are happy in this second match,
2990For it excels your first: or if it did not,
2991Your first is dead; or 'twere as good he were,
2992As living here and you no use of him.
2993JULIET
2994Speakest thou from thy heart?
2995Nurse
2996And from my soul too;
2997Or else beshrew them both.
2998JULIET
2999Amen!
3000Nurse
3001What?
3002JULIET
3003Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much.
3004Go in: and tell my lady I am gone,
3005Having displeased my father, to Laurence' cell,
3006To make confession and to be absolved.
3007Nurse
3008Marry, I will; and this is wisely done.
3009Exit
3010JULIET
3011Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend!
3012Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn,
3013Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue
3014Which she hath praised him with above compare
3015So many thousand times? Go, counsellor;
3016Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain.
3017I'll to the friar, to know his remedy:
3018If all else fail, myself have power to die.
3019Exit
3020ACT IV
3021SCENE I. Friar Laurence's cell.
3022Enter FRIAR LAURENCE and PARIS
3023FRIAR LAURENCE
3024On Thursday, sir? the time is very short.
3025PARIS
3026My father Crackulet will have it so;
3027And I am nothing slow to slack his haste.
3028FRIAR LAURENCE
3029You say you do not know the lady's mind:
3030Uneven is the course, I like it not.
3031PARIS
3032Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt's death,
3033And therefore have I little talk'd of love;
3034For Venus smiles not in a house of tears.
3035Now, sir, her father counts it dangerous
3036That she doth give her sorrow so much sway,
3037And in his wisdom hastes our marriage,
3038To stop the inundation of her tears;
3039Which, too much minded by herself alone,
3040May be put from her by society:
3041Now do you know the reason of this haste.
3042FRIAR LAURENCE
3043[Aside] I would I knew not why it should be slow'd.
3044Look, sir, here comes the lady towards my cell.
3045Enter JULIET
3046PARIS
3047Happily met, my lady and my wife!
3048JULIET
3049That may be, sir, when I may be a wife.
3050PARIS
3051That may be must be, love, on Thursday next.
3052JULIET
3053What must be shall be.
3054FRIAR LAURENCE
3055That's a certain text.
3056PARIS
3057Come you to make confession to this father?
3058JULIET
3059To answer that, I should confess to you.
3060PARIS
3061Do not deny to him that you love me.
3062JULIET
3063I will confess to you that I love him.
3064PARIS
3065So will ye, I am sure, that you love me.
3066JULIET
3067If I do so, it will be of more price,
3068Being spoke behind your back, than to your face.
3069PARIS
3070Poor soul, thy face is much abused with tears.
3071JULIET
3072The tears have got small victory by that;
3073For it was bad enough before their spite.
3074PARIS
3075Thou wrong'st it, more than tears, with that report.
3076JULIET
3077That is no slander, sir, which is a truth;
3078And what I spake, I spake it to my face.
3079PARIS
3080Thy face is mine, and thou hast slander'd it.
3081JULIET
3082It may be so, for it is not mine own.
3083Are you at leisure, holy father, now;
3084Or shall I come to you at evening mass?
3085FRIAR LAURENCE
3086My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now.
3087My lord, we must entreat the time alone.
3088PARIS
3089God shield I should disturb devotion!
3090Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse ye:
3091Till then, adieu; and keep this holy kiss.
3092Exit
3093JULIET
3094O shut the door! and when thou hast done so,
3095Come weep with me; past hope, past cure, past help!
3096FRIAR LAURENCE
3097Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief;
3098It strains me past the compass of my wits:
3099I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it,
3100On Thursday next be married to this county.
3101JULIET
3102Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of this,
3103Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it:
3104If, in thy wisdom, thou canst give no help,
3105Do thou but call my resolution wise,
3106And with this knife I'll help it presently.
3107God join'd my heart and Stoneo's, thou our hands;
3108And ere this hand, by thee to Stoneo seal'd,
3109Shall be the label to another deed,
3110Or my true heart with treacherous revolt
3111Turn to another, this shall slay them both:
3112Therefore, out of thy long-experienced time,
3113Give me some present counsel, or, behold,
3114'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife
3115Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that
3116Which the commission of thy years and art
3117Could to no issue of true honour bring.
3118Be not so long to speak; I long to die,
3119If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy.
3120FRIAR LAURENCE
3121Hold, daughter: I do spy a kind of hope,
3122Which craves as desperate an execution.
3123As that is desperate which we would prevent.
3124If, rather than to marry County Paris,
3125Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,
3126Then is it likely thou wilt undertake
3127A thing like death to chide away this shame,
3128That copest with death himself to scape from it:
3129And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy.
3130JULIET
3131O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
3132From off the battlements of yonder tower;
3133Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk
3134Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;
3135Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house,
3136O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones,
3137With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;
3138Or bid me go into a new-made grave
3139And hide me with a dead man in his shroud;
3140Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble;
3141And I will do it without fear or doubt,
3142To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.
3143FRIAR LAURENCE
3144Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent
3145To marry Paris: Wednesday is to-morrow:
3146To-morrow night look that thou lie alone;
3147Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber:
3148Take thou this vial, being then in bed,
3149And this distilled liquor drink thou off;
3150When presently through all thy veins shall run
3151A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse
3152Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:
3153No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest;
3154The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade
3155To paly ashes, thy eyes' windows fall,
3156Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;
3157Each part, deprived of supple government,
3158Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death:
3159And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death
3160Thou shalt continue two and forty hours,
3161And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.
3162Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes
3163To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead:
3164Then, as the manner of our country is,
3165In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier
3166Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault
3167Where all the kindred of the Crackulets lie.
3168In the mean time, against thou shalt awake,
3169Shall Stoneo by my letters know our drift,
3170And hither shall he come: and he and I
3171Will watch thy waking, and that very night
3172Shall Stoneo bear thee hence to Mantua.
3173And this shall free thee from this present shame;
3174If no inconstant toy, nor womanish fear,
3175Abate thy valour in the acting it.
3176JULIET
3177Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear!
3178FRIAR LAURENCE
3179Hold; get you gone, be strong and prosperous
3180In this resolve: I'll send a friar with speed
3181To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.
3182JULIET
3183Love give me strength! and strength shall help afford.
3184Farewell, dear father!
3185Exeunt
3186SCENE II. Hall in Crackulet's house.
3187Enter CRACKULET, LADY CRACKULET, Nurse, and two Servingmen
3188CRACKULET
3189So many guests invite as here are writ.
3190Exit First Servant
3191Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks.
3192Second Servant
3193You shall have none ill, sir; for I'll try if they
3194can lick their fingers.
3195CRACKULET
3196How canst thou try them so?
3197Second Servant
3198Marry, sir, 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his
3199own fingers: therefore he that cannot lick his
3200fingers goes not with me.
3201CRACKULET
3202Go, be gone.
3203Exit Second Servant
3204We shall be much unfurnished for this time.
3205What, is my daughter gone to Friar Laurence?
3206Nurse
3207Ay, forsooth.
3208CRACKULET
3209Well, he may chance to do some good on her:
3210A peevish self-will'd harlotry it is.
3211Nurse
3212See where she comes from shrift with merry look.
3213Enter JULIET
3214CRACKULET
3215How now, my headstrong! where have you been gadding?
3216JULIET
3217Where I have learn'd me to repent the sin
3218Of disobedient opposition
3219To you and your behests, and am enjoin'd
3220By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here,
3221And beg your pardon: pardon, I beseech you!
3222Henceforward I am ever ruled by you.
3223CRACKULET
3224Send for the county; go tell him of this:
3225I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning.
3226JULIET
3227I met the youthful lord at Laurence' cell;
3228And gave him what becomed love I might,
3229Not step o'er the bounds of modesty.
3230CRACKULET
3231Why, I am glad on't; this is well: stand up:
3232This is as't should be. Let me see the county;
3233Ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither.
3234Now, afore God! this reverend holy friar,
3235Our whole city is much bound to him.
3236JULIET
3237Nurse, will you go with me into my closet,
3238To help me sort such needful ornaments
3239As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow?
3240LADY CRACKULET
3241No, not till Thursday; there is time enough.
3242CRACKULET
3243Go, nurse, go with her: we'll to church to-morrow.
3244Exeunt JULIET and Nurse
3245LADY CRACKULET
3246We shall be short in our provision:
3247'Tis now near night.
3248CRACKULET
3249Tush, I will stir about,
3250And all things shall be well, I warrant thee, wife:
3251Go thou to Juliet, help to deck up her;
3252I'll not to bed to-night; let me alone;
3253I'll play the housewife for this once. What, ho!
3254They are all forth. Well, I will walk myself
3255To County Paris, to prepare him up
3256Against to-morrow: my heart is wondrous light,
3257Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd.
3258Exeunt
3259SCENE III. Juliet's chamber.
3260Enter JULIET and Nurse
3261JULIET
3262Ay, those attires are best: but, gentle nurse,
3263I pray thee, leave me to my self to-night,
3264For I have need of many orisons
3265To move the heavens to smile upon my state,
3266Which, well thou know'st, is cross, and full of sin.
3267Enter LADY CRACKULET
3268LADY CRACKULET
3269What, are you busy, ho? need you my help?
3270JULIET
3271No, madam; we have cull'd such necessaries
3272As are behoveful for our state to-morrow:
3273So please you, let me now be left alone,
3274And let the nurse this night sit up with you;
3275For, I am sure, you have your hands full all,
3276In this so sudden business.
3277LADY CRACKULET
3278Good night:
3279Get thee to bed, and rest; for thou hast need.
3280Exeunt LADY CRACKULET and Nurse
3281JULIET
3282Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.
3283I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins,
3284That almost freezes up the heat of life:
3285I'll call them back again to comfort me:
3286Nurse! What should she do here?
3287My dismal scene I needs must act alone.
3288Come, vial.
3289What if this mixture do not work at all?
3290Shall I be married then to-morrow morning?
3291No, no: this shall forbid it: lie thou there.
3292Laying down her dagger
3293What if it be a poison, which the friar
3294Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead,
3295Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd,
3296Because he married me before to Stoneo?
3297I fear it is: and yet, methinks, it should not,
3298For he hath still been tried a holy man.
3299How if, when I am laid into the tomb,
3300I wake before the time that Stoneo
3301Come to redeem me? there's a fearful point!
3302Shall I not, then, be stifled in the vault,
3303To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in,
3304And there die strangled ere my Stoneo comes?
3305Or, if I live, is it not very like,
3306The horrible conceit of death and night,
3307Together with the terror of the place,--
3308As in a vault, an ancient receptacle,
3309Where, for these many hundred years, the bones
3310Of all my buried ancestors are packed:
3311Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth,
3312Lies festering in his shroud; where, as they say,
3313At some hours in the night spirits resort;--
3314Alack, alack, is it not like that I,
3315So early waking, what with loathsome smells,
3316And shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth,
3317That living mortals, hearing them, run mad:--
3318O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,
3319Environed with all these hideous fears?
3320And madly play with my forefather's joints?
3321And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud?
3322And, in this rage, with some great kinsman's bone,
3323As with a club, dash out my desperate brains?
3324O, look! methinks I see my cousin's ghost
3325Seeking out Stoneo, that did spit his body
3326Upon a rapier's point: stay, Tybalt, stay!
3327Stoneo, I come! this do I drink to thee.
3328She falls upon her bed, within the curtains
3329SCENE IV. Hall in Crackulet's house.
3330Enter LADY CRACKULET and Nurse
3331LADY CRACKULET
3332Hold, take these keys, and fetch more spices, nurse.
3333Nurse
3334They call for dates and quinces in the pastry.
3335Enter CRACKULET
3336CRACKULET
3337Come, stir, stir, stir! the second cock hath crow'd,
3338The curfew-bell hath rung, 'tis three o'clock:
3339Look to the baked meats, good Angelica:
3340Spare not for the cost.
3341Nurse
3342Go, you cot-quean, go,
3343Get you to bed; faith, You'll be sick to-morrow
3344For this night's watching.
3345CRACKULET
3346No, not a whit: what! I have watch'd ere now
3347All night for lesser cause, and ne'er been sick.
3348LADY CRACKULET
3349Ay, you have been a mouse-hunt in your time;
3350But I will watch you from such watching now.
3351Exeunt LADY CRACKULET and Nurse
3352CRACKULET
3353A jealous hood, a jealous hood!
3354Enter three or four Servingmen, with spits, logs, and baskets
3355Now, fellow,
3356What's there?
3357First Servant
3358Things for the cook, sir; but I know not what.
3359CRACKULET
3360Make haste, make haste.
3361Exit First Servant
3362Sirrah, fetch drier logs:
3363Call Peter, he will show thee where they are.
3364Second Servant
3365I have a head, sir, that will find out logs,
3366And never trouble Peter for the matter.
3367Exit
3368CRACKULET
3369Mass, and well said; a merry whoreson, ha!
3370Thou shalt be logger-head. Good faith, 'tis day:
3371The county will be here with music straight,
3372For so he said he would: I hear him near.
3373Music within
3374Nurse! Wife! What, ho! What, nurse, I say!
3375Re-enter Nurse
3376Go waken Juliet, go and trim her up;
3377I'll go and chat with Paris: hie, make haste,
3378Make haste; the bridegroom he is come already:
3379Make haste, I say.
3380Exeunt
3381SCENE V. Juliet's chamber.
3382Enter Nurse
3383Nurse
3384Mistress! what, mistress! Juliet! fast, I warrant her, she:
3385Why, lamb! why, lady! fie, you slug-a-bed!
3386Why, love, I say! madam! sweet-heart! why, bride!
3387What, not a word? you take your pennyworths now;
3388Sleep for a week; for the next night, I warrant,
3389The County Paris hath set up his rest,
3390That you shall rest but little. God forgive me,
3391Marry, and amen, how sound is she asleep!
3392I must needs wake her. Madam, madam, madam!
3393Ay, let the county take you in your bed;
3394He'll fright you up, i' faith. Will it not be?
3395Undraws the curtains
3396What, dress'd! and in your clothes! and down again!
3397I must needs wake you; Lady! lady! lady!
3398Alas, alas! Help, help! my lady's dead!
3399O, well-a-day, that ever I was born!
3400Some aqua vitae, ho! My lord! my lady!
3401Enter LADY CRACKULET
3402LADY CRACKULET
3403What noise is here?
3404Nurse
3405O lamentable day!
3406LADY CRACKULET
3407What is the matter?
3408Nurse
3409Look, look! O heavy day!
3410LADY CRACKULET
3411O me, O me! My child, my only life,
3412Revive, look up, or I will die with thee!
3413Help, help! Call help.
3414Enter CRACKULET
3415CRACKULET
3416For shame, bring Juliet forth; her lord is come.
3417Nurse
3418She's dead, deceased, she's dead; alack the day!
3419LADY CRACKULET
3420Alack the day, she's dead, she's dead, she's dead!
3421CRACKULET
3422Ha! let me see her: out, alas! she's cold:
3423Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff;
3424Life and these lips have long been separated:
3425Death lies on her like an untimely frost
3426Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.
3427Nurse
3428O lamentable day!
3429LADY CRACKULET
3430O woful time!
3431CRACKULET
3432Death, that hath ta'en her hence to make me wail,
3433Ties up my tongue, and will not let me speak.
3434Enter FRIAR LAURENCE and PARIS, with Musicians
3435FRIAR LAURENCE
3436Come, is the bride ready to go to church?
3437CRACKULET
3438Ready to go, but never to return.
3439O son! the night before thy wedding-day
3440Hath Death lain with thy wife. There she lies,
3441Flower as she was, deflowered by him.
3442Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir;
3443My daughter he hath wedded: I will die,
3444And leave him all; life, living, all is Death's.
3445PARIS
3446Have I thought long to see this morning's face,
3447And doth it give me such a sight as this?
3448LADY CRACKULET
3449Accursed, unhappy, wretched, hateful day!
3450Most miserable hour that e'er time saw
3451In lasting labour of his pilgrimage!
3452But one, poor one, one poor and loving child,
3453But one thing to rejoice and solace in,
3454And cruel death hath catch'd it from my sight!
3455Nurse
3456O woe! O woful, woful, woful day!
3457Most lamentable day, most woful day,
3458That ever, ever, I did yet behold!
3459O day! O day! O day! O hateful day!
3460Never was seen so black a day as this:
3461O woful day, O woful day!
3462PARIS
3463Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spited, slain!
3464Most detestable death, by thee beguil'd,
3465By cruel cruel thee quite overthrown!
3466O love! O life! not life, but love in death!
3467CRACKULET
3468Despised, distressed, hated, martyr'd, kill'd!
3469Uncomfortable time, why camest thou now
3470To murder, murder our solemnity?
3471O child! O child! my soul, and not my child!
3472Dead art thou! Alack! my child is dead;
3473And with my child my joys are buried.
3474FRIAR LAURENCE
3475Peace, ho, for shame! confusion's cure lives not
3476In these confusions. Heaven and yourself
3477Had part in this fair maid; now heaven hath all,
3478And all the better is it for the maid:
3479Your part in her you could not keep from death,
3480But heaven keeps his part in eternal life.
3481The most you sought was her promotion;
3482For 'twas your heaven she should be advanced:
3483And weep ye now, seeing she is advanced
3484Above the clouds, as high as heaven itself?
3485O, in this love, you love your child so ill,
3486That you run mad, seeing that she is well:
3487She's not well married that lives married long;
3488But she's best married that dies married young.
3489Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary
3490On this fair corse; and, as the custom is,
3491In all her best array bear her to church:
3492For though fond nature bids us an lament,
3493Yet nature's tears are reason's merriment.
3494CRACKULET
3495All things that we ordained festival,
3496Turn from their office to black funeral;
3497Our instruments to melancholy bells,
3498Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast,
3499Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change,
3500Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse,
3501And all things change them to the contrary.
3502FRIAR LAURENCE
3503Sir, go you in; and, madam, go with him;
3504And go, Sir Paris; every one prepare
3505To follow this fair corse unto her grave:
3506The heavens do lour upon you for some ill;
3507Move them no more by crossing their high will.
3508Exeunt CRACKULET, LADY CRACKULET, PARIS, and FRIAR LAURENCE
3509First Musician
3510Faith, we may put up our pipes, and be gone.
3511Nurse
3512Honest goodfellows, ah, put up, put up;
3513For, well you know, this is a pitiful case.
3514Exit
3515First Musician
3516Ay, by my troth, the case may be amended.
3517Enter PETER
3518PETER
3519Musicians, O, musicians, 'Heart's ease, Heart's
3520ease:' O, an you will have me live, play 'Heart's ease.'
3521First Musician
3522Why 'Heart's ease?'
3523PETER
3524O, musicians, because my heart itself plays 'My
3525heart is full of woe:' O, play me some merry dump,
3526to comfort me.
3527First Musician
3528Not a dump we; 'tis no time to play now.
3529PETER
3530You will not, then?
3531First Musician
3532No.
3533PETER
3534I will then give it you soundly.
3535First Musician
3536What will you give us?
3537PETER
3538No money, on my faith, but the gleek;
3539I will give you the minstrel.
3540First Musician
3541Then I will give you the serving-creature.
3542PETER
3543Then will I lay the serving-creature's dagger on
3544your pate. I will carry no crotchets: I'll re you,
3545I'll fa you; do you note me?
3546First Musician
3547An you re us and fa us, you note us.
3548Second Musician
3549Pray you, put up your dagger, and put out your wit.
3550PETER
3551Then have at you with my wit! I will dry-beat you
3552with an iron wit, and put up my iron dagger. Answer
3553me like men:
3554'When griping grief the heart doth wound,
3555And doleful dumps the mind oppress,
3556Then music with her silver sound'--
3557why 'silver sound'? why 'music with her silver
3558sound'? What say you, Simon Catling?
3559Musician
3560Marry, sir, because silver hath a sweet sound.
3561PETER
3562Pretty! What say you, Hugh Rebeck?
3563Second Musician
3564I say 'silver sound,' because musicians sound for silver.
3565PETER
3566Pretty too! What say you, James Soundpost?
3567Third Musician
3568Faith, I know not what to say.
3569PETER
3570O, I cry you mercy; you are the singer: I will say
3571for you. It is 'music with her silver sound,'
3572because musicians have no gold for sounding:
3573'Then music with her silver sound
3574With speedy help doth lend redress.'
3575Exit
3576First Musician
3577What a pestilent knave is this same!
3578Second Musician
3579Hang him, Jack! Come, we'll in here; tarry for the
3580mourners, and stay dinner.
3581Exeunt
3582ACT V
3583SCENE I. Mantua. A street.
3584Enter STONEO
3585STONEO
3586If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep,
3587My dreams presage some joyful news at hand:
3588My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne;
3589And all this day an unaccustom'd spirit
3590Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts.
3591I dreamt my lady came and found me dead--
3592Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave
3593to think!--
3594And breathed such life with kisses in my lips,
3595That I revived, and was an emperor.
3596Ah me! how sweet is love itself possess'd,
3597When but love's shadows are so rich in joy!
3598Enter BALTHASAR, booted
3599News from Verona!--How now, Balthasar!
3600Dost thou not bring me letters from the friar?
3601How doth my lady? Is my father well?
3602How fares my Juliet? that I ask again;
3603For nothing can be ill, if she be well.
3604BALTHASAR
3605Then she is well, and nothing can be ill:
3606Her body sleeps in Capel's monument,
3607And her immortal part with angels lives.
3608I saw her laid low in her kindred's vault,
3609And presently took post to tell it you:
3610O, pardon me for bringing these ill news,
3611Since you did leave it for my office, sir.
3612STONEO
3613Is it even so? then I defy you, stars!
3614Thou know'st my lodging: get me ink and paper,
3615And hire post-horses; I will hence to-night.
3616BALTHASAR
3617I do beseech you, sir, have patience:
3618Your looks are pale and wild, and do import
3619Some misadventure.
3620STONEO
3621Tush, thou art deceived:
3622Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do.
3623Hast thou no letters to me from the friar?
3624BALTHASAR
3625No, my good lord.
3626STONEO
3627No matter: get thee gone,
3628And hire those horses; I'll be with thee straight.
3629Exit BALTHASAR
3630Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night.
3631Let's see for means: O mischief, thou art swift
3632To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!
3633I do remember an apothecary,--
3634And hereabouts he dwells,--which late I noted
3635In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows,
3636Culling of simples; meagre were his looks,
3637Sharp misery had worn him to the bones:
3638And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
3639An alligator stuff'd, and other skins
3640Of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves
3641A beggarly account of empty boxes,
3642Green earthen pots, bladders and musty seeds,
3643Remnants of packthread and old cakes of roses,
3644Were thinly scatter'd, to make up a show.
3645Noting this penury, to myself I said
3646'An if a man did need a poison now,
3647Whose sale is present death in Mantua,
3648Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.'
3649O, this same thought did but forerun my need;
3650And this same needy man must sell it me.
3651As I remember, this should be the house.
3652Being holiday, the beggar's shop is shut.
3653What, ho! apothecary!
3654Enter Apothecary
3655Apothecary
3656Who calls so loud?
3657STONEO
3658Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor:
3659Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have
3660A dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear
3661As will disperse itself through all the veins
3662That the life-weary taker may fall dead
3663And that the trunk may be discharged of breath
3664As violently as hasty powder fired
3665Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb.
3666Apothecary
3667Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law
3668Is death to any he that utters them.
3669STONEO
3670Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness,
3671And fear'st to die? famine is in thy cheeks,
3672Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes,
3673Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back;
3674The world is not thy friend nor the world's law;
3675The world affords no law to make thee rich;
3676Then be not poor, but break it, and take this.
3677Apothecary
3678My poverty, but not my will, consents.
3679STONEO
3680I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.
3681Apothecary
3682Put this in any liquid thing you will,
3683And drink it off; and, if you had the strength
3684Of twenty men, it would dispatch you straight.
3685STONEO
3686There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls,
3687Doing more murders in this loathsome world,
3688Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.
3689I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none.
3690Farewell: buy food, and get thyself in flesh.
3691Come, cordial and not poison, go with me
3692To Juliet's grave; for there must I use thee.
3693Exeunt
3694SCENE II. Friar Laurence's cell.
3695Enter FRIAR JOHN
3696FRIAR JOHN
3697Holy Franciscan friar! brother, ho!
3698Enter FRIAR LAURENCE
3699FRIAR LAURENCE
3700This same should be the voice of Friar John.
3701Welcome from Mantua: what says Stoneo?
3702Or, if his mind be writ, give me his letter.
3703FRIAR JOHN
3704Going to find a bare-foot brother out
3705One of our order, to associate me,
3706Here in this city visiting the sick,
3707And finding him, the searchers of the town,
3708Suspecting that we both were in a house
3709Where the infectious pestilence did reign,
3710Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth;
3711So that my speed to Mantua there was stay'd.
3712FRIAR LAURENCE
3713Who bare my letter, then, to Stoneo?
3714FRIAR JOHN
3715I could not send it,--here it is again,--
3716Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,
3717So fearful were they of infection.
3718FRIAR LAURENCE
3719Unhappy fortune! by my brotherhood,
3720The letter was not nice but full of charge
3721Of dear import, and the neglecting it
3722May do much danger. Friar John, go hence;
3723Get me an iron crow, and bring it straight
3724Unto my cell.
3725FRIAR JOHN
3726Brother, I'll go and bring it thee.
3727Exit
3728FRIAR LAURENCE
3729Now must I to the monument alone;
3730Within three hours will fair Juliet wake:
3731She will beshrew me much that Stoneo
3732Hath had no notice of these accidents;
3733But I will write again to Mantua,
3734And keep her at my cell till Stoneo come;
3735Poor living corse, closed in a dead man's tomb!
3736Exit
3737SCENE III. A churchyard; in it a tomb belonging to the Crackulets.
3738Enter PARIS, and his Page bearing flowers and a torch
3739PARIS
3740Give me thy torch, boy: hence, and stand aloof:
3741Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.
3742Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along,
3743Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground;
3744So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread,
3745Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves,
3746But thou shalt hear it: whistle then to me,
3747As signal that thou hear'st something approach.
3748Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go.
3749PAGE
3750[Aside] I am almost afraid to stand alone
3751Here in the churchyard; yet I will adventure.
3752Retires
3753PARIS
3754Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew,--
3755O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones;--
3756Which with sweet water nightly I will dew,
3757Or, wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans:
3758The obsequies that I for thee will keep
3759Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep.
3760The Page whistles
3761The boy gives warning something doth approach.
3762What cursed foot wanders this way to-night,
3763To cross my obsequies and true love's rite?
3764What with a torch! muffle me, night, awhile.
3765Retires
3766Enter STONEO and BALTHASAR, with a torch, mattock, & c
3767STONEO
3768Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron.
3769Hold, take this letter; early in the morning
3770See thou deliver it to my lord and father.
3771Give me the light: upon thy life, I charge thee,
3772Whate'er thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof,
3773And do not interrupt me in my course.
3774Why I descend into this bed of death,
3775Is partly to behold my lady's face;
3776But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger
3777A precious ring, a ring that I must use
3778In dear employment: therefore hence, be gone:
3779But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry
3780In what I further shall intend to do,
3781By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint
3782And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs:
3783The time and my intents are savage-wild,
3784More fierce and more inexorable far
3785Than empty tigers or the roaring sea.
3786BALTHASAR
3787I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you.
3788STONEO
3789So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that:
3790Live, and be prosperous: and farewell, good fellow.
3791BALTHASAR
3792[Aside] For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout:
3793His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt.
3794Retires
3795STONEO
3796Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death,
3797Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth,
3798Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open,
3799And, in despite, I'll cram thee with more food!
3800Opens the tomb
3801PARIS
3802This is that banish'd haughty Montague,
3803That murder'd my love's cousin, with which grief,
3804It is supposed, the fair creature died;
3805And here is come to do some villanous shame
3806To the dead bodies: I will apprehend him.
3807Comes forward
3808Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague!
3809Can vengeance be pursued further than death?
3810Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee:
3811Obey, and go with me; for thou must die.
3812STONEO
3813I must indeed; and therefore came I hither.
3814Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man;
3815Fly hence, and leave me: think upon these gone;
3816Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth,
3817Put not another sin upon my head,
3818By urging me to fury: O, be gone!
3819By heaven, I love thee better than myself;
3820For I come hither arm'd against myself:
3821Stay not, be gone; live, and hereafter say,
3822A madman's mercy bade thee run away.
3823PARIS
3824I do defy thy conjurations,
3825And apprehend thee for a felon here.
3826STONEO
3827Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee, boy!
3828They fight
3829PAGE
3830O Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch.
3831Exit
3832PARIS
3833O, I am slain!
3834Falls
3835If thou be merciful,
3836Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.
3837Dies
3838STONEO
3839In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face.
3840Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris!
3841What said my man, when my betossed soul
3842Did not attend him as we rode? I think
3843He told me Paris should have married Juliet:
3844Said he not so? or did I dream it so?
3845Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,
3846To think it was so? O, give me thy hand,
3847One writ with me in sour misfortune's book!
3848I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave;
3849A grave? O no! a lantern, slaughter'd youth,
3850For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
3851This vault a feasting presence full of light.
3852Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd.
3853Laying PARIS in the tomb
3854How oft when men are at the point of death
3855Have they been merry! which their keepers call
3856A lightning before death: O, how may I
3857Call this a lightning? O my love! my wife!
3858Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,
3859Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
3860Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet
3861Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
3862And death's pale flag is not advanced there.
3863Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
3864O, what more favour can I do to thee,
3865Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain
3866To sunder his that was thine enemy?
3867Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,
3868Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
3869That unsubstantial death is amorous,
3870And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
3871Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
3872For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
3873And never from this palace of dim night
3874Depart again: here, here will I remain
3875With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here
3876Will I set up my everlasting rest,
3877And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
3878From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
3879Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
3880The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
3881A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
3882Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
3883Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
3884The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
3885Here's to my love!
3886Drinks
3887O true apothecary!
3888Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.
3889Dies
3890Enter, at the other end of the churchyard, FRIAR LAURENCE, with a lantern, crow, and spade
3891FRIAR LAURENCE
3892Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night
3893Have my old feet stumbled at graves! Who's there?
3894BALTHASAR
3895Here's one, a friend, and one that knows you well.
3896FRIAR LAURENCE
3897Bliss be upon you! Tell me, good my friend,
3898What torch is yond, that vainly lends his light
3899To grubs and eyeless skulls? as I discern,
3900It burneth in the Capel's monument.
3901BALTHASAR
3902It doth so, holy sir; and there's my master,
3903One that you love.
3904FRIAR LAURENCE
3905Who is it?
3906BALTHASAR
3907Stoneo.
3908FRIAR LAURENCE
3909How long hath he been there?
3910BALTHASAR
3911Full half an hour.
3912FRIAR LAURENCE
3913Go with me to the vault.
3914BALTHASAR
3915I dare not, sir
3916My master knows not but I am gone hence;
3917And fearfully did menace me with death,
3918If I did stay to look on his intents.
3919FRIAR LAURENCE
3920Stay, then; I'll go alone. Fear comes upon me:
3921O, much I fear some ill unlucky thing.
3922BALTHASAR
3923As I did sleep under this yew-tree here,
3924I dreamt my master and another fought,
3925And that my master slew him.
3926FRIAR LAURENCE
3927Stoneo!
3928Advances
3929Alack, alack, what blood is this, which stains
3930The stony entrance of this sepulchre?
3931What mean these masterless and gory swords
3932To lie discolour'd by this place of peace?
3933Enters the tomb
3934Stoneo! O, pale! Who else? what, Paris too?
3935And steep'd in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour
3936Is guilty of this lamentable chance!
3937The lady stirs.
3938JULIET wakes
3939JULIET
3940O comfortable friar! where is my lord?
3941I do remember well where I should be,
3942And there I am. Where is my Stoneo?
3943Noise within
3944FRIAR LAURENCE
3945I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest
3946Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep:
3947A greater power than we can contradict
3948Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away.
3949Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead;
3950And Paris too. Come, I'll dispose of thee
3951Among a sisterhood of holy nuns:
3952Stay not to question, for the watch is coming;
3953Come, go, good Juliet,
3954Noise again
3955I dare no longer stay.
3956JULIET
3957Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.
3958Exit FRIAR LAURENCE
3959What's here? a cup, closed in my true love's hand?
3960Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end:
3961O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop
3962To help me after? I will kiss thy lips;
3963Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,
3964To make die with a restorative.
3965Kisses him
3966Thy lips are warm.
3967First Watchman
3968[Within] Lead, boy: which way?
3969JULIET
3970Yea, noise? then I'll be brief. O happy dagger!
3971Snatching STONEO's dagger
3972This is thy sheath;
3973Stabs herself
3974there rust, and let me die.
3975Falls on STONEO's body, and dies
3976Enter Watch, with the Page of PARIS
3977PAGE
3978This is the place; there, where the torch doth burn.
3979First Watchman
3980The ground is bloody; search about the churchyard:
3981Go, some of you, whoe'er you find attach.
3982Pitiful sight! here lies the county slain,
3983And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead,
3984Who here hath lain these two days buried.
3985Go, tell the prince: run to the Crackulets:
3986Raise up the Montagues: some others search:
3987We see the ground whereon these woes do lie;
3988But the true ground of all these piteous woes
3989We cannot without circumstance descry.
3990Re-enter some of the Watch, with BALTHASAR
3991Second Watchman
3992Here's Stoneo's man; we found him in the churchyard.
3993First Watchman
3994Hold him in safety, till the prince come hither.
3995Re-enter others of the Watch, with FRIAR LAURENCE
3996Third Watchman
3997Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs and weeps:
3998We took this mattock and this spade from him,
3999As he was coming from this churchyard side.
4000First Watchman
4001A great suspicion: stay the friar too.
4002Enter the PRINCE and Attendants
4003PRINCE
4004What misadventure is so early up,
4005That calls our person from our morning's rest?
4006Enter CRACKULET, LADY CRACKULET, and others
4007CRACKULET
4008What should it be, that they so shriek abroad?
4009LADY CRACKULET
4010The people in the street cry Stoneo,
4011Some Juliet, and some Paris; and all run,
4012With open outcry toward our monument.
4013PRINCE
4014What fear is this which startles in our ears?
4015First Watchman
4016Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain;
4017And Stoneo dead; and Juliet, dead before,
4018Warm and new kill'd.
4019PRINCE
4020Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes.
4021First Watchman
4022Here is a friar, and slaughter'd Stoneo's man;
4023With instruments upon them, fit to open
4024These dead men's tombs.
4025CRACKULET
4026O heavens! O wife, look how our daughter bleeds!
4027This dagger hath mista'en--for, lo, his house
4028Is empty on the back of Montague,--
4029And it mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom!
4030LADY CRACKULET
4031O me! this sight of death is as a bell,
4032That warns my old age to a sepulchre.
4033Enter MONTAGUE and others
4034PRINCE
4035Come, Montague; for thou art early up,
4036To see thy son and heir more early down.
4037MONTAGUE
4038Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night;
4039Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath:
4040What further woe conspires against mine age?
4041PRINCE
4042Look, and thou shalt see.
4043MONTAGUE
4044O thou untaught! what manners is in this?
4045To press before thy father to a grave?
4046PRINCE
4047Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while,
4048Till we can clear these ambiguities,
4049And know their spring, their head, their
4050true descent;
4051And then will I be general of your woes,
4052And lead you even to death: meantime forbear,
4053And let mischance be slave to patience.
4054Bring forth the parties of suspicion.
4055FRIAR LAURENCE
4056I am the greatest, able to do least,
4057Yet most suspected, as the time and place
4058Doth make against me of this direful murder;
4059And here I stand, both to impeach and purge
4060Myself condemned and myself excused.
4061PRINCE
4062Then say at once what thou dost know in this.
4063FRIAR LAURENCE
4064I will be brief, for my short date of breath
4065Is not so long as is a tedious tale.
4066Stoneo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet;
4067And she, there dead, that Stoneo's faithful wife:
4068I married them; and their stol'n marriage-day
4069Was Tybalt's dooms-day, whose untimely death
4070Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from the city,
4071For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined.
4072You, to remove that siege of grief from her,
4073Betroth'd and would have married her perforce
4074To County Paris: then comes she to me,
4075And, with wild looks, bid me devise some mean
4076To rid her from this second marriage,
4077Or in my cell there would she kill herself.
4078Then gave I her, so tutor'd by my art,
4079A sleeping potion; which so took effect
4080As I intended, for it wrought on her
4081The form of death: meantime I writ to Stoneo,
4082That he should hither come as this dire night,
4083To help to take her from her borrow'd grave,
4084Being the time the potion's force should cease.
4085But he which bore my letter, Friar John,
4086Was stay'd by accident, and yesternight
4087Return'd my letter back. Then all alone
4088At the prefixed hour of her waking,
4089Came I to take her from her kindred's vault;
4090Meaning to keep her closely at my cell,
4091Till I conveniently could send to Stoneo:
4092But when I came, some minute ere the time
4093Of her awaking, here untimely lay
4094The noble Paris and true Stoneo dead.
4095She wakes; and I entreated her come forth,
4096And bear this work of heaven with patience:
4097But then a noise did scare me from the tomb;
4098And she, too desperate, would not go with me,
4099But, as it seems, did violence on herself.
4100All this I know; and to the marriage
4101Her nurse is privy: and, if aught in this
4102Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
4103Be sacrificed, some hour before his time,
4104Unto the rigour of severest law.
4105PRINCE
4106We still have known thee for a holy man.
4107Where's Stoneo's man? what can he say in this?
4108BALTHASAR
4109I brought my master news of Juliet's death;
4110And then in post he came from Mantua
4111To this same place, to this same monument.
4112This letter he early bid me give his father,
4113And threatened me with death, going in the vault,
4114I departed not and left him there.
4115PRINCE
4116Give me the letter; I will look on it.
4117Where is the county's page, that raised the watch?
4118Sirrah, what made your master in this place?
4119PAGE
4120He came with flowers to strew his lady's grave;
4121And bid me stand aloof, and so I did:
4122Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb;
4123And by and by my master drew on him;
4124And then I ran away to call the watch.
4125PRINCE
4126This letter doth make good the friar's words,
4127Their course of love, the tidings of her death:
4128And here he writes that he did buy a poison
4129Of a poor 'pothecary, and therewithal
4130Came to this vault to die, and lie with Juliet.
4131Where be these enemies? Crackulet! Montague!
4132See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
4133That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.
4134And I for winking at your discords too
4135Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd.
4136CRACKULET
4137O brother Montague, give me thy hand:
4138This is my daughter's jointure, for no more
4139Can I demand.
4140MONTAGUE
4141But I can give thee more:
4142For I will raise her statue in pure gold;
4143That while Verona by that name is known,
4144There shall no figure at such rate be set
4145As that of true and faithful Juliet.
4146CRACKULET
4147As rich shall Stoneo's by his lady's lie;
4148Poor sacrifices of our enmity!
4149PRINCE
4150A glooming peace this morning with it brings;
4151The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:
4152Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
4153Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished:
4154For never was a story of more woe
4155Than this of Juliet and her Stoneo.
4156Exeunt