Rom. Tufh, thou art deceiv'd.

Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do.
Haft thou no letters to me from the Friar?
Balth. No, my good Lord.

Rom. No matter. Get thee gone,

And hire thofe horfes; I'll be with thee ftraight.

[Exit Balthafar.
Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night;
Let's fee for means-O mifchief! thou art fwift
To enter in the thought of defperate men!
I do remember an Apothecary,

And hereabouts he dwells, whom late I noted
In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows,
Culling of fimples; meager were his looks;
Sharp mifery had worn him to the bones;
And in his needy fhop a tortoife hung,
An alligator ftuft, and other skins

Of ill-fhap'd fishes, and about his fhelves

A beggarly account of empty boxes;

Green earthen pots, bladders, and mufty feeds,
Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of rofes
Were thinly scatter'd to make up a fhow.
Noting this penury, to myself, I faid,
An if a man did need a poifon now,
Whose fale is prefent death in Mantua,

A BEGGARLY account of empty boxes;] Though the boxes were empty, yet their titles, or the accounts of their contents, if like those in the shops of other apothecaries, we may be fure, were magnificent enough. I fuf pect therefore that Shakespear

wrote,

the reading of the old Quarto of 1597:

whofe needy Shop is stuffe With beggarly accounts of emp

ty boxes;

Not but account may fignify number as well as contents; if the first, the common reading is right.

WARBURTON. Beggarly is probably right; if account of the boxes were empty, the account was more beggarly, as it was

A BRAGGARTLY empty boxes; Which is fomewhat confirmed by more pompous.

Here lives a caitiff wretch would fell it him.
Oh, this fame thought did but fore-run my need,
And this fame needy man muft sell it me.
As I remember, this should be the house.
Being holy-day, the beggar's fhop is fhut.
What, ho! apothecary!

t

Enter Apothecary.

Ap. Who calls fo loud?

Rom. Come hither, man. Ifee, that thou art poor. Hold. There is forty ducats. Let me have A dram of poison, fuch foon-speeding geer, As will difperfe itself thro' all the veins, That the life-weary Taker may fall dead; And that the Trunk may be discharg❜d of breath, As violently, as hafty powder fir'd

Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb.

Ap. Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantua's law Is death to any he that utters them.

Rom. Art thou fo bare and full of wretchedness, And fear'ft to die? famine is in thy cheeks, Need and oppreffion ftare within thine eyes, Contempt and beggary hang upon thy back, The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law; The world affords no law to make thee rich, Then be not poor, but break it and take this. Ap. My poverty, but not my will, confents? Rom. I pay thy poverty, and not thy will. Ap. Put this in any liquid thing you will, And drink it off, and if you had the ftrength Of twenty men, it would dispatch you straight. Rom. There is thy gold; worfe poifon to men's,

fouls,

Doing more murders in this loathfome world,
Than these poor compounds that thou may'st not fell.
I fell thee poison, thou haft fold me none.

Farewel,

Farewel, buy food, and get thee into flesh.
Come, cordial, and not poifon; go with me
To Juliet's grave, for there muft I ufe thee. [Exeunt.

Enter Friar Lawrence to him.

Law. This fame fhould be the voice of Friar John.-
Welcome from Mantua; what fays Romeo?
Or, if his mind be writ, give me his letter.
John. Going to find a bare-foot brother out,
One of our Order, to affociate me,
Here in this city vifiting the fick;

And finding him, the Searchers of the town,
Sufpecting that we both were in a house
Where the infectious peftilence did reign,
Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth;
So that my speed to Mantua there was staid.
Law. Who bore my letter then to Romeo?
John. I could not fend it; here it is again;
Nor get a Meffenger to bring it thee,
So fearful were they of infection.

Law. Unhappy fortune! by my Brotherhood,
The letter was not nice, but full of charge
Of dear import; and the neglecting it

May do much danger. Friar John, go hence,
Get me an iron Crow, and bring it straight.

Unto my

cell.

John. Brother, I'll go and bring it thee.

[Exit.

Law.

Law. Now muft I to the Monument alone,
Within these three hours will fair Juliet wake;
She will befhrew me much, that Romeo
Hath had no notice of these accidents.
But I will write again to Mantua,

And keep her at my cell 'till Romeo come.
Poor living coarse, clos'd in a dead man's tomb !

SCENE

III.

[Exit.

Changes to a Church-yard; in it, a Monument belonging

to the Capulets.

Enter Paris, and bis Page, with a light.

Par. G
GIV

IVE me thy torch, boy; hence and stand
aloof;

Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.
Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along,
Laying thy ear close to the hollow ground,
So fhall no foot upon the church-yard tread,
Being loofe, unfirm, with digging up of Graves,
But thou shalt hear it: whistle then to me,
As fignal that thou hear'ft something approach.
Give me those flow'rs. Do as I bid thee. Go,
Page. I am almoft afraid to stand alone

Here in the church-yard, yet I will adventure. [Exit.
Par. Sweet flow'r! with flow'rs thy bridle bed I

ftrew

[Strewing flowers. Fair Juliet, that with angels doft remain,

2 Fair Juliet, that with an-
gels, &c.] Thefe four lines

from the old edition. POPE.

Mr. Pope has followed the best copy. The folio has thefe lines;

Sweet flow'r, with flow'rs thy bridal bed I firew:
Owoe! thy canopy is dust and ftones,

Which with fweet water nightly I will dew,
Or wanting that, with tears difiill'd by moans.
The obfequies which I for thee will keep,
Nightly fhall be to firew thy grave, and weep,
VOL. VIII.

I

Accept

Accept this latest favour at my hand;
That living honour'd thee, and, being dead,
With fun❜ral obfequies adorn thy tomb.

[The boy whistles. -The boy gives warning, fomething doth approach.

What curfed foot wanders this way to-night,
To cross my Obfequies, and true love's rite?
What, with a torch? Muffle me, night, a while.

Enter Romeo and Balthafar with a light.

Rom. Give me that mattock, and the wrenching iron.

Hold, take this letter; early in the morning
See thou deliver it to my Lord and father.
Give me the light. Upon thy life, I charge thee,
Whate'er thou hear'ft or feeft, ftand all aloof,
And do not interrupt me in my course.

Why I defcend into this bed of death,

Is partly to behold my lady's face

;

But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger

A precious ring, a ring that I must use

In dear employment. Therefore hence. Be gone: But if thou, jealous, doft return to pry

On what I further shall intend to do,

By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint,

And ftrew this hungry church-yard with thy limbs. The time and my intents are favage, wild,

More fierce and more inexorable far

,,

Than empty tygers, or the roaring fea.

३

-dear employment.] That is, action of importance. Gems

were fuppofed to have great powers and virtues.

Balth.