hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes; What eye, but such an eye, would spy out such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of quarrels, as an egg is full of meat; and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg, for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter? with another, for tying his new shoes with old ribband? and yet thou wilt tutor me from quarrelling! Ben. An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter. Mer. The fee-simple? O simple! Enter TYBALT, and others. Ben. By my head, here come the Capulets. Tyb. Follow me close, for I will speak to them. Gentlemen, good den: a word with one of you. Mer. And but one word with one of us? Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow. Tyb. You will find me apt enough to that, sir, if you will give me occasion. Mer. Could you not take some occasion without giving? Tyb. Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo, Mer. Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels! an thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords: "here's my fiddlestick; here's that shall make you dance. 'Zounds, consort! Ben. We talk here in the publick haunt of men : I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I. Tyb. Well, peace be with you, sir! here comes my man. Mer. But I'll be hanged, sir, if he wear your livery: Marry, go before to field, he'll be your follower; Your worship in that sense, may call him — man. Tyb. Romeo, the hate I bare thee can afford No better term than this- Thou art a villain. Rom. Tybait, the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To such a greeting: Villain am I none; Therefore, farewell; I see, thou know'st me not. of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out of Beat down their weapons: — Gentlemen, for shame A plague o' both the houses! I am sped: What, art thou hurt? Mer. Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis - enough. Where is my page? — go, villain, fetch a surgeon. [Exit Page. Rom. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. Mer. No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant for this world: A plague o'both your houses!-'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetick! - Why, the devil, came you between us? I was hurt under your arm. Rom. I thought all for the best. Mer. Help me into some house, Benvolio, I have it, and soundly too :- Your houses. Re-enter BENVOLIO. Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead; That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds, Which too untimely here did scorn the earth. Rom. This day's black fate on more days doth depend; This but begins the woe, others must end. Re-enter TYBALT. Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again. Rom. Alive! in triumph! and Mercutio slain! Away to heaven, respective lenity, And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now! — Is but a little way above our heads, Stand not amaz'd:-the prince will doom thee death, | But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine, If thou art taken: - hence! -be gone!-away! 1 Cit. Which way ran he, that kill'd Mercutio? Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he? Ben. There lies that Tybalt. 1 Cit. Up, sir, go with me; I charge thee in the prince's name, obey. Enter PRINCE, attended; MONTAGUE, CAPULET, their Wives, and others. Prin. Where are the vile beginners of this fray? Ben. O noble Prince, I can discover all The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl: There lies the man, slain by young Romeo, That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio. La. Cap. Tybalt, my cousin!-O my brother's child! Unhappy sight! ah me, the blood is spill'd Prin. Benvolio, who began this bloody fray? Ben. Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay; Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink uttered With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd, Could not take truce with the unruly spleen That you shall all repent the loss of mine: [Exeunt. SCENE II. — A Room in Capulet's House. Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Come, night! - Come, Romeo! come, thou day in night! For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night Give me my Romeo: and, when he shall die, Hold, friends! friends, part! and swifter than his Not yet enjoy'd: So tedious is this day. tongue, His agile arm beats down their fatal points, And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm La. Cap. He is a kinsman to the Montague, Prin. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio; Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe? Mon. Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend; His fault concludes but, what the law should end, The life of Tybalt. Prin. And, for that offence, Immediately we do exíle him hence: I have an interest in your hate's proceeding, As is the night before some festival To an impatient child, that hat!. new robes, But, O! it presses to my memory, Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice : Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer, I. Nurse. I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,- To prison, eyes! ne'er look on liberty! Jul. What storm is this, that blows so contrary? Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished; Romeo, that kill'd him, he is banished. Jul. O God!-did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? Nurse. It did, it did; alas the day! it did. Jul. O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave? Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! Despised substance of divinest show! Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st, A damned saint, an honourable villain! O, nature! what hadst thou to do in hell, When thou did'st bower the spirit of a fiend In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh? Was ever book, containing such vile matter, So fairly bound? O, that deceit should dwell In such a gorgeous palace! Nurse. There's no trust, When I, thy three-hours' wife, have mangled it? All this is comfort; Wherefore weep I then? Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds: Where is my father, and my mother, nurse? Nurse. Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse: Will you go to them? I will bring you thither. Jul. Wash they his wounds with tears? mine shall be spent, When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment. Take up those cords: Poor ropes, you are be guil'd, Both you and I; for Romeo is exil'd Is my dear son with such sour company: Fri A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips, Not body's death, but body's banishment. Rom. Ha! banishment? be merciful, say-death: For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death: do not say-- banishment. Fri. Hence from Verona art thou banished: Be patient, for the world is broad and wide. Rom. There is no world without Verona walls, But purgatory, torture, hell itself. Hence-banished is banish'd from the world, And world's exile is death: then banishment Is death mis-term'd: calling death - banishment, Thou cut'st my head off with a golden axe, And smil'st upon the stroke that murders me. Fri. O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness! Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind prince, Rom. 'Tis torture, and not mercy: heaven is here, Where Juliet lives; and every cat, and dog, And little mouse, every unworthy thing, Live here in heaven, and may look on her, But Romeo may not. More validity, More honourable state, more courtship lives In carrion flies, than Romeo: they may seize On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand, And steal immortal blessing from her lips; Who, even in pure and vestal modesty, Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin; But Romeo may not; he is banished: Flies may do this, when I from this must fly; They are free men, but I am banished. And say'st thou yet, that exile is not death? Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife, No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean, But banished-to kill me; banished? O friar, the damned use that word in hell; Fri. Thou fond mad man, hear me but speak a word. Rom. O, thou wilt speak again of banishment. Fri. I'll give thee armour to keep off that word; Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy, To comfort thee, though thou art banished. Rom. Yet banished? Hang up philosophy! Unless philosophy can make a Juliet, Displant a town, reverse a prince's doom; It helps not, it prevails not, talk no more. Fri. O, then I see that madmen have no ears. Rom. How should they, when that wise men have no eyes? Fri. Let me dispute with thee of thy estate. Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, Then might'st thou speak, then might'st thou tear thy hair, And fall upon the ground, as I do now, Taking the measure of an unmade grave. Fri. Arise; one knocks; good Romeo, hide thy[Knocking within. Rom. Not I; unless the breath of heart-sick groans, self. Mist-like, infold me from the search of eyes. [Knocking. Fri. Hark, how they knock !-Who's there? Romeo, arise; Thou wilt be taken: Stay a while: - stand up; [Knocking. - God's will! Run to my study: - By and by: What wilfulness is this?—I come, I come. [Knocking. Who knocks so hard? whence come you? what's your will? Nurse. [Within.] Let me come in, and you shall know my errand; I come from lady Juliet. Fri. Welcome then. As if that name, Shot from the deadly level of a gun, Did murder her; as that name's cursed hand Murder'd her kinsman. O tell me, friar, tell me, In what vile part of this anatomy Doth my name lodge? tell me, that I may sack The hateful mansion. Fri. [Draws his sword. Hold thy desperate hand: Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou art; A pack of blessings lights upon thy back; - Jul. Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: It was the nightingale, and not the lark, Nurse. O Lord, I could have staid here II the That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear; night, To hear good counsel: O, what learning is! Rom. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide. Nurse. Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir: Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late. [Exit Nurse. Rom. How well my comfort is reviv'd by this! Fri. Go hence: Good night; and here stands all your state; Either begone before the watch be set, SCENE IV. [Exeunt. A Room in Capulet's House. Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, and PARIS. Cap. Things have fallen out, sir, so unluckily, That we have had no time to move our daughter: Look you, she lov'd her kinsman Tybalt dearly, And so did I;- Well; we were born to die. 'Tis very late, she'll not come down to night: I promise you, but for your company, I would have been a-bed an hour ago. Par. These times of woe afford no time to woo; Madam, good night: commend me to your daughter. La. Cap. I will, and know her mind early to Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree: Rom. It was the lark, the herald of the morn, Jul. Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I' It is some meteor that the sun exhales, To be to thee this night a torch-bearer, And light thee on thy way to Mantua : Therefore stay yet, thou need'st not to be gone. Rom. Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death ; I am content, so thou wilt have it so. I'll say, yon grey is not the morning's eye, Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow; Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat The vaulty heaven so high above our heads: I have more care to stay than will to go; Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so. — How is't, my soul? let's talk, it is not day. Jul. It is, it is, hie hence, be gone, away; It is the lark that sings so out of tune, Straining harsh discords, and unpleasing sharps. Some say, the lark makes sweet division; This doth not so, for she divideth us : Some say, the lark and loathed toad change eyes; O, now I would they had chang'd voices too! Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, Hunting thee hence with hunts-up to the day. O, now be gone; more light and light it grows. Rom. More light and light? more dark and dark our woes. Nurse. Madam! Jul. Nurse? Enter Nurse. |