I'll to my rest.

σ

[Exeunt all but JULIET and NURSE.

Jul. Come hither, nurse. What is yond' gentle

man?

Nurse. The son and heir of old Tiberio.

Jul. What's he, that now is going out of door?

Nurse. Marry, that, I think, be young Petruchio. Jul. What's he, that follows here, that would not dance?

Nurse. I know not.

Jul. Go, ask his name.-If he be married, My grave is like to be my wedding bed'.

Nurse. His name is Romeo, and a Montague; The only son of your great enemy.

Jul. My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,

That I must love a loathed enemy.
Nurse. What's this? what's this?
Jul.

Of one I danc'd withal.

Nurse.

A rhyme I learn'd even now [One calls within, JULIET!

Anon, anon:

Come, let's away; the strangers all are gone. [Exeunt.

Enter CHORUS.

Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie,
And young affection gapes to be his heir:
That fair, for which love groan'd for, and would die,
With tender Juliet match'd, is now not fair.
Now Romeo is belov'd, and loves again,
Alike bewitched by the charm of looks;

But to his foe suppos'd he must complain,

And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks: Being held a foe, he may not have access

5

WEDDING bed.] So all the quartos: the folio, 1623, "wedded bed," but corrected in the folio, 1632.

6 Enter Chorus.] The chorus is found in all the editions after the first in 1597, but in that it is wanting.

To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear; And she as much in love, her means much less To meet her new-beloved any where:

But passion lends them power, time means to meet,
Tempering extremities with extreme sweet.

[Exit.

ACT II. SCENE I.

An open Place, adjoining CAPULET'S Garden.

Enter ROMEO.

Rom. Can I go forward, when my heart is here? Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out.

[He climbs the Wall, and leaps down within it. Enter BENVOLIO, and MERCUTIO.

He is wise';

Ben. Romeo! my cousin Romeo! Romeo!
Mer.
And, on my life, hath stolen him home to bed.

Ben. He ran this way, and leap'd this orchard wall. Call, good Mercutio.

Mer.

8

Nay, I'll conjure too3.—

Romeo, humours, madman, passion, lover!

Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh:

Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied;

Cry but―Ah me! pronounce but-love and dove';
Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word,
One nick-name for her purblind son and heir,

7 He is wise ;] The quarto, 1597, " Dost thou hear? he is wise." Nay, I'll conjure too.-] In all the old copies, quarto and folio, this passage is given to Benvolio-no doubt wrongly.

9

pronounce but-love and dove ;] So the quarto, 1597: the quartos, 1599 and 1609, and the folio, 1623, "Provant but love and day :" the folio, 1632, introduced "couply but love and day," which was followed in the folios, 1664 and 1685.

Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim',
When king Cophetua lov'd the beggar-maid.-
He heareth not2, he stirreth not, he moveth not;
The ape is dead, and I must conjure him.-
I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes,
By her high forehead, and her scarlet lip,

By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh,
And the demesnes that there adjacent lie,

That in thy likeness thou appear to us.

Ben. An if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him.
Mer. This cannot anger him: 'twould anger him

To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle

Of some strange nature3, letting it there stand
Till she had laid it, and conjur'd it down;
That were some spite. My invocation

Is fair and honest, and, in his mistress' name,

I conjure only but to raise up him.

Ben. Come, he hath hid himself among these trees, To be consorted with the humorous night:

Blind is his love, and best befits the dark.

Mer. If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.

Now will he sit under a medlar tree,

And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit,
As maids call medlars when they laugh alone.—

1 Young ADAM Cupid, he that shot so TRIM,] The old copies have," Abraham Cupid," which Upton judiciously altered to Adam, understanding the reference to be to Adam Bell, the famous archer: "trim" is from the quarto, 1597, other editions reading true. The passage applies to the ballad of "King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid," before alluded to in "Love's Labour's Lost," Vol. ii. pp. 297 and 320, and in "Henry IV.," part 2, Vol. iv. p. 450. We quote the portion particularly in Shakespeare's mind, from the recent reprint of R. Johnson's "Crown Garland," 1612, by the Percy Society, p. 45 :—

"The blinded boy, that shootes so trim

From heaven downe so high,

He drew a dart, and shot at him

In place where he did lye."

In "Love's Labour's Lost" "The King and the Beggar" is spoken of as then an old ballad-"three ages since."

2 He heareth not,] "He hears me not," quarto, 1597. The rest of this line and the whole of the next are wanting in that edition.

3 Of some strange NATURE,] So the later quartos and the folio: that of 1597 has fashion for "nature."

O Romeo! that she were, O! that she were
An open et cætera, thou a poprin pear!
Romeo, good night :-I'll to my truckle-bed;
This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep.
Come, shall we go?

Ben.

Go, then; for 'tis in vain To seek him here, that means not to be found.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

CAPULET'S Garden.

Enter ROMEO.

Rom. He jests at scars, that never felt a wound.—

[JULIET appears above, at a window. But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief,

That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she:

Be not her maid, since she is envious;

Her vestal livery is but sick and green,

And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.

It is my lady; O! it is my love:

O, that she knew she were!

She speaks, yet she says nothing: what of that?
Her eye discourses, I will answer it.—

I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,

4 that means not to be found.] This speech, given to Benvolio in the quarto, 1599, and in the later copies with a slight variation, is made the conclusion of that of Mercutio in the quarto, 1597. Above, it has “trundle-bed” for "truckle-bed."

O, that she knew she were !] This and the preceding line are not in the quarto, 1597.

Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp: her eyes in heaven"
Would through the airy region stream so bright,
That birds would sing, and think it were not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O! that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek'.

Jul.

Rom.

Ah me!

She speaks:

O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a winged messenger of heaven

Unto the white-upturned wond'ring eyes
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him,
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds3,
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

Jul. O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father, and refuse thy name:

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Rom. Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
Jul. "Tis but thy name, that is my enemy:

Thou art thyself though, not a Montague'.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

6 her EYES in heaven] So the first quarto, with evident propriety: the quartos, 1599 and 1600, and the folio, " her eye."

7 That I might TOUCH that cheek!] The quarto, 1597, only, has kiss for "touch." We may doubt which is preferable, but "touch" seems the more delicate; but in a former scene Romeo had kissed Juliet.

8 — the lazy-PACING clouds,] So the quarto, 1597, being a much superior reading to that of the other quartos and folio, which have lazy-puffing. The origin of the corruption possibly was, that in the manuscript, from which the quarto, 1599, was printed, "lazy-pacing" was written lazy-passing, and the compositor misread the two long letters s for a double ƒ.

9 Thou art thyself though, not a Montague,] This line is first found in the quarto, 1599. It is in all subsequent impressions.