To comfort thee, though thou art banished. F. Lau. O, then I see that madmen have no ears. Ro. How should they, when that wise men have no eyes? F. Lau. Let me dispute with thee of thy estate. Ro. Thou canst not speak of what thou dost not feel: Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair, And fall upon the ground, as I do now, Taking the measure of an unmade grave. F. Lau. Arise; one knocks: good Romeo, hide [knocking within. Ro. Not I; unless the breath of heart-sick thyself. groans, Mistlike, infold me from the search of eyes. [knocking. F. Lau. Hark, how they knock !-Who's there? -Romeo, arise ; Thou wilt be taken ;-stay awhile;—stand up ; [knocking. Run to my study;-by and by :-God's will! 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. F. Lau. Welcome then. Enter NURSE. Nurse. O holy friar, O, tell me, holy friar, Where is my lady's lord, where's Romeo? F. Lau. There on the ground, with his own tears Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering.- Ro. Nurse! Nurse. Ah, sir! ah, sir!-Well, death 's the end of all. Ro. Spakest thou of Juliet? how is it with her? Doth she not think me an old murderer, Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy Nurse. O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps ; And now falls on her bed; and then starts up, And then down falls again. Ro. As if that name, Shot from the deadly level of a gun, Did murder her; as that name's cursed hand Doth my name lodge? tell me, that I may sack F. Lau. [drawing his sword. Hold thy desperate hand: Art thou a man? thy form cries out, thou art : Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote The unreasonable fury of a beast. Unseemly woman, in a seeming man! Or ill-beseeming beast, in seeming both! I thought thy disposition better temper'd. By doing damned hate upon thyself? Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth? Since birth, and heaven, and earth, all three do meet In thee at once, which thou at once wouldst lose. Fie, fie! thou shamest thy shape, thy love, thy wit; Which, like a usurer, abound'st in all, And usest none in that true use indeed Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit. Thy dear love, sworn, but hollow perjury, And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.1 1 Torn to pieces with thine own weapons. With twenty hundred thousand times more joy Go before, nurse: commend me to thy lady; Nurse. O Lord, I could have stay'd here all the night, To hear good counsel: O, what learning is !— Ro. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide. sir : [Exit Nurse. Ro. How well my comfort is revived by this! F. Lau. Go hence: good night; and here stands all your state : 1 Either be gone before the watch be set, Or by the break of day disguised from hence: Give me thy hand; 'tis late: farewell; good night. [Exeunt. 1 The whole of your fortune depends on this. |