Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

I bring thee tidings of the prince's doom.
Rom. What less than dooms-day is the prince's
doom?

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 exíle is death :-then banishment
Is death mis-term'd: calling death-banishment,
Thou cut'st my head off with a golder 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,
Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law,
And turn'd that black word death to banishment:
This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not.

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;
Howlings attend it: How hast thou the heart,
Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,

A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd,
To mangle me with that word-banishment?

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.
Rom. Thou canst not speak of what thou dost not
Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, [feel:
An hour but married, Tybalt murdered,
Doting like me, and he ne banished,
Then might'st thou speak, then might'st thou
And fall upon the ground, as I do now,
Taking the measure of an unmade grave.
Fri. Arise; one knocks; good Romeo, hide
[Knocking within.
Rom. Not I; unless the breath of heart-sick groans,
Mist-like, infold me from the search of eyes.

self.

[blocks in formation]

O woeful sympathy!

Fri.
Piteous predicament!
Nurse.
Even so lies she,
Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering:
Stand up, stand up; stand, an you be a man:
For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand;
Why should you fall into so deep an O?
Rom. Nurse!

[all.
Nurse. Ah sir! ah sir!-Well, death's the end of
Rom. Spak'st 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
With blood remov'd but little from her own?
Where is she? and how doth she? and what says
My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love? [weeps;

Nurser O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and
And now falls on her bed; and then starts up,
And Tybalt calls; and then on Romeo cries,
And then down falls again.

Rom.
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.
[Draws his sword.
Hold thy desperate hand:

Fri.
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!
Thou hast amaz'd me: by my holy order,
I thought thy disposition better temper’d.
Hast thou slain Tybalt? wilt thou slay thyself?
And slay thy lady too that lives in thee,
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 would'st lose.
Fye, fye! thou sham'st thy shape, thy love, thy wit;
Which, like an usurer, abound'st in all.

And usest none in that true use indeed
Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit
tear thy Thy noble shape is but a form of wax,
[hair, Digressing from the valour of a man:
Thy dear love, sworn, but hollow perjury,
thy-Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish
Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,
Mis-shapen in the conduct of them both,
Like powder in a skill-less soldier's flask,
Is set on fire by thine own ignorance,

[Knocking. Fri. Hark, how they knock! Who's there?Romeo, arise;

And thou dismember'd with thine own defence
What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive.

For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew'st Tybalt; there art thou happy too;
The law, that threaten'd death, becomes thy friend,
And turns it to exíle; there art thou happy:
A pack of blessings lights upon thy back;
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a misbehav'd and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love:
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.
Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed,
Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her;
But, look, thou stay not till the watch be set,
For then thou canst not pass to Mantua;
Where thou shalt live, till we can find a time
To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,
Beg pardon of the prince, and call thee back
With twenty hundred thousand times more joy
Than thou went'st forth in lamentation.-
Go, before, nurse commend me to thy lady;
And bid her hasten all the house to bed,
Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto:
Romeo is coming.

Nurse. O Lord, I could have staid here all the night,
To hear good counsel: O, what learning is!—
My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come.

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,
Or by the break of day disguis'd from hence:
Sojourn in Mantua; I'll find out your man,
And he shall signify from time to time
Every good hap to you, that chances here:
Give me thy hand; 'tis late: farewell; good night.
Rom. But that a joy past joy calls out on me,
It were a grief, so brief to part with thee:
Farewell.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. 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-morTo night she's mew'd up to her heaviness.

[row;

Cap. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender Of my child's love: I think she will be rul'd In all respects by me; nay more, I doubt it not. Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed; Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love; And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday nextBut, soft; What day is this?

Monday, my lord.

Par. Cup. Monday? ha ha! Well, Wednesday is too O' Thursday let it be ;-o' Thursday, tell her, [soon, She shall be married to this noble earl :Will you be ready? do you like this haste? We'll keep no great ado;—a friend, or two :--For hark you, Tybalt being slain so late, It may be thought we held him carelessly,

[blocks in formation]

SCENE V.-Juliet's Chamber.

Enter ROMEO and JULIET.

Jul. Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear ; Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree: Believe me, love, it was the nightingale

Rom. It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale : look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops;
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

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 gray 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 M Jul. Nurse?

scend.

Enter Nurse.

[ocr errors][merged small]

Nurse. Your lady mother's coming to your chamThe day is broke; be wary, look about. [Ex. Nurse Jul Then, window, let day in, and let life out. Rom. Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll de[ROMEO descends. Jul. Art thou gone so? my love! my lord! my I must hear from thee every day i' the hour, [friend! For in a minute there are many days O! by this count I shall be much in years, Ere I again behold my Romeo.

[ocr errors]

Rom. Farewell! I will omit no opportunity That may convey my greetings, love, to thee. Jul. Ŏ, think'st thou, we shall ever meet again? Rom. I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve For sweet discourses in our time to come. Jul. O God! I have an ill-divining soul; Methinks, I see thee, now thou art below,

As one dead in the bottom of a tomb :
Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale.
Rom And trust me, love, in my eye so do you:
Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu! adieu!

[Exit ROMEO.
Jul O fortune, fortune: all men call thee fickle :
If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him
That is renown'd for faith? Be fickle, fortune;
For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long,
But send him back.

La. Cap. [Within.] Ho, daughter! are you up?
Jul. Who is't that calls? is it my lady mother?
Is she not down so late, or up so early?
What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither?
Enter Lady CAPULET.

La. Cap. Why, how now, Juliet?
Jul.

Madam, I am not well. La. Cap. Evermore weeping for your cousin's death? What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears? An if thou could'st, thou could'st not make him live; Therefore, have done: Some grief shews much of love; But much of grief shews still some want of wit.

Jul. Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss. La. Cap. So shall you feel the loss, but not the Which you weep for. [friend

Jul.

Feeling so the loss,

I cannot choose but ever weep the friend.
La. Cap. Well, girl, thou weep'st not so much for
his death,

As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him.
Jul. What villain, madam?
La. Cap.
That same villain, Romeo.
Jul. Villain and he are many miles asunder.
God pardon him! I do, with all my heart;
And yet no man, like he, doth grieve my heart.
La. Cap. That is, because the traitor murderer lives.
Jul. Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands.
'Would, none but I might venge my cousin's death!
La. Cap. We will have vengeance for it, fear thou

not:

Ere he, that should be husband, comes to woo.
I pray you tell my lord and father, madam,
I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear,
It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate,
Rather than Paris:-These are news indeed!
La. Cap. Here comes your father; tell him so your
And see how he will take it at your hands. [self,

Enter CAPULET and Nurse..

Cap. When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew;
But for the sunset of my brother's son,
It rains downright.—

How now? a conduit, girl? what, still in tears?
Evermore showering? In one little body
Thou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a wind:
For still thy eyes, which may call the sea,
Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is,
Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs;
Who,-raging with thy tears, and they with them, –
Without a sudden calm, will overset
Thy tempest-tossed body.-How now, wife?
Have you deliver'd to her our decree?

La. Cap. Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you I would the fool were married to her grave! [thanks. Cap. Soft, take me with you, take me with you, wife.

How! will she none? doth she not give us thanks'
Is she not proud? doth she not count her bless'd.
Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought
So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?
Jul. Not proud, you have; but thankful, that you
Proud can I never be of what I hate ; [have:
But thankful even for hate, that is meant love.
Cup. How now! how now, chop-logic! What is this!
Proud, and, I thank you,-and, I thank you not. -
And yet not proud;-Mistress minion, you,
Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds,
But settle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next.
To go with Paris t8 St. Peter's church,
Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.
Out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage!

Lu Cap.
Fye, fye! what are you mad?
Jul. Good father, I beseech you on my knees,
Hear me with patience but to speak a word.

Then weep no more. I'll send to one in Mantua,-You tallow face!
Where that same banish'd runagate doth live,-
That shall bestow on him so sure a draught,
That he shall soon keep Tybalt company:
And then I hope thou wilt be satisfied.

Jul. Indeed, I never shall be satisfied
With Romeo, till I behold him-dead-
Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vex'd :—
Madam, if you could find out but a man
To bear a poison, I would temper it;
That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof,
Soon sleep in quiet.-O. how my heart abhors
To hear him nam'd.-and cannot come to him,-
To wreak the love I bore my cousin Tybalt
Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him!

La. Cap. Find thou the means, and I'll find such a
But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl.

[man.

Jul. And joy comes well in such a needful time: What are they, I beseech your ladyship?

[child;

La. Cap. Well, well, thou hast a careful father,
One, who, to put thee from thy heaviness,
Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy,
That thou expect'st not, nor I look'd not for.
Jul. Madam, in happy time, what day is that?
La. Cap. Marry, my child, early next Thursday
The gallant, young, and noble gentleman,
The county Paris, at St. Peter's church,
Shail happily make thee there a joyful bride.
Jul. Now, by St. Peter's church, and Peter too,
He hal! not make me there a joyful bride.
onde: at this haste; that I must wed

[morn,

Cap. Ilang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch! I tell thee what,-get thee to church o'Thursday, Or never after look me in the face:

Speak not, reply not, do not answer me;

My fingers itch.-Wife, we scarce thought us bless'd,
That God had sent us but this only child;
But now I see this one is one too much,
And that we have a curse in having her;
Out on her, hilding!

Nurse.

God in heaven bless her!You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so. Cap. And why, my lady wisdom? hold your tongue, Good prudence; smatter with your gossips, go. Nurse. I speak no treason.

Cap.

Nurse. May not one speak? Cap.

O, God ye good der!

Peace, you mumbling fool! Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl, For here we need it not.

[blocks in formation]
[graphic][merged small][merged small]
« PředchozíPokračovat »