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Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.
Under yon yew-trees lay thee all along,
Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground;
So shall no foot upon the church-yard tread,
(Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves)
But thou shalt hear it: whistle then to me,
As signal that thou hear'st something approach.
Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go.
Page. I am almost afraid to stand alone
Here in the church-yard; yet I will adventure.

bridal bed:

[Exit.
Par. Sweet flower, with flowers I strew thy
[Strewing flowers.
Sweet tomb, that in thy circuit dost contain
The perfect model of eternity;
Fair Juliet, that with angels dost remain,
Accept this latest favour at my hands;
That living honour'd thee, and, being dead,
With funeral praises do adorn thy tomb!

Par. This is that banish'd haughty Montague,
That murder'd my love's cousin;-with which
It is supposed, the fair creature dy'd,- [grief,
And here is come to do some villainous shaine
5 To the dead bodies: I will apprehend him.-
Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague;
Can vengeance be pursu'd further than death?
Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee:
Obey, and go with me; for thou must die.

10

Rom. I must, indeed; and therefore came I hither.

Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man, Fly hence and leave me;-think upon these gone; Let them affright thee.-I beseech thee, youth, 15 Pull not another sin upon my head,

[The boy whistles. 20
The boy gives warning; something doth approach.
What cursed foot wanders this way to-night,
To cross my obsequies, and true love's rites?
What, with a torch!Muffle me, night, a while.
Enter Romeo, and Balthasar with a torch, &c.
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'st or seest, stand all aloof,
And do not interrupt me in my course.
Why I descend into this bed of death
Is, partly, to behold my lady's face:

25

By urging me to fury:-O, be gone!
By heaven, I love thee better than myself;
For I come hither arm'd against myself:
Stay not, be gone;-live, and hereafter say-
A madman's mercy bade thee run away.
Par. I do defy thy conjuration 2,
And apprehend thee for a felon here.

Rom. Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee,
boy.
[They fight, Paris falls.
Page. Olord! they fight: I will go call thewatch.
Pur. O, I am slain!-If thou be merciful,
Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.

[Dies. Rom. In faith, I will:-Let me peruse this face;

30 Mercutio's kinsman, noble county Paris :-
What said my man, when my betossed soul
Did not attend him as we rode? I think,
He told me, Paris should have marry'd Juliet ;
Said he not so? or did I dream it so ?
Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,
To think it was so?--O, give me thy hand,
One writ with me in sour misfortune's book!
I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave,

But, chiefly, to take thence from her dead finger 35
A precious ring; a ring, that I must use

In dear employment: therefore hence, be

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A grave? O, no; a lanthorn, slaughter'd youth,
40 For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence' full of light.
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd.
[Laying Paris in the monument.
How oft when men are at the point of death
45 Have they been merry? which their keepers call
A lightning before death: O, how may I
Call this a lightning?-O, my love! my wife!
Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips, and in thy cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not advanced there.---
Tybalt, ly'st thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favour can I do to thee,
55 Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain,
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin !---Ah, dear Juliet,

Live, and be prosperous; and farewell, good fellow.
Balth. For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout; 50
His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt.

[Exit Balthasar.

Rom.Thou detestable maw,thou womb of death, Gorg'd with the dearest morsel of the earth, Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open,

[Breaking up the monument. And, in despight, I'll cram thee with more food!

2 Paris

1 That is, action of importance.-Gems were supposed to have great powers and virtues. conceived Romeo to have burst open the monument for no other purpose than to do some villainous shame on the dead bodies, such as witches are reported to have practised; and therefore tells him he defies him, and the magic arts which he suspects he is preparing to use.-To defy, also anciently meant to refuse or deny; therefore Paris may mean-I refuse to do as thou conjurest me to do, i. e. to depart. A presence is a public room.

3S2

Why

5

I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am:-Where is my Romeo?

[Noise within. Law. I hear some noise.-Lady, come from that

nest

Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep;
A greater power than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents; come, come away:
Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead;
10 And Paris too; come, I'll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns:

Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe-
I will believe (come lie thou in my arms)
That unsubstantial death is amorous;
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour.
- For fear of that, I will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest1;
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars [last!
From this world-wearied flesh.---Eyes, look your
Arms, take your last embrace! and lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!-
Come, bitter conduct', come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here's to thy health, where'er thou tumblest in:
Here's to my love!--[Drinks;] O, true apothecary!
Thydrugs are quick.--Thus with a kiss I die. [Dies.
Enter Friar Lawrence, with a lanthorn, crow and
spade.
[night
Law. Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-
Have
old feet stumbled at graves 3!-Who's 25
my
there?

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15

20

Law. Bliss be upon you! Tell me, good my 30
What torch is yond', that vainly lends his light
To grubs and eyeless sculls? As I discern,
It burneth in the Capulets' monument.

Balth. It doth so, holy sir; and there's my master,
One that you love.

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[me;

Law. Stay then, I'll go alone.--Fear comes upon

O, much I fear some ill unlucky thing.

Balth. As I did sleep under this yew-tree here, I dreamt my master and another fought,

And that my master slew him.

Law. Romeo?—

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Alack, alack, what blood is this, which stains
The stony entrance of this sepulchre?
What mean these masterless and
To lie discolour'd by this place of peace?-
Romeo! O, pale!--Who else? what, Paris too?
And steep'd in blood?--Ah, what an unkind hour
Is guilty of this lamentable chance!

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Stay not to question, for the watch is coming;
Come, go, good Juliet,--[noise again;] I dare stay
no longer.
[Erií.
Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.-
What's here? a cup, clos'd in my true love's hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end:
O churl! drink all; and leave no friendly drop,
To help me after?-I will kiss thy lips;
Haply, some poison yet doth hang on them,
To make me die with a restorative. [Kisses him.
Thy lips are warm!

Watch. [within.] Lead, boy:-Which way? Jul. Yea, noise?-then I'll be brief.-O happy dagger! [Snatching Romeo's dagger. This is thy sheath; [stabs herself;] there rust, and let me die.

Enter Watch, with the Page of Paris. Page. This is the place; there, where the torch doth burn.

Watch. The ground is bloody; Search about
the church-yard;

Go, some of you, whome'er you find, attach.
[Exeunt some.

35 Pitiful sight! here lies the county slain ;-
And Juliet bleeding; warm, and newly dead,
Who here hath lain these two days buried.-
Go, tell the prince,-run to the Capulets,—
Raise up the Montagues,-some others search:-
40 We see the ground whereon these woes do lie;
But the true ground of all these piteous woes
We cannot without circumstance descry.

45

50

55

60

Enter some of the Watch, with Balthasar. 2 Watch. Here's Romeo's man, we found him in the church-yard.

1 Watch. Hold him in safety, 'till the prince come hither.

Enter another Watchman, with Friar Lawrence.
3 Watch. Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs,
and weeps:

We took this matiock and this spade from him,
As he was coming from this church-yard side.
I Watch. A great suspicion; Stay the friar too.
Enter the Prince, and Attendants.
Prince. What misadventure is so early up,
That calls our person from our morning's rest?
Enter Capulet, and Lady Capulet, &c.

Cap. What should it be, that theyso shriek abroad?
La. Cap. The people in the street cry-Romeo,
Some-Juliet, and some--Paris; and all run,

"See a note on scene 5th of the preceding act.-To set up one's rest, is to be determined to any certain purpose, to rest in perfect confidence and resolution, to make up one's mind.

for conductor.

2 Conduct

3 This accident was reckoned ominous. ↑ Shakspeare alludes to the sleep, of Juliet, which was unnatural, being brought on by drugs.

With

Act 5. Scene3.]

With open out-cry, toward our monument. Prince. What fear is this, which startles in our ears?

Watch.Sovereign, here lies the county Paris slain; And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before, Warm, and new kill'd.

Prince. Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes.

Watch. Here is a friar, and slaughter'd Romeo's

man;

With instruments upon them, fit to open
These dead men's tombs.

-O, wife! look how our
Cap. O, heaven!-
daughter bleeds!

This dagger hath mista'en, for, lo! his house
Lies empty on the back of Montague,
And it mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom.
La. Cap. O me! this sight of death is as a bell
That warns my old age to a sepulchre.

Enter Montague, and others.
Prince.Come, Montague, for thou art early up,
To see thy son and heir more early down.

Mon. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath: What further woe conspires against my age? Prince. Look, and thou shalt see.

Mon. O thou untaught! what manners is in this, To press before thy father to a grave?

Prince. Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, 'Till we can clear these ambiguities,

And know their spring, their head, their true de-
scent;

And then will I be general of your woes,
And lead you even to death: Mean time forbear,
And let mischance be slave to patience.-
Bring forth the parties of suspicion.

Law. I am the greatest, able to do least,
Yet most suspected, as the time and place
Doth make against me, of this direful murder;
And here I stand, both to impeach and purge
Myself condemned and myself excus'd.

Prince. Then say at once what thou dost know
in this.

Law. I will be brief, for my short date of breath Is not so long as is a tedious tale.

To help to take her from her borrow'd grave,
Being the time the potion's force should cease.
But he, which bore my letter, friar John,
Was stay'd by accident; and yesternight
5 Return'd my letter back: Then all alone,
At the prefixed hour of her waking,
Came I to take her from her kindred's vault;
Meaning to keep her closely at my cell,
Till I conveniently could send to Romeo:
10 But, when I came, (some minute ere the time
Of her awaking) here untimely lay

The noble Paris, and true Roineo, dead.
She wakes; and I entreated her come forth,
And bear this work of heaven with patience:
15 But then a noise did scare me from the tomb;
And she, too desperate, would not go with me,
But (as it seems) did violence on herself.
All this I know: and to the marriage
Her nurse is privy: And, if aught in this
Miscarry'd by my fault, let my old life
Be sacrific'd, some hour before his time,
Unto the rigour of severest law.

20

25

Prince. We still have known thee for a holy

man.

Where's Romeo's man? what can he say to this?
Balth. I brought my master news of Juliet's
death;

And then in post he came from Mantua,
To this same place, to this same monument.
30 This letter he early bid me give his father;
And threaten'd me with death, going in the vault,
If I departed not, and left him there.

Prince. Give me the letter, I will look on it. Where is the county's page that rais'd the watch?-35 Sirrah, what made your master in this place?

Page. He came with flowers to strew his lady's

grave;

And bid me stand aloof, and so I did:
Anon, comes one with light to ope the tomb;
40 And, by-and-by, my master drew on him;
And then I ran away to call the watch.

Prince. This letter doth make good the friar's
words,

Their course of love, the tidings of her death:
45 And here he writes, that he did buy a poison
Of a poor 'pothecary, and therewithal
Came to this vault to die, and lie with Juliet.-
Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague !---
See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!
And I, for winking at your discords too,

50

Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet;
And she, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife:
I married them, and their stolen marriage-day
Was Tybalt's dooms-day, whose untimely death
Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from this city;
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pin'd.
You---to remove that siege of grief from her-
Betroth'd, and would have married her perforce,
To county Paris :---Then comes she to me;
And, with wild looks, bid me devise some means 55
To rid her from this second marriage,
Or, in my cell, there would she kill herself.
Then gave I her, so tutor'd by my art,
A sleeping potion; which so took effect
As I intended, for it wrought on her

The form of death: mean time I writ to Rome,
That he should hither come as this dire night,

Have lost a brace of kinsmen:---all are punish'd.
Cap. O, brother Montague, give me thy hand:
This is my daughter's jointure, for no more
Can I demand.

Mon. But I can give thee more
For I will raise her statue in pure gold;
That, while Verona by that name is known,
There shall no figure at such rate be set,
60 As that of true and faithful Juliet.

Cap. As rich shall Romeo by his lady lie;
Poor sacrifices of our enmity!

It appears that the dagger was anciently worn behind the back,

3S 3

Prince.

Prince. A glooming peace this morning with

it brings;

The sun, for sorrow, will not shew his head: Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;|

Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished':
For never was a story of more woe,
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

[Exeunt omnes.

Here

1 Mr. Steevens says, that this line has reference to the novel from which the fable is taken. we read that Juliet's female attendant was banished for concealing her marriage; Romeo's servant set at liberty, because he had only acted in obedience to his master's orders; the apothecary taken, tortured, condemned, and hanged; while friar Lawrence was permitted to retire to a hermitage in the neighbourhood of Verona, where he ended his life in penitence and peace,

7

HAMLET.

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OSRICK, a Courtier.

Another Courtier.

A Priest.
MARCELLUS,

BERNARDO,

Officers.

FRANCISCO, a Soldier.

REYNALDO, Servant to Polonius.
A Captain; An Ambassador.
Ghost of Hamlet's Father.

GERTRUDE, Queen of Denmark, and Mother to
Hamlet.

OPHELIA, Daughter to Polonius,

Lords, Ladies, Players, Grave-diggers, Sailors, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE, Elsinour.

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And I am sick at heart.

Ber. Have you had quiet guard?
Fran. Not a mouse stirring.

Ber. Well, good night.

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

The rivals of my watch3, bid them make haste.

Mar. Holla! Bernardo?
Ber. Say,

What, is Horatio there?
Hor. A piece of him.

cellus.

[Exit Francisco.

Ber. Welcome, Horatio; welcome, good Mar-
[night?
Mar. What, has this thing appear'd again to-
Ber, I have seen nothing.

Mar. Horatio says, 'tis but our phantasy;
20 And will not let belief take hold of hin,
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us :
Therefore I have entreated him, along
With us to watch the minutes of this night;
That, if again this apparition come,

The original story on which this play is built, may be found in Saxo Grammaticus, the Danish historian. 2i.e. me who am already on the watch, and have a right to demand the watch-word. 1 Rivals for partners, according to Warburton.-Hanmer says, that by rivals of the watch are meant those who were to watch on the next adjoining ground.-Rivals, in the original sense of the word, He were proprietors of neighbouring lands, parted only by a brook, which belonged equally to both. 3S4

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