Mon. Oh, thou uncaught! what manners is in this, To prefs before thy father to a Grave?

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

And know their spring, their head, their true defcent;
And then will I be General of your woes,
And lead you ev'n to Death. Mean time forbear,
And let mifchance be flave to patience.
Bring forth the parties of fufpicion.

Fri. I am the greateft, able to do leaft,
Yet moft fufpected; as the time and place
Doth make againft me, of this direful murder;
And here I ftand both to impeach and purge
Myfelf and myself excus'd.
conden w

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

Fri. I will be brief, for my fhort date of breath
Is not fo long as is a tedious tale.

Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet,
And the, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife:
I married them; and their stolen marriage-day
Was Tybalt's dooms-day, whofe untimely death
Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from this city
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined.
You, to remove that fiege of grief from her,
Betroth'd, and would have married her perforce
To County Paris. Then comes the to me,
And, with wild looks, bid me devife fome means
To rid her from this fecond marriage
Or, in my Cell, there would fhe kill herself.
Then gave I her, fo tutor'd by my art,
A fleeping potion, which fo took effect
As I intended; for it wrought on her

ba

The form of death. Mean time I writ to Romeo,

That he fhould hither come, as this dire nomeo

1.Friar:] It is much to be la-mented that the Poet did not conclude the dialogue with the

action, and avoid a narrative of events which the audience `already knew.

To help to take her from her borrowed Grave,
Being the time the potion's force fhould cease.
But he which bore my letter, Friar John,
Was ftaid by accident; and yesternight
Return'd my letter back; then all alone,
At the prefixed hour of her awaking,
Came I to take her from her kindred's Vault;
Meaning to keep her clofely at my Cell,
'Till I conveniently could fend to Romeo.
But when I came, (fome minute ere the time
Of her awaking) here untimely lay
The noble Paris, and true Romeo dead.
She wakes, and I intreated her come forth,
And bear this work of heav'n with patience:
But then a noife did fcare me from the tomb,
And fhe, too defp'rate, would not go with me:
But, as it feems, did violence on herself.
All this I know, and to the marriage
Her nurfe is privy; but if aught in this
Mifcarried by my fault, let my c
old life

Be facrific'd, fome hour before the time,
Unto the rigour of fevereft law.

Prince. We ftill have known thee for an holy mart. Where's Romeo's man? what can he fay to this?

Balth. I brought my mafter news of Juliet's death, And then in poft he came from Mantua

To this fame place, to this fame Monument.
This letter he early bid me give his father,
And threatned me with death, going to 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? Sirrah, what made your master in this place? ·Page. He came with flowers to ftrew his lady's g", Grave;

And bid me ftand aloof, and fo I did:

Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb,
And, by and by, my mafter drew on him;

2

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
And here he writes, that he did buy a poifon
Of a poor 'pothecary, and therewithal
Came to this vault to die, and lie with Juliet.
Where be thefe enemies? Capulet! Montague!
See, what a fcourge is laid upon your hate,
That heav'n finds means to kill your joys with love!
And I, for winking at your difputes too,

Have loft a brace of kinfmen. 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 raife her Statue in pure gold;

That, while Verona by that name is known, và There fhall no figure at that rate be fet,

As that of true and faithful Juliet.

Cap. As rich' fhall Romeo's by his lady lye;

Poor facrifices of our enmity!

Prince. A gloomy Peace this morning with it brings,

The Sun for Sorrow will not fhew his head;
Go hence to have more talk of thefe fad things;
Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished.

For never was a ftory of more woe,
Than this of Juliet, and her Romeo.

IT

[Exeunt omnes.

fuch congruity to popular opinions, as tragedy requires.

Here is one of the few attempts of Shakespeare to exhibit the converfation of gentlemen, to reprefent the airy sprightliness of juvenile elegance. Mr. Dryden mentions a tradition, which

Speare to have continued his exiftence, though fome of his fallies are perhaps out of the reach of Dryden; whole genius was not very fertile of merriment, nor ductile to humour, but acute, argumentative, comprehenfive, and fublime.

The Nurfe is one of the characters in which the Authour delighted: he has, with great fubtility of diftinction, drawn her at once loquacious and fecret, obfequious and infolent, trufty and dishoneft.

might eafily reach his time, of Fa declaration made by ShakeSpeare, that he was obliged to kill Mercutio in the third act, left he fhould have been killed by him. Yet he thinks him no fuch formidable perfon, but that he might have lived through the play, and died in his bed, without danger to a poet. Dryden well knew, had he been in queft of truth, tary in a pointed fentence, more regard is commonly had to the words than the thought, and that it is very feldom to be rigorously understood. Mercutio's. wit, gaiety and courage, will always procure him friends that with him a longer life; but his death is not precipitated, he has lived out the time allotted him in the conftruction of the play; nor do I doubt the ability of Shake

His comick fcenes are happily wrought, but his pathetick ftrains are always polluted with fome unexpected depravations. His perfons, however diftreffed, have a conceit left them in their misery, a miserable conceit,