Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

1

Or to difpraise my Lord with that same tongue
Which the hath prais'd him with above compare,
So many thousand times? Go, Counsellor,
Thou and my bofom henceforth fhall be twain:
I'll to the Friar, to know his remedy;
If all elfe fail, myfelf have power to die.

ACT IV.

[ocr errors]

[Exit.

SCENE I.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

N Thursday, Sir? The time is very short.
Par. My father Capulet will have it so,
And I am nothing flow to flack his hafte.

Fri. You fay, you do not know the lady's mind: Uneven is this courfe, I like it not.

Par. Immoderately fhe weeps for Tybalt's death,
And therefore have I little talk'd of love,
For Venus fmiles not in a houfe of tears.
Now, Sir, her father counts it dangerous,
That the fhould give her forrow fo much sway
And, in his wifdom, haftes our marriage,
To ftop the inundation of her tears;
Which, too much minded by herself alone,
May be put from her by fociety.

Now do you know the reafon of this hafte?
Fri. I would, I knew not why it should be flow'd.

[Afide.

Look, Sir, here comes the lady tów'rds my cell.

8 And I am, &c.] His hafie fball not be abated by my flowness. It might be read,

And I am nothing flow to back

[ocr errors]

bis bafie.

That is, I am diligent to abet and enforce his hafte.

Enter

Enter Juliet.

9

Par. Welcome, my love, my lady and my wife! Jul. That may be, Sir, when I may be a wife. Par. That may be, muft be, Love, on Thursday

next.

Jul. What must be, fhall be.

Fri. That's a certain text.

Par. Come you to make confeffion to this father? Jul. To answer that, I fhould confefs to you. Par. Do not deny to him, that you love me. Jul. I will confefs to you, that I love him. Par. So will ye, I am fure, that you love me. Jul. If I do fo, it will be of more price Being spoke behind your back, than to your face. Par. Poor foul, thy face is much abus'd with tears. Jul. The tears have got small victory by that: For it was bad enough before their spight.

Par. Thou wrong'ft it, more than tears, with that report.

Jul. That is no flander, Sir, which is but truth, And what I fpeak, I speak it to my face.

Par. Thy face is mine, and thou hath flander'd it. Jul. It may be fo, for it is not mine own. Are you at leifure, holy father, now, Or fhall I come to you at evening mafs?

Fri. My leifure ferves me, penfive daughter, now. My Lord, I must intreat the time alone.

Par. God fhield, I fhould difturb devotion. Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouze you; Till then, adieu! and keep this holy kifs.

[Exit Paris. Jul. Go, fhut the door, and when thou haft done fo. Come weep with me, past, hope, past cure, past

help.

my lady and my wife!] As these four first lines feem intend. ed to rhyme, perhaps the au

thour wrote thus,
-my lady and my

life!

Fri. O Juliet, I already know thy grief, It ftrains me paft the Compafs of my Wits. I hear, you must, and nothing may prorogue it,:0 On Thursday next be married to this County. 90 Jul. Tell me not, Friar, that thou heard'st of this, Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it. If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help, Do thou but call my refolution wife, : And with this knife I'll help it presently.

A

God join'd my heart and Romeo's; thou our hands;
And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo's feal'd,
Shall be the label to another deed,

Or my true heart with treacherous revolt
Turn to another, this fhall flay them both.
Therefore out of thy long-experienc'd time,
Give me some prefent counsel; or, behold,
"Twixt my extreams and me this bloody knife
Shall play the umpire; arbitrating that,
Which the commiffion of thy years and art.
Could to no iffue of true honour bring.
Be not fo long to fpeak; I long to die,
If what thou fpeak'ft fpeak not of remedy.
Fri. Hold, daughter, I do 'fpy a kind of hope,
Which craves as defperate an execution,
As that is defp'rate which we would prevent.
If, rather than to marry County Paris,
Thou haft the ftrength of will to flay thyself,
Then it is likely, thou wilt undertake

A thing like death to chide away this fhame,
That cop'ft with death himself, to 'fcape from it:
And if thou dar'ft, I'll give the remedy.

Jul. O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Or chain me to fome fteepy mountain's top,
Where roaring bears and favage lions roam;
Or fhut me nightly in a charnel house,

O'er-cover'd quite with dead mens' rattling bones,
With reeky fhanks, and yellow chaplefs fkulls;
Or bid me go into a new-made Grave,

And hide me with a dead man in his fhroud; Things, that to hear them nam'd, have made me tremble,

And I will do it without fear or doubt,

To live an unftain'd wife to my fweet love.

Fri. Hold, then, go home, be merry, give consent To marry Paris; Wednesday is to-morrow; To-morrow Night, look, that thou lie alone, Let not thy Nurfe lie with thee in thy chamber. Take thou this phial, being then in Bed, And this diftilled liquor drink thou off; When presently through all thy veins fhall run A cold and drowfy humour, which fhall feize Each vital fpirit; for no Pulfe fhall keep His natʼral progrefs, but furceafe to beat. No warmth, no breath, fhall teftify thou liv'ft; The roles in thy lips and cheeks fhall fade To paly afhes: thy eyes' windows fall, Like death, when he fhuts up the day of life; Each Part, depriv'd of fupple Government, Shall stiff, and stark, and cold appear, like Death: And in this borrowed likeness of shrunk death Thou shalt continue two and forty hours, And then awake, as from a pleasant sleep.

• Or chain me, &c.]

Or walk in thievish ways, or
bid me lurk

Where ferpents are, chain me
with roaring bears,
Or hide me nightly, &c.
It is thus the editions vary.

POPE.

My edition has the words which Mr. Pope has omitted; but the old copy feems in this place preferable, only perhaps we might better read,

Where favage bears and roaring lions roum.

Now

Now when the bridegroom in the morning comes
To roufe thee from thy bed, there art thou dead.
Then, as the manner of our Country is,

In thy beft robes uncover'd on the bier,
Be borne to burial in thy kindred's Grave,
Thou shalt be borne to that fame ancient vault,
Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.
In the mean time, against thou fhalt awake,
Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,
And hither fhall he come; and he and I
Will watch thy Waking, and that very night
Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua;
And this fhall free thee from this prefent Shame,
"If no unconftant toy, nor womanish fear,
Abate thy valour in the acting it.

[ocr errors]

Jul. Give me, oh give me.

1

Tell me not of fear.

[Taking the phial. Fri. Hold, get you gone. Be ftrong and profperous

In this Refolve; I'll fend a Friar with speed

To Mantua, with my letters to thy Lord.

Jul. Love, give me ftrength, and ftrength fhall help afford.

Farewel, dear father !————

SCENE II.

Changes to Capulet's House.

[Exeunt,

Enter Capulet, Lady Capulet, Nurfe, and two or three

Cap. So

Servants.

many guests invite, as here are writ;

Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks. Serv. You fhall have none ill, Sir, for I'll try if they can lick their fingers.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« AnteriorContinuar »