Now Romeo is belov'd, and loves again,

Alike bewitched by the charm of looks: But to his foe fuppos'd he must complain,

And the steal love's fweet bait from fearful hooks. Being held a foe, he may not have access

To breathe fuch vows as lovers ufe to swear; And fhe, as much in love, her means much less, To meet her new beloved any where:

But paffion lends them power, Time means, to meet; Temp'ring extremities with extream sweet.

[Exit Chorus.

ACT II.

SCENE, The STREET.

Enter Romeo alone;

ROMEO.

CA

ANI forward when
go

my heart is here?

Turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out,

Enter Benvolio, with Mercutio,

Ben. Romeo, my coufin, Romeo.

Mer. He is wife,

And, on my life, hath ftol'n him home to bed.

[Exit,

Ben. He ran this way, and leap'd this orchard wall. Call, good Mercutio.

Mer. Nay, I'll conjure too.

Who, Romeo! humours! madman! paffion! lover!

Appear thou in the likeness of a figh,

Speak but one rhyme, and I am fatisfied.
Cry but Ay me! couple but love and dove,
Speak to my goflip Venus one fair word,

One nick-name to her pur-blind son and heir;

(Young

(Young Abraham Cupid, he that shot fo true, (13)
When King Cophetua lov'd the beggar-maid-
He heareth not, he ftirreth not, he moveth not,
The ape is dead, and I must conjure him.
I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes,
By her high-forehead, and her fcarlet lip,
By her fine foot, ftraight leg, and quivering thigh,
And the demefnes that there adjacent lie,
That in thy likeness thou appear to us.

Ben And if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him.
Mer. This cannot anger him: 'twould anger him
To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle,

Of fome strange nature, letting it there ftand
'Till fhe had laid it, and conjur'd it down;
That were fome fpight. My invocation is
Honeft and fair, and in his mistress' name,
I conjure only but to raise up him.

Ben. Come, he hath hid himself among these trees,
To be conforted with the hum'rous night:
Blind is his love, and beft befits the dark.

Mer. If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.
Now will he fit under a medlar tree,

And with his mistress were that kind of fruit,
Which maids call medlars, when they laugh alone.-
Romeo, good night; I'll to my truckle-bed,

(13) Young Abraham Cupid, be that shot so true,

When King Cophetua lov'd the beggar-maid.] Though I have not difturbed the text, I conceive, there may be an error in the word Abraham. I have no idea why Cupid should have this prænomen. I have suspected that the Poet wrote,

Young auborn Cupid,

i. e. brown-bair'd: because in several other paffages where auborn fhould be wrote, it is printed Abrabam in the old books. This old ballad of the King enamour'd of the Beggar, is twice again alluded to by our Author in his Love's Labour's Loft.

Arm. Is there not a ballad, boy, of the King and the Beggar? Motb. 'The world was guilty of fuch a ballad, fome three ages fince but, I think, now 'tis not to be found.

And Armado afterwards, in his fuftian letter, names both the King and the Beggar.

The magnanimous and most illuftrate King Copbetua fet eye upon the pernicious and most indubitate Beggar Zenelopbon.

B 4

This

This field-bed is too cold for me to fleep:

Come, fhall we go?

Ren. Go then, for 'tis in vain

To feek him here that means not to be found. [Exeunt. SCENE changes to Capulet's Garden.

Rom. HE

Enter Romeo.

E jefts at fcars, that never felt a wound-
But, foft! what light thro' yonder window

It is the Eaft, and Juliet is the Sun!

[breaks ?

[Juliet appears above, at a window.

Arife, fair Sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already fick and pale with grief,

That thou, her maid, art far more fair than fhe.
Be not her maid, fince fhe is envious:
Her veftal livery is but fick and green,
And none but fools do wear it; caft it off-
She speaks, yet the fays nothing; what of that?
Her eye difcourfes; I will answer it-

I am too bold, 'tis not to me the fpeaks:
Two of the fairest stars of all the heav'n,
Having fome bufinefs, do intreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres 'till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would fhame thofe ftars,
As day-light doth a lamp; her eyes in heav'n
Would through the airy region ftream fo bright,
That birds would fing, and think it were not night:
See, how the leans her cheek upon her hand!
O that I were a glove upon that hand,

That I might touch that cheek!

Jul. Ah me!

Rom. She fpeaks.

Oh, speak again, bright angel! for thou art (14)

(14) 0, fpeak again, bright angel! for thou art

As glorious to this night,] Tho' all the printed copies concur in this reading, yet the latter part of the fimile seems to require,

As glorious to this fight;

and therefore I have ventur'd to alter the text fo. i. e. Thou appear'ft, over my head, as glorious to my eyes, as an angel in the clouds to mortals that flare up at him with admiration

As

As glorious to this fight, being o'er my head,
As is a winged meffenger from heav'n.
Unto the white upturned, wondering, eyes
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him,
When he beftrides the lazy-pacing clouds,
And fails upon the bofom of the air.

Jul. O Romeo, Romeo,-wherefore art thou Romeo ?· Deny thy father, and refuse thy name:

Or, if thou wilt not, be but fworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Rom. Shall I hear more, or fhall I fpeak at this?

Jul. Tis but thy name that is my enemy:
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face-nor any other part.
What's in a name? that which we call a rofe,
By any other name would fmell as fweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes,
Without that title; Romeo, quit thy name;
And for thy name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myfelf.

Rom, I take thee at thy word:

Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd,
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

[Afide

Jul. What man art thou, that thus befcreen'd in night ? So ftumbleft on my counsel ?

Rom. By a name

I know not how to tell thee who I am:

My name, dear faint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee.

Had I it written, I would tear the word.

Jul. My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words Of that tongue's uttering, yet I know the found. Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?

Rem. Neither, fair faint, if either thee diflike." Jul. How cam'ft thou hither, tell me, and wherefore? The orchard walls are high, and hard to climb; And the place death, confidering who thou art,

B 5

If

.. 193

If any of my kinsmen find thee here.

Ro. With love's light wings did I o'er-perch thefe walls. For ftony limits cannot hold love out;

And what love can do, that dares love attempt:
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.

Jul. If they do fee thee, they will murder thee.
Rom. Alack! there lies more peril in thine eye,
Than twenty of their fwords; look thou but fweet,
And I am proof against their enmity.

Jul. I would not for the world they faw thee here. Rom. I have night's cloak to hide me from their eyes, And but thou love me, let them find me here; My life were better ended by their hate,

Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.

Jul. By whofe direction found'st thou out this place? Rom. By love, that firft did prompt me to enquire; He lent me counfel, and I lent him eyes:

I am no pilot, yet wert thou as far

As that vaft fhore, wash'd with the fartheft fea,
I would adventure for fuch merchandise.

Jul, Thou know'ft, the mask of night is on my face,
Elfe would a maiden-blush bepaint my cheek
For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night.
Fain would I dwell on form; fain, fain, dery
What I have spoke-but farewel compliment!
Doft thou love me? I know thou wilt fay, ay;
And I will take thy word- -yet if thou fwear'st,
Thou may'ft prove falfe; at lovers' perjuries, (15)
-At lovers' perjuries,

(15)— They Jay Jove laughs.] This remark our Poet probably borrow'd from Ovid;

Jupiter ex alto Perjuria ridet Amantum.

De Art. Amandi, lib. i. 635.

Or elfe from Tibullus, who has the fame fentiment;

-Perjuria ridet Amantum

Lib. iii. El 7.

Jupiter, & ventos irrita ferre jubet. To this likewife the Greeks alluded in their proverb, 'A¿odítioçöpuos in ipraviμ. Helychius, I remember, in quoting this proverb, takes notice of a circumftance that I can neither recollect, nor trace, in Hefiod: viz. that he first feign'd that Jupiter and Io fwore to each other. πρῶτον δὲ Ησίοδος ἔπλασε, τὰς περὶ τὸν Δία καὶ τὴν Ἰω ομόσαι. Jupiter, we know, from fables, often broke his love-oaths; fo could not reasonably condemn the practice in others.

They