ACT V.

ROMEO AND JULIET,

my wife!

P'll bury thee in a triumphant grave,
A grave ? 0, no ; a lantern, slaughter'd youth,
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,
Have they been merry? which their keepers call
A lightning before death : 'O, how may I
Call this a lightning 2-0, my love
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, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet ?
O, what more favour can I do to thee,
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain,
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin !--Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous ;

1
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour ?
For fear of that, I will still stay with thee,
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again : here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids ; 0, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied Aesh.Eyes, look your last !
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 my love ! [Drinks.)-0, true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick.-Thus with a kiss I die. (Dies.
Enter, at the other end of the Churchyard, Friar LAU-

RENCE, with a lantern, crow, and spade.
Fri. Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night

[!] A presence ineans a publick room, which is at times the presence-chan, der of the sovereign.

M.MASON

Have my old feet stumbled at graves 2-Who's there? Who is it that consorts, so late, the dead?

Bal. Here's one, a friend, and one that knows you well.

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

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

Fri. Who is it?
Bal. Romeo.
Fri, How long hath he been there?
Bal. Full half an hour.
Fri. Go with me to the vault.

Bal. I dare not, sir :
My master knows not, but I am gone hence;
And fearfully did menace me with death,
If I did stay to look on his intents.

Fri. Stay then, I'll go alone :-Fear comes upon me ; 0, much I fear some ill unlucky thing.

Bal. As I did sleep under this yew-tree here,
I dreamt my master and another fought,
And that my master slew him.3
Fri. Romeo?-

[Advances.
Alack, alack, what blood is this, which stains
The stony entrance of this sepulchre ?-
What mean these masterless and gory swords
To lie discolour'd by this place of peace ?

[Enters the Monument. Romeo ! O, pale !-Who else what, Paris too? And steep'd in blood ?-Ah, what an unkind hour Is guilty of this lamentable chance! The lady stirs.

[JULIET wakes and stirs. Jul. O, comfortable friar ! where is my lord ! I do remember well where I should be, And there I am :- Where is my Romeo ? [Noise within.

(2) This accident was reckoned ominous. So in King Henry VI. part 3:

“ For many men that stumble at the threshold,

Are well foretold that danger lurks within." Again, in Richard III. Hastings, going to execution, says;

“ Three times to-day my footcloth horse did stumble." STEEVENS. (3} This is one of the touches of nature that would have escaped the hand of any painter less attentive to it than Shakspeare. What happens to a person while he is under the manifest influence of fear, will seem to him, when he is recovered from it, like a dream. Homer, Book 8th, represents Rhesus dying fast asleep. and as it were beholding his enemy in a dream plunging a sword into his bosom. Eustathius and Dacier both applaud this image as very natural ; for a man in such a condition, says Mr. Pope, awakes no further than to see confusedly what environs him, and to think it not a reality but a vision.

STEEVENS,

So shall no foot upon the churchyard 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 churchyard ; yet I will adventure. [Retires,

Par. Sweet flower, with flowers I strew thy bridal bed: Sweet tomb, that in thy circuit dost contain The perfect model of eternity ; Fair Juliet, that with angels dost remain, 8 Accept this latest favour at my hands ; That living honour'd thee, and, being dead, With funeral praises do adorn thy tomb !

[The Boy whistles. The boy gives warning, something doth approach. What cursed foot wanders this way to-night, To cross my obsequies, and true love's ritest What, with a torch !--muffle me, night, awhile.

[Retires. Enter Romeo and BALTHASAR, with a torch, mattock, &c.

Rom. Give me that mattock, and the wrenching irom
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 :
But, chiefly, to take thence from her dead finger
A precious ring ; a ring, that I must use
In dear employment :' therefore hence, begone:

-
But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry
In what I further shall intend to do,
By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint,
And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs :
The time and my intents are savage-wild ;
More fierce, and more inexorable far

[8] These four lines from the old edition. POPE.
The folio has these lines:

“ Sweet Auw'r, with Row'rs thy bridal bed I strew ;

“ O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones,
" Which with sweet water nightly I will dew,

“Or, wanting that, with tears distill’d by moans.
“ The obseqnies that I for thee will keep,

Nightly shall be, to strew thy grave and weep." JOHNSON. (9] That is, action of importance. Gems were supposed to have great powers and virtues. JOHNSON.

16* VOL. VIII.

Than empty tigers, or the roaring sea.

Bal. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you. Rom.Soshalt thou show me friendship:- Takethou that: Live, and be prosperous ; and farewell, good fellow.

Bal. For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout ;
His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt. [Retires.

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

[Breaking open the door of the Monument. And, in despite, I'll cram thee with more food !

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

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 thèm affright thee.-I beseech thee, youth, Heap not another sin upon my head, By urging me to fury :-0, 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 conjurations, And do attach thee as a felon here. Rom. Wilt thou provoke me ? then have at thee, boy.

[They fight. Page.O lord, they fight: I will go call the watch. (Exit.

Par. O, I am slain ! [Falls.]-If thou .be merciful, Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.

[Dies. Rom. In faith, I will :-Let me peruse this face ; Mercutio's kinsman, noble county Paris : What said my man, when my belossed 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 !

longer.

Fri. 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; And Paris too ; come, I'll dispose of thee Among a sisterhood of holy nuns : Stay not to question, for the watch is coming ; Come, go, good Juliet,-[Noise again.] I dare stay no

[Exit. 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 churi ! 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 ! 1 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

(Falls on ROMEO's body, and dies. Enter Watch, with the Page of Paris, Page. This is the place ; there, where the torch

doth burn. 1 Watch. The ground is bloody ; Search about the

churchyard: Go, some of you, whoe'er you find, attach. [Exe. some. Pitiful sight! here lies the county slain ;And Juliet bleeding ; warm, and newly dead, Who bere hath lain these two days buried. Go, tell the prince,-run to the Capulets, Raise up the Montagues-some others search ;

[Exe, other Watchmen. We see the ground whereon these woes do lie ; But the true ground of all these piteous woes, We cannot without circumstance descry.

Enter some of the Watch, with BALTHASAR. 2 Watch. Here's Romeo's man, we found him in the

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

hither.

me die.