5

Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit.
Thy noble shape is but a form of wax,
Digressing from the valour of a man:
Thy dear love, sworn, but hollow perjury,
Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish :
Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,
Mis-shapen in the conduct of them both,
Like powder in a skill-less soldier's flask,
Is set on fire by thine own ignorance,
And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.
What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive,
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew'st Tybalt; there art thou happy too:
The law, that threaten'd death, becomes thy friend,
And turns it to exile; there art thou happy:
A pack of blessings lights upon thy back;
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a mis-behav'd and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love:
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.
Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed,
Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her;
But, look, thou stay not till the watch be set,
For then thou canst not pass to Mantua;
Where thou shalt live, till we can find a time
To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,
Beg pardon of the prince, and call thee back
With twenty hundred thousand times more joy
Than thou went'st forth in lamentation.-
Go before, nurse: commend me to thy lady;
And bid her hasten all the house to bed,

4 Like powder in a skill-less soldier's flask, &c.] To understand the force of this allusion, it should be remembered that the ancient English soldiers, using match-locks, instead of locks with flints as at present, were obliged to carry a lighted match hanging at their belts, very near to the wooden flask in which they kept their powder.

5 And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.] And thou torn to pieces with thine own weapons.

Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto:

Romeo is coming.

Nurse. O Lord, I could have staid here all the night, To hear good counsel: O, what learning is !—

My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come.

sir:

Rom. Do So, and bid my sweet prepare
to chide.
Nurse. Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you,
Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late.

[Exit Nurse.

Rom. How well my comfort is reviv'd by this! Fri. Go hence: Good night; and here stands all your state;6

Either be gone before the watch be set,

Or by the break of day disguis'd from hence:
Sojourn in Mantua; I'll find out your man,
And he shall signify from time to time
Every good hap to you, that chances here:
Give me thy hand; 'tis late: farewell; good night.
Rom. But that a joy past joy calls out on me,
It were a grief, so brief to part with thee :
Farewell.

SCENE IV.

A Room in Capulet's House.

[Exeunt.

Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, and Paris.
Cap. Things have fallen out, sir, so unluckily,
That we have had no time to move our daughter:
Look you, she lov'd her kinsman Tybalt dearly,
And so did I; Well; we were born to die..
'Tis very late, she'll not come down to-night:
I promise you, but for your company,

I would have been a-bed an hour ago.

Par. These times of woe afford no time to woo: Madam, good night: commend me to your daughter.

6 here stands all your state ;] The whole of your fortune depends on this.

La. Cap. I will, and know her mind early to-morrow; To-night she's mew'd up to her heaviness.

7

Cap. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender 8
Of my child's love: I think, she will be rul'd
In all respects by me; nay more, I doubt it not.
Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed;
Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love;

And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday next-
But, soft; What day is this?

Par.

Monday, my lord.

Cap. Monday? ha! ha! Well, Wednesday is too

soon,

O' Thursday let it be :-o' Thursday, tell her,
She shall be married to this noble earl:-

Will you be ready? do you like this haste?
We'll keep no great ado:-a friend, or two:-
For hark you, Tybalt being slain so late,
It may be thought we held him carelessly,
Being our kinsman, if we revel much :

Therefore we'll have some half-a-dozen friends,
And there an end. But what say you to Thursday?
Par. My lord, I would that Thursday were to-mor-

row.

Cap. Well, get you gone:- O' Thursday be it then:

Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed,

Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day.-
Farewell, my lord.-Light to my chamber, ho!
Afore me, it is so very late, that we

May call it early by and by:-Good night.

7

[Exeunt.

mew'd up] This is a phrase from falconry. A mew was a place of confinement for hawks.

8 Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender -] Desperate means only bold, adventurous, as if he had said in the vulgar phrase, I will speak a bold word, and venture to promise you my daughter.

SCENE V.

Juliet's Chamber.

Enter ROMEO and JULIET.

Jul. Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day:
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear;
Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree:
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

9

Rom. It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops;
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.
Jul. Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I:
It is some meteor that the sun exhales,
To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,
And light thee on thy way to Mantua :
Therefore stay yet, thou need'st not 'to be gone.
Rom. Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death;
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.

I'll say, yon grey is not the morning's eye,
'Tis but the pale reflex' of Cynthia's brow;
Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat
The vaulty heaven so high above our heads:
I have more care to stay than will to go;
Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.-
How is't, my soul? let's talk, it is not day.

9 Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree:] This is not merely a poetical supposition. It is observed of the nightingale, that, if undisturbed, she sits and sings upon the same tree for many weeks together.

the moon.

the pale reflex-] The appearance of a cloud opposed to

2 I have more care to stay-] Care for inclination.

Jul. It is, it is, hie hence, be gone, away;
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,

Straining harsh discords, and unpleasing sharps.
Some say, the lark makes sweet division;3
This doth not so, for she divideth us:

Some say, the lark and loathed toad change eyes;
O, now I would they had chang'd voices too!
Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,
Hunting thee hence with hunts-up to the day.*
O, now be gone; more light and light it grows.
Rom. More light and light?-more dark and dark

Nurse. Your lady mother's coming to your chamber: The day is broke; be wary, look about. [Exit Nurse. Jul. Then, window, let day in, and let life out. Rom. Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll descend. [ROMEO descends.

Jul. Art thou gone so? so? my love! my lord! my

friend!

I must hear from thee every day i'the hour,
For in a minute there are many days:
O! by this count I shall be much in years,
Ere I again behold my Romeo.

Rom. Farewell! I will omit no opportunity
That may convey my greetings, love, to thee.
Jul. O, think'st thou, we shall ever meet again?

3

sweet division;] Division seems to have been the technical phrase for the pauses or parts of a musical composition.

4 Hunting thee hence with hunts-up to the day.] The hunts-up was the name of the tune anciently played to wake the hunters, and collect them together. But a huntsup also signified a morning song to a new-married woman, the day after her marriage, and used here in that sense.