Mercutio and Benvolio wonder where Romeo has gone, and Mercutio mocks Romeo’s love of Rosaline.
Outside the Capulet orchard wall:
Can I go forward when my heart is here?
Turn back dull earth and find thy center out.
Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO
Romeo, my cousin, Romeo! Romeo!
He is wise, and on my life he hath stolen home to bed.
5 He ran this way and leapt this orchard wall.
Call, good Mercutio.
Romeo, Humors, Madman, Passion, Lover,
Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh,
Speak but one rhyme, and I’ll be satisfied:
10 Cry out at me, “Aye me,” pronounce but “love” and “dove.”
good friendSpeak to my gossip° Venus one fair word,
One nickname for her pureblind° son and heir, [1]
Young Abraham: Cupid–he that shot so true,
When King Cophetua [2] loved the beggar maid.
15 He hears me not, he stirreth 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, [3] and her scarlet lip,
By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh,
20 And the domains that there adjacent lie, [4]
That in thy likeness, thou appear to us.
And if he hears you, that will anger him.
This cannot anger him. It would anger him
To raise a spirit in his mistress’s circle,
25 Of some strange nature, letting it there stand
Till she had laid it, and conjured it down.
That were some spite. My invocation°
Is fair and honest, and, his mistress’s name,
I conjure only but to raise him up.
30 Come, he hath hidden himself among these trees
To be comforted by the humorous° night.
Blind is his love, which best befits the dark.
If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.
Now he will sit under a medlar tree, [5]
35 And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit,
As maids call medlars when they laugh alone.
O Romeo, that she were–O that she were
An open arse, and thou a “poperin” pear. [6]
Romeo, goodnight, I’ll go to my trundle bed,
40 This field bed is too cold for me to sleep.
Come, shall we go?
Go then, for it is in vain
To seek him here that means not to be found.
Exit BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO
He laughs at scars that never felt a wound.
Juliet appears in a window above Romeo, and she thinks she’s alone. She talks to herself, lamenting Romeo’s nature as a Montague. She wishes he would abandon his name, or that she could abandon hers, so that they could be together. Upon hearing this, Romeo reveals himself and professes his love to Juliet. Juliet shares the feelings of love, but worries that Romeo’s feelings might be fleeting. The Nurse calls for Juliet, and the couple once again declares their love for each other, Juliet promising to send somebody to him at nine the next morning.
In the Capulet orchard:
Enter JULIET on balcony
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the Sun.
Arise, fair Sun, and kill the envious Moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
5 That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is envious,
Her vestal livery [7] is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.
It is my lady, O it is my love, O that she knew she were.
10 She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?
communicatesHer eye discourses°; I will answer it.
…I am too bold. ‘Tis not to me she speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the Heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
15 To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there and they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight does a lamp; her eye in Heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
20 That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See how she leans her cheek upon her hand?
O, that I were a glove upon that hand
That I might touch that cheek!
O, speak again, bright Angel! For thou art
As glorious to this night, being over my head
As is a winged messenger of Heaven
Unto the white, upturned, wondering eyes
30 Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides° the lazy, puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore° art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
35 Or if thou will not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.
[To himself] Shall I hear more or shall I speak at this?
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
Thou art thou self, though, not a Montague.
40 What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man.
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
45 So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that divine perfection which he owes
remove; cast awayWithout that title. Romeo, doff° thy name,
And for thy name which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.
50 I take thee at thy word,
Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized.
Henceforth, I never will be Romeo.
What man art thou, that thus bescreened° by night,
private thoughtsSo stumbles on my counsel°?
55 By a name, I know not how to tell thee who I am.
My name, dear Saint, is hateful to myself
Because it is an enemy to thee.
Had I it written, I would tear the word.
My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
60 Of thy tongue’s uttering, yet I know the sound.
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?
Neither, fair Saint, if either thee dislike.
How camest thou hither?
Tell me, and wherefore?
65 The orchard walls are high and hard to climb
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.
With love’s light wings did I o’erperch° these walls,
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
70 And what love can do, that dares love attempt,
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.
If they do see thee, they will murder thee.
Alas, there lies more peril in thine eyes
Than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet,
75 And I am proof° against their enmity°.
I would not for the world they saw thee here.
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
80 Than death prolonged, wanted of thy love.
By whose direction found’st thou out this place?
By love, that first did prompt me to inquire.
He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes.
I am no pilot; yet, were thou as far
85 As the vast shore washeth with the farthest sea,
I should adventure for such merchandise.
Thou knowest the mask of night on my face,
Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek
For that which thou hast heard me speak tonight.
formalities90 Fain° would I dwell on form°. Fain, fain deny
good mannersWhat I have spoke. But farewell complements°!
Dost thou love me? I know thou wilst say “Aye,”
And I will take thy word. Yet, if thou swear’st,
Thou might prove false. At lovers’ perjuries
95 They say Jove [8] laughs. O gentle Romeo
If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully.
Or if thou think I am too quickly won,
destructionI’ll frown and be perverse°, and say thee nay
So thou wilt woo; but else not for the world.
100 In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond:
And therefore thou might think my behavior light°.
But trust me, gentleman, I’ll prove more true
standoffishThan those who have more cunning to be strange°.
I should have been more strange, I must confess,
105 But that thou overheard, ere I was ‘ware,
My true love’s passion. Therefore, pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered.
Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow,
110 That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops—
O swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
What shall I swear by?
115 Do not swear at all.
Or if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,
Which is the god of my idolatry°,
And I’ll believe thee.
If my heart’s dear love—
120 Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee,
I have no joy in this contract tonight.
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,
Too like the lightning which doth cease to be
Ere one can say, “It lightens.” Sweet, good night.
125 This bud of love by summer’s ripening breath
May prove a beauteous flower when we next meet.
Goodnight, goodnight! As sweet repose and rest,
Come to my heart, as that within my breast.
O wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?
130 What satisfaction can’st thou have tonight?
Th’ exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.
I gave thee mine before thou did’st request it,
And yet I wish it would to give again.
Would’st thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?
135 But to be frank and give it to thee again,
And yet I wish but for the thing I have.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
NURSE calls from within
140 I hear some noise within, dear love. Adieu!
[Calls within] Anon, good nurse! [To ROMEO] Sweet Montague, be true.
Stay but a little. I will come again.
O blessed, blessed night! I am afraid,
Being in night, all this is but a dream,
145 Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.
Enter JULIET again
Three words, dear Romeo, And goodnight, indeed.
intentionsIf that thy bent° of love be honorable,
Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow,
By one that I’ll procure to come to thee,
150 Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite.
And all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lay
And follow thee, my lord, throughout the world.
[From within] Madam!
I come, anon! [To ROMEO] But if thou mean not well,
155 I do beseech thee—
[From within] Madam!
By and by, I come!
[To ROMEO] To cease thy strife, and leave me to my grief,
Tomorrow I will send.
160 So thrive my soul—
A thousand times goodnight!
A thousand times the worse to want thy light.
Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from their books,
But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.
ROMEO starts to go
165 Hush, Romeo! Hush! O, for a falconer’s voice
To lure this tassel-gentle back again. [9]
familial dutiesBondage° is hoarse and may not speak aloud
Else would I tear the cave where Echo [10] lies
And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine
170 From repetition of “My Romeo.”
It is my soul that calls upon my name.
How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night,
Like softest music to attending° ears.
What o’clock tomorrow shall I send to thee?
By the hour of nine.
I will not fail. Tis twenty years ‘till then.
I have forgot why I did call thee back.
180 Let me stand here ‘till thou remember it.
I shall forget, to have thee still stand there,
Remembering how I love thy company.
And I’ll still stay to have thee still forget,
Forgetting any other home but this.
185 ‘Tis almost morning. I would have thee gone,
spoiled child’sAnd yet no further than a wanton’s° bird
That lets it hop a little from his hand
Like a poor prisoner in twisted cuffs,
And with a silken thread, plucks it back again,
190 So loving-jealous of its liberty.
I would I were thy bird.
Sweet, so would I,
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
Goodnight, goodnight. Parting is such sweet sorrow
195 That I shall say goodnight ‘till it be morrow.
Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast,
Would I were sleep and peace so sweet to rest.
Hence will I to my ghostly° friar’s cell.
good fortuneHis help to crave, and my dear hap° to tell.
Friar Lawrence carries a basket of herbs and plants as he contemplates the goodness of the earth. Romeo finds the friar. The friar notices that Romeo hasn’t slept, and asks if Romeo slept with Rosaline in sin. Romeo denies it and describes his new love of Juliet. The friar is concerned at how quickly Romeo’s feelings have changed. Romeo convinces the friar to perform a wedding for Romeo and Juliet. The friar hopes that some good may come of it, perhaps even an end to the feud between the Capulets and Montagues.
Friar Lawrence’s cell in Verona; early morning:
Enter FRIAR alone with a basket
The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night,
Checkering the eastern clouds with streaks of light;
And fleckèd darkness like a drunkard reels
From forth day’s path and Titan’s fiery wheels. [11]
5 Now ere the sun advance his burning eye,
The day to cheer, and night’s dank dew to dry,
I must fill up this reed basket of ours
With deadly weeds, and precious juiced flowers.
The earth, that’s nature’s mother, is her tomb,
10 And is her burying grave, and is her womb.
And from her womb children of diverse kind
We sucking on her natural bosom find.
Many for many virtues excellent,
None but for some, and yet all different.
15 O, how great is the powerful grace that lies
In plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities.
For naught so vile here on the earth doth live
But to the earth some special good doth give.
Nor aught so good but strained from that fair use—
20 Used unnaturally—stumbles on abuse.
Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied,
And vice sometimes, by action, dignified.
With the infant rind of this weak flower,
Poison hath residence, and medicine power.
25 For this being smelt, with that part cheers our parts,
Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.
Two such opposèd kings encamp them still,
In man as well as herbs, grace°, and rude will°.
And where the worser is predominant,
30 Full soon, the canker death eats up that plant.
Good morrow, Father.
What early tongue so sweet salutes me?
Young son, it argues a distempered° head
35 If you so soon bade good morrow to thy bed.
Care keeps his watch in every old man’s eye,
And where care lodges, sleep will never lie.
But where unbruisèd youth with unstuffed brain
Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign.
40 Therefore thy earliness doth me assure
Thou art uproused with some distemperature:
Or if not so, then here I hit it right:
Our Romeo hath not been in bed tonight.
That last is true. The sweeter rest was mine.
45 God pardon sin! Wast thou with Rosaline?
With Rosaline, my ghostly Father? No,
I have forgot that name, and that name’s woe.
That’s my good son! But where hast thou been, then?
I’ll tell thee ere thou ask it me again.
50 I have been feasting with mine enemy
Where on a sudden one hath wounded me,
And, by me, wounded. Both our remedies
Within thy help and holy physic° lies.
I bear no hatred, blessed man: for now
55 My intervention likewise steads° my foe.
Be plain, good son, and homely° in thy drift.
absolutionRiddling confession finds but riddling shrift°.
Then plainly know my heart’s dear love is set
On the fair daughter of rich Capulet.
60 As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine,
And all combined, save what thou must combine
By holy marriage. Where, and when, and how
We met, we wooed, and made exchange of vow
I’ll tell thee as we pass, but this I pray:
65 That thou consent to marry us today.
Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here!
Is Rosaline that thou didst love so dear
So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.
salt water; tears70 Jesu° Maria, what a deal of brine°
Hath washed thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline?
How much salt water thrown away in waste,
To season [13] love, that of it doth not taste.
The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears,
75 Thy old groans ring yet in mine ancient ears.
Lo, here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit
Of an old tear that is not washed off yet.
If ever you were you, and these woes thine,
Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline.
80 And art thou changed, pronounce this sentence then:
Women may fall [14] when there’s no strength in men.
Thou chidest° me oft for loving Rosaline.
For doting, not for loving, pupil mine.
And bad’st° me bury love.
85 Not in a grave
To lay one in, another out to have.
I pray thee, chide me not. Her I love now
Doth grace for grace and love for love allow.
The other did not so.
90 O, she knew well,
Thy love did read by rote, [15] and could not spell.
But come young waverer, [16] come, go with me,
In one respect I’ll thy assistant be,
For this alliance may so happy prove,
95 To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.
O, let us hence. I stand on sudden haste.
Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.
Benvolio and Mercutio wonder where Romeo has been. Benvolio found out from a Montague servant that Romeo never returned home the night before. Benvolio tells Mercutio that Tybalt has challenged Romeo to a duel. Mercutio describes why he hates Tybalt. When Romeo arrives, Mercutio mocks Romeo for being weak because of his love for Rosaline. Romeo neglects to tell them about Juliet. The Nurse enters with a Capulet servant, Peter. Romeo tells her to pass on a message: have Juliet meet him for confessional at Friar Lawrence’s cell that afternoon, where Friar Lawrence will marry them. The Nurse agrees.
Somewhere in Verona; morning:
Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO
Where the devil should this Romeo be? Came he not home tonight?
Not to his father’s. I spoke with his man.
Why, that same pale, hard-hearted wench, that Rosaline, torments
him so, that he will sure run mad.
5 Tybalt, the kinsman to old Capulet,
Hath sent a letter to his father’s house.
A challenge, I would swear.
Any man that can write may answer a letter.
10 Nay, he will answer the letter’s master, how he dares, being dared.
Alas, poor Romeo, he is already dead: stabbed with a white
wench’s black eye; shot through the ear with a love-song; the very
pin [17] of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy’s butt-shaft. [18] And is
he a man to encounter Tybalt?
15 Why, what is Tybalt?
More than the Prince of Cats, [19] I can tell you. O, he’s the
courageous Captain of Compliments. He fights like you sing
pricksong, [20] keeps time, distance and proportion; he rests, his
minim [21] rest, one, two, and the third in your bosom. The very
20 butcher of a silk button, a dualist, a dualist; a gentleman of the
very first house, [22] of the first and second cause; ah, the immortal
The pox [24] of such antic, [25] lisping, affecting fanasticoes, these new
25 tuners of accents! By Jesu, a very good blade! A very tall man! A
very good whore! Why, is not this a lamentable thing, grandsire°,
that we should be thus afflicted with these strange flies, these
fashion-mongers, these pardon-me’s, who stand so much on the
new form that they cannot sit at ease on the old bench. O, their
30 bones, their bones! [26]
Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo.
Without his roe, [27] like a dried herring. O flesh, flesh, how art thou
fishified! Now is he for the numbers° that Petrarch flowed in.
Laura to his lady was but a kitchen-wench; marry, she had a
35 better love to be-rhyme her; Dido, a dowdy; [28] Cleopatra, a gipsy;
good-for-nothingsHelen and Hero, hildings° and harlots; Thisbe, [29] a grey eye or
two, but not worth mention.
[To Romeo] Signior Romeo, bonjour! There’s a French salutation to
baggy pantsyour French slop°. You gave us the counterfeit [30] fairly last night.
40 Good morrow to you both. What counterfeit
The slip, sir, the slip°. Can you not conceive?
Pardon, good Mercutio, my business was vital, and in such a case
as mine a man may strain courtesy.
45 That’s as much as to say: Such a case as yours constrains a man to
bow in the hams.
Meaning to curtsy.
Thou hast most kindly hit it.
A most courteous explanation.
50 Nay, I am the very pink° of courtesy.
Pink for flower.
Why, then is my pump well flowered. [31]
Well said. Follow me this jest now, till thou has worn out thy
55 pump, that when the single role of it is worn, the jest may remain,
after the wearing, solely singular.
O single-soled jest, [32] solely singular for the singleness.
Come between us, good Benvolio. My wits fail.
Swits and spurs, swits and spurs, [33] or I’ll win this match.
60 Nay, if our wits run the wild goose chase, I am done: for thou
hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than I am sure I
have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goose?
Thou wast never with me for anything when thou was not there
sex worker65 I will bite thee by the ear for that jest.
Nay, good goose, bite not.
Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting; it is a most sharp sauce.
And is it not, then, well served to a sweet goose?
O, here’s a wit like cheveril° that stretches from an inch narrow
forty-five inches70 to an ell° broad.
I stretch it out for that word “broad”°, which added to the goose,
proves thee far and wide a broad goose.
Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? Now art thou
sociable; now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art
75 as well as by nature: for this riveling love is like a great natural°,
jester’s batonthat runs lolling° up and down to hide his bauble° in a hole.
Stop there, stop there.
Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair. [34]
Thou wouldst else have made thy tale large.
80 O, thou art deceived; I would have made it short: For I was come
to the whole depth of my tale, and meant indeed to occupy the
argument no longer.
Enter NURSE and her man, PETER
Here comes goodly stuff. A sail, a sail!
Two, two: a shirt and a smock. [35]
At your service.
Good Peter, to hide her face, for her fan’s the fairer face.
God ye good morrow, gentlemen.
90 God ye good evening, fair gentlewoman.
Is it good evening?
Tis no less, I tell ye, for the bawdy° hand of the dial is now upon
the prick [36] of noon.
Out upon you! What kind of man are you?
95 One, gentlewoman, that God hath made, for himself to mar.
By my troth, [37] well said. “For himself to mar,” quoth he?
Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I may find
the young Romeo?
I can tell you, but young Romeo will be older when you have
100 found him than he was when you sought him.
I am the youngest of that name, for lack of a worse.
Yea, is the worst well? Very well took, in faith, wisely, wisely.
If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence [38] with you.
105 She will indite [39] him to some supper.
A bawd, [40] a bawd, a bawd!
What hast thou found?
No hare sir, unless it be a hare in Lenten pie, [41] that is somewhat
110 stale and hoar [42] ere it be spent.
He walks by them and sings
‘An old hare hoar,
And an old hare hoar
Is very good meat in Lent.
But a hare that is hoar,
115 Is too much for a score, [43]
When it hoars ere it be spent.’ [44]
Romeo, will you come to your father’s? We’ll dinner thither.
I will follow you.
Farwell, ancient lady; farewell, [singing] ‘Lady, Lady, lady.’
Exit BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO
120 Marry, farewell! I pray you, sir, what saucy merchant° was this
that was so full of ropery°?
A gentleman, Nurse, that loves to hear himself talk, and will
speak more in a minute, than he will stand to in a month.
If he speak anything against me, I’ll take him down, even if he
125 were lustier° than he is, with twenty such Jacks°; and if I could not,
I’d find those that shall. Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirt-girls,
I am none of his skains-mates. [45]
She turns to PETER
And thou like a knave must stand by, and see every knave use me at his pleasure?
130 I saw no man use you at his pleasure; if I had, my weapon should
quickly have been out, I warrant you. I dare draw as
soon as another man, if I see occasion in a good quarrel and the law on
Now afore God, I am so vexed, that every part about me quivers.
135 Scurvy knave! Pray you, sir, a word. And as I told you, my young
lady bid me inquire you out; what she bid me say, I will keep to
myself, but first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her in a fool’s
paradise, as they say, it would be very gross kind of behavior, as
they say. For the gentlewoman is young, and therefore, if you
double cross140 should deal double° with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered
poor behaviorto any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing°.
Nurse, commend me to thy lady and mistress, I protest [46] unto
Good heart, and in faith, I will tell her as much. Lord, Lord, she
145 will be a joyful woman.
What wilt thou tell her Nurse? Thou dost not hear me.
I will tell her, sir, that you do protest, which as I take it, is a
Bid her devise some means to come to shrift° this afternoon, and
have confession150 there she shall at Friar Lawrence’s cell be shrived° and married.
Here is for thy pains.
ROMEO offers her money.
No, truly sir, not a penny.
Go to; I say you shall.
This afternoon, sir? Well, she shall be there.
155 And stay, good Nurse, behind the abbey wall.
Within this hour my man shall be with thee,
And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair, [47]
Which to the high top-gallant [48] of my joy
Must be my convoy in the secret night.
pay you for160 Farewell, be trusty, and I’ll quit° thy pains.
Farewell. Commend me to thy mistress.
Now God in heaven bless thee! Hark you, sir.
What sayest thou, my dear Nurse?
Is your man secret? Did you never hear say,
165 Two may keep counsel, putting one away? [49]
I warrant thee, my man’s as true as steel.
Well, sir, my mistress is the sweetest lady. Lord, Lord, when ‘twas
burbling babya little prating thing°. O, there is a nobleman in town, one Paris,
that would fain° lay knife aboard. [50] But she, good soul, would
170 happily see a toad, a very toad, than him. I anger her sometimes,
and tell her that Paris is the properer man, but I’ll warrant you,
piece of clothwhen I say so, she looks as pale as any clout° in the versall [51]
world. Doth not rosemary [52] and Romeo begin both with a letter?
Aye, Nurse, what of that? Both with an “R.”
175 Ah, mocker! That’s the dog’s name; [53] R is for the—no, I know it
begins with some other letter—and she hath the prettiest
sententious [54] of it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good
Commend me to thy lady.
180 Aye, a thousand times. Peter?
Juliet waits for the Nurse to return. When the Nurse returns, Juliet begs her for information. The Nurse delays, saying she’s too tired and her body is too sore. Juliet pressures her until the Nurse gives in and tells her that Romeo is waiting to marry her at Friar Lawrence’s cell.
Somewhere outside the Capulet estate:
The clock struck nine when I did send the Nurse.
In half an hour she promised to return.
Perchance she cannot meet him. That’s not so:
O, she is lame! [55] Love’s heralds should be thoughts
5 Which ten times faster glide than the sun’s beams
Driving back shadows over lowering hills.
Therefore do nimble-pinioned doves draw Love, [56]
And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid [57] wings.
Now is the sun upon the highmost hill
10 Of this day’s journey, and from nine till twelve,
Is three long hours, yet she is not come.
Had she affections and warm, youthful blood,
She would be as swift in motion as a ball,
My words would bandy° her to my sweet love,
15 And his to me. But old folks,
Many feign as they were dead,
Unwieldy, slow, heavy, and pale as lead.
Enter NURSE and PETER
O God, she comes. O, honey Nurse, what news?
Hast thou met with him? Send thy man away.
20 Peter, stay at the gate.
Now, good sweet Nurse—
O, Lord, why lookest thou sad?
Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily.
If good, thou shames the music of sweet news
25 By playing it to me with so sour a face.
O, I am weary. Let me rest awhile.
Fie, [58] how my bones ache! What a jaunt I had!
I would thou had’st my bones, and I thy news.
Nay, come, I pray thee, speak. Good, good Nurse, speak.
30 Jesu, what haste? Can you not wait awhile?
Do you not see that I am out of breath?
How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath
To say to me, that thou art out of breath?
The excuse that thou dost make in this delay,
35 Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse.
Is thy news good or bad? Answer to that.
Say either, and I’ll stay the circumstance. [59]
Let me be satisfied, is’t good or bad?
Well, you have made a foolish choice. You know not how to
40 choose a man. Romeo, no, not he, though his face be better than
any man’s; and his leg excels all mens’; and for a hand, and a foot,
and a body, though not much to talk on, yet they are past
compare. He is not the flower of courtesy, [60] but I’ll warrant him as
gentle as a lamb. Go thy ways, wench; serve God. What, have you
45 dined at home?
No, no. But all this did I know before.
What says he of our marriage? What of that?
Lord, how my head aches! What a head have I?
It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.
at the other50 My back a’ t’ other° side! Oh my back, my back.
Beshrew° your heart for sending me about
To catch my death with jaunting up and down.
I’faith, I am sorry that thou art not well.
Sweet, sweet, sweet Nurse, tell me, what says my love?
55 Your love says, like an honest gentleman,
And a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome,
And I warrant, a virtuous—Where is your mother?
Where is my mother?
Why she is within, where should she be?
60 How oddly thou repliest.
“Your love says like an honest gentleman:
Where is your mother?”
Oh God’s lady dear, [61]
Are you so hot? Marry, come up, I trow.
homemade ointment65 Is this the poultice° for my aching bones?
Henceforward do your messages yourself.
What a fuss! Come, what says Romeo?
Have you got leave to go to shrift today?
70 Then hie° you hence to Friar Lawrence’s cell,
There waits a husband to make you a wife.
Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks;
They turn to scarlet, straight, at any news.
Hie you to church. I must another way
75 To fetch a ladder by which your love
Must climb a bird’s nest soon when it is dark,
I am the drudge, and toil in your delight.
But you shall bear the burden soon at night. [62]
Go. I’ll to dinner; hie you to the cell.
80 Hie to high fortune! Honest Nurse, farewell.
Romeo and Friar Lawrence wait at the cell. Romeo says his current joy far outweighs any misfortune that may come. Juliet arrives. They all exit and the friar performs the wedding.
Friar Lawrence’s cell in Verona:
Enter FRIAR and ROMEO
So smile the heavens upon this holy act,
That, after hours, with sorrow chide us not!
Amen, amen, but come what sorrows will,
They cannot countervail° the exchange of joy
5 That one short minute gives me of her sight.
Do thou but close our hands with holy words,
Then love-devouring death do what he dare,
It is enough I may but call her mine.
These violent delights have violent ends,
gun powder10 And in their triumph die like fire and powder°.
Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And is the taste confounds° the appetite.
Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so.
15 Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.
Here comes the Lady. O, so light a foot
hardships of lifeWill never wear out the everlasting flint°.
spider’s webA lover may bestride the gossamers°,
That idles in the wanton summer air,
20 And yet not fall, so light is vanity.
Good evening to my ghostly confessor.
Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both.
And same to him, else is his thanks too much.
Ah Juliet, if the measure of thy joy
25 Be heaped like mine, and since thy skill be more
To blazon° it, then sweeten with thy breath
This neighbor air, [63] and let rich music’s tongue
Unfold the imagined happiness that we
Receive in either, by this dear encounter.
30 Conceit°, more rich in matter than in words,
Brags of his substance, not of ornament.
They are but poor folk that can count their worth,
But my true love is grown to such excess
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.
35 Come, come with me, and we will make short work.
For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone
Till Holy Church incorporate two in one.
summon (as in a spirit)