1 Serv. You are looked for, and called for, asked for, and sought for, in the great chamber.

2 Serv. We cannot be here and there too.-Cheerly, boys; be brisk awhile, and the longer liver take all. [They retire behind.

Enter CAPULET, &c. with the guests and the maskers. Cap. Gentlemen, welcome! Ladies, that have their

toes

Unplagued with corns, will have a bout with you.—
Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all

Will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty she,
I'll swear hath corns: am I come near you now?
You are welcome, gentlemen! I have seen the day,
That I have worn a visor; and could tell

A whispering tale in a fair lady's ear,

Such as would please ;-'tis gone, 'tis gone, 'tis gone. You are welcome, gentlemen!-Come, musicians, play. A hall! a hall!1 give room, and foot it, girls.

[Music plays, and they dance. More lights, ye knaves; and turn the tables up,2 And quench the fire; the room is grown too hot.Ah, sirrah, this unlooked-for sport comes well. Nay, sit, nay, sit, good cousin Capulet; For you and I are past our dancing days. How long is't now, since last yourself and I Were in a mask?

2 Cap.

By'r lady, thirty years.

1 Cap. What, man! 'tis not so much, 'tis not so much :

'Tis since the nuptial of Lucentio,

Come Pentecost as quickly as it will,

Some five-and-twenty years; and then we masked.

1 An exclamation commonly used to make room in a crowd for any particular purpose.

2 The ancient tables were flat leaves or boards joined by hinges and placed on tressels; when they were to be removed, they were therefore turned up.

3 Cousin was a common expression for kinsman.

2 Cap. 'Tis more, 'tis more; his son is elder, sir; His son is thirty.

1 Cap.

Will you tell me that?

His son was but a ward two years ago.1

Rom. What lady's that, which doth enrich the hand Of yonder knight?

Serv. I know not, sir.

Rom. O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she 2 hangs upon the cheek of night

Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear;

Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows;
The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make happy my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.

Tyb. This, by his voice, should be a Montague
Fetch me my rapier, boy.-What! dares the slave
Come hither, covered with an antic face,
To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?
Now, by the stock and honor of my kin,
To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.

1 Cap. Why, how now, kinsman? wherefore storm you so?

Tyb. Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe;
A villain, that is hither come in spite,
To scorn at our solemnity this night.

1 Cap. Young Romeo is't?

'Tis he; that villain Romeo.

Tyb. 1 Cap. Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone; He bears him like a portly gentleman; And, to say truth, Verona brags of him, To be a virtuous and well-governed youth.

1 This speech stands thus in the quarto of 1597 :-
"Will you tell me that? it cannot be so:

His son was but a ward three years ago:
Good youths, i' faith!-O youth's a jolly thing!"

2 Steevens reads, with the second folio:

"Her beauty hangs upon," &c.

I would not for the wealth of all this town,
Here in my house, do him disparagement;
Therefore be patient, take no note of him;
It is my will; the which if thou respect,
Show a fair
and put
off these frowns,
An ill-beseeming semblance for a feast.
Tyb. It fits, when such a villain is a guest;
I'll not endure him.

1 Cap.

presence,

He shall be endured;

What, goodman boy?—I say, he shall.—Go to;—
Am I the master here, or you? go to.

You'll not endure him!-God shall mend
my soul-
You'll make a mutiny among my guests!
You will set cock-a-hoop! you'll be the man!
Tyb. Why, uncle, 'tis a shame.

1 Cap.

Go to, go to. You are a saucy boy.-Is't so, indeed ?— This trick may chance to scath1 you ;—I know what. You must contrary me! marry, 'tis time—

3

2

Well said, my hearts.-You are a princox; go:-
Be quiet, or-More light, more light, for shame!-
I'll make you quiet. What! cheerly, my hearts.
Tyb. Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting,
Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.
I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall,
Now seeming sweet, convert to bitter gall.
Rom. If I profane with my unworthy hand

[Exit.

[To JULIET.

This holy shrine, the gentle fine is thisMy lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand

To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. Jul. Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,

Which mannerly devotion shows in this;

For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm, is holy palmers' kiss.

1 i. e. do you an injury. The word has still this meaning in Scotland. 2 A pert, forward youth. The word is apparently a corruption of the Latin præcox.

3 There is an old adage-"Patience perforce is a medicine for a mad dog."

Rom. Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Jul. Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
Rom. O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Jul. Saints do not move, though grant for prayers'
sake.

Rom. Then move not, while my prayer's effect

I take.

Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.

[Kissing her.1 Jul. Then have my lips the sin that they have took. Rom. Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly

urged.

Marry, bachelor!

Her mother is the lady of the house,

And a good lady, and a wise, and virtuous.
I nursed her daughter, that you talked withal;
I tell you, he that can lay hold of her,

Shall have the chinks.

Rom.
Is she a Capulet?
O dear account! my life is my foe's debt.
Ben. Away, begone; the sport is at the best.
Rom. Ay, so I fear; the more is my unrest.

1 Cap. Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone: We have a trifling foolish banquet towards.2Is it e'en so? Why, then I thank you all;

3

I thank you, honest gentlemen; good night.
More torches here!-Come on, then let's to bed.

1 The Poet here, without doubt, copied from the mode of his own time; and kissing a lady in a public assembly, we may conclude, was not then thought indecorous.

2 Towards is ready, at hand.

3 Here the quarto of 1597 adds:

"I promise you, but for your company,

I would have been in bed an hour ago:
Light to my chamber, ho!"

e;

Ah, sirrah, [To 2 Cap.] by my fay, it waxes late
I'll to my rest. [Exeunt all but JULIET and Nurse.
Jul. Come hither, nurse; what is yon gentleman ?
Nurse. The son and heir of old Tiberio.

Jul. What's he that now is going out of door?
Nurse. Marry, that, I think, be young Petruchio.
Jul. What's he that follows there, that would not
dance?

Nurse. I know not.

Jul. Go ask his name ;-if he be married, My grave is like to be my wedding bed.

Nurse. His name is Romeo, and a Montague,

The only son of your great enemy.

Jul. My only love, sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy.

Nurse. What's this? what's this?
Jul. A rhyme I learned even now
Of one I danced withal.

[One calls within, Juliet.

Anon, anon:

strangers

all are gone.

Enter CHORUS.1

Now old Desire doth in his deathbed lie,

2

[Exeunt.

And young Affection gapes to be his heir;
That fair, which Love groaned for, and would die,
With tender Juliet matched, is now not fair.

Now Romeo is beloved, and loves again,
Alike bewitched by the charm of looks;

But to his foe supposed he must complain,

And she steal Love's sweet bait from fearful hooks.

1 This chorus is not in the first edition, quarto, 1597. 2 Fair, it has been already observed, was formerly used as a substantive, and was synonymous with beauty. The old copies read:

"That fair for which love groaned for," &c.

This reading Malone defends; Steevens treats it as a corruption.