Jul. What devil art thou, that dost torment me thus?
This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.
Hath Romeo slain himself? say thou but I,a
And that bare vowel I shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice:
I am not I, if there be such an I;

Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer, I.
If he be slain, say—I; or if not, no:

Brief sounds determine of my weal, or woe.

Nurse. I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,-
God save the mark!—here on his manly breast:
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;

Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood,

All in gore blood;—I swoonded at the sight.

Jul. O break, my heart!-poor bankrout, break at once! To prison, eyes! ne'er look on liberty!

Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here;

And thou, and Romeo, press one heavy bier!

Nurse. O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had! O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman!

That ever I should live to see thee dead!

Jul. What storm is this, that blows so contrary?
Is Romeo slaughter'd; and is Tybalt dead?

My dearest cousin, and my dearer lord ?—
Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom!
For who is living, if those two are gone?

Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished;
Romeo, that kill'd him, he is banished.

Jul. O God!-did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood?
Nurse. It did, it did; alas the day! it did.

Jul. O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face!

Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?

Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!

Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!

a It is here necessary to retain the old spelling of the affirmative particle I (ay). b Bankrout. We restore the old poetical bankrout, in preference to the modern bankrupt.

Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st,
A damned saint, an honourable villain!-
O, nature! what hadst thou to do in hell,
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh ?—
Was ever book containing such vile matter
So fairly bound? O, that deceit should dwell
In such a gorgeous palace!

Nurse.

There's no trust,

No faith, no honesty in men; all perjur'd,
All forsworn, all nought, all dissemblers.-

Ah, where's my man? give me some aqua vitæ

These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.
Shame come to Romeo!

Jul.

Blister'd be thy tongue,

For such a wish! he was not born to shame:

Upon his brow shame is asham'd to sit;

For 't is a throne where honour may be crown'd
Sole monarch of the universal earth.

O, what a beast was I to chide at him!

Nurse. Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin?
Jul. Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?

Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name,
When I, thy three hours' wife, have mangled it ?-
But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?
That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband:
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;
Your tributary drops belong to woe,

Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy.

My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain;
And Tybalt dead, that would have slain my husband:

All this is comfort: Wherefore weep I then?

Some word there was worser than Tybalt's death,
That murther'd me: I would forget it fain;

But, O! it presses to my memory,

Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds. "Tybalt is dead, and Romeo-banished;"

¢

That-" banished," that one word-"banished,"

a Thus (D); (C), dimme.

Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death

Was woe enough, if it had ended there :
Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship,
And needly will be rank'd with other griefs,-
Why follow'd not, when she said—Tybalt 's dead,
Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both,
Which modern lamentation might have mov'd?
But with a rear-ward following Tybalt's death,
"Romeo is banished,"-to speak that word,
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead :-" Romeo is banished,"-
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound,

In that word's death; no words can that woe sound.-
Where is my father, and my mother, nurse?

Nurse. Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse :

Will you go to them? I will bring you thither.

Jul. Wash they his wounds with tears? mine shall be spent,

When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment.

Take up those cords:-Poor ropes, you are beguil❜d,

Both you

and I; for Romeo is exil'd:

He made you for a highway to my bed;

But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed.

Come, cord; come, nurse; I'll to my wedding-bed ;
And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead!

Nurse. Hie to your chamber: I'll find Romeo
To comfort you:-I wot well where he is.
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night;
I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell.

Jul. O find him! give this ring to my true knight,
And bid him come to take his last farewell.

SCENE III.-Friar Laurence's Cell.

Enter Friar LAURENCE and ROMEO.

[Exeunt.

Fri. Romeo, come forth; come forth, thou fearful man; Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts,

And thou art wedded to calamity.

Rom. Father, what news? what is the prince's doom?

hand,

What sorrow craves acquaintance at my
That I yet know not?

Fri.

Is my

Too familiar

dear son with such sour company:

I bring thee tidings of the prince's doom.

Rom. What less than doomsday is the prince's doom? Fri. A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips, Not body's death, but body's banishment.

Rom. Ha! banishment? be merciful, say-death.
For exile hath more terror in his look,

Much more than death: do not say-banishment.
Fri. Here from Verona art thou banished:
Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.
Rom. There is no world without Verona walls,
But purgatory, torture, hell itself.

Hence-banished is banish'd from the world,
And world's exile is death :-then banished
Is death mis-term'd. Calling death banishment;
Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe,
And smil'st upon the stroke that murthers me.
Fri. O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness!
Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind prince,
Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law,

And turn'd that black word death to banishment.

This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not.

Rom. 'Tis torture, and not mercy: Heaven is here, Where Juliet lives; and every cat, and dog, And little mouse, every unworthy thing, Live here in heaven, and may look on her, But Romeo may not.-More validity, More honourable state, more courtship lives In carrion flies, than Romeo: they may seize On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand, And steal immortal blessing from her lips; Who, even in pure and vestal modesty, Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin; This may flies do, when I from this must fly(And say'st thou yet, that exile is not death?)—

But Romeo may not, he is banished.a

Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife,
No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,

But banished-to kill me; banished?

O friar, the damned use that word in hell;
Howlings attend it: How hast thou the heart,
Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,

A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd,
To mangle me with that word-banished?

Fri. Thou fond mad man, hear me a little speak.
Rom. O, thou wilt speak again of banishment.
Fri. I'll give thee armour to keep off that word;
Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy,

To comfort thee, though thou art banished.

Rom. Yet banished?-Hang up philosophy!
Unless philosophy can make a Juliet,
Displant a town, reverse a prince's doom;
It helps not, it prevails not, talk no more.

Fri. O, then I see that madmen have no ears.

Rom. How should they, when that wise men have no eyes?

Fri. Let me dispute with thee of thy estate.

Rom. Thou canst not speak of what thou dost not feel : Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love,

An hour but married, Tybalt murthered,

Doting like me, and like me banished,

Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy

hair,

And fall upon the ground, as I do now,

Taking the measure of an unmade grave.

Fri. Arise; one knocks; good Romeo, hide thyself.

[Knocking within.

a We have restored this passage to the reading of the folio. The lines were transposed by Steevens, without regard to any copy. In the first quarto the passage is altogether different. In that of 1609 it runs thus: :

"This may flies do, when I from this must fly ;

b Thus (D).

(And say'st thou yet that exile is not death?)—

But Romeo may not, he is banished.

Flies may do this, but I from this must fly,
They are free men, but I am banished."