2

BEN. He ran this way, and leap'd this orchard wall:
Call, good Mercutio.
MER.

Nay, I'll conjure too
Romeo! humours ! madman! passion! lover!
Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh,
Speak but one-rhyme, and I am satisfied;
Cry but – Ah me! couple but — love and dove;
Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word,
One nick name for her purblind son and heir,
Young Adam 1 Cupid, he that shot so trim,
When king Cophetua' lov'd the beggar-maid. 3
He heareth not, stirreth not, he moveth not;
The ape4 is dead, and I must conjure him.
I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes,
By her high forehead, and her scarlet lip,
That in thy likeness thou appear to us.

2

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,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady; 0, it is my love:
0, that she knew she were! —
She speaks, yet she says nothing: What of that?
Her
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
To twinkle3 in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head ?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright,
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!
JUL.

Ah me!
Rom.

She speaks:
0,-speak again, bright angel! for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head;
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white-upturned wond'ring eyes
Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him,
When he bestrides 4 the lazy-pacing clouds,
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

JUL. O'Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father, and refuse thy name:
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

5

Thou art thyself? though, not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. 0, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes,
Without that title: — Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.
Rom.

I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

JUL. What man art thou, that, thus bescreen'do in night,
So stumblest5 on my counsel ?
ROM.

By a name
I know not how to tell the 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.

JUL. My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's utterance, 6 yet I know the sound;
Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?

Rom. Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.7

Jul. How cam'st thou hither, tell me? and wherefore?
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. .

1) This punctuation appears to af-pare dout, i. e. do out, to put out, to ford a clear sense, which is not the extinguish. case when we have a comma after 4) To shelter, to conceal. thyself, and none after though. Thou 5) To trip in; to striķe upon withart, however, says Juliet, a being out design, to fall on; as, men often sui generis (a Montague), amiable and stumble upon valuable discoveries. excellent, not tainted by the enmity 6) We meet with almost the same which your family bears to mine. words, in King Edward III. a traShe asserts that he merely bears gedy, 1596 :'"I might perceive his that name, but has none of the qua- eye in her eye lost, His ear to drink lities of that house. Others under her sweet tongue's utterance." Malone. stand though in the sense of then. 7) Dislike here means displease. 2) Owns, possesses.

This was the phraseology of Shak

speare's age. So, it likes me well, 3) Do off, put off, get rid off. Com- for it pleases me well.

Rom. With love's light wings did I o'er-perch' these

walls;
For stony limits cannot hold love out:
And what love can do, that dares love attempt,
Therefore thy kinsmen are no let? to me.

JUL. If they do see thee, they will murder thee.

Rom. Alack! there lies more peril in thine eye, Than twenty of their swords; look thou but sweet, And I am proof against their enmity.

Juli I would not for the world they saw thee here.

Rom. I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight; And, but3 thou love me, let them find me here: My life were better ended by their hate, Than death prorogued, 4 wanting of thy love.

JUL. By whose direction found’st thou out this place?

Rom. By love, who first did prompt me to inquire;
He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes.
I am no pilot; yet wert thou as far
As that vast shore wash'd with the furthest sea,
I would adventure for such merchandise.

JUL. Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face;
Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek,
For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night.
Fain5 would I dwell on form, fain, fain, deny
What I have spoke: But farewell compliment ! 6
Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say — Ay;
And I will take thy word: yet if thou swear'st,
Thou may'st prove false; at lovers' perjuries,
They say, Jove laughs. O, gentle Romeo,
If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully:
Or, if thou think'st I am too quickly won,
I'H'frown, and be perverse, and say thee nay,
So thou wilt woo; but else, not for the world!
In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond;
And therefore thou may'st think my 'haviour light:
But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true

1) To perch over, to fly over. To 3) Unless. perch, properly means, to sit or rest 4) Delayed, deferred to a more on a perch, on a pole or any fixed distant period. body, as a bird.

5) Gladly, with pleasure. 2) No stop or hinderance. Hamlet 6) That is, farewell attention to says: “By heaven I'll make a ghost forms. of him that lets me."

7) Behaviour, conduct.

Than those that have more cunning to be strange.1
I should have been more strange, I must confess,

"
But that thou over-heard'st, 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.

Rom. Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear,
That tips? with silver all these fruit-tree tops,

JUL. O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon
That monthly changes in her circled orb, 3
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.

Rom. What shall I swear by?
JUL.

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.
Rom.

If my heart's dear love
JUL. Well, do not swear: although I joy 4 in thee,
I have no joy of this contráct 5 to-night:
It is too rash, too unadvis'd, too sudden;
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be,
Ere one can say - It lightens. Sweet, good night!
This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night! as sweet repose and rest
Come to thy heart, as that within my breast!

Rom. O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied ?
JUL. What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?
Rom. The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.

JUL. I gave thee mine before thou didst request it:
And yet I would it were to give again.

ROM. Wouldst thou withdraw it? for what purpose, love?

JUL. But to be frank, and give it 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 within.

€ 1) To put on affected coldness, to 3) Orb, the Latin orbis, sphere, appear shy.

circle.

4) To rejoice, to exult. 2) To tip, to cover the tip, top, or 5) The proper accent is contract, end; as, to tip any thing with gold the act by which a man and woor silver.

man are betrothed to each other.