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I do remember an apothecary,—
And hereabouts he dwells,-whom late I noted
In tattered weeds, with overwhelming brows,
Culling of simples: meagre were his looks;
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones:
And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuffed, and other skins
Of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves
A beggarly account of empty boxes,
Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds,
Remnants of pack thread, and old cakes of roses,
Were thinly scattered to make up a show.

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ACT V.

Rom. Come hither, man.-I see that thou art poor:
Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have
A dram of poison; such soon-speeding geer
As will disperse itself through all the veins,
That the life-weary taker may fall dead,

And that the trunk may be discharged of breath
As violently as hasty powder fired
Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb.
Apoth. Such mortal drugs I have; but Man-
tua's law

Is death to any he that utters them.

Rom. Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness, And fear'st to die? Famine is in thy cheeks, Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes, Contempt and beggary hang upon thy back; The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law: The world affords no law to make thee rich; Then be not poor, but break it, and take this.

Apoth. My poverty, but not my will, consents. Rom. I pay thy poverty, and not thy will. Apoth. Put this in any liquid thing you will, And drink it off; and, if you had the strength Of twenty men, it would despatch you straight. Rom. There is thy gold: worse poison to men's souls;

Doing more murders in this loathsome world Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell:

I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none.
Farewell; buy food, and get thyself in flesh.-
Come, cordial, and not poison: go with me
To Juliet's grave, for there must I use thee.
[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-FRIAR LAURENCE's Cell.
Enter FRIAR JOHN.
John. Holy Franciscan friar! brother, ho!

Enter FRIAR LAURENCE.

Lau. This same should be the voice of Friar
John.-

Welcome from Mantua. What says Romeo?
Or, if his mind be writ, give me his letter.
John. Going to find a barefoot brother out,
One of our order, to associate me,
Here in this city visiting the sick,
And finding him,-the searchers of the town,
Suspecting that we both were in a house
Where the infectious pestilence did reign,
Sealed up the doors, and would not let us forth:
So that my speed to Mantua there was stayed.

Lau. Who bare my letter, then, to Romeo?
John. I could not send it,—here it is again,—
Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,
So fearful were they of infection.

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SCENE III-A Churchyard: in it, a Monument belonging to the CAPULETS.

Enter PARIS, and his Page, bearing flowers and a torch.

Par. Give me thy torch, boy. Hence, and stand aloof:

Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.
Under yon yew-trees lay thee all along,
Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground:
So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread
(Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves),
But thou shalt hear it: whistle then to me,
As signal that thou hear'st something approach.
Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee; go.
Page. I am almost afraid to stand alone
Here in the churchyard; yet I will adventure.
[Retires.

Par. Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal

bed I strew.

O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones, Which with sweet water nightly I will dew;

Or, wanting that, with tears distilled by moans: The obsequies that I for thee will keep, Nightly shall be, to strew thy grave and weep. [The Boy whistles.

The boy gives warning something doth approach. What cursed foot wanders this way to-night, To cross my obsequies and true love's rites? What, with a torch!-muffle me, night, a while. [Retires.

Enter ROMEO and BALTHASAR, with a torch, mattock, &c.

Rom. Give me that mattock and the wrench-
ing-iron.

Hold, take this letter: early in the morning
See thou deliver it to my lord and father.
Give me the light. Upon thy life I charge thee,

Whate'er thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof,
And do not interrupt me in my course.
Why I descend into this bed of death,
Is partly to behold my lady's face;

But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger
A precious ring; a ring that I must use

In dear employment: therefore hence, begone:
But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry
In what I further shall intend to do,
By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint,
And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs!
The time and my intents are savage-wild;
More fierce, and more inexorable far,
Than empty tigers, or the roaring sea.

Bal. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you. Rom. So shalt thou shew me friendship.—Take thou that:

Live and be prosperous; and farewell, good fellow. Bal. For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout: His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt. [Retires. Rom. Thou détestable maw, thou womb of death, Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth, Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open :

[Breaking open the door of the Monument. And, in despite, I'll cram thee with more food! Par. This is that banished haughty Montague, That murdered my love's cousin ;—with which grief

It is supposed the fair creature died ;

And here is come to do some villanous shame
To the dead bodies. I will apprehend him.---
[Advances.

Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague:
Can vengeance be pursued farther than death?
Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee:
Obey, and go with me; for thou must die.
Rom. I must indeed, and therefore came I hither.
Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man;
Fly hence and leave me think upon these gone:
Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth,
Heap not another sin upon my head,
By urging me to fury: O, be gone!
By heaven, I love thee better than myself;
For I come hither armed against myself.
Stay not, be gone: live, and hereafter say
A madman's mercy bade thee run away.
Par. I do defy thy conjurations,
And do attach thee as a felon here.

Rom. Wilt thou provoke me? then have at
thee, boy.
[They fight.
Page. O lord! they fight: I will go call the
watch.
[Exit.

Par. O, I am slain! [Falls.]—If thou be merciful,

Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.

What said my man, when my betosséd soul
Did not attend him, as we rode? I think
He told me Paris should have married Juliet:
Said he not so; or did I dream it so?
Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,
To think it was so?-O, give me thy hand,
One writ with me in sour misfortune's book!
I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave :—
A grave? O, no; a lantern, slaughtered youth;
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence full of light.
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interred.
[Laying PARIS in the Monument.
How oft, when men are at the point of death,
Have they been merry! which their keepers call
A lightning before death: O, how may I
Call this a lightning?—O, my love! my wife!
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquered: beauty's ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not advanced there.—
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favour can I do to thee,
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain,
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin!-Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous;
And that the lean abhorréd monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I will still stay with thee,
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids. O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,

And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh.-Eyes, look your

last!

Arms, take your last embrace! and lips, O you,
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!—
Come, bitter conduct; come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark!
Here's to my love! [Drinks.]—O, true apothe-
cary!

Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.

[Dies.

Enter, at the other end of the churchyard, FRIAR LAURENCE, with a lantern, crow, and spade. Fri. Saint Francis be my speed! how oft tonight

[Dies.

Have

Rom. In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face: Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris!—

my

old feet stumbled at graves!-Who's there?

Who is it that consorts, so late, the dead?

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Romeo! O, pale!-Who else? what, Paris, too;
And steeped in blood!—Ah, what an unkind hour
Is guilty of this lamentable chance!-
The lady stirs.
[JULIET wakes and stirs.
Jul. O, comfortable friar, where is my lord?
I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am.-Where is my Romeo?

[Noise within. Fri. I hear some noise.-Lady, come from that nest

Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep:
A greater Power than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents; come, come away:
Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead;
And Paris too: come, I'll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns.
Stay not to question, for the watch is coming:
Come, go, good Juliet. [Noise again.]—I dare

stay no longer.

[Exit.

Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.— What's here? a cup, closed in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.O churl! drink all; and leave no friendly drop To help me after? I will kiss thy lips: Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, To make me die with a restorative. [Kisses him. Thy lips are warm!

1st Watch [within]. Lead, boy:-which way? Jul. Yea, noise? then I'll be brief.-O happy dagger! [Snatching RoMEO's dagger. This is thy sheath [Stabs herself]: there rust, and let me die.

[Falls on ROMEO's body, and dies.

Enter Watch, with the Page of PARIS. Page. This is the place: there, where the torch doth burn.

1st Watch. The ground is bloody: search about the churchyard.

Go, some of you; whoe'er you find, attach.
[Exeunt some.

Pitiful sight! here lies the County slain :
And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead,
Who here hath lain these two days buried.
Go, tell the Prince,-run to the Capulets,—
Raise up the Montagues: some others search.

[Exeunt other Watchmen. We see the ground whereon these woes do lie; But the true ground of all these piteous woes We cannot without circumstance descry.

Enter some of the Watch, with BALTHASAR. 2nd Watch. Here's Romeo's man; we found him in the churchyard.

1st Watch. Hold him in safety till the Prince come hither.

Enter another Watchman, with FRIAR LAURENCE. 3rd Watch. Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs, and weeps:

We took this mattock and this spade from him, As he was coming from this churchyard side. 1st Watch. A great suspicion: stay the friar too.

Enter the PRINCE and Attendants. Prince. What misadventure is so early up, That calls our person from our morning's rest?

Enter CAPULET, LADY CAPULET, and others. Cap. What should it be, that they so shriek

abroad?

Lady C. The people in the street cry "Romeo;" Some "Juliet ;" and some "Paris :" and all run, With open outcry, toward our monument.

Prince. What fear is this which startles in our

ears?

1st Watch. Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain;

And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before,
Warm and new killed.

Prince. Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes.

1st Watch. Here is a friar, and slaughtered Romeo's man;

With instruments upon them, fit to open
These dead men's tombs.

Cap. O, heavens!-O wife! look how our daughter bleeds!

This dagger hath mista'en, for lo! his house
Is empty on the back of Montague,
And is mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom.
Lady C. O me! this sight of death is as a
bell

That warns my old age to a sepulchre.

Enter MONTAGUE and others.

Prince. Come, Montague; for thou art early up,

To see thy son and heir more early down.

Mon. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night: Grief of my son's exíle hath stopped her breath: What further woe conspires against mine age? Prince. Look, and thou shalt see.

Mon. O thou untaught! what manners is in this,

To press before thy father to a grave?

Prince. Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while,

Till we can clear these ambiguities,

And know their spring, their head, their true descent:

And then will I be general of your woes,
And lead you even to death. Meantime forbear,
And let mischance be slave to patience.-
Bring forth the parties of suspicion.

Fri. I am the greatest, able to do least,
Yet most suspected, as the time and place
Doth make against me, of this direful murder:
And here I stand, both to impeach and purge
Myself condemnéd and myself excused.

Prince. Then say at once what thou dost know in this.

Fri. I will be brief; for my short date of breath Is not so long as is a tedious tale :

Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet,
And she, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife:
I married them; and their stolen marriage-day
Was Tybalt's doomsday, whose untimely death
Banished the new-made bridegroom from this city;
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined.
You, to remove that siege of grief from her,
Betrothed and would have married her perforce
To County Paris. Then comes she to me;
And with wild looks, bid me devise some means
To rid her from this second marriage,
Or in my cell there would she kill herself.
Then gave I her, so tutored by my art,
A sleeping potion; which so took effect
As I intended, for it wrought on her

The form of death. Meantime I writ to Romeo
That he should hither come as this dire night,

To help to take her from her borrowed grave,
Being the time the potion's force should cease:
But he which bore my letter, Friar John,
Was stayed by accident; and yesternight
Returned my letter back. Then all alone,
At the prefixéd hour of her waking,
Came I to take her from her kindred's vault;
Meaning to keep her closely at my cell
Till I conveniently could send to Romeo :
But when I came (some minute ere the time
Of her awakening), here untimely lay
The noble Paris and true Romeo dead.
She wakes; and I entreated her come forth,
And bear this work of heaven with patience:
But then a noise did scare me from the tomb;
And she, too desperate, would not go with me,
But (as it seems) did violence on herself.
All this I know; and to the marriage
Her nurse is privy. And if aught in this
Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
Be sacrificed some hour before his time,
Unto the rigour of severest law.

Prince. We still have known thee for a holy

man.

Where's Romeo's man? what can he say in this? Bal. I brought my master news of Juliet's death:

And then in post he came from Mantua
To this same place, to this same monument.
This letter he early bid me give his father;
And threatened me with death, going in the vault,
If I departed not and left him there.

Prince. Give me the letter; I will look on it.— Where is the County's page, that raised the watch?

Sirrah, what made your master in this place?

Page. He came with flowers to strew his lady's

grave;

And bid me stand aloof, and so I did:
Anon comes one with light, to ope the tomb;
And by and by my master drew on him:
And then I ran away to call the watch.

Prince. This letter doth make good the friar's

words;

Their course of love, the tidings of her death:
And here he writes, that he did buy a poison
Of a poor 'pothecary; and therewithal
Came to this vault to die, and lie with Juliet.—
Where be these enemies?-Capulet! Montague!
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with
love!

And I, for winking at your discords, too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen.-All are punished!

Cap. O, brother Montague, give me thy hand:
This is my daughter's jointure; for no more
Can I demand.

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