Rom. Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg'd! Give me my sin again. Jul. You kiss by the book. Nurse. Madam, your mother craves a word with you. Rom. What is her mother? Nurse. Marry, bachelor, Her mother is the lady of the house, Rom. 8 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. Is it e'en so? Why, then I thank you all; I thank you, honest gentlemen; good night:More torches here!-Come on, then let's to bed. Ah, sirrah, [To 2 Cap.] by my fay, it waxes late; I'll to my rest. [Exeunt all but JULIET and Nurse. Jul. Čome hither, nurse: What is yon gentle man? 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. towards.] Towards is ready, at hand. Jul. My only love sprung from my only hate! Of one I danc'd withal Nurse. A rhyme I learn'd even now Anon, anon: Come, let's away; the strangers all are gone. Enter CHORUS. [Exeunt. Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie, And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks: Being held a foe, he may not have access To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear; And she as much in love, her means much less To meet her new-beloved any where: But passion lends them power, time means to meet, Temp'ring extremities with extreme sweet. ACT II. [Exit. SCENE I. An open Place, adjoining Capulet's Garden. Enter ROMEO. Rom. Can I go forward, when my heart is here? 9 That fair,] Fair, it has been already observed, was formerly used as a substantive, and was synonymous to beauty. Turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out. [He climbs the Wall, and leaps down within it. Enter BENVOLIO, and MERCUTIO. Ben. Romeo! my cousin Romeo! He is wise; And, on my life, hath stolen him home to bed. 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 Cupid, he that shot to trim, When king Cophetua lov'd the beggar-maid.'— He heareth not, stirreth not, he moveth not; The ape is dead,2 and I must conjure him.— I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes, By her high forehead, and her scarlet lip, By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh, And the demesnes that there adjacent lie, 3 That in thy likeness thou appear to us. Ben. An if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him. Mer. This cannot anger him: 'twould anger him When king Cophetua, &c.] Alluding to an old ballad preserved in the first Volume of Dr. Percy's Reliques of ancient English Poetry. The ape is dead,] This phrase appears to have been frequently applied to young men, in our author's time, without any reference to the mimickry of that animal. It was an expression of tenderness, like poor fool. By her high forehead,] A high forehead was in Shakspeare's time thought eminently beautiful. To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle Of some strange nature, letting it there stand Is fair and honest, and, in his mistress' name, Ben. Come, he hath hid himself among those trees, To be consorted with the humorous night:3 Mer. If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark. Now will he sit under a medlar tree, And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit, Come, shall we go? Ben. Go, then; for 'tis in vain To seek him here, that means not to be found. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Capulet's Garden. Enter ROMEO. 4 Rom. He jests at scars, that never felt a wound. [JULIET appears above, at a Window. But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks! It is the east, and Juliet is the sun! night. the humorous night:] Means humid, the moist dewy He jests at scars,] Mercutio, whose jests he overheard; or perhaps it is an allusion to his having conceived himself so armed with the love of Rosalind, that no other beauty could make any impression on him. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, That thou her maid art far more fair than she: Her vestal livery is but sick and green, And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.- O, 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: Jul. Rom. Ah me! She speaks:- Unto the white-upturned wond'ring eyes Jul. O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Deny thy father, and refuse thy name: 5 Be not her maid,] Be not a votary to the moon, to Diana. VOL. IX. E |