My life were better ended by their hate,
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.

Jul. By whofe direction found'st thou out this place? Rom. By love that firft did prompt me to enquire; He lent me counsel, and I lent him

I am no Pilot, yet wert thou as far

eyes.

As that vaft shore, wafh'd with the fartheft sea,
I would adventure for fuch merchandise.

Jul. Thou know'ft, the mask of night is on my face,

Elfe would a maiden-blush bepaint my cheek
For that which thou haft heard me fpeak to night.
Fain would I dwell on form; fain, fain, deny
What I have spoke but farewel compliment!
Doft thou love me? I know, thou wilt fay, ay,
And I will take thy word- -yet if thou fwear'st,
Thou may'ft prove falfe; at lovers' perjuries,
They fay, Jove laughs. Oh, gentle Romeo,
If thou doft love, pronounce it faithfully;
Or if you think, I am too quickly won,
I'll frown and be perverfe, and fay thee nay,
So thou wilt wooe; but elfe, not for the world.
In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond,

And therefore thou may'ft think my 'haviour light;
-But trust me, Gentleman, I'll prove more true,
Than thofe that have more (7) coying to be ftrange.
I should have been more ftrange, I must confefs,
But that thou over-heard'ft, ere I was 'ware,
My true love's Paffion; therefore pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath fo difcovered.

Rom, Lady, by yonder bleffed moon I vow,
That tips with filver all thefe fruit-tree tops

Jul. O fwear not by the moon, th' inconftant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb ;

Left that thy love prove likewife variable.

Rom: What fhall I fwear by ?

Jul. Do not fwear at all;

Or, if thou wilt, fwear by thy gracious self,

(7) Cying to be frange.] For coying, the modern editions have cunning.

Which is the God of my idolatry,

And I'll believe thee.

Rom. If my true heart's love.

Jul. Well, do not fwear. Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of, this contract to-night;

It is too rafh, too unadvis'd, too fudden,
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be,
Ere one can fay, it lightens. Sweet, good night.
This bud of love by fummer's ripening breath
May prove a beauteous flower, when next we meet.
Good night, good night-as fweet Repofe and Reft
Come to thy heart, as that within my breast!
Rom. O, wilt thou leave me fo unfatisfied?

Jul. What fatisfaction can'ft thou have to night? Rom. Th' 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 wifh but for the thing I have ;
My bounty is as boundless as the fea,
My love as deep, the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.

I hear fome noise within. Dear love, adieu !

[Nurfe calls within Anon, good nurfe. Sweet Montague, be true. Stay but a little, I will come again.

Rom. O bleffed, bleffed night! I am afraid,
Being in night, all this is but a dream
Too flattering-fweet to be fubftantial.

Re-enter Juliet above.

;

[Exit.

Jul. Three words, dear Romeo, and good night, indeed.

If that thy bent of love be honourable,

Thy purpose marriage, fend ine word to-morrow,
By one that I'll procure to come to thee,
Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite
And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay,

And follow thee, my love, throughout the world.
[Within: Madam..

I come,

-but if thou mean'st not well,

I come, anon

I do befeech thee-[Within: Madam.] By and by,

I come in

To cease thy fuit, and leave me to my grief.

To-morrow will I fend.

Rom. So thrive my foul,

Ful. A thousand times, good night.

[Exit.

Rom. A thousand times the worfe, to want thy light. Love goes tow'rd love, as fchool-boys from their books ;

But love from love, tow'rds school with heavy looks. Enter Juliet again.

Jul. Hift! Romeo, hift! O for a falkner's voice,
To lure this Taffel gentle back again.

Bondage is hoarfe, and may not speak aloud;
Elfe would I tear the cave where Echo lies,
And make her airy tongue more hoarfe than mine,
With repetition of my Romeo.

Rom. It is my love that calls upon my name,
How filver-fweet found lovers' tongues by night,
Like fofteft mufick to attending ears!

Jul. Romeo!

Rom. My Sweet!

Jul. At what o'clock to-morrow

Shall I fend to thee?

Rom. By the hour of nine.

Jul. I will not fail, 'tis twenty years till then. I have forgot why I did call thee back.

Rom. Let me ftand here 'till thou remember it. Jul. I fhall forget, to have thee ftill ftand there Remembering how I love thy company.

Rom. And I'll still stay to have thee still forget, Forgetting any other home but this.

Jul. 'Tis almoft morning. I would have thee gone, And yet no further than a wanton's bird,

That lets it hop a little from her hand,
Like a poor prifoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a filk thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.

Rom. I would, I were thy bird,

Jul.

gal. Sweet, fo would I;

Yet I fhould kill thee with much cherishing.
-Good night, good night. Parting is fuch fweet for-

row,

That I fhall fay good night, 'till it be morrow.

[Exit Rom. Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy

breast!

'Would I were fleep and peace, so sweet to rest!?
Hence will I to my ghoftly Friar's close Cell,
His help to crave; and my dear hap to tell.

SCENE III

Changes to a Monaftery. ·

2

Enter Friar Lawrence, with a basket.

[Exit.

Fri. (8) The grey-ey'd morn fmiles on the frowning night,

Check'ring the eaftern clouds with ftreaks of light:
And darkness flecker'd, like a drunkard, reels
From forth day's path, and Titan's burning wheels.
Now ere the Sun advance his burning eye,
The day to chear, and night's dank dew to dry,
I muft fill up this ofier-cage of ours

With baleful weeds, and precious-juiced flowers.
'The earth, that's Nature's mother, is her tomb,
What is her burying Grave, that is her womb;
And from her womb children of divers kind
We fucking on her natural bofom find:
Many for inany virtues excellent

None but for fome, and yet all different.
O, mickle is the (9) powerful grace, that lies
In plants, herbs, ftones, and their true qualities.
Nor nought fo vile, that on the earth doth live,
But to the earth fome fpecial good doth give,
Nor aught fo good, but, ftrain'd from that fair ufe,
Revolts from true Birth, ftumbling on abufe.

(8) The grey-ey'd morn, &c.] Thefe four firft lines are here replaced, conformable to the first edition, where fuch a description is much more proper than in the mouth of Romeo juft before, when he was full of nothing but the thoughts of his mistress.

POPE.

In the folio thefe lines are printed twice over, and given once to Romeo, and once to the Friar.

(9)-powerful grace,] Efficacious virtue.

Virtue itself turns vice, being mifapplied;
And vice fometime by action's dignify'd.
Within the infant rind of this fmall flower
(1) Poifon hath refidence, and med'cine power,
For this being fmalt, with that fenfe chears each part,
Being tafted, flays all fenfes with the heart.

(2) Two fuch oppofed foes encamp them ftill

In man, as well as herbs, Grace and rude Will:
And where the worfer is predominant,

Full-foon the canker death eats up

Enter Romeo.

Rom. Good morrow, father.
Fri. Benedicite !

that plant.

What early tongue fo fweet faluteth me?
Young fon, it argues a diftemper'd head
So foon to bid good-morrow to thy bed:
Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye,
And, where care lodgeth, fleep will never lie;
But where unbruifed youth with unftuft brain,
Doth couch his limbs, there golden fleep doth reign;
Therefore thy earlinefs doth me affure,

Thou art up-rouz'd by fome diftemp'rature;
Or if not fo, then here I hit it right,

Our Romeo hath not been in bed to-night.

Rom. That laft is true, the fweeter Reft was mine.
Fri. God pardon fin! waft thou with Rofaline?

(1) Poison bath refidence, and medicine power,] I believe Shake. fpeare wrote, more accurately, thus,

Poifon bath refidence, and medicinal power:

.e. both the poifon and the antidote are lodged within the rind of this flower. WARBURTON.

There is no need of alteration.

(2) Two fuch oppafed FOES This is a modern Sophistication. The old books have it oppofed-KINGS. So that it appears, Shakespeare wrote, Tavo fuch oppofed KIN. Why he calls them Kin was, because they were qualities refiding in one and the fare fub-ftance. And as the enmity of appofed Kin generally rifes higher than that between ftrangers, this circumftance adds a beauty to the expreffion. WARBURTON.

Foes is certainly wrong, and kin is not right. Two kings are two oppofite powers, two contending potentates, in both the natural and moral world. The word encamp is proper to commanders.

Rom.