Book online «Shakespeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare [best fantasy books to read TXT] 📗». Author William Shakespeare

Go to page:

a virtuous,—Where is your mother?

Juliet. Where is my mother! why, she is within; 60

Where should she be? How oddly thou repliest!

'Your love says, like an honest gentleman,

Where is your mother?'

Nurse. O God's lady dear!

Are you so hot? marry, come up, I trow;

Is this the poultice for my aching bones?

Henceforward do your messages yourself.

Juliet. Here's such a coil!—come, what says Romeo?

Nurse. Have you got leave to go to shrift to-day?

Juliet. I have.

Nurse. Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell; 70

There stays a husband to make you a wife.

Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks,

They'll be in scarlet straight at any news.

Hie you to church; I must another way,

To fetch a ladder, by the which your love

Must climb a bird's nest soon when it is dark.

I am the drudge, and toil in your delight.

Go; I'll to dinner; hie you to the cell.

Juliet. Hie to high fortune!—Honest nurse, farewell. [Exeunt. Scene VI.

Friar Laurence's Cell

Enter Friar Laurence and Romeo

Friar Laurence. So smile the heavens upon this holy act

That after hours with sorrow chide us not!

Romeo. Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can,

It cannot countervail the exchange of joy

That one short minute gives me in her sight.

Do thou but close our hands with holy words,

Then love—devouring death do what he dare,

It is enough I may but call her mine.

Friar Laurence. These violent delights have violent ends, 10

And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,

Which as they kiss consume; the sweetest honey

Is loathsome in his own deliciousness,

And in the taste confounds the appetite.

Therefore love moderately, long love doth so;

Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.—

Enter Juliet

Here comes the lady. O, so light a foot

Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint!

A lover may bestride the gossamer

That idles in the wanton summer air, 20

And yet not fall, so light is vanity.

Juliet. Good even to my ghostly confessor.

Friar Laurence. Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both.

Juliet. As much to him, else is his thanks too much.

Romeo. Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy

Be heap'd like mine and that thy skill be more

To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath

This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue

Unfold the imagin'd happiness that both

Receive in either by this dear encounter.

Juliet. Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, 31

Brags of his substance, not of ornament.

They are but beggars that can count their worth;

But my true love is grown to such excess

I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth.

Friar Laurence. Come, come with me, and we will make short work;

For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone

Till holy church incorporate two in one. [Exeunt.

Loggia of Capulet's House

ACT III Scene I.

A Public Place

Enter Mercutio, Benvolio, Page, and Servants

Benvolio. I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire.

The day is hot, the Capulets abroad,

And if we meet we shall not scape a brawl;

For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.

Mercutio. Thou art like one of those fellows that
when he enters the confines of a tavern claps me his
sword upon the table, and says 'God send me no
need of thee!' and by the operation of the second
cup draws him on the drawer, when indeed there is
10no need.

Benvolio. Am I like such a fellow?

Mercutio. Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in
thy mood as any in Italy, and as soon moved to be
moody, and as soon moody to be moved.

Benvolio. And what to?

Mercutio. Nay, an there were two such, we should
have none shortly, for one would kill the other.
Thou! why, thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath
a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard than thou
20hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking
nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast
hazel eyes; what eye but such an eye would spy out
such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of quarrels as
an egg is full of meat, and yet thy head hath been
beaten as addle as an egg for quarrelling. Thou
hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street,
because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain
asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a
tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter?
30with another for tying his new shoes with old riband?
and yet thou wilt tutor me from quarrelling!

Benvolio. An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art,
any man should buy the fee-simple of my life for an
hour and a quarter.

Mercutio. The fee-simple! O simple!

Benvolio. By my head, here come the Capulets.

Mercutio. By my heel, I care not.

Enter Tybalt and others

Tybalt. Follow me close, for I will speak to them.—
Gentlemen, good den; a word with one of you.

40Mercutio. And but one word with one of us?
couple it with something; make it a word and a
blow.

Tybalt. You shall find me apt enough to that, sir,
an you will give me occasion.

Mercutio. Could you not take some occasion without
giving?

Tybalt. Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo,—

Mercutio. Consort! what, dost thou make us
minstrels? an thou make minstrels of us, look to
50hear nothing but discords; here's my fiddlestick,
here's that shall make you dance. Zounds, consort!

Benvolio. We talk here in the public haunt of men.

Either withdraw unto some private place,

Or reason coldly of your grievances,

Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.

Mercutio. Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze;

I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I.

Enter Romeo

Tybalt. Well, peace be with you, sir; here comes my man.

Mercutio. But I'll be hang'd, sir, if he wear your livery. 60

Marry, go before to field, he 'll be your follower;

Your worship in that sense may call him man.

Tybalt. Romeo, the hate I bear thee can afford

No better term than this,—thou art a villain.

Romeo. Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee

Doth much excuse the appertaining rage

To such a greeting. Villain am I none,

Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not.

Tybalt. Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries

That thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw.

Romeo. I do protest, I never injur'd thee,

But love thee better than thou canst devise

Till thou shalt know the reason of my love;

And so, good Capulet,—which name I tender

As dearly as my own,—be satisfied.

Mercutio. O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!

A la stoccata carries it away.— [Draws.

Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?

Tybalt. What wouldst thou have with me?

Mercutio. Good king of cats, nothing but one of
80your nine lives; that I mean to make bold withal,
and, as you shall use me hereafter, dry-beat the rest
of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his
pilcher by the ears? make haste, lest mine be about
your ears ere it be out.

Tybalt. I am for you. [Drawing.
Romeo. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up.

Mercutio. Come, sir, your passado. [They fight.

Romeo. Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons.—

Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage! 90

Tybalt, Mercutio, the prince expressly hath

Forbid this bandying in Verona streets.

Hold, Tybalt! good Mercutio! [Exeunt Tybalt and his partisans.

Mercutio.I am hurt.

A plague o' both your houses! I am sped.

Is he gone, and hath nothing?

Benvolio. What, art thou hurt?

Mercutio. Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough.—

Where is my page?—Go, villain, fetch a surgeon. [Exit Page.

Romeo. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.

Mercutio. No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so
wide as a church-door, but 'tis enough, 'twill serve;
100ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave
man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world.—A
plague o' both your houses!—Zounds, a dog, a rat,
a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart,
a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of
arithmetic!—Why the devil came you between us?
I was hurt under your arm.

Romeo. I thought all for the best.

Mercutio. Help me into some house, Benvolio,

Or I shall faint.—A plague o' both your houses! 110

They have made worms' meat of me. I have it,

And soundly too;—your houses! [Exeunt Mercutio and Benvolio

Romeo. This gentleman, the prince's near ally,

My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt

In my behalf; my reputation stain'd

With Tybalt's slander,—Tybalt, that an hour

Hath been my cousin!—O sweet Juliet,

Thy beauty hath made me effeminate,

And in my temper soften'd valour's steel!

Re-enter Benvolio

Benvolio. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead! 120

That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds,

Which too untimely here did scorn the earth.

Romeo. This day's black fate on more days doth depend;

This but begins the woe others must end.

Benvolio. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.

Re-enter Tybalt

Romeo. Alive, in triumph! and Mercutio slain!

Away to heaven, respective lenity,

And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!—

Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again

That late thou gav'st me! for Mercutio's soul 130

Is but a little way above our heads,

Staying for thine to keep him company;

Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.

Tybalt. Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here,

Shalt with him hence.

Romeo. This shall determine that. [They fight; Tybalt falls.

Benvolio. Romeo, away, be gone!

The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain.

Stand not amaz'd; the prince will doom thee death

If thou art taken. Hence, be gone, away!

Romeo. O, I am fortune's fool!

Benvolio. Why dost thou stay? [Exit

Go to page:

Free e-book «Shakespeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare [best fantasy books to read TXT] 📗» - read online now

Comments (0)

There are no comments yet. You can be the first!

Add a comment

Book online «Shakespeare&#039;s Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare [best fantasy books to read TXT] 📗». Author William Shakespeare

Free e-book «Shakespeare&#039;s Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare [best fantasy books to read TXT] 📗» - read online now

Comments (0)

Book online «Shakespeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare [best fantasy books to read TXT] 📗». Author William Shakespeare

Free e-book «Shakespeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare [best fantasy books to read TXT] 📗» - read online now