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James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
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SCENE V. Juliet's Chamber4 note. Enter Romeo and Juliet.

Jul.
Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day5 note

















:
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear;
Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree6 note

:

-- 161 --


Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

Rom.
It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale* note; look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:
Night's candles are burnt out7 note

, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain† note tops;
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

Jul.
Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I:
It is some meteor that the sun exhales,
To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,
And light thee on thy way to Mantua8 note




:
Therefore stay yet, thou need'st not to be gone9 note



.

-- 162 --

Rom.
Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death;
I am content, so thou wilt have it so.
I'll say, yon grey is not the morning's eye,
'Tis but the pale reflex1 note of Cynthia's brow;
Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat
The vaulty heaven so high above our heads:
I have more care to stay, than will to go2 note








:—
Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.—
How is't, my soul? let's talk, it is not day3 note

.

Jul.
It is, it is, hie hence, be gone, away;
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Straining harsh discords, and unpleasing sharps.
Some say, the lark makes sweet division4 note



;

-- 163 --


This doth not so, for she* note divideth us:
Some say, the lark and loathed toad change eyes;
O, now I would they had chang'd voices too5 note



!
Since arm from arm6 note that voice doth us affray,
Hunting thee hence with hunts-up to the day7 note






.

-- 164 --


O, now be gone; more light and light it grows.

Rom.
More light and light?—more dark and dark our woes.
Enter Nurse.

Nurse.
Madam!

Jul.
Nurse?

Nurse.
Your lady mother's coming to your chamber:
The day is broke; be wary, look about. [Exit Nurse.

Jul.
Then, window, let day in, and let life out.

Rom.
Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll descend.
[Romeo descends.

Jul.
Art thou gone so? my lord! my love! my friend9 note
!
I must hear from thee every day i' the hour,
For in a minute there are many days1 note








:

-- 165 --


O! by this count I shall be much in years,
Ere I again behold my Romeo2 note


* note.

Rom.
Farewell! I will omit no opportunity
That may convey my greetings, love, to thee.

Jul.
O, think'st thou, we shall ever meet again?

Rom.
I doubt it not† note; and all these woes shall serve
For sweet discourses in our time to come.

Jul.
O God! I have an ill-divining soul3 note



:
Methinks, I see thee, now thou art below,
As one dead4 note




in the bottom of a tomb:
Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale.

Rom.
And trust me, love, in my eye so do you:
Dry sorrow drinks our blood5 note



. Adieu! adieu! [Exit Romeo.

-- 166 --


Jul.
O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle:
If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him
That is renown'd for faith6 note

? Be fickle, fortune;
For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long,
But send him back.

La. Cap. [Within.]
Ho, daughter! are you up?

Jul.
Who is't that calls? is it my lady mother?
Is she not down so late, or up so early7 note?
What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither8 note?
Enter Lady Capulet9 note




.

La. Cap.
Why, how now, Juliet?

-- 167 --

Jul.
Madam, I am not well.

La. Cap.
Evermore weeping for your cousin's death1 note






?
What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?
An if thou could'st, thou could'st not make him live;
Therefore, have done: Some grief shows much of love;
But much of grief shows still some want of wit.

Jul.
Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss.

La. Cap.
So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend
Which you weep for.

Jul.
Feeling so the loss,
I cannot choose but ever weep the friend.

La. Cap.
Well, girl, thou weep'st not so much for his death,
As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him.

Jul.
What villain, madam?

La. Cap.
That same villain, Romeo.

Jul.
Villain and he are many miles asunder.
God pardon him2 note! I do, with all my heart;

-- 168 --


And yet no man, like he, doth grieve my heart.

La. Cap.
That is, because the traitor murderer lives.

Jul.
Ay, madam, from3 note the reach of these my hands.
Would, none but I might venge my cousin's death!

La. Cap.
We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not:
Then weep no more. I'll send to one in Mantua,—
Where that same banish'd runagate doth live,—
That shall bestow on him so sure a draught4 note






,
That he shall soon keep Tybalt company:
And then, I hope, thou wilt be satisfied.

Jul.
Indeed, I never shall be satisfied
With Romeo, till I behold him—dead—
Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vex'd:—
Madam, if you could find out but a man
To bear a poison, I would temper it;
That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof,
Soon sleep in quiet.—O, how my heart abhors
To hear him nam'd,—and cannot come to him,—

-- 169 --


To wreak the love I bore my cousin Tybalt5 note
Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him!

La. Cap.
Find thou6 note the means, and I'll find such a man.
But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl.

Jul.
And joy comes well in such a needful time:
What are they, I beseech your ladyship?

La. Cap.
Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child;
One, who, to put thee from thy heaviness,
Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy,
That thou expect'st not, nor I look'd not for.

Jul.
Madam, in happy time7 note, what day is that?

La. Cap.
Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn,
The gallant, young, and noble gentleman,
The county Paris8 note






, at Saint Peter's church,

-- 170 --


Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride9 note



































.

Jul.
Now, by Saint Peter's church, and Peter too,
He shall not make me there a joyful bride.
I wonder at this haste; that I must wed
Ere he, that should be husband, comes to woo.
I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam,
I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear,
It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate,
Rather than Paris:—These are news indeed!

La. Cap.
Here comes your father; tell him so yourself.

And see how he will take it at your hands.

-- 171 --

Enter Capulet and Nurse.


Cap.
When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew1 note






;

-- 172 --


But for the sunset of my brother's son,
It rains downright.—

How now?
a conduit, girl? what, still in tears2 note










?

Evermore showering? In one little body
Thou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a wind:
For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea,
Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is,
Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs;
Who,—raging with thy tears, and they with them,—
Without a sudden calm, will overset
Thy tempest-tossed body.—How now, wife?

-- 173 --


Have you deliver'd to her our decree3 note





?

La. Cap.
Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you thanks* note.
I would, the fool† note were married to her grave!

Cap.

Soft, take me with you, take me with you, wife.

How! will she none? doth she not give us thanks?
Is she not proud?
doth she not count her bless'd,
Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought
So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?

Jul.
Not proud, you have; but thankful, that you have:
Proud can I never be of what I hate;
But thankful even for hate, that is meant love.

Cap.
How now; how now, chop logick4 note



! What is this?
Proud,—and, I thank you,—and, I thank you not;—

-- 174 --


And yet not proud5 note;—
Mistress minion, you,

Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds,
But settle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next,
To go with Paris to Saint Peter's church,
Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.
Out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage!
You tallow face* note 6 note


!

La. Cap.

Fye, fye! what are you mad?

Jul.
Good father,
I beseech you on my knees,

Hear me
with patience but to
speak
a word.

Cap.

Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch!

I tell thee what,—get thee to church o' Thursday,
Or never after look me in the face:
Speak not, reply not, do not answer me;
My fingers itch.—Wife, we scarce thought us bless'd,
That God had sent us7 note but this only child;
But now I see this one is one too much,
And that we have a curse in having her:
Out on her, hilding!

Nurse.
God in heaven bless her!—

-- 175 --


You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.

Cap.
And why, my lady wisdom? hold your tongue,
Good prudence; smatter with your gossips, go.

Nurse.
I speak no treason.

Cap.
O, God ye good den!


Nurse.
May not one speak?

Cap.
Peace, you mumbling fool!

Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl,
For here we need it not.

La. Cap.
You are too hot.

Cap.
God's bread! it makes me mad8 note









: Day, night, late, early,
At home, abroad, alone, in company,
Waking, or sleeping, still my care hath been
To have her match'd: and having now provided
A gentleman of princely parentage,

Of fair demesnes,
youthful, and nobly train'd,
Stuff'd (as they say,) with honourable parts,
Proportion'd as one's heart could wish a man,—
And then to have a wretched puling fool,
A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender,
To answer—
I'll not wed,
I cannot love9 note
































,

-- 176 --


I am too young,—I pray you, pardon me;—
But, an you will not wed, I'll pardon you:
Graze where you will, you shall not house with me;
Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jest.
Thursday is near: lay hand on heart, advise:
An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend;
An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die i' the streets,

-- 177 --


For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee,
Nor what is mine shall never do thee good:
Trust to't, bethink you, I'll not be forsworn* note. [Exit.

Jul.
Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,
That sees into the bottom of my grief1 note


?
O, sweet my mother, cast me not away!
Delay this marriage for a month, a week;
Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed
In that dim monument where Tybalt lies2 note.

La. Cap.
Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word;
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.
[Exit.

Jul.
O God!—O nurse! how shall this be prevented?
My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven;
How shall that faith return again to earth,
Unless that husband send it me from heaven
By leaving earth?—comfort me, counsel me.—
Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems
Upon so soft a subject as myself!—
What say'st thou? hast thou not a word of joy?
Some comfort, nurse3 note.

Nurse.
Faith, here 'tis† note: Romeo
Is banished; and all the world to nothing,

-- 178 --


That he dares ne'er come back to challenge you;
Or, if he do, it needs must be by stealth.

Then, since the case so stands as now it doth,

I think it best you married with the county4 note











.
O, he's a lovely gentleman!
Romeo's a dishclout to him:
an eagle, madam,
Hath not so green5 note










, so quick, so fair an eye,

-- 179 --


As Paris hath.
Beshrew my very heart,
I think you are happy in this second match,

For it excels your first: or if it did not,

Your first is dead* note; or 'twere as good he were,
As living here6 note and you no use of him.

Jul.
Speakest thou from thy heart?

Nurse.
From my soul too;
Or else beshrew them both.

Jul.
Amen!

Nurse.
To what7 note

?

Jul.
Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous† note much.
Go in; and tell my lady I am gone,
Having displeas'd my father, to Laurence' cell,
To make confession, and to be absolv'd.

Nurse.
Marry, I will; and this is wisely done.
[Exit.

Jul.
Ancient damnation8 note
! O most wicked fiend!
Is it more sin—to wish me thus forsworn,

-- 180 --


Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue
Which she hath prais'd him with above compare
So many thousand times?—Go, counsellor;
Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain.—
I'll to the friar, to know his remedy;
If all else fail, myself have power to die. [Exit.
Previous section


James Boswell [1821], The plays and poems of William Shakspeare, with the corrections and illustrations of various commentators: comprehending A Life of the Poet, and an enlarged history of the stage, by the late Edmond Malone. With a new glossarial index (J. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge) [word count] [S10201].
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