Fri.
On Thursday, sir! the time is very short.

Par.
My father Capulet will have it so,
And I am nothing slow to slack his haste.

Fri.
You say you do not know the lady's mind:
Uneven in this course, I like it not.

Par.
Immoderately she weeps for Tibalt's death,
And therefore have I little talk'd of love,
For Venus smiles not in a house of tears.
Now, sir, her father counts it dangerous,
That she should give her sorrow so much sway:
And in his wisdom hastes our marriage,
To stop the inundation of her tears.
Now do you know the reason of this haste.

Fri.
I would I knew not why it should be slow'd.
Look, sir, here comes the lady tow'rds my cell. Enter Juliet.

Par.
Welcome, my love, my lady, and my wife.

Jul.
That may be, sir, when I may be a wife.

Par.
That may be, must be, love, on Thursday next.

Jul.
What must be, shall be.

Par.
Come you to make confession to this father?

Jul.
To answer that were to confess to you:
Are you at leisure, holy father, now,
Or shall I come to you at evening mass?*

Fri.
My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now.
My lord, I must entreat the time alone.

Par.
Heav'n shield, I should disturb devotion:
Juliet, Farewel. [Exit Paris.

Jul.
Go, shut the door; and when thou hast done so,
Come weep with me, past hope, past cure, past help.

Fri.
O Juliet! I already know thy grief.

Jul.
Tell me not, friar, that thou know'st my grief,
Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it;
If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help,
Do thou but call my resolution wise,
And with this steel I'll help it presently.
Heav'n join'd my heart and Romeo's; thou our hands,
And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd,
Shall be the label to another deed,
Or my true heart with treacherous revolt,
Give to another, this shall slay them both:

Therefore out of thy long-experienc'd time,
Give me some present counsel, or behold,
'Twixt my extremes and me, this bloody dagger
Shall play the umpire.—

Fri.
Hold, daughter; I do espy a kind of hope,
Which craves as desperate an execution,
As that is desperate which we would prevent.
If rather than to marry County Paris,
Thou hast the strength or will to slay thyself,
Then it is likely thou wilt undertake
A thing like death to free thee from this marriage;
And if thou dar'st, I'll give thee remedy.

Jul.
O bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower:* ^note
Or chain me to some steepy mountain's top,
Where roaring bears and savage lions roam!
Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house,
O'er cover'd quite with dead-men's rattling bones,
With reeky shanks, and yellow chapless sculls;
Or bid me go into a new-made grave,
And hide me with a dead man in his shroud,
Things that to hear them nam'd, have made me tremble,
And I will do it, without fear or doubt,
To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.

Fri.
Hold then, go home, be merry, give consent
To marry Paris; look thou lye alone.
(Let not thy nurse lye with thee in thy chamber.)
And when thou art alone, take thou this phial,
And this distilled liquor drink thou off;
When presently through all thy veins shall run
A cold and drowsy humour, which shall seize
Each vital spirit; for no pulse shall keep
His nat'ral progress, but surcease to beat.
No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou liv'st;
The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade
To paly ashes; thy eyes' windows fall,
Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;

And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death,
Thou shalt continue two and forty hours,
And then awake, as from a pleasant sleep.
Now when the bridegroom in the morning comes,
To rouze thee from thy bed, there art thou dead.
Then, as the manner of our country is,
In thy best robes, uncover'd on the bier,
Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault,
Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.
In the mean time, against thou shalt awake,
Shall Romeo, by my letters know our drift,
And hither shall he come; and he and I
Will watch thy waking, and, that very night,
Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.
And this shall free thee from this present shame,
If no unconstant toy, nor womanish fear,
Abate thy valour in the acting it.

Jul.
Give me, O give me, tell me not of fear. [Taking the phial.

Fri.
Hold, get you gone, be strong and prosperous,
In this resolve, I'll send a friar with speed
To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.

Jul.
Love, give me strength, and strength shall help afford.
Farewel, dear father &lblank; [Exeunt.

Next section