Mercutio.
Ben.
Romeo! my cousin Romeo! Romeo!
Mer.
He is wise7 note;
And, on my life, hath stolen him home to bed.
Ben.
He ran this way, and leap'd this orchard wall.
Call, good Mercutio.
Mer.
Nay, I'll conjure too8 note.—
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! pronounce but—love and dove9 note;
Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word,
One nick-name for her purblind son and heir,
-- 405 --
Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim1 note
,
When king Cophetua lov'd the beggar-maid.—
He heareth not2 note, he stirreth not, he moveth not;
The ape is dead, 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,
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
To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle
Of some strange nature3 note, letting it there stand
Till she had laid it, and conjur'd it down;
That were some spite. My invocation
Is fair and honest, and, in his mistress' name,
I conjure only but to raise up him.
Ben.
Come, he hath hid himself among these trees,
To be consorted with the humorous night:
Blind is his love, and best befits the dark.
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,
As maids call medlars when they laugh alone.—
-- 406 --
O Romeo! that she were, O! that she were
An open et cætera, thou a poprin pear!
Romeo, good night:—I'll to my truckle-bed;
This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep.
Come, shall we go?
Ben.
Go, then; for 'tis in vain
To seek him here, that means not to be found4 note.
[Exeunt.
J. Payne Collier [1842–1844], The works of William Shakespeare. The text formed from an entirely new collation of the old editions: with the various readings, notes, a life of the poet, and a history of the Early English stage. By J. Payne Collier, Esq. F.S.A. In eight volumes (Whittaker & Co. [etc.], London) [word count] [S10101].
