CAP. When the sun sets, the earth doth drizzle dew;

But for the sunset of my brother's son,

It rains downright.—

How now! a conduit, girl? what, still in tears?
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?
Have you deliver'd to her our decree?

LA. CAP. Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you thanks.

I would the fool were married to her grave!

CAP. Soft, take me with you, take me with you,b 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-logic! what
is this?

Proud,—and, I thank you,-and, I thank you not ;

And yet not proud;-mistress minion, you!a

a The earth doth drizzle dew;] So the quarto, 1599, and folio, 1623; the undated quarto reads, air. The reading of earth, besides being philosophically true, is strongly supported by a line in our author's Rape of Lucrece,

"But as the earth doth weep, the sun being set."

b Take me with you,-] Let me understand you.

e How now, chop-logic!] So the earliest quarto. The other old copies, including the folio, 1623, read chopt logicke. Steevens remarks that Capulet uses chop-logic for a nickname, as it occurs in The XXIIII Orders of Knaves, bl. 1. "Choplogyk is he that whan his mayster rebuketh his servaunt for his defawtes, he will gyve hym XX wordes for one, or elles he wyll bydde the devylles paternoster in scylence."

d And yet not proud;-mistress minion, you!] This line appears to have been accidentally omitted in the first folio, since it is found in the quarto, 1609, from which this play in the folio was printed, and occurs also in the quarto, 1599.

e But fettle your fine joints—] This is the reading of the folio, 1623, and the other old editions. To fettle means to prepare, to make ready:

"When the sheriffe saw Little John bend his bow,
He fettled him to be gone."
PERCY'S Reliques I. 92, ed. 1767.

LA. CAP. Fie, fie! 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 lent us 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!You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so. CAP. And why, my lady wisdom? hold your

"Nor list he now go whistling to the carre, But sells his teme and fettleth to the warre." HALL'S Satires, B. IV. Sat. 6. The word does not occur again in our author, and, curiously enough, it has been overlooked in this passage by every editor, from Rowe downwards; modern editions all reading settle.

f O, God ye good den!] God give you good even. In all the old copies but the quarto, 1597, this exclamation is given as part of the nurse's speech. There can be no question as to whom it belongs.

g God's bread!] The quarto of 1597, reads:

"Gods blessed mother, wife, it mads me,
Day, night, early, late, at home, abroad,
Alone, in company, waking or sleeping,
Still my care hath beene to see her matcht."

h Of noble parentage,-] Quarto, 1597, has princely,

i Nobly train'd,-] So the quarto, 1597; the next edition reads liand, which is doubtless a typographical error for train'd; in the succeeding impressions it was altered to allied.

k As one's heart could wish a man,-] The reading of the quarto, 1597; the other old editions, folio 1623 included, have "as one's thought would wish a man."

And then to have a wretched puling fool,
A whining mammet," in her fortunes' tender,
To answer-I'll not wed,-I cannot love,
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 be mine, I'll give you to my friend;
you
An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets,
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. [Exit.
JUL. Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,
That sees into the bottom of my grief?
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 lies.

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

NURSE. Is banished; and, all the world to nothing, 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 county. O, he's a lovely gentleman!

'Faith, here it is: Romeo

Romeo's a dishclout to him; an eagle, madam,
Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye,
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; or 'twere as good he were,
As living here, and you no use of him.
JUL. Speakest thou from thy heart?
NURSE. And from my soul too;

Or else beshrew them both.

Enter Friar LAURENCE and PARIS.

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 is the course, I like it not.

PAR. Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt'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 doth give her sorrow so much sway;
And, in his wisdom, hastes our marriage,
To stop the inundation of her tears;
Which, too much minded by herself alone,
May be put from her by society:
Now do you know the reason of this haste.
FRI. I would I knew not why it should be slow'd.
[Aside.
Look, sir, here comes the lady towards my cell.

a And I am nothing slow, to slack his haste.] Shakespeare's marvellous power of condensation sometimes renders his meaning obscure. In this instance, the sense appears to be, "and I am not

Enter JULIET.

PAR. Happily met, 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.

FRI.
That's a certain text.
PAR. Come you to make confession to this
father?

JUL. To answer that, I should confess to you.
PAR. Do not deny to him, that you love me.
JUL. I will confess to you, that I love him.
PAR. So will you, I am sure, that you love me.
JUL. If I do so, it will be of more price,
Being spoke behind your back, than to your
face.

PAR. Poor soul, thy face is much abus'd with

tears.

JUL. The tears have got small victory by that; For it was bad enough, before their spite.

slow in my own preparations for the wedding, to give him any reason to slacken his hasty proceedings."

PAR. Thou wrong'st it, more than tears, with that report.

JUL. That is no slander, sir, which is a truth; And what I spake, I spake it to my* face.

PAR. Thy face is mine, and thou hast slander'd it.

JUL. It may be so, for it is not mine own.-
Are you at leisure, holy father, now,
Or shall I come to you at evening mass?a

FRI. My leisure serves me, pensive daughter,

now:

My lord, we must entreat the time alone.

PAR. God shield, I should disturb devotion!Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse you: Till then, adieu! and keep this holy kiss.

[Exit PARIS. JUL. O, shut the door! and when thou hast done so, Come weep with me; help!

Past hope, past cure, past

FRI. Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief; It strains me past the compass of my wits: I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it, On Thursday next be married to this county.

JUL. Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of
this,

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 knife I'll help it presently.
God 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
Turn to another, this shall slay them both:
Therefore, out of thy long-experienc'd time,d
Give me some present counsel; or, behold,
'Twixt my extremes and me, this bloody knife
Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that
Which the commission of thy years and art
Could to no issue of true honour bring.
Be not so long to speak; I long to die,
If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy.
FRI. Hold, daughter; I do spy a kind of hope,

a At evening mass?] It is strange that Shakespeare, who on other occasions has shown a competent knowledge of the doctrines and usages of the Roman Catholic Church, should have fallen into this error. The celebration of mass, it is well known, can only take place in the forenoon of the day.

b Past cure,-] So the edition of 1597, the other copies read care. The label to another deed,-] "The seals of deeds in our author's time were not impressed on the parchment itself on which the deed was written, but were appended on distinct slips or labels affixed to the deed."-MALONE.

d Thy long-experienc'd time,-] This scene was expanded considerably after the publication of the quarto, 1597. In that, the nine lines of this speech from the first couplet are all wanting. e of yonder tower:] This is the reading of the quarto, 1597. The subsequent old copies have "any tower."

f A dead man in his shroud;] Shroud is supplied from the undated quarto, the word having dropped out in the editions of

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 of will to slay* thyself;
Then is it likely thou wilt undertake

A thing like death to chide away this shame,
That cop'st with death himself to scape from it;
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;° Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears; 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; f Things that, to hear them told, 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

g

To marry Paris: Wednesday is to-morrow;
To-morrow night look that thou lie alone,
Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber:
Take thou this phial, being then in bed,
And this distilled ‡ liquor drink thou off: (1)
When, presently, through all thy veins shall run
A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse
Shall keep his native progress, but surcease,
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;
Each part, depriv'd of supple government,
Shall, stiff, and stark, and cold, appear like death ;
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 rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead:
Then (as the manner of our country is,) (2)
In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier,'

1599 and 1609. The folio, 1623, inserts grave.

g Shall testify thou liv'st;] In the first quarto this passage stands thus:

"A dull and heavy slumber, which shall seaze
Each vitall spirit; for no pulse shall keepo
His natural progresse, but surcease to beate:
No signe of breath shall testifie thou liust."

h To paly ashes;] So the undated quarto. That of 1599, and the folio, 1623, read, To many ashes.

i In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier,-] After this line, the early editions, quarto and folio, introduce the following,

"Be borne to burial in thy kindred's grave." Which, Steevens remarks, the poet very probably had struck out on his revisal, because the sense of it is repeated in the next line.

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 inconstant toy, nor womanish fear,
Abate thy valour in the acting it.

JUL. Give me, give me! O tell me not of fear. *

FRI. Hold; get you gone, be strong and

SCENE II.—A Room in Capulet's House. Enter CAPULET, LADY CAPULET, Nurse, and Servants.

CAP. So many guests invite as here are writ.[Exit Servant. Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks.

2 SERV. You shall have none ill, sir; for I'll try if they can lick their fingers.

CAP. How canst thou try them so?

2 SERV. Marry, sir, 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers: therefore he that cannot lick his fingers, goes not with me.

CAP. Go, begone.

[Exit Servant.

By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here, (3)
To beg your pardon:-pardon, I beseech you!
Henceforward I am ever rul'd by you.

CAP. Send for the county; go tell him of this;
I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning.
JUL. I met the youthful lord at Laurence' cell;
And gave him what becomed love I might,
Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty.

CAP. Why, I am glad on't; this is well,stand up:

This is as 't should be: let me see the county;
Ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither.
Now, afore God, this reverend holy friar,—
All our whole city is much bound to him.

JUL. Nurse, will you go with me into my closet,
To help me sort such needful ornaments
As think fit to furnish me to-morrow?
you

LA. CAP. No, not till Thursday; there is time enough.

CAP. Go, nurse, go with her :-we'll to church to-morrow. [Exeunt JULIET and Nurse. LA. CAP. We shall be short in our provision; 'Tis now near night.

CAP.
Tush! I will stir about,
And all things shall be well, I warrant thee, wife :
Go thou to Juliet, help to deck up her;

I'll not to bed to-night;-let me alone;
I'll play the housewife for this once.—What, ho!—
They are all forth: well, I will walk myself
To county Paris, to prepare up him*
Against to-morrow: my heart is wondrous light,
Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd.

SCENE III.-Juliet's Chamber.

Enter JULIET and Nurse.

[Exeunt.