Digressing from the valor of a man ; Thy dear love, sworn, but hollow perjury, Killing that love which thou hast vowed to cherish; And thou dismembered with thine own defence.2 Nurse. O Lord, I could have staid here all the night, 1 To understand the force of this allusion, it should be remembered, that the ancient English soldiers, using match-locks, instead of locks with flints, as at present, were obliged to carry a lighted match hanging at their belts, very near to the wooden flask in which they carried their powder. 2 And thou torn to pieces with thine own weapons. 3 Much of this speech has also been added since the first edition. To hear good counsel. O, what learning is!- Rom. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide. Nurse. Here, sir, a ring she bade me give you, sir. Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late. [Exit Nurse. Rom. How well my comfort is revived by this! Fri. Go hence; good night! and here stands all your state; Either be gone before the watch be set, Or by the break of day, disguised from hence. It were a grief, so brief to part with thee. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. A Room in Capulet's House. Enter CAPULET, LADY CAPULET, and PARIS. I would have been abed an hour ago. Par. These times of woe afford no time to woo. Madam, good night; commend me to your daughter. La. Cap. I will, and know her mind early to-morrow; To-night she's mewed up to her heaviness. Cap. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender Of my child's love. I think she will be ruled 1 The whole of your fortune depends on this. In all respects by me; nay more, I doubt it not. And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday next- Par. Monday, my lord. Cap. Monday? ha! ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon; O' Thursday let it be ;-O' Thursday, tell her, Therefore we'll have some half a dozen friends, morrow. Cap. Well, get you gone:-O'Thursday be it, then.Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed, Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day.- May call it early, by and by.-Good night.1 [Exeunt. SCENE V. Juliet's Chamber.2 Enter ROMEO and JULIET. Jul. Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; 1 The latter part of this scene is a good deal varied from the first quarto. 2 The stage direction in the first edition is, "Enter Romeo and Juliet at a window;" in the second quarto, "Enter Romeo and Juliet aloft." They appeared, probably, in the balcony which was erected on the old English stage. Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree. Rom. It was the lark, the herald of the morn, Jul. It is, it is; hie hence, be gone, away. 1 The quarto, 1597, reads: "Then stay awhile, thou shalt not go [so] soon." The succeeding speech, I think (says Mr. Boswell), is better in the same copy: "Let me stay here, let me be ta'en, and die; 2 A division, in music, is a variation in melody upon some given fundamental harmony. Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes;1 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 love! my lord! my friend! I must hear from thee every day i' the hour, Rom. Farewell! I will omit no opportunity Jul. Ŏ, think'st thou we shall ever meet again? Rom. I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve For sweet discourses in our time to come. Jul. O God! I have an ill-divining soul. Methinks I see thee, now thou art below, As one dead 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 blood. Adieu! adieu! [Exit ROMEO. Jul. O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle : 1 The toad having very fine eyes, and the lark very ugly ones, was the occasion of a common saying, that the toad and the lark had changed eyes. 2 The hunt's up was originally a tune played to wake sportsmen, and call them together. It was a common burden of hunting-ballads. |