Enter FRIAR LAURENCE. Lau. This same should be the voice of friar John.- And finding him, the searchers of the town, 2 Lau. Unhappy fortune! by my brotherhood, May do much danger. Friar John, go hence; John. Brother, I'll go and bring it thee. And keep her at my cell till Romeo come; [Exit. Poor living corse, closed in a dead man's tomb! [Exit. 1 Each friar had always a companion assigned him by the superior, when he asked leave to go out. 2 i. e. was not wantonly written on a trivial or idle matter. 3 Instead of this line, and the concluding part of the speech, the first quarto reads only: "Lest that the lady should before I come Be wak'd from sleepe, I will hye To free her from that tomb of miserie." SCENE III. A Church-yard; in it a Monument belonging to the Capulets. Enter PARIS, and his Page, bearing flowers and a torch. Par. Give me my torch, boy. Hence, and stand aloof; Yet put it out, for I would not be seen. Here in the church-yard; yet I will adventure. [Retires. Par. Sweet flower, with flowers I strew thy bridal bed. Sweet tomb, that in thy circuit dost contain The perfect model of eternity; Fair Juliet, that with angels dost remain,1 [The boy whistles. The boy gives warning, something doth approach. What cursed foot wanders this way to-night, To cross my obsequies, and true-love's rites? What, with a torch!-muffle me, night, a while. [Retires 1 The folio has these lines: "Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew; Nightly shall be, to strew thy grave and weep." In the text, the seven lines are printed as they appear in the quarto of 1597. Enter ROMEO and BALTHASAR, with a torch, mat tock, &c. Rom. Give me that mattock, and the wrenching-iron. But, chiefly, to take thence from her dead finger In dear1 employment; therefore hence, be gone ;- In what I further shall intend to do, By Heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint, And strew this hungry church-yard with thy limbs. More fierce, and more inexorable far, Than empty tigers, or the roaring sea. Bal. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you. Live, and be prosperous; and farewell, good fellow. Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open, [Breaking open the door of the monument. And here is come to do some villanous shame [Advances. 1 That is, in action of importance. The sense of the word dear has been explained. Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague; Obey, and go with me; for thou must die. Rom. I must, indeed; and therefore came I hither.- Stay not; begone;-live, and hereafter say— And do attach thee as a felon here. Rom. Wilt thou provoke me? Then have at thee, boy. Page. O Lord! they fight. I will go [Exit Page Par. O, I am slain! [ Falls.]—If thou be merciful, Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet. [Dies. Rom. In faith, I will.-Let me peruse this face; Mercutio's kinsman, noble county Paris. What said my man, when my betossed soul Did not attend him as we rode? I think He told me Paris should have married Juliet. Said he not so? or did I dream it so? Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet, To think it was so ?-O, give me thy hand, One writ with me in sour misfortune's book! I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave ;— A grave? O, no; a lantern, slaughtered youth; 1 I refuse to do as thou conjurest me to do, i. e. depart. So Constance, in King John, says :— "No, I defy all counsel, all redress." 2 A lantern may here signify what in ancient records is styled lanternium, i. e. a spacious round or octagonal turret, full of windows, by means of which cathedrals and sometimes halls are illuminated. A presence is a public room, which is, at times, the presence-chamber of a sovereign. For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes [Laying PARIS in the monument. Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain, With worms that are thy chambermaids; O, here And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars From this world-wearied flesh.-Eyes, look your last! The first quarto reads, " But how," &c. This idea very frequently occurs in our old dramas. 2 See note 1, p. 225. 3 Conduct for conductor. |