Pet. Pretty too! What say you, James Soundpost? 3 Mus. 'Faith, I know not what to say. Pet. 0 I cry you mercy! you are the singer: I will say for you. It is music with her silver sound, because such fellows as you have seldom gold for sounding : Then music, with her silver sound, With speedy help doth lend redress. [Exit singing. 1 Mus. What a pestilent knave is this same? 2 Mus. Hang him, Jack! Come, we'll in here; tarry for the mourners, and stay dinner. [Exeunt. ACT V.. SCENE 1.-Mantua.-A Street. Enter ROMEO. Rom. If I may trust the flattering eye of sleep, My dreams presage some joyful news at hand : me above the ground with cheerful I dreamt my lady came and found me dead; And breath'd such life with kisses in my lips, News from Verona !-How now, Balthazai ? A beggarly account of empty boxes, And this same needy man must sell it me. Enter APOTHECARY., Ap. Who calls so loud? my Rom. Come hither, man.-I see that thou art poor; Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have As violently, as hasty powder fir'd Ap. Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law Is death, to any he that utters them. Rom. Art thou so bare, and full of wretchedness, And fear'st to die? famine is in thy cheeks, The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law: The world affords no law to make thee rich; Then be not poor but break it, and take this. Rom. I pay thy poverty, and not thy will Ap. Put this in any liquid thing you will. And drink it off; and, if you had the strength Bal. Then she is well, and nothing can be Of twenty men, it would despatch you ill; Her body sleeps in Capel's monument, Rom. Is it even so? then I defy you, stars! Thou know'st my lodging: get me ink and paper, And hire post-horses; I will hence to-night. Your looks are pale and wild, and do import Rom. Tush, thou art deceiv'd; Rom. No matter: get thee gone, swift To enter in the thoughts of desperate men! This act is now introduced by a solemn dirge, and 1 funeral service. † 1. e. Love. 1 Herbs. John. Holy Franciscan friar! brother, ho! Welcome from Mantua: What says Romeo? John. Going to find a barefoot brother out, One of our order to associate ine, Here in this city visiting the sick, And finding him, the searchers of the town, Suspecting that we both were in a house Where the infectious pestilence did reign, Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth; So that my speed to there was stay'd. Mantua Lau. Who bare my letter then to Romeo? John. I could not send it, here it is again, • Stug Not get a messenger to bring it thee, Lau. Unhappy fortune! by my brotherhood, John. Brother, I'll go` and bring't thee. [Erit. Par. Give me thy torch, boy: Hence and Yet put it out, for I would not be seen. Par. Sweet flower, with flowers I strew thy Sweet tomb, that in thy circuit dost contain What cursed foot wanders this way to-night, Rom. Give me that mattock, and the wrench- Hold, take this letter; early in the morning By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint, His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt. [Retires, Rom. Thou détestable maw, thou womb of Gorg'd with the dearest morsel of the earth, [Breaking open the Door of the Monument. And, in despite, I'll cram thee with more food! Par. This is that banish'd haughty Montague, That murder'd my love's cousin ;—with which It is supposed the fair creature died,— Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague; Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man, Let them affright thee.-I beseech thee, youth, Page. O lord! they fight: I will go call the Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet. [Dies. Mercutio's kinsman, noble county Paris:- call A lightning before death: Oh! how may I And strew this hungry church-yard with thy Than with that hand that cut thy youth in limbs : twain, To sunder his that was thine enemy? I refuse to do as thou conjurest me to do, i. e. depart. Will I set up my everlasting rest; Arms, take your last embrace! and lips, O you Thy drugs are quick.-Thus with a kiss I die. [Dies. Enter at the other end of the Church-Yard, Friar LAURENCE, with a Lantern, Crow, and Spade. Fri. Saint Francis be my speed! how oft tonight Have my old feet stumbled at graves?-Who's there? Who is it that consorts, so late, the dead? Bal. Here's one, a friend, and one that knows you well. Fri. Bliss be upon you! Tell me, good my friend, What torch is yond', that vainly lends his light Bal. It doth so, holy Sir; and there's my master, One that you love. Fri. Who is it? Bal. Romeo. Fri. How long hath he been there? Bal. Full half an hour. Fri. Go with me to the vault. Bal. I dare not, Sir: My master knows not, but I am gone hence; if I did stay to look on his intents. Fri. Stay then, I'll go alone :-Fear comes upon me: O much I fear some ill unlucky thing. Bal. As I did sleep under this yew-tree here, I dreamt my master and another fought, And that my master slew him. Fri. Romeo? [Advances. Alack, alack, what blood is this, which stains too? And steep'd in blood ?-Ah! what an unkind Is guilty of this lamentable chance!-- [Noise within. Fri. I hear some noise.-Lady, come from Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep; Hath thwarted our intents; come, come away: Stay not to question, for the watch is coming; away, What's here? a cup, clos'd in my true love's band? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end :- • Conductor. way ? Jul. Yea, noise ?-then I'll be brief.-O happy dagger ! [Snatching ROMEO's Dagger. This is thy sheath; [Stabs herself.] there rust, and let me die. [Falls on ROMEO's Body, and dies. Enter WATCH, with the PAGE of PARIS. Page. This is the place; there, where the torch doth buru. 1 Watch. The ground is bloody; Search about the church-yard: Go, some of you, whoe'er you find, attach. Pitiful sight; here lies the county slain;- Enter some of the WATCH, with BALTHAZAR. 2 Watch. Here's Romeo's man, we found hira in the church-yard. 1 Watch. Hold him in safety, till the prince Enter another WATCHMAN, with Friar 3 Watch. Here is a friar, that trembles, Enter the PRINCE and Attendants. Prince. What misadventure is so early up, That calls our person from our morning's rest? Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, and others. Cap. What should it be, that they so shriek abroad? La. Cap. The people in the street cry- Some-Juliet, and some-Paris; and all ruu, Prince. What fear is this, which startles in our ears? 1 Watch. Sovereign, here lies the county Paris slain; And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before, Prince. Search, seek, and know how this foul 1 Watch. Here is a friar, and slaughter'd With instruments upon them, fit to open Cap. O heavens! O wife! look how our daugh- This dagger hath mista'en,-for lo! his house * That warns my old age to a sepulchre. To see thy son and heir more early down. Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath: To press before thy father to a grave? Prince. Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, 'Till we an clear these ambiguities, And know their spring, their head, their true descent; And then will I be general of your woes, All this I know; and to the marriage Prince. We still have known thee for a holy man. Where's Romeo's man? what can he say in this? Bal. I brought my master news of Juliet's death; And then in post he came from Mantua, And lead you even to death: Meantiine for- To this same place, to this same monument. bear, And let mischance be slave to patience.- Fri. I am the greatest, able to do least, And here I stand, both to impeach and purge Myself condemned and myself accus'd. Prince. Then say at once what thou dost know in this. Fri. I will be brief, for my short date of breath Is not so long as is a tedious tale. Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet; And she, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife : I married them; and their stolen-marriageday Was Tybalt's doomsday, whose untimely death Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from this city; For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pin'd. To punty Paris :-Then comes she to me; means To rid her from this second marriage, cease. But he which bore my letter, friar John, Came I to take her from her kindred's vault; • Seat. This letter he early bid me give his father; And threaten'd me with death, going in the vault, If I departed not, and left him there. Prince. Give me the letter, I will look on it. Where is the county's page, that rais'd the watch ? Sirrah, what made your master in this place? Page. He came with flowers to strew his lady's grave; And bid me stand aloof, and so I did: Prince. This letter doth make good the friar's words, Their course of love, the tidings of her death: Where be these enemies? Capulet ! See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! And I, for winking at your discords too, Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd. Cap. O brother Montague, give me thy hand : This is my daughter's jointure, for no more Mon. But I can give thee more: Cap. As rich shall Romeo by his lady lie; The sun for sorrow will not show his head : Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; Some shall be pardon'd, and some pun- For never was a story of more woe, • Mercutio and Paris. [Exeunt. In the original story (to which this line refers) the prince tortures and hangs the apothecary; banishes the old nurse; pardons Romeo's servant; and allows Friar Laurence to retire to a hermitage in the vicinity of Verona. AS a piece for dramatic exhibition, this tragedy has been essentially improved by the celebrated Mr. Garrick. not only in the style and language, by which the jingle and quibble of many of its passages are expunged, but also by the transposition of several scenes, and by the following essential deviation from the original plot : As amended by him, and represented at present, no mention is made of Rosaline, and the sudden and unnatural change of Romeo's affection from her to Juliet is thereby avoided Juliet also revives from her death-like slumber before the potion has fully operated upon the frame of Romeo, and he dies in her arms, after attempting to carry her from the tomb. By this most judicious alteration, the pathos of the scene is heightened to its highest pitch; for nothing can be more melting than the incidents and expressions which so highly-wrought a catastrophe affords. In the Italian story upon which the play is founded, such was actually the development of the plot; but Shakspeare bad certainly recourse to the English or French translation; in which this addition to the tale was upon some sccount omitted. |