Law. Now muft I to the Monument alone,
Within these three hours will fair Juliet wake;
She will befhrew me much, that Romeo
Hath had no notice of thefe accidents.
But I will write again to Mantua,

And keep her at my cell 'till Romeo comë.
Poor living coarse, clos'd in a dead man's tomb!

SCENE

III.

Exit.

Changes to a Church-yard; in it, a Monument belonging

Par.

to the Capulets.

Enter Paris, and his Page, with a light.

GIVE

IVE me thy torch, boy; hence and stand aloof

"

Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.
Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along,
Laying thy ear clofe to the hollow ground,
So fhall no foot upon the church-yard tread,
Being loofe, unfirm, with digging up of Graves,
But thou fhalt hear it: whiftle then to me,
As fignal that thou hear'ft something approach.
Give me those flow'rs. Do as I bid thee. Go.
Page. I am almoft afraid to stand alone

Here in the church-yard, yet I will adventure. [Exit.
Par. Sweet flow'r! with flow'rs thy bridal bed I

ftrew:

[Strewing flowers. *Fair Juliet, that with angels doft remain,

2 Fair Juliet, that with angels, &c.] Thefe four lines from the old edition. РОРЕ.

Mr. Pope has followed the best copy. The folio has thefe lines;

Sweet flow'r, with flow'rs thy bridal bed I firew :
O woe! thy canopy is duft and flones,
Which with sweet water nightly I will dew,
Or wanting that, with tears difill'd by means.
The obfequis which I for thee will keep,
Nightly shall be to firew thy grave, and weep.
VOL. VIII.

Accept

Accept this latest favour at my hand;
That living honour'd thee, and, being dead,
With fun'ral obfequies adorn thy tomb.

[The boy whistles. -The boy gives warning, fomething doth approach.

What curfed foot wanders this way to night.
To cross my Obfèquies, and true love's rite?
What, with a torch? Muffle me, night, a while.

Enter Romeo and Balthafar with a light.

Rom. Give me that mattock, and the wrenching iron.

Hold, take this letter; early in the morning
See thou deliver it to my Lord and father.
Give me the light. Upon thy life, I charge thee,
Whate'er thou hear'ft or feeft, ftand all aloof,
And do not interrupt me in my course.
Why I defcend into this bed of death,

Is partly to behold my lady's face;

But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger
A precious ring, a ring that I must use

In 3 dear employment. Therefore hence. Be gone :
But if thou, jealous, doft return to pry

On what I further shall intend to do,
By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint,

And ftrew this hungry church yard with thy limbs.
The time and my intents are favage, wild,

More fierce and more inexorable far

Than empty tygers, or the roaring fea.

3

dear employment.] That were supposed to have great is, action of importance. Gems

powers and virtues.

Balth.

Take

Balth. I will be gone, Sir, and not trouble you.
Rom. So fhalt thou fhew me Friendship.

thou that.

Live and be profp'rous, and farewel, good fellow. Balth. For all this fame, I'll hide me hereabout. His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt. [Exit Balth. Rom. Thou deteftable maw, thou womb of death, Gorg'd with the dearest morfel of the earth,

Thus I inforce thy rotten jaws to open,

[Breaking up the Monument.
And in defpight I'll cram thee with more food.
Par. This is that banifht haughty Montague,
That murder'd my love's coufin; with which grief,
It is fuppofed, the fair Creature dy'd,

And here is come to do fome villainous fhame
To the dead bodies. I will apprehend him.
Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague,
Can vengeance be purfu'd further than death?
Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee;
Obey, and go with me, for thou must die.

Rom. I muft, indeed, and therefore came I hither.
Good gentle youth, tempt not a defp'rate man;
Fly hence and leave me. Think upon thefe gone,
Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth,
Pull not another fin upon my head,

By urging me to fury. Oh be gone!
By heav'n, I love thee better than myself;
For I come hither arm'd against myself.
Stay not, be gone. Live, and hereafter fay,
A madman's Mercy bade thee run away.
Par. I do defy thy commiferation,

And apprehend thee for a felon here.

Rom. Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee, [They fight, Paris falls. Page. Oh Lord, they fight! I will go call the

boy.

Watch.

Par. Oh, I am flain; if thou be merciful,

Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet:

I 2

[Dies.

Rom.

Rom. In faith, I will. Let me perufe this faceMercutio's kinfman! Noble County Paris! What faid my man, when my betoffed foul Did not attend him as we rode? I think, He told me, Paris should have married Juliet. Said he not fo? or did I dream it fo? Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet, To think it was fo? Oh give me thy hand, One writ with me in four Misfortune's book, I'll bury thee in a triumphant Grave.

A Grave? O, no; a Lanthorn, flaughter'd Youth; For here lies Juliet; and her beauty makes

4

This vault a feafting + Prefence full of Light.
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd.

5

[Laying Paris in the Monument.
How oft, when Men are at the point of death,
Have they been merry? which their Keepers call
A Lightning before Death. O, how may I
Call this a Lightning 1-Oh my love, my wife!
Death, that hath fuckt the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty,
Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's enfign yet
Is crimson in thy lips, and in thy cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not advanced there.
Tybalt, ly'st thou there in thy bloody sheet?
Oh, what more favour can I do to thee,
Than with that hand, that cut thy youth in twain,
To funder his, that was thy enemy
?

Forgive me, coufin.-Ah dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet fo fair? fhall I believe
That unfubftantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark, to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I ftill will ftay with thee;

⚫ And never from this Palace of dim night
Depart again: Here, here will I remain,
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; oh here
Will I fet up my everlasting Reft;

And shake the yoke of inaufpicious stars

From this world-weary'd flesh. Eyes, look your last !
Arms, take your laft embrace! and lips, oh you
The doors of breath, feal with a righteous kifs
A dateless bargain to engroffing death.

Come, bitter conduct! come unfav'ry guide!
Thou defp'rate pilot, now at once run on
The dafhing rocks my fea-fick, weary, bark.
Here's to my love! Oh, true apothecary!

[Drinks the poison. Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kifs I die. [Dies.

6 And never from this Palace
of dim night
Depart again.
in my Arms;
Here's to thy Health. O true
Apothecary!

(Come lie thou

Thy drugs are quick)] Mr. Pope's, and fome other of the worfer editions acknowledge abfurdly the lines which I have put into parenthefts here; and which I have expung'd from the text, for this reafon: Romeo is made to confefs the effect of the poifon before ever he has tafted it. I fuppofe, it hardly was fo favoury that the patient fhould chufe to make two draughts of it. And, eight lines after these, we find him taking the poison in his hands, and making an apostrophe to it; inviting it to perform its office at once; and then, and not 'till then, does he clap it to his lips, or can with any probability

fpeak of its inftant force and ef-
fects. Befides, Shakespeare would
hardly have made Romeo drink to
the health of his dead Mistress.
Though the first quarto in 1599,
and the two old folios acknow-
ledge this abfurd ftuff, I find it
left out in feveral later quarto im-
preffions. I ought to take notice,
that tho' Mr. Pope has thought
fit to ftick to the old copies in this
addition, yet he is no fair tran-
fcriber; for he has funk upon us
an hemiftich of most profound
abfurdity, which poffeffes all those
copies.

-Come, lie thou in my Arms;
Here's to thy Health, where-
e'er thou tumbleft in.
O true Apothecary! &c.

THEOBALD. I have no edition but the folio, which has all the passage here mentioned. I have followed Mr. Theobald.