Sicknes the bodie's gayle, greefe, gayle is of the mynd;

If thou canft fcape from heavy greefe, true freedome fhalt thou

finde.

Fortune can fill nothing fo full of hearty greefe,

But in the fame a conftant mynd finds folace and releefe,
Vertue is alwaies thrall to troubles and annoye,
But wisdom in adverfitie findes caufe of quiet joye.
And they moft wretched are that know no wretchednes,
And after great extremity mishaps ay waxen lefie.
Like as there is no weale but wattes away fometime,
So every kynd of wayled woe will weare away in time.
If thou wilt mafter quite the troubles that thee fpill,
Endeavor first by reafon's help to master witles will.
A fondry medion hath eche fondry faynt disease,
But patience, a common falve, to every wound geves eafe.
The world is alway full of chaunces and of chaunge,

Wherefore the chaunge of chaunce must not feem to a wife man ftraunge.

For tickel Fortune doth, in chaunging, but her kind,

But all her chaunges cannot chaunge a fteady conftant mynd.
Though wavering Fortune toorne from thee her fimyling face,
And forow feke to fet himfelfe in banishd pleasure's place,
Yet may thy marred ftate be mended in a whyle,
And the eftfones that frown eth now, with

fmyle.

pleasant

For as her happy ftate no long while ftandeth fure,

cheere shall

Even fo the heavy plight the brings, not alwayes doth endure.
What nede fo many words to thee that are fo wyfe?
Thou better canft advise thy felfe, then I can thee advise.
Wisdome, I fee, is vayne, if thus in time of ncede

A wifeman's wit unpractifed doth stand him in no fteede.
I know thou haft fome caufe of forow and of care,
But well I wot thou haft no caufe thus frantickly to fare.
Affection's foggy mift thy febfed fight doth blynd;

But if that reafon's beames againe might fhine into thy mynd,
If thou wouldst view thy ftate with an indifferent eye,

I thinke thou wouldst condemne thy plaint, thy fighings, and thy

crye,

With valiant hand thou madeft thy foe yeld up his breth,

Thou haft efcaped his fword and eke the lawes that threaten death.
By thy escape thy frendes are fraughted full of joy,

And by his death thy deadly foes are laden with annoy.
Wilt thou with trufty frendes of pleafure take fome part?
Or els to please thy hateful foes be partner of theyr smart ?
Why cryeft thou out on love? why dost thou blame thy fate?
Why dost thou fo cry after death? thy life why doft thou hate?
Doft thou repent thy choyse that thou fo late dydft choofe?
Love is thy lord; thou oughtft obey and not thy prince accufe.

P4

For

For thou haft found, thou knowft, great favour in his fight,
He graunted thee, at thy request, thy onely hart's delight.
So that the gods invyde the bliffe thou livedft in ;
To geve to fuch unthankfull men is folly and a fin.
Methinke I hear thee fay, the cruell banishment
Is onely caufe of thy unreft; onely thou doft lament
That from thy natife land and frendes thou must depart,
Enforfd to flye from her that hath the keping of thy hart:
And fo oppreft with waight of fmart that thou doft feele,
Thou doit complaice of Cupid's brand, and Fortune's turning

wheele.

Unto a valiant hart there is no banyfhment,

All countreys are his native foyle beneath the firmament.

As to the fish the fea, as to the fowle the ayre,

So is like pleasant to the wife eche place of his repayre.
Though forward Fortune chafe thee hence into exile,

With doubled honor fhall the call thee home within a while.
Admit thou shouldft abyde abrode a year or twayne,

Should fo short abfence cause so long and eke fo greevous payne?
Though thou ne mayft thy frendes here in Verona fee,
They are not banishd Mantua, where fafely thou mast be.
Thether they may refort, though thou refort not hether,
And there in furetie may ft thou talke of your affayres together.
Yea, but this while, alas! thy Juliet must thou miffe,
The only piller of thy health, and anchor of thy bliffe.
Thy heart thou leaveft with her, when thou doelt hence depart,
And in thy breft inclosed bear'ft her tender frendly hart.
But if thou rew so much to leave the reft behinde,
With thought of paffed joys content thy uncontented mynde;
So fhall thy mone decreafe wherewith thy mind doth melt,
Compared to the heavenly joyes which thou haft often felt.
He is too nyfe a weakeling that fhrinketh at a showre,
And he unworthy of the fweete, that tafteth net the fowte.
Call now agayne to mynde thy fyrst confuming flame;
How didft thou vainely burne in love of an unloving dame ?
Hadit thou not wel nigh wept quite out thy fwelling eyne?
Did not thy parts, fordoon with payne, languifhe away and pyne?
Thofe greefes and others like were happly overpaft,

And thou in haight of Fortune's wheele well placed at the last;
From whence thou art now falne, that, ryfed up agayne,

With greater joy a greater whyle in pleasure may ft thou raigne. Compare the prefent while with times y-paft before,

And thinke that fortune hath for thee great pleafure yet in ftore, The whilft, this little wrong receve thou patiently,

And what of force muft needes be done, that do thou willingly. Folly it is to feare that thou canst not avoyde,

And madnes to defyre it much that cannot be enjoyde,

To

To geve to Fortune place, not aye deferveth blame,
But skill it is, according to the times thy felfe to frame."
Whilst to this skilfull lore he lent his liftning eares,

His fighes are ftopt, and stopped are the conduyts of his teares.
As blackeft cloudes are chafed by winter's nimble wydne,
So have his reafons chafed care out of his carefull mynde.
As of a morning fowle enfues an evening fayre,

So banisht hope returneth home to banish his defpayre.
Now his affection's veale removed from his eyes,

He feeth the path that he must walke, and reafon makes him wife.
For very shame the blood doth flashe in both his cheekes,

He thankes the father for his love, and farther ayde he feekes.
He fayth, that skilles youth for counfell is unfitte,

And anger oft with haftines are joynd to want of witte ;
But found advise aboundes in hides with horifh heares,

For wisdom is by practife wonne, and perfect made by ycares.
But aye from this time forth his ready-bending will
Shal be in awe and governed by fryer Lawrence' fkill.
The governor is now right carefull of his charge,
To whom he doth wifely difcoorfe of his affayres at large.
He tells him how he fhall depart the towne unknowne,
(Both mindful of his frendes fafetie, and carefull of his owne)
Howe he fhall gyde himselfe, how he shall feeke to winne
The frendship of the better fort, how warely to crepe in
The favour of the Mantuan prince, and how he may
Appcafe the wrath of Efcalus, and wipe the fault away;
The choller of his foes by gentle meanes taffuage,
Or els by force and practifes to bridle quite theyr rage:
And last he chargeth him at his appoynted howre
To go with manly mery chere unto his ladie's bowre e;
And there with holesome woordes to falve her forowe's finart,
And to revive, if nede require, her faint and dying hart.

The old man's woordes have fill'd with joy our Romeus' breit,
And eke the old wyfe's talke hath fet our Juliet's hart at rest.
Whereto may I compare, o lovers, thys your day?
Like dayes the painfull mariners are wonted to affay ;
For, beat with tempeft great, when they at length efpye

Some little beame of Phoebus' light, that perceth through the skie, To cleare the fhadowde earth by clearnes of his face,

They hope that dreadles they fhall ronne the remnant of theyr

race;

Yea they affure them felfe, and quite behinde' theyr backe
They caft all doute, and thanke the gods for fcaping of the

wracke;

But ftraight the boyftrous windes with greater fury blowe,
And over boord the broken maft the ftormy blaftes doe throwe;
The heavens large are clad with cloudes as darke as hell,
And twice as hye the ftriving waves begin to roar and fwell;

With

With greater daunger's dred the men are vexed more,
In greater perill of theyr lyfe then they had been before.
The golden fonne was gonne to lodge him in the west,
The full mone eke in yonder fouth had fent most mea to reft;
When reftles Romcus and reftles Juliet

In wonted fort, by woonted meane, in Juliet's chaumber met.
And from the window's top downe had he leaped fcarce,
When the with armes outstretched wide fo hard did him embrace,
That wel nigh had the fprite (not forced by dedly force)
Flowne unto death, before the time abandoning the corce.
Thus muet ftood they both the eyght part of an howre,
And both would fpeake, but neither had of fpeaking any powre;
But on his breft her hed doth joy leffe Juliet lay,

And on her flender necke his chyn doth ruthfull Romeus stay.
Theyr fcalding fighes afcend, and by theyr checkes down fall.
Theyr trickling tears, as chryftall cleare, but bitterer far then
gall.

Then he, to end the greefe, which both they lived in,
Dyd kiffe his love, and wifely thus hys tale he dyd begin :

"My Juliet, my love, my onely hope and care,

To you I purpose not as now with length of woordes declare
The diverfenes and eke the accidents fo ftraunge

Of frayle unconftant Fortune, that delyteth ftill in chaunge;
Who in a moment heaves her frendes up to the height

Of her fwift-turning flippery wheele, then fleets her frendship ftraight.

O wondrous chaunge! even with the twinkling of an eye
Whom erft her felfe had rafhly fet in pleafant place fo hye,
The fame in great defpyte down hedlong doth fhe throwe,
And while the treades, and fpurneth at the lofty ftate lay de lowe,
More forowe doth the fhape within an hower's space,
Than pleasure in an hundred yeares; fo geyfon is her grace.
The proofe whereof in me, alas! too playne apperes,
Whom tenderly my carefull frendes have fofterd with
In profperous hygh degree, mayntained fo by fate,
That as your felfe dyd fee, my foes envyde my noble state.
One thing there was I did above the rest defyre,

my

fecres,

To which as to the fovereign good by hope I would afpyre,
That by our mariage meane we might within a while
(To work our perfect happenes) our parents reconcile :
That fafely fo we might, not stopt by sturdy ftrife,

Unto the bounds that God hath fet, gyde forth our pleasant lyfe.
But now, alacke! too foone my blife is over-blowne,

And upfide downe my purpofe and my enterprise are throwne.' And driven from my frendes, of ftraungers must I crave

(O graunt it God!) from daunger's dread that I may furetie have. For loe, henceforth I must wander in landes unknowne, (So hard I finde the prince's dome) exyled from myne owne.

Which

Which thing I have thought good to fet before your eyes,
And to exhort you now to proove yourfelfe a woman wife;
That patiently you beare my abfent long abod,

For what above by fatall dome decreed is, that God
And more than this to fay, it feemed, he was bent,
But Juliet in dedly greefe, with brackish teares befprent,

Brake of his tale begonne, and whilft his fpeech he stayde, These felfe fame woordes, or like to thefe, with dreery cheere fhe fayde :

"Why Romeus, can it be, thou haft so hard a hart,

So farre removed from ruth, fo farre from thinking on my fmart,
To leave me thus alone, thou caufe of my diftreffe,

Beleged with fo great a campe of mortal wretchedneffe ;
That every howre now and moment in a day

A thousand times Death bragges, as he would reve my lyfe away?
Yet fuch is my mishap, O cruel destinye !

That ftill I lyve, and with for death, but yet can never dye.

So that juft caufe I have to thinke, as feemeth me,

That froward Fortune did of late with cruell Death agree,
To lengthen lothed lyfe, to pleafure in my payne,
And triumph in my harme, as in the greatest hoped gayne.
And thou, the instrument of Fortune's cruell will,
Without whofe ayde fhe can no way her tyrans luft fulfill,
Art not a whit afhamde (as farre as I can fee)

To caft me of, when thou haft culld the better part of me.
Whereby alas! too foone, I, feely wretch, do prove,
That all the auncient facred laws of frendship and of love
Are quelde and quenched quite, fince he on whom alway
My cheefe hope and my fteady truft was wonted still to stay,
For whom I am becomme unto my felf a foe,

Difdayneth me, his ftedfast frend, and fornes my frendship fo.
Nay Romeus, nay, thou mayft of two things chofe the one,
Eyther to fee thy caftaway, as foone as thou art gone,

Hedlong to throw her felfe downe from the windowe's haight, And fo to breake her flender necke with all the bodie's waight, Or fuffer her to be companion of thy payne,

Where fo thou go (Fortune thy guide), tyll thou retourne agayne.
So wholy into thine transformed is my hart,

That even as oft as I do thinke that thou and I fhall part,
So oft, methinkes, my lyfe withdrawes it felfe awaye,
Which I retaine to no end els but to the end I may

In fpite of all thy foes thy prefent partes enjoye,
And in diftres to beare with thee the halfe of thine annoye.
Wherefore, in humble fort, Romeus, I make request,
If ever tender pity yet were lodgde in gentle breft,
O, let it now have place to rest within thy hart;
Receive me as thy fervant, and the fellow of thy smart :

Thy