Pet. As I did fleep under this yew-tree here,
I dreamt my mafter and another fought,
And that my
mafter flew him.
Fri. Romeo!

Alack, alack, what blood is this which ftains
The ftony entrance of this fepulchre ?

What mean thefe mafterlefs and goary fwords
To lie difcolour'd by this place of

peace?
Romeo! oh pale! who elfe? what Paris too?
And steep'd in blood? ah what an unkind hour
Is guilty of this lamentable chance ?

The lady ftirs.

Ful. [awaking.] Oh comfortable Friar, where's my lord?

I do remember well where I fhould be;

And there I am; but where is Romeo?

Fri. I hear fome noife! Lady, come from that neft Of death, contagion, and unnatural fleep;

A greater Power than we can contradict,

Hath thwarted our intents; come, come away;
Thy husband in thy bofom there lyes dead,
And Paris too -- -Come, I'll difpofe of thee,
Among a fifterhood of holy Nuns:

Stay not a queftion, for the watch is coming. [Exit.
Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.
What's here? a cup clos'd in my true love's hand?
Poifon I fee hath been his timeless end.

Oh churl, drink all, and leave no friendly drop
To help me after? I will kifs thy lips,

Haply fome poifon yet doth hang on them;
Thy lips are warm.

Enter Boy and Watch.

Watch. Lead boy, which way?

Jul. Yea, noife?

Then I'll be brief. O happy dagger!

* This is thy sheath, there ruft and let me die.

[ Finding a dagger.

[Kills berfelf. Boy..

Boy. This is the place, there where the torch doth burn. Watch. The ground is bloody. Search about the church-yard,

Go fome of you, whom e'er you find attach.
Pitiful fight! here lies the County flain,
And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead,
Who here hath lain these two days buried.
Go tell the Prince, run to the Capulets,
Raife up the Mountagues, fome others fearch

Enter fome of the watch with Romeo's man.

2 Watch. Here's Romeo's man, we found him in the church-yard.

Watch. Hold him in fafety 'till the Prince comes hither.

Enter Friar and a third Watchman.

3 Watch. Here is a Friar that trembles, fighs and weeps:

We took this mattock and this fpade from him,
As he was coming from this church-yard fide.
1 Watch. A great fufpicion: ftay the Friar too.

Enter the Prince and attendants.

Prince. What mifadventure is fo early up, That calls our person from our morning's reft? Enter Capulet and lady Capulet.

Cap. What should it be that they fo fhriek abroad? La. Cap. The people in the ftreet cry Romeo, Some Juliet, and fome Paris; and all run

With open out-cry tow'rd our monument.

Prince. What fear is this which startles in your ears? Watch. Sovereign, here lyes the County Paris flain, And Romeo dead, and Juliet (dead before) Warm and new kill'd.

Prince. Search, seek, and know how this foul mur

ther comes.

Watch.

Watch. Here is a Friar, and flaughter'd Romeo's manɔ With inftruments upon them, fit to open

These dead mens tombs.

Cap. Oh heav'n! oh wife, look how our daughter
bleeds!

This dagger hath mifta'en, for loe f the sheath
Lies empty on the back of Mountague,

The point mif-fheathed in my daughter's bofom.
La. Cap. Oh me, this fight of death is as a bell,
That warns my old age to a fepulcher..

Enter Mountague.

Prince. Come Mountague, for thou art early up, To fee thy son and heir now early & fallen.

Moun. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night,. Grief of my fon's exile hath ftop'd her breath: What further wo confpires againft my age? Prince. Look, and thou fhalt fee.

Moun. Oh thou untaught, what manners is in this,, To prefs before thy father to a grave?

Prince. Seal up the mouth of out-rage for a while,. 'Till we can clear thefe ambiguities,

And know their spring, their head,. their true descent;
And then will I be general of your woes,

And lead you ev'n to death. Mean time forbear,,
And let mifchance be flave to patience.
Bring forth the parties of fufpicion..

Fri. I am the greateft, able to do leaft,,
Yet moft fufpected, as the time and place
Doth make against me, of this direful murther;
And here I ftand both to impeach and purge
My felf condemned, and my felf excus'd.

Prince. Then fay at once what thou doft know in this..
Fri. I will be brief, for my fhort date of breath

Is not fo long as is a tedious tale.

Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet ;

And the there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife =
I married them; and their ftoln marriage day
Was Tybalt's dooms-day, whofe untimely death
Banifh'd the new-made bridegroom from this city;
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pin'd.
You, to remove that fiege of grief from her,
Betroth'd, and would have married her perforce
To County Paris. Then comes fhe to me,
And, with wild looks, bid me devife fome means
To rid her from this fecond marriage,
Or in my cell there would fhe kill her self.
Then gave I her (fo tutor❜d by my art)
A fleeping potion, which fo took effect
As I intended, for it wrought on her

The form of death. Mean time I write to Romeo,.
That he fhould hither come, as this dire night,
To help to take her from her borrowed grave,
Being the time the potion's force fhould ceafe..
But he which bore my letter, Friar John,
Was ftaid by accident, and yefternight
Return'd my
letter back, then all alone,
At the prefixed hour of her awaking,
Came I to take her from her kindreds vault;
Meaning to keep her clofely at my cell,
"Till I conveniently could fend to Romeo.
But when I came (fome minute ere the time-
Of her awaking) here untimely lay
The noble Paris, and true Romeo dead.
She wakes, and I intreat her to come forth,
And bear this work of heav'n with patience:-
But then a noise did scare me from the tomb,
And fhe too defp'rate would not go with me,
But, as it feems, did violence on her felf.
All this I know, and to the marriage
Her nurfe is privy: but if ought in this
Mifcarried by my fault, let my old life
Be facrific'd, fome hour before its time,
Unto the rigour of fevereft law.

Prince. We ftill have known thee for an holy man. Where's Romeo's man? what can he fay to this?:

Peter

Peter. I brought my mafter news of Juliet's death, And then in poft he came from Mantua To this fame place, to this fame monument. This letter he early bid me give his father, And threatned me with death, going to 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 mafter in this place?

Page. He came with flowers to ftrew his lady's grave, And bid me ftand aloof, and so I did:

Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb,
And by and by my mafter drew on him,
And then I ran away to call the watch.

Prince. This letter doth make good the Friar's words,,
Their courfe of love, the tidings of her death:
And here he writes, that he did buy a poison
Of a poor 'pothecary, and therewithal

Came to this vault to die, and lye with Juliet.
Where be thefe enemies? Capulet! Mountague!
See what a fcourge is laid upon your hate,
That heav'n finds means to kill your joys with love!
And I, for winking at your difcords too,

Have loft a brace of kinfmen: all are punifh'd!
Cap. O brother Mountague, give me thy hand,,
This is my daughter's jointure; for no more
Can I demand.

Moun. But I can give thee more,

For I will raife her ftatue in pure gold,
That while Verona by that name is known,
There fhall no figure at that rate be fet,
As that of true and faithful Juliet.

Cap. As rich fhall Romeo by his lady lye,
Poor facrifices of our enmity!

Prince. A gloomy peace this morning with it brings,, The fun for forrow will not fhew his head;

Go hence to have more talk of these fad things
Some fhall be pardon'd, and fome punished..
For never was a ftory of more woe,

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo,
3

[Exeunt.omnes