Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

Sealed up the doors, and would not let us forth;
So that my speed to Mantua there was stay'd.
Lau. Who bare my letter then to Romeo?
John. I could not send it, — here it is again, —
Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,
So fearful were they of infection.

Lau. Unhappy fortune! by my brotherhood,
The letter was not nice, but full of charge,
Of dear import; and the neglecting it

May do much danger. Friar John, go hence!
Get me an iron crow, and bring it straight
Unto my cell.

John. Brother, I'll go and bring it thee.

Lau. Now must I to the monument alone;
Within this three hours will fair Juliet wake;
She will beshrew me much, that Romeo
Hath had no notice of these accidents:
But I will write again to Mantua,

Rom. So shalt thou show me friendship. thou that!

[ocr errors][merged small]

Live, and be prosperous! and farewell, good fellow!
Bal. For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout;
His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt. [Retires.
Rom. Thou détestable maw, thou womb of death,
Gorg'd with the dearest morsel of the earth,
Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open,

[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,
[Exit. That murder'd my love's cousin ; — with which grief,
It is supposed, the fair creature died, —
And here is come to do some villainous shame
To the dead bodies: I will apprehend him.

And keep her at my cell till Romeo come;
Poor living corse, clos'd in a dead man's tomb! [Exit.

[blocks in formation]

Par. Give me thy torch, boy! Hence, and stand aloof!

Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.
Under yon yew-trees lay thee all along,
Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground;
So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread,
(Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves,)
But thou shalt hear it: whistle then to me,
As signal that thou hear'st something approach.
Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go!
Page. I am almost afraid to stand alone
Here in the churchyard; 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,
Accept this latest favour at my hands;
That living honour'd thee, and, being dead,
With funeral praises do adorn thy tomb!

[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. Enter ROMEO and BALTHASAR with a torch, mattock, etc.

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'st or seest, stand all aloof, And do not interrupt me in my course. Why I descend 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 dear employment; therefore hence, be gone!

But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry

In what I further shall intend to do,

By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint,

And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs:
The time and my intents are savage-wild;
More fierce, and more inexorable far,
Than empty tygers, or the roaring sea.

Bal. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you.

-

[Advances.

Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague;
Can vengeance be pursu'd further than death?
Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee:
Obey, and go with me; for thou must die!
Rom. I must indeed, and therefore came I hither.-
Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man,
Fly hence and leave me!-think upon these gone;
Let them affright thee!-I beseech thee, youth,
Heap not another sin upon my head,
By urging me to fury!— O, be gone!
By heaven, I love thee better, than myself!
For I come hither arm'd against myself!
Stay not, be gone! - live, and hereafter say—
A madman's mercy bade thee run away.
Par. I do defy thy conjurations,

And do attach thee as a felon here..

Rom. Wilt thon provoke me? then have at thee,

boy!

[They fight.

Page. O lord! they fight! I will go call the watch.

[Dies.

[Exit Page. Par. O, I am slain! [Falls.] —If thou be merciful, Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet. 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?-0, give me thy hand, One writ with me in sour misfortune's book! I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave,—

[ocr errors]

A grave? O, no! a lantern, slaughter'd youth,
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence full of light.
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd!
[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?-0, my love! my
wife!
Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips, and in thy cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not advanced there.
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favour can I do to thee,
Than with that hand, that cut thy youth in twain,
To sunder his, that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous;
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I will still stay with thee;

---

And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again; here, here will I remain

Jul. Yea, noise?-then I'll be brief. -O happy
dagger!
[Snatching Romeo's dagger.

With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here This is thy sheath! [Stabs herself.] there rust, and
Will I set up my everlasting rest;
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars

From this world-wearied flesh-Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!-
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here's to my love! [Drinks.] O, true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick!-Thus with a kiss I die! [Dies.
Enter, at the other end of the churchyard, Friar
LAURENCE, with a lantern, crow, and spade.
Fri. Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night
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
To grubs and eyeless sculls? as I discern,
It burneth in the Capels' monument.

Bal. It doth so, holy sir! and there's my master,
One that you love.

Fri. Who is it?

Bal. Romeo.

[blocks in formation]

Alack, alack! what blood is this, which stains
The stony entrance of this sepulchre?
What mean these masterless and gory swords
To lie discolour'd by this place of peace?
[Enters the monument.
Romeo! O, pale! Who else? what, Paris too?
And steep'd in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour
Is guilty of this lamentable chance!
The lady stirs.

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

burn.

1 Watch. The ground is bloody: search about
the churchyard:

[Exeunt some.

Go, some of you, who e'er you find, attach!
Pitiful sight! here lies the county slain;-
And Juliet bleeding; warm, and newly dead,
Who here hath lain these two days buried. -
Go, tell the prince,-run to the Capulets,-
Raise up the Montagues,-some others search;-

[Exeunt other Watchmen.

We see the ground whercon these woes do lie;
But the true ground of all these piteous woes,
We cannot without circumstance descry.

[Julie wakes and stirs.
Jul. 0, comfortable friar, where is my lord?
I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am. Where is my Romeo? [Noise within.
Fri. I hear some noise.-Lady, come from that nest
Of death, contagion, aud unnatural sleep;
A greater Power, than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents; come, come away!
Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead;
And Paris too; come, I'll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns!
Stay not to question, for the watch is coming;
Come, go, good Juliet! [Noise again.] I dare stay
no longer.

[Exit.

Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away!-
What's here? a cup, clos'd in my true love's hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end: -
O churl! drink all, and leave no friendly drop,
To help me after?—I will kiss thy lips:
Haply, some poison yet doth hang on them,
To make me die with a restorative. [Kisses him.
Thy lips are warm!

1 Watch. [Within.] Lead, boy! — Which way?

Enter some of the Watch, with BALTHASAB 2 Watch. Here's Romeo's man, we found him in the churchyard.

1 Watch. Hold him in safety, till the prince come
hither.

Enter another Watchman, with Friar, LAURENCE
SWatch. Iere is a friar, that trembles, sighs,andweeps
We took this mattock and this spade from him,
As he was coming from this churchyard side.
1 Watch. A great suspicion. Stay the friar too.
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-Romeo,
Some-Juliet, and some-Paris; and all run,
With open outcry, toward our monument.
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,
Warm and new kill'd.

Prince. Search, seek, and know how this foul marder comes!

1 Watch. Here is a friar, and slaughter'd Romeo's

[blocks in formation]

-

This dagger hath mista'en, for, lo! his house
Is empty on the back of Montague,-
And is mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom,
La. Cap. O me! this sight of death is as a bel!.
That warns my old age to a sepulchre.

Enter MONTAGUE, and Others.
Prince. Come Montague! for thou art early up,
To see thy son and heir more early down.
Mon. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night:
Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath:
What further woe conspires against mine age?
Prince. Look, and thou shalt see.

Mon. O thou untaught! what manners is in this,
To press before thy father to a grave?
Prince. Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while,
Till we can clear these ambiguities,
And know their spring, their head, their true descent.
And then will I be general of your woes,
And lead you even to death: mean time forbear,
And let mischance be slave to patience.-
Bring forth the parties of suspicion.
Fri. I am the greatest, able to do least,
Yet most suspected, as the time and place

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Doth make against me, of this direful murder; And here I stand, both to impeach and purge Myselfcondemned and myself excus'd.

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;

Prince. Then say at once what thou dost know in And then in post he came from Mantua,

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 marriage-day
Was Tybalt's dooms-day, whose untimely death
Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from this city;
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pin'd.
You-to remove that siege of grief from her-
Betroth'd, and would have married her perforce,
To county Paris. - Then comes she to me;
And, with wild looks, bid me devise some means
To rid her from this second marriage,
Or, in my cell there would she kill herself.
Then gave I her, so tutor'd by my art,
A sleeping potion; which so took effect
As I intended, for it wrought on her

The form of death: mean time I writ to Romeo,
That he should hither come as this dire night,
To help to take her from her borrow'd grave,
Being the time the potion's force should cease.
But he which bore my letter, friar John,
Was staid by accident; and yesternight
Return'd my letter back. Then all alone,
At the prefixed hour of her waking,
Came I to take her from her kindred's vault;
Meaning to keep her closely at my cell,
Till I conveniently could send to Romeo:
But, when I came, (some minute ere the time
Of her awakening,) here untimely lay
The noble Paris, and true Romeo, dead.
She wakes; and I entreated her come forth,
And bear this work of heaven with patience:
But then a noise did scare me from the tomb;
And she, too desperate, would not go with me,
But (as it seems,) did violence on herself.
All this I know; and to the marriage
Her nurse is privy: and, if aught in this
Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
Be sacrific'd, some hour before his time,
Unto the rigour of severest law.

To this same place, to this same monument.
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:
Anon, comes one with light to ope the tomb;
And, by and by, my master drew on him;
And then I ran away to call the watch.

Prince. This letter doth make good the friar's. words,

The course 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 lie with Juliet. -
Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!
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
Can I demand.

--

Mon. But I can give thee more:
For I will raise her statue in pure gold;
That, while Verona by that name is known,
There shall no figure at such rate be set,
As that of true and faithful Juliet.

Cap. As rich shall Romeo by his lady lie;
Poor sacrifices of our enmity!

Prince. A glooming peace this morning with it brings;

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 punished!

For never was a story of more woe,
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo!

[Exeunt

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Fran. You come most carefully upon your hour.
Ber. 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed,

Francisco!

Fran. For this relief, much thanks! 'tis bitter
cold,

And I am sick at heart.

Ber. Have you had quiet guard?

Fran. Not a mouse stirring.

Ber. Well, good night!

If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,

The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste!

..an.

Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS.
I think, I hear them.

there?

That are so fortified against our story,
What we two nights have seen.
Hor. Well, sit we down,

And let us hear Bernardo speak of this!
Ber. Last night of all,

When yon same star, that's westward from the pole,
Had made his course to illume that part of heaven
Where now it burns, Marcellus, and myself,
The bell then beating one,-

Mur. Peace, break thee off, look, where it comes
again!

Enter Ghost.

Ber. In the same figure, like the king that's dead
Mar. Thou art a scholar, speak to it, Horatio!
Ber. Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio!
Hor. Most like:- it harrows me with fear, and
wonder.

Ber. It would be spoke to.

Mar. Speak to it, Horatio!

Hor. What art thou, that usurp'st this time of night,

Together with that fair and warlike form

In which the majesty of buried Denmark

Stand, ho! who is Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee,

[blocks in formation]

What, is Horatio there?

Hor. A piece of him.

[Exit Francisco.

Ber. Welcome, Horatio! welcome, good Mar-
cellus !

Hor. What, has this thing appear'd again to-
night?

Ber. I have seen nothing.

Mar. Horatio says, 'tis but our fantasy;
And will not let belief take hold of him,
Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us:
Therefore I have entreated him, along
With us to watch the minutes of this night;
That, if again this apparition come,

He may approve our eyes, and speak to it.
Hor. Tush! tush! 'twill not appear.
Ber. Sit down awhile;

And let us once again assail your ears,

speak!

Mar. It is offended,

Ber. See! it stalks away.

Hor. Stay! speak! speak I charge thee, speak!

Mar. 'Tis gone, and will not answer.

[Exit Ghost.

Ber. How now, Horatio? you tremble, and look

pale:

Is not this something more than fantasy?
What think you of it?

Hor. Before my God, I might not this believe,
Without the sensible and true avouch
of mine own eyes.

Mar. Is it not like the king?
Hor. As thou art to thyself:
Such was the very armour he had on,
When he the ambitious Norway combated;
So frown'd he once, when, in an angry parle,
He smote the sledded Polack on the ice.
"Tis strange.

Mar. Thus twice before, and jump at this dead

hour,

With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
Hor. In what particular thought to work, I know

not;

But, in the gross and scope of mine opinion,
This bodes some strange eruption to our state.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

Mar. Good now, sit down, and tell me, he that For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death, knows,

Why this same strict and most observant watch
So nightly toils the subject of the land?
And why such daily cast of brazen cannon,
And foreign mart for implements of war;
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week;
What might be toward, that this sweaty haste
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day;
Who is't, that can inform me?

Hor. That can I;

At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king,
Whose image even but now appear'd to us,
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway,
Thereto prick'd on by a most emulate pride,
Dar'd to the combat; in which our valiant Hamlet
(For so this side of our known world esteem'd him,)
Did slay this Fortinbras; who, by a scal'd compact,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,

Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands,
Which he stood seiz'd of, to the conqueror:
Against the which, a moiety competent
Was gaged by our king; which had return'd
To the inheritance of Fortinbras,

Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same co-mart,
And carriage of the article design'd,

His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras,
Of unimproved mettle hot and full,
Hath in the skirts of Norway, here and there,
Shark'd up a list of landless resolutes,
For food and diet, to some enterprize
That hath a stomach in't: which is no other
(As it doth well appear unto our state,)
But to recover of us, by strong hand,
And terms compulsatory, those 'foresaid lands
So by his father lost. And this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations;
The source of this our watch; and the chief head
Of this post-haste and romage in the land.
Ber. I think, it be no other, but even so:
Well may it sort, that this portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch; so like the king
That was, and is, the question of these wars.

Hor. A mote it is, to trouble the mind's eye.
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julins fell,

[Cock crows.

Speak of it!-stay, and speak!-Stop it, Marcellus! Mar. Shall I strike at it with my partizan?

Hor. Do, if it will not stand.

Ber. 'Tis here!

Hor. 'Tis here!
Mar. 'Tis gone!

We do it wrong, being so majestical,
To offer it the show of violence;
For it is, as the air, invulnerable,
And our vain blows malicious mockery.

[Exit Ghost.

Ber. It was about to speak, when the cock crew. Hor. And then it started, like a guilty thing Upon a fearful summons. I have heard, The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat Awake the god of day; and, at his warning, Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, The extravagant and erring spirit hies To his confine: and of the truth herein This present object made probation.

Mar. It faded on the crowing of the cock. Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes, Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, This bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

Hor. So have I heard, and do in part believe it. But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill: Break we our watch up; and, by my advice, Let us impart what we have seen to-night Unto young Hamlet: for, upon my life, This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him: Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it, As needful in our loves, fitting our duty?

Mar. Let's do't, I pray! and I this morning know, Where we shall find him most convenient. [Exeunt.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Enter the King, Queen, HAMLET, POLONIUS, LAER-
TES, VOLTIMAND, CORNELIUS, Lords, and Attendants.
King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's
death

The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead The memory be green; and that it us befitted

Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

-

As, stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the sun; and the moist star
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands,
Was sick almost to dooms-day with eclipse.
And even the like precurse of fierce events,-
As harbingers preceding still the fates,
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together démonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.
Re-enter Ghost.

But, soft; behold! lo, where it comes again!
I'll cross it, though it blast me.--Stay, illusion!
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me!

If there be any good thing to be done,
That may to thee do ease, and grace to me,
Speak to me!

If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,
O, speak!

Or, if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,

To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe;
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature,
That we with wisest sorrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
The imperial jointress of this warlike state,
Have we, as 'twere, with a defeated joy,-
With one auspicious, and one dropping eye;
With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,
Taken to wife: nor have we herein barr'd
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone
With this affair along. For all, our thanks!

Now follows, that you know, young Fortinbras,-
Holding a weak supposal of our worth;
Or thinking, by our late dear brother's death,
Our state to be disjoint and out of frame,
Colleagued with this dream of his advantage,
He hath not fail'd to pester us with message,
Importing the surrender of those lands,
Lost by his father, with all bands of law,
To our most valiant brother. So much for him.
Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting.

-

« PreviousContinue »