comest to age;Wilt thou not, Jule?’ it stinted and said ‘Ay.’
Juliet
And stint thou too, I pray thee, nurse, say I.
Nurse
Peace, I have done. God mark thee to his grace!Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed:An I might live to see thee married once,I have my wish.
Lady Capulet
Marry, that ‘marry’ is the very themeI came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet,How stands your disposition to be married?
Juliet
It is an honour that I dream not of.
Nurse
An honour! were not I thine only nurse,I would say thou hadst suck’d wisdom from thy teat.
Lady Capulet
Well, think of marriage now; younger than you,Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,Are made already mothers: by my count,I was your mother much upon these yearsThat you are now a maid. Thus then in brief:The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.
Nurse
A man, young lady! lady, such a manAs all the world — why, he’s a man of wax.
Lady Capulet
Verona’s summer hath not such a flower.
Nurse
Nay, he’s a flower; in faith, a very flower.
Lady Capulet
What say you? can you love the gentleman?This night you shall behold him at our feast;Read o’er the volume of young Paris’ face,And find delight writ there with beauty’s pen;Examine every married lineament,And see how one another lends contentAnd what obscured in this fair volume liesFind written in the margent of his eyes.This precious book of love, this unbound lover,To beautify him, only lacks a cover:The fish lives in the sea, and ’tis much prideFor fair without the fair within to hide:That book in many’s eyes doth share the glory,That in gold clasps locks in the golden story;So shall you share all that he doth possess,By having him, making yourself no less.
Nurse
No less! nay, bigger; women grow by men.
Lady Capulet
Speak briefly, can you like of Paris’ love?
Juliet
I’ll look to like, if looking liking move:But no more deep will I endart mine eyeThan your consent gives strength to make it fly.
Enter a Servant
Servant
Madam, the guests are come, supper served up, you called, my young lady asked for, the nurse cursed in the pantry, and every thing in extremity. I must hence to wait; I beseech you, follow straight.
Lady Capulet
We follow thee.
Exit Servant
Juliet, the county stays.
Nurse
Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.
Exeunt
S CENE IV. A STREET .
Enter Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, with five or six Maskers, Torch-bearers, and others
Romeo
What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse?Or shall we on without a apology?
Benvolio
The date is out of such prolixity:We’ll have no Cupid hoodwink’d with a scarf,Bearing a Tartar’s painted bow of lath,Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper;Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spokeAfter the prompter, for our entrance:But let them measure us by what they will;We’ll measure them a measure, and be gone.
Romeo
Give me a torch: I am not for this ambling;Being but heavy, I will bear the light.
Mercutio
Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.
Romeo
Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoesWith nimble soles: I have a soul of leadSo stakes me to the ground I cannot move.
Mercutio
You are a lover; borrow Cupid’s wings,And soar with them above a common bound.
Romeo
I am too sore enpierced with his shaftTo soar with his light feathers, and so bound,I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe:Under love’s heavy burden do I sink.
Mercutio
And, to sink in it, should you burden love;Too great oppression for a tender thing.
Romeo
Is love a tender thing? it is too rough,Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.
Mercutio
If love be rough with you, be rough with love;Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.Give me a case to put my visage in:A visor for a visor! what care IWhat curious eye doth quote deformities?Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me.
Benvolio
Come, knock and enter; and no sooner in,But every man betake him to his legs.
Romeo
A torch for me: let wantons light of
Juliet
And stint thou too, I pray thee, nurse, say I.
Nurse
Peace, I have done. God mark thee to his grace!Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed:An I might live to see thee married once,I have my wish.
Lady Capulet
Marry, that ‘marry’ is the very themeI came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet,How stands your disposition to be married?
Juliet
It is an honour that I dream not of.
Nurse
An honour! were not I thine only nurse,I would say thou hadst suck’d wisdom from thy teat.
Lady Capulet
Well, think of marriage now; younger than you,Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,Are made already mothers: by my count,I was your mother much upon these yearsThat you are now a maid. Thus then in brief:The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.
Nurse
A man, young lady! lady, such a manAs all the world — why, he’s a man of wax.
Lady Capulet
Verona’s summer hath not such a flower.
Nurse
Nay, he’s a flower; in faith, a very flower.
Lady Capulet
What say you? can you love the gentleman?This night you shall behold him at our feast;Read o’er the volume of young Paris’ face,And find delight writ there with beauty’s pen;Examine every married lineament,And see how one another lends contentAnd what obscured in this fair volume liesFind written in the margent of his eyes.This precious book of love, this unbound lover,To beautify him, only lacks a cover:The fish lives in the sea, and ’tis much prideFor fair without the fair within to hide:That book in many’s eyes doth share the glory,That in gold clasps locks in the golden story;So shall you share all that he doth possess,By having him, making yourself no less.
Nurse
No less! nay, bigger; women grow by men.
Lady Capulet
Speak briefly, can you like of Paris’ love?
Juliet
I’ll look to like, if looking liking move:But no more deep will I endart mine eyeThan your consent gives strength to make it fly.
Enter a Servant
Servant
Madam, the guests are come, supper served up, you called, my young lady asked for, the nurse cursed in the pantry, and every thing in extremity. I must hence to wait; I beseech you, follow straight.
Lady Capulet
We follow thee.
Exit Servant
Juliet, the county stays.
Nurse
Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.
Exeunt
S CENE IV. A STREET .
Enter Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, with five or six Maskers, Torch-bearers, and others
Romeo
What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse?Or shall we on without a apology?
Benvolio
The date is out of such prolixity:We’ll have no Cupid hoodwink’d with a scarf,Bearing a Tartar’s painted bow of lath,Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper;Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spokeAfter the prompter, for our entrance:But let them measure us by what they will;We’ll measure them a measure, and be gone.
Romeo
Give me a torch: I am not for this ambling;Being but heavy, I will bear the light.
Mercutio
Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.
Romeo
Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoesWith nimble soles: I have a soul of leadSo stakes me to the ground I cannot move.
Mercutio
You are a lover; borrow Cupid’s wings,And soar with them above a common bound.
Romeo
I am too sore enpierced with his shaftTo soar with his light feathers, and so bound,I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe:Under love’s heavy burden do I sink.
Mercutio
And, to sink in it, should you burden love;Too great oppression for a tender thing.
Romeo
Is love a tender thing? it is too rough,Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.
Mercutio
If love be rough with you, be rough with love;Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.Give me a case to put my visage in:A visor for a visor! what care IWhat curious eye doth quote deformities?Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me.
Benvolio
Come, knock and enter; and no sooner in,But every man betake him to his legs.
Romeo
A torch for me: let wantons light of
Similar Books
