Baktha. Pardon me, Sir, I dare not leave you thus. Your looks are pale and wild, and do import

Some mifadventure.

Rom. Tufh, thou art deceiv'd;

Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do:
Haft thou no letters to me from the Friar?
Baltha. No, my good Lord.

Rom. No matter: get thee gone,

And hire thofe horfes; I'll be with thee ftraight.
[Exit Baithafar.
Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night;
Let's fee for means-O mifchief! thou art swift
To enter in the thought of defperate men!
I do remember an apothecary,

And hereabouts he dwells, whem late I noted
In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows,
Culling of fimples; meager were his looks;
Sharp mifery had worn him to the bones:.
And in his needy fhop a tortoise hung,
An alligator ftuft, and other skins

Of ill-fhap'd fishes; and about his shelves
A beggarly account of empty boxes;

Green earthen pots, bladders, and mufty feeds,
Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of rofes
Were thinly scatter'd to make up a fhow.
Noting this penury, to myself, I faid,
An if a man did need a poifon now,
Whofe fale is prefent death in Mantua,
Here lives a caitiff wretch would fell it him.
Oh, this fame thought did but fore-run my need,
And this fame needy man muft fell it me.
As I remember, this fhould be the houfe.
Being holy-day, the beggar's fhop is fhut:
What, ho! Apothecary!

Enter Apothecary.

Ap. Who calls fo loud?

Rom. Come hither, man; I fee, that thou art poor; Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have

A dram of poison, fuch foon-speeding geer,

As

As will difperfe itself thro' all the veins,
That the life-weary taker may fall dead;
And that the trunk may be discharg'd of breath,
As violently, as hafty powder fir'd

Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb.

Ap. Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantua's law Is death to any he that utters them.

Rom. Art thou fo bare and full of wretchednefs,
And fear'ft to die? famine is in thy cheeks;
Need and oppreffion ftare within thine eyes,
Contempt and beggary hang upon thy back:
The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law;
The world affords no law to make thee rich,
Then be not poor, but break it and take this.
Ap. My poverty, but not my will, confents.
Rom. I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.
Ap. Put this in any liquid thing you will,
And drink it off, and if you had the ftrength
Of twenty men, it would difpatch you ftraight.

Rom. There is thy gold; worfe poifon to men's fouls,
Doing more murders in this loathfome world,
Than these poor compounds that thou may'ft not sell:
I fell thee poison, thou haft fold me none.-
Farewel, buy food, and get thee into flesh.
Come, cordial, and not poifon; go with me
To Juliet's grave, for there must Ï use thee.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to the Monastery at Verona. Enter Friar John.

John.TTOly Francifcan Friar! brother! ho!

Holy

Enter Friar Lawrence to him.

Law. This fame fhould be the voice of Friar John.Welcome from Mantua; what fays Romeo?

Or, if his mind be writ, give me his letter.
John. Going to find a bare-foot brother out,

One of our order, to affociate me,

Here in this city visiting the fick ;

And

And finding him, the fearchers of the town,
Sufpecting that we both were in a houfe
Where the infectious peftilence did reign,
Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth;
So that my speed to Mantua there was staid.
Law. Who bore my letter then to Romeo?
John. I could not fend it; here it is again
Nor get a meffenger to bring it thee,
So fearful were they of infection.

Law. 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 ftraight
Unto my cell.

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

[Exit,

Poor living coarfe, clos'd in a dead man's tomb! [Exit.

SCENE changes to a Church-yard: In it, a Monument belonging to the Capulets.

Par.

Enter Paris, and his Page, with a light.

G

Ive me thy torch, boy; hence, and ftand aloof. Yet put it out, for I would not be seen: Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along, Laying thy ear close to the hollow ground; So fhall no foot upon the church-yard tread, (Being loofe, unfirm, with digging up of graves) But thou shalt hear it: whiftle then to me, As fignal that thou hear'ft fomething approach. Give me thofe flow'rs. Do as I bid thee; go.

Page.'

Page. I am almost afraid to ftand alone

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

[Strewing flowers. Fair Juliet, that with angels doft remain, Accept this lateft 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 obfequies, and true-love's rite?
What! with a torch? muffle me, night, a while.

Enter Romeo and Balthafar with a light, (15)
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 dear employment; therefore, hence, be gone:
But if thou, jealous, doft return to pry

(15) Enter Romeo and Peter with a Light.] But Peter was a Servant of the Capulets: befides, he brings the Mattock and Crow to wrench open Juliet's Grave, an Office hardly to be intrufted with a Servant of that Family. We find a little above, at the very Beginning of this Act, Balthafar is the Perfon who brings Romeo the News of his Bride's Death: and yet, at the Clofe of the Play, Peter takes upon him to depofe that he brought thofe Tidings. Utri creditis, Quirites In fhort, We heard Balthafar deliver the Meffage; and therefore Peter is a lying Evidence, fuborned by the blundering Editors. We must therefore cafhier him, and put Balthafar on his proper Duty. The Source of this Error feems eafy to be accounted for; Peter's Character ending in the fourth Act, it is very probable the fame Perfon might play Balthafar, and fo be quoted on in the Prompter's Book as Peter.

In what I further fhall 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.

Balth. I will be gone, Sir, and not trouble you. Rom. So fhalt thou fhew me friendship.—Take thon 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 open the Monument.

And in defpight I'll cram thee with more food.
Par. This is that banisht 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 villanous 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 befeech 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 say,
A madman's mercy bade thee run away.
Par. I do defy thy commiferation,
And apprehend thee for a felon here..