The Complete Tragedies of William Shakespeare - All 12 Books in One Edition. William Shakespeare

Speak not, reply not, do not answer me;

       My fingers itch.—Wife, we scarce thought us bles’d

       That God had lent us but this only child;

       But now I see this one is one too much,

       And that we have a curse in having her:

       Out on her, hilding!

       Nurse.

       God in heaven bless her!—

       You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.

       Capulet.

       And why, my lady wisdom? hold your tongue,

       Good prudence; smatter with your gossips, go.

       Nurse.

       I speak no treason.

       Capulet.

       O, God ye good-en!

       Nurse.

       May not one speak?

       Capulet.

       Peace, you mumbling fool!

       Utter your gravity o’er a gossip’s bowl,

       For here we need it not.

       Lady Capulet.

       You are too hot.

       Capulet.

       God’s bread! it makes me mad:

       Day, night, hour, time, tide, work, play,

       Alone, in company, still my care hath been

       To have her match’d, and having now provided

       A gentleman of noble parentage,

       Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train’d,

       Stuff’d, as they say, with honourable parts,

       Proportion’d as one’s heart would wish a man,—

       And then to have a wretched puling fool,

       A whining mammet, in her fortune’s tender,

       To answer, ‘I’ll not wed,—I cannot love,

       I am too young,—I pray you pardon me:’—

       But, an you will not wed, I’ll pardon you:

       Graze where you will, you shall not house with me:

       Look to’t, think on’t, I do not use to jest.

       Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise:

       An you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend;

       An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die i’ the streets,

       For, by my soul, I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee,

       Nor what is mine shall never do thee good:

       Trust to’t, bethink you, I’ll not be forsworn.

       [Exit.]

       Juliet.

       Is there no pity sitting in the clouds,

       That sees into the bottom of my grief?

       O, sweet my mother, cast me not away!

       Delay this marriage for a month, a week;

       Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed

       In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.

       Lady Capulet.

       Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word;

       Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.

       [Exit.]

       Juliet.

       O God!—O nurse! how shall this be prevented?

       My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven;

       How shall that faith return again to earth,

       Unless that husband send it me from heaven

       By leaving earth?—comfort me, counsel me.—

       Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems

       Upon so soft a subject as myself!—

       What say’st thou? hast thou not a word of joy?

       Some comfort, nurse.

       Nurse.

       Faith, here ‘tis; Romeo

       Is banished; and all the world to nothing

       That he dares ne’er come back to challenge you;

       Or if he do, it needs must be by stealth.

       Then, since the case so stands as now it doth,

       I think it best you married with the county.

       O, he’s a lovely gentleman!

       Romeo’s a dishclout to him; an eagle, madam,

       Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye

       As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart,

       I think you are happy in this second match,

       For it excels your first: or if it did not,

       Your first is dead; or ‘twere as good he were,

       As living here, and you no use of him.

       Juliet.

       Speakest thou this from thy heart?

       Nurse.

       And from my soul too;

       Or else beshrew them both.

       Juliet.

       Amen!

       Nurse.

       What?

       Juliet.

       Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much.

       Go in; and tell my lady I am gone,

       Having displeas’d my father, to Lawrence’ cell,

       To make confession and to be absolv’d.

       Nurse.

       Marry, I will; and this is wisely done.

       [Exit.]

       Juliet.

       Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend!

       Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn,

       Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue

       Which she hath prais’d him with above compare

       So many thousand times?—Go, counsellor;

       Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain.—

       I’ll to the friar to know his remedy;

       If all else fail, myself have power to die.

       [Exit.]

       ACT IV.

       SCENE I. Friar Lawrence’s Cell.

       [Enter Friar Lawrence and Paris.]

       Friar.

       On Thursday, sir? the time is very short.

       Paris.

       My father Capulet will have it so;

       And I am nothing slow to slack his haste.

       Friar.

       You say you do not know the lady’s mind:

       Uneven is the course; I like it not.

       Paris.

       Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt’s death,

       And therefore have I little talk’d of love;

       For Venus smiles not in a house of tears.

       Now, sir, her father counts it dangerous

       That she do give her sorrow so much sway;

       And, in his wisdom, hastes our marriage,

       To stop the inundation of her tears;