But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true
Than those that have more cunning to be strange.
I should have been more strange, I must confess,
But that thou overheardst, ere I was 'ware,
My true love's paffion; therefore pardon me
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath fo difcovered.

Rom. Lady, by yonder bleffed moon I vow, That tips with filver all these fruit-tree tops

Jul. O fwear not by the moon, th'inconstant moon
That monthly changes in her circled orb;
Left that thy love prove likewife variable.
Rom. What shall I swear by ?
Jul. Do not fwear at all.

Or if thou wilt, fwear by thy gracious felf,
Which is the god of my idolatry,

And I'll believe thee.

Rom. If my true heart's love

Jul. Well, do not fwear-altho' I joy in thee,
I have no joy of this contract to-night;
It is too rafh, too unadvis'd, too fudden,

(7) Too like the lightning which doth cease to be,
Ere one can fay it lightens-fweet, good-night.
This bud of love, by fummer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet :
Good-night, good-night-as fweet repole and reft
Come to thy heart, as that within
my
breast.
Rom. O wilt thou leave me fo unfatisfy'd?
Jul. What fatisfaction canft thou have to-night?
Rom. Th' exchange of thy love's faithful vow for
mine.

Jul. I gave thee mine before thou didst request it: And yet I would it were to give again.

Rom. Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose,

love?

Jul. But to be frank, and give it thee again. yet I wish but for the thing I have;

And

(7) See Midsummer Night's Dream, p. 209.

My

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
I hear fome noife within, dear love, adieu.

[Nurfe calls within, Anon, good nurse- -Sweet Mountague, be true: Stay but a little, I will come again.

[Exit.

Rom. O blefied, bleffed night. I am afraid.
All this is but a dream I hear and fee;
Too flattering fweet to be substantial.

Re-enter Juliet above.

Jul. Three words, dear Romco, and good-night indeed:

If that thy bent of love be honourable,
Thy purpose marriage, fend me word to-morrow,
By one that I'll procure to come to thee,
Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite;
And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay,

And follow thee, my love, throughout the world.
[Within: Madam.
-but if thou mean't not well,

I come anon

I do befeech thee- [Within: Madam.] By and by I

come

To cease thy fuit, and leave me to my grief.
To-morrow will I fend.

Rom. So thrive my foul.

Ful. A thousand times good-night.

[Exit.

Rom. A thousand times the worfe to want thy light.

Enter Juliet again.

Jul. Hift! Romeo, hift! O for a falkner's voice, To lure this taffel gentle back again———— Bondage is hoarfe, and may not speak aloud, Elfe would I tear the cave where Echo lies, And make her airy tongue more hoarfe than mine, With repetition of my Romeo.

Rom.

Rom. It is my love that calls upon my name, How filver fweet found lovers' tongues by night, Like fofteft mufic to attending ears!

Jul. Romeo!

Rom. My fweet!

Jul. At what o'clock to-morrow Shall I fend to thee?

Rom. By the hour of nine.

Jul. I will not fail, 'tis twenty years till then,I have forgot why I did call thee back.

Rom. Let me ftand here till thou remember it. Jul. I fhall forget to have thee ftill stand there, Rememb'ring how I love thy company.

Rom. And I'll still ftay to have thee still forget, Forgetting any other home but this.

ful. 'Tis almoft morning I would have thee gone,
And yet no further than a wanton's bird,
That lets it hop a little from her hand,
Like a poor prifoner in its twifted gyves,
And with a filk thread plucks it back again,
So loving jealous of his liberty.

Rom. I would I were thy bird.
Jul. Sweet, fo would I;

Yet I fhould kill thee with much cherishing.
Good-night, good-night. Parting is fuch fweet forrow,
That I fhall fay good-night till it be morrow.

[Exit,

SCENE V. Love's Heralds.

Love's heralds should be thoughts,
Which ten times faster glide than the fun-beams.
Driving back fhadows over lowring hills.
Therefore do nimble-pinion'd doves draw love,
And therefore hath the wind-fwift Cupid wings.

SCENE

SCENE VI. Violent Delights, not lafting.

These violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die: like fire and powder,
Which as they meet consume.

Lovers, light of Foot.

O fo light of foot
Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint;
A lover may bestride the goffamour,
That idles in the wanton fummer air,.
And yet not fall, fo light is vanity.

ACT III. SCENE IV.

A Lover's Impatience.

Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, To Phabus manfion; fuch a waggoner As Phaeton, would whip you to the weft, And bring in cloudy night immediately. Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That (8) th' run-aways eyes may wink; and Romeo Leap to these arms, untalk'd of, and unseen, Lovers can fee to do their am'rous rites By their own beauties: or, if love be blind; It beft agrees with night.

SCENE

(8) The run-aways, &c.] That is, the fun: whom he ele gantly calls the run-away, in reference to the poetical account of the fun driving his chariot of light through the heavens, and running down to the west from the eyes of mortals to the arms of his celeftial mistress.

SCENE V. Romeo, on his Banishment.

SCENE, The Monastery.

Romeo and the Friar.

Rom. (9) Ha, banishment! be merciful, fay death! For exile hath more terror in his look Than death itself. Do not fay banishment.

Fri. Here from Verona art thou banished:
Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.

Rom. There is no world without Verona's walls,
But purgatory, torture, hell itself.
Hence banish'd, is banish'd from the world,
And world-exil'd is death; that banished,
Is death misterm'd: calling death banishment,
Thou cut'ft my head off with a golden axe,
And fmil'ft upon the stroke that murders me.

Fri. O deadly fin; O rude unthankfulness!
Thy fault our law calls death, but the kind prince
Taking thy part, hath rufh'd aside the law,
And turn'd that black word death to banishment;
This is dear mercy, and thou feest it not.

14

Rom. 'Tis torture, and not mercy: heaven is here Where Juliet lives; and every cat and dog And little moufe, every unworthy thing Lives here in heaven, and may look on her, But Romeo may not. More validity, More honourable state, more courtship lives In carrion flies, than Romeo: they may feize On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand, And steal immortal bleffings from her lips; But Romeo may not, he is banished ! O father; hadít thou no ftrong poifon mixt,

No

(9) Ha, &c.] The Reader will find in the 90th page of the fecond volume, a paffage or two, that well deferve to be com par'd with this before us.