Mer. I am hurt ;

A plague o'both the houses!-I am sped :—
Is he gone, and hath nothing?

Ben. What, art thou hurt?

Mer.Ay, ay,a scratch, a scratch; marry,'tis enough.— Where is my page ?-go, villain, fetch a surgeon. [Exit Page. Rom. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. Mer. No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world :-A plague o'both your houses!-'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetic !-Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm. Rom. I thought all for the best.

Mer. Help me into some house, Benvolio,

Or I shall faint.-A plague o'both your houses!
They have made worm's meat of me:

I have it, and soundly too :-Your houses!

[Exeunt MERCUTIO and BENVOLIO.

Rom. This gentleman, the prince's near ally,
My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt
In my behalf; my reputation stain'd

With Tybalt's slander, Tybalt, that an hour
Hath been my kinsman :-O sweet Juliet,
Thy beauty hath made me effeminate,
And in my temper soften'd valour's steel.

Re-enter BENVOLIO.

Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead"; That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds,

Which too untimely here did scorn the earth.

Rom. This day's black fate on more days doth depend; This but begins the woe, others must end.

Re-enter TYBALT.

Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again. Rom. Alive! in triumph! and Mercutio slain! Away to heaven, respective lenity,

And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now!

Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again,
That late thou gav'st me; for Mercutio's soulTM
Is but a little way above our heads,
Staying for thine to keep him company;
Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.

Tyb. Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here, Shalt with him thence.

Rom. This shall determine that.

[They fight; TYBALT falls.

Ben. Romeo, away, be gone!

The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain :

Stand not amaz'd :—the prince will doom thee death, If thou art taken :-hence !-be gone !-away!

Rom. O! I am fortune's fool !4

Ben. Why dost thou stay?

Enter Citizens, &c.

[Exit ROMEO.

1 Cit. Which way ran he, that kill'd Mercutio? Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he? Ben. There lies that Tybalt.

1 Cit. Up, sir, go with me ;

I charge thee, in the prince's name, obey.

Enter Prince, attended; MONTAGUE, CAPULET, their Wives, and others.

Prince. Where are the vile beginners of this fray? Ben. O noble prince, I can discover all The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl: There lies the man, slain by young Romeo, That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio.

La. Cap. Tybalt, my cousin!-O my brother's child! Unhappy sight! ah me, the blood is spill'd

Of my dear kinsman !-Prince, as thou art true,
For blood of ours, shed blood of Montague.-
O cousin, cousin!

Prince. Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?
Ben. Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay;
Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink
How nice the quarrel was, 5 and urg'd withal
Your high displeasure :-All this-uttered

With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd,Could not take truce with the unruly spleen

Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts

With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast;
Who, all as hot, turns deadly point to point,
And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats
Cold death aside, and with the other sends

It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity

[4] I am always running in the way of evil fortune, like the fool in the play.

JOHNSON.

[6] How nice how slight, haw unimportant, how petty.

JOHNSON.

Retorts it: Romeo, he cries aloud,

Hold friends! friends,part! and,swifter than his tongue,
His agile arm beats down their fatal points,

And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm
An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life
Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled :
But by and by comes back to Romeo,
Who had but newly entertain’d revenge,
And to't they go like lightning; for, ere I
Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain;
And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly :
This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.

La. Cap. He is a kinsman to the Montague,
Affection makes him false, " he speaks not true:
Some twenty of them fought in this black strife,
And all those twenty could but kill one life :
I beg for justice, which thou, prince, must give;
Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.

Prince. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio;
Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?
La. Mon. Not Romeo, prince,he was Mercutio's friend;
His fault concludes but, what the law should end,
The life of Tybalt.

Prince. And, for that offence,
Immediately we do exile him hence:

I have an interest in your hates' proceeding,
My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a bleeding;
But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine,
That you shall all repent the loss of mine:

I will be deaf to pleading and excuses;

Nor tears, nor prayers, shall purchase out abuses,
Therefore use none: let Romeo hence in haste,
Else, when he's found, that hour is his last.
Bear hence this body, and attend our will:

Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

A Room in CAPULET's House. Enter JULIET.

Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus' mansion; such a waggoner As Phaeton would whip you to the west,

[6] The charge of falsehood on Benvolio, though produced at hazard, is very just. The author, who seems to intend the character of Benvolio as good, meant perhaps to show, how the best minds, in a state of faction and discord, are detorted to criminal partiality. JOHNSON

And bring in cloudy night immediately.-
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night!
That run-away's eyes may wink; and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk'd of, and unseen!-
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties: or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night.-Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:
Hood my unmann'd blood bating in my cheeks,"
With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
Think true love acted, simple modesty.

Come, night!-Come, Romeo! come, thou day in night!
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night

Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.-
Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-brow'd night,
Give me my Romeo: and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine,
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun..—
O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess'd it; and, though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy'd: So tedious is this day,
As is the night before some festival

To an impatient child, that hath new robes,
And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse,
Enter Nurse, with cords.

And she brings news; and every tongue, that speaks
But Romeo's name, speaks heavenly eloquence.
Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there, the cords,
That Romeo bade thee fetch?

Nurse. Ay, ay, the cords.

[Throws them down. Jul. Ah me! what news! why dost thou wring thy

hands?

[8] Civil is grave, decently solemn. JOHNSON.

[9] These are terms of falconry. An unmanned hawk is one that is not brought to endure company. Bating (not baiting, as it has hitherto been printed) is fluttering with the wings as striving to fly away. STEEV. [Milton had this speech in his thoughts when he wrote Il Penseroso: "Civil night,

"Thou saber-suited matron." Shakspeare.
"Till civil suited morn appear." Milton.
"Pay no worship to the garish sun,”
"Hide me from day's garish eye." Milton

Shakspeare.

JOHNSON

Nur. Ah well-a-day! he's dead, he's dead, he's dead!

We are undone, lady, we are undone '

Alack the day !-he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead!
Jul. Can heaven be so envious?

Nurse. Romeo can,

Though heaven cannot :-O Romeo! Romeo !

Who ever would have thought it ?-Romeo !

Jul. What devil art thou, that dost torment me thus ? This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell.

Hath Romeo slain himself? say thou but I,2
And that bare vowel I shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice:
I am not I, if there be such an I;

Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer, 1.
If he be slain, say—I; or if not, no :

Brief sounds determine of my weal, or woe.

Nurse. I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,-
God save the mark !-here on his manly breast:
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;

Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood,
All in gore blood:-I swoonded at the sight.

Jul. O break, my heart!-poor bankrupt, break at

once !

To prison, eyes! ne'er look on liberty!

Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here;
And thou, and Romeo, press one heavy bier!
Nurse. O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had !

O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman!
That ever I should live to see thee dead!

Jul. What storm is this, that blows so contrary?
Is Romeo slaughter'd; and is Tybalt dead?
My dear-lov'd cousin, and my dearer lord ?.
Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom?
For who is living, if those two are gone?

Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished;
Romeo, that kill'd him, he is banished.

Jul. O God!-did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? Nurse. It did, it did; alas the day! it did. Jul. O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?

Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!

Dove-feather'd raven! wolvish-ravening lamb !

[2] In the author's time, the affirmative verb ay, was generally written I: and by this means it both becomes a vowel, and answers in the sound to eye upon which the conceit turns in the second line. THEOBALD.