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Ap.

Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds,
Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses,-
Were thinly scattered to make up a 'show.
'Noting this penury, to myself I said—
"An if a man did need a 'poison now,

Here lives a caitiff-wretch 'would sell it him."
O, this same thought did but forerun 'my need.-
As I remember, this should be the house:

What, ho! Apothecary!

The Apothecary enters.

Who calls so loud?

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

A dram of 'poison; such soon-speeding geara
As will disperse itself through all the veins,
That the life-weary taker may fall 'dead.
Ap. Such mortal drugs I 'have; but Mantua's law
Is 'death, to any he that 'utters them.

Rom. Art thou so bare, and full of wretchedness,
And 'fear'st to die? Famine is in thy cheeks,
Need and oppression stare within thy 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, consents.
Rom. I 'pay thy poverty, and 'not thy will.
Ap. [returning. Put this in any liquid thing you will,

[Exit Apoth.

And drink it off; and, if you had the strength Of 'twenty men, it would dispatch you 'straight. Rom. There is thy 'gold; 'worse poison to men's 'souls,Doing more murders in this loathsome world,—

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Than these poor compounds that thou may'st not sell :
I sell 'thee poison, thou hast sold me 'none.

Farewell; buy food, and get thyself in flesh.—
Come! cordial, and 'not poison! go with me

To Juliet's grave;-for there 'must I use 'thee. [Exeunt.

We hasten onwards to the churchyard, where, before the Capulets' monument, we find the bereaved Count Paris lamenting his lost bride, and his Page bearing flowers and a torch.

Par. Give me thy torch, boy: Hence, and stand aloof ;Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.

a quickly acting stuff. b O. R. starveth in.

c O. R. pray. d kill.

Under yon yew-trees lay thee all along,
Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground;
So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread,
But thou shalt 'hear it: 'whistle then to me,
As signal that thou hear'st something approach.
Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee; go. The Boy
[
Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew,
Which with sweet water nightly I will dew ;
The obsequies that I for thee will keep
Nightly, shall be-to strew thy grave and weep!—

...

retires.

[The Boy whistles.

The boy gives warning some onea doth approach.
What, with a torch? -muffle me, night, awhile. [Retires.
As Paris conceals himself, Romeo enters, attended by Balthasar :
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'st or seest,-stand all aloof,
And do not 'interrupt me in my course.
Why I descend 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, dost 'return, to pry
In what I 'further shall intend to do,
By Heaven, I'll tear thee joint by joint,

And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs.
The time and my intents are 'savage-wild,
'More fierce and more inexorable 'far
Than empty tigers, or the roaring sea.

purse.

[Exit Bal.

Bal. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you.
Rom. 'So shalt thou show me 'friendship. Take this
Live, and be prosperous :-and farewell, good fellow.
Thou maw detestable, thou womb of death,
Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth,
Thus I 'enforce thy rotten jaws to open,
And, in despite, I 'll cram thee with 'more food.
Paris advances :

Par. Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague!
Can vengeance be pursued 'further than death?

a O. R. something.

b loved, revered.

c hungry.

Condemned villain, I do 'apprehend thee:
Obey, and go with me; for thou must 'die.
Rom. I'must, indeed ; and therefore came I hither.
Good gentle youth, tempt not a 'desperate man;
Fly hence, and leave me: think upon these gone;
By Heaven, I love thee 'better than 'myself,
For I come hither armed 'against myself.

Par. I do 'defy thy conjurations,a

And apprehend thee for a 'felon here.

Rom. Wilt thou provoke me? then, have at thee, boy!

The desperate Romeo, thus impelled to defend himself from arrest, fights with Paris: and the young Count is added to the victims of misfortune. In dying, he implores Romeo to grant him one consolation :

Par. O, I am slain! [Falls.] If thou be merciful,

Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.

Rom. In faith, I will.-Let me peruse this face: .
Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris!
One writ with 'me in sour Misfortune's book!
I'll bury thee in a 'triumphant grave.

For here lies Juliet! ... 0 my love! my wife!
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy 'breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy 'beauty:
Thou art not 'conquered; Beauty's ensign 'yet
Is crimson, in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And Death's pale flag is not advancéd 'there.-
Tybalt! liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
Forgive me, 'cousin!-Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou 'yet so fair? Here will I stay
And never, from this palace of dim night,
Depart again: here, here will I remain

With 'worms that are thy chambermaids; O, here
Will I set-up 'my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh.-Eyes, look your
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you,
The doors of breath, seal, with a righteous kiss,
A 'dateless bargain to engrossing" 'death!...
Come, bitter conduct! come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at 'once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here's to my love! [Drinks.]-O true Apothecary,
Thy drugs are quick!-Thus, with a kiss, I die!

a entreaties (O. R. commiseration).

b death by legal deed seizing everything.

e conductor.

[Dies.

last!

[Dies.

Only a few moments elapse when the Friar, calculating the duration of Juliet's insensibility, hastens to the Monument that he may release her.

Fri. Saint Francis be my speed! how oft to-night

Have my old feet 'stumbled at 'graves!-Who's there?
Alack, alack! what 'blood is this, which stains
The stony entrance of this sepulchre?-

...

Romeo? O, dead!-Who else? What, Paris too?
And steeped in blood?-Ah! what an unkind hour
Is guilty of this lamentable chance!-The lady stirs!
Juliet slowly recovers consciousness.

Jul. O comfortable Friar! ... Where is my lord?
I do remember well where I 'should be,

And there I 'am.-Where is my

Romeo?

The night watchmen from the city, aroused by Balthazar, are audibly approaching:

Fri. I hear some noise!-Lady, come from that nest
Of death, contagion, and 'unnatural sleep:
A greater Power than we can 'contradict
Hath thwarted our intents: come, come away!
Thy husband in thy bosom there lies 'dead;
Stay not to question, for the Watch is coming;
Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will 'not away.-

What 's here? a phial in my true love's hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.
O churl! drink 'all, and leave no friendly drop,
To help 'me after ?—I will kiss thy lips;
Haply, some poison yet doth hang on 'them.
The Watchmen are heard still nearer,

Yea, noise?-then I 'll be brief.-O happy dagger!

stabs herself

d

Exit

Friar.

[Snatching Romeo's dagger.

This is thy sheath; [] there rest, and let me die!

[Dies.

Juliet falls lifeless on Romeo's corpse. The Friar, revealing all, is forgiven by the Prince: and Capulet and Montague promise to raise a statue of pure gold to commemorate this tragedy of their children.

How truly may we exclaim with the Prince-whether we contemplate the simplicity of the plot-its conduct-its poetry—or its power over the heart

"There never was a story of more woe,
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

END OF ROMEO AND JULIET.

a the city guard.

bO. R. a cup closed. C O. R. left.

d O. R. rust.

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.

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This tragedy of "Troilus and Cressida" is supposed to have been founded on a lost composition, produced in 1599, named the "Tragedy of Agamemnon". In 1603, a play called "Troilus and Cressida (but without the author's name,) was entered in the Stationers' Register "As yt is acted by my Lord Chamberlen's Men;" but no copy is known to exist. In 1609, two publications appeared, both by William Shakespeare: and to one of these there is a curious eulogistic preface; stating that it is "a new play, never staled with the stage, never clapper-clawed with the palms of the vulgar, and yet passing full of the palm comical." It would thus appear that the play was printed before it was performed. The second copy, however, shows that it was acted at Shakespeare's theatre (the "Globe") in the same year, (1609).b It appears to have become the policy of the managers of the "Globe" not to print any of their partner's plays; so, with the exception of "King Lear" and "Troilus and Cressida ". '—no play of Shakespeare's was separately published after 1603.

In the folio of 1623, this play is not included in the catalogue of the Tragedies, but it appears to have been hastily inserted (as an after-thought on the part of the Editors) between the last Historical play and the first Tragedy, having no connection with what precedes or follows: it is neither paged, nor signatured, nor divided into Acts and Scenes.

The story is connected with that of the Siege of Troy in the twelfth century B. C.; not as eternized in the great Homeric poem, where the mighty combatants appear almost more than mortal; but, on the contrary, degrading them into common men, with their full share of frailties, weaknesses, and vices; while the heroines form marked exceptions to the general purity of Shake

a That there was a preceding play, having the same name, is proved by the following extracts from Henslow's Diary:

April 7, 1599. Lent unto Thomas Downton to lende unto Mr. Deckers and harey cheatell (Harry Chettle) in earnest of their boocke called Troyeles and Creassedaye, the some of iii lb."

It appears, from a later entry, that the name of the Tragedy was changed before it was performed:

"Lent unto Mr. Deckers and Mr. Chettel the 26 of maye, 1599, in earnest of a booke called Troylles and Creseda the sum of xx s." But in this entry a line is drawn through the name, and "the tragedie of Agamemnon " written over it.

And again: "Paid unto the Master of the Revells man for lycensyng of a boocke called the Tragedie of Agamemnon, the 3 of June 1599, vii s." But these plays, if performed or printed, are no longer in existence.

b The following are the rival title-pages to the same version (1609):

(1) The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid, excellently expressing the beginning of their loves, with the conceited wooing of Pandarus, Prince of Licia. Written by William Shakespeare."

(2) The Historie of Troylus and Cresseida. As it was acted by the Kings Maiesties servants at the Globe Written by William Shakespeare."

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