Tyb. I am for you. Rom. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up. [Drawing. Mer. Come, sir, your passado. [They fight. Rom. Draw, Benvolio; Beat down their weapons:-Gentlemen, for shame Forbear this outrage; -Tybalt-Mercutio The prince expressly hath forbid this bandying In Verona streets:-hold, Tybalt; -good Mercutio. [Exeunt TYBALT and his Partizans. Mer. I am hurt; A plague o' both the houses!-I am sped:- 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 arithmetick!-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 Hath been my kinsman:-O sweet Juliet, Re-enter BENVOLIO. Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead; That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds, 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!"- here, Shalt with him hence. 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! * This day's black fate on more days doth depend;] This day's unhappy destiny hangs over the days yet to come. There will yet be more mischief. 5 6 respective lenity, Cool, considerate gentleness. be my conduct now!] Conduct for conductor. Rom. O! I am fortune's fool! Why dost thou stay? [Exit ROMEO. Enter Citizens, &c. 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. Prin. 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 Prin. Benvolio, who began this bloody fray? slay; Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd, Could not take truce with the unruly spleen 7 as thou art true, As thou art just and upright. * How nice-] How slight, how unimportant, how petty. Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts Hold, friends! friends, part! and, swifter than his tongue, His agile arm beats down their fatal points, An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life La. Cap. He is a kinsman to the Montague, Prin. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio; Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe? Mon. Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend; His fault concludes but, what the law should end, The life of Tybalt. • Affection makes him false,] 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. Prin. And, for that offence, Immediately we do exíle him hence: I have an interest in your hates' proceeding, SCENE II. Room in Capulet's House. Enter JULIET. [Exeunt. Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, By their own beauties: or, if love be blind, 1 Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night! That run-away's eyes may wink; &c.] Juliet first wishes for the absence of the sun, and then invokes the night to spread its curtain close around the world: Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night! Next, recollecting that the night would seem short to her, she speaks of it as of a run-away, whose flight she would wish to retard, and whose eyes she would blind, lest they should make discoveries. |