Jul. O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou

Romeo?

Deny thy father, and refuse thy name:
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Rom. Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

[Aside.

Jul. 'Tis but thy name, that is my enemy;-
Thou art thyself though, not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes,
Without that title:- Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Rom.
I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

Jul. What man art thou, that, thus bescreen'd in

night,

So stumblest on my counsel?

Rom.

By a name

I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee;

Had I it written, I would tear the word.

Jul. My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words Of that tongue's utterance3, yet I know the sound; Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?

Rom. Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike 4.
Jul. How cam'st thou hither, tell me? and where-
fore?

The orchard walls are high, and hard to climb;
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.

Rom. With love's light wings did I o'er-perch
these walls;

For stony limits cannot hold love out:
And what love can do, that dares love attempt,
Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me.

Jul. If they do see thee, they will murder thee. Rom. Alack! there lies more peril in thine eye, Than twenty of their swords 6; look thou but sweet, And I am proof against their enmity.

Jul. I would not for the world they saw thee here. Rom.. I have night's cloak to hide me from their

sight;

And, but thou love me, let them find me here:
My life were better ended by their hate,
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.

4 i. e. if either thee displease. This was the usual phraseology of Shakspeare's time. So it likes me well; for it pleases me well. 5 i. e. no stop, no hinderance. Thus the quarto of 1597. The subsequent copies read, 'no stop to me.'

6 Beaumont and Fletcher have copied this thought in The Maid in the Mill:

'The lady may command, sir;

She bears an eye more dreadful than your weapon.' 7 But is here again used in its exceptive sense, without or unless. See vol. i. p. 17, note 12; and vol. viii. p. 493, note 3.

8 i. e. postponed, delayed or deferred to a more distant period. So in Act iv. Sc. 1:

'I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it,
On Thursday next be married to the county.'

The whole passage above, according to my view of it, has the following construction :-' I have night to screen me;-yet unless thou love me, let them find me here. It were better that they ended my life at once, than to have death delayed, and to want thy love.'

Jul. By whose direction found'st thou out this place?

Rom. By love, who first did prompt me to inquire : He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes. I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far As that vast shore wash'd with the furthest sea, I would adventure for such merchandise.

Jul. Thou know'st, the mask of night is on my face; Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek, For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night. Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny What I have spoke; But farewell compliment9! Dost thou love me? I know, thou wilt say-Ay; And I will take thy word: yet, if thou swear'st, Thou mayst prove false; at lovers' perjuries, They say, Jove laughs 10. O, gentle Romeo, If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully :Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won, I'll frown, and be perverse, and say thee nay, So thou wilt woo: but, else, not for the world. In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond; And therefore thou may'st think my haviour light: But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true Than those that have more cunning to be strange 11. I should have been more strange, I must confess, But that thou over-heard'st, ere I was ware,

9 i. e. farewell attention to forms.

10 This Shakspeare found in Ovid's Art of Love; perhaps in Marlowe's translation

'For Jove himself sits in the azure skies,
And laughs below at lovers' perjuries.'

With the following beautiful antithesis to the above lines (says
Mr. Douce) every reader of taste will be gratified. It is given
memoriter from some old play, the name of which is forgotten :--
When lovers swear true faith, the list'ning angels

Stand on the golden battlements of heaven,
And waft their vows to the eternal throne.'

11 To be distant, or shy.

My true love's passion: therefore pardon me;
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered.

Rom. Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear,
That tips with silver 12 all these fruit-tree tops, —
Jul. O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.

Rom. What shall I swear by?

Jul.

Do not swear at all;

Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,

Which is the god of my idolatry,

And I'll believe thee.

Rom.

If my heart's dear love

Jul. Well, do not swear: although I joy in thee,

I have no joy of this contract to-night:
It is too rash, too unadvis'd, too sudden;
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be,
Ere one can say-It lightens 13. Sweet, good night!
This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night! as sweet repose and rest
Come to thy heart, as that within my breast!
Rom. O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?
Jul. What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?

12 This image struck Pope :

'The moonbeam trembling falls,

And tips with silver all the walls.'

And in the celebrated simile at the end of the eighth Iliad :'And tips with silver every mountain's head.'

13 So in The Miracles of Moses, by Drayton, 1604 :-

،

lightning ceaselessly to burn,

Swifter than thought from place to place to pass,
And being gone, doth suddenly return
Ere you could say precisely what it was.'

The same thought occurs in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
All the intermediate lines from ' Sweet, good night!' to 'Stay
but a little,' &c. were added after the first impression in 1597.

Rom. The 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. Would'st thou withdraw it? for what pur

pose, love?

Jul. But to be frank, and give it thee again.

And yet I wish but for the thing I have:
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.

[Nurse calls within.

I hear some noise within; Dear love, adieu!
Anon, good nurse! - Sweet Montague, be true.
Stay, but a little, I will come again.

[Exit.

Rom. O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard,
Being in night, all this is but a dream,
Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.

Re-enter JULIET, above.

Jul. Three words, dear Romeo, and good night,

indeed.

If that thy bent of love be honourable 14,
Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow,
By one that I'll procure to come to thee,

14 In Brooke's Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet she uses nearly the same expressions:

- If your thought be chaste, and have on virtue ground, If wedlock be the end and mark, which your desire hath

found,

Obedience set aside, unto my parents due,

The quarrel eke that long ago between our housholds grew, Both me and mine I will all whole to you betake,

And following you whereso you go, my father's house forsake: But if by wanton love and by unlawful suit

You think in ripest years to pluck my maidenhood's dainty

fruit

You are beguil'd, and now your Juliet you beseeks

To cease your suit, and suffer her to live among her likes.'