Par. Thy face is mine, and thou hast slander'd it. 35
Jul. It may be so, for it is not mine own.
Are you at leisure, holy father, now;
Or shall I come to you at evening mass?
Fri. L. My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now.
My lord, we must entreat the time alone.[1185] 40
Par. God shield I should disturb devotion![1186]
Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse ye:[1187]
Till then, adieu, and keep this holy kiss.[1187][1188] [Exit.
Jul. O, shut the door, and when thou hast done so,[1189]
Come weep with me; past hope, past cure, past help![1190] 45
Fri. L. Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief;[1191]
It strains me past the compass of my wits:[1192]
I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it,
On Thursday next be married to this county.[1193]
Jul. Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of this,[1194] 50
Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it:
If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help,
Do thou but call my resolution wise,
And with this knife I'll help it presently.[1195]
God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands; 55
And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo's seal'd,[1196]
Shall be the label to another deed,
Or my true heart with treacherous revolt
Turn to another, this shall slay them both:
Therefore, out of thy long-experienced time,[1197] 60
Give me some present counsel; or, behold,
'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife
Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that[1198]
Which the commission of thy years and art[1199]
Could to no issue of true honour bring. 65
Be not so long to speak; I long to die,[1200]
If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy.
Fr. L. Hold, daughter: I do spy a kind of hope,
Which craves as desperate an execution[1201]
As that is desperate which we would prevent. 70
If, rather than to marry County Paris,
Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,[1202]
Then is it likely thou wilt undertake[1203]
A thing like death to chide away this shame,
That copest with death himself to 'scape from it;[1204] 75
And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy.[1205]
Jul. O, bid me leap, rather than many Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;[1206]
Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk[1207]
Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;[1207] 80
Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house,[1208]
O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones,[1209]
With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;[1210]
Or bid me go into a new-made grave,
And hide me with a dead man in his shroud;[1211] 85
Things that to hear them told, have made me tremble;[1212]
And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.[1213]
Fri. L. Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent[1214]
To marry Paris: Wednesday is to-morrow;[1214][1215] 90
To-morrow night look that thou lie alone,[1214]
Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber:[1214][1216]
Take thou this vial, being then in bed,[1214]
And this distilled liquor drink thou off:[1217]
When presently through all thy veins shall run 95
A cold and drowsy humour; for no pulse[1218]
Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:[1218]
No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest;[1219]
The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade[1220]
To paly ashes; thy eyes' windows fall,[1221] 100
Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;[1222]
Each part, deprived of supple government,[1223]
Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death:[1223]
And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death[1224]
Thou shalt continue two and forty hours, 105
And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.
Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes
To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead:[1225]
Then, as the manner of our country is,
In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier[1226] 110
Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault[1227]
Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.
In the mean time, against thou shalt awake,
Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift;
And hither shall he come: and he and I[1228] 115
Will watch thy waking, and that very night[1228]
Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.
And this shall free thee from this present shame,[1229]
If no inconstant toy nor womanish fear[1230]
Abate thy valour in the acting it. 120