sobs her fearefull talke haue broken The syre whose swelling worth her teares could not asswage With fiery eyen and skarlet cheekes thus spake her in his rage Whilst ruthfully stood by the maydens mother mylde Listen quoth he vnthankfull and thou disobedient childe Hast thou so soone let slip out of thy mynde the woord That thou so often times hast heard rehearsed at my boord How much the Romayne youth of parentes stood in awe And eke what powre vpon theyr seede the fathers had by lawe Whom they not onely might pledge alienate and sell When so they stoode in neede but more if children did rebell The parentes had the power of lyfe and sodayn death What if those goodmen should agayne receaue the liuyng breth In how straight bondes would they thy stubberne body bynde What weapons would they seeke for thee what tormentes would they fynde To chasten if they saw the lewdnes of thy lyfe Thy great vnthankfulnes to me and shamefull sturdy strife Such care thy mother had so deere then wert to me That I with long and earnest â—ute prouided haue for thee One of the greatest lordes that wonnes about this towne And for his many vertues sake a man of great renowne Of whom both thou and I vnworthy are too much So riche ere long he shalbe left his fathers welth is such Such is the noblenes and honor of the race From whence his father came and yet thou playest in this case The dainty foole and stubberne gyrle for want of skill Thou dost refuse thy offred weale and disobay my will Euen by his strength I sweare that fyrst did geue me lyfe And gaue me in my youth the strength to get thee on my wyfe On lesse by wensday next thou bende as I am bent And at our castle cald free towne thou freely doe assent To Counte Paris sute and promise to agree To whatsoeuer then shall passe twixt him my wife and me Not onely will I geue all that I haue away From thee to those that shall me loue me honor and obay But also too so close and to so hard a gayle I shall thee wed for all thy life that sure thou shalt not fayle A thousand times a day to wishe for sodayn death And curse the day and howre when first thy lunges did geue thee breath Aduise thee well and say that thou art warned now And thinke not that I speake in sport or mynd to breake my vowe For were it not that I to Counte Paris gaue My fayth which I must kepe vnfalst my honor so to saue Ere thou goe hence my selfe would see thee chastned so That thou shouldst once for all be taught thy duetie how to knowe And what reuenge of olde the angry syres did finde Against theyr children that rebeld and shewd them selfe vnkinde These sayd the olde man straight is gone in hast a way Ne for his daughters imswere â–ª would the testy father stay And after him his wife doth follow out of doore And there they leaue theyr chidden chylde kneeling vpon the floore Then she that oft had seene the fury of her syre Dreading what might come of his rage nould farther styrre his yre Vnto her chamber she withdrew her selfe aparte Where she was wonted to vnlode the sorowes of her hart There did she not so much busy her eyes in sleping As ouerprest with restles thoughts in piteous booteles weping The fast falling of teares make not her teares decrease Ne by the powring forth of plaint the cause of plaint doth cease So that to thend the mone and sorow may decaye The best is that she seeke some meane to take the cause away Her wery bed betime the wofull wight forsakes And to sainct Frauncis church to masse her way deuoutly takes The fryer forth is calde she prayes him heare her shrift Deuocion is in so yong yeres a rare and precious gyft When in her tender knees the dainty lady kneeles In minde to powre forth all the greefe that inwardly she feeles With sighes and salted teares her shryuing doth beginne Forshe of heaped sorowes hath to speake and not of sinne Her voyce with piteous plaint was made already horce And hasty sobs when she would speake brake of her woordes parforce But as she may peece meale she powreth in his lappe The mariage newes a mischief newe prepared by mishappe Her parentes promisse erst to Counte Paris past Her fathers threats she telleth him and thus concludes at last Once was I wedded well ne will I wed agayne For since I know I may not be the wedded wyfe of twayne For I am bound to haue one God ene fayth one make My purpose is as soone as I shall hence my iorney take With these two handes which ioynde vnto the heauens I stretch The hasty death which I desire vnto my selfe to reache This day O Romeus this day thy wofull wife Will 〈◊〉 the end of all her eares by ending carefull lyfe So my departed sprite shall witnes to the skye And eke my blood vnto the earth beare record how that I Haue kept my fayth vnbroke stedfast vnto my frende When this her heauy tale was tolde her vowe eke at an ende Her gasing here and there her feerce and staring looke Did witnes that some lewd attempt her hart had vndertooke Whereat the fryer affonde and gaftfully afrayde Lest she by dede perfourme her woord thus much to her he sayde Ah lady Iuliet what nede the wordes you spake â–ª I pray you graunt me one request for blessed Maries sake Measure somewhat your greefe holde here a while your peace Whilst I bethinke me of your case your plaint and sorowes cease Such comfort will I geue you ere you part from hence And for thassaltes of Fortunes pre prepare so sure defence So holesome salue will I for your afflictions finde That you shall hence depart agayne with well contented mynde His wordes haue chased straight out of her hart despayre Her blacke and ougly dredfull thoughts by hope are waxen fayre So fryer Lawrence now hath left her there alone And he out of the church in hast is to his chaumber gone Where sundry thoughtes within his carefull head arise The old mans foresight diuers doutes hath set before his eyes His conscience one while condems it for a sinne To let her take Paris to spouse since he himselfe had byn The chefest cause that she vnknowne to father or mother Not fiue monthes past in that selfe place was wedded to another An other while an hugy heape of daungers dred His restles thought hath heaped vp within his troubled hed Euen of it selfe that tempt he iudgeth pertious The execucion eke he demes so much more daungerous That to a womans grace he must himselfe commit That yong is simple and vnware for waighty affaires vnfit For if the fayle in ought the matter published Both she and Romeus were vndonne himselfe eke punished When too and fro in mynde he dyuers thoughts had cast With tender pity and with ruth
parting sprite out of this carkas fled At ease shall finde my Romeus sprite emong so many ded And thou my louing lord Romeus my trusty feer If knowledge yet doe rest in thee if thou these woordes dost heer Receue thou her whom thou didst loue so lawfully That causd alas thy violent death although vnwillingly And therfore willingly offers to thee her gost To thend that no wight els but thou might haue iust cause to boste Thinioying of my loue which ay I haue reserued Free from the rest bound vnto thee that hast it well deserued That so our parted sprites from light that we see here In place of endlesse light and blisse may euer liue yfere These said her ruthlesse hand through gyrt her valiant hart Ah Ladies helpe with teares to wayle the ladies dedly smart She grones she stretcheth out her simmes she shuttes her eyes And from her corps the sprite doth fiye what should I say she dyes The watchemen of the towne the whilst are passed by And through the grates the candel light within the tombe they spye Wherby they did suppose inchaunters to be comme That with prepared instrumentes had opend wide the tombe In purpose to abuse the bodies of the ded Which by theyr science ayde abusde do stand them oft in sted Theyr curious harts desire the trueth herof to know Then they by certaine steppes descend where they do fynd below In clasped armes ywrapt the husband and the wyfe In whom as yet they seemd to see somme certaine markes of lyfe But when more curiously with leysure they did vew The certainty of both theyr deathes assuredly they knew Then here and there so long with carefull ere they sought That at the length hidden they found the murthrers so they thought In dongeon depe that night they lodgde them vnder grounde The next day do they tell the prince the mischefe that they found The newes was by and by throughout the towne dyspred Both of the takyng of the fryer and of the two found ded Thether might you haue seene whole housholdes forth to ronne For to the tombe where they did heare this wonder straunge was donne The great the small the riche the poore the yong the olde With hasly pace do ronne to see but rew when they behelde And that the murtherers to all men might be knowne Like as the murders brute abrode through all the towne was blowne The prince did straight ordaine the corses that wer founde Should be set forth vpon a stage hye raysed from the grounde Right in the selfe same fourme shewde forth to all mens sight That in the hollow valt they had been found that other night And eke that Romeus man and fryer Lawrence should Be openly examined for els the people would Haue murmured or faynd there were some wayghty cause Why openly they were not calde and so conuict by lawes The holy fryer now and reuerent by his age In great reproche set to the shew vpon the open stage A thing that ill beseemde a man of siluer heares His beard as whyte as mylke he bathes with great fast falling teares Whom straight the dredfull Iudge commaundeth to declare Both how this murther hath been donne aud who the murthrers are For that he nere the tombe was found at howres vnfitte And had with him those yron tooles for such a purpose fitte The frier was of liuely sprite and free of speche The Iudges woordes appald him not ne were his wittes to seeche But with aduised heed a while fyrst did he stay And then with bold assured voyce aloude thus gan he say My lordes there is not one emong you set togyther So that affection set aside by wisdome he consider My former passed lyfe and this my extreme age And eke this heauy sight the wreke of frantike Fortunes rage But that amased much doth wonder at this chaunge So great so sodainly befalne vnlooked for and straunge For I that in the space of .lx. yeres and tenne Since first I did begin to soone to leade my lyfe with men And with the worldes vaine thinges my selfe I did acquaint Was neuer yet in open place at any time attaynt With any cryme in waight as heauy as a rushe Ne is there any stander by can make me gylty blushe Although before the face of God doe confesse My selfe to be the sinfulst wretch of all this mighty presse When readiest I am and likeliest to make My great accompt which no man els for me shall vndertake When wormes the earth and death doe cyte me euery howre Tappeare before the iudgement seate of euerlasting powre And falling ripe I steppe vpon my graues brinke Euen then am I most wretched wight as eche of you doth thinke Through my most haynous deede with hedlong sway throwne downe In greatest daunger of my lyfe and domage of renowne The spring whence in your head this new conceite doth ryse And in your hart increaseth still your vayne and wrong surmise May be the hugenes of these teares of myne percase That so aboundantly downe fall by eyther syde my face As though the memory in scriptures were not kept That Christ our sauiour himselfe for ruth and pittie wept And more whoso will reade ywritten shall he fynde That teares are as true messengers of mans vngyltie mynde Orels a liker proofe that I am in the cryme You say these present yrone are and the suspected tyme. As though all howres alike had not been made aboue Did Christ not say the day had twelue whereby he sought to prone That no respect of howres ought iustly to be had But at all times men haue the choyce of dooing good or bad Euen as the sprite of God the hartes of men doth guyde Or as it leaueth them to stray from Vertues path asyde As for the yrons that were taken in my hand As now I deeme I neede not seeke to make ye vnderstande To what vse yron first was made when it began How of it selfe it helpeth not ne yet can helpe a man The thing that hurteth is the malice of his will That such indifferent thinges is wont to vse and order yll Thus much I thought to say to cause you so to know That neither these my piteous teares though nere so fast they flowe Ne yet these yron tooles nor the suspected time Can iustly prout the murther donne or damne me of the cryme No one of these hath powre ne power haue all the three To make me other then I am how so I seeme to be But sure my conscience if so my gylt deserue For an appeacher witnesse and a hangman eke should serue For through mine age whose heares of long time since were hore And credyt greate that I was in with you in time to fore And eke the soiorne short that I on earth must make That euery day and howre do loke my iourney hence to take My conscience inwardly should more torment me thrise Then all the outward deadly payne that all you could
the hurt you feele And with this new vprore confounde all this our common wele But they so busy are in fight so egar and feerce That through theyr eares his sage aduise no leysure had to pearce Then lept he in the throng to part and barre the blowes As well of those that were his frendes as of his dedly foes As soone as Tybalt had our Romeus espyde He threw a thrust at him that would haue past from side to side But Romeus euer went douting his foes well armde So that the swerd kept out by mayle hath nothing Romeus harmde Thou doest me wrong quoth he for I but part the fraye Not dread but other waighty cause my hasty hand doth stay Thou art the cheefe of thine the noblest eke thou art Wherfore leaue of thy malice now and helpe these folke to parte Many are hurt some slayne and some are like to dye No coward traytor boy ê™ he straight way I mynd to trye Whether thy sugred talke and tong so smootely fylde Against the force of this my swerd shall serue thee for a shylde And then at Romeus hed a blow he strake so hard That might haue cloue him to the brayne but for his cunning ward It was but lent to him that could repay agayne And geue him death for interest a well forborne gayne Right as a forest bore that lodged in the thicke Pinched with dog or els with speare ypricked to the quicke His bristles stiffe vpright vpon his backe doth set And in his fomy mouth his sharp and crooked tuskes doth whet Or as a Lyon wylde that rampeth in his rage His whelpes bereft whose fury can no weaker beast asswage Such seemed Romeus in euery others sight When he him shope of wrong receaude tauenge himselfe by fight Euen as two thunderboltes throwne downe out of the skye That through the ayre the massy earth and seas haue power to flye So met these two and while they chaunge a blowe or twayne Our Romeus thrust him through the throte and so is Tybalt slayne Loe here the ende of those that styrre a dedly stryfe Who thyrsteth after others death himselfe hath lost his life The Capilets are quaylde by Tybalts ouerthrowe The courage of the Mountagewes by Romeus sight doth growe The townes men waren strong the prince doth send his force The fray hath end the Capilets do bring the brethles corce Before the prince and craue that cruell dedly payne May be the guerdon of his falt that hath their kinsman slaine The Montagewes do pleade theyr Romeus voyde of falt The lookers on do say the fight begonne was by Tybalt The prince doth pawse and then geues sentence in a while That Romeus for sleying him should gone into exyle His foes would haue him hangde or sterue in prison strong His frendes do think but dare not say that Romeus hath wrong Both housholds straight are charged on payne of losing lyfe Theyr bloudy weapons layd aside to cease the styrred stryfe This common plage is spred through all the towne anon From side to syde the towne is fild with murmour and with mone For Tybalts hasty death bewayled was of somme Both for his skill in frates of armes and for in time to comme He should had this not chaunced been riche and of great powre To helpe his frendes and serue the state which hope within an howre Was wasted quite and he thus yelding vp his breath More then he holpe the towne in lyfe hath harmde it by his death And other somme bewayle but ladies most of all The lookeles lot by Fortunes gylt that is so late befall Without his falt vnto the seely Romeus For whilst that he from natife land shall liue exyled thus From heauenly bewties light and his welshaped parts The sight of which was wont faire dames to glad your youthfull harts Shall you be banishd quite and tyll he do retoorne What hope haue you to ioy what hope to cease to moorne This Romeus was borne so much in heauens grace Of Fortune and of nature so beloued that in his face Beside the heauenly bewty glistring ay so bright And seemely grace that wontes so to glad the seers sight A certain charme was graued by natures secret arte That vertue had to draw to it the loue of many a hart So euery one doth wish to beare a part of payne That he released of exyle might straight retorne agayne But how doth moorne emong the moorners Iuliet How doth she bathe her brest in teares what depe sighes doth she fet How doth she tear her heare her weede how doth she rent How fares the louer hearing of her louers banishment How wayles she Libalts death whom she had loued so well Her hearty greefe and piteous plaint cunning I want to tell For deluing depely now in depth of depe dispayre With wretched sorowes cruell sound she fils the empty ayre And to the lowest hell downe falles her heauy crye And vp vnto the heauens haight her piteous plaint doth flye The waters and the woods of sighes and sobs resounde And from the hard resounding rockes her sorowes do rebounde Eke from her teary eyne downe rayned many a showre That in the garden where she walkd might water herbe and flowre But when at length she saw her selfe outraged so Vnto her chaumber straight she hide there ouercharged with wo. Vpon her stately bed her painfull parts she threw And in so wondrous wise began her sorowes to renewe That sure no hart so hard but it of flint had byn But would haue rude the pitious plaint that she did languishe in Then rapt out of her selfe whilst she on euery side Did cast her restles eye at length the windowe she espide Through which she had with ioy seene Romeus many a time Which oft the ventrous knight was wont For Iuliets sake to clyme She cryde O cursed windowe a curst be euery pane Through which alas to one I raught the cause of life and bane If by thy meane I haue some slight delight receaued Or els such fading pleasure as by Fortune straight was reaued Hast thou not made me pay a tribute rigorous Of heaped greefe and lasting care and sorowes dolorous That these my tender partes which nedefull strength do lacke To beare so great vnweldy lode vpon so weake a backe Opprest with waight of cares and with these sorowes rife At length must open wide to death the gates of lothed lyfe That so my wery sprite may somme where els vnlode His dedly lode and free from thrall may seeke els where abrode For pleasant quiet ease and for assured rest Which I as yet could neuer finde but for my more vnrest O Romeus when first we both acquainted were When to thy paynted promises I lent my listning eare Which to the brinkes you fild with many a solemne othe And I them iudgde empty of gyle and fraughted full of troth I thought you rather would continue our good will And seeke tappease our fathers strife which daily
fryre vnto his tale replye That he straight cared for his life that erst had care to dye Art thou quoth he a man Thy shape saith so thou art Thy crying and thy weping eyes denote a womans hart For manly reason is quite from of thy mynd outchased And in her stead affections lewd and fansies highly placed So that I stoode in doute this howre at the least If thou a man or woman wert or els a brutish beast A wise man in the midst of troubles and distres Still standes not wayling present harme but seeks his harmes redres As when the winter flawes with dredfull noyse arise And heaue the fomy swelling waues vp to the starry skies So that the broosed barke in cruell seas betost Dispayreth of the happy hauen in daunger to be lost The pylate bold at helme cryes mates strike now your sayle And tornes her stemme into the waues that strongly her assayle Then driuen hard vpon the bare and wrackfull shore In greater daunger to be wract then he had been before He seeth his ship full right against the rocke to ronne But yet he dooth what lyeth in hun the perilous rocke to shonne Sometimes the beaten boate by cunning gouernment The ancors lost the cables broke and all the tackle spent The roder smitten of and ouer boord the mast Doth win the long desyred porte the stormy daunger past But if the master dread and ouerprest with woe Begin to wring his handes and lets the gyding rodder goe The ship rents on the rocke or sinketh in the deepe And eke the coward drenched is So if thou still be weepe And seke not how to helpe the chaunges that do chaunce Thy cause of sorow shall increase thou cause of thy mischaunce Other account thee wise prooue not thy selfe a foole Now put in practise lessons learnd of old in wisdomes schoole The wise man saith beware thou double not thy payne For one perhaps thou mayst abyde but hardly suffer twayne As well we ought to seeke thinges hurtfull to decrease As to endeuor helping thinges by study to increase The prayse of trew fredom in wisdomes bondage lyes He winneth blame whose deedes be fonde although his woords be wise Sickenes the bodies gayle greefe gayle is of the mynd If thou canst scape from heauy greefe true fredome shalt thou finde Fortune can fill nothing so full of hearty greefe But in the same a constant mynd Finds solace and releefe Vertue is alwayes thrall to troubles and annoye But wisdome in aduersitie findes cause of quiet ioye And they most wretched are that know no wretchednes And afther great extremity mishaps ay waxen lesse Like as there is no weale but wastes away somtime So euery kind of wayled woe will weare away in time If thou wilt master quite the troubles that the spill Endeuor first by reasons help to master witles will A sondry medson hath eche sondry faynt disease But pacience a common salue to euery wound geues ease The world is alway full of chaunces and of chaunge Wherfore the chaunge of chaunce must not seeme to a wise man straunge For tickel Fortune doth in chaunging but her kind But all her chaunges cannot chaunge a steady constant minde Though wauering Fortune toorne from thee her smyling face And sorow seeke to set him selfe in banishd pleasures place Yet may thy marred state be mended in a while And she eftsones that frowneth now with pleasant cheere shall smyle For as her happy state no long whyle standeth sure Euen so the heauy plight she brings not alwayes doth endure What nede so many woordes to thee that art so wyse Thou better canst aduise thy selfe then I can thee aduyse Wisdome I see is vayne if thus in time of neede A wise mans wit vnpractised doth stand him in no steede I know thou hast some cause of sorow and of care But well I wot thou hast no cause thus frantikly to fare Affections foggy mist thy febled sight doth blynde But if that reasons beames agayne might shine into thy mynde If thou wouldst view thy state with an indifferent eye I thinke thou wouldst condemne thy plaint thy sighing and thy crye With valiant hand thou madest thy foe yeld vp his breth Thou hast escapd his swerd and eke the lawes that threatten death By thy escape thy frendes are fraughted full of ioy And by his death thy deadly foes are laden with annoy Wilt thou with trusty frendes of pleasure take some part Or els to please thy hatefull foes be partner of theyr smart Why cryest thou out on loue why doest thou blame thy fate Why dost thou so crye after death thy life why dost thou hate Dost thou repent the choyce that thou so late didst choose Loue is thy Lord thou oughtest obay and not thy prince accuse For thou hast found thou knowst great fauour in his sight He graunted thee at thy request thy onely hartes delight So that the Gods enuyde the blisse thou liuedst in To geue to such vnthankefull men is folly and a sin He thinkes I heare thee say the cruell banishment Is onely cause of thy vnrest onely thou dost lament That from thy natife land and frendes thou must depart Enforsd to flye from her that hath the keping of thy hart And so opprest with waight of smart that thou dost feele Thou dost complaine of Cupides brand and Fortunes turning wheele Vnto a valiant hart there is no banishment All countreys are his natiue soyle beneath the firmament As to the fishe the sea as to the fowle the ayre So is like pleasant to the wise eche place of his repayre Though froward Fortune chase thee hence into exyle With doubled honor shall she call thee home within a whyle Admyt thou shouldst abyde abrode a yere or twayne Should so short absence cause so long and eke so greeuous payne Though thou ne mayst thy frendes here in Verona see They are not banishd Mantua where safely thou mast be Thether they may resort though thou resort not hether And there in suretie may you talke of your affayres together Yea but this whyle alas thy Iuliet must thou misse The onely piller of thy helth and ancor of thy blisse Thy hart thou leauest with her when thou dost hence depart And in thy brest inclosed bearst her tender frendly hart But if thou rew so much to leaue the rest behinde With thought of passed ioyes content thy vncontented mynde So shall the mone decrease wherwith thy mynd doth melt Compared to the heauenly ioyes which thou hast often felt He is too nyse a weakeling that shrinketh at a showre And he vnworthy of the sweete that tasteth not the sowre Call now againe to mynde thy first consuming flame How didst thou vainely burne in loue of an vnlouing dame Hadst thou not welnigh wept quite out thy swelling eyne Did not thy parts fordoon with payne languishe away and pyne Those greefes and others like were happly ouerpast And thou in haight of Fortunes wheele well placed at the
last From whence thou art now falne that raysed vp agayne With greater ioy a greater while in pleasure mayst thou raygne Compare the present while with times ypast before And thinke that Fortune hath for thee great pleasure yet in store The whilst this little wrong receiue thou paciently And what of force must nedes be done that doe thou willingly Foly it is to feare that thou canst not auoyde And madnes to desire it much that can not be enioyde To geue to Fortune place not ay deserueth blame But skill it is according to the times thy selfe to frame Whilst to this skilfull lore he lent his listning eares His sighes are stopt and stopped are the conduits of his teares As blackest cloudes are chaced by winters nimble winde So haue his reasons chaced care out of his carefull mynde As of a morning fowle ensues an euening fayre So banisht hope returneth home to banish his despayre Now is affections veale remoued from his eyes He seeth the path that he must walke and reson makes him wise For very shame the blood doth flashe in both his cheekes He thankes the father for his lore and farther ayde he seekes He sayth that skilles youth for counsell is vnfitte And anger oft with hastines are ioind to want of witte But sound aduise aboundes in heddes with horishe heares For wisdom is by practise wonne and perfect made by yeares But aye from this time forth his ready bending will Shalbe in awe and gouerned by fryer Lawrence skill The gouernor is nowe right carefull of his charge To whom he doth wisely discoorse of his affaires at large He telles him how he shall depart the towne vnknowne Both mindfull of his frendes safetie and carefull of his owne How he shall gyde him selfe how he shall seeke to winne The frendship of the better sort how warely to crepe in The fauour of the Mantuan prince and how he may Appease the wrath of Escalus and wipe the fault away The choller of his foes by gentle meanes tasswage Or els by force and practises to bridle quite theyr rage And last he chargeth him at his appointed howre To goe with manly mery cheere vnto his ladies bowre And there with hole some woordes to salue her sorowes smart And to reuiue if nede require her faint and dying hart The old mans woords haue fild with ioy our Romeus brest And eke the olde wiues talke hath set our Iuliets hart at rest Whereto may I compare O louers this your day Like dayes the painefull mariners are woonted to assay For beat with tempest great when they at length espye Some little beame of Phoebus light that perceth through the skie To cleare the shadowde earth by clearenes of his face They hope that dreadles they shall ronne the remnant of their race Yea they assure them selfe and quite behynd theyr backe They cast all doute and thanke the Gods for scraping of the wracke But straight the boysterous windes with greater fury blowe And ouer boord the broken mast the stormy blastes doe throwe The heauens large are clad with cloudes as darke as hell And twise as hye the striuing waues begin to roare and swell With greater daungers dred the men are vexed more In greater perill of their lyfe then they had been before The golden sonne was gonne to lodge him in the west The full moone eke in yonder South had sent most men to rest When restles Romeus and restles Iuliet In woonted sort by woonted meane in Iuliets chaumber met And from the windowes top downe had he leaped scarce When she with armes outstretched wide so hard did him embrace That welnigh had the sprite not forced by dedly force Flowne vnto death before the time abandoning the corce Thus muet stoode they both the eight part of an howre And both would speake but neither had of speaking any powre But on his brest her hed doth ioylesse Iuliet lay And on her slender necke his chyn doth ruthfull Romeus stay Their scalding sighes ascende and by their cheekes dowue fall Their trickling teares as christall cleare but bitterer farre then gall Then he to end the greefe which both they liued in Did kysse his loue and wisely thus hys tale he dyd begin My Iuliet my loue my onely hope and care To you I purpose not as now with length of woords declare The diuersenes and eke the accidents so straunge Of frayle vnconstant Fortune that delyteth still in chaunge Who in a moment heaues her frendes vp to the height Of her swift turning slippery wheele then fleetes her frendship straight O wondrous chaunge euen with the twinkling of an eye Whom erst her selfe had rashly set in pleasant place so hye The same in great despyte downe hedlong doth she throwe And while she treades and spurneth at the lofty state laid lowe More sorow doth she shape within an howers space Then pleasure in an hundred yeres so geyson is her grace The proofe wherof in me alas too plaine apperes Whom tenderly my carefull frendes haue fostered with my feers In prosperous high degree mayntayned so by fate That as your selfe did see my foes enuyde my noble state One thing there was I did aboue the rest desire To which as to the soueraigne good by hope I would aspyre Thol by our mariage meane we might within a while To woorke our perfect happines our parentes reconsile That safely so we might not stopt by sturdy strife Vnto the boundes that God hath set gyde forth our pleasant lyfe But now alacke too soone my blisse is ouerblowne And vpside downe my purpose and my enterprise are throwne And driuen from my frendes of straungers must I craue O graunt it God from daungers dread that I may suertie haue For loe henceforth I must wander in landes vnknowne So hard I finde the princes doome exyled from mine owne Which thing I haue thought good to set before your eyes And to exhort you now to proue your selfe a woman wise That paciently you beare my absent long abod For what aboue by fatall doomes decreed is that God And more then this to say it seemed he was bent But Iuliet in dedly greefe with brackish teares besprent Brake of his tale begonne and whilst his speche he stayde These selfe same wordes or like to these with dreery chere she sayde Why Romeus can it be thou hast so hard a hart So farre remoued from ruth so farre from thinking on my smart To leaue me thus alone thou cause of my distresse Beseged with so great a campe of mortall wretchednesse That euery hower now and moment in a day A thousand times death bragges as he would reaue my life away Yet such is my mishap O cruell destenye That still I liue and wish for death but yet can neuer dye So that iust cause I haue to thinke as seemeth me That froward Fortune did of late with cruell death agree To lengthen lothed life to pleasure in my payne And tryumph in my harme as in the greatest hoped
gayne And thou the instrument of Fortunes cruell will Without whose ayde she can no way her tyrans lust fulfill Art not a whit ashamde as farre as I can see To cast me of when thou hast culd the better part of me Wherby alas to soone I seely wretch do proue That all the auncient sacred lawes of frendship and of loue Are quelde and quenched quite since he on whom alway My cheefe hope and my steady trust was wonted still to stay For whom I am becomme vnto my selfe a foe Disdayneth me his stedfast frend and scornes my frendship so Nay Romeus nay thou mayst of two thinges choose the one Either to see thy castaway as soone as thou art gone Hedlong to throw her selfe downe from the windowes haight And so to breake her siender necke with all the bodies waight Or suffer her to be companion of thy payne Where so thou goe Fortune thee gyde till thou retoorne agayne So wholy into thine transformed is my hart That euen as oft as I do thinke that thou and I shall part So oft me thinkes my life withdrawes it selfe awaye Which I retayne to no end els but to the end I may In spite of all thy foes thy present partes enioye And in distres to beare with thee the halfe of thine annoye Wherfore in humble sort Romeus I make request If euer tender pity yet were lodgde in gentle brest O let it now haue place to rest within thy hart Receaue me as thy seruant and the fellow of thy smart Thy absence is my death thy sight shall geue me life But if perhaps thou stand in dred to leade me as a wyfe Art thou all counsellesse canst thou no shift deuise What letteth but in other weede I may my selfe disguyse What shall I he the first hath none done so ere this To scape the bondage of theyr frendes thy selfe can aunswer yes Or dost thou stand in doute that I thy wife ne can By seruice pleasure thee as much as may thy hyred man Or is my loyalte of both accompted lesse Perhaps thou fearst lest I for gayne forsake thee in distresse What hath my bewty now no powre at all on you Whose brightnes force and praise somtime vp to the skyes you blew My teares my frendship and my pleasures donne of olde Shall they be quite forgote in dede when Romeus dyd behold The wildnes of her looke her cooler pale and ded The woorst of all that might betyde to her he gan to dred And once agayne he dyd in armes his Iuliet take And kist her with a louing kysse And thus to her he spake Ah Iuliet quoth he the mistres of my hart For whom euen now thy seruant doth abyde in dedly smart Euen for the happy dayes which thou desyrest to see And for the feruent frendships sake that thou dost owe to me At once these fansies vayne out of thy mynd roote out Except perhaps vnto thy blame thou fondly go about To hasten forth my death and to thine owne to ronne Which Natures law and wisdoms lore teache euery wight to shonne For but thou chaunge thy mynde I do foretell the ende Thou shalt vndoo thy selfe for ay and me thy trusty frende For why thy absence knowne thy father wilbe wroth And in his rage so narowly he will pursue vs both That we shall trye in vayne to scape away by flight And vainely seeke a loorking place to hyde vs from his sight Then we found out and caught quite voyde of strong defence Shall cruelly be punished for thy departure hence I as a rauishor thou as a careles childe I as a man who doth defile thou as a mayde defilde Thinking to leade in ease a long contented life Shall short our dayes by shamefull death but if my louing wife Thou banish from thy mynde two foes that counsell hath That wont to hinder sound aduise rashe hastines and wrath If thou be bend to bay the lore of reasons skill And wisely by her princely powre suppresse rebelling will If thou our safetie seeke more then thine owne delight Since suerty standes in parting and thy pleasures growe of sight For heare the cause of ioy and suffer for a while So shall I safely liue abrode and safe torne from exile So shall no slaunders blot thy spotles life destayne So shall thy kinsmen be vnstyrd and I exempt from payne And thinke thou not that aye the cause of care shall last These stormy broyles shall ouerblow much like a winters blast For Fortune chaungeth more then fickel fantasie In nothing Fortune constant is saue in vnconstancie Her hasty ronning wheele is of a restles coorse That turnes the clymers hedlong downe from better to the woorse And those that are beneth she heaueth vp agayne So we shall rise to pleasures mount out of the pit of payne Ere fowre monthes ouerpasse such order will I take And by my letters and my frendes such meanes I mynd to make That of my wandring race ended shalbe the royle And I cald home with honor great vnto my natiue soyle But if I be condemd to wander still in thrall I will returne to you mine owne befall what may befall And then by strength of frendes and with a mighty hand From Verone will I cary thee into a forein lande Not in mans weede disguisd or as one scarcely knowne But as my wife and onely feere in garment of thyne owne Wherfore represse at once the passions of thy hart And where there is no cause of greefe cause hope to heale thy smart For of this one thing thou mayst well assured bee That nothing els but onely death shall sunder me from thee The reasons that he made did seeme of so great waight And had with her such force that she to him gan aunswer straight Deere syr nought els wish I but to obay your will But sure where so you go your hart with me shall tary still As signe and certaine pledge tyll here I shall you see Of all the powre that ouer you your selfe did graunt to me And in hip stead take myne the gage of my good will One promesse craue I at your hand that graunt me to fulfill Fayle not to let me haue at fryer Lawrence hand The tydinges of your health and how your doutfull case shall stand And all the wery while that you shall spend abrode Cause me from time to time to knowe the place of your abode His eyes did gushe out teares a sigh brake from his brest When he did graunt and with an othe did vowe to kepe the hest Thus these two louers passe away the wery night In payne and plaint not as they wont in pleasure and delight But now somewhat too soone in farthest East arose Fayre Lucifer the golden starre that Lady Venus chose Whose course appoynted is with spedy race to ronne A messenger of dawning daye and of the rysing sonne Then freshe Aurora with her paie and siluer glade Did clear the skyes and from the earth had chased ougly
certaine bane should sinke Then I not drinking it into his handes should fall That hath no part of me as yet ne ought to haue at all Much more I ought with bold and with a willing hert To greatest daunger yelde my selfe and to the dedly smart To comme to him on whome my life doth wholy stay That is my onely hartes delight and so he shalbe aye Then goe quoth he my childe I pray that God on hye Direct thy foote and by thy hand vpon the way thee gye God graunt he so confirme in thee thy present will That no inconstant toy thee let thy promesse to fulfill A thousand thankes and more our Iuliet gaue the fryer And homeward to her fathers house ioyfull she doth retyre And as with stately gate she passed through the streete She saw her mother in the doore that with her there would meete In mynd to aske if she her purpose yet did holde In mynd also a part twixt them her duety to haue tolde Wherfore with pleasant face and with vnwonted chere As soone as she was vnto her approched sumwhat nere Before the mother spake thus did she fyrst begin Madame at sainct Frauncis churche haue I this morning byn Where I did make abode alonger while percase Then dewty would yet haue I not been absent from this place So long a while whithout a great and iust cause why This frute haue I receaued there my hart erst lyke to dye Is now reuiued agayne and my afflicted brest Released from affliction restored is to rest For lo my tronbled gost alas too sore diseasde By gostly counsell and aduise hath fryer Lawrence easde To whome I did at large discourse my former lyfe And in confession did I tell of all our passed strife Of Counte Paris sute and how my lord my syre By my vngrate and stubborne stryft I styrred vnto yre But lo the holy fryer hath by his gostly lore Made me another woman now then I had been before By strength of argumentes he charged so my mynde That though I sought no sure defence my serching thought could finde So forced I was at length to yelde vp witles will And promist to be orderd by the friers praysed skill Wherfore albeit I had rashely long before The bed and rytes of mariage for many yeres forswore Yet mother now behold your daughter at your will Ready if you commaunde her ought your pleasure to fulfill Wherfore in humble wise dere madam I you pray To goe vnto my lord and syre withouten long delay Of him fyrst pardon craue of faultes already past And shew him if it pleaseth you his child is now at last Obedient to his iust and to his skilfull hest And that I will god lending life on wensday next be prest â–ª To wayte on him and you vnto thappoynted place Where I will in your hearing and before my fathers face Vnto the Counte geue my fayth and whole assent To take him for my lord and spouse thus fully am I bent And that out of your mynde I may remoue all doute Vnto my closet fare I now to searche and to choose out The brauest garmentes and the richest iewels there Which better him to please I mynd on wensday next to weare For if I did excell the famous Gretian rape Yet might attyre helpe to amende my bewty and my shape The simple mother was rapt in to great delight Not halfe a word could she bring forth but in this ioyfull plight With nimble foote she ran and with vnwonted pace Vnto her pensiue husband and to him with pleasant face She tolde what she had heard and prayseth much the fryer And ioyfull teares ranne downe the cheekes of this gray berded fyer With handes and eyes heaued vp he thankes God in his hart And then he sayth this is not wife the friers first desart Oft hath he shewde to vs great frendship heretofore By helping vs at nedefull times with wisdomes pretious lore In all our common weale scarce one is to be founde But is for somme good torne vnto this holy father bounde Oh that the thyrd part of my goods I doe not fayne But twenty of his passed yeres might purchase him agayne So much in recompence of frendship would I geue So much in faith his extreme age my frendly hart doth greue These said the glad old man from home goeth straight abrode And to the stately palace hyeth where Paris made abode Whom he desyres to be on wensday next his geast At Freetowne where he myndes to make for him a costly feast But loe the Earle saith such feasting were but lost And counsels him till mariage time to spare so great a cost For then he knoweth well the charges wilbe great The whilst his hart desyreth still her sight and not his meate He craues of Capilet that he may straight go see Fayre Iuliet wher to he doth right willingly agree The mother warnde before her daughter doth prepare She warneth and she chargeth her that in no wyse she spare Her curteous speche her pleasant lookes and commely grace But liberally to geue them forth when Paris commes in place Which she as cunningly could set forth to the shewe As cunning craftesmen to the sale do set theie wares on rew That ere the County did out of her sight depart So secretly vnwares to him she stale away his hart That of his lyfe and death the wyly wench hath powre And now his longing hart thinkes long for theyr appoynted howre And with importune sute the parentes doth he pray The wedlocke knot to knit soone vp and hast the mariage day The woer hath past forth the first day in this sort And many other more then this in pleasure and disport At length the wished time of long hoped delight As Paris thought drew nere but nere approched heauy plight Against the bridall day the parentes did prepare Such rich attyre such furniture such store of dainty fare That they which did behold the same the night before Did thinke and say a man could scarcely wishe for any more Nothing did seeme to deere the deerest thinges were bought And as the written story saith in dede there wanted nought That longd to his degree and honor of his stocke But Iuliet the whilst her thoughts within her brest did locke Euen from the trusty nurce whose secretries was tryde The secret counsell of her hart the nurce childe seekes to hide For sith to mocke her dame she dyd not sticke to lye She thought no sinne with shew of truth to bleare her nurces eye In chamber-secretly the tale she gan renew That at the doore she tolde her dame as though it had been trew The flattring nurce did prayse the fryer for his skill And said that she had done right well by wit to order will She setteth foorth at large the fathers furious rage And eke she prayseth much to her the second mariage And County Paris now she praiseth ten times more By wrong then she her selfe by right