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  • Title: Romeo and Juliet (Quarto 1, 1597)
  • Editor: Roger Apfelbaum
  • ISBN: 1-55058-299-2

    Copyright Internet Shakespeare Editions. This text may be freely used for educational, non-proift purposes; for all other uses contact the Coordinating Editor.
    Author: William Shakespeare
    Editor: Roger Apfelbaum
    Not Peer Reviewed

    Romeo and Juliet (Quarto 1, 1597)

    of Romeo and Iuliet.


    Enter Romeo and Iuliet at the window.

    Iul:Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet nere day,
    It was the Nightingale and not the Larke
    2035That pierst the fearfull hollow of thine eare:
    Nightly she sings on yon Pomegranate tree,
    Beleeue me loue, it was the Nightingale.
    Rom:It was the Larke, the Herald of the Morne,
    And not the Nightingale. See Loue what enuious strakes
    2040Doo lace the seuering clowdes in yonder East.
    Nights candles are burnt out, and iocond Day
    Stands tiptoes on the mystie mountaine tops.
    I must be gone and liue, or stay and dye.
    Iul:Yon light is not day light, I know it I:
    2045It is some Meteor that the Sunne exhales,
    To be this night to thee a Torch-bearer,
    And light thee on thy way to Mantua.
    Then stay awhile, thou shalt not goe soone.
    Rom:Let me stay here, let me be tane, and dye:
    2050If thou wilt haue it so, I am content.
    Ile say yon gray is not the Mornings Eye,
    It is the pale reflex of Cynthias brow.
    Ile say it is the Nightingale that beares
    The vaultie heauen so high aboue our heads,
    2055And not the Larke the Messenger of Morne.
    Come death and welcome, Iuliet wils it so.
    What sayes my Loue? lets talke, tis not yet day.
    Iul:It is, it is, be gone, flye hence away.
    It is the Larke that sings so out of tune,
    2060Straining harsh Discords and vnpleasing Sharpes.
    Some say, the Larke makes sweete Diuision:
    G3 Thia