Internet Shakespeare Editions

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: Roger Apfelbaum
Peer Reviewed

Romeo and Juliet (Quarto 2, 1599)

The most lamentable Tragedie
Nur. Tybalt is gone and Romeo banished,
1720Romeo that kild him he is banished.
Iuli. O God, did Romeos hand shead Tibalts bloud?
It did, it did, alas the day, it did.
Nur. O serpent heart, hid with a flowring face.
1725Iu. Did euer draggon keepe so faire a Caue?
Bewtifull tirant, fiend angelicall:
Rauenous douefeatherd rauē, woluishrauening lamb,
Despised substance of diuinest showe:
1730Iust opposite to what thou iustly seem'st,
A dimme saint, an honourable villaine:
O nature what hadst thou to do in hell
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend,
In mortall paradise of such sweete flesh?
1735Was euer booke containing such vile matter
So fairely bound? ô that deceit should dwell
In such a gorgious Pallace.
Nur. Theres no trust, no faith, no honestie in men,
All periurde, all forsworne, all naught, all dissemblers.
1740Ah wheres my man? giue me some Aqua-vitae:
These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old,
Shame come to Romeo.
Iu. Blisterd be thy tongue
For such a wish, he was not borne to shame:
1745Vpon his brow shame is asham'd to sit:
For tis a throane where honour may be crownd
Sole Monarch of the vniuersal earth.
O what a beast was I to chide at him?
Nur. Wil you speak wel of him that kild your cozin?
Iu. Shall I speake ill of him that is my husband?
Ah poor my lord, what tongue shal smooth thy name,
When I thy three houres wife haue mangled it?
But wherefore villaine didst thou kill my Cozin?
1755That villaine Cozin would haue kild my husband:
Backe foolish teares, backe to your natiue spring,
Your tributarie drops belong to woe,
Which