Page:Romeo and Juliet (1917) Yale.djvu/101

Romeo and Juliet, IV. i

Take thou this vial, being then in bed,

And this distilling liquor drink thou off;

When presently through all thy veins shall run

A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse

Shall keep his native progress, but surcease;

No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou liv'st;

The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade

To paly ashes; thy eyes' windows fall,

Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;

Each part, depriv'd of supple government,

Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death;

And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death

Thou shalt continue two-and-forty hours,

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:

Then—as the manner of our country is—

In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier,

Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault

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

Will watch thy waking, and that very night

Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.

And this shall free thee from this present shame;

If no unconstant toy, nor womanish fear,

Abate thy valour in the acting it.

Jul. Give me, give me. O! tell me not of fear!

''Fri. L''. Hold; get you gone, be strong and prosperous

In this resolve. I'll send a friar with speed

 96 drowsy: sleep inducing

humour: fluid

97 native progress: natural motion

surcease: cease

104 borrow'd: counterfeit

119 toy: whim

122 Hold: Here, take it 