Page:The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Iuliet (1623).djvu/21



Iuli. Madam I am here, what is your will?

Wife. This is the matter. Nurſe giue leaue a while, we muſt talke in ſecret. Nurſe come back againe, I haue remembred me, thou'ſe heare our counſell. Thou knoweſt my daughter's of a pretty age.

Nurſe. Faith I can tell her Age vnto an houre.

Wife. Shees not fourteene.

Nurſe. Ile lay fourteene of my teeth, & yet to my teene be it ſpoken, I haue but foure, shees not fourteene. How long is it now to Lammas tide?

Wife. A fortnight and odde dayes.

Nurſe. Euen or odd, of all daies in the yeere come Lammas Eue at night ſhall ſhe be fourteene. Suſan ''and ſhe, God rest all Chriſtian fouls, were of an age. Well Suſan is with God, ſhee was to good for me. But as I ſaid on Lammas Eue at night ſhall ſhee bee fourteene, then ſhall ſhee marrie, I remember it well. Tis ſince the Earth-quake now eleuen yeares, and ſhe was weand I never ſhall forget it, of all the daies of the yeare vpon that day: for I had then laid worme-wood to my dug ſitting in the Sunne vnder the Doue houſe wall. My Lord and you were then at Mantua, nay I doe beare a braine. But as i ſaide, when it did taſt the worme-wood on the nipple of my Dugge, and felt it bitter, pretty foole, to ſee it teachie and fall out with the Dug, Shake quoth the Doue-houſe, twas no neede I trow to bid mee trudge: and ſince that time it is a leuen yeares, for then ſhee could ſtand alone, nay bi'throode ſhe could haue runne and wadled all about: for euen the day before ſhe broke her brow, and then my Huſband, God by with his ſoule, a was a merry man, tooke vp the child, yea quote hee, doeſt thou fall vpon thy face? thou wilt fall backeward when thou haſt more wit, wilt thou not'' Iule? ''And by my holy dam, the pretty wretch left crying, and ſaid I: to ſee now how a Ieſt ſhall come about. I warrant, and I ſhall liue a thouſand yeares, I neuer ſhould forget it: wilt thou not Iule quoth he? and pretty foole it ſtinted, and ſaid I.''

Old La. Inough of this, I pray thee hold thy peace.

Nurſe. ''Yes Madam, yet I cannot chuſe but laugh, to thinke it ſhould leaue crying and ſay I: and yet I warrant it had vpon it brow, a bumpe as big as a young Cockrels ſtone? a perilous knock, and it cried bitterly. Yea quote my huſband, faliſt vpon they face, thou wilt fall''