La. Cap. Oh me, this fight of death is as a bell, That warns my old age to a fepulcher.

Enter Montague.

Prince. Come, Montague, for thou art early up,
To fee thy son and heir now early down.

Mon. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to night;
Grief of my fon's exile hath ftop'd her breath :
What further woe confpires against my age?
Prince. Look, and thou fhalt fee.

Mon. Oh, thou untaught! what manners is in this, To prefs before thy father to a Grave?

Prince. Seal up the mouth of out-rage for a while, 'Till we can clear these ambiguities,

And know their spring, their head, their true descent;
And then will I be General of your woes,

And lead you ev'n to Death. Mean time forbear,
And let mifchance be flave to patience.
Bring forth the parties of fufpicion.

Fri. I am the greateft, able to do least,
Yet moft fufpected, as the time and place
Doth make againft me, of this direful murther;
And here I ftand both to impeach and purge

My felf condemned, and my felf excus'd.

Prince. Then fay at once what thou doft know in this, Fri. Iwill be brief, for my fhort date of breath Is not fo long as is a tedious tale.

Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet:
And fhe, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife :
I married them; and their ftoln marriage day
Was Tybalt's dooms-day, whofe untimely death
Banifh'd the new-made bridegroom from this city;
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pin'd.
You, to remove that fiege of grief from her,
Betroth'd, and would have married her perforce
To County Paris. Then comes fhe to me,
And, with wild looks, bid me devise some means
To rid her from this fecond marriage;
Or, in my Cell, there would she kill her felf.
Then gave I her (fo tutor'd by my art)

A fleep

A fleeping potion, which so took effect
As I intended; for it wrought on her

The form of death. Mean time I writ to Romeo,
That he should hither come, as this dire night,
To help to take her from her borrowed Grave;
Being the time the potion's force fhould cease.
But he, which bore my letter, Friar John,
Was ftaid by accident; and yefternight
Return'd my letter back; then all alone,
At the prefixed hour of her awaking,
Came I to take her from her kindred's Vault;
Meaning to keep her closely at my Cell,
'Till I conveniently could fend to Romeo.
But when I came, (fome minute ere the time
Of her awaking) here untimely lay
The noble Paris, and true Romeo dead.
She wakes, and I intreated her come forth,
And bear this work of heav'n with patience:
But then a noise did scare me from the tomb,
And fhe, too defp'rate, would not go with me:
But, as it seems, did violence on her felf.
All this I know, and to the marriage
Her nurse is privy; but if ought in this
Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
Be facrific'd, fome hour before the time,
Unto the rigour of fevereft law.

Prince. We still have known thee for an holy man.
Where's Romeo's man?. what can he fay to this?
Balth. I brought my mafter news of Juliet's death,
And then in poft he came from Mantua

To this fame place, to this fame Monument.
This letter he early bid me give his father,
And threatned me with death, going to the Vault,
If I departed not, and left him there.

Prince. Give me the letter, I will look on it.
Where is the County's page, that rais'd the Watch?
Sirrah, what made your master in this place?

Page. He came with flowers to ftrew his lady's Grave, And bid me ftand aloof, and fo I did:

Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb,

T

And

And, by and by, my mafter drew on him;
And then I ran away to call the Watch.

Prince. This letter doth make good the Friar's words,
Their courfe of love, the tidings of her death:
And here he writes, that he did buy a poison
Of a poor 'pothecary, and therewithal
Came to this vault to die, and lye with Juliet.
Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!
See, what a fcourge is laid upon your hate,
That heav'n finds means to kill your joys with love!
And I, for winking at your difcords too,
Have loft a brace of kinfmen: all are punish'd!
Cap. O brother Montague, give me thy hand,
This is my daughter's jointure; for no more
Can I demand.

Mon. But I can give thee more,

For I will raise her Statue in pure gold;
That, while Verona by that name is known,
There fhall no figure at that rate be set,
As that of true and faithful Juliet.

Cap. As rich fhall Romeo's by his lady lye
Poor facrifices of our enmity!

A

Prince. A gloomy Peace this morning with it brings, The Sun for forrow will not fhew his head; Go hence to have more talk of these fad things; Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished.

For never was a ftory of more woe,

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

db

Exeunt omnes.

HAMLET,

HAMLET,

Prince of Denmark.

Dramatis Perfonæ,

CLAUDIUS, King of Denmark.

Fortinbras, Prince of Norway.

Hamlet, Son to the former, and Nephew to the present King.

Polonius, Lord Chamberlain.

Horatio, Friend to Hamlet.

Laertes, Son to Polonius.

Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, and Mother to Hamlet.
Ophelia, Daughter to Polonius, belov❜d by Hamlet.
Ladies attending on the Queen.

Players, Grave-makers, Sailors, Messengers, and other At

tendants.

SCENE, ELSINOOR.