| ACT II | PROLOGUE | |
| | Enter Chorus | |
| Chorus | Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie, | |
| | And young affection gapes to be his heir; | |
| | That fair for which love groan'd for and would die, | |
| | With tender Juliet match'd, is now not fair. | 5 |
| | Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, | |
| | Alike betwitched by the charm of looks, | |
| | But to his foe supposed he must complain, | |
| | And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks: | |
| | Being held a foe, he may not have access | 10 |
| | To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear; | |
| | And she as much in love, her means much less | |
| | To meet her new-beloved any where: | |
| | But passion lends them power, time means, to meet | |
| | Tempering extremities with extreme sweet. | 15 |
| | Exit | |
| ACT IISCENE I | A lane by the wall of Capulet's orchard. | |
| | Enter ROMEO | |
| ROMEO | Can I go forward when my heart is here? | |
| | Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out. | |
| | He climbs the wall, and leaps down within it | |
| | Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO | |
| BENVOLIO | Romeo! my cousin Romeo! | |
| MERCUTIO | He is wise; | 20 |
| | And, on my lie, hath stol'n him home to bed. | |
| BENVOLIO | He ran this way, and leap'd this orchard wall: | |
| | Call, good Mercutio. | |
| MERCUTIO | Nay, I'll conjure too. | |
| | Romeo! humours! madman! passion! lover! | 25 |
| | Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh: | |
| | Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied; | |
| | Cry but 'Ay me!' pronounce but 'love' and 'dove;' | |
| | Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word, | |
| | One nick-name for her purblind son and heir, | 30 |
| | Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim, | |
| | When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid! | |
| | He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not; | |
| | The ape is dead, and I must conjure him. | |
| | I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes, | 35 |
| | By her high forehead and her scarlet lip, | |
| | By her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh | |
| | And the demesnes that there adjacent lie, | |
| | That in thy likeness thou appear to us! | |
| BENVOLIO | And if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him. | 40 |
| MERCUTIO | This cannot anger him: 'twould anger him | |
| | To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle | |
| | Of some strange nature, letting it there stand | |
| | Till she had laid it and conjured it down; | |
| | That were some spite: my invocation | 45 |
| | Is fair and honest, and in his mistress' name | |
| | I conjure only but to raise up him. | |
| BENVOLIO | Come, he hath hid himself among these trees, | |
| | To be consorted with the humorous night: | |
| | Blind is his love and best befits the dark. | 50 |
| MERCUTIO | If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark. | |
| | Now will he sit under a medlar tree, | |
| | And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit | |
| | As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone. | |
| | Romeo, that she were, O, that she were | 55 |
| | An open et caetera, thou a poperin pear! | |
| | Romeo, good night: I'll to my truckle-bed; | |
| | This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep: | |
| | Come, shall we go? | |
| BENVOLIO | Go, then; for 'tis in vain | 60 |
| | To seek him here that means not to be found. | |
| | Exeunt | |
