William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet

ACT IV. 8. Scene III. A churchyard; in it a Monument belonging to the Capulets. (continued)

1 Watch.
Hold him in safety till the prince come hither.

[Re-enter others of the Watch with Friar Lawrence.]

3 Watch.
Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs, and weeps:
We took this mattock and this spade from him
As he was coming from this churchyard side.

1 Watch.
A great suspicion: stay the friar too.

[Enter the Prince and Attendants.]

Prince.
What misadventure is so early up,
That calls our person from our morning's rest?

[Enter Capulet, Lady Capulet, and others.]

Capulet.
What should it be, that they so shriek abroad?

Lady Capulet.
The people in the street cry Romeo,
Some Juliet, and some Paris; and all run,
With open outcry, toward our monument.

Prince.
What fear is this which startles in our ears?

1 Watch.
Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain;
And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before,
Warm and new kill'd.

Prince.
Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes.

1 Watch.
Here is a friar, and slaughter'd Romeo's man,
With instruments upon them fit to open
These dead men's tombs.

Capulet.
O heaven!--O wife, look how our daughter bleeds!
This dagger hath mista'en,--for, lo, his house
Is empty on the back of Montague,--
And it mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom!

Lady Capulet.
O me! this sight of death is as a bell
That warns my old age to a sepulchre.

[Enter Montague and others.]

Prince.
Come, Montague; for thou art early up,
To see thy son and heir more early down.