Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Adaptations; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stories, plots, etc. -- Juvenile literature
Romeo: "I am no pilot, yet wert thou as far apart from me, as that vast
shore which is washed with the farthest sea, I should venture for such
merchandise." A crimson blush came over Juliet's face, yet unseen by
Romeo by reason of the night, when she reflected upon the discovery
which she had made, yet not meaning to make it, of her love to Romeo.
She would fain have recalled her words, but that was impossible: fain
would she have stood upon form, and have kept her lover at a distance,
as the custom of discreet ladies is, to frown and be perverse, and give
their suitors harsh denials at first; to stand off, and affect a coyness
or indifference, where they most love, that their lovers may not think
them too lightly or too easily won; for the difficulty of attainment
increases the value of the object. But there was no room in her case for
denials, or puttings off, or any of the customary arts of delay and
protracted courtship. Romeo had heard from her own tongue, when she did
not dream that he was near her, a confession of her love. So with an
honest frankness, which the novelty of her situation excused, she
confirmed the truth of what he had before heard, and addressing him by
the name of _fair Montague_ (love can sweeten a sour name), she begged
him not to impute her easy yielding to levity or an unworthy mind, but
that he must lay the fault of it (if it were a fault) upon the accident
of the night which had so strangely discovered her thoughts. And she
added, that though her behaviour to him might not be sufficiently
prudent, measured by the custom of her sex, yet that she would prove
more true than many whose prudence was dissembling, and their modesty
artificial cunning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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