The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 7 of 9]Shakespeare, William
General
The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 7 of 9]
Shakespeare, William
English drama
_Nurse._ I am a-weary; give me leave awhile.[695] 25
Fie, how my bones ache! what a jaunce have I had![696]
_Jul._ I would thou hadst my bones and I thy news:
Nay, come, I pray thee, speak; good, good nurse, speak.[697]
_Nurse._ Jesu, what haste? can you not stay awhile?[698][699]
Do you not see that I am out of breath?[699][700] 30
_Jul._ How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath[699]
To say to me that thou art out of breath?[699]
The excuse that thou dost make in this delay[699]
Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse.[699]
Is thy news good, or bad? answer to that;[701] 35
Say either, and I'll stay the circumstance:
Let me be satisfied, is't good or bad?
_Nurse._ Well, you have made a simple choice; you know[702]
not how to choose a man: Romeo! no, not he; though his face[702]
be better than any man's, yet his leg excels all men's;
and[702][703] 40
for a hand, and a foot, and a body, though they be not to be[702][704]
talked on, yet they are past compare: he is not the flower of[702]
courtesy, but, I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb. Go thy[702][705]
ways, wench; serve God. What, have you dined at home?[702]
_Jul._ No, no: but all this did I know before.[706] 45
What says he of our marriage? what of that?
_Nurse._ Lord, how my head aches! what a head have I!
It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.
My back o' t' other side,--ah, my back, my back![707]
Beshrew your heart for sending me about, 50
To catch my death with jauncing up and down![708]
_Jul._ I' faith, I am sorry that thou art not well.[709]
Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my love?
_Nurse._ Your love says, like an honest gentleman, and[710]
a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome, and, I warrant, a[710] 55
virtuous,--Where is your mother?[710]
_Jul._ Where is my mother! why, she is within;[711]
Where should she be? How oddly thou repliest![711]
'Your love says, like an honest gentleman,
Where is your mother?'
_Nurse._ O God's lady dear![712] 60
Are you so hot? marry, come up, I trow;
Is this the poultice for my aching bones?
Henceforward do your messages yourself.
_Jul._ Here's such a coil! come, what says Romeo?
_Nurse._ Have you got leave to go to shrift to-day? 65
_Jul._ I have.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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