And therefore thou mayst think my ’haviour light:

But trust me, gentleman, I’ll prove more true

Than those that have more cunning to be strange.

I should have been more strange, I must confess,

But that thou overheard’st, ere I was ’ware,

My true-love passion; therefore pardon me,

And not impute this yielding to light love,

Which the dark night hath so discovered.


ROMEO.

Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow,

That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops,—


JULIET.

O swear not by the moon, th’inconstant moon,

That monthly changes in her circled orb,

Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.


ROMEO.

What shall I swear by?


JULIET.

Do not swear at all.

Or if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,

Which is the god of my idolatry,

And I’ll believe thee.


ROMEO.

If my heart’s dear love,—


JULIET.

Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee,

I have no joy of this contract tonight;

It is too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden,

Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be

Ere one can say It lightens. Sweet, good night.

This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath,

May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.

Good night, good night. As sweet repose and rest

Come to thy heart as that within my breast.


ROMEO.

O wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?


JULIET.

What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?


ROMEO.

Th’exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.


JULIET.

I gave thee mine before thou didst request it;

And yet I would it were to give again.


ROMEO.

Would’st thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?


JULIET.

But to be frank and give it thee again.

And yet I wish but for the thing I have;

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep; the more I give to thee,

The more I have, for both are infinite.

I hear some noise within. Dear love, adieu.

[Nurse calls within.]

Anon, good Nurse!—Sweet Montague be true.