Chapter: ACT II. Scene I.
A lane by the wall of Capulet's orchard.

Enter Romeo alone.


  Rom. Can I go forward when my heart is here?
    Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out.
                     [Climbs the wall and leaps down within it.]

                   Enter Benvolio with Mercutio.


  Ben. Romeo! my cousin Romeo! Romeo!

  Mer. He is wise,
    And, on my life, hath stol'n him home to bed.

  Ben. He ran this way, and leapt this orchard wall.
    Call, good Mercutio.

  Mer. Nay, I'll conjure too.
    Romeo! humours! madman! passion! lover!
    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 nickname for her purblind son and heir,
    Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim
    When King Cophetua lov'd the beggar maid!
    He heareth not, he stirreth not, be moveth not;
    The ape is dead, and I must conjure him.
    I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes.
    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!

  Ben. An if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him.

  Mer. 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 conjur'd it down.
    That were some spite; my invocation
    Is fair and honest: in his mistress' name,
    I conjure only but to raise up him.

  Ben. Come, he hath hid himself among these trees
    To be consorted with the humorous night.
    Blind is his love and best befits the dark.

  Mer. 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.
    O, Romeo, that she were, O that she were
    An open et cetera, thou a pop'rin pear!
    Romeo, good night. I'll to my truckle-bed;
    This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep.
    Come, shall we go?

  Ben. Go then, for 'tis in vain
    'To seek him here that means not to be found.
                                                         Exeunt.

 This scene takes place outside the Capulet orchard. Romeo hopes to see Juliet again after falling in love with her at first sight during the Capulet masquerade ball. He leaps the orchard wall when he hears Mercutioand Benvolio approaching. His friends are unaware that Romeo has met and fallen in love with Juliet. Mercutio beckons to Romeo by teasing him about Rosaline's seductive beauty. Romeo continues to hide, and Benvolio persuades Mercutio to leave the scene, knowing Romeo's love of solitude.

