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Apothecary:
Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantua’s law
Is death to any he that utters them.
Romeo:
Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness,
And fear’st to die? Famine is in thy cheeks,
Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes,
Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back.
The world is not thy friend, nor the world’s law;
The world affords no law to make thee rich;
Then be not poor, but break it and take this.
Apothecary:
My poverty, but not my will consents.
Romeo:
I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.
Apothecary:
Put this in any liquid thing you will
And drink it off; and, if you had the strength
Of twenty men, it would despatch you straight.
Romeo:
There is thy gold, worse poison to men’s souls,
Doing more murder in this loathsome world
Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.
I sell thee poison, thou hast sold me none.
Farewell, buy food, and get thyself in flesh.
Come, cordial and not poison, go with me
To Juliet’s grave, for there must I use thee.
(Exeunt.)
Scene Two. Friar Lawrence’s Cell.
Enter Friar John.
Friar John:
Holy Franciscan Friar! Brother, ho!
Enter Friar Lawrence.
Friar Lawrence:
This same should be the voice of Friar John.
Welcome from Mantua. What says Romeo?
Or, if his mind be writ, give me his letter.
Friar John:
Going to find a barefoot brother out,
One of our order, to associate me,
Here in this city visiting the sick,
And finding him, the searchers of the town,
Suspecting that we both were in a house
Where the infectious pestilence did reign,
Seal’d up the doors, and would not let us forth,
So that my speed to Mantua there was stay’d.
Friar Lawrence:
Who bare my letter then to Romeo?
Friar John:
I could not send it,—here it is again,—
Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,
So fearful were they of infection.
Friar Lawrence:
Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood,
The letter was not nice, but full of charge,
Of dear import, and the neglecting it
May do much danger. Friar John, go hence,
Get me an iron crow and bring it straight
Unto my cell.
Friar John:
Brother, I’ll go and bring it thee.
(Exit.)