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That whether part had got the worst, full doubtful were the thought.

The noise hereof anon throughout the town doth fly,

And parts are taken on every side; both kindreds thither hie.

Here one doth gasp for breath, his friend bestrideth him;

And he hath lost a hand, and he another maiméd limb,

His leg is cut whilst he strikes at another full,

And whom he would have thrust quite through, hath cleft his crackéd skull.

Their valiant hearts forbode their foot to give the ground;

With unappalléd cheer they took full deep and doubtful wound.

Thus foot by foot long while, and shield to shield set fast,

One he doth make another faint, but makes him not aghast.

And whilst this noise is rife in every townsman's ear,

Eke, walking with his friends, the noise doth woeful Romeus hear.

With speedy foot he runs unto the fray apace;

With him, those few that were with him he leadeth to the place.

They pity much to see the slaughter made so great,

That wetshod they might stand in blood on either side the street.

"Part, friends," said he; "Part, friends -- help, friends, to part the fray,"

And to the rest, "Enough," he cries, "Now time it is to stay.

God's farther wrath you stir, beside the hurt you feel,

And with this new uproar confound all this our common weal."

But they so busy are in fight, so eager and fierce,

That through their ears his sage advice no leisure had to pierce.

Then leapt he in the throng, to part and bar the blows

As well of those that were his friends, as of his deadly foes.

As soon as Tybalt had our Romeus espied,

He threw a thrust at him that would have passed from side to side;

But Romeus ever went, doubting his foes, well armed,

So that the sword, kept out by mail, hath nothing Romeus harmed.

"Thou dost me wrong," quoth he, "for I but part the fray;

Not dread, but other weighty cause my hasty hand doth stay.

Thou art the chief of thine, the noblest eke thou art,

Wherefore leave off thy malice now, and help these folk to part.

Many are hurt, some slain, and some are like to die."

"No, coward, traitor boy," quoth he, "straightway I mind to try,

Whether thy sugared talk, and tongue so smoothly filed,

Against the force of this my sword shall serve thee for a shield.

And then at Romeus' head a blow he strake so hard,

That might have clove him to the brain but for his cunning ward.

It was but lent to him that could repay again,

And give him death for interest, a well forborne gain.

Right as a forest boar, that lodgéd in the thick,

Pinchéd with dog, or else with spear y-prickéd to the quick,

His bristles stiff upright upon his back doth set,

And in his foamy mouth his sharp and crooked tusks doth whet;

Or as a lion wild that rampeth in his rage,

His whelps bereft, whose fury can no weaker beast assuage;

Such seeméd Romeus in every other's sight,

When he him shope, of wrong received t'avenge himself by fight.

Even as two thunderbolts thrown down out of the sky,

That through the air, the massy earth, and seas, have power to fly;

So met these two, and while they change a blow or twain,

Our Romeus thrust him through the throat, and so is Tybalt slain.

Lo, here the end of those that stir a deadly strife:

Who thirsteth after other's death, himself hath lost his life.

The Capulets are quailed by Tybalt's overthrow,

The courage of the Montagues by Romeus' sight doth grow.

The townsmen waxen strong, the Prince doth send his force;

The fray hath end. The Capulets do bring the breathless corse

Before the Prince, and crave that cruel deadly pain

May be the guerdon of his fault, that hath their kinsman slain.

The Montagues do plead their Romeus void of fault;

The lookers-on do say, the fight begun was by Tybalt.

The Prince doth pause, and then gives sentence in a while,

That Romeus for slaying him should go into exile.

His foes would have him hanged, or sterve in prison strong;

His friends do think, but dare not say, that Romeus hath wrong.

Both households straight are charged on pain of losing life,

Their bloody weapons laid aside, to cease the stirréd