Speeches (Lines) for Nurse
in "Romeo and Juliet"
Total: 90

1

I,3,382

Now, by my maidenhead, at twelve year old,
I bade her come. What, lamb! what, ladybird!
God forbid! Where's this girl? What, Juliet!

2

I,3,387

Your mother.

3

I,3,394

Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.

4

I,3,396

I'll lay fourteen of my teeth,—
And yet, to my teeth be it spoken, I have but four—
She is not fourteen. How long is it now
To Lammas-tide?

5

I,3,401

Even or odd, of all days in the year,
Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen.
Susan and she—God rest all Christian souls!—
Were of an age: well, Susan is with God;
She was too good for me: but, as I said,
On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen;
That shall she, marry; I remember it well.
'Tis since the earthquake now eleven years;
And she was wean'd,—I never shall forget it,—
Of all the days of the year, upon that day:
For I had then laid wormwood to my dug,
Sitting in the sun under the dove-house wall;
My lord and you were then at Mantua:—
Nay, I do bear a brain:—but, as I said,
When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple
Of my dug and felt it bitter, pretty fool,
To see it tetchy and fall out with the dug!
Shake quoth the dove-house: 'twas no need, I trow,
To bid me trudge:
And since that time it is eleven years;
For then she could stand alone; nay, by the rood,
She could have run and waddled all about;
For even the day before, she broke her brow:
And then my husband—God be with his soul!
A' was a merry man—took up the child:
'Yea,' quoth he, 'dost thou fall upon thy face?
Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit;
Wilt thou not, Jule?' and, by my holidame,
The pretty wretch left crying and said 'Ay.'
To see, now, how a jest shall come about!
I warrant, an I should live a thousand years,
I never should forget it: 'Wilt thou not, Jule?' quoth he;
And, pretty fool, it stinted and said 'Ay.'

6

I,3,435

Yes, madam: yet I cannot choose but laugh,
To think it should leave crying and say 'Ay.'
And yet, I warrant, it had upon its brow
A bump as big as a young cockerel's stone;
A parlous knock; and it cried bitterly:
'Yea,' quoth my husband,'fall'st upon thy face?
Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest to age;
Wilt thou not, Jule?' it stinted and said 'Ay.'

7

I,3,444

Peace, I have done. God mark thee to his grace!
Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed:
An I might live to see thee married once,
I have my wish.

8

I,3,452

An honour! were not I thine only nurse,
I would say thou hadst suck'd wisdom from thy teat.

9

I,3,460

A man, young lady! lady, such a man
As all the world—why, he's a man of wax.

10

I,3,463

Nay, he's a flower; in faith, a very flower.

11

I,3,480

No less! nay, bigger; women grow by men.

12

I,3,493

Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.

13

I,5,738

Madam, your mother craves a word with you.

14

I,5,740

Marry, bachelor,
Her mother is the lady of the house,
And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous
I nursed her daughter, that you talk'd withal;
I tell you, he that can lay hold of her
Shall have the chinks.

15

I,5,759

The son and heir of old Tiberio.

16

I,5,761

Marry, that, I think, be young Petrucio.

17

I,5,763

I know not.

18

I,5,766

His name is Romeo, and a Montague;
The only son of your great enemy.

19

I,5,772

What's this? what's this?

20

I,5,776

Anon, anon!
Come, let's away; the strangers all are gone.

21

II,2,1003

[Within] Madam!

22

II,2,1006

[Within] Madam!

23

II,4,1258

Peter!

24

II,4,1260

My fan, Peter.

25

II,4,1263

God ye good morrow, gentlemen.

26

II,4,1265

Is it good den?

27

II,4,1268

Out upon you! what a man are you!

28

II,4,1271

By my troth, it is well said; 'for himself to mar,'
quoth a'? Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I
may find the young Romeo?

29

II,4,1277

You say well.

30

II,4,1280

if you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with
you.

31

II,4,1301

Marry, farewell! I pray you, sir, what saucy
merchant was this, that was so full of his ropery?

32

II,4,1306

An a' speak any thing against me, I'll take him
down, an a' were lustier than he is, and twenty such
Jacks; and if I cannot, I'll find those that shall.
Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirt-gills; I am
none of his skains-mates. And thou must stand by
too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure?

33

II,4,1316

Now, afore God, I am so vexed, that every part about
me quivers. Scurvy knave! Pray you, sir, a word:
and as I told you, my young lady bade me inquire you
out; what she bade me say, I will keep to myself:
but first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into
a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross
kind of behavior, as they say: for the gentlewoman
is young; and, therefore, if you should deal double
with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered
to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing.

34

II,4,1328

Good heart, and, i' faith, I will tell her as much:
Lord, Lord, she will be a joyful woman.

35

II,4,1331

I will tell her, sir, that you do protest; which, as
I take it, is a gentlemanlike offer.

36

II,4,1337

No truly sir; not a penny.

37

II,4,1339

This afternoon, sir? well, she shall be there.

38

II,4,1347

Now God in heaven bless thee! Hark you, sir.

39

II,4,1349

Is your man secret? Did you ne'er hear say,
Two may keep counsel, putting one away?

40

II,4,1352

Well, sir; my mistress is the sweetest lady—Lord,
Lord! when 'twas a little prating thing:—O, there
is a nobleman in town, one Paris, that would fain
lay knife aboard; but she, good soul, had as lief
see a toad, a very toad, as see him. I anger her
sometimes and tell her that Paris is the properer
man; but, I'll warrant you, when I say so, she looks
as pale as any clout in the versal world. Doth not
rosemary and Romeo begin both with a letter?

41

II,4,1362

Ah. mocker! that's the dog's name; R is for
the—No; I know it begins with some other
letter:—and she hath the prettiest sententious of
it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good
to hear it.

42

II,4,1368

Ay, a thousand times.
[Exit Romeo]
Peter!

43

II,4,1372

Peter, take my fan, and go before and apace.

44

II,5,1396

Peter, stay at the gate.

45

II,5,1402

I am a-weary, give me leave awhile:
Fie, how my bones ache! what a jaunt have I had!

46

II,5,1406

Jesu, what haste? can you not stay awhile?
Do you not see that I am out of breath?

47

II,5,1415

Well, you have made a simple choice; you know not
how to choose a man: Romeo! no, not he; though his
face be better than any man's, yet his leg excels
all men's; and for a hand, and a foot, and a body,
though they be not to be talked on, yet they are
past compare: he is not the flower of courtesy,
but, I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb. Go thy
ways, wench; serve God. What, have you dined at home?

48

II,5,1425

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,—O, my back, my back!
Beshrew your heart for sending me about,
To catch my death with jaunting up and down!

49

II,5,1432

Your love says, like an honest gentleman, and a
courteous, and a kind, and a handsome, and, I
warrant, a virtuous,—Where is your mother?

50

II,5,1439

O God's lady dear!
Are you so hot? marry, come up, I trow;
Is this the poultice for my aching bones?
Henceforward do your messages yourself.

51

II,5,1444

Have you got leave to go to shrift to-day?

52

II,5,1446

Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell;
There stays a husband to make you a wife:
Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks,
They'll be in scarlet straight at any news.
Hie you to church; I must another way,
To fetch a ladder, by the which your love
Must climb a bird's nest soon when it is dark:
I am the drudge and toil in your delight,
But you shall bear the burden soon at night.
Go; I'll to dinner: hie you to the cell.

53

III,2,1755

Ay, ay, the cords.

54

III,2,1758

Ah, well-a-day! he's dead, he's dead, he's dead!
We are undone, lady, we are undone!
Alack the day! he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead!

55

III,2,1762

Romeo can,
Though heaven cannot: O Romeo, Romeo!
Who ever would have thought it? Romeo!

56

III,2,1774

I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,—
God save the mark!—here on his manly breast:
A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse;
Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood,
All in gore-blood; I swounded at the sight.

57

III,2,1783

O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had!
O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman!
That ever I should live to see thee dead!

58

III,2,1791

Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished;
Romeo that kill'd him, he is banished.

59

III,2,1794

It did, it did; alas the day, it did!

60

III,2,1808

There's no trust,
No faith, no honesty in men; all perjured,
All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.
Ah, where's my man? give me some aqua vitae:
These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.
Shame come to Romeo!

61

III,2,1820

Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin?

62

III,2,1852

Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse:
Will you go to them? I will bring you thither.

63

III,2,1862

Hie to your chamber: I'll find Romeo
To comfort you: I wot well where he is.
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night:
I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell.

64

III,3,1954

[Within] Let me come in, and you shall know
my errand;
I come from Lady Juliet.

65

III,3,1959

O holy friar, O, tell me, holy friar,
Where is my lady's lord, where's Romeo?

66

III,3,1962

O, he is even in my mistress' case,
Just in her case! O woful sympathy!
Piteous predicament! Even so lies she,
Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering.
Stand up, stand up; stand, and you be a man:
For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand;
Why should you fall into so deep an O?

67

III,3,1970

Ah sir! ah sir! Well, death's the end of all.

68

III,3,1977

O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps;
And now falls on her bed; and then starts up,
And Tybalt calls; and then on Romeo cries,
And then down falls again.

69

III,3,2040

O Lord, I could have stay'd here all the night
To hear good counsel: O, what learning is!
My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come.

70

III,3,2044

Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir:
Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late.

71

III,5,2135

Madam!

72

III,5,2137

Your lady mother is coming to your chamber:
The day is broke; be wary, look about.

73

III,5,2277

God in heaven bless her!
You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.

74

III,5,2281

I speak no treason.

75

III,5,2283

May not one speak?

76

III,5,2329

Faith, here it is.
Romeo is banish'd; and all the world to nothing,
That he dares ne'er come back to challenge you;
Or, if he do, it needs must be by stealth.
Then, since the case so stands as now it doth,
I think it best you married with the county.
O, he's a lovely gentleman!
Romeo's a dishclout to him: an eagle, madam,
Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye
As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart,
I think you are happy in this second match,
For it excels your first: or if it did not,
Your first is dead; or 'twere as good he were,
As living here and you no use of him.

77

III,5,2344

And from my soul too;
Or else beshrew them both.

78

III,5,2347

What?

79

III,5,2352

Marry, I will; and this is wisely done.

80

IV,2,2508

Ay, forsooth.

81

IV,2,2511

See where she comes from shrift with merry look.

82

IV,4,2614

They call for dates and quinces in the pastry.

83

IV,4,2620

Go, you cot-quean, go,
Get you to bed; faith, You'll be sick to-morrow
For this night's watching.

84

IV,5,2653

Mistress! what, mistress! Juliet! fast, I warrant her, she:
Why, lamb! why, lady! fie, you slug-a-bed!
Why, love, I say! madam! sweet-heart! why, bride!
What, not a word? you take your pennyworths now;
Sleep for a week; for the next night, I warrant,
The County Paris hath set up his rest,
That you shall rest but little. God forgive me,
Marry, and amen, how sound is she asleep!
I must needs wake her. Madam, madam, madam!
Ay, let the county take you in your bed;
He'll fright you up, i' faith. Will it not be?
[Undraws the curtains]
What, dress'd! and in your clothes! and down again!
I must needs wake you; Lady! lady! lady!
Alas, alas! Help, help! my lady's dead!
O, well-a-day, that ever I was born!
Some aqua vitae, ho! My lord! my lady!

85

IV,5,2672

O lamentable day!

86

IV,5,2674

Look, look! O heavy day!

87

IV,5,2680

She's dead, deceased, she's dead; alack the day!

88

IV,5,2687

O lamentable day!

89

IV,5,2708

O woe! O woful, woful, woful day!
Most lamentable day, most woful day,
That ever, ever, I did yet behold!
O day! O day! O day! O hateful day!
Never was seen so black a day as this:
O woful day, O woful day!

90

IV,5,2757

Honest goodfellows, ah, put up, put up;
For, well you know, this is a pitiful case.