on the boy's lips. 'Somewhere abroad,
wheer Bonyparty is. Juliet's name was Capulet, an' Romeo's was Montague,
an' the Capilets and the Montagues hated each other so as they could
niver meet wi'out havin' a bit of a turn-up one with another. They was
as bad as the Reddys an' the Mountains, only i' them daysen folks allays
wore swords an' daggers, so's when they fowt they mostly killed each
other. Well, one night old Capilet gi'en a party, an' asked all his
friends, an' everybody wore masks, so's they didn't know half the time
who they was a-talkin' tew, as was the fashion i' them times, an' Romeo,
he goes, just for divilment, an' he puts on a mask tew, so as they
didn't know him, else they'd ha' killed him, sure an' certain. An' theer
he sees Juliet, an' she was beautiful, an' he falls plump in love wi'
her, an' she falls in love wi' him, an' they meets o' nights, i' the
moonlight, on the window-ledge outside her room, but they had to meet
i' secret, 'cause the two fam'lies was like cat an' dog, an' there'd ha'
been awful doin's if they'd been found out. Well, old Capilet--that was
Juliet's feyther--he finds a husband for Juliet, a nice chap enough, a
count, like Lord Barfield, on'y younger an' likelier. An' Juliet, she
gets welly mad, because she wants to marry Romeo. And then, to mek
matters wuss, Romeo meets one o' Juliet's relations, a young man named
Tybalt, as hates him like pison, an' they fowt, an' Romeo killed him.
Well, the Capilets was powerful wi' the king as ruled in Verona, like
Joseph used to be with Pharaoh in the Holy Land, my dear, an' Romeo, he
has to run away an' hide himself, else p'raps they'd ha' hung him
for killin' Tybalt, though it was Tybalt as begun the fight, so poor
Juliet's left all alone. An' her marriage day's a-gettin' near, and old
Capilet, he's stuck on her marryin' the count, an' the day's been named,
and everything provided for the weddin'. Well, Romeo takes a thought,
an' goes to a friar, a kind o' priest, as was a very book-learned man,
and asks if he can help him. And at first he says no, he can't, an'
Romeo gets that crazed, he's goin' to kill himself, but by an' by he
thinks of a plan. He gives Juliet a bottle o' physic stuff to send her
to sleep, and make her look as if she was dead. Then her relations 'll
be sure to bury her i' the family vault, an' he'll write to Romeo to
come back to Verona i' the night-time an' take her out o' the vault, an'
goo away quiet wi' her till thing