Juliet Meows:
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father(s) and refuse thy breed;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a moggy.
 
Romeo:
[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I hiss at this?
 
Juliet:
'Tis but thy breed that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Pedigree.
What's a Pedigree? it is nor paw, nor tail,
Nor leg, nor whisker, nor any other part
Belonging to a cat. O, be some other breed!
What's in a breed? that which we call a catnip
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy breed,
And for that breed which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
 
Romeo:
I take thee at thy purrs:
Call me but cuddly, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
 
Juliet: 
What cat art thou that thus bescreen'd in night
So stumblest on my back porch?
 
Romeo:
By a breed
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My breed, dear saint, is hateful to myself,
Because it is an enemy to thee;
Had I it scratched, I would tear the couch.
 
Juliet:
My ears have not yet drunk a hundred meows
Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:
Art thou not Romeo and a domestic long-hair?
 
Romeo:
Neither, fair pedigree, if either thee dislike.
 
Juliet:
How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my owners find thee here.
 
Romeo: 
With love's light paws did I o'er-perch these walls;
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt;
Therefore thy cat-clan are no let to me.
 
Juliet:
If they do see thee, they will scratch thee.
 
Romeo:
Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their paws: look thou but sweet,
And I am proof against their ferrelity.
 
Juliet:
I would not for the world they saw thee here.
A thousand meows good night!
 
[Juliet exit, above]
 
Romeo:
A thousand times the worse, to want thy fur.
Love goes toward love, as kittens from
their queens,
But love from love, toward owners with ferrel looks.
 
[Retiring]
 
[Re-enter Juliet, above on the porch]
 
Juliet:
Hiss! Romeo, hiss! O, for an alley cat's voice,
 
Romeo:
It is my soul that meows upon my breed:
How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,
Like softest music to attending ears!
 
Juliet:
'Tis almost morning; I would have thee gone:
And yet no further than a wanton's mouse;
Who lets it hop a little from her paw,
Like a poor ferrel in his twisted alley,
And with a silk claw plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.
 
Romeo:
I would I were thy mouse.
 
Juliet:
Sweet, so would I:
Yet I should kill thee with much purring.
Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
 
[Juliet exit above]
 
Romeo:
Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy furry chest!
Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!
Hence will I to my ghostly father's kitty cube,
His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell.
 
[Exit]

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