THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Professor LLevelyn M. Baell GALLOWAY y a comparison of I.ticrciC with Daniel's Rosamond. There can here be no doubt that Shakespeare was the debtor. See the article, " Shakespeare's Lucrece," by K\vig, in Aii^lia xxii., Neue Folge Hand x., Yicrtrs I left. pp. 436-448. INTRODUCTION xlx about to be weaned, and had barely learnt to " run and waddle," with a risk of breaking her brow. The Nurse again asseverates that " since that time it is eleven years " ; but this making the most of a jest seems slender evidence on behalf of the theory that the play was produced in the year I59I. 1 There is no decisive evidence to prove that the tragedy was written long before its presentation in i 596, when, probably, its popularity called forth a ballad (entry in Stationers' Register, August 5) on the subject of Romeo and Juliet. Yet most readers, I think, have felt that it is a play of Shakespeare's early years of authorship ; the lyrical character of the play, though partly accounted for by the love-theme, the abundance of rhyme, not only in couplets, but alternate, and arranged in sextet and sonnet form, the pleasure of the writer in forced conceits, and play upon words, sometimes even in serious passages, point to an early date. 2 When his judgment had matured Shakespeare could not have written so very ill as he sometimes does in Romeo and Juliet, but a writer of genius could at an early age, when inspired by the passion of his theme, have written as admirably as he does even in the noblest passages of the fifth Act. That he was conscious of having already attained comparative mastery in his art may be inferred from his independence of Marlowe, and the implied criticism of the style of 1 If anyone should care to sec a catalogue of earthquakes compiled by a contemporary of Shakespeare, he will find one in the Indice to Discorsi del S. Allesandro Sardo (Venice, 1586), which volume includes a treatise "Del Terremoto." - Gervinus notices, beside the sonnet-form in Romeo and Juliet, something corresponding to the epithalamium ( Juliet's soliloquy) and to the dawn-song. xx INTRODUCTION Kyd in the exclamatory lamentations over Juliet sup- posed dead. I can hardly doubt that Mr. Spalding is right in stating that the line O love, O life, not life but love in death, and again, O child, O child, my soul and not my child, are parodies on Hieronimo's words in The Spanish Tragedy : O eyes ! no eyes, but fountains fraught with tears ; O life ! no life, but lively forms in death ; O world ! no world, but mass of public wrongs. Yet there is something inartificial in introducing such irony of literary criticism into the body of the play ; and Shakespeare took a better method in his " tedious brief scene " of very tragical mirth in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and again in yEneas' tale to Dido (where he reproduces rather than parodies an earlier style), which the player recites before Hamlet. On the whole, we might place Romeo and Juliet, on grounds of internal evidence, near The Rape of Lucrece ; portions may be earlier in date ; certain passages of the revised version are certainly later; but I think that 1595 may serve as an approximation to a central date, and cannot be very far astray. The basis, as Malone puts it, upon which Shakespeare built his play is the Romeus and Juliet of Arthur Brooke or Broke, of which I have given an analysis in Appendix II. Brooke's poem, which is a free rehandling in verse of INTRODUCTION xxi Pierre Boisteau's French version of a novel by Bandcllo, was first published in I562. 1 Painter's prose rendering in the Palace of Pleasure of Boisteau's story appeared some years later. From this last Shakespeare derived, if anything, certainly very little ; but how carefully he followed Brooke will appear from my analysis, and more fully from Mr. Daniel's valuable Introduction to the New Shakspere Society's reprint of Brooke's poem and Painter's prose. That Shakespeare agrees with Brooke where the latter differs from Painter was decisively established by Malone : " I. In the poem the Prince of Verona is called Escalus ; so also in the play. In Painter's translation from Boisteau he is named Signor Escala, and sometimes Lord Bartholomew of Escala. 2. In Painter's novel the family of Romeo are called the Montesches; in the poem and in the play the Montagues. 3. The messenger employed by Friar Lawrence to carry a letter to Romeo is in Painter's translation called Anselme; in the poem and in the play Friar John is employed in this business. 4. The circumstance of Capulet's writing down the names of the guests whom he invites to supper is found in the poem and in the play, but is not mentioned by Painter, nor is it found in the original Italian novel. 5. The residence of the Capulets in the original and in Painter is called Villa Franca ; in the poem and in the play Freetown? 1 6. Several passages of Romeo and Juliet appear to have been formed on hints 1 In his address "To the Reader" Brooke mentions that he had seen "the same argument lately set foorth on stage," with more commendation than he can look for. - In the play it is the name of the "common judgment-place" of the Prince. E. D. xxii INTRODUCTION furnished by the poem, of which no traces are found either in Painter's novel, or in Boisteau, or the original." Brooke's poem has been unjustly depreciated ; yet it contains no poetry of a high order. If Romeo and Juliet owed to Shakespeare, as Mr. Grant White has said, only its dramatic form and poetic decoration, we might still add with the critic This is to say that " the earth owes to the sun only its verdure and flowers, the air only its perfume and its balm, the heavens only their azure and their glow." But in fact Shakespeare departs from Brooke, as Mr. White proceeds to point out, in several important particulars. He accelerates the action, reducing the time from months to days, and thus adds impetuosity to the torrent of passion. He creates from a mere passing hint of Brooke the brilliant and gallant Mercutio. In Brooke's poem Mercutio appears but once for a moment, as a courtier in the ballroom of Capulet ; he is " courteous of his speech " and " pleasant of device " ; bold among the bashful maids as a lion among lambs ; and nature has given him the gift of hands that are colder than frozen mountain ice. But he does not serve, as with Shakespeare, by his vivid intellectuality to set off the imaginative passion of Romeo ; he is not at once the irrepressible mocker and the chivalrous protector ; nor does he die, still jesting and still gallant, before the tragedy darkens to its close. Shakespeare, again, it is who introduces Tybalt at the old accustomed feast of Capulet, and thus, incarnating in an individual the rage of faction, brings hatred face to face with love. The character of the Nurse is found in Brooke, but Shakespeare admirably develops its humorous side. He reduces the INTRODUCTION xxiii age of Juliet from sixteen to fourteen, the age of Marlowe's Abigail, so heightening the miracle of love, which transforms her from a child to a heroic woman. Me deepens her solitude by depriving Lady Capulet of a mother's tenderness, and showing her as a somewhat unsympathetic woman of the world. And he brings the lord-lover Paris, " a man of wax," to the church- yard, with his flowers and perfumed water, to die, and to illustrate the gentleness, the resolution, and the magnanimity of Romeo. The Romeo and Juliet legend has a long history, and it is not necessary here to trace it in detail. 1 Almost at the moment when Shakespeare was writing his tragedy the Italian Girolamo de la Corte published his History of Verona (1594-96), and there recorded as matter of historical fact the story of the star-crossed lovers. He assigns the events to the year 1303, when Verona was ruled by Bartolomeo de la Scala. But imaginary history seems to have grown out of legend, and modern criticism has disenchanted the " Sepolcro di Giulietta e Romeo " at Verona. One of the incidents of the story the escape from enforced marriage by the use of a sleeping potion is as old as Xenophon of Ephesus, whose romance of the loves of Anthia and Abrocomas was first printed from the only ex- isting manuscript in 1726.- A tale of much more 1 See Alessandro Torri's Giulietta c Koinco (Pisa, 1821), the Baron de Guenifey's Histoire de Romeo Monteccki et de Juliette Cappelletti (Paris, 1836), Mr. Daniel's Introduction to the New Sh. Society's reprints of Brooke and Painter, and my article on "Romeo and Juliet" in Transcripts and Studies. " It was at once translated into English by Mr. Rooke (1727). My acquaintance with the Epkesiaca is derived from the French version of 1736 ; xxiv INTRODUCTION recent date, that among the novelle of Massuccio of Salerno (1476), which narrates the loves of Mariotto Mignanelli and Giannozza Saraceni of Siena, has a sufficient number of points of resemblance to Romeo and Juliet to warrant our placing it in the genealogy of the drama. The lovers are secretly married by a Friar ; Mariotto quarrels with a citizen of note, strikes him a fatal blow with a stick, is exiled, and flies from Siena to Alexandria. The father of Giannozza urges her to mar- riage with a suitor of his choice ; she resolves to feign herself dead, and the Friar provides the sleeping potion ; she is buried in the church of St. Augustine ; is delivered from the tomb by the Friar, and sails for Alexandria disguised as a monk. The messenger whom she had despatched with letters to her husband is captured by pirates ; Mariotto hears of her death ; in the garb of a pilgrim visits her tomb, which he attempts to open ; is seized, condemned, and beheaded. Giannozza returns from Alexandria to Siena, and in a convent the broken- hearted wife dies. Some fifty years after the publication of Massuccio's tale Luigi Da Porto wrote his Istoria novellamente ritrovata di due nobili Amanti, and here the scene is Verona, and the lovers are named Romeo and Giulietta. the portion which has some resemblance to the story of Juliet will be found in pp. 124-139. In the anonymous play, How a Man may choose a Good Wife from a Bad (1602), which is founded on a novel (Decade III., Novella v.) of Cinthio's Hecatommithi, the incidents of an opiate given for poison to a young wife by her faithless husband, her burial, and revival in the coffin, are turned to comic uses. It is perhaps worth noting that here, as in Romeo and Juliet, the sale of poisons is spoken of as illegal : some covetous slave for coyne, Will sell it him, though it be held by law, To be no better than flat fellony. INTRODUCTION xxv Da Porto's novel was published posthumously at Venice without date, about the year 1530. It is substantially the story familiar to us, 1 but there are variations in detail, and certain personages of the drama are wanting. Romeo masks not as a pilgrim but as a nymph ; the lovers touch hands and whisper their passion in the torch-dance ; the wooing and winning are not swiftly accomplished ; the sentence of banishment is not pronounced until after some happy bridal days and nights have followed the secret marriage ; the nurse has not yet appeared in the story ; for Paris we have here the Count of Lodrone ; Juliet awakens from her drugged sleep in the tomb before the poison has quite overcrowed the spirit of her husband, and a dialogue ensues, the motive of which has been idealised and exalted in the opera of Gounod. This form of the tragic scene was unknown to Shakespeare, who could have conveyed into it the beauty and dignity of passion ; when Otway, and subsequently Garrick, with Otway as his guide, varied from the Shakespearian close, they struck false notes and fell into the phrases of convention and pseudo- pathos. 2 Adrian Sevin's French transformation of the story of Romeo and Juliet into the story of Halquadrich and Burglipha (1542) has little interest, and does not take a place in the direct line of the development of the tale 1 The reader will find both the Italian text and an English translation in The Original Story of Komco and Jiti'i,:?, by G. Pace-Sanfelice, 1868. Mr. Rolfe has reproduced Brydges' rare translation, with the addition of omitted passages : Juliet and ROIHC.O, Boston, 1895. l' or short accounts, sec Daniel or my article already mentioned. 3 It is needless here to give any account of Otwny's strange appropriation and transformation of Shakespeare's play in his Cains Manns, b xxvi INTRODUCTION from Da Porto to Shakespeare. Nor does there appear to be, except through a certain influence exercised on Bandello, any real connection between Shakespeare's tragedy and the poem in ottava rima published at Venice in 1553, possibly the work of Gherardo Bolderi assuming the name of Clitia or Clizia. It will be found in Torri's volume already mentioned. Mr. Daniel points out certain variations from Da Porto, of which the most interesting is that here for the first time Tebaldo's death is supposed by Lady Capulet to be the cause of Juliet's grief. An attempt was made by J. C. Walker, in his Historical Memoir on Italian Tragedy, 1799 (pp. 49-64), to show that Shakespeare had utilised to some extent as a source the Hadriana, a tragedy of the year 1578, by the blind poet Luigi Groto. The loves of Latino and Hadriana are unquestionably derived in part from the loves of Da Porto's Romeo and Giulietta ; but Mr. Daniel, who gives a complete analysis of the play, is right in saying that the resemblances between La Hadriana and Shakespeare's tragedy are rather to be sought in special passages than in the general conduct of the two plays. Following Walker and Lloyd, and adding to their enumeration, he notices the song of the nightingale when the lovers part, the description of the effects of the opiate, the consolation offered to the father on the supposed death of his daughter, and other seeming points of contact ; yet, although Groto was known in England in Shakespeare's time, Mr. Daniel's con- clusion is expressed in the words : " Notwithstand- ing these resemblances, I find it difficult to believe that Shakespeare could have made use of Groto's INTRODUCTION xxvii play" a conclusion with which I am in entire agreement. Bandello's novel, of which Boisteau's is a translation, stands of course in the direct line of the ancestry of Ronico and Juliet. It appeared among his novclle published at Lucca in 1554. Referring the reader to Mr. Daniel's more detailed account of the points in common between Bandello and Shakespeare, I may quote what I have elsewhere written : " Bandello dwells on Romeo's amorous fancy for a hard-hearted mistress Shakespeare's Rosaline to which Da Porto only alludes. An elder friend Shakespeare's Benvolio advises the enamoured youth to ' examine other beauties,' and to subdue his passion. Romeo enters Capulet's mansion disguised, but no longer as a nymph. The Count of Lodrone is now first known as Paris. The ladder of ropes is now first mentioned. The sleeping potion is taken by Juliet, not in presence of her chamber-maid and aunt, but in solitude. Friar Lorenzo's messenger to Mantua fails to deliver the letter because he is detained in a house suspected of being stricken with plague. In particular we owe to Bandello the figure of the nurse, not Shakespeare's humorous creation, but a friendly old woman, who very willingly plays her part of go-between for the lovers. One more development and all the materials of Shakespeare's play are in full formation. From Bandello's mention of one Spolentino of Mantua, from whom Romeo procures the poison, Pierre Boisteau creates the episode of the Apothecary, and it is also to this French refashioner of the story that we must trace the Shakespearian close; with him, Juliet does not wake xxviii INTRODUCTION from her sleep until Romeo has ceased to breathe ; and she dies, as in our tragedy, not in a paroxysm of grief, but by her own hand, armed with her husband's dagger." * The Quartos and Folios do not divide Romeo and Juliet into acts and scenes. Mr. Daniel suggests that Act III. should end with scene iv., making Act IV. begin with the parting of the lovers. " The interposition," he writes, " of the short scene iv. alone, between the arrange- ment made at the Friar's Cell for the meeting of the lovers and the scene in which they part, does not give a sufficiently marked interval for the occurrence of all the events which are supposed to have passed in the in- terim : moreover the addition of scene v. to Act III. has the disadvantage of making that act inordinately long. Capell made the division I here suggest ; but his example does not appear to have been followed by any subsequent editor." The suggestion seems to me well worthy of consideration, and I may call attention to the fact that in O i the first of those ornamental dividing marks which appear on several of the later pages occurs at this point. The same ornamental division occurs in the scene of the lovers' parting at the entrance of Juliet's mother, and, I think, it was intended that there should here be a change of scene. It appears again at the close of our present Act in., at the close of iv. i., the close of iv. ii., 1 Transcripts and Studies, pp. 389-390. To the study from which I quote I may refer the reader for an account of Lope dc Vega's Castehrines y Monteses and of Los Bandos dc Verona, by Francisco dc Rojas y Zorrilla (both of which may be read in privately printed translations by .Mr. F. W. Cosens). The strange conjunction of Shakespeare's lovers with Dante's Ugolino in the Romeo el Juliette of Ducis is also noticed in the same study. INTRODUCTION xxix the close of IV. iii., the close of iv. iv., the close of v. i., the close of v. ii., in v. iii. immediately before the entrance of the Friar, and again immediately after Juliet's death. The use of the mark is evidently not accidental or careless. The dramatic time is carefully noted throughout the play, but presents one inexplicable difficulty. The action opens early on Sunday morning; after the street fray when Romeo and Benvolio meet, it has but " new struck nine." The afternoon has come when Romeo reads the list of Capulet's invited guests ; at night the " old accus- tomed feast " is held, and Romeo after the feast hears Juliet's confession of love at the window. Early on Monday morning Romeo visits Friar Laurence ; at noon he jests with Mercutio, and informs Juliet through the Nurse that the marriage shall be celebrated that after- noon. The lovers arc married ; the encounter with Tybalt, " that an hour hath been my cousin," follows. The sentence of banishment is pronounced ; but it is arranged that the new husband and wife shall spend their bridal night together. At dawn on Tuesday morn- ing Romeo parts from Juliet. Capulet on the preceding night had fixed the marriage with Paris for Thursday ; he now rages and threatens Juliet; she visits the Friar, who gives her the sleeping potion ; she returns, seems to acquiesce in her parents' wishes, and the hasty Capulet resolves that she shall be taken at her word, and married to Paris to - morrow (Wednesday) morning. At some hour of the night of Tuesday Juliet drinks the potion. Old Capulet bustles during the night in preparations for the wedding " the curfew-bell hath rung, 'tis three xxx INTRODUCTION o'clock." On Wednesday morning Juliet is found in seeming death ; the Friar arrives at the hour prefixed for marriage ; all is turned from a wedding to a funeral ; Juliet is laid in the tomb of her ancestors. At a later hour of what seems to be the same day (Wednesday), Balthasar informs Romeo of his wife's death ; Romeo obtains the poison, sets out for Verona, at night enters the monument by torch- light, and dies beside his beloved. Friar Laurence " at the prefixed hour of her waking " arrives to take Juliet from the vault ; she stabs herself and dies ; the Prince, called from his morning's rest, enters, and on Thursday at an early hour the action closes. 1 The rapidity of the whole conduct of the action is surprising ; yet, up to the night on which Juliet swallows the Friar's potion, there can be no question as to the dating of days and hours. At this point Shakespeare creates a difficulty that seems to be insuperable. He had probably noticed in Painter's version of the tale a statement of the Friar that the opiate effects of the drug were to continue for " the space of forty hours at the least." As if to be more precise Shakespeare names the period as " two and forty hours." From what time of the night of Tuesday will forty-two succeeding hours bring us to a very early morning hour (the month is July) of either Thursday or Friday? The period is too short to suit Friday morning, too long for Thursday. We should not trouble ourselves about what might be 1 See, together with Daniel's " Time- Analysis of the Plots of Shake- speare's Plays" (New Sh. Society s Transactions, 1879), the notes on p. 202 and p. 219 of Mr. Rolfe's edition of Romeo and Juliet. INTRODUCTION xxxi explained as a mere stage-illusion of time, if Shakespeare had required such a stage-illusion, or if he had not elated the events throughout with more exactness than the stage requires. In Painter the Friar directs Juliet to drink the potion " the night before your marriage or in the morning before day " ; in Brooke, " on thy marriage day before the sun do clear the sky." Can Shakespeare at one time have intended that Juliet's soliloquy should represent the passions of a whole night, and that she should not swallow the opiate until a short time before the Nurse came to rouse her in order that she should prepare for the marriage ceremony ? And was she to return to consciousness in the first glimmering of a July dawn, as soon after midnight as that might be, on the morning of Friday ? The theory is in many ways un- satisfactory, but the mere passage of hours during a soliloquy need not present a difficulty to the student of Shakespeare. In Cymbeline it is midnight when Imogen is seized by sleep ; lachimo comes from the trunk, soliloquises, and the clock strikes three. Yet it can hardly be supposed that Shakespeare ever intended that Juliet should conjure up the vision of the slaughtered Tybalt in the full light of morning. Perhaps the simplest explanation of the difficulty is to admit that it was never meant to be explained ; forty-two hours gave an air of precision and verisimilitude to the Friar's arrangement ; it sufficed to cover two periods of night preceding two Italian summer dawns ; and the dramatist knew that spectators in the theatre do not regulate their imagination by a chronometer. Unlike the play of Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet has xxxii INTRODUCTION little of imaginative mystery. The chief subject of difference among its critics concerns what we may call the ethics of the play. 1 " By Friar Laurence," writes Gervinus, " who, as it were, represents the part of the chorus in this tragedy, the leading idea of the piece is expressed in all fulness, an idea that runs throughout the whole, that excess in any enjoyment, however pure in itself, transforms its sweet into bitterness, that devotion to any single feeling, however noble, bespeaks its ascend- ency ; that this ascendency moves the man and woman out of their natural spheres ; that love can only be a companion in life, and cannot fill out the life and business of the man especially ; that in the full power of its first rising, it is a paroxysm of happiness, which, according to its nature, cannot continue in equal strength ; that, as the poet says in an image, it is a flower that, ' Being smelt, with that part cheers each part ; Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart."' And the critic pursues his well-meant moralisings in the same spirit. Much nearer the mark was Goethe in his arrange- ment of Romeo and Jiiliet for the Weimar theatre, i Si i: "Before Juliet revives," in Goethe's recast, " the Friar confesses that all his cunning wisdom was in vain ; that if he had opposed, instead of aiding the lovers, things could not have come to a worse end. After 1 The commonplace moralisings and the vigorous Protestant feeling expressed by Brooke in his address "To the Reader," prefixed to Ronieiis and Juliet, did not influence Shakespeare ; and they do not enter into P>rooke's poem, where the hero and heroine are not represented as " thralling them- selves to unhonest desire," and the "superstitious frier" appears as an amiable old student of natural science. INTRODUCTION xxxiii Juliet has stabbed herself Friar Laurence acknowledges the folly that often attends the wisdom of the wise, that to attempt to do good is often more dangerous than to undertake to do evil. Happy those whose love is pure, because both love and hatred lead but to the grave." l That is to say, the amiable critic of life as seen from the cloister does not understand life or hate or love ; he is not the chorus of the tragedy, but an actor whose wisdom is of a kind which may easily lead himself and others astray. Garrick was not an eminent moralist, but there is more of truth in the Prince's rhymed tag, with which Garrick's version of the tragedy concludes, than can be found in the ponderous moralities of Gervinus : Well may you mourn my Lords, (now wise too late;> These tragic issues of your mutual hate : From private feuds, what dire misfortunes flow ; Whate'er the cause, the sure effect is Woe. The tragic issues are the results not of love, but of love growing on the hatred of the houses. Shakespeare has set forth this in the opening scene, half humorous yet wholly tragic. He reiterates his statement of the fact at the close. Romeo and Juliet die as sacrifices to appease the insane fury, out of which their lives had risen and in which they had no individual part ; therefore shall their statues be raised, and in " pure gold " : Mon. There shall no figure at such rate be set As that of true and faithful Juliet. Cap. As rich shall Romeo by his lady lie ; Poor sacrifices of our enmity ! 1 Furness, Koinio anil /ulict, p. 445. xxxiv INTRODUCTION And thus the dead lovers have become immortal victors. Shakespeare did not intend to represent more than a fragment of human life in the tragedy. He did not aim at a criticism of the whole of human character ; he cared to show us his hero and his heroine only as lovers, and as exemplary in the perfection of their love ; faithful even unto death ; choosing, with a final election of the heart, love at all costs. Here is no view of the whole of life ; we are shown merely what befell a young pair of lovers during four days long ago in Verona. But Shakespeare felt, and we all feel, that if such love as theirs can be taken up into a complete character, modified and controlled by the other noble qualities which go to form a large and generous nature, the world will be the better for such pure and sacred passion. Such, it appears to me, are the ethics of the play. And the personages by whom the lovers are encircled are so conceived as to become the critics of ideal love from their several points of view, honouring and exalting it by the inadequacy of their criticism. To old Capulet, in his mood, it seems that the passions of the heart are to be determined by parental authority. To Lady Capulet marriage is an affair of worldly convenience. To the Nurse it is the satisfaction of a pleasurable instinct. Mercutio, a gallant friend, is too brilliant in his intellectuality to be capable of a passion in which the heart shows that it is superior to the brain ; he mocks at love, not because he really scorns it, but because he is remote from it, and cherishes before all else his free-lance liberty. The Friar views human passion from INTRODUCTION xxxv the quietudes of the cloister, or from amid the morning dew of the fields ; but botany is not the science of human life. Even Romeo's earlier self, with his amorous melancholy, becomes the critic of his later self, when a true and final election has been made, and when love has become the risen sun of his day. As for Juliet, her words My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep ; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite, may serve for an inscription beneath that statue of pure gold of which Shakespeare was the artist. It may interest some readers to have before them the dialogue, in the eighteenth-century taste, of Romeo and Juliet in the tomb, as it reached our ancestors, somewhat modish ancestors perhaps, and drew forth their tears, in the version of Garrick. Rom. Soft she breathes, and stirs ! [Juliet wakes. Jit!. Where am I ? defend me powers ! Rom. She speaks, she lives : and we shall still be bless'd My kind propitious stars o'er pay me now For all my sorrows past rise, rise, my Juliet, And from this cave of death, this house of horror, Quick let me snatch thee to thy Romeo's arms, There breathe a vital spirit in thy lips, And call thee back to life and love. \_Takes Jicr hand. Jitl. Bless me! how cold it is! who's there! Rom. Thy husband, : Tis thy Romeo, Juliet ; rais'd from despair To joys unutt'rable ! quit, quit this place, And let us fly together \_Brings Jicr from tlic tomb. Jill. Why do you force me so I '11 ne'er consent My strength may fail me, but my will 's unmov'd, I '11 not wed Paris, Romeo is my husband Rom. Her senses are unsettled Heav'n restore 'em ! xxxvi INTRODUCTION Romeo is thy husband ; I am that Romeo, Nor all the opposing pow'rs of earth or man, Shall break our bonds, or tear thee from my heart. JuL I know that voice Its magic sweetness wakes Aly tranced soul I now remember well Each circumstance Oh my lord, my husband \Going to embrace him. Dost thou avoid me, Romeo ? let me touch Thy hand, and taste the cordial of thy lips You fright me speak Oh let me hear some voice Besides my own in this drear vault of death, Or I shall faint support me Rom. Oh I cannot, I have no strength, but want thy feeble aid. Cruel poison ! JuL Poison ! what means my lord ; thy trembling voice ! Pale lips! and swimming eyes! death's in thy face! Rom. It is indeed I struggle with him now The transports that I felt to hear thee speak, And see thy op'ning eyes, stopt for a moment His impetuous course, and all my mind Was happiness and thee ; but now the poison Rushes thro' my veins I 'vc not time to tell Fate brought me to this place to take a last, Last farewel of my love, and with thee die. Jul. Die ? was the Friar false ! Rom. I know not that I thought thee dead : distracted at the sight, (Fatal speed) drank poison, kiss'd thy cold lips, And found within thy arms a precious grave But in that moment Oh Jul. And did I wake for this '. Rom. My powers arc blasted, 'Twixt death and love I'm torn- I am distracted! But death's strongest and must I leave thee Juliet! Oh cruel cursed fate ! in sight of heav'n Jul. Thou rav'st lean on my breast Rom. Fathers have flinty hearts, no tears can melt 'em. Nature pleads in vain Children must be wretched Jul. Oh my breaking heart Rom. She is my wife our hearts are twin'd together Capulet forbear Paris, loose your hold INTRODUCTION xxxvii Pull not our heart-strings thus they crack they break Oh Juliet! Juliet! [Dies. Jul. Stay, stay for me, Romeo A moment stay ; fate marries us in death, And we are one no pow'r shall part us. [Faints on Romeds body. It is wonderful what a good situation and a great actor can do upon the stage, even with words such as these. Perhaps all of us who are capable of tears would have moistened kerchiefs in presence of the dying woes of Mr. Garrick, or Mr. Barry and Mrs. Gibber. I have come upon some illustrations of the text, in my recent reading, too late for embodiment in my notes ; a few of these may be here set down. I. i. 79 : Give me my long sivord. Gompare Sharpham, The Fleire: "the gentleman that wore the long Sword, now weares the short Hanger." T. ii. 25 : Earth-treading stars. Adopted by Sharpham, Cupid's Whirligig (opening scene) : " the Court, where so many Earth-treading starres adornes the Skye of State." I. v. 69 : He bears him like a portly gentleman. So Middleton, Your Five Gallants, iv. viii. : " That one so fortunate amongst us five Shall bear himself more portly" I. v. 122: the sport is at t/ic best. Compare Chapman, The Gentleman Usher (Pearson's reprint, i. 260): "Our hunting sport is at the best." II. i. 10: Ay me. This is the "sigh" of line 8, as "love" and "dove "are the rhyme. Compare Sharpham, The Fleire: "Pis. ay me! A r an. Faith my Lord you '1 nere win a woman by sighing." II. i. 38 : et cetera. So used for an unbecoming omitted word by William Haughton in Englishmen for my Money. xxxviii INTRODUCTION II. iv. 109: Here's goodly gear! So Chapman, An humerous dayes mirth (Pearson's reprint, i. 76) : " But here is goodly geare." II. v. 42 : body, etc. Compare Middleton (ed. Bullen), vol. i. 27, and iii. 98. in. i. 8: operation of the second cup. So Sharpham, The Fleire : " the operation of the pot makes him not able to stand." in. iii. 57 : Hang up philosophy ! Was this proverbial ? Compare W. Haughton, Englishmen for my Money (near opening of play) : " Hang up Philosophy, He none of it." III. v. 9: Night's candles are burnt out. So Haughton, Englishmen, etc. : Night's Candles burne obscure, and the pale Moone Favouring our drift, lyes buried in a Cloud. iv. iv. ii: mouse-hunt. Add, in support of Dyce's explanation, Haughton, Englishmen, etc. (spoken of an amorous old man) : " Here 's an old Ferret Pole-cat." iv. v. 97 : alt, put tip, put up. So Chapman, The Gentleman Usher (Pearson's reprint, i. 355): " Umvorthic Lord, put up," i.e. cease. The references to other plays of Shakespeare than Romeo and Juliet are to act, scene, line, as found in the Globe Shakespeare. I have had a great advantage in preparing this edition of Romeo and Juliet in having been preceded by Mr. Daniel, the most conscientious and scholarly of editors. I have to thank him for an unpublished note on I. iii. 33. Professor Littledale communicated to me some valuable suggestions. Dr. Furnivall called my attention INTRODUCTION xxxix to the passage of Masson's Milton quoted on p. 82. But my chief debt is to my friend Mr. W. J. Craig, who, out of the great store of illustrations of Shakespeare which during many years he has accumulated, generously furnished me with a wealth of quotations which I have utilised as far as my space permitted. Whatever value this edition may possess is in large measure due to his learning and his kindness. THE TRAGEDY ROMEO AND JULIET DRAMATIS PERSONAL ESCALUS, Prince of Verona. PARIS, a young Nobleman, Kinsman to the Prince. MONTAGUE. ) T ~ \ Heads of tiuo Houses, at variance with each other. CAPULET, J An old man, of the Capulet family. ROMEO, Son to Montague. MERCUTIO, Kinsman to the Prince, and Friend to Romeo. BENVOLIO, Nephew to Montague, and Friend to Romeo. TYBALT, Nephew to Lady Capulet. FRIAR LAURENCE, a Franciscan. FRIAR JOHN, of the same Order. BALTHASAR, Servant to Romeo. SAMPSON, ) . ^ > Servants to Capulet. GREGORY, J PETER, Servant to Juliet 's nurse. ABRAHAM, Servant to Montague. An Apothecary. Three Musicians. Page to Paris ; another Page ; an Officer. LADY MONTAGUE, Wife to Montague. LADY CAPULET, Wife to Capulet. JULIET, Daughter to Capulet. Nurse to Juliet. Citizens of Verona ; Kinsfolk of both Houses ; Maskers, Guards, Watchmen, and Attendants. Chorus. SCENES : Verona Mantua. THE TRAGEDY ROMEO AND JULIET PROLOGUE Enter CllORUS. Chor. Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands tmclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross d lovers take their life ; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death- mark' d love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, 1-14 Prologue, omitted Ff. S. Do] Rowe, Doth Q. IO Prologue] This prologue, probably serves as prologue to Heywood's The spoken by the actor who appears as Fain JMaidc of the Exchange, printed Chorus at the opening of Act II., is 1607; a sonnet (Shakespearian) is written in the form of the Shake- prologue to his A Woman Killed spearian sonnet ; so a sonnet (ap- ivith Kindness, 1607. Here the note proaching nearer to the Italian form) of fate is struck in lines 5, 6. 4 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTI. Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage ; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. [Exit. ACT I SCENE I. Verona. A public Place. Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, of the house of Capulct, with swords and bucklers. Sam. Gregory, on my word, \ve '11 not carry coals. Gre. No, for then we should be colliers. Sam. I mean, an we be in choler, we '11 draw. Gre. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the collar. 5 Sam. I strike quickly, being moved. 14. Exit] Capell, omitted Q. Act I. Scene i. Act I. Scene I. ] No marking of Acts and Scenes in O ; none except here in F. I. on] O, A F, eseeming gravity ; but in 1 Henry I' I. Diet, "despite," 5- \". i. 54, \ve find "grave ornaments.'' 91. mistemperd~\ wrathful, or per- 99. Canker'd . . . hate] The first haps, as Schmidt explains, tempered canker'd means corroded. Compare to an ill end. Bible, James v. 3 : " Your gold and 97. gra~a besicinin^\ Walker would silver is cankered," The second 10 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT i. If ever you disturb our streets again 100 Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. For this time, all the rest depart away : You, Capulet, shall go along with me ; And, Montague, come you this afternoon To know our farther pleasure in this case, 105 To old Free-town, our common judgment-place. Once more, on pain of death, all men depart. {Exeunt all but Montague, Lady Montague, and Benvolio. Man. Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach ? Speak, nephew, were you by when it began ? Ben. Here were the servants of your adversary i 10 And yours close fighting ere I did approach : I drew to part them ; in the instant came The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared, Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears, He swung about his head, and cut the winds, i i 5 Who, nothing hurt withal, hiss'd him in scorn : While we were interchanging thrusts and blows, Came more and more, and fought on part and part, Till the prince came, who parted either part. Lady Mon. O, where is Romeo ? saw you him to- day ? i 20 Right glad I am he was not at this fray. Ben. Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun 105. farther} Q, further Q 5, Fa/hers O 3, F. 108. Mon.] Q, F; M: wife O I. 121. I ant] (^, am I F. means malignant, as in King John, Capilef s castle ; it corresponds to II. i. 194: "A canker'd grandam's Villa Franca of the Italian story, will!'' 113. prepared} so "prepared 106. Free-town} This in Brooke's sword," Lear, II. i. 53. Romeus and Juliet is the name of sc. i.] ROMEO AND JULIET 11 Pccr'd forth the golden window of the east, A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad ; Where, underneath the grove of sycamore 125 That westward rooteth from the city's side, So early walking did I see your son : Towards him I made ; but he was ware of me, And stole into the covert of the wood : I, measuring his affections by my own, 130 Which then most sought where most might not be found, Being one too many by my weary self, Pursued my humour, not pursuing his, And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me. Mon. Many a morning hath he there been seen, 135 With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew, Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs : But all so soon as the all-cheering sun Should in the farthest east begin to draw The shady curtains from Aurora's bed, 140 124. drave} F, drive Q. 126. the city s} O i, Malone ; this city Q, F. 133, humour'] Q, honour F. 123. Peered . . . east} Q I has 131. Which . . . found} Pope and Pcept for Peerd. An echo is noted several editors substitute for lines by Holt White in Summa Tot alls, 131, 132, the line (from Q i): "That 1607: "1'eepes through the purple most are busied, when they're must windowes of the East." alone." The meaning of line 131 124. drave} The Q drive = drave is Which then sought in chief that is retained by Mommsen, and ex- place where there was least resort amples from Spenser and Jonson are of people. Professor G. Allen con, cited. See Daniel's revised ed. of jectures "where more night not be O. 1 lere O I reads, "A troubled found." "Shakespeare," he says- thought drew me from companie." "was not the man (in Romeo and 125. sycamore} In Uesdemona's Juliet at least) to let slip the chance song, Othello, \\ . iii. 41, the deserted of running through the Degrees of lover sits "sighing by a sycamore Comparison, many, mart;, most.''' tree.'' Furness quotes W. \Vestma- 133. his] Theobald adopted Thirl- cott's Scripture Herbal : "Astrologers by's conjecture him. regard it as one of Venus her trees.' 1 12 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT i. Away from light steals home my heavy son, And private in his chamber pens himself, Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, And makes himself an artificial night. Black and portentous must this humour prove 145 Unless good counsel may the cause remove. Ben, My noble uncle, do you know the cause ? Mon. I neither know it nor can learn of him. Ben. Have you importuned him by any means ? Mon. Both by myself and many other friends : 150 But he, his own affections' counsellor, Is to himself I will not say how true But to himself so secret and so close, So far from sounding and discovery, As is the bud bit with an envious worm, i 5 5 Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air, Or dedicate his beauty to the sun. Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow, We would as willingly give cure as know. 150. other] Q, others F. 157. szm] Pope, cd. 2. (Theobald) ; same Q, F. 141. son] A play on sun, line 138, 157. the sun~\ Theobald's emenda- and son is probably intended, tion has won its way against the read - "heavy" being opposed to "all- ing of Oq, Ff, by virtue of its beauty, cheering." Malone, who prints the same in his 150. other friends\ Knight, insert- text, as "a mode of expression not ing a comma in text of F, reads uncommon in Shakespeare's time,'" others, friends. Daniel observes that supports the sun by a parallel from Knight's punctuation may be right, Daniel's Sonnets : but other frequently used as a " And whilst thou spreacfst unto the plural would agree with it as well rising sitnne as others. The fairest_/7, shows that Juliet is older : " Scarse saw she yet the line was considered defective, full xvi years"; in Paynter's prose 15. my earth] Three explanations tale she is nearly eighteen. Shake- have been given (i) A Gallicism, fille speare's Marina, in Pericles, is four- de terre, heiress Steevens. (2) my teen ; his Miranda is fifteen. body, as in II. i. 2, in Sonnets, cxlvi. 13. made] The jingle between made "Poor soul, the centre of my sinful and marr'd occurs, as Dyce notes, in earth " ; in Beaumont and Fletcher, n. iv. 123, 124, in Macbe'th, II. iii. 36, The Maid's Tragedy, v. 19, "This and elsewhere. The jingle of Q I earth of mine doth tremble " Mason made and married occurs in All's and Malone, with whom I agree. Well, II. iii. 315: "A young man (3) the hopeful lady of the world for married is a man that's marr'd," and me Ulrici. Cartwright conjectures in other writers beside Shakespeare. hearth. The Elizabethan earth mean- 14. The earth] If earth be read with ing/^wf/^'w^suggests another possible F, Q, swallowed of F, Q is perhaps explanation ; cf. Ant. and Cleof. II, a trisyllable, but it hardly mends the ii. 233. sc. ii.] ROMEO AND JULIET ID But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart, My will to her consent is but a part ; An she agree, within her scope of choice Lies my consent and fair according voice. This night I hold an old accustom'd feast, 20 Whereto I have invited many a guest, Such as I love ; and you, among the store, One more, most welcome, makes my number more. At my poor house look to behold this night Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven light : 2 5 Such comfort as do lusty young men feel When well-apparell'd April on the heel Of limping winter treads, even such delight Among fresh female buds shall you this night Inherit at my house; hear all, all see, 30 And like her most whose merit most shall be : Which on more view of, many mine being one May stand in number, though in reckoning none. 18. An} Capell, And Q, F ; agree} F, agreed Q (alone). 29. female} Q I ; fennell Q, F. 32. Which on} Qq 4, 5 ; Which one Q, F ; view of, many} Ed. ; view, of many, O, F ; view of many, Qq I, 4, 5. 17. to her consent} My will is a part 26. young men} Johnson proposed subsidiary to her consent, which is the yeomen, and Daniel, printing young- chief thing. men from Q I, understands it as 18. An she agree} Daniel, inserting yeomen. Malone happily compares a comma after And, follows Q, And, Sonnets, xcviii. : she agreed. " When proud-pied April dress'd in 20. old accustomed} Dyce, after all his trim Walker, hyphens these words. Hath put a spirit of youth in every - 25. make dark heaven light} Stars thing." of earth which shall cast up their 28. limbing} Daniel prints lumping, beams to the dark heaven and illu- Q I, " as conveying a more picturesque minate it. Warburton read dark even notion of dull, heavy, boorish winter." (i.e. evening) light. Mason proposed 30. Inherit} possess, as in Tempest, heavens light, the earthly stars out- iv. i. 154. shine, and so eclipse, the stars of 32, 33] I venture on what I suppose heaven. Daniel suggests mock( =rival) to be a new pointing of these lines, dark heaven's light. No emendation but I do not alter any word of Qq 4, is needed. 5, inserting only a comma after of, 20 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT i. Come, go with me. Go, sirrah, trudge about Through fair Verona ; find those persons out 3 5 Whose names are written there, and to them say, My house and welcome on their pleasure stay. \Exeunt Capulet and Paris. Serv. Find them out whose names are written here ! It is written that the shoemaker should meddle with his yard, and the tailor with his last, the 40 fisher with his pencil, and the painter with his nets ; but I am sent to find those persons whose names are here writ, and can never find what names the writing person hath here writ. I must to the learned. In good time. 45 Enter BENVOLIO and ROMEO. Ben. Tut, man, one fire burns out another's burning, One pain is lessen'd by another's anguish ; Turn giddy, and be holp by backward turning ; One desperate grief cures with another's languish : 38, 39. written here! If\ Dyce ; written. Here it Q, F. 43. here wril~\ Q, writ Y. and dashes to make the meaning misled into supposing an allusion here clearer. Which for who and -whom is to the old saying that "one is no common in Shakespeare. Reckoning number.'' Q I has Such amongst is used for estimation in line 4 of this view of many mync bee ing one, ; Capell, scene. The meaning I take to be : On -which more ' Dyce, her euphuistic speech. It probably from Fair Em : means no more than that the writer " A body, were it framed of wax was immature and liked such conceits, By all the cunning artists of the as seen in Lucrece, quoted line 86, world, note. SC. III.] ROMEO AND JULIET 29 This night you shall behold him at our feast : 80 Read o'er the volume of young Paris' face, And find delight writ there with beauty's pen ; Examine every married lineament, And see how one another lends content ; And what obscured in this fair volume lies 85 Find written in the margent of his eyes. This precious book of love, this unbound lover, To beautify him, only lacks a cover : The fish lives in the sea ; and 'tis much pride For fair without the fair within to hide : 90 That book in many's eyes doth share the glory, 83. married] O (alone), sevcrall F. Q (alone). 83. married} The word as used here for mutually dependent is illustrated by the "well-tuned sounds I5y unions married " of Sonnets, viii. ; but several has the authority of all texts except Q. 84. content} Perhaps with a play (in contents of a volume, though else- where in Shakespeare only the plural contents is used for what is contained. 85. obscured} Allen suggests obscure. 86. viargenf} Obscurities were often explained in old books in the margin. Compare Hamlet, \. ii. 162. Malone quotes a close parallel : Lucrece, 99- 102 : " But she, that never coped with stranger eyes, Could pick no meaning from their parling looks, Nor read the subtle-shining sec- recies Writ in the glassy margents of such books." So Dekker, Honest Whore (Pearson's Pekker, ii. p. 136) : "I read Strange comments in those margines of your lookes." 87. unbound} unattached (ofa lover) ; without binding (ofa book). 90. fair within'] F, faire, within 88. cover] Mason suggests a play onfenime couverte, a married woman. That which binds a lover is a wife, and as the lover here is an unbound book, a wife corresponds to the binding or cover of the book. The present passage is the earliest cited in New Eng. Diet, for cover of a book. 89. The fish] Farmer supposed there was an allusion here to fish-skin used for binding books, a far-fetched notion. Lady Capulet, I think, interrupts her metaphor of a book to say Lovers are at large, like fishes in the sea, but ready to be hooked. For the metaphor of lover as a fish, see Chorus preceding Act n. 8, Much Ado, II. iii. 114, and in. i. 26-29, Ant. and Cleop. n. v. 10-15. This parenthetical metaphor occurs after the description of Paris ; then the main metaphor pro- ceeds, in a second part, with Juliet (the book-cover) for its theme. Mason proposes shell for sea, the purport of what follows being, he thinks, to show the advantage of having a handsome person to cover a virtuous mind. 30 HOMEO AND JULIET [ACTI. That in gold clasps locks in the golden story : So shall you share all that he doth possess, By having him making yourself no less. Nurse. No less! nay, bigger: women grow by men. 95 Lady Cap. Speak briefly, can you like of Paris' love ? JuL I '11 look to like, if looking liking move ; But no more deep will I endart mine eye Than your consent gives strength to make it fly. Enter a Servant. Serv. Madam, the guests are come, supper served 100 up, you called, my young lady asked for, the nurse cursed in the pantry, and every thing in extremity. I must hence to wait ; I beseech you, follow straight. Lady Cap. We follow thee. \Exit ServJ\ Juliet, 105 the County stays. Nurse. Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days. [Exeunt. 95. bigger: women] F, bigger women Q. 99. it] omitted Q, F, Q 3 ; present in the rest. 92. clasps] Paris's bride is still the to lovers handfasted by "tiak golden binding; there is a play on clasps; claspe of the spirite." the golden clasps (embraces) of a bride 98. endart] Pope, from Q I, reads shutting in the golden story of love, ingage, which meant entangle. In Othello, I. i. 127, we have "the 106. County'} Count, probably an gross clasps of a lascivious Moor." adoption of Italian conte with retention T. Bright, Treatise of Melancholy, of the final syllable. So All's Well, 1586, p. 36, compares soul and body ill. vii. 22, "a ring the county wears.'' sc. iv.] HOMEO AND JULIET 31 SCENE IV. The Same. A Street. Enter ROMEO, MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, with five or six other Maskers, Torch-bearers, and Others. Rom. What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse, Or shall we on without apology ? Ben. The date is out of such prolixity : \Ve '11 have no Cupid hoodwink'd with a scarf, Bearing a Tartar's painted bow of lath, 5 Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper; Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spoke After the prompter, for our entrance : But, let them measure us by what they will, We '11 measure them a measure, and be gone. I o 7, 8. Nor . . . entrance] Q i ; omitted Q, F. I. this speech] Furness suggests the tinguish it from the English bow, speech. Capell conjectures that Ben- whose shape is the segment of a volio and Mercutio are the speakers, circle." assigning conjectural!}- I, 2 to Ben., 6. crow-keeper] a boy employed to 3-10 to Mer., and 13 to Ben. scare crows; also a scare-crow. So 3. prolixity] Benvolio says that the Lear, iv. vi. 88: "That fellow apology of masquerade rs for their handles his bow like a crow-keeper.'' entrance is out of date. Moth's apolo- Steevcns quotes Drayton, Idea, 48 : getic or explanatory speech, intro- " And when corn 's sown, or grown ducing the maskers in Lore's Labour s into the ear, Lost, v. ii. 158, is an example. See Practise thy quiver like a erow- also Cupid's speech in Titnon, I. ii. keeper.'" 128, and the Chamberlain's speech in 7, S.] White conjectures that these Henry VIII. \. iv. 65. "In Histrio- lines, found only in Q I, were omitted mastix a man wonders that the on account of their disparagement of maskers come in so blunt, without prologue speakers on the stage. device" (Steevens). 8. entrance'} a trisyllable here, as 4. hoodwink'd . . . scarf] So in Macbeth, I. v. 40. Hanmer in "hood-winked in this scarf," Jonson, place of for read 'fore. Silent Woman, iv. ii. 10. a measure] a grave and dignified 5. bow] Douce: "The Tartarian dance. Compare Much Ado, n. i. bows . . . resembled in their form So: " the wedding mannerly-modest, the old Roman or Cupid's bow, such as a measure full of state and an- as we see on medals and bas-reliefs, cientry." The play on the word Shakespeare uses the epithet to dis- occurs in Richard II. in. iv. 7. 32 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTI. Rom, Give me a torch : I am not for this ambling ; Being but heavy, I will bear the light. Mer. Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance. Rom. Not I, believe me : you have dancing shoes With nimble soles ; I have a soul of lead i 5 So stakes me to the ground I cannot move. Mer. You are a lover ; borrow Cupid's wings, And soar with them above a common bound. Rom. I am too sore enpierced with his shaft To soar with his light feathers; and so bound, 20 I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe : Under love's heavy burden do I sink. Mer. And, to sink in it, should you burden love ; Too great oppression for a tender thing. Rom. Is love a tender thing? it is too rough, 25 Too rude, too boisterous ; and it pricks like thorn. Mer. If love be rough with you, be rough with love ; Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down. Give me a case to put my visage in : 20. so bound,} Q, to bound : Y. 23. Mer.] Qq 4, 5 ; Horatio Q ; Hora. F. II. torch] Masquers and masquer- Shakespeare by quoting Milton, Par. aders were accompanied by their Lost, iv. 181 : "At one slight bound torch-bearers. Westward Hoe (Pear- high over-leap'd all bound." son's Dekker, ii. p. 292): "He is 23. burden love] Compare II. v. 79, just like a torch-bearer to maskers, and line 94 of the present scene, he wears good cloathes, and is rankt 29. visage in :] Theobald read in ? in good company, but he doth and added the stage direction "Put- nothing." ting offhis mask." Johnson, also read- 15. soul\ The play on the word was ing in ?, added " Putting on his mask. " irresistible. Compare Julius dcsar, Capell, rightly, I think, reading in., I. i. 15. added "taking one from an Alt., "and, 19. enpierced} A variation in spell- rightly, after visor! line 30, added ing of empierced, or impierccd, to "throwing it away." Mercutio, an which the word was altered in the invited guest, goes, I think, unmasked, later Ff. New Eng. Diet, gives no Perhaps, as Professor Littledale sug- example of enpierced except that of gests, we should read "visage in!" the text. Mercutio at once rejecting the 21. bound} Steevens apologises for mask. SC. IV ROMEO AND JULIET A visor for a visor! what care I 30 What curious eye doth quote deformities ? Here are the beetle-brows shall blush for me. Ben. Come, knock and enter ; and no sooner in But every man betake him to his legs. Row. A torch for me: let wantons, light of heart, 35 Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels ; For I am proverb'd with a grandsire phrase ; I '11 be a candle-holder, and look on. The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done. Mcr. Tut, dun 's the mouse, the constable's own word : 40 39. done] O I, F ; ditm Q ; dun Qq 3-5. 40. own] Q, F ; old Q I. 30. A visor for a visor!] My face, fantastic as a mask, needs no visor. Compare Rosaline to Herowne, J.ove s Labour* s Lost, v.ii. 387: "That vizard; that superfluous case That hid the worse and show'd the better face." 31. quote] observe, as in Hamlet, II. i. 112. 32. beetle-bro"vs\ overhanging brows; apparently not eye-brows, for eye-brows could not blush. New Eng. Diet. says that brows in Middle English always means eye-brows ; beetle-browed is as old as Langland, Piers Plough- man, 1362. The origin favoured by New ng. Diet, is a comparison with the tufted antennaj of certain kinds of beetles. Shakespeare seems to have invented the verb beetle used in Hamlet, I. iv. 71 : "The cliff that beetles o'er his base," that is, a cliff like an overhanging forehead. Cot- grave, however (1611), has "Beetle- browed, soureilleux, '' and he explains sourdlleujc as ' ' having very great eye -brows." 35, 36.] Steevens notes Middleton's echo of these lines in Blurt Master- Constable, 1602 : " bid him, whose heart no sorrow feels, Tickle the rushes with his wanton heels, I have too much lead at mine.'' 36. rushes] Steevens notes that not only were rooms strewn with rushes, but the stage was also so strewn. 1 )ekker's Gu/'s Hornbook, 1609: "On the very rushes when the comedy is to daunce." 37. grandsire phrase] Ray gives a proverb, "A good candle-holder'pYQVzs a good gamester." Ritson (see line 39) refers to the proverbial saying which advises to give over when the game is at the fairest. / am done in line 39 seems to mean I give over the game. 40. (///;/ 's the mouse'] This phrase occurs in several Elizabethan dramas, sometimes with quibbles on done. M alone took it to mean Pcaee ; be still ! and hence he supposed it is the con- stable's word. He cites Patten: Crissel (i6o3\ "don is the mouse, lie still. " Mascal in Government of Cattle. (1620) has " mouse - dun coloured ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT i. If thou art Dun, we'll draw thee from the mire, Or, save your reverence, love, wherein thou stick'st Up to the ears. Come, we burn daylight, ho ! ROJII. Nay, that 's not so. Mer. I mean, sir, in delay We waste our lights in vain, light lights by day. 45 Take our good meaning, for our judgment sits Five times in that ere once in our five wits. Rom. And we mean well in going to this mask ; But 'tis no wit to go. Mer. Why, may one ask ? 41. mire] O, i/iire. F. 42. Or . . . love] F 4, Or save yon reverence love Qq, Or save your reverence love Ff 1-3, Of this surreverence love Q I. 44. sir, in delay} sir in delay Q ; sir in delay, Qq 4, 5 ; sir I delay, F. 45. IVe . . . day} Nicholson, IVe burne our lights by night, like lampes by day Q I, IVe waste our lights in vaine, lights lights by day Qq, and (with commas) lights, lig/ifs, Ff. 47. Jive] Malone (Wilbraham conj.); fine Q, F. 41. Dun} Here Dun is a dun horse. Dun is in the mire, spoken of by Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Manciple s Prologue, and still played by William Giffbrd when a boy, is an old Christ- mas game, in which a heavy log (the horse Dun) is brought into the room, is supposed to stick in the mire, and is extricated by the players. References are not infrequent in Elizabethan plays. 42. Or, save your reverence, love] Many editors prefer, from Q i, Of this sir-reverence love, where sir- revcrcme is used, as indicated in Comedy of Errors, III. ii. 93, in the same apologetic way as save your reverence. I see no good reason for departing from F. 43. burn daylight} burn candles by day, also waste or consume the day- light. Compare j\lcrry IVives, II. i. S4- See The Spanish Tragedy in Hazlitt's Dodsley's Old Plays, v. p. 1 15 (and note). 45. II 'e . . . dar} Thi^ reading. proposed by Nicholson, is printed by Daniel ; it only rejects one letter, s, from Q, F. Johnson reads like lights by day. Capell's reading, IVe waste our lights in vain, like lamps by day, is commonly accepted, but it seems undesirable to make up a new line from halves of O, F and Q I. 46. sits} Rowe and others readmits ; Collier (MS.) ///A. 47. five wits} In Sonnets, cxli. 9, Shakespeare speaks of the five wits as different from the live senses ; it is certain, however, that five wits was used for five sense.-. In Stephen Hawes' poem Graunde Amour and La Belle PuceUc, xxiv. (ed. 1554), the five wits are common wit, imagina- tion, fantasy, estimation [judgment], and memory (Dvcc). Malone cites, from the <>ld copies of Shakespeare's plays, other examples of the erratum fine for five, and '.'ice versa. Q i has Three limes a day, ere once in her rii'ht whs. sc. iv.] ROMEO AND JULIET 35 Rom. I dreamt a dream to-night. Mer. And so did I. 50 Rom. Well, what was yours ? Mcr. That dreamers often lie. Rom. In bed asleep, while they do dream things true. Mer. O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes In shape no bigger than an agate-stone 55 On the forefinger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomies Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep : 54-91. She . . . bodes;] verse Q I, Pope; prose Q, F. 55. an] Q, omitted F, in Daniel conjee. 58. Athwart'} Q I ; o~cer Q, F. 50. to-night] last night, as fre- quently in Shakespeare. See Schmidt's Lexicon. 53. 0, . . . you} After this line Q I has " Ben. Queene Mab whats she ? " a speech probably meant as a pretext for Mercutio's long descrip- tion ; but Q I continues to Benvolio the speech of Mercutio. 53. Queen Mab"} Thorn ( ' 'Three Note- lets on Sh.") states that no earlier men- tion of Mab than the above is known ; that no doubt Shakespeare got the name from folk-lore of his own time ; that Mab in Welsh means an infant ; and that Beaufort, in his Ancient Topo- graphy of Ireland, mentions Mabh as the chief of the Irish fairies. Drayton, with Shakespeare's descrip- tion before him, writes, in his happiest manner, of Queen Mab in Nymphidia the Court of Fayric. Attempts have been made to identify Queen Mab with Dame Abunde or Habunde ; and again with the Irish Queen Maeve. Sir H. Ellis says that in Warwickshire "Mab-led" (pro- nounced Mob-led) signifies led astray by a Will-o'-the- Wisp (Brand, Popular Antiquities, iii. p. 218, ed. 1841). 54. fairies' midwife} Warburton conjectured and Theobald read Fancy's midwife. Warton conjec- tured fairy midwife. Steevens ex- plains : the person among the fairies who delivers the fancies of dreamers, the " children of an idle brain '" (line 97). T. Warton suggests that Mab is a midwife because she steals infants (leaving changelings) for the fairies. 55. shape"} Nicholson suggests slate, meaning dignity, pomp. See line 70. 55. agate-stone} That is, the diminu- tive figures cut in agate and set in rings. So 2 Henry IV. \. ii. 19. (Falstaff of his little Page) : " I was never manned \\ith an agate til! now.'' Glapthorne, in Wit is a Constable, 1639, speaks of an alderman's thumb- ring. Q I reads, for alderman, burgomaster. 57. atomies'} tiny beings, pigmies. A'tTi' Eng. Diet, quotes P. Wood- house, Flea, 1605, " If with this atomye I should contend." Q I has Aitomi, Q 2 ottamie, the rest as in the text. 36 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT i. Her waggon-spokes made of long spinners' legs ; The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers ; 60 Her traces, of the smallest spider's web ; Her collars, of the moonshine's watery beams ; Her whip, of cricket's bone ; the lash, of film ; Her waggoner, a small grey-coated gnat, Not half so big as a round little worm 65 Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid : Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut, Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub, Time out o' mind the fairies' coach-makers. And in this state she gallops night by night 70 Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love ; O'er courtiers' knees, that dream on court'sies straight ; O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees ; O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream, Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues, 75 Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are : 59. made, of long] Q, ]' ; arc made of O I. 61. Her'] O, F; The O i ; spiders} F, spider Q. 62. Her} Q, F; The Q I. 66. Prick'd] Q, F; Pickt O i ; vi aid} O I ; man Q, F ; woman Ff 2-4. 72. O'er] Q I (O're) ; On Q, F. 73. dream] Q, dreamt F. 76. breaths'} Rowe ; breathes Q I ; breath O, F. 59. spinners^ spiders'. Latimcr (in 67. He;' chariot} Daniel places lines Fox's Acts and Monuments) : ''Where 67-69 after line 58, as suggested by the bee gathercth honey, even there Lettsom ; the description of the the spinner gathereth venome. " chariot preceding that of its part-. 65. worm] Halliwell (Diet.) quotes These lines, not found in Q I, may Beaumont and Fletcher, Woman- have been added Lettsom thinks Hater in. i. : " Keep thy hands in in the margin of the "copy" of Q 2, thy muff, and warm the idle worms in and have been misplaced by the thy fingers' ends." Worms were said printer. Drayton, in Nymphidia, to breed in idle fingers. Banister in describes Mab's chariot, with evident his Compendious Chirurgiric (1585) reminiscences of this speech, describes women "sitting in the sun" 76. sweetmeats} M alone : "kissing pricking what "we commonly call comfits," mentioned in Merry Wives, wormes" from their fingers. v. v. 22. sc. iv.] ROMEO AND JULIET 37 Sometime she gallops o'er a courtier's nose, And then dreams he of smelling out a suit ; And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail Tickling a parson's nose as a' lies asleep, 80 Then dreams he of another benefice ; Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck, And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats, Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, Of healths five fathom deep ; and then anon 8 5 Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes, And, being thus frighted, swears a prayer or t\vo, And sleeps again. This is that very Mab That plats the manes of horses in the night, And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs, 90 Which once untangled much misfortune bodes ; This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs, That presses them and learns them first to bear, Making them women of good carriage ; 77- courtier's} The courtier has been fathom deep. The knight has drunk already mentioned ; hence Pope read so much Iiealth to the gentleman lawyer s from O i. but lawyers have yonder, etc." also been mentioned. Seymour con- 89. flats the manes'} Douce tells of jectured laivyers lip (Q i laf] ; a superstition that malignant spirits, Collier (MS.) reads counsellor 's. In clothed in white, haunted stables and the next line suit would be proper to dropped the wax of tapers on horses' courtier a court request, or in a legal manes. lie refers in illustration to a sense to a lawyer. The word suit print by Hans Burgkmair. (of clothes) suggested taylors to 90. bakes the elf-locks} Pope and Theobald. others read cakes ; Collier(MS. ) makes. 84. Spanish blades} toledoes. Q Klf-locks, hair matted by the elves. I reads countermines. Compare Lear, II. iii. 10 : " elf all 85. health?} tickling his neck makes my hair in knots. ' ; O, F misprint: him dream of drinking. Malone Elklocks. quotes from ll'estivard Hoe, 1607 : 92. backs'] So Drayton, in Nym- " My master and Sir Goslin are fht\lia, of Queen Mab. guzzling ; they are dabbling together 94. -women of good carriage} So 38 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT i. This is she Rom. Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! 95 Thou talk'st of nothing. Mer. True, I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, Which is as thin of substance as the air, And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes 100 Even now the frozen bosom of the north, And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence, Turning his face to the dew-dropping south. Ben. This wind you talk of blows us from ourselves ; Supper is done, and we shall come too late. 105 Rom. I fear, too early : for my mind misgives Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars, Shall bitterly begin his fearful date W T ith this night's revels, and expire the term Of a despised life closed in my breast I 10 By some vile forfeit of untimely death : But Pie, that hath the steerage of my course, Direct my sail ! On, lusty gentlemen. Ben. Strike, drum. \Exennt. HOISJ a man may choose a good "wife /^oard\ a sideboard or cabinet, used to display plate. So Chapman, Mans. D'Olire.: "Here shall stand my court cupboard \\illi its furniture of plate/' 9. marchpane\ a kind of almond cake. See Xares' Glossary for a. receipt (l6oS), and for many ex- amples of the word. 13. Third Serv.] I suppose that Third and Fourth Servants (Antony and Potpan ?) enter here. 40 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTI. asked for and sought for, in the great 1 5 chamber. Fourth Serv. We cannot be here and there too. Cheerly, boys ; be brisk awhile, and the longer liver take all. [T/iey retire behind. Enter CAPULET, with JULIET and others of his house, meeting the Guests and Maskers. Cap. Welcome, gentlemen! ladies that have their toes 20 Unplagued with corns will have a bout with you : Ah ha, my mistresses ! which of you all Will now deny to dance ? she that makes dainty, She, I '11 swear, hath corns ; am I come near ye now ? Welcome, gentlemen ! I have seen the da}'- 2 5 That I have worn a visor, and could tell A whispering tale in a fair lady's ear, Such as would please ; 'tis gone, 'tis gone, 'tis gone : 19. Enter . . . ] Enter all the guests and gentlewomen to the Maskers Q, F. 21. have a bout} Capell ; have about ( i ; walke about Q, F; walk a bout Daniel. 22. Ah ha, my} Q I ; Ah my Q, F. 19. longer live)-} Proverbial : so ing, as Daniel thinks, occurs in Much Dekker, Honest Whore, Part II.: Ado, n. i. 89; but we cannot be " If I have meat to my mouth, and sure that walk about in J\Iuch Ado rags to my back. . . . when I die, refers to the dance. the longer liver take all" (Pearson's 23. makes dainty'} is chary (of Dekker, ii. p. 115). (lancing). New Eng. Did. quotes 20. gentlemen} For gentlemen as a Preston, New Cov. (1628): "make dissyllable, see Walker, Sliakespeare 's not dainty of applying the promises." Versification, xxxiv. 24. come near} Schmidt: "touch 21. have a i/ouf} Daniel defends to the quick," as in 1 Henry IV. I. walk a bout : to tread a measure or to ii. 14. walk a meastire is common, and here 25. lVel(ome~\ Addressed to the the bout is a bout of dancing. The masked friends of Romeo (Delius). ame expression with the same mean- sc. v.j ROMEO AND JULIET 41 You are welcome, gentlemen ! Come, musicians, play. A hall, a hall ! give room, and foot it, girls. 30 [Music plays, and they dance. More light, you knaves ! and turn the tables up, And quench the fire, the room is grown too hot. Ah, sirrah, this unlook'd-for sport comes well. Nay, sit, nay, sit, good cousin Capulet, For you and I are past our dancing days ; 3 5 How long is 't now since last yourself and I Were in a mask ? Second Cap. By 'r Lady, thirty years. Cap. What, man ! 'tis not so much, 'tis not so much : Tis since the nuptial of Lucentio, Come Pentecost as quickly as it will, 40 Some five-and-twenty years ; and then we mask'd. Second Cap. 'Tis more, 'tis more : his son is elder, sir ; His son is thirty. Cap. Will you tell me that ? His son was but a ward two years ago. Rom. What lady is that which doth enrich the hand 45 29. gentlemen! Come,~\ gentlemen come, Q. 30. a hall\ Q, Hall F. Music . . . ] after line 29 Q, F. 39. Lucentio} Q I, F ; Lucientio (^. 43. Cap.] Q, 3 Cap. F. 44. two] Q, F ; three Q I. 45. lady is} Q i, Qq 3-5, Ff ; Ladies Q ; lady ' s several editors. 30. A hall .'] A cry to make room Italy. In Brooke's poem the time is in a crowd, as in Middleton, Enter- mid winter. tainment at Lord Mayors, 1623 (ed. 34. consin~\ kinsman ; see Hamlet Bullen, vii. 373): "A hall! a hall! (ed. Dowden), I. ii. 64. Uncle below, stand clear." Capulet, of the list of invitations, is 31. turn the tables ztf] turn up the probably addressed. leaves of the tables. Singer quotes 44. His . . . ago] After this line Cavendish, Life of IVolsey (ed. 1825, Q I adds a pleasing line, continued p. 198): " After that the board's end to Capulet: "Good youths I ( z'') was taken up." faith. Oh youth 's a jolly thing." 32. fire] The time is mid July in 42 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTI. Of yonder knight ? Serv. I know not, sir. Rom. O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright ! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear ; Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear ! 5 o So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows. The measure done, I '11 watch her place of stand, And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. Did my heart love till now ? forswear it, sight ! 5 5 For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night. Tyb. This, by his voice, should be a Montague. Fetch me my rapier, boy. What ! dares the slave Come hither, cover'd with an antic face, 48. // seems she} Q I, Qq, F ; Her beauty Ff 2-4. 49. Like} O i, Ff 2-4 ; 4s, Q> F. 54- blessed} Q, F; happy Q I. 55. now?} Q I ; now, O, F. 56. For I ne'er} Q, For I never F, / never Q I. 58. What ! dares} Theobald ; What dares Q, F ; What ? dares Q 5. 46, 47. knight ? . . . torches} Ma- Possibly one may detect faint echoes lone notes that Painter's novel has a here of 1 Henry VI. v. iii. 45- lord, Brooke's poem has a knight: 71 (Suffolk with Margaret in his " With torch in hand a comely knight hand), touching of hands, kissing did fetch her forth to dance." The fingers, the image of a swan (see note complete forgetfulness of Rosaline is on line 51), " senses rough,'' and "So also in Brooke's poem. seems this gorgeous beauty to mine 48. // seems sJie} The reading Ff eyes." Both passages express the 2-4 Her beauty is adopted by many sudden tyranny of beauty. editors; Daniel thinks that Beauty in 49. Fthiop's ear} Holt White line 50 requires beatify here. But quotes Lyly, Euphues : " A fair pearl how came all the early editions, in- in a Morian's ear." Scoloker, in eluding Q i. to read It seems^ If Da$7ianties(l6O4),"p, II, ed. Grosart, Her beauty be an improvement, it echoes this passage: "Or a faire may be the improvement of a stage Jewell by an Fthiope worne. " Romeo, and not Shakespeare's. 51. So . . . crows} Q I has "So Steevens quotes Sonnets, xxvii. : shines a snow-white Swan trouping " Which [thy shadow], like a jewel with Crowes." hung in ghastly night, 59. antic face} Romeo's fantastic Makes black night beauteous." mask, sc. v.J ROMEO AND JULIET 43 To fleer and scorn at our solemnity ? 60 Now, by the stock and honour of my kin, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin. Cap. Why, how now, kinsman ! wherefore storm you so ? Tyb. Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe ; A villain that is hither come in spite, 65 To scorn at our solemnity this night. Cap. Young Romeo is it ? Tyb. 'Tis he, that villain Romeo. Cap. Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone, He bears him like a portly gentleman ; And, to say truth, Verona brags of him 70 To be a virtuous and well-govern'd youth : I would not for the wealth of all this town Here in my house do him disparagement ; Therefore be patient, take no note of him : It is my will, the which if thou respect, / 5 Show a fair presence and put off these frowns, An ill-beseeming semblance for a feast. Tyb. It fits, when such a villain is a guest : I '11 not endure him. Cap. lie shall be endured: What, goodman boy ! I say he shall : go to ; So Am I the master here, or you ? go to. You '11 not endure him ! God shall mend my soul, 67. it?] F, //. Q. 69. H<] i ; .-/ Q, F. 72. this] Q, the F. 60. fleer'} laugh mockingly, as in (used specially of marriage festivities), Much Ado, \ . i. 58. Primarily to frequent in Shakespeare. Compare make a wry face; Palsgrave, Les- solemn, as in Macbeth, in. i. 15: flarcissement \ "I fleere, I make an '' To-night we hold a solemn supper.' 1 evil countenance with the mouthe by 6q. portly'} of dignity, as in Spenser, uncoveryng of the tethe. " Sonnet v. : ''portly pride" and 60. solemnity'} dignified festivity " such portlinesse is honour.'' 44 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTI. You '11 make a mutiny among my guests ! You will set cock-a-hoop ! you '11 be the man ! Tyb. Why, uncle, 'tis a shame. Cap. Go to, go to ; 85 You are a saucy boy : is 't so indeed ? This trick may chance to scathe you, I know what : You must contrary me ! marry, 'tis time. Well said, my hearts ! You are a princox ; go : Be quiet, or More light, more light ! For shame ! 90 I '11 make you quiet. What ! cheerly, my hearts ! Tyb. Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting. I will withdraw : but this intrusion shall, 94 Now seeming sweet, convert to bitter gall. \Exit. 83. my} Q, the F. 90. or . . . shame !] or more , . . light for shame, Q, F. 95. bitter} bittrest Q (alone). 84. cock-a-hoop}New Eng. Diet, says on second syllable. J. Hooker, Girald. "of doubtful origin," and its history Ireland in Holinshed : "The more further obscured by attempts to an- noble were his good and worthie alyse it ; various conjectures are given, attempts, the more he was crossed " To set (the) cock on (the) hoop, ap- and contraried" (New Eng. Diet.). parently to turn on the tap, let the 89. princox} a forward youth, liquor flow ; hence drink without Steevens quotes The Return from stint," and, by extension, give a loose Parnassus, 1606: "Your proud to all disorder. New Eng. Diet. University princox." Archbishop cites, among other examples, Daus. tr. Bancroft, angry with young Tobie Sleidan 's Comm., 1560: " There be Matthew, addresses him as a " Prin- found divers . . . which setting cox " in Matthew's unpublished ac- cocke on hoope beleve nothinge at count of his conversion. all, neither regard they what reason. 92. Patience perforce} compulsory what honesty, or what thing con- patience, a proverbial expression, science doth prescribe." Steevens quotes the adage, "Patience 86. ts't so] I understand this to perforce is a medicine for a mad dog, " refer to Tybalt's 'tis a shame. Fur- or, as Nares has it, "a mad horse." ness seems to approve Ulrici's sup- 95. Now . . . gall} Hudson, fol- position that it is an answer to a lowing Lettsom, regards con-vert as remark of some guest. transitive, governing sweet (substan- 87. scathe} injure ; used by Shake- tive), and reads, Now-seeming sweet speare as a verb only here. convert. " Convert " (intrans.) occurs 88. contrary} oppose, cross ; accent several times in Shakespeare. sc.v.] ROMEO AND JULIET 45 Rom. [To Juliet.] If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this, My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. Jid, Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, 100 Which mannerly devotion shows in this ; For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. Rom. Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too ? Jul. Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. 105 Rom. O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do ; They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. Jul. Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake. Rom. Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. 96. itnworthicst} Q, F ; unworthie, Q i. 97. sift] Q, Q 3, Ff ; sinne Q I , Ql 4> 5- 98- ready} Q i, (^ 5, Ff 2-4; did readie (,), F. 102. hands that] Q 5 ; hands, t)tat Q, F. 109. prayer's effect I take} Capell ; prayers effect I take Q I, Q, F ; prayers effect doe lake Ff 2-4. 97. sin} I retain this word, which possible reading which occurs to me has the authority of all the early is, " the gentle sin in this, " the gentle texts. Many editors follow Theobald and courteous take your hand, but if in adopting Warburton's proposal_/?c, it is profanation, I will atone for it. and it would have been easy to mis- The sin is referred to, lines 111-113. take fine for sinne (with a long s). " Tho' gentle" has been suggested to Fine, i. right, would mean mulct, me by Professor Littledale. and would refer to the kiss. The 100. pilgrim} Halliwell gives a clash in sound of shrine and fine is sketch by Inigo Jones which shows a not pleasing. I take the whole speech pilgrim's costume, such as was worn, to be a request for permission to kiss ; it is believed on the evidence of this to touch Tulict at all is sin ; but the line and probably of stage tradition, profanation with Romeo's hand is a by Romeo ; the loose large-sleeved rough sin ; to touch with his lips is gown with cape, broad-leafed hat, a "the gentle sin." A very slight pilgrim's staff in the left hand, emendation, which, I think, has not 109. / take} This line completes been proposed, "the gentler sin is what is virtually a Shakesperian this," would make it clearer. Another sonnet in dialogue. 46 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTI. Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged, i i o {Kissing her. Jul. Then have my lips the sin that they have took. Rom. Sin from my lips ? O trespass sweetly urged ! Give me my sin again. Jul. You kiss by the book. Nurse. Madam, your mother craves a word with you. Rom. What is her mother? Nurse. Marry, bachelor, i 1 5 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. Rom. Is she a Capulet ? 120 O dear account ! my life is my foe's debt. Ben. Away, be gone ; the sport is at the best. Rom. Ay, so I fear ; the more is my unrest. Cap. Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone ; We have a trifling foolish banquet towards. 125 no. thine} Q, F ; yours O i. no. Kissing her] Shakespeare, says O I has //trail for debt. Cambridge Mulune, copied from the mode of his editors conjecture that the rhyming own time. Compare Henry VIII. I. iv. 29. 113. by tli way; there is here probably no refer- ence to any Book of Manners. 115. IVliat} Who, as frequently in over when the game is at the fairest. Shakespeare. Compare line 131. See I. iv. 39. 1 20. chinks} cash; Cotgravc, 125. ban/juet towards} Towards, " Quinquaille, chinkes, coyne.'' ready, at hand, as toward in Hamlet, 121. debt} Slaunton explains: Be- I. i. 77. Banquet, a course of sweet- reft of Juliet he should die, therefore meats, fruit, and wine. New Eng. his life is at Capulct's mercy; so in Diet, quotes Cogan, Haven of Health, Brooke's poem : "Thus hath his foe 1588: "Yea, and after supper for in choyse to give him life or death." fear lest they be not full gorged, to sc.v.] ROMEO AND JULIET 17 Is it e'en so? Why then, I thank you all ; I thank you, honest gentlemen ; good night More torches here ! Come on, then let 's to bed. Ah, sirrah, by my fay, it waxes late; i 29 I '11 to my rest. \Exeunt all but Juliet and Nurse, Jnl. Come hither, nurse. What is yond gentleman ? Nurse. The son and heir of old Tibcrio. ful. What 's he that now is going out of door ? Nurse. Marry, that, I think, be young Petruchio. Jul. What 's he that follows there, that would not dance ? 135 Nurse. I know not. Jul. Go, ask his name. If he be married, My grave is like to be my wedding bed. Nurse. His name is Romeo, and a Montague ; The only son of your great enemy. 140 Jul. My only love sprung from my only hate ! Too early seen unknown, and known too late ! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, That I must love a loathed enemy. Nurse. What 's this ? what 's this ? Jul. A rhyme I learn'd even now. 145 Of one I danced withal. \_Onc calls within, "Juliet." have a delicate banqucf, with almnd- dialogue between Juliet and Xur.^e ance ol wine."' See Taming oj tlic was suggested by Brooke's poem. Skreu', v. ii. 9. 137, 138. //' . . . bcd\ Uttered to 126. ecu .w .'] O I has stage-direc- herself, while the Nurse makes tion, " They whisper in his care," i.e. inquiry, their reasons for going. 143. Prodigious} Portentous, as in 131. Conic hither, nurse] The Midsummer Night's Dream, v. i. 419. 48 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTII. Nurse. Anon, anon ! Come, let 's away ; the strangers all are gone. [Exeunt. ACT II Enter CHORUS. Chor. Now old Desire doth in his death-bed lie. And young Affection gapes to be his heir : That fair for which love groarid for and would die, With tender Juliet match d, is now not fair. Now Romeo is beloved and loves again^ 5 Alike bewitched by the charm of looks, But to his foe supposed he must complain, And she steal loves sweet bait from fearful hooks : Being held a foe, he may not have access To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear ; I o And she as much in love, Jier means mucli less To meet Jier new-beloved any where : But passion lends them power, time means, to meet, Tempering extremities with extreme sweet. [Exit. 4. match'd] F, match Q. Chorui\ There being no division of examples from Swinburn's Briefe Acts or Scenes in the early texts, Treatise of Testaments, 1590: "such editors may place the Chorus at end as do gape for greater bequests," and of Act I., or, as here, by way of pro- " to gape and crie upon the testator." logue to Act n. As it refers more 3. fair] Frequent in Shakespeare to the future than the past, I follow for a beautiful person, and also in the the Cambridge editors in placing it sense of beauty ; I think the former here. Some critics doubt that it is is the meaning here. As to the re- by Shakespeare. peated/i?r in this line, compare AlVs 2. gapes] Rushton (Shakespeare's Well, I. ii. 29: "But on us both did Testamentary Language, p. 29) quotes haggish age steal on." sc. i.] ROMEO AND JULIET 49 SCENE I. Verona. A lane by the wall of Capulefs orcJtanl. Enter RoMKO. Rom. Can I go forward when my heart is here ? Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out. \_I Ic climbs tlic wall, and leaps down within it. Enter BF.NVOLIO and MFRCUTIO. Ben. Romeo ! my cousin Romeo ! Romeo ! Mer. He is wise ; And, on my life, hath stol'n him home to bed. Ben. He ran this way, and leap'd this orchard wall : 5 Call, good Mercutio. Mcr. Nay, I '11 conjure too. Romeo ! humours ! madman ! passion ! lover ! Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh : Speak but one rhyme and I am satisfied ; Cry but " Ay me ! " pronounce but " love " and "dove"; 10 A lane . . .] Camb. editors. 2. lie climbs . . .] Steevens. 3. Romeo! Romeo /] (), F ; Romeo (^ I. 6. Nay . . . too} given to Mercutio Q r > Ql 4> 5 ; continued to Benvolio Q, O 3, Ff. 7. Romeo} Qq 4, 5 ; Mer. Romeo (), Q 3, Ff; passion! lover'.} passion loner Q (commas in F). 10. Cry] Q, Cry me F ; pronounce} O i, Qq 4, 5 ; provaunt Q ; provant F ; dove] Q i ; day Q, F ; die Qq 4, 5. A lane . . .] Perhaps some stage 7'] Singer (ed. 2) reads Humour s- furniture representing a wall was madman ! fassion - lover ; Daniel introduced, which, as Daniel suggests, humorous -madman! passionate may have been withdrawn, when lover! Mercutio and Benvolio depart. 10. Ay me] as in Spenser, Virgil's 2. earth] body. So Sonnefs, cxlvi.. Gnat, 353, "Ay me, that thankes so "Poor soul, the centre of my sinful much should faile of meed." Cor- earlh." Ff 2-4 read my centre. rupted in F 2 to ay me. Theobald and 6. conjure} Accented on first others Ah me! syllable as here in Midsummer- 10. pronounce} F 2 alters the Night's Dream, ill. ii. 158. f reran' of F" to coup'.y, whence 50 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT ii. Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word, One nickname for her purblind son and heir, Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid. He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not ; I 5 The ape is dead, and I must conjure him. I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes, By her high forehead, and her scarlet lip, By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh, 12. heir] Q i, Qq 4, 5 ; her Q, F. 13. Adam Cupid] Sleevens (Upton conj.); Abraham: Cupid Q I, Qq 2, 3 ; Abraham Cupid Qq 4, 5 Ff; trim'} Q i ; true Q, F. 16. ami] Q, omitted F. Rowc's couple, adopted by many editors. 13. Adam Cupid] Upton's con- jecture Adam (easily misread Abram} is generally accepted, the allusion being to the great archer, Adam Bell, famous in ballad poetry. Compare Much Ado, I. i. 260: "shoot at me ; and he that hits me let him be clapped on the shoulder, and called Adam.'''' The Abraham of Q I, Qq, Ff may be right. If the source of the Cophetua ballad were found, which may lurk in some old book on Africa, a bowman named Abraham might be discovered. An Ethiopian king (448- 470) was so named. If "young Abraham " is named after the patri- arch, the nickname must mean "father of many nations"' (Genesis xvii. 5), not wholly inappropriate to Cupid. Knight supposed that cheat was meant, the allusion being to the Abraham-men of Elizabethan days vagabonds, bare - armed and bare - legged, pretending madness. In S. Rowlands' Martin Mark-all (about 1609), he gives Abram as a slang word meaning mad. In Street Kobberies consider' a (about 1700) Abram is given as a cant word for naked, which would suit Cupid well, but, though clearly a relic of the Abraham-men, I have found no earlier example in this sense. Again, as Theobald observed, abraham and abram are old spellings of auburn (e.g. Coriolanus, II. iii. 21, F text); many examples might be cited. Italian poets name Cupid "II biondo Dio," and \V. Thomas, Principal Rules of the Italian Grammer, 1567, explains biondo, as "the aberne (auburn) colour, that is betwene white and yelow." "White reads " auburn 1 ' here. Finally, the nickname may be an allusion to some forgotten Eliza- bethan contemporary, whose name (such, for example, as S[ir] Abra\]iani\ /^Krnnan, who wrote verses in the British Museum copy of Nash's Jack ll'i/.'oit) or whose fame in archery invited a jest. 13. /rim] The trim of Q i pre- serves a word of the ballad "King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid," given in Percy's Keliques : "The blinded boy that shoots so trim." In Love's Lahour's Lost, I. ii. 117. the ballad is spoken of as written "some three ages since." 15. stirreth] Q 3 (alone) reads sf rivet h. sc.i.l ROMEO AND JULIET 51 And the demesnes that there adjacent lie, 20 That in thy likeness thou appear to us ! Ben. An if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him. Mcr. This cannot anger him : 'twould anger him To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle Of some strange nature, letting it there stand 25 Till she had laid it, and conjured it down ; That were some spite : my invocation Is fair and honest, and in his mistress' name I conjure only but to raise up him. Ben. Come, he hath hid himself among these trees, 30 To be consorted with the humorous night : Blind is his love and best befits the dark. Mcr. If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark. Now will he sit under a medlar-tree, And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit 35 As maids call medlars when they laugh alone. O, Romeo, that she were, O, that she were An open et cetera, thou a poperin pear ! Romeo, good night : I '11 to my truckle-bed ; This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep : 40 22. An] Theobald ; An. I O. F. 2=5. th<.yc\ Q, omitted F. 28. anJ in} V, in O. 30. these] n, F ; those n I. 38. open et cetera, ///^/J n I, Malone ; open, or thou O, F. 36. medlars] See Halliwell suppressed name. t cetera} Used, a substitute for a suppressed unbecom- ing word), in Cotgrave. under Ber^a- Ovid frequently uses cetera 52 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTH. Come, shall we go? Ben. Go, then ; for 'tis in vain To seek him here that means not to be found. \Exeunt. SCENE II. The Same. Capulefs Orchard. ROMEO advances. Rom. He jests at scars that never felt a wound. \_Juliet appears above at a window. But, soft ! what light through yonder window breaks ? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun ! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, 5 That thou her maid art far more fair than she : Be not her maid, since she is envious ; Her vestal livery is but sick and green, And none but fools do wear it ; cast it off. It is my lady ; O, it is my love ! I o Capulet's Orchard] Globe. S. sick] O, T; pak O I. the sense camp-bed : line 897, " Loe argues that Scene i. is in the orchard, here a fielde (she shewd a fielabed and he here continues the scene, ready dight), etc." This is an example i. He jests] Referring to Mercutio. earlier than any recorded in New 6. her inaid\ A votary of the virgin Eng. Diet. Certain coarse words Diana. are called "field-bed words" by 8. sick and green~\ Collier pleads for Massinger, Old Law, iv. ii. (meaning his " old corrector's " white and green speech of the camp ?). on the ground that these were the colours of the fool's livery under S cenc // Henry vin. Probably the word green-sickness suggested the epithets. Romeo advances] I indicate by See in. v. 156. these words that Romeo has not left 10. // is} Grant White supposes the stage. He overhears Mercutio's that at this point Juliet steps out upon words, and his opening line rhymes the balcony ; previously only the light with Benvolio's last. Grant White from her window was visible. ROMEO AND JULIET 53 O, that she knew she were ! She speaks, yet she says nothing : what of that ? Her eye discourses; I will answer it. I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks : Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, i 5 Having some business, do entreat her eyes To twinkle in their spheres till they return. What if her eyes were there, they in her head ? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven 20 Would through the airy region stream so bright That birds would sing and think it were not night. See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand ! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek ! Jul. Ay me ! Rom. She speaks : 2 5 O, speak again, bright angel ! for thou art As glorious to this night, being o'er my head, As is a winged messenger of heaven Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes Of mortals, that fall back to gaze on him 30 When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds And sails upon the bosom of the air. Jnl. O Romeo, Romeo ! wherefore art thou Romeo ? 21. region^ strictly a division of the sky; see note on Haw let, II. ii. 518 (ed. Dowden). 27. nigAf] Theobald, followed l>y 54 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT n. Deny thy father and refuse thy name ; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, 3 5 And I '11 no longer be a Capulet. Rom, \_Aside.~\ Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this ? Jul. 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy ; Thou art thyself, though not a Alontague. What 's Montague ? it is nor hand, nor foot, 40 Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name ! What 's in a name ? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet ; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, 45 Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for thy name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself. Rom. I take thee at thy word : Call me but love, and I '11 be new baptized ; 50 Henceforth I never will be Romeo. Jul. What man art thou, that, thus bescreen'd in night, So stumblest on my counsel ? 41, 42. Nor arm . . . name} Malone ; O i has 41, omits 42; The rest Nor anne nor face, 6 be some other name Belonging to a man. 44. namc\ Q I ; -word O, F. 47. title. Roinco~\ tytle, l\omeo Q, title Romeo, F ; doff} Q, F ; part O i. 48. thy} Q, F ; that Q i. 39. Thou . . . Montague} Dyce 47. doff} Daniel pleads for Q I has followed Maione's unhappy par!, as characteristically playing punctuation, "Thou art thyself with the word part of next line, lie though, not." The meaning is compares Sonnet cxiii. : "Doth/w/ obviously: What's in a name? If his function and is partly blind/ 1 you refuse the name Montague, you 49. / . . . ivord} Ought \ve not to remain yourself. pause after thee, making / take thee a 46. owes] possesses, as in Lear, I. response to Take all myself ? i. 205. sc. ii.] ROMEO AND JULIET 55 Rom. By a name I know not how to tell thcc who I am : My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, 5 5 Because it is an enemy to thee : Had I it written, I would tear the word. Jul. My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words Of thy tongue's uttering, yet I know the sound : Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague ? 60 Rom. Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike. Jul, How cam'st 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 kinsmen find thee here. 65 Rom. With love's light wings did I o'er-pcrch these walls, For stony limits cannot hold love out, And what love can do that dares love attempt ; Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me. Jul. If they do see thee, they will murder thee. 70 Row. Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye Than twenty of their swords : look thou but sweet, And I am proof against their enmity. 58. yd not} O, F ; not yd O I. 59. thy . . . uttering O, F ; that . . . utterance O i, Malone. 61. maid . . . u'isli/^} O, F; saint . . . displease O i. 69. stop] Q, F ; let Q i. 55. saint] recalling their recent Edward III. (15961, n. i. 2: "His meeting, I. v. 102. II. Coleridge ear to drink her sweet tongue .i compares Drayton, England's He roic- utterance.'' all Epistles, Henry to Rosamund: 61. dislike] displease, as in Othello, " If 't be my name that doth thee so II. iii. 49. offend, 62. lukti-tforc] accented as here in I\'o more myself shall be my own M:dsttviniir Nighfs Drdirn, ill. ii. name's friend.'' 272 (Kolfe). See \Valker, Shake- 59. uttering] Malune compares s/ care's Versification, p. ill. 56 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTH. JuL I would not for the world they saw thee here. Rom. I have night's cloak to hide me from their eyes ; 7 5 And but thou love me, let them find me here : My life were better ended by their hate, Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love. Jul. By whose direction found'st thou out this place ? Rom. By love, that first did prompt me to inquire ; 80 He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes. I am no pilot ; yet, wert thou as far As that vast shore wash'd with the farthest sea, I would adventure for such merchandise. JuL Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face, 8 5 Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night. Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny What I have spoke : but farewell compliment ! Dost thou love me ? I know thou wilt say " Ay," 90 And I will take thy word ; yet, if thou swear'st, Thou mayst prove false ; at lovers' perjuries, 75- eyes] Q, F ; sight Q I. So. that} Q, F ; ivho O I. 83. vast shore washed] Qq 4, 5 ; vast shore -ujasheth Q ; vasi-shore-washct F ; farthest} Q, F -/furthest Q I. 84. would} Q I : should Q, Y. 89. compliment} Pope ; complement Q, F ; complements Q I, F 2. 90. love me '! 1} Q ; Love ' I F ; Love ? O I Ff 2, 3. 78. prorogued] delayed, as in IV. i. to a commercial enterprise across 48. the sea. The society of Merchant So. By love] Keighlley reads By Adventurers was so named by Henry Love's. vii. 83. vast] Walker (Crit. Exam, of 85. mask~\ like saint, line 55, per- Shakcspeare s 7'e.vt, ii. 39) has an haps a reverberation from the recent article which attempts to show that feast ami dance. Shakespeare uses the word like Lat. 88. dwell on form'} adhere to con- vastus, empty, waste. ventional manners. 84. adventure'} There is a special 89. compliment} outward forms, propriety in the \vord when referring punctilio, as in Much Ado, IV. i. 3 22 - sc.ii.] ROMEO AND JULIET 57 They say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo, If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully ; Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won, 95 I '11 frown and be perverse and say thee nay, So thou wilt woo ; but else, not for the world. In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond ; And therefore thou mayst think my haviour light : But trust me, gentleman, I '11 prove more true 100 Than those that have more cunning to be strange. I should have been more strange, I must confess, But that thou overheard'st, ere I was ware, My true love's passion : therefore pardon me, And not impute this yielding to light love, 105 Which the dark night hath so discovered. Rom. Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear, That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops Jul. O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, I 10 93. laughs] Q, taught F. 95. thou think' st] Q, F; thou think O I. 99. haviour~\ Q i, F 2 ; behaviour Q, F. 101. more cunning] Q I ; coy ing O, F; more coyingty\^ 5. 104. true love's] true loves O i, F; truelovc n. 107. blessed] O i, Q; omitted F; wear'] O i ; z-ow Q, F. 108. tops ] Rowe ; tops. Q, F. 1 10. circled] F, circle (). 93. Jove laughs] Douce : This 106. Which] refers to yielding; Shakespeare found in Ovid's Art of discovered, revealed. Love -perhaps in Marlowe's trans- 107. swear] Walker : "F omits lation, B. i. : " For Jove himself sits in blessed and has vow for swear. Can the azure skies, And laughs below at this have originated in the Profanation lovers' 1 perjuries.'' Greene has it also Act?" in his Metamorphosis. 109. moon] Of many parallels which 100. gentleman] Rushton, Shake- might he quoted that cited by Hunter speare's Euphuism, p. 56, illustrates from Wilson's Rhetorique (Arnplifica- from Lyly this mode of address, and tion ) may suffice : "as . . . in speak- cites parallels for parts of this speech, ing of inconstancy to shew the moon 101. strange] reserved, as in in. which keepeth no certain course." ii. 15. 58 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTH. Lest that thy love prove likewise variable. Rom. What shall I swear by ? Jul. Do not swear at all ; Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, Which is the god of my idolatry, And I '11 believe thee. Rom. If my heart's dear love I I 5 Jul. Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract to-night ; It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden, Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be Ere one can say "It lightens." Sweet, good night ! I 20 This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. Good night, good night ! as sweet repose and rest Come to thy heart as that within my. breast ! Rom. O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied ? 125 Jul. What satisfaction canst thou have to-night ? Rom. The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine. Jul. I gave thee mine before thou didst request it ; And yet I would it were to give again. Rom. Wouldst thou withdraw it ? for what purpose, love? 130 Jul. But to be frank, and give it thee again. contract'} Kolfo : "Accented bv Shakespeare on either syllable . The verb alwas on the second." 120. " It lightens "] Stecvens com- pares Midsummer Kighfs Drea 145-148, and cites a parallel from Drayton, The Miracle of Moses. 124. as that\ Delius explains : "as to that Iicart within my breast." 131. frank'] bountiful, as in Sennits, iv. 4. sc. ii.] ROMEO AND JULIET 59 And yet I wish but for the thing I have : My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep ; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite. I 35 [Nurse calls ivithin. I hear some noise within ; dear love, adieu ! Anon, good nurse ! Sweet Montague, be true. Stay but a little, I will come again. \Exit. Ron. O blessed blessed night ! I am afeard, Being in night, all this is but a dream, I 40 Too flattering-sweet to be substantial. Re-enter JULIKT, above. Jul. Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed. If that thy bent of love be honourable, Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow, By one that I '11 procure to come to thee, 145 Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite, And all my fortunes at thy foot I '11 lay, And follow thee my lord throughout the world. Nurse. [ Within.} Madam ! Jul. I come, anon. But if thou mean'st not well, 150 I do beseech thee Nurse. [ Within.} Madam ! Jul. By and by, I come : 138. Exit] Rowe ; omitted O, !". 141. flattering-sweet] hyphen Then- bald. 141. Re-enter. . .] Rowe ; omitted Q, F ; Enter F 2. 146. ritt \ F 3 ; riyit O, K : rights Q 4 : rites O 5. 148. lord'} O I, F ; L. O : Lore ( v )(| 4, 5. 140, 151. Nurse [WithinJ Capell, omitted O (Madam in margin), Within: F. 132. Ana yd'} The meaning is given of this speech is irom Brooke's in lines 134. 135. poem. 143! honourable'} The suggestion 151. By and by'} immediately. Nfiv 60 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTH. To cease thy suit, and leave me to my grief: To-morrow will I send. Rom. So thrive my soul, Jul. A thousand times good night ! \Exit. Rom. A thousand times the worse, to want thy light. i 5 5 Love goes toward love, as school-boys from their books, But love from love, toward school with heavy looks. [Retiring slowly. Re-enter JULIET, above. Jul. Hist ! Romeo, hist ! O, for a falconer's voice, To lure this tassel-gentle back again ! Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud ; i 60 Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies, 152. suit] Qq 4, 5 ; strife Q, F. 153. soul, ] Theobald ; soule. Q, F. 154. Exit] F, omitted Q. 155. light} Q, F ; sight Qq 4, 5. 157. toward} Q, towards F. 159. tassel-gentle} Hanmer ; Tassel gentle Q, F. 160. sfeak} Q, F; crie Q i. Eng. Diet, quotes Cogan, Haven of peregrine being distinguished by the Health: "111 seeds . . . shew not addition of the word 'gentle.' There themselves by and by, but yet in pro- was thus a subtle tribute paid by Juliet cesse of time they bud forth." to her lover's nobility of nature." 152. suit} The reading suit is con- Minsheu, Guide into the Tongues, gives firmed by the occurrence of " to cease rapel &.<-, a synonym for lure for a hawk, your suit " in the corresponding pas- from Fr. " Rapeler, i., reappellare, i., sage of Brooke's poem. to repeale or call backc. " In Mabbe's 157. toward school} Rolfe compares translation of Gasman dc Alfarache. As You Like It, n. vii. 145 Jaques" 1623 (quoted by Rolfc), tassel-gentles, " whining schoolboy." used metaphorically, is explained in 159. lure this tassel-gentle} Madden, the margin as " Kinde Lovers." In Diary of Master William Silence, p. Massinger's The Guardian, I. i., the 157: "The males of the hawks tiercel gentle is named as the bird principally used in falconry the " for an evening flight." peregrine and goshawk were called 160. hoarse"} Daniel reads hiisht. and 'tiercels' or 'tercels' [corrupted to in line 162 for mine he reads l-'amc tassels}, because (it is said) they are (rhyming with name}. smaller than the females by one third ; 161. tear . . . cave} Milton's ear the male of the nobler species the perhaps was haunted by this passage ; sc. n.] ROMEO AND JULIET 61 And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine, With repetition of my Romeo's name. Rom. It is my soul that calls upon my name : How silver - sweet sound lovers' tongues by night, 165 Like softest music to attending ears ! Jnl. Romeo ! Rom. My dear ? Jul. At what o'clock to-morrow Shall I send to thee ? Rom. By the hour of nine. Jnl. I will not fail ; 'tis twenty years till then. I have forgot why I did call thee back. 170 Rom. Let me stand here till thou remember it. Jul. I shall forget, to have thee still stand there, Remembering how I love thy company. Rom. And I '11 still stay, to have thee still forget, Forgetting any other home but this. i 7 5 Jul. 'Tis almost morning ; I would have thee gone ; And yet no further than a wanton's bird, Who lets it hop a little from her hand, Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, And with a silk thread plucks it back again, I 80 162. tongue} Q, F; voice Q I. 162, 163. than mine, With~\ Q 5; then inyne With O 4 ; then IVilh Q, F. 163. Romeo 's name} Q I ; Romeo Q, F. 163, 164.] Cambridge editors insert Romeo! (from Q i) between these lines. 164. son!} O, F; love, OJq 4, 5. 167. My dcar?~\ Qq 4, 5 (without?); Madame (^ i; My A T eete Q, F; My sweet, Ff 2-4 and many editors ; At what] Q I ; What Q, F. 168. By~\ Q, F ; At Q I and several editors. 169. years} F, yeare Q. 172. forget, to} (Jq 3, 4, F ; forget to Q and several editors. i-jj. further} Y, farther Q. 178. ll'ho . . . her} O i; That . . . his Q, F. 180. si!/; . . . again} Pope; so Q I, reading fills ioi f lucks ; O, F have silken and plucks, and bo Ff 2-4, omitting back. in Par. Lost, 15. i. 542, we have < 208, " airy tongues that syllable men's " tore hell's concave," and in Cottius, "? names/ 3 62 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTH. So loving-jealous of his liberty. Rom. I would I were thy bird. Jill. Sweet, so would I : Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good night, good night ! parting is such sweet sorrow That I shall say good night till it be morrow. 185 {Exit. Rom. Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast ! Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest ! Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell, His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell. \_Exit. SCENE III. The Same. Friar Laurence's Cell. Enter Friar LAURENCE, -with a basket. Fri. The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night, Chequering the eastern clouds with streaks of light ; 181. loving-jealous] hyphen Theobald. 185. Exit] Pope ; omitted Q, F ; after line 1 86 Ff 2-4. 1 88. father's cell} Q I ; Friers close cell Qq, Ff 3, 4 ; Fries close cell Ff I, 2. 189. dear'] Q, F ; i^ood Q I. Scene nr. Friar Laurence's Cell] Malone ; A Monastery Rowc ; Fields near a Convent Capell. Enter . . . ] Ro\ve ; Enter Frier alone with a basket (), F ; Enter Frier Francis O I. 184. Good night} Cambridge: Scene ill. " This passage was printed substanti- 1-4. The . . . wheels'] Attempting ally right in Q i. The O 2 inserted to remedy the confusion recorded in after the first line of Romeo's speech the last note, Ff 2-4 omit these lines the first four of the Friar's, repeating here, leaving them in our Scene ii. them in their proper place." Further I. grey-eyed~\ Tourneur in The corruption in Q 3; intruding lines Atheisfs Tragedie, I. iii.. has: "The ejected, and speeches distributed gray eie'd Morning makes the fairest aright in Oq 4, 5 ; F follows Q 3 ; day." Grey may mean what we " Pope restored the true arrange- understand by the word, or bluish menu" For further details, see grey. See a fuller note on the word Camb. ed. as it occurs in II. iv. 47. sc. in.] KOMEO AND JULIET 63 And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels From forth day's path and Titan's fiery wheels : Now, ere the sun advance his burning eye 5 The day to cheer and night's dank dew to dry, I must up-fill this osier cage of ours With baleful weeds and precious-juiced flowers. The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb; What is her burying grave, that is her womb, 10 And from her womb children of divers kind We sucking on her natural bosom find, Many for many virtues excellent, None but for some, and yet all different. O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies I 5 In herbs, plants, stones, and their true qualities : For nought so vile that on the earth doth live But to the earth some special good doth give ; Nor aught so good but, strain'd from that fair use, Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse: 20 3. flecked] Q I, flcckdd Q, flcckkd F. 4. fiery] O i ; burning, O, F. $. precious-juiced] hyphen Pope. 16. herbs, plants] Ql \ Plants, hearbes <.,), F. 2O. front . . . stumbling} O, F; to vice, and stumbles <<) I. T>. flecked] dappled (not obsolete), sleeping-potion in iv. "Osier cage ^\\afleckled of F implies little streaks of ours" possibly not merely for the or spots (diminutive_//tY/('/('). Compare rhyme's sake, hut because the Fran- Much Ado, v. iii. 27. ciscan had no personal property. 4. From . . . wheels] Pope read 9. her tomli] Steevens compares with Q in the lines erroneously printed Lucretius (v. 259): " Omniparens at the close of Scene ii., and, with Ff eadem rerum conmune sepulchrum," 2-4 here, path-way, made by. and Milton, Par. Lost, ii. 911: " The 5. advance] lift up, as (of eyelids) womb of nature and perhaps her in Tempest, I. ii. 408. grave." Malone adds I'eric/es, II, 7. osier cage] Steevens quotes Dray- iii. 45, 46. ton's description, in Polyolbion, xiii., 15. mick!e] Fxcept in Henry J'. of a hermit filling his osier inaund or (Pistol speaking) this word occurs basket with simples. Shakespeare only in Shakespeare's earlv plays, had the suggestion for this passage 18. /j] Hanmer reads to^t, mak- from Brooke's poem; it prepares us ing earth the giver. Malone explains for the friar's skill in furnishing the earth as inhabitants of the earth. 64 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT H. Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, And vice sometime 's by action dignified. Within the infant rind of this weak flower Poison hath residence and medicine power : For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part ; 2 5 Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart. Two such opposed kings encamp them still In man as well as herbs, grace and rude will ; And where the worser is predominant, Full soon the canker death eats up that plant. 30 Enter ROMEO. Rom. Good morrow, father. Fri. Benedicite ! What early tongue so sweet saluteth me ? Young son, it argues a distemper'd head So soon to bid good morrow to thy bed : Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye, 3 5 22. sometime 's] Capell ; sometimes Q I ; sometime Q, F. 23. weak] Q, F ; small O i and many editors. 26. slays'} F, states Q (alone). 27. kings'] Q, F ; foes, Q I. 30. Enter Romeo] Pope ; after line 22 Q, F. 32. sweet'} O, F ; soon O I. 23. weak} A gain on small Q I, as 27. kings] Rowe reads kinds. opposed to power, line 24. Ma.lonecompa.resALover'sComflaznf, 24. medicine} Warburton conjee- 202, 203 : tured medic nal, and Capell medi- " Effects of terror and dear modesty, tine's. Encamp \l in hearts, but fighting 25. that part] the odorous part ; outwardly." or, as Malone explains, "the olfac- 30. canker] the canker-worm, as in lory nerves," with meaning together Midsummer Night s Dream, II. ii. 3; with. The comma after smelt is in and Venus and Adonis, line 656. F ; absent from Q, which has a comma 34. good morrow] Here a parting after part. good morrow. 26. slays] Mommsen accepts O 35. watch] waking, as in Hamlet, stays, in the sense " brings to a stand- n. ii. 148. still." sc. HI.] HOMEO AND JULIET Go And where care lodges, sleep will never lie ; But where unbruised youth with unstuff'd brain Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign : Therefore thy earliness doth me assure Thou art up-roused by some distemperature ; 40 Or if not so, then here I hit it right, Our Romeo hath not been in bed to-night. Rom. That last is true ; the sweeter rest was mine. Fri. God pardon sin ! wast thou with Rosaline? Rom. With Rosaline, my ghostly father? no; 45 I have forgot that name, and that name's woe. Fri. That 's my good son : but where hast thou been, then ? Rom. I '11 tell thee, ere thou ask it me again. I have been feasting with mine enemy, Where on a sudden one hath wounded me, 50 That 's by me wounded : both our remedies Within thy help and holy physic lies : I bear no hatred, blessed man ; for, lo, My intercession likewise steads my foe. Fri. Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift ; 5 5 Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift. Rom. Then plainly know my heart's dear love is set On the fair daughter of rich Capulet: As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine ; And all combined, save what thou must combine 60 40, by] Q i; -vit/i Q, F. 55. and] O, rest F. 37. unbruised] Collier (MS.) has of us both; so " both our mothers," unbusied. the mother of us both, All's H'd//, I. 40. di$temperature\ disturbance of iii. 169. mind, or of body. 54. steads] benefits, as frequently 51. both our remedies} the remedy in Shakespeare. 66 KOMEO AND JULIET [ACTH. By holy marriage : when, and where, and how, We met, we woo'd and made exchange of vow, I '11 tell thee as we pass ; but this I pray, That thou consent to marry us to-day. Fri. Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! 65 Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear, So soon forsaken ? young men's love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes. Jesu Maria, what a deal of brine Hath wash'd thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline ! 70 How much salt water thrown away in waste, To season love, that of it doth not taste ! The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears, Thy old groans ring yet in mine ancient ears ; Lo, here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit 75 Of an old tear that is not wash'd off yet. If e'er thou wast thyself and these woes thine, Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline : And art thou changed ? pronounce this sentence then : Women may fall, when there 's no strength in men. 80 Rom. Thou chidd'st me oft for loving Rosaline. Fri. For doting, not for loving, pupil mine. Rom. And bad'st me bury love. Fri. Not in a grave To lay one in, another out to have. 66. ivhoi\ O i; that O, F. 74. ring ycf\ O i; yet ringing Q, V ri>i^' (^<.[ 4, 5, Ff 2-4 ; mine\ Q ; my Q I, F. 72. season] give a relish to. Com- pare All's Well. I. i. 55: " 'Tis the best brine a maiden can 'season her sc. iv.] ROMEO AND JULIET 67 Rom. I pray thce, chide not : she whom I love now 8 5 Uoth grace for grace and love for love allow ; The other did not so. Fri. O, she knew well Thy love did read by rote that could not spell. But come, young waverer, come, go with me, In one respect I '11 thy assistant be; 90 For this alliance may so happy prove, To turn your households' rancour to pure love. Rom. O, let us hence; I stand on sudden haste. Fri. Wisely and slow ; they stumble that run fast. \Exeunt, SCENE IV. The Same. A Street. Enter BENYOLIO and MERCUTIO. Mer. Where the devil should this Romeo be ? Came he not home to-night? Ben. Not to his father's ; I spoke with his man. Mer. Why, that same pale hard-hearted wench, that Rosaline, Torments him so, that he will sure run mad. 5 85. chide . . . 7] O i ; chide me not, her I Q, F. 88. that} O, F; and O i and many editors. 92. households'] Capell, hoitsholds Q, hoiishoitld Y . Scene ir. 1-3.] As in Steevens ; prose Q, F. i. \Vherc\ O, F ; Why where Capell (getting Why from Q i). 4, 5.] verse () I, Q ; prose F. 4. Why} Q, F ; Ah Q i and many editors. 88. read by rote'} repeated phrases iv. 36; " who stand so much on the learnt by heart, but had no intelli- new form." cence of the beggarly elements of true \rftif us passion. 93. stand on} it imports me much 2. to-iii^ht} last night, as in I. iv. to be speedy (Staunton). So n. 50. 68 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTH. Ben. Tybalt, the kinsman to old Capulet, Hath sent a letter to his father's house. Mer. A challenge, on my life. Ben. Romeo will answer it. Mer. Any man that can write may answer a 10 letter. Ben. Nay, he will answer the letter's master, how he dares, being dared. Mer. Alas, poor Romeo, he is already dead ! stabbed with a white wench's black eye ; shot thorough i 5 the ear with a love-song ; the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's butt-shaft ; and is he a man to encounter Tybalt ? Ben. Why, what is Tybalt? Mer. More than prince of cats, I can tell you. O, 20 6, 7.] verse Q I ; prose Q, F. 6. to] Q, F ; of Q I. 15. shot} Q I ; run Q, F and several editors ; thorough} Q I ; through Q, F. 19, 20. Why . . . 0} Capell from Q i ; (), F omit / can tell you. 20. prince} Q, F; the prince Q I. 12. answer} The same play on See Love's Labour's Lost, iv. i. 138. answer (by letter or word) and answer, So Middleton, No IVit, No Help encounter in person, occurs in Hamlet like a Woman's, II. i. 27: "And (see note on v. ii. 173, ed. Dowden). I '"11 cleave the black pin in the midst 13. dared} challenged. So Lyly, o' the white." Euphues (ed. Avber), 316: "An 17. butt-shaft} an unbarbed arrow Englishman . . . [cannot] suffer . . . used for shooting at butts. "The to be dared Y>y any." marks to shoot at," says G. Markham 14. 15.] Daniel conjectures dead- {Count ly Contentments, p. 108, ed. stabbed, and argues for rim Q, F, 1616), "are three, Buts, Tricks, and instead of shot. Rovers." The Butt is a level mark, 15. ivhite wench's] White may and therefore would have an arrow mean only pale-complexioned ; but with a very broad feather. So Love's the word was commonly used as a Lab. Lost, I. ii. 181 : " Cupid's butt- term of endearment or favour; so shaft is too hard for Hercules' club." "white boy" of a favourite son ; we 20. prince of cats} Tybert is the have even "his white villaine." cat's name in Reynard the Fox. See Nares' Glossary. Steevens quotes Dekker, Satiromastix, 16. pin} Malone : "The clout or "Tybert, the long-tailed prince of white mark at which the arrows [in cats," and Nash, Have with Yon to archery] are directed was fastened Saffron H'alden: "not Tibalt prince by a black /z placed in the center." of cats." SC. IV.] ROMEO AND JULIET G9 he is the courageous captain of compliments. Me fights as you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance, and proportion ; rests me his minim rest, one, two, and the third in your bosom ; the very butcher of a silk button, a duellist, a 25 duellist ; a gentleman of the very first house, of the first and second cause. Ah, the im- mortal passado ! the punto reverso ! the hay ! Ben. The what ? Mer. The pox of such antic, lisping, affecting 30 21. he is] Q i ; //<''.< Q, F. 23, 24. rest.; . . . rest} O i, Malone ; he rests, his minitin rests Q ; he rests his ininnm, V. 21. captain of compliments] John- son : " master of the laws of cere- mony." Compare Love's Labours Lost, i. i. 169 : "A man of complements, whom right and wrong Have chose as umpire of their mutiny." 22. priek-soiiff\ divisions or descant upon a Plain-song or Ground, . . . written, or pricked down, in con- tradistinction to those performed extemporaneously (drove, Diet, of Afusic). Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arher, p. 41): "I wysshe . . . that the laudable cvistome of Englande to teache chyldren their plainesonge and priksong, were not so decayed.'' 22, 23. time, distance, and propor- tion} Steevens compares lonson,A"z p tvj' A fan in his Plninour, \. iv. (Bobadil teaching Matthew to fence): "note your distance, keep your due pro- portion of time." 25. bntton\ Steevens quotes The Keturne from /'amassus (p. 86, cd. Macray) : ''Strikes his poinado at a l>ut tons breadth." Staunton quotes Silver, Paradoxes of Defence, 1509: "Signior Rocca . . . thou that takest upon thee to hit anie English- man with a thrust upon anie button." So Massinger, Unnatural Combat, n. ii. : "He can teach Our modern duellists how to cleave a button." 26. first house} may mean best family ; or, in a^ heraldic sense, the sons of the original ancestors as dis- tinguished from the issue of those sons (forming "the second house"). In Fletcher's U'oman's Prize, IV. i., "a gentleman of the first house'' may mean an upstart. See also Dyce's note on Fletcher's Women J'i'eased, I. iii. (vol. vii. p. 16), where the expression occurs. 27. first and second cause} Compare Lore 1 s Labour s Lost, I. ii. 184, and As Yon Like It, v. iv. 52-69, for the methodised causes of quarrel. It is doubtful whether Yincentio Saviola's " Of honor and honorable Quarrels" in his Practice of the Rapier and Da^'cr is alluded to in As You Li/:c It.' 28. passado} Explained by Saviola as a step forward or aside in fenc- ing ; see Love's Labour s Lost, ]. ii. 185. 28. pun/o rer'erso} a back-handed stroke: Saviola: "You may give him a pun/a either drilta or riverta." 1 28. hav} a home-thrust, Ital. liai, thou hast (it). Compare Lat. hab t f, exclaimed when a gladiator was wounded. (New Eng. Diet.) 70 ROMEO A^ T D JULIET [ACTH. fantasticoes, these new tuners of accents ! " By Jesu, a very good blade ! a very tall man ! a very good whore ! " Why, is not this a lament- able thing, grandsire, that we should be thus afflicted with these strange flies, these fashion- 35 mongers, these pardonnez-mois, who stand so much on the new form that they cannot sit at ease on the old bench ? O, their bons, their bans \ Enter ROMEO. Ben. Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo. 40 Mer. Without his roe, like a dried herring. O flesh, 31. fantasticoes} Q I ; phantacies Q, F ; accents} Q i ; accent Q, F. 32. B)'~\ Q r > Q; omitted F. 36. pardonnez-mois] Collier, from Theobald; pardonmees O I ; pardons mees Q ; pardona-mees Qq 4, 5 ; pardon-mee : s F. 38, 39. bons . . . bons] Theobald (printing bon'.s) ; bones . . . bones Q, F, and several editors. 40. Here . . . Romeo} only once in Q I. 31. fantasticoes} Steevens quotes meaning of form = seat or bench, Dekker, Old Fortimatits : " 1 have that they cannot sit at ease, etc. . . . sc&nfanlasticces, conversed with 38, 39. bons] Malone confirms humourists." Theobald's emendation of bones (\v\\.\\, 32. tall} sturdy, lusty, valiant, as however, a play on that word), by a frequently in Shakespeare. passage from Greene's Tii tjuoque, 34. grandsire} The staid Benvolio from which we learn that ban jour addressed as if he belonged to an was the common salutation of those elder generation. who affected to appear fine gentlemen : 35. flies} Compare the description "No, I want the ban jour . . . of Osric as a " water-fly," Hamlet, v. which yonder gentleman has." ii. 84, and "gilded butterflies," Possibly, as Capell says, there is an courtiers in Lear, v. iii. 13. allusion to "the French disease." 36. pardonnez-mois] The reading 41. roc} Seymour has the grotesque of ( v >q 4, 5 supports the form adopted notion that Romeo without his roe is by Cambridge editors, pcrdona-mfs. inco, or 0, me ! a lover's sigh. Kolfe But Frenchified gallants seem to be thinks roc may mean mistress (from the object of mockery. In \Vest-ward the female deer). Why has not an Hoe (Pearson's Dekker, ii. p. 355), "ingenious gentleman" said that we have the hfrnpardona nwy. roc stands for /iVsaline ? "A herring 36, 38. stand . . . bench} who without a roe" is the crowning corn- insist so much on the new mode of parison of Menelaus with contempt- manners, or of clothes, possibly the ible creatures put into Thersites' large breeches, which made sitting mouth, Troilus and Cressida, v. i. difficult with a quibble on the 168. SC. IV.] ROMEO AND JULIET 71 flesh, how art thou fishificd ! Now is he for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in : Laura to his lady was but a kitchen-\vench ; marry, she had a better love to be-rhyme her; Dido, 45 a dowdy; Cleopatra, a gipsy; Helen and Hero, hildings and harlots; Thisbe, a grey eye or so, but not to the purpose. Signior Romeo, bon jour \ there 's a French salutation to your French slop. You gave us the 50 counterfeit fairly last night. Rom. Good morrow to you both. What counterfeit did I give you ? Mer. The slip, sir, the slip ; can you not con- ceive ? 44. was 1'it! 1 ] O i ; was Q, F. 46. dowdy] slattern. Rich, /';v- well to Military Professiott(\$%l} : "If plaine or homely, we say she is a doudie or a slut." 46. gipsy] because Egyptian, and dark of hue. This passage is jestingly alluded to in The Return* from Parnassus, in. i. (p. 57, eel. Macray). 47. hildings} worthless persons ; used by Shakespeare of both men and women. See in. v. 168. 47, 48. grey ere] In Two Gent, of Verona, iv. iv. 197, we have (Chaucer's comparison) eyes, " grey as glass" ; in Sir Eglamoitr line 86 1 : " eyen grey as crystalle stone " ; in The Returns from Parnassus, \, i. (p. 31, cd. Macray), of silver money : "my purse wants these grey silver eyes that stand idelye in the face of a citizen's daughter." It is certain, however, that grey in Elizabethan literature (and I think in a few passages of Shakespeare) means sometimes bluish. Cotgrave has " Rluard, gray, skie coloured, 55 blewish." C(csius is explained by Cooper, Thesaurus (1573): "Gray, skie colour with speckes of gray, blunket " (i.e. greyish blue) ; Glaiicns, says Cooper, "is commonly taken for blewe or gray like the skie with speckes as Ciesiiis is, but I thinke it rather reddie, " etc. Unless we understand grey as bluish, Shake- speare nowhere speaks of blue eyes in our meaning. lie praises blue- veined eyelids. " Blue eyes" with him means having a bluish circle round the eyes. 48. but not] Ilanmer (after War- burton) reads but now. 50. French slop] large, loose trousers, as in Much Ado, in. ii. 36. 54. slip] a piece of false money (with a play on the word). Greene, in Thieves falling out, has: "certain slips, which are counterfeit pieces of money.'' So Trail us and Cressida, n. iii. 27 : " If I could have remembered a gilt counterfeit, thou wouldst not have slipped d\\\. of my contemplation.''' 72 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT H. Rom. Pardon, good Mercutio, my business was great ; and in such a case as mine a man may strain courtesy. Mer. That 's as much as to say, such a case as yours constrains a man to bow in the hams. 60 Rom. Meaning, to court'sy. Mer. Thou hast most kindly hit it. Rom. A most courteous exposition. Mer. Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy. Rom. Pink for flower. 65 Mer. Right. Rom. Why, then is my pump well flowered. Mer. Well said ; follow me this jest now till thou hast worn out thy pump, that when the single sole of it is worn, the jest may remain, after 70 the wearing, solely singular. Rom. O single-soled jest, solely singular for the singleness ! 56. good] O, omitted F. 68. Well said] Q I, Sure wit Q, Sure wit, F. 71. solely singular Q I, Q ; sole-singular F. 57) 5$- strain courtesy"] So Chap- Gabriel's pumps were all unpink'dV man, Alphonsits, V. ii. : "Mere's the heel/' straining courtesy at a bitter feast." 72. single-soled] mean, contempt- Go, hams] So in The Merry Devil ible. Single is used alone (in of Edmonton (Ila/.litts Dodsley, x. quibbling) for simple, silly, as in 221): "do I bend in the hams?" Coriolauits, II. i. 40; soled is perhaps (spoken of in a way which illustrates used with a ((nibble on sou!. Holin- tliis passage). shed, Ireland, p. 23 : "a meane tower 62. kindly] naturally, hence pcrlin- might serve such single-soale kings ently, appropriately. as were at those days in Ireland " 64. pink] So Beaumont and (Malonc). Steevens quotes from Fletcher, The Pilgrim, I. ii. : "this Dckkcr'sfFtWivyW Yeare: "a sing/e- is the prettiest pilgrim, The pink of .w/c/fidlcr" ; Cotgrave defines "Gentil- pilgrims. " hommc de has relief," a thred-bare, 67. flowered} because Romeo's or single soled gentleman. Our pumps were pinked, i.e. punched in slang "one-horse" corresponds in holes with figures. Compare Taming meaning. Singleness in line 73 of the Shrew, \\ . i. 136: "And means simplicity or silliness. sc. iv.] ROMEO AND JULIET 73 Mer. Come between us, good Benvolio ; my wits faint. 7 5 Rom. Switch and spurs, switch and spurs ; or I '11 cry a match. Mer. Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase, I am done ; for thou hast more of the wild- goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I 80 have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goose ? Rom. Thou wast never with me for any thing when thou wast not there for the goose. Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jest. 85 Rom. Nay, good goose, bite not. Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting ; it is a most sharp sauce. Rom. And is it not well served in to a sweet goose? 74, 75. wits faint'} Q 5 ; wits faints Q, F ; wit faints Ff 2-4 ; wits fail O I. 76. Switch . . . switch] Pope ; Swits . . . swits O, F. 78- }tr '//r] Q, F ; thy wits Q I. 79. / am} O, F ; / hare Q i. 83. Thou wast] O, F ; Thou -vert Q I. 87. bitter sweating} Q, Sitter-sweeting F. 89. well] F, then well O ; in to} Q I, Q ; into F. 76. Switch and spurs] So Dekker, 170: "What, do you grumble? I'll Honest Whore, Part II. (Pearson's be with you straight." Dekker, ii. p. 96) : " Oh, we shall 85. bite thee by the ear] i.e. as a ride switch and spurre." sign of fondness (as one horse does 77. match] wager. Capell reads another). Jonson, Alchemist, n. for I cry a match. iii. : " Slave, I could bite thine car." "8. wild-goose chase] Holt White So the French Mordrc forcing <}, describes this as a race of two horses ; explained by Cotgrave "as much as the rider who takes the lead may JJa/lcr ou carcsscr mignontiemtnt, choose what ground he pleases ; the wherein the biting of th' eare is, with other must follow, unless he can in some, an usual! Action." turn take the lead. Burton, Anatomy 86. bite not] Kay, rrovcrbs (p. 56, of Melancholy (p. 266, ed. 1632). ed. I/6S), gives, as a "joculatory names this among "the disports of proverb," " Good goose do not bite.'' great men." 87. bitter sweeting] The name of Si. ?'//// ycii] Was I even with you, an apple ; the usual form of the word with respect to the goose? As per- is bitter-sweet. Huloet, Abeccdarium, haps in Taming of the Shrew, iv. i. 1552: " Apple called a bytter swetc, ctinciriirieHiim." 74 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTH. Mer. O, here 's a wit of cheveril, that stretches from 90 an inch narrow to an ell broad ! Rom. I stretch it out for that word " broad " ; which added to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose. Mer. Why, is not this better now than groaning for 95 love ? now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo ; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature : for this drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole. 100 Ben. Stop there, stop there. Mer. Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair. Ben. Thou wouldst else have made thy tale large. Mer. O, thou art deceived; I would have made it 105 short ; for I was come to the whole depth of my tale, and meant indeed to occupy the argument no longer. 94. a broad] Q I, Q ; abroad ' F. 106. for] O I, Q ; or F. 90. cheveril] kid leather (Fr. cuir 99. natural} fool, idiot, as in As de chevreuil}; so Twelfth Night, in. You Like It, I. ii. 52, 57. i. 13: " A sentence is but a cheveril 100. bauble] The fool's short stick, glove to a good wit." ornamented with a fool's head, doll, 94. a broad goose] Broad may or puppet ; an inflated skin or mean plain, obvious ; used of words bladder, for belabouring those who it often means gross, indecent ; it also offended him, was often attached means unrestrained. Other forms of (Douce and Dyce). spelling were broode and brood. 102, 103. against the hair] as \ve Hence there is probably a play on say, against the grain. See Merry brood goose, which we find in Fletcher, Wives, 11. iii. 41, and " merry against Humorous Lieutenant, II. i. : "To the hair, :) Troilus and Crcssida, I. make us cuckolds, They have no more ii. 28. burden than a brood-goose." Collier 104. large] licentious; "large and Delius, retaining F abroad, read jests," Much Ado, II. iii. 206. " far and wide abroad goose, "which 107. occupy] with a quibble on the may be right. meaning alluded to in 2 Henry IV. ii. iv. 161. sc.iv.] ROMEO AND JULIET 75 Rom. Here 's goodly gear ! Enter Nurse and PETER. Mer. A sail, a sail ! I i o Ben. Two, two ; a shirt and a smock. Nurse. Peter ! Peter. Anon ? Nurse. My fan, Peter. Mer. Good Peter, to hide her face ; for her fan 's 115 the fairer of the two. Nurse. God ye good morrow, gentlemen. Mer. God ye good den, fair gentlewoman. Nurse. Is it good den ? Mer. Tis no less, I tell you; for the bawdy hand 120 of the dial is now upon the prick of noon. Nurse. Out upon you ! what a man are you ! Rom. One, gentlewoman, that God hath made for himself to mar. 109. Enter . . .] Enter Nurse and her man Q, F (after longer, loS). 1 10. / sail, a. sail] O, F (but continued to Romeo) ; .-/ sail, a sail, a sail. O I (given to Mercutio). III. Ben.] O I; Mer. O, F. 112-115. Peter! . . . Peter} (^, F; Peter, free thee give me my fan. Mer. Pree thcc doo food Peter, Q i. 113. Anon .'] Theobald ; Anon. (), F. 1 15. face :] F 3, face, Q, face ? F. 116. fairer . . . two] O I, fairer face, (.^fairer face .' F. 1 20. you} F, ycc (^. 123, 1 24. for himself} Q i ; hii/iselfQ, F. 109. ."far} GVrt;' is used for talk, and, 114. fan} Compare Lore's Labour's in a depreciatory sense, rubbishy talk : Lost, IV. i. 147: ''To see him walk also for stuff, and, in a depreciatory before a lady and to bear her fan ! " sense, rubbish. It is also used for Farmer quotes The Serving Man's apparel, attire. Probably Romeo Comfort, 1598: "The mistress must relers to the preceding talk, not to have one to carry her cloake and the habiliments of the approaching hood, another \\cr faiinc.'' nurse. 117. Cod ye} short for God give ill. lien.] Henvolio, slow to ye: on good den, see I. ii. 57. kindle, is caught into the fire of fun ; 121. prick of noon} point or mark see line 138. But some editors of noon; so "noontide prick," .)' accept the arrangement of speeches Henry VI. I. iv. 34, and Lucrece. in l^t, F. line 781. 76 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT H. Nurse. By my troth, it is well said ; " for himself to 125 mar," quoth a' ? Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I may find the young Romeo ? Rom. I can tell you ; but young Romeo will be older when you have found him than he was 130 when you sought him : I am the youngest of that name, for fault of a worse. Nurse. You say well. Mer. Yea, is the worst well ? very well took, i' faith ; wisely, wisely. 135 Nurse. If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with you. Ben. She will indite him to some supper. Mer. A bawd, a bawd, a bawd ! So ho ! Rom. What hast thou found? 140 Mer. No hare, sir ; unless a hare, sir, in a lenten pie, that is something stale and hoar ere it be spent. \Sings. 125. well said] O I, Q ; saidY. 126. Gcntkmen~\ O, F (some copies F Gentleman}. 134. well?} () 5; well, Q, F. 138. indite} Q, F (endite) ; invite Q i, Ff 2-4. 143. Sings] O i has " He vvalkes by them, and sings." 136. confidence} The same jest of Romeo . . . asks, 'What hast thou blundering on confidence for conference found ? ; " Madden, Diary of Blaster appears in Merry Wives, I. iv. 172 William Silence, p. 173. (Mrs. (Quickly), and in Much Ado, in. 141. hare} The word seems to v - 3 (Dogberry). () i here reads have been used for courtesan. See conference. the use of '"hare-pie" in Rowley, A 138. indite} Bern-olio follows suit Match at Midnight. (Hazlitt's and transforms invite to indite. O i Dodsley, xiii. p. 88.) reads invite, and omits sonic before 142. 'hoar} mould}-. New Eng. Diet, suffer. quotes Sylvester's Du Barlas : " The 139. So ho!} "'As soon as he long journey we have gone, hath . . . espieth her [the harej, he must cry turn'd our victuals hoar." Malonc So how.'' Thus writes the author of supposes the quibbling verses that the Noble Arte [of Venerie} . . . And follow to be part of an old song. so when Mcrcutio cried So ho!, sc. iv.] ROMEO AND JULIET 77 An old hare hoar, A nd an old hare hoar, 145 Is very good meat in Lent : But a hare that is hoar, Is too much for a score, When it hoars ere it be spent. Romeo, will you come to your father's? we'll 150 to dinner thither. Rom, I will follow you. filer. Farewell, ancient lady ; farewell, \singing\ "lady, lady, lady" \Excunt Mercutio and Benvolio. Nurse. Marry, farewell! I pray you, sir, what 155 saucy merchant was this, that was so full of his ropery ? Rom. A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear him- self talk, and will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month. 160 153. singing] Dyce (Farmer conj.). omitted Q, F. 155. Marry, farewell!] Q I 154. "lady . . . lady' : ] from the ballad of Susanna, quoted in Twelfth Night, II. iii. 85. Perhaps part of the mockery lies in bringing the Nurse into relation with the "woman fair and virtuous, Lady, lady " of the ballad. See "a goodly lady, O lady, lady" in The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune (1589), llazlitt's Dodsley's Old Plays, vi. p. 198. 156. saucy merchant] impudent fellow ; merchant is used like chap, a shortened form of chapman. Steevens quotes Churchyard's Chance, 1580: ' ; What sausie merchaunt speak - eth now, saied Venus." So Udall, Diot replies (1588), p. n, ed. Arber. 157. ropery] rascality; altered to roguery in F 4. The same change was made in Beaumont and Fletcher, The Chances, in. i., where the first folio reads : " You '11 leave this ropery When you come to my years." Steevens quotes The Three Ladies of London, 1 584 : ' ' Thou art very pleas- ant and full of thy roperye." O I has roperipe, which, as an adjective, meant ripe for hanging, lewd, un- gracious, and so appears in Minsheu's and Rider's Dictionaries. Compare rope-triiks in Taming of the ^/ii^-i 1 , I. ii. 112. 78 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT n. Nurse. An a' speak anything against me, I '11 take him down, an a' were lustier than he is, and twenty such Jacks ; and if I cannot, I '11 find those that shall. Scurvy knave ! I am none of his flirt-gills ; I am none of his skains-mates. 165 [To Peter.'] And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure ? Peter. I saw no man use you at his pleasure ; if I had, my weapon should quickly have 1 70 been out, I warrant you. I dare draw as soon as another man, if I see occa- sion in a good quarrel, and the law on my side. Nurse. Now, afore God, I am so vexed, that every 175 161, 162. An} Pope ; And Q, F. 165. flirt-gills} Q I, Q, F ; gil-fluris Qq 4, 5 ; skains-mates} hyphened first in F 4. 1 66. To Peter] Q I has "She turnes to Peter her man." 171. out, I warrant you. ] Rowe, out: I warrant you Q, out, I -warrant you, F. 163. Jacks} Often in Shakespeare none of his skains-mates." Douce and other writers used contemptu- supposes that sempstresses is meant, ously for fellow, as in Merchant of from " skein " of thread. This seems Venice, in. iv. 77. to me not improbable, for sempsters 165. flirt-gills} Another form is (fern.) had an ill repute ; so Westward gill-flirt; a woman of light or loose Hoe (Pearson's Uekker, ii. p. 291), behaviour; &\soJKrt-giman(Gill&ntill pro- meant. Schmidt explains weak as vincially for wicked. stupid. In the following passage it iSS. / protest} Daniel pleads for may mean shifty: "The forehead O i, reading " Tell her I protest : sharp - pointing . . . declareth that as responded to by the Nurse's ''I man to be vavn or a liar, unstable, will tell her.'' 80 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTH. Rom. Bid her devise Some means to come to shrift this afternoon ; And there she shall at Friar Laurence' cell Be shrived and married. Here is for thy pains. 200 Nurse. No, truly, sir ; not a penny. Rom. Go to ; I say you shall. Nurse. This afternoon, sir? well, she shall be there. Rom. And stay, good nurse ; behind the abbey-wall Within this hour my man shall be with thee, 205 And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair ; Which to the high top-gallant of my joy Must be my convoy in the secret night. Farewell ; be trusty, and I '11 quit thy pains ; Farewell; commend me to thy mistress. 210 Nurse. Now God in heaven bless thee ! Hark you, sir. Rom. What say'st thou, my dear nurse? Nurse. Is your man secret ? Did you ne'er hear say, Two may keep counsel, putting one away ? 197, 198. Bid . . . afternoon] Delius ; two lines ending shrift and after- noon Capell ; one line Q, F ; prose Qq 4, 5. 199. Laurence'} Pope ; Lawrence Q, F. 204. stay] Q, stay thou F; nurse; . . . wall] Grant White; nurse . . . wall, Q, F ; nurse, . . . wall: Pope and many editors. 209. quit] Q, quite F. 213,214. Is . . . away '?] verse Rowe ; prose Q, F. 197. Bid] Hudson very ingeniously 206. stair] series of steps, as in emends : Paradise Lost, iii. 540. "Bid her devise some means to 207. high top -gallant] Steevens come to shrift quotes Markham, English Arcadia, This afternoon at Friar Laurence' 1607: " the high top-gallant of his cell ; valour.'"' Top-gallant masts, small And there she shall be shrived and masts fixed to the heads of the main married. Here and fore top-masts. Is for thy pains." 210. mistress] frequently a tri- 204. mine ;] The pointing is G. syllable. See Walker, Shakespeare's White's ; Romeo cannot wi.sh to / 'ersification, p. 47. delay the Nurse on her return to 214. Two . . , away] So Titus Juliet. See Scene v. 76. 77. Andronicus, iv. ii. 144: "Two may sc. iv.] ROMEO AND JULIET 81 Rom. I warrant thcc my man 's as true as steel. 2 i 5 Nurse. Well, sir ; my mistress is the sweetest lady Lord, Lord ! when 'twas a little prating thing O, there 's a nobleman in town, one Paris, that would fain lay knife aboard ; but she, good soul, had as lieve sec a toad, a very 220 toad, as see him. I anger her sometimes, and tell her that Paris is the propcrer man ; but, I '11 warrant you, when I say so, she looks as pale as any clout in the vcrsal world. Doth not rosemary and Romeo begin both with a 225 letter? Rom. Ay, nurse ; what of that ? both with an R. Nurse. Ah, mocker ! that 's the dog's name ; R is for the No ; I know it begins with some 215. / warrant} Ff 2-4; Warrant Q, I-~ ; man's] O (mans}, man F. 216-236] verse Capell. 228. Ah,] Rowe ; A Q, I 1 '; dog's name;] F, dog, name (^>. 228, 229. R is for the No ;] Kitsun conj., Delius ; A' is for the no, (), F; R is for thec ? No: Theobald (VVarburton) ; R is for the dog. No; Steevens, 1778 (Tyrwhitt conj.), and many editors. keep counsel when the third's away." Grosart's Nas/tc, v. p. 253, for another Lyly has it in Euphites cited by example. Rushton, Shakespeare' 's Euphuism, 222. propcrer] handsomer, fre- p. 62. quent in Shakespeare. 216. Well, sir} Capell prints the 224. pale . . . clout] rest of the scene as verse ; the opening lines fall easily into verse, but ditfi- culties appear as one proceeds. 217. 218. Lord. . . thing] Follows "At this Littletaith looked as white Brooke's poem : as a clout," i.e. piece of cloth. "A prety babe (quod she) it was 224. vcrsaf] vulgarism for uni- when it was yung, vcrsal. Lord how it could full pretely 225. rosemary] The flower for re- have prated with it long." membrnnce, used both at weddings 219. lay knife aboard] So Barry, and funerals. See note on Hamlet, Ram Alley, 1611 : "The truth is, I iv. v. 174 (ed. Dowden). Compare have laid my knife aboard, The iv. v. 79. widow, sir, is wedded,'' Ha/lilt's 228. dog's name] Ben Jonson, in his Dodsley, x. 372, and compare the Eng'ish Grammar, says: "R is the same, p. 282, for use of aboard. See dog's letter, and hirreth in the sound.'' 6 82 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT ii. other letter and she hath the prettiest 230 sententious of it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good to hear it. Rom. Commend me to thy lady. \_Exit Romeo. Nurse. Ay, a thousand times. Peter ! Peter. Anon? 235 Nurse. Before, and apace. {Exeunt. SCENE V. TJic Same. Capulefs Orchard. Enter JULIET. Jul. The clock struck nine when I did send the nurse ; In half an hour she promised to return. 233. Kxil Romeo] Ro\ve ; omitted O, F ; before Peter line 234 Dyce. 234. times. Peter'.'} Ilanmer. times Peter O, times. Peter? V. 235. Anon ':} Theobald ; Anon. Q, F. 236. Before, and apace} Q, F (without comma); Peter take my fanne, and ^oe Before O I, Steevens ; Peter take my fan, and go before, and apace Cambridge. Scene V. Capulet's Orchard] Globe, Capulet's house Rowc, Capulet's garden Capell. So Barclay names R in his Ship of J-'ooIs. The word nr serves for the name of the letter (see A'ew Eng. /)/h, Summer's J.ast //'///, 1600 : " They arre and bark at night against the moon. "' Th.ere is classical autho- rity ; that of Persius, and an allusion by Luciliiis. A pleasant illustration appears in Caret's Alvcarie, where through the loop of the large capital R. introducing the words beginning \\ith that letter, a standing dog peers out ; this design is peculiar to the letter R ; the letter, says Bard jocularly, is so necessary, " no man hath any colour to harke against it. . . . PerMus calleth R literam caninam." Milton, according to Aubrey, pronounced r very hard on which Dryden remarked, " litcra canina, the dog-letter, a certain sign of a satirical wit." Masson's Life of Milton, vi. 679. 228,229. A' is for the No ;'] This conjecture of Ritson is happy ; but Theobald's reading "R is for thee ? No" may be right. While Romeo, however, addresses the Nurse as than, and the Nurse so addresses 1'etcr, she addresses Romeo &> you. 231. sententious} I think the Nurse- means sentences m the sense of adages or maxims, as in JMcrchanl of Venice, I. ii. II : " (jood sentences and well pronounced." Possibly we should read sententious. 236. Jlefore, and apace} The " take my fan :; of O I ma}' have been an actor's repetition of the joke of line 114, and irresistible to an actor ; but O, ]' are content to let the Nurse make her exit in all haste, without now thinking of her dignity. sc. v.] ROMEO AND JULIET 83 Perchance she cannot meet him : that 's not so. O, she is lame ! love's heralds should be thoughts, Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams 5 Driving back shadows over louring hills : Therefore do nimble-pinioned doves draw Love, And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings. Now is the sun upon the highmost hill Of this day's journey, and from nine till twelve 10 Is three long hours, yet she is not come. Had she affections, and warm youthful blood, She 'd be as swift in motion as a ball ; My words would bandy her to my sweet love, And his to me : I 5 But old folks, many feign as they were dead ; Unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead. Enter Ntirse, ivitli PETER. O God, she comes ! O honey nurse, what news ? 4. heralds} () I, O; Herauld F. 5. glide} F 4; glides Q, F. 6. louring} O, F (low ring) ; lowering Fuiness. 7. nimhlc - pinioned} hyphen Pope. 11. Is three} (\\ 3-5, A there O, / three F, Ay three Kowc. 13. She'd] F 2 ; She would (J, F. 16. feign} fain (,faine F. 4. lores heralds} So in Chester's 9. highinosl} topmost, as in Sonnets, Love's Martyr, 1601 (ed. Grosart, p. vii. 9. 151): 14. bandy} Nitres: Originally a "My inward A/use can sing of term at tennis ; horn bander, Fr. nought but Love, 16. many feign} Johnson reads Thoughts are his heralds. " marry, feign; Grant White, marry, After line 4 Q I adds two lines, fa>e\ Keightley, marry, seem ; Dyce resembling Act v. i. 64, 65 : conjectured move y faith, i.e. move r "And runne more swift, than faith. In Q " And his to me " forms hastie powder fierd, part of the line continued to u dead,'' Doth hurrio from the fearfull and is preceded by the italic letter J/. Cannons mouth." Cambridge editors think lines 16, 17 6. baek} Collier (MS.) reads black. probably an interpolation. Collier 7. Love} love O, F, but Venus is (MS.) reads: "As his to me: but meant, as described in Venus and old folks seem as dead," and substi- Adonis, 1190, and Tempest, iv. i. 94. tutes dull for pale. 84 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT n. Hast thou met with him ? Send thy man away. Nurse. Peter, stay at the gate. \_Exit Peter. 20 Jul. Now, good sweet nurse, O Lord, why look'st thou sad? Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily ; If good, thou sham'st the music of sweet news By playing it to me with so sour a face. Nurse. I am aweary ; give me leave awhile : 2 5 Fie, how my bones ache ! What a jaunt have I had! Jul. I would thou hadst my bones, and I thy news. Nay, come, I pray thee, speak ; good, good nurse, speak. Nurse. Jesu, what haste ? can you not stay awhile ? Do you not see that I am out of breath? 30 Jul. How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath To say to me that thou art out of breath ? The excuse that thou dost make in this delay Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse. Is thy news good, or bad ? answer to that ; 35 Say either, and I '11 stay the circumstance ; Let me be satisfied, is 't good or bad ? Nurse. Well, you have made a simple choice ; you know not how to choose a man. Romeo ! no, 22. thcm~\ Rnlfo: "Shakespeare reads: "Lord how my bones ake. makes news both singular and Oil where 's my men ? Give me some plural"; for the latter, compare aquavits;." Much Ado, i. ii. 4-6. 36. fhruiiistance'] I '11 wait for 26. jaunl] The variant jauncc details ; compare v. iii. 180. appears in O again in line 54. 38. simple} silly, as often in Compare Richard II, V. v. 94. Q I Skakespeare. sc. v.] ROMEO AND JULIET 85 not he ; though his face be better than any 40 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 arc past com- pare. He is not the flower of courtesy, but, I '11 warrant him, as gentle as a lamb. Go 45 thy ways, wench ; serve God. What, have you dined at home ? Jul. No, no : but all this did I know before. What says he of our marriage ? what of that ? Nurse. Lord, how my head aches ! what a head have I ! 50 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. Jul. I' faith, I am sorry that thou art not well. 5 5 Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my love ? Nurse. 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 ? 60 Jul. Where is my mother ! why, she is within ; 41. leg\ O, /t^.f F. 42. a body'] (), F; a baitdie O I ; body Oq 4, 5 ; a bawdy Ff 2-4. 45. gentle as a\ O, tf-ittle a V. 48. this] Cj, this tint, F. 52. O\ V, a O. 54. jaunting} O 4, F; iaiittsin^ O. 55. not rev//] O, so ivell F, .v<> ill F 2. 57-60, Your . . . mother ;\ prose Cam- bridge editors (S. Walker conjcct.); three lines ending gentleman . . . handsome . . . mother'! O, F. 61, 62.] as arranged by Ro\ve. 52. o' /' oth] its. Critics have preferred this earlier 13. fonjounJi\ destroys, ruins; the reading, not considering the dramatic most frequent meaning of confound propriety of the later text. The \\ith Shakespeare. moralising Eriar thinks of the hard- ne>.s and sharpness of the path ot lite. 88 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT n. Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint. A lover may bestride the gossamer That idles in the wanton summer air, And yet not fall ; so light is vanity. 20 Jul. Good even to my ghostly confessor. Fri. Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both. Jul. As much to him, else is his thanks too much. Rom. Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy Be heap'd like mine, and that thy skill be more 2 5 To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue Unfold the imagined happiness that both Receive in either by this dear encounter. ////. Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, 30 Brags of his substance, not of ornament : They are but beggars that can count their worth ; But my true love is grown to such excess I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth. 18, 19. gossamer . , . idles] F 4 ; ^ossamours, . . . ydchs Q, F. 23. is\ Q, in F. 24. Rom.] Q, Fri. F. 27. music s~\ , inusicke Q. 33. sucJi\ Q, such such F. 34. sum up sum of half my} Q ; sum me up some of halfe my Qq 4, 5, F. 1 8. gossamer] floating thread or And thou art come, threads of spider's silk (goose-summer, Jitl. I am (if I be Day) possibly from its downy appearance ; Come to my Sunne : shine foorth, but see New En*. Diet, for objec- and make me faire." tions). Malone and others read 30. Conceit . . . ] Such imagination " gossamers That idle." as is more rich, etc. For conceit 21. confessor] accented as here (on compare iv. iii. 37. con] by Shakespeare ; the variation of 32. worth'} wealth, as in Twelfth accent in Henry VI II. has been taken Night, III. iii. 17. For the idea as one of the indications of double compare Ant. and Cleop. I. i. 15: authorship. In O I Juliet's first word "There's beggary in the love that is Romeo. lie responds : can be reckon'd." " My lulict welcome. As doo 34. sum . . . -wealth"} No emenda- waking eyes lion is required ; Capell's has, how- (Cloasd in Nights mysts) attend ever, found favour with editors the frolicke Day, "sum up half my sum of wealth." So Romeo hath expected Iiilief, sc.i.] HOMEO AND JULIET 89 Fri. Come, come with me, and we will make short work ; 3 5 For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone Till holy church incorporate two in one. [ILreunt. ACT III SCENE I. Verona. A public Place. Enter MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, Page, and Servants. Ben. I pray thee, good Mercutio, let 's retire : The day is hot, the Capulets abroad, And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl ; For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring. Mer. Thou art like one of those fellows that when 5 he enters the confines of a tavern claps me his sword upon the table and says, " God send me no need of thee ! " and by the operation of the second cup draws it on the drawer, when in- deed there is no need. 10 Ben. Am I like such a fellow ? Jllcr. Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy 3. And, if} Walker conjectured and Old Plays, 'm. p. 36: "He that can Delius reads An if. clap his sword upon the hoard, lie's 6, 7. C/afa)Jie/ii'ssie0>'(f]A.l)'ra.\v\er's a brave man." proceeding; so, describing a swag- 9. if"] The him (ethical dative) of gerer, IIon> a Man may choose a good (), F is preferred by many editors. Wife from a bad, llaziitt's Uodsley's 12. Jack} See II. iv. 16.5. 90 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. mood as any in Italy, and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved. Ben. And what to? 15 Mer. Nay, an there were two such, we should have none shortly, for one would kill the other. Thou ! why, thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more or a hair less in his beard than thou hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man 20 for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes ; what eye, but such an eye, would spy out such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat, and yet thy head hath been beaten 2 5 as addle as an egg for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new 30 doublet before Easter? with another, for tying his new shoes with old riband ? and yet thou wilt tutor me from quarrelling ! Ben. An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the fee-simple of my life for 3 5 an hour and a quarter. 15. fo] Pope; too Q, F. 16. an] Pope; and Q_, F. 34. An] Capell ; And O, F. 14. inoody\ angry ; "in thy mood,'' 24, 25. as an egg . . .] So Gam- in thy ill humour (compare Two Gent, iner Cm-ton! s Needle: "An egg is of Verona, iv. i. 51); "moody to not so full of meat as she is full of lie moved" means "angry to be lies," llazliu's Dodsley's Old J^lays, aroused." iii. p. 240. 15. IV hat to?] moved to what? 33. from quarrelling O 5 has fur O, F have too, which Staunton re- quarrelling, which some editors tains, explaining -what too '? as what follow. else ? what more ? sc. i.j ROMEO AND JULIET 91 Mer. The fee-simple ! O simple ! Enter TV I', ALT and Others. Ben. By my head, here come the Capulets. Mer. By my heel, I care not. Tyb. Follow me close, for I will speak to them. 40 Gentlemen, good den ; a word with one of you. Mer. And but one word with one of us ? couple it with something ; make it a word and a blow. Tyb. You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, an you will give me occasion. 45 Mer. Could you not take some occasion without giving? Tyb. Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo, Mer. Consort ! what, dost thou make us minstrels ? an thou make minstrels of us, look to hear no- 50 thing but discords: here 's my fiddlestick ; here 's that shall make you dance. 'Zounds, consort ! 37. Enter . . . ] I larmier; Enter Tybalt, Petruchio, and others O, F; transferred by many editors to follow line 38, by others to follow line 39. 38. conic} F 2, O 5 ; conies (), F ; cjnus a Capolct () I. 42. us .'} F, us, O. 44 and 50. an] Capell ; and Q, F. 48. Romeo, ] Capell ; Roiuco. (,), F. 52. 'Zounds'} (,), Come F. 37. Enter . . . ] The I'ctruchio had actually happened in the history of the stage-direction Q, F is probably of the word. the " young Petruchio " named by the 49. minstrels} The word haclas>oci- Nurse to Juliet, I. v. 134. ations not always of honour: "If 41. good den} See I. ii. 57. any fencer, bearward, minstrel . . . 48. consort'st} " It is probable that tinker, pedlar, . . . have wandered the different senses of consort had two abroad," he is declared a rogue, or even three different origins . . . vagabond, and sturdy beggar. Lam- But . . . the senses appear to have bard's Eirenarcha, ed. 1607, p. 436. been considered as belonging to one In Mitch Ado, v. i. 129, Claudio word, and to have mutually influenced plays on drawing (the sword) as we each other" (A r t'w Eg. Diet.}. Thus bid the minstrels draw (/.<. the bow). Mercutio' s play on the meanings to 52. 'Zounds} The F come was sub- keep company and to combine in stiuited in accordance with the statute musical harmony falls in with what against profanity. 92 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. Ben. We talk here in the public haunt of men : Either withdraw unto some private place, Or reason coldly of your grievances, 5 5 Or else depart ; here all eyes gaze on us. Mer. Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze ; I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I. Enter ROMEO. Tyb. Well, peace be with you, sir ; here comes my man. Mer. But I '11 be hang'd, sir, if he wear your livery : 60 Marry, go before to field, he '11 be your follower ; Your worship in that sense may call him " man." Tyb. Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford No better term than this, thou art a villain. Rom. Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee 65 Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To such a greeting : villain am I none ; Therefore farewell ; I see thou know'st me not. Tyb. Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries That thou hast done me ; therefore turn and draw. Rom. I do protest I never injured thee, 7 I But love thee better than thou canst devise, 63. 55. Or nason] O'apell, followed by 63. Iove\ Several editors prefer the several editors, reads And reason ; but unironical liale of Q i, and it is true the peace-loving and cool Benvolio that Tybalt is not given to irony, proposes three courses of action. 66. excuse] Perhaps, accept an ex- Shakespeare uses reason both for cuse from, and remit or dispense with debate and sf>eak. the rage I feel, as appertaining to 56. depart'} may mean part, separate, such a greeting. Perhaps, however, as in 3 Henry VI. 11. vi. 43, and in the rage is Tybalt's which Romeo's the Nut- Brown Maid: "we departe love excuses. Collier (MS.) has or- not so sone. " ceed. SC. I.] ROMEO AND JULIET Till thou shalt know the reason of my love : And so, good Capulet, which name I tender As dearly as mine own, be satisfied. 75 Mcr. O calm, dishonourable, vile submission ! Alia stoccata carries it away. {Draius, Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk ? Tyb. What wouldst thou have with me ? J\Icr. Good king of cats, nothing but one of your 80 nine lives, that I mean to make bold withal, and, as you shall use me hereafter, dry-beat the rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the cars ? make haste, lest mine be about your ears ere it 85 be out. Tyb. I am for you. [Dr diving. Rom, Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up. Mcr. Come, sir, your passado. [They figJit. 73- m y\ F. '<' Q- 77- Alia stoccata] Knight ; Alia stucatho O, !' ; A la stoccata Capell and others ; Draws] Capell. 87. Drawing] Kowe. 89. They fight] Capell. 77. stoccata] defined by Florio "a thrust, a stoccado, a foyne." 77. carries it away} carries the day, as in Hamlet, 11. ii. 377: "Do the hoys carry it away?" Leltsom con- jectures "carry it away!" Clarke thinks Alia stoccata is a jocose title for Tybalt. 78. rat - catt her] 1 jcau.-e king of cats. See note II. Si. iiint /ires'] Kc r another Eliza- bethan reference to ; cat's nine lives, see Middlcton, Blu 1, Matter Con- st able, IV. ii. 82. dry-heat] A blow that does not draw blood is a dry blow, but often used vaguely for hard. Nc:v l'->t. Diet, (dry adj. 12) quotes Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, etc., 1530. " ])lo, hie we and grene coloured, as ones hi >dic is after a dry stroke." So Holland, l^lnlarclis .Morals (1603), 1 28 1 : ' ' ] 1 is body ... is drie beaten, brused and biokcn." See iv. v. 122. 84. filfiiei-] nootherexampleknown as used here for scabbard ; probably the same as pilch, a leather coat or cloak, and hence applied to a scab- bard. Steevcns quotes examples of "leather pilch" from Xash, Pie ire. f\'iiiiitLS>] Qq 4. 5. Ff 2-4 ; And by Q, F. I. Gallop apace} Malone : "Shake- So in Barnabe Riche's Farewell, speare probably remembered Mar- 1583: ' The day to his seeming passed Knve's Edward II. iv. iii. : away so slowely that he had thought ' Gallop apace, bright Phoebus, the stately steedes had bin tired that through the sky, drawe the chariot of the Sunne, and And dusky night, in rusty iron wished that Phaeton had beene there car, with a whippe.'" Between you both shorten the 6. runaway 1 s\ See Appendix III. time.' p. 197. sc. ii.] ROMEO AND JULIET 101 It best agrees with night. Come, civil night, 10 Thou sober-suited matron, all in black, And learn me how to lose a winning match, Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods : Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks, With thy black mantle, till strange love grown bold 1 5 Think true love acted simple modesty. Come, night, come, Romeo, come, thou day in night ; For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night Whiter than new snow on a raven's back. Come, gentle night, come, loving, black - brow'd night, 20 Give me my Romeo ; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun. 25 11. sober- suited} hyphen F 4. 15. grown] Rowe ; grow Q, F. 19. neui snow on] F 2; new snow upon Q, F; snow upon Qq 4, 5. 21. he] Qq 4 , 5; 7Q, F. 10. c ivil\ grave, sober, as in Dekker, 15. strange"} reserved, as in 11. ii. Seven Sinnes of London, i. (ed. 101. Arber, 13), "in lookes, grave; in attire, 21. -when he shall die"} Delius civill." prefers the /of Q, F, perhaps rightly. 12. leans'] teach; as often in Juliet, he says, demands life-long Shakespeare. possession of her lover ; afier her 14. Hood my tinmaniid blood, death, Night shall be her heiress : bating] Falconry terms ; unmanned, " of the possibility of Romeo's death not sufficiently trained to be familiar she cannot, in her present happiness, with the keeper ; bating, fluttering ; conceive." the bird was hooded on fist or perch 25 garish'] excessively bright, glar- to check the bating (French, se bait re}, ing. Johnson: "Milton had this There is probably a pun here on the speech in his thoughts when he wrote word unmann'd. See Henry V. ill. ... in // Pcnscroso : ' Till civil- vii. 121, 122. and Taming of the suited morn appear,' and ' Hide me Shrew, iv. i. 206-209. from day's garish eye.''" 102 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTIH. O, I have bought the mansion of a love, But not possess'd it, and though I am sold, Not yet enjoy'd ; so tedious is this day As is the night before some festival To an impatient child that hath new robes 30 And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse, Enter Nurse, with cords. And she brings news, and every tongue that speaks But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence. Now, nurse, what news ? What hast thou there ? the cords That Romeo bid thee fetch ? Nurse. Ay, ay, the cords. 35 [ Throws them down. Jul. Ay me! what news? why dost thou wring thy hands ? Nurse. 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 ! Jul. Can heaven be so envious ? Nurse. Romeo can, 40 Though heaven cannot. O, Romeo, Romeo ! Who ever would have thought it ? Romeo ! Jul. What devil art thou that dost torment me thus ? This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell. 31. Enter Nurse] O, F; after line 33 Dyce, Cambridge. 34. there ?] F, there., Q. 35. Throws . . .] Capell substantially. 37. Ah~\ I'ope ; A Q, F ; he 's dead} thrice (as here) Q, twice F. 40. envious} malicious. sc. n.j ROMEO AND JULIET 103 Hath Romeo slain himself? say thou but " I," 45 And that bare vowel " I " shall poison more Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice : I am not I, if there be such an " I," Or those eyes shut that make thee answer " I." If he be slain say " I " ; or if not, no : 50 Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe. Nurse. 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, 5 5 All in gore blood ; I swounded at the sight. ful. O, break, my heart ! poor bankrupt, break at once ! To prison, eyes, ne'er look on liberty ! Vile earth, to earth resign, end motion here, 48. an "/,"] Q 5 (/) ; an I. Q, F. 49. shut] Capell ; shot Q, F ; make] Steevcns (Johnson conject.) ; makes Q, F. 51. Brief sounds'} Q 5 ; Briefc, sounds, Q, F; of] F, Q 5 ; omitted Q ; or Collier (MS.)- 45. "7"]ay; commonly printed I suggested that it was originally a in Shakespeare's time. A modern bowman's exclamation: "May the editor is compelled here to retain the mark escape rival shooters ! " old form, or to obscure the play on 56. gore blood} clotted blood. Halli- / = ay, /, the vowel, and eye. well quotes Vicars, Virgil, 1632 : 47. cockatrice] The power of the " vented much black gore-blood." fabled cockatrice (often identified 56. swounded] The forms swoon, with basilisk) to slay with the eye is sivoiind, sounds.iQ all common inEliza- spoken of in Richard III. iv. i. 56, bethan books. and Twelfth Night, m. iv. 215. For 57-6o. break . . . bier] In place etymology and sense-history of the of these lines Q I has : word, see a long article in New Eng. "Ah, Romeo, Romeo, what disaster Diet. See Topsell, History of Ser- hap penis (ed. 1658), pp. 677-681, and Hath severd thee from thy true Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica. Juliet ? 48. "/"] Many editors print /, Ah why should Heaven so much without inverted commas. conspire with Woe, 49. those eyes} Romeo's eyes. Or Fate envie our happie 51. determine of} decide, as in Marriage, Richard III. III. iv. 2. So soone to sunder us by time- 53. mark} The origin of the ejacu- lesse Death?" lation is uncertain. It has been 104 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier ! 60 Nurse. O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had ! O courteous Tybalt ! honest gentleman ! That ever I should live to see thee dead ! Jul. What storm is this that blows so contrary? Is Romeo slaughter'd, and is Tybalt dead? 65 My dearest cousin, and my dearer lord ? Then, dreadful trumpet, sound the general doom ! For who is living if those two are gone ? Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished ; Romeo, that kill'd him, he is banished. 70 Jul. O God ! did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood ? Nurse. It did, it did ; alas the day, it did ! Jul. O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face ! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave ? Beautiful tyrant ! fiend angelical ! 75 Dove-feather'd raven ! wolvish-ravening lamb ! Despised substance of divinest show ! Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st ; A damned saint, an honourable villain ! O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell 80 60. one] Q 4 ; on Q, F. 66. dearest} Q, F ; dear-loved Q I. 67. dreadful trumpet,} Q, F ; let the trumpet Q I. 69. gone} Q, F ; dead Q I. 72. Nurse] Q i, Q 5 ; omitted Q, F. 73, 74. Jul. O . . . Did} F 2, Q 5 ; Nur. O . . . face! Jul. Did, Q. F. 76. Dove-feather'd raven} Theobald; Ravenous dovef eat herd Raven Q, F ; Ravenous dove, feat h red Raven Qq 4,5) F 2. 79. damned] Qq 4, 5, F 2 ; dimme Q ; dimne F. 66. dearest} More force is given by 75. Beautiful} Daniel proposes this reading to the dearer which Bountiful, to strengthen the anti- follows than if dear-loved Q I were thesis, read. 78. Just . . . justly} Exact . . . 73. serpent} So Macbeth, I. v. exactly, as often in Shakespeare. 66: "look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under 't." SC.H.] ROMEO AND JULIET 105 When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh ? Was ever book containing such vile matter So fairly bound ? O, that deceit should dwell In such a gorgeous palace ! Nurse. There 's no trust, 8 5 No faith, no honesty in men ; all perjured, All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers. Ah, where 's my man? give me some aqua vita: These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old. Shame come to Romeo ! Jul. Blister'd be thy tongue 90 For such a wish ! he was not born to shame : Upon his brow shame is ashamed to sit ; For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd Sole monarch of the universal earth. O, what a beast was I to chide at him ! 95 Nurse. Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin ? Jul. Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband ? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, When I, thy three-hours' wife, have mangled it? 81. bower] Q, F ; power Q 4 ; pours Q 5. 95. at kii] Q, him F. 87. All . . . dissemblers] With the dissemblers, the first ending men. The emphasis three times on all, and for- above is Capell's arrangement. sworn pronounced as a trisyllable, the 98. smooth] With the literal mean- line reads well enough. Daniel (after ing opposed to mangle, and the Fleay) reads : metaphorical meaning speak well of, "all naught, fatter, as in Julius Andronicus, v. ii. All perjured, all dissemblers, all for- 140: '''smooth, and speak him fair." sworn." The idea is from Brooke's poem. Q, F make two lines from 7 here 's to 106 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTHI. But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? 100 That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband : Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring; Your tributary drops belong to woe, Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy. My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain ; 105 And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my hus- band : All this is comfort ; wherefore weep I then ? Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death, That murder'd me : I would forget it fain ; But, O, it presses to my memory, I 10 Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds : " Tybalt is dead, and Romeo banished ! " That " banished," that one word " banished," Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death Was woe enough, if it had ended there : 115 Or, if sour woe delights in fellowship And needly will be rank'd with other griefs, Why follow'd not, when she said " Tybalt 's dead," Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both, Which modern lamentation might have moved? 120 But with a rearward following Tybalt's death, 106. Tybalt's} Q, Tybalt F. 108. word} Q, words F. 121. with} Q, which F. 117- needly} needs ; used only here rear-word. But compare Sonnets, by Shakespeare. xc. 6 : 120. modern} ordinary, common, " Ah, do not, when my heart hath as in All '5 Well, II. iii. 2, and As You scaped this sorrow, Like It, II. vi. 156, and often else- Come in the rearward of a con- where, quer'd woe.'' 121. reanuard} Collier proposed And "the reanuard of reproaches," Much Ado, iv. i. 128. sc. ii.] ROMEO AND JULIET 107 " Romeo is banished " : to speak that word, Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, All slain, all dead : " Romeo is banished ! " There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, 125 In that word's death; no words can that woe sound. Where is my father and my mother, nurse ? Nurse. Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse : Will you go to them ? I will bring you thither. Jul. Wash they his wounds with tears : mine shall be spent, 1 30 When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment. Take up those cords : poor ropes, you are beguiled, Both you and I, for Romeo is exiled : He made you for a highway to my bed, But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed. 135 Come, cords ; come, nurse ; I '11 to my wedding- bed ; And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead ! Nurse. Hie to your chamber : I '11 find Romeo To comfort you : I wot well where he is. Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night: 140 I '11 to him ; he is hid at Laurence' cell. Jul. O, find him ! give this ring to my true knight, And bid him come to take his last farewell. \Exeunt, 130. tears-] Qq 3, 4, F; teares ? O. 135. maiden-widowed} hyphen Rowe. 136. cords] Q, cordY. 126. sound] make audible; but to 130. tears:] Several editors prefer sound as with a plummet is possible. the tears ? of O. 108 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. SCENE III. The Same. Friar Laurence's cell. Enter Friar LAURENCE. Fri, Romeo, come forth ; come forth, thou fearful man : Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts, And thou art wedded to calamity. Enter ROMEO. Rom. Father, what news ? what is the prince's doom ? What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand, 5 That I yet know not ? Fri. Too familiar Is my dear son with such sour company : I bring thee tidings of the prince's doom. Rom. What less than dooms-day is the prince's doom ? Fri. A gentler judgment vanish'd from his lips, 10 Not body's death, but body's banishment. Rom. Ha, banishment ! be merciful, say " death " ; For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death : do not say " banishment." Friar Laurence's cell] Capell. Enter Friar Laurence] Capell ; Enter Frier Q I ; Enter Frier and Romeo O, F. 4. Enter Romeo] Q i, Dyce ; after line I Capell. 14. Much . . . death} Q, F ; Than death it selfe Q i. Enter . . .] Friar Laurence has in The Renegade, v. Hi., has : "Upon come from without ; Romeo is hidden those lips from which those sweet within ; hence the directions of Q I words vanish 'if," which Keightley seem right. supposes was written on the authority 1. fearful\ full of fear, as often in of the present passage. Heath con- Shakespeare, jectured issued. I suspect that banish- 2. parts] gifts, endowments, as in mcnt in the next line misled the III. V. 182. printer; but possibly (and it is strange 10. vanished] Xo such use of vanish that this has not been suggested) is found elsewhere in Shakespeare, Shakespeare wrote : for breath vanishing from the lips " A gentler judgment ' banish'd ' like smoke (in Lucrece, line 1041) is from his lips." not a parallel. Massinger, however, SC.HI.] ROMEO AND JULIET 109 Fri. Hence from Verona art thou banished : i 5 Be patient, for the world is broad and wide. Ron. There is no world without Verona walls, But purgatory, torture, hell itself. Hence banished is banish'd from the world, And world's exile is death ; then " banished " 20 Is death mis-term'd : calling death " banished," Thou cutt'st my head off with a golden axe, And smilest upon the stroke that murders me. Fri. O deadly sin ! O rude unthankfulness ! Thy fault our law calls death ; but the kind prince, 25 Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law, And turn'd that black word death to banishment : This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not. Rom. 'Tis torture, and not mercy : heaven is here, Where Juliet lives ; and every cat and dog 30 And little mouse, every unworthy thing, Live here in heaven and may look on her, But Romeo may not : more validity, More honourable state, more courtship lives In carrion flies than Romeo : they may seize 3 5 15. Hence] Q i ; Here Q, F. 20. world's exile] Q, F; world exilde Q i; world-exiTd Pope. 21. "banished"] Q, F; banishment Q I. 28. dear] Q, F; meere Q I. 20. exile'] The accent is variable; 83: "this ample third of our fair see line 13 and line 43. kingdom, No less in space, validity, 26. rush'd~] Capell conjectured and pleasure." push'd; Collier (MS.) has brush'd. 34. courtship] Schmidt compares Schmidt explains rusA'd aside as As You Like Jt, ill. ii. 364: "an eluded, comparing Measure for inland man, one that knew courtship Measure, I. iv. 63 : " have run by the well, for there he fell in love," as hideous law." another example of the word with the 33. validity'] worth, value, as in two meanings of civility, courtliness All's Well, \. iii. 192, and Lear, I. i. and courting, wooing, blent into one. 110 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand, And steal immortal blessing from her lips, Who, even in pure and vestal modesty, Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin ; But Romeo may not ; he is banished : 40 This may flies do, when I from this must fly : They are free men, but I am banished : And say'st thou yet that exile is not death ? Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife, No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean, 45 But " banished " to kill me ? " Banished " ? O friar, the damned use that word in hell ; Howling attends it : how hast thou the heart, Being a divine, a ghostly confessor, A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd, 50 To mangle me with that word " banished " ? Fri. Thou fond mad man, hear me a little speak. 40-43. But . . . death?] see note below. 48. Howling attends] Q i, Q ; Howlings attends F. 51. " banished"} Q, F ; banishment Q I. 52. Thou] Q i, Qq 4, 5 ; Then Q, F; hear me a little speak] Q, heare me speake F, heare me but speake a word Q I. 40-43. But , . . death .'] Q i has : text. For the various arrangements " And steale immortal! kisses from of editors, see Furness. her lips ; 45. mean of death] Shakespeare But Romeo may not, he is banished, uses both the singular mean and the Flies may doo this, but I from this plural means. must flye. 48. Howling] To howl is used by Oh Father hadst thou no strong Shakespeare several times with special poyson mixt." reference to the outcries of the damned, Q places after line 39 of text lines 41, as in 2 Henry II'. n. iv. 374, and 43, 40, and then adds the line " Flies Hamlet, \ . i. 265. may," etc., of Q i, which is followed 52. fond} foolish, by 42 of the text. F gives only line 52. hear . . . speak] G. White 41 of the text, followed by 43, 40. justly remarks that, although most Frrors were made in printing a re- editors follow Q I, "hear me but vision based on Q I. See the note in speak a word," the change seems Daniel's edition in explanation and plainly to have been made to avoid defence of the arrangement in the the unpleasant recurrence of word. sc. HI.] ROMEO AND JULIET 111 Rom. O, thou wilt speak again of banishment. Fri. I '11 give thee armour to keep off that word ; Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy, 5 5 To comfort thee, though thou art banished. Rom. Yet " banished " ? Hang up philosophy ! Unless philosophy can make a Juliet, Displant a town, reverse a prince's doom, It helps not, it prevails not : talk no more. 60 Fri. O, then I see that madmen have no ears. Rom. How should they, when that wise men have no eyes ? Fri. Let me dispute with thee of thy estate. Rom. Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel : Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, 65 An hour but married, Tybalt murdered, Doting like me, and like me banished, Then mightst thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair, And fall upon the ground, as I do now, Taking the measure of an unmade grave. 70 {Knocking within. Fri, Arise ; one knocks ; good Romeo, hide thyself. Rom. Not I ; unless the breath of heart-sick groans, Mist-like, infold me from the search of eyes. [ Knocking. Fri. Hark, how they knock ! Who 's there ? Romeo arise ; 54. keep off that} O, F; beare off this Q I. 62. tha'} Q, omitted F. 63. dispute} Q I, Q; dispaire F." 64. that} O, F; what Q i. 65. as I, Juliet thy} Q i, Q ; as Juliet my F. 70. Knocking . . .] Enter Nurse, and knocke Q (so F with "knockes"). 63. dispute . . . estate] discuss 70, measure. . . grave] So As Yen with you concerning your present Like It, 11. vi. 2 : " Here lie I down, state of affairs, and measure out my grave," 112 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. Thou wilt be taken. Stay awhile ! Stand up ; 7 5 [Knocking. Run to my study. By and by ! God's will, What simpleness is this! I come, I come! [Knocking. Who knocks so hard ? whence come you ? what 's your will ? Nurse. [ Within.'] Let me come in, and you shall know my errand ; I come from Lady Juliet. Fri, Welcome then. 80 Enter Nurse. Nurse. O holy friar, O, tell me, holy friar, Where is my lady's lord, where 's Romeo ? Fri. There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk. Nurse. O, he is even in my mistress' case, Just in her case ! Fri. O woeful sympathy ! 85 Piteous predicament ! 75. Knocking] Slud knock Qq 2, 3 ; Knocke againe Qq 4, 5 ; Knocke F. 77. simpleness] Q, F ; wilfztlness, Q i. 79. [Within]] Rowe. So. Enter Nurse] Rowe ; after line 78 Q, F. 82. Where is\ Q i ; Whercs Q, F. 75. Knocking] The puzzling stage- are given to the Nurse. Farmer con- direction of Q "Slud knock" may, I jectured that they are the Friar's; think, be thus explained : The original Steevens and most modern editors word in line 76 was not study; stud have adopted the suggestion. Unless was written above, but the word could the Nurse, in the presence of the not be completed, being interrupted learned Friar, produces her longest by knock ; study was written in the words, predicament can hardly be margin, and stud was not erased ; hers. It means here, condition ; it which the printer misrepresented as is used for category, condition, by Slud. Portia, iMerchant of Venice, iv. i. 85, 86. Fri. . . . predicament} 357, and by Hotspur, 1 Henry IV. \. In all the early editions these words iii. 168. The word sympathy, mean- sc. HI.] ROMEO AND JULIET 113 Nurse. Even so lies she, Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering. Stand up, stand up ; stand, an you be a man : For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand ; Why should you fall into so deep an O ? 90 Rom. Nurse ! Nurse. Ah sir ! ah sir ! Well, death 's the end of all. Rom. Spakest thou of Juliet? ho\v is it with her? Doth she not think me an old murderer, Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy 95 \Vith blood removed but little from her own ? Where is she ? and how doth she ? and what says My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love ? Nurse. O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps ; And now falls on her bed ; and then starts up, 100 And Tybalt calls ; and then on Romeo cries, And then down falls again. Rom. As if that name, Shot from the deadly level of a gun, 88. an] Ro\ve ; ami O, F. 90. ?} Q, O. F. 92. Well, death YJ Q I ; deaths Q, F. 93. Spakesf} Q, Speak' st, F. 94. she not] Q I ; not she Q, F. 98. our cancell'd] Q I, Q; our conceal'd F. 101. calls . . . cries} Q, F; cries . . . calls Q i. 103. deadly} Q, dead, F. ing correspondence or similarity of 90. an 0} Hanmer, followed by suffering, as in Titus Andronicus, Johnson, reads " deep an Rom. Oh III. i. 148, seems also to be out of A'urse.'' O seems here to mean an the compass of the Nurse's vocabu- exclamation of sorrow. Collier (MS.) lary. Delias and Daniel, however, adds a stage - direction ''Romeo assign the words, with O, F, to the groans." Nurse. 98. conceal" J} My lady, though that 87. Blubbering] The suggestion of she is so is concealed from the world, ridicule was not necessarily connected 103. leref] range, line of aim. as in with this word, as used by Flizabethan Sonnets, cxvii. 1 1 : " Bring me within writers; it occurs only here in the the level of your frown, But shoot not text of Shakespeare. at me in your waken'd hate." 8 114 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. Did murder her, as that name's cursed hand Murder'd her kinsman. O, tell me, friar, tell me, 105 In what vile part of this anatomy Doth my name lodge ? tell me, that I may sack The hateful mansion. [Drawing his sword. Fri. Hold thy desperate hand : Art thou a man ? thy form cries out thou art : Thy tears are womanish ; thy wild acts denote i i o The unreasonable fury of a beast : Unseemly woman in a seeming man ! And ill-beseeming beast in seeming both ! Thou hast amazed me : by my holy order, I thought thy disposition better temper'd. i i 5 Hast thou slain Tybalt? wilt thou slay thyself? And slay thy lady that in thy life lives, By doing damned hate upon thyself? Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven and earth ? Since birth and heaven and earth, all three do meet 120 In thee at once, which thou at once wouldst lose. Fie, fie ! thou shamest thy shape, thy love, thy wit ; Which, like a usurer, abound'st in all, 108. Drawing . . .] Theobald ; He offers to stab himself, and Nurse snatches the dagger away Q I. 110. denote'} O I, Qq 4, 5, F; denote O; doe note. F 2. 113. And} O F ; Or Q i. 117. lady . . . lives'] F 4 ; lady, . . lies, Q, V Lady too, that lives in thee? Q I. 106. anatomy'} a body or a "sub- here and in lines 119-121. See p. ject" for dissection ; compare Twelfth 192. Night, III. ii. 67. 119. ?n'rth~\ Romeo has not railed 109. Art thou a ?nan ?~\ Shakespeare on his birth; but in Brooke's poem closely follows Brooke's poem, both Romeus docs so. sc. in.] ROMEO AND JULIET 115 And usest none in that true use indeed Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit : 125 Thy noble shape is but a form of wax, Digressing from the valour of a man ; Thy dear love sworn, but hollow perjury, Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish ; Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love, I 30 Misshapen in the conduct of them both, Like powder in a skilless soldier's flask, Is set a-fire by thine own ignorance, And thou dismember'd with thine own defence. What, rouse thee, man ! thy Juliet is alive, i 35 For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead ; There art thou happy : Tybalt would kill thee, But thou slew'st Tybalt ; there art thou happy too : The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend, And turns it to exile; there art thou happy: 140 A pack of blessings light upon thy back ; Happiness courts thee in her best array ; But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench, 138. slew'st . . . too} Q i, F 2 ; Q. I-' omit too. 139. becomes] O, became F. 140. turns} Q, titrnd F. 141. of blessings] Q, of blessing Q 3, or blessing F ; light] O, F; lights, Q I. Q 4. 142. her] Q, F; his Q i. 143. misbehaved] Q i, Qq 4, 5 ; mishavedQ; mishaped F. 125. wit] understanding, or judg- cient English soldiers using match- ment. lucks . . were obliged to carry a lighted 127. Digressing] deviating. New match, hanging at their belts, very Eng. Diet, cites Golding, Calvin on near to the wooden flask in which Psalms, Ixxi. 16: "As the other they kept their powder." translation agreeth very well, I would 134. And thou] And thou blown not digresse from it." into fragments by what should have 132. poii'dcr] Steevens : "The an- been thy means of defence. 116 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love : Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable. 145 Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed, Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her ; But look thou stay not till the watch be set, For then thou canst not pass to Mantua ; Where thou shalt live till we can find a time 150 To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends, Beg pardon of the prince, and call thee back With twenty hundred thousand times more joy Than thou went'st forth in lamentation. Go before, nurse : commend me to thy lady, I 5 5 And bid her hasten all the house to bed, Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto : Romeo is coming. Nurse. O Lord, I could have stay'd here all the night To hear good counsel : O, what learning is ! 160 My lord, I '11 tell my lady you will come. Rom. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide. Nurse. Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir : Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late. \Exit. Rom. How well my comfort is revived by this! 165 FrL Go hence. Good night ; and here stands all your state : 144. pout'st upon] O 5, pou'ts upon Q 4, puts tip Q, pattest tip F, frown st upon O i. 152. the] Q, thy F. 159. the] Q, omitted F. 162.] Nurse offers to goe in, and turnes againe O i. 163. Here . . . sir] Q, F ; Heerc is a Ring sir, that she bad me give you Q I . 144. ponfst upon] Steevens : "The 163. Here, sir] Daniel conjectures reading in the text is confirmed by the Here, sir's. following passage in Coriolanus, v. i. 166. here stands] Johnson: "The 52 : ' then We pout upon the morn- whole of your fortune depends on ing.'" this." sc. iv. j ROMEO AND JULIET 117 Either be gone before the watch be set, Or by the break of day disguised from hence : Sojourn in Mantua : I '11 find out your man, And he shall signify from time to time 170 Every good hap to you that chances here : Give me thy hand ; 'tis late : farewell ; good night. Rom. But that a joy past joy calls out on me, It were a grief, so brief to part with thee : Farewell. \Exeunt. 175 SCENE IV. The Same. A room in Capulefs house. Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, and PARIS. Cap. Things have fall'n out, sir, so unluckily, That we have had no time to move our daughter : Look you, she loved her kinsman Tybalt dearly, And so did I : well, we were born to die. 'Tis very late, she '11 not come down to-night : 5 I promise you, but for your company, I would have been a-bed an hour ago. Par. These times of woe afford no time to woo. Madam, good night : commend me to your daughter. Lady Cap. I will, and know her mind early to- morrow ; i o 1 68. dis$nised\ F, disguise Q. Scc'llt? IV. A room . . .] Capell. Enter . . .] Rowe. 8. time] (^ i ; limes Q, F. 118 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. To-night she 's mew'd up to her heaviness. Cap. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender Of my child's love : I think she will be ruled In all respects by me ; nay more, I doubt it not. Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed ; i 5 Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love, And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday next But, soft ! what day is this ? Par. Monday, my lord. Cap. Monday ! ha, ha ! Well, Wednesday is too soon ; O' Thursday let it be : o' Thursday, tell her, 20 She shall be married to this noble earl. Will you be ready ? do you like this haste ? We '11 keep no great ado ; a friend or two ; For, hark you, Tybalt being slain so late, It may be thought we held him carelessly, 25 Being our kinsman, if we revel much. Therefore we '11 have some half a dozen friends, And there an end. But what say you to Thursday ? Par. My lord, I would that Thursday were to-morrow. Cap. Well, get you gone : o' Thursday be it then. 30 II. she's} O, she is F. 1 6. here of] Q 4 ; here, of Q, F ; hereof, Q 3 ; here with Q 5. 17. next ] Ro\ve ; next, Q, F. 20. O" . . . o} Capell ; A . . . a Q, F. 23. We 'II keep} F, Well, keepe Q. 30. o'} Capell ; a Q, F. 11. merJd up} shut up, as in venturous, offer. Steevens cites from Richard III. I. i. 38. Mew, originally The Weakest goeth to the. Wall, 1600: a cage; afterwards, as stated in R. "Witness this desperate tender of Holmes, Academy of Armory and mine honour." Blazon, "the place ... in which 23. We'll} Mommsen argues in the hawk is put during the time she favour of Q Well, supposing that casts . . . her feathers." The oldest Capulet here replies to a gesture of meaning of the French word is to horror, made by his wife at the sug- moult. gestion that she can be so soon 12. desperate tender} bold, or ad- ready. sc. v.J ROMEO AND JULIET 119 Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed, Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day. Farewell, my lord. Light to my chamber, ho ! Afore me, it is so very very late, That we may call it early by and by : 35 Good night. [Exeunt. SCENE V. Tlie Same. Capulefs orchard. Enter ROMEO and JULIET, above, at the window. Jul. Wilt thou be gone ? it is not yet near day : It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear ; Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree : 34, 35. Afore . . . by and by} Q I, Afore . . . so very late . . . by and by Q, A fort . . . so late , , . by and by F. Scene v. Enter . . . above, at the window] Cambridge ; Enter . . . aloft Q, F ; Enter ... at the window Q i. 4. yond] Q, F ; yon Q i. 34. Afore me] i.e. God before me me to support Rowe. I believe that (Dyce), in the presence of God, as in on the Elizabethan stage the dialogue Pericles, II. i. 84 : " Now, afore me, between Romeo and Juliet took place a handsome fellow." Or may it not on the balcony, and that the scene be corrupted from " Afore my God "? then changed to Juliet's chamber. Here it is possible that the words are Q I introduces the Nurse before the an instruction to the light-bearer to balcony scene closes ; she announces carry the light before Capulet, or to that Lady Capulet is coming to Juliet's Paris to take precedence in leaving chamber, and then "she goeth down the room. from the window"; the curtain, I 35. by and by] presently, immedi- suppose, was drawn, and the orchard ately, as in n. ii. 151. below immediately became Juliet's chamber. But for the inconvenience Scene V. which attends the disturbing of ac- Capulet's orchard] So the Cam- cepted arrangements, I should fulluw bridge editors; several editors "Juliet's Rowe in this division of scenes, chamber." Rowe, "Capulet's garden," 4. pomegranate] The pomegranate but Rowe closed the scene with line had been introduced into England as 59. The division - marks which ap- early as 1548; it grew " plenteously, " pear in the later part of Q I seem to says Turner, in his Nantes of Herbes 120 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. Believe me, love, it was the nightingale. 5 Rom. It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale : look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east : Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops: 10 I must be gone and live, or stay and die. Jul. Yond light is not daylight, I know it, I : It is some meteor that the sun exhales, To be to thee this night a torch-bearer, And light thee on thy way to Mantua : I 5 Therefore stay yet ; thou need'st not to be gone. Rom. Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death ; I am content, so thou wilt have it so. I '11 say yon grey is not the morning's eye, 'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow; 20 Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat The vaulty heaven so high above our heads : 10. mountain'} Q; Mountaines Q 3, F. 12. Yond} O, F; Yon Q I. 13. exhales} F, exhale Q. 16. Therefore . . . gone} Q, F; 77ien slay awhile, thou shall not goe soone Q I (and Pope, reading so soon}. of that year, "in Italy and in Spayne." from Sidney's Arcadia, Sir J. Davies' Knight quotes, from Russel's account Orchestra, and Drayton's England 1 s of Aleppo, a description of the night- Heroical Epistles. ingale singing from the pomegranate 16. stay yet ;} Rowe connected jf/ grove. It is the male bird "he "not \vithwhatfollows: "stay, yet." "she" who is the chief singer ; but 20. Cynthia s brow} In Singer's the tale of Tereus and Philomela en- copy of F 2 brow was corrected in couraged the opposite notion. MS. to bow; so too Collier (MS.); 7. envious} malicious, as often in brow may mean forehead or counten- Shakespeare. ance. Rolfe understands that the 13. exhales} Meteors were supposed moon is conceived as rising, and that to be derived from matter drawn up the reflex or reflection is from the by the sun ; see 1 Henry IV. v. i. 19, edges of the clouds lit up by the moon and Person's Varieties (1635), "Of behind them. Clarke suggests an Meteors." allusion to the crescent borne on 14. torch-bearer} Todd quotes par- Diana's forehead. allels for a similar use of the image sc. v.] ROMEO AND JULIET 121 I have more care to stay than will to go : Come, death, and welcome ! Juliet wills it so. How is 't, my soul? let's talk ; it is not day. 25 Jul, It is, it is : hie hence, be gone, away ! It is the lark that sings so out of tune, Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps. Some say the lark makes sweet division ; This doth not so, for she divideth us : 30 Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes ; O, now I would they had changed voices too ! Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, Hunting thee hence with hunts-up to the day. O, now be gone; more light and light it grows. 35 Rom. More light and light ; more dark and dark our woes ! 25. How . . . soul?} Q, F ; What sayes my Love ? O i. 29. division] New Eng. Diet, ; "A bird had a harsh voice to sing of rapid melodic passage, originally con- harshness. ceived as the dividing of each of a 33. ciffray~\ NotfrtgAten(asSchmidt succession of long notes into several says), but disturb or startle from sleep short ones." Naylor (Shakespeare or quiet, as Chaucer in Blaunche the and Music, p. 28) notes the cant term Duchess (line 296) is affrayed out of " note-splitting" for the old-fashioned his sleep by " smale foules." variation. Compare 1 Henry 11'. 34. hunts - zip] New Eng. Diet.: ill. i. 211: "ravishing division, to " Originally the hunt is iip, name of an her lute." The songster (line 30) is old song and its tune, sung or played again she ; Q I reads this in place of to awaken huntsmen in the morning ; she. . . . hence ... an early morning 31. toaif\ Warburton says that the song." Compare Titus Andronicus, toad having fine eyes and the lark II. ii. i. Cotgrave (ed. 1632) has ugly ones, it was commonly said that Resveil, "a Hunts-up, or morning they had changed eyes. fohnson song for a new-married wife, the day quotes a "rustic rhyme" to this after the marriage." B. Riche, Dia- effect. Several editors follow Rowe lo^ne between Mercury, etc. (1574): in reading changed foi change. Heath " Unlesse you sometimes arise to geve explains: If the toad and lark had your parramours the Jninte is u^ under changed voices, the lark's croak the windowes." would be no signal of the day. Lines 36. and light:} Theobald and other 33, 34 seem to show that the joy of editors read and light? Staunton has the lark's song adds a bitterness to light! Juliet's grief, and that she wishes the 122 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. Enter Nurse. Nurse. Madam ! Jul. Nurse? Nurse. Your lady mother is coming to your chamber : The day is broke ; be wary, look about. [Exit. 40 Jul. Then, window, let day in, and let life out. Rom. Farewell, farewell ! one kiss, and I '11 descend. [Descends, Jul. Art thou gone so ? love-lord, ay, husband-friend ! I must hear from thee every day in the hour, For in a minute there are many days : 45 O, by this count I shall be much in years Ere I again behold my Romeo ! Rom. Farewell ! I will omit no opportunity That may convey my greetings, love, to thee. 50 Jul. O, think'st thou we shall ever meet again ? Rom. I doubt it not ; and all these woes shall serve 36. Enter Nurse] Rowe ; Enter Madame and Nurse Q, F. 38. Nurse ?] Theobald; Nurse. Q,F. 40. Exit] Theobald. 42. Descends] Theobald, He goeth downe Q I. 43. love-lord, ay, husband-friend!} Kd. ; love, Lord, ay husband, friend Q, F (ah for ay F 2) ; my Lord, my Love, my Frend? Qi. 43. love-lord, ay, husband-friend] I In the corresponding passage of have inserted hyphens ; love and friend Brooke's poem friend zn& friendship (as commonly) mean lover other- are used where we should use lover wise a climax seems attempted with and love. little success. I think that Juliet, 44. day in the hour] Collier (MS.) trying to amass into names all the declines hyperbole, and reads "hour sweetness of their union, addresses in the day." Romeo as lover -lord, and then, re- 45. For . . . days] Q I has For versing the order, as husband-lover, . . . hou't-r . . . minutes, and adds insisting (ay) on husband, and such a Minutes are dayes, so will I number husband as is still a lover (friend), them : so Daniel, reading days for Many editors follow Q i, "my lord, minutes in the first line, my love, my friend ! " ; others read 52. / doubt it not} Daniel con- " my love! my lord! my friend!" jectures Ay, doubt it not. sc. v.] ROMEO AND JULIET 123 For sweet discourses in our time to come. Jul. O God ! I have an ill-divining soul : Methinks I see thee, now thou art below, 5 5 As one dead in the bottom of a tomb : Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale. Rom. And trust me, love, in my eye so do you : Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu ! [Exit. Jul. O fortune, fortune ! all men call thee fickle : 60 If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him That is renown'd for faith ? Be fickle, fortune ; For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long, But send him back. Lady Cap. [ Wit/iin.~\ Ho, daughter ! are you up ? Jul. Who is 't that calls? is it my lady mother? 65 Is she not down so late, or up so early ? What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither? Enter Lady CAPULET. Lady Cap. Why, how now, Juliet! Jul. Madam, I am not well. Lady Cap. Evermore weeping for your cousin's death ? \Vhat, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears ? / o 53. out- time'} F, our times Q, the lime Q I. 55. thee, now} Pope ; thec now, Q, F ; below] Q I ; so low Q, F. 64. [Within]] Capell. 65. is if] F, it i s Q ; mother?} F 2; mother. Q, F. 67. Enter Lady Capulet] Capell ; Enter Mother (after back, line 64) ^), F. 55. below] Some editors prefer Q, an ancient notion that sorrow con- F, so low; I think the so was an sumed the blood . . ." 3 Henry I'f. error caused by sov\ immediately iv. iv. 22: " blood-sucking sighs. " above. 66. down] lying down, abed. 59. Dry sorrow] Malone : " He is 67. procures] Hanmer read pro- accounting for their paleness. It was vokes, but no emendation is required. 124 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. An if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live ; Therefore, have done : some grief shows much of love, But much of grief shows still some want of wit. Jul. Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss. Lady Cap. So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend 75 Which you weep for. Jul. Feeling so the loss, I cannot choose but ever \veep the friend. Lady Cap. Well, girl, thou weep'st not so much for his death As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him. Jul. What villain, madam ? Lady Cap. That same villain, Romeo. So Jul. \_Aside.~\ Villain and he be many miles asunder. God pardon him ! I do, with all my heart ; And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart. Lady Cap. That is because the traitor murderer lives. Jul. Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands: 85 Would none but I might venge my cousin's death ! Lady Cap. We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not : Then weep no more. I '11 send to one in Mantua, \Vhere that same banish'd runagate doth live, 71. An} Theobald; And(, F. Si. [Aside]] Ilanmer ; be] Q, F; are (,) I. 82. him] O 4, F 2 ; omitted O, F. 84. murderer] Q, omitted F. 74. feeling} sensible, affecting; so 76. Keep feu] Theobald emends the " feeling sorrows," Winter's Tale, \V. verse by reading "do weep for." ii. 8. Mommsen conjectures But feeling or hi feeling. sc. v.] ROMEO AND JULIET 125 Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dram 90 That he shall soon keep Tybalt company : And then, I hope, thou wilt be satisfied. JuL Indeed, I never shall be satisfied With Romeo, till I behold him dead Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vex'd. 95 Madam, if you could find out but a man To bear a poison, I would temper it, That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof, Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhors To hear him named, and cannot come to him, 100 To wreak the love I bore my cousin Tybalt Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him ! Lady Cap. Find thou the means, and I '11 find such a man. But now I '11 tell thee joyful tidings, girl. Jul. And joy comes well in such a needy time. 105 What are they, I beseech your ladyship ? Lady Cap. Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child ; One who, to put thee from thy heaviness, 90. Shall . . . c/raw] O, F; That should bestow on him so sure a draught Q I. 94. him dead ] Theobald ; him. Dead Q, F. 101. cousin Tybalt} F 2 ; Cozen (), F. 105. needy] Q, F ; needful Q I. 106. / beseech] Q 4, 2; beseech Q, F. 94. Romeo,] Daniel reads Romeo , 101. To. . . Tybalt] The addition and puts a dash after heart in the Tybalt of F 2 is not accepted by all next line. lie analyses the ambigui- editors. Theobald (omitting Tybalt) ties of Juliet's words thus : " i. I reads slattghter'd cousin ; Malone never shall be satisfied with Romeo, conjectures nirder'd cousin ; other 2. I never shall be satisfied with suggestions are tender lore, ever bore, Romeo till I behold him. 3. I never bore unto. shall be satisfied with Romeo till I 105. needy] poor, beggarly, pov- behold him dead. 4. Till I behold erty-stricken. Several editors prefer him. dead is my poor heart. 5. Dead the needful of Q I . is my poor heart, so for a kinsman vext. " 126 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m. Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy, That thou expect'st not, nor I look'd not for. I I o JuL Madam, in happy time, what day is that? Lady Cap. Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn, The gallant, young, and noble gentleman, The County Paris, at Saint Peter's church, Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride. I I 5 JuL Now, by Saint Peter's church, and Peter too, He shall not make me there a joyful bride. I wonder at this haste ; that I must wed Ere he that should be husband comes to woo. I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam, i 20 I will not marry yet ; and, when I do, I swear, It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, Rather than Paris. These are news indeed ! Lady Cap. Here comes your father ; tell him so yourself, And see how he will take it at your hands. 125 Enter CAPULET and Nurse. Cap. When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew ; But for the sunset of my brother's son It rains downright. no. Steevens omitted And, T'a;j Noble Kinsmen, v. i., we have CapellyV0w (before my soul], Ilanmer " thy rare green eye. " In a sonnet by too. ROMEO AND JULIET 133 Jul. Amen ! Nurse. What ? Jul. Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much. Go in; and tell my lady I am gone, 230 Having displeased my father, to Laurence' cell, To make confession and to be absolved. Xnrsc. Marry, I will ; and this is wisely done. \Exit. Jnl. Ancient damnation ! O most wicked fiend ! Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn, 235 Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue Which she hath praised him with above compare So many thousand times ? Go, counsellor ; Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain. I '11 to the friar, to know his remedy : 240 If all else fail, myself have power to die. [Exit. ACT IV SCENE I. Verona. Friar Laurences cell. Enter Friar LAURENCE and PARIS. Fri. On Thursday, sir? the time is very short. Par. My father Capulet will have it so ; Act IV. Scent i. Friar Laurence's cell] Capell. 234. iv i eke a fiend] Pycc (cd. 2) cites the same term of reproach from reads cursed with Q I. S. Walker. Marston, The Malcontent ( 1604). In thinking ivickcd "flat," conjectured Westward Hoc (Pearson's Dekker, ii. wither d. 134 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT iv. And I am nothing slow to slack his haste. Fri. You say you do not know the lady's mind : Uneven is the course ; I like it not. 5 Par. Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt's death, And therefore have I little talk'd of love, For Venus smiles not in a house of tears. Now, sir, her father counts it dangerous That she doth give her sorrow so much sway, I o And in his wisdom hastes our marriage, To stop the inundation of her tears, Which, too much minded by herself alone, May be put from her by society : Now do you know the reason of this haste. I 5 Fri. [Aside.~\ I would I knew not why it should be slow'd Look, sir, here comes the lady towards my cell. Enter JULIET. Par. Happily met, my lady and my wife ! Jul. That may be, sir, when I may be a wife. 3. slow to slack'} Q, F ; slacke to slow Q I. 7. talk' if] Q 5 ; talke Q, F. i o. dotli\ Q (alone) reads do. 15. haste.'} Q, hast ? F. 1 6. [Aside]] Theobald. 17. towards] F, toward Q. iS. Happily mcf\ Q, F ; Wel- come my love Q I. 3. slow to slack] Malone : "There 11.11.298: "be even and direct with is nothing of slowness in me, to in- me." duce me to slacken or abate his 7. talk'd] Mommsen defends talk haste." Johnson conjectured back O, F, as referring to fuliet's silence (for slack], i.e. to abet and enforce, consequent on her grief. Knight : "I am nothing slow (so as) 10. sway} Collier (MS.) way. to slack his haste.'' which seems the u. marriage] a trisyllable, as oc- right explanation. casionally elsewhere in Shakespeare. 5. Uneven] indirect, not straight- 16. slow' it} Steevens cites Gorges' forward. See A'ew Eng. Diet., even, J.ncan's Pharsalia, ii. : "will you 4. Compare "even play of battle," overflow The fields, thereby my Henry V. iv. viii. 1 14, and Hamlet, march to slow." SCM.J HOMED AND JULIET 135 Par. That may be must be, love, on Thursday next. 20 Jul. What must be shall be. Fri. That 's a certain text. Par. Come you to make confession to this father ? Jul. To answer that, I should confess to you. Par. Do not deny to him that you love me. Jul. I will confess to you that I love him. 25 Par. So will ye, I am sure, that you love me. Jul. If I do so, it will be of more price Being spoke behind your back, than to your face. Par. Poor soul, thy face is much abused with tears. Jul. The tears have got small victory by that ; 30 For it was bad enough before their spite. Par. Thou wrong'st it more than tears with that report. Jul. That is no slander, sir, which is a truth, And what I spake, I spake it to my face. Par. Thy face is mine, and thou hast slander'd it. 35 Jul. It may be so, for it is not mine own. Are you at leisure, holy father, now ; Or shall I come to you at evening mass ? Fri. My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now. My lord, we must entreat the time alone. 40 23. I should] Q, F ; tvcre to O i. 26. jv] O, F ; you Capell and others. 33. slander . . . a truth} O, F : ii'rong sir, that is a truth Q I (so Capell, reading but a}. 34. my'} O, thy F. 40. tcv] O i, O ; you F ; / Ff 2-4. 38. evening mass] Sec 77/6* Religion tion in Germany, and perhaps in of Shakespeare, chiefly front the writ- England ; finally, that in Verona the in^s of Richard Simpson, by II. S. forbidden custom lingered to the nine- Howdon (1899), pp. 271-274; it is teenth century. there shown that mass was used of 40. entreat} Schmidt explains " beg various church offices; that, in the to be left alone." New Eng. Diet. .stricter sense of mass, there was great reading with F, "you must entreat," latitude in ancient times as to the explains beguile, pass (time) ; but the hour; that I'ius v. (1566-72) pro- Diet, gives no other example of this hibited evening masses ; that the new sense. law was slow in coming into opera- 136 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT iv. Par. God shield I should disturb devotion ! Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse ye : Till then, adieu ; and keep this holy kiss. \Exit. Jul. O, shut the door, and when thou hast done so, Come weep with me ; past hope, past cure, past help! 45 Fri. Ah, Juliet, I already know thy grief! It strains me past the compass of my wits : I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it, On Thursday next be married to this county. Jul. Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of this, 50 Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it : If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help, Do thou but call my resolution wise, And with this knife I '11 help it presently. God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands ; 5 5 And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd, Shall be the label to another deed, Or my true heart with treacherous revolt 41. God shield /] Q 5, Godsliicld, I Q, Godshield: I F. 42. yc\ O, F ; you Theobald and others. 44. 0.} O, F ; Go Q i. 45. cure} O i, Q 5 ; care Q, F. 46. Ah} Q I ; Q, F. 47. strains} Q, st reames F. 54. with this} Q, -witK his F. 56. Romeo} F, Ronieos Q, Roinco 's Q 5 and some editors. 41. God shield} Schmidt explains ii. 28, we have: "past cure is still God forbid ; a shield may both repel past care/' and protect ; so, perhaps, equivalent 48. prorogue} See n. ii. 78- to God defend us! in Midsummer 54. knife} White: "The ladies of Nighfs Drea/n, in. i. 31: " to bring Shakespeare's day customarily wore in God shield us a lion among knives at their girdles. " ladies." 57. label} The seals of deeds, as 45. fit re] Some editors prefer car,: Malone explains, in Shakespeare's Q, F, on the ground that fast cure time were appended on slips or and past help are substantially the labels affixed to the deed. See same. In Lore's Labour s Lost, V. Richard II. V. ii. 56. sc. i.] ROMEO AND JULIET 137 Turn to another, this shall slay them both : Therefore, out of thy long-experienced time, 60 Give me some present counsel ; or, behold, 'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that Which the commission of thy years and art Could to no issue of true honour bring. 65 Be not so long to speak ; I long to die, Of what thou speak'st speak not of remedy. Fri. Hold, daughter : I do spy a kind of hope, Which craves as desperate an execution As that is desperate which we would prevent. 70 If, rather than to marry County Paris, Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, Then is it likely thou wilt undertake A thing like death to chide away this shame, That copest with death himself to scape from it; 75 And, if thou darest, I '11 give thee remedy. Jul. O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, From off the battlements of yonder tower ; Or walk in thievish ways ; or bid me lurk 60. long-experienced} hyphen Pope (F spells expeti,:mf]. 66. Be . . . '#<] Q, F ; Speakc not, be brief e : for I desire to die Q I. 72. of ' u*i '11} O, F ; or tc'/'// O i ; slay} Q I, Qq 4, <; ; stay Q, F ; lay F 2. 75. from} Q, fro V. 78. yondt-r} Q I ; any Q, F. '79, So. Or walk . . . bears} Q, F ; Or chaine me to sonic steeple inounlaines top, IVhcre roaring Beares and savage Lions are : Q I. 62. extremes} extremities, straits, 76. And, if} Delius conjectures sufferings, as in Troilns and Cressida, An if. iv. ii. 108. 78. yondfr} Ulrici considers any O, 64. commission} authority, warrant, F more vigorous an}' tower, no as often in Shakespeare. matter how high. 69. an execution} Walker con- jectures that an is an interpolation. 138 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT iv. Where serpents are ; chain me with roaring bears ; 80 Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house, O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones, With reeky shanks, and yellow chapless skulls ; Or bid me go into a new-made grave And hide me with a dead man in his shroud ; 85 Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble ; And I will do it without fear or doubt, To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love. Fri. Hold, then ; go home, be merry, give consent To marry Paris : Wednesday is to-morrow 7 : 90 To-morrow night look that thou lie alone, Let not thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber : Take thou this vial, being then in bed, And this distilled liquor drink thou off; When presently through all thy veins shall run 95 A cold and drowsy humour; for no pulse Shall keep his native progress, but surcease ; No w r armth, no breath, shall testify thou livest ; Si. shitf] Q I ; hide Q, F, and many editors. 83. chapless'] Q 4, chapels Q, chappels F. 85. shroud} Qq 4, 5 ; omitted Q ; grave F. 86. told} O, F ; nainde Q I. 92. thy nurse'} F, the Nurse Q. 94. distilled] Q I; distilling Q, F. 98. breatli} F, breast Q. 83. rccky~\ reeking with malodorous 93. Take thou} Shakespeare in what vapours ; strictly smoky, and hence follows derives much from Brooke's foul ; see note on Hamlet (ed. Dow- poem, den), ill. iv. 184. 96, 97. A cold . . . snricasc} Q I 89-93. Hold . . . bed'} Q I reads : reads : " Hold Juliet, hie thee home, get "A dull and heavie slumber, which thee to bed. shall seaze Let not thy Nurse lye with thee in Each vitall spirit : for no Ful.se thy Chamber : shall keepe And when thou art alone, take His naturall proqresse, but sur- thou this Violl." cease to bcate : :) sc.1.] ROMEO AND JULIET 139 The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade To paly ashes ; thy eyes' windows fall, I OO Like death, when he shuts up the day of life ; Each part, deprived of supple government, Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death ; And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death Thou shalt continue two and forty hours, 105 And then awake as from a pleasant sleep. Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead : Then, as the manner of our country is, In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier I 10 Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie. In the mean time, against thou shalt awake, Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, And hither shall he come ; and he and I 115 Will watch thy waking, and that very night Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua. And this shall free thee from this present shame, If no inconstant toy nor womanish fear 99. fadc}(} 3, F; fade: Q. 100. To faly} Q 5, 7\w many Q, To many F, To mealy F 2; 'thy'} Q, the F. 101. shuts} n, shut F. in. shaft] F, shall O. 115, 1 1 6. and . . . waki/ij] Oq 3-5, an . . . walking O, omiitcd F. 119. inconstant] Q, F; uneonstant Ff 3, 4, and several editors. 105. t'i'o and forty hours] Maginn hands, and feet all naked, and wear- proposed two and fifty ; .Marsh (Notes and Queries, 1877) two and thirty. See Introduction. 1 10. best robes] Malone notices that the Italian custom of carrying to ljurial in thy kindreds grave." the dead body to the grave richly was doubtless, as Daniel observes, an dressed, and with the face uncovered uneffaced variation of line ill in the is described in Brooke's poem. Coryat, " copy : from which (J was printed. Crudities, ii. 27 : " For they [in Italy] carry the corse to church with face, 140 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT iv. Abate thy valour in the acting it. 120 JuL Give me, give me ! O, tell not me of fear ! Fri. Hold ; get you gone : be strong and prosperous In this resolve. I '11 send a friar with speed To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord. JuL Love give me strength ! and strength shall help afford. 125 Farewell, dear father. \Exeunt. SCENE II. The Same. Hall in Capulefs house. Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, Nurse, and Servingmen. Cap. So many guests invite as here are writ. [Exit Servant. Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks. Second Serv. You shall have none ill, sir, for I '11 try if they can lick their fingers. Cap. How canst thou try them so ? 5 121. not >ne~\ Q, F ; vie not Qq 4, 5 ; fear} Q, care F. Scene IF. Hall . . .] Capell. Enter . . .] substantially Q, F, which add after Servingmen " two or three." i. Exit] . . . omitted Q, F. 3, 6. Second Serv.]' Malone; Ser. Q, F. I. iv. 75. "Inconstant toy" and "'Give me,' quoth I," Macbeth, I. " womanish dread " occur in Brooke's iii. 5) as unnecessary. poem. 121. GI'TV !/tc~\ Pope, followed by Scene //. several editors, reads, "Give me, Oh 2. twenty cunning cooks'] The im- give me, tell not me," and so Theo- peluous old Capulet characteristically bald, reading "tell me not." Lett- forgets Tybalt's death, and his in- soin's conjecture, "O give 't me, give 't tention (in. iv. 27) that the wedding me," is held by Dyce (comparing should be almost a private aflair. sc. n.j ROMEO AND JULIET 141 Second Serv. Marry, sir, 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own ringers : therefore he that cannot lick his fingers goes not with me. Cap. Go, be gone. [/Lrit Second Servant. We shall be much unfurnish'd for this time. i o What, is my daughter gone to Friar Laurence ? Nurse. Ay, forsooth. Cap. Well, he may chance to do some good on her : A peevish self-will'd harlotry it is. Enter JULIET. Nurse. See where she comes from shrift with merry look. 1 5 Cap. How now, my headstrong ! where have you been gadding? Jul. Where I have learn'cl me to repent the sin Of disobedient opposition To you and your behests, and am enjoin'd By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here, 20 To beg your pardon. Pardon, I beseech you ! Henceforward I am ever ruled by you. Cap. Send for the county ; go, tell him of this : I '11 have this knot knit up to-morrow morning. 9. l-'xit . . .] Capell. 15. comes . . . look"} O, F; commeth from con- fession () I. 6. /// t'ook] Steevens quotes the any so peevish to imagine the moone adage, as given in Puttcnham's Arte either capable of affection or shape of of English Poesie (1589): "A had a mistris.'' Perhaps childishly per- cooke that cannot his owne fingers verse is implied. lick." It is also given in Ileywood's 14. harlotry] Used much as " slut " Proverbs (Spenser Soc. ed. 151). might be used at a later date. Com- 14. peevish'] may mean childish, pare the description of Lady Mortimer thoughtless, foolish, as in other pas- in 1 Henry J V. in. i. 198: " a peevish sages of Shakespeare, and in Lyly's self-will'd harlotry, one that no per- Endimion, \. i. : "There never was suasion can do good upon." 142 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT iv. Jul. I met the youthful lord at Laurence' cell, 2 5 And gave him what becomed love I might, Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty. Cap. Why, I am glad on 't ; this is well : stand up : This is as 't should be. Let me see the county ; Ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither. 30 Now, afore God, this reverend holy friar, All our whole city is much bound to him. Jul. Nurse, will you go with me into my closet, To help me sort such needful ornaments As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow? 35 Lady Cap. No, not till Thursday ; there is time enough. Cap. Go, nurse, go with her : we '11 to church to- morrow. \Exeunt Juliet and Nurse. Lady Cap. We shall be short in our provision : 'Tis now near night. Cap. Tush, I will stir about, And all things shall be well, I warrant thee, wife : 40 Go thou to Juliet, help to deck up her ; I '11 not to bed to-night ; let me alone ; 31. reverend holy] Q, F ; holy reverent Q I, Q 5. 36. there is~\ Q, there 's F. 2.6. becomed] becoming, befitting. 39. near night] Malone observes 33. closet] private chamber, as in that immediately after Romeo's part- Hainlet, II. i. 77. ing from his bride at daybreak she 36. Lady Cap.] In Q I : went to the Friar; she returns, and I pree thee doo, good Nurse it is near night. Dramatic time is goe in with her, often dealt with by Shakespeare as Ilelpe her to sort Tyres, subject to dramatic illusion. Rebatoes, Chaines, 41. up her] Hudson adopts Lett- And I will come unto you sonrs conjecture her u/> ; so "trim presently." her up," iv. iv. 25. sc. in.] ROMEO AND JULIET 143 I '11 play the housewife for this once. What, ho ! They are all forth : well, I will walk myself To County Paris, to prepare him up 45 Against to-morrow. My heart is wondrous light, Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd. [Exeunt. SCENE III. The Same. Julie fs chamber. Enter JULIET and A r ursc. Jul. Ay, those attires are best ; but, gentle nurse, I pray thee, leave me to myself to-night ; For I have need of many orisons To move the heavens to smile upon my state, Which, well thou know'st, is cross and full of sin. 5 Enter Lady CAPULKT. Lady Cap. What, are you busy, ho ? need you my help? Jul. No, madam ; we have cull'd such necessaries As are behoveful for our state to-morrow: So please you, let me now be left alone, And let the nurse this night sit up with you, 10 For I am sure you have your hands full all In this so sudden business. 45. him itp\ F, up him Q. Scene ill. Juliet's chamber] Rowe. 6. ho? >u\'J yon} O, F; doo you need Q I. 5. sin] In O i Nurse speaks, Shakespeare ; Niw En^, Diet, says : " Well theres a cleane smocke under "Extremely common from 1400 to your pillow, and so good niyht," 1700; but used since only by ar- with which words she departs. chaists." The only example alter S. lehoreful\ useful. Only here in 1736 is cited from Carlyle's l^'ralcrick. 144 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT iv. Lady Cap. Good night : Get thee to bed, and rest, for thou hast need. \Exeunt Lady Capulet and Nurse. Jul. Farewell ! God knows when we shall meet again. I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins, i 5 That almost freezes up the heat of life : I '11 call them back again to comfort me. Nurse ! What should she do here ? My dismal scene I needs must act alone. Come, vial. 20 What if this mixture do not work at all ? Shall I be married then to-morrow morning? No, no : this shall forbid it : lie thou there. \^Laying down a dagger. What if it be a poison, which the friar Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead, 25 Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd, Because he married me before to Romeo ? I fear it is : and yet, methinks, it should not, For he hath still been tried a holy man. 16. life} Q, fire F. 18. Nttrse !} Ilanmer ; Nurse, Q, F. 22. Shall . . . morning?} Q, F ; Must I of force be married to the Countie? Q I. 23. No . . . there} Q, F; This shall forbid it. Knife, lye thou there (,) I. 15, 16. / . . . life} So Brooke's sec IV. i. 54. Gifford says that poem: "A sweat as cold as moun- daggers were worn in Shakespeare's taine yse pearst through her slender time by every woman in England, skin." They certainly, as Steevens shows 20. Come, vial ] The dramatic by several quotations which speak of pause following victim this (Ilanmer's) "wedding knives," formed part of arrangement is disregarded by Keight- the accoutrements of a bride, ley, who emends thus : 29. For . . . man} Instead of this "Nurse ! What should she do here? one line Q I has two, the second of My dismal scene which Sleevens and other editors I needs must act alone. Come, vial, make part of the text : come ! " "He is a holy and religious Man : 23. lie thou there} Juliet had I will not entertaine so bad a alreadyprovided herself with a dagger ; thought." sc. m.] ROMEO AND JULIET 145 How if, when I am laid into the tomb, 30 I wake before the time that Romeo Come to redeem me ? there 's a fearful point ! Shall I not then be stifled in the vault, To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in, And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes ? 3 5 Or, if I live, is it not very like, The horrible conceit of death and night, Together with the terror of the place, As in a vault, an ancient receptacle, Where, for this many hundred years, the bones 40 Of all my buried ancestors are pack'd ; Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth, Lies festering in his shroud ; where, as they say, At some hours in the night spirits resort : Alack, alack, is it not like that I, 45 So early waking, what with loathsome smells And shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth, 40. lhis~\ Q, these F. 47. /wfl/^vz/^T ] Capell (Errata) ; mandrakes Q, F. 39. As~\ Schmidt takes "As" here was supposed to be like a man, to to mean "to wit," and cites many have a proportion of animal life, and other passages of Shakespeare, where, (as T. Newton in his Herhall of tlic he maintains, it has a like meaning. />Y/VV, 1587, notices) possibly to be Steevens supposes that the charncl engendered by dead criminals who at Stratford-on-Avon was in Shake- had been executed and buried, speare's mind when he wrote these \Vhen torn from the earth the lines. mandrake uttered shrieks ; the up- 39. rc.cf.ptade\ Rolfe : " For the rooter went mad ; it was wise, as accent compare Titus Artdrotiictts, i. Bulleine notices (B^tlivark of Defend: i. 92: 'O sacred receptacle of my against Sickness, 1575), to tie a dog joys.' " to the root and let him be the victim, 43. festering\ becoming loathsome stopping one's cars meamvhile " for by corruption, as in Henry V. iv. feare of the terrible shriek and cry,'' iii. 88. References in Elizabethan dramatists 47. mandrakes"] The mandrake, to the mandrake and its terrors are or mandragora (the opiate properties not uncommon. See 2 Hcnrv VI. of which are spoken of in Othello, ill. ii. 310: "Would curses kill, as III. iii. 330), having a forked root, doth the mandrake's groan ?" 10 146 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT iv. That living mortals, hearing them, run mad : O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught, Environed with all these hideous fears ? 50 And madly play with my forefathers' joints ? And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud ? And, in this rage, with some great kinsman's bone, As with a club, dash out my desperate brains ? O, look ! methinks I see my cousin's ghost 5 5 Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body Upon a rapier's point : stay, Tybalt, stay ! Romeo, I come ! this do I drink to thee. [S/ie falls tipon her bed within the curtains. SCENE IV. The Same. Hall in Capulefs house. Enter Lady CAPULET and Nurse. Lady Cap. Hold, take these keys, and fetch more spices, nurse. 49. 0. if I wake] Hanmcr ; if I -aalke O, F ; Or if I -ccakc Qq 4, 5 ; Or if 1 rcalke F 2. 57. a] O, my F, his 2. 58. Romeo . . . thee'} Q I, Pope ; Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, hccres drinke, I drinkc to thee Q, F. She . . . curtains] Q I ; omitted Q, F. Scene IV. Hall . . .] Theobald (.substantially). 49. Distraught} distracted. " Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, I drink 58. Romeo, I cornel FJyce suggests to thee." that hccns drinke, Q, F, may be a 58. She falls . . .] The Cam- corrupted stage-direction foisted into bridge editors introduce this stage- the text. Daniel writes : "I incline direction from Q I. Daniel writes: also to believe that the triple repeti- "The space 'within the curtains,' lion of Romeo in those editions may where Juliet's bed is placed, was the have been intended as an addition to space at the back of the stage proper, the text as given in Q I, to be beneath the raised stage or gallery murmured by Juliet as she falls which served for a balcony . . . ; asleep." Johnson read, "Romeo, this was divided from the stage proper here's drink! Romeo, I drink to by a traverse or curtain." thee!"; Knight (Stratford ed.), sc.iv.] ROMEO AND JULIET 147 Nurse. They call for dates and quinces in the pastry. Enter CAPULET. Cap. Come, stir, stir, stir ! the second cock hath crow'd, The curfew bell hath rung, 'tis three o' clock : Look to the baked meats, good Angelica: 5 Spare not for cost. Nurse. Go, you cot-quean, go, Get you to bed ; faith, you '11 be sick to-morrow For this night's watching. Cap. No, not a whit : what, I have watch'd ere now All night for lesser cause, and ne'er been sick. 10 Lady Cap. Ay, you have been a mouse-hunt in your time ; 4. o'] Theobald ; a O, F. 10. lesser] Q, Icssc F, a lessc F 2. 2. fas try'] the room where paste was made ; so pantry, spicery, laun- dry, buttery. Staunton quotes from Breton, A Floorish upon Fancie (1582): "The pastrie, mealehouse, and the roome whereas the coales do ly." 4. curfew be!!] Strictly this was an evening bell (cottvre feu) rung at eight or nine o'clock. Shakespeare uses ftirfciv correctly in Measure for Measure, iv. ii. 78. The word came to be used of other ringings. Thus in Liverpool Municipal Records <>f 1673 an d 1704 (quoted in A'eui Eti^. Diet.} : " King Curphew all the yeare long at 4 a clock in the morning and eight at a night." Q I reads : " The Curfewe bell hath rung, t'is fourc a cloeke. " 5. baked meats'] pastry, pies, as in Hamlet, I. ii. 180; Palsgrave, Lesclar- cissement (1530): "Bake meate, viands en paste." 5. Angelica] more probably Lady Capulet (to whom "Spare not for cost '' seems appropriate) than the Nurse. 6. Nurse] Z. Jackson suggested that this speech belongs to Lady Capulet ; Singer and Hudson adopt the suggestion, sending the Nurse off the stage after line 2. But on such an occasion the old retainer might be familiar with her master. Q I makes Capulet reply to this speech: "I warrant thee Nurse I have," etc. 6 Go, you cot-quean"\ Theobald and other editors read Go go, t emend the verse. Cot - quean i.-, primarily the housewife of a labourer's cot : thence a vulgar, scolding woman ; used of a man it means a man who acts the housewife. So Roaring Girl (1611) Dekker, Works, 1873, iii. 177: "I cannot abide the>e aperne [apron] husbands ; such cot- tjiteancs." II. mouse-hunt] "Mouse/' as a term of endearment for a woman, appears in Hamlet, III. iv. 183, and elsewhere in Shakespeare ; mouse- 148 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT iv. But I will watch you from such watching now. [Exeunt Lady Capulet and Nurse, Cap. A jealous-hood, a jealous-hood ! Enter three or four Serving-men , with spits, logs, and baskets. Now, fellow, What 's there ? First Serv. Things for the cook, sir, but I know not what. 1 5 Cap. Make haste, make haste. [Exit first Serv.'] Sirrah, fetch drier logs : Call Peter, he will show thee where they are. Second Serv. I have a head, sir, that will find out logs, And never trouble Peter for the matter. [Exit. Cap. Mass, and well said; a merry whoreson, ha! 20 Thou shalt be logger-head. Good faith, 'tis day : The county will be here with music straight, For so he said he would. [Music within. I hear him near. Nurse ! Wife ! What, ho ! What, nurse, I say ! 13. jealous-hood] hyphen 4. 14. Jl-'/iat's] F 2, What is O, 1 1' hat F. 15. First Serv.J Capell ; Fel. [ = Fellow] n, F. 16. haste. [Exit . . .]] Capell, haste O, haste, F. 18. Second Serv.] Capell ; Fel. Q, F. 19. Fxit] Capell. 21. faith} Oq 4, 5, F 2; father O, F. 23. Music within] Capell (line 22), as here Cambridge ; Play Musicke (after line 21) Q, r- hunt would, accordingly, mean pur- propen:-itics. Cassio (Dyce notes), in suer of women. "Hunt," meaning Othello, calls Bianca a " fitchew "- hunter, is not uncommon ; thus that is, a polecat. Turbervile, Book of Vencrie (1575): 13. jealous-hood^ What are called " Then the chiefe htin/c : shall take his 0;^-formations (made for an occa- knife, and cut off the deares ryght sion) are common with -hood. Here foote." Dyce and others, however, the abstract, equivalent to jealousy, is explain mouse-hunt as the stoat, and put for the concrete, attribute to the animal strong sexual sc. v.J ROMEO AND JULIET 149 Re-enter Nurse. Go waken Juliet, go, and trim her up; 25 I '11 go and chat with Paris : hie, make haste, Make haste; the bridegroom he is come already : Make haste, I say. {Exeunt. SCENE V. The Same. Juliefs chamber. Enter Nurse. Nurse. 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, 5 The County Paris hath set up his rest 28. Exeunt] Capell. Juliet's chamber] Theobald (who adds "Juliet on a bed "). I. she] omitted F 2. I. mistress I Juttef\ Daniel reads plains the Italian restart, " to set up " what, mistress Juliet !" . one's rest, to make a rest, or play 6. set a/> /u's rcsf\ A metaphor from upon one's rest at primero. r> Cotgrave primero, a game at cards ; as I under- has under I\en-i\ E, lone (.,) (alone). 29. field} Pope and other editors add here from Q i the line "Accursed time ! unfortunate old man ! " 32. let me speak'} In Brooke's poem the means of living, as where Antonio Capulet cannot speak for grief; Shake- says to Portia (Merchant of Venice, V. speare remembered this, but only to 286): "Sweet lady, you have given produce a dramatic touch of self-in- me life and living.' 1 congruity in the old man. 41. thought long~\ desired. In 33. Fri. Conic:'} O i alone of early Brooke's poem, anticipating his mar- editions gives this line to Paris; it is riage, Paris' "longing hart thinka followed by Staunton. long for theyr appoynted howre 36. see] This added word of E 2 s (line 2274). also found in ( ) i. 152 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT iv. Most miserable hour that e'er time saw In lasting labour of his pilgrimage ! 45 But one, poor one, one poor and loving child, But one thing to rejoice and solace in, And cruel death hath catch' d it from my sight ! Nurse. O woe ! O woeful, woeful, woeful day ! Most lamentable day, most woeful day, 50 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 woeful day, O woeful day ! Par. Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spited, slain ! 5 5 Most detestable death, by thee beguiled, By cruel cruel thee quite overthrown ! O love ! O life ! not life, but love in death ! Cap. Despised, distressed, hated, martyr'd, kill'd ! Uncomfortable time, why earnest thou now 60 To murder, murder our solemnity ? O child ! O child ! my soul, and not my child ! Dead art thou ! alack ! my child is dead ; And with my child my joys are buried. Fri. Peace, ho ! for shame ! confusion's cure lives not 65 48. rati/iil] Capell conjectures "O woeful day! O woeful, woeful snatched. day ! " 49. iL'oc !~\ Grant White suggests 56. detestable] Accent on first syl- that in "this speech of mock heroic lable, as in v. iii. 45. woe," Shakespeare ridicules the trans- 58. O lore ! . . . deatJi\ I doubtfully lation of Seneca's Tragedies (1581). throw out the suggestion: "O life! The exclamatory mode of love and not life, O love ! but love in death ! " grief is ridiculed in the Pyramus and 63. Dead] Theobald and many Thisbe of A Midsummer Nrjhf s editors read, " Dead art thou ! dead "; Dream, v. i. M alone conjectures, "Dead, dead, art 54. O . . . day .'] Daniel adopts thou ! " Fleay's conjecture (to emend metre). 65. !/~'cs] Lettsom conjectures ties. sc. v.] UOMEO AND JULIET 153 In these confusions. Heaven and yourself Had part in this fair maid; now heaven hath all, And all the better is it for the maid : Your part in her you could not keep from death ; But heaven keeps his part in eternal life. 70 The most you sought was her promotion, For 'twas your heaven she should be advanced ; And weep ye now, seeing she is advanced Above the clouds, as high as heaven itself? O, in this love, you love your child so ill, 75 That you run mad, seeing that she is well : She 's not well married that lives married long, But she 's best married that dies married young. Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary On this fair corse ; and, as the custom is, 80 In all her best array bear her to church ; For though fond nature bids us all lament, Yet nature's tears are reason's merriment. Cap. All things that we ordained festival, Turn from their office to black funeral ; S 5 Our instruments to melancholy bells, Si. In all} Q i ; And in Q, F. 82. fond} F 2 ; some Q, F ; us all} O, all us F. 72. advanced} Advance means both Dekkcr (Works, ed. Grosart, i. 129) : promote and raise or lift up, as often ''Death rudely lay with her, and in Shakespeare of a sword or a stand- spoild her of a maidenhead . . . the ard. Furness reads advanced . rosemary that was washt in sweete 76. ive/I :} Rolfe: " Often thus used water to set out the Bridall is now of the dead." Compare IVinter's wet in teares to furnish her buriall." Tale, v. i. 30, and Ant. and Cleop. So. custom} See iv. i. 110, note. II. v. 32 : "But, sirrah, mark we use 82. fond} foolish. Knight defends To say the dead are well." some Q, F, some impulses of nature, 79. rosemary} The evergreen, comparing Milton's "some natural emblematic of immortality, and of tears." Possibly the light word is remembrance, used at both weddings soon (misprinted some) in the sense, and funerals. See note on Hamlet, frequent in Shakespeare, of readily. IV. v. 175 (ed. Dowden). Compare 154 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTIV. Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast, Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change, Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse, And all things change them to the contrary. 90 Fri. Sir, go you in ; and, madam, go with him ; And go, Sir Paris ; every one prepare To follow this fair corse unto her grave. The heavens do lour upon you for some ill ; Move them no more by crossing their high will. 95 [Exeunt Capulet, Lady Capulet, Paris, and Friar. First Mus. Faith, we may put up our pipes, and be gone. Nurse. Honest good fellows, ah, put up, put up ; For, well you know, this is a pitiful case. \Exit. First Mus. Ay, by my troth, the case may be amended. Enter PETER. Peter. Musicians, O, musicians, " Heart's ease, i oo 95. Exeunt . . .] Theobald, Exeunt manet Q, Exeunt manent Musici O 4, Exeunt F. 96. First Mus.] Capell, Musi. O, Mu. F. 98. Exit] Theobald. 99. First Mus.] Capell, Fid. O, Mu. F. 88. dirges] The transposing of all again in Winter 's Tale, IV. iv. 844, things from wedding to funeral uses where by case the Clown means his is described in Brooke's poem "And skin: "though my case be a pitiful Hymen to a dirge," etc. one, I hope I shall not be flayed out 95. Exeunt . . . ] O I has the of it." stage - direction, "They all but the 99. Enter Peter] So Qq 4, 5, Ff; Nurse goe foorth, casting Rosemary Qq 2, 3, "Enter Will Kemp" ; Q I, on her and shutting the Curtens. "Enter Servingman." Kemp, the suc- Enter Musitions." cessorof Tarlton in comic parts, played 96. pipes} "To put up pipes" was Peter. In both Q 1600 and F his also used figuratively; "Poor mens' name is prefixed to speeches of Dog- children may put up their pipes for berry in Much Ado. Before Peter's being gentils in their day ;) Blazon of entrance Qq 2-5 have Exit (<>r Gen fry, Part I. Exeunt) omnes. 99. case'] The play on rase, state 100. "Heart's ease"] A tune of things, and case, cover, occurs mentioned in Alisogonus, a play SC. V.] ROMEO AND JULIET 155 Heart's ease " : O, an you will have me live, play " Heart's ease." First Mus. Why " Heart's ease " ? Peter. O, musicians, because my heart itself plays " My heart is full of woe." O, play me some 105 merry dump, to comfort me. First Mus. Not a dump we ; 'tis no time to play now. Peter. You will not then ? First Mus. No. Peter. I will then give it you soundly. I 10 First Mus. What will you give us ? Peter. No money, on my faith, but the gleek ; I will give you the minstrel. First Mus. Then will I give you the serving-creature. 101. an] Pope; and Q, F. 103. First Mus.] Capell, Fidler Q, Mu. F. 105. of tew] Cjq 4, 5 ; omitted (), F. 105, 106. O . . . comfort me.} O omitted F. 107. First Mus.] Capell, Minstrels Q, Mu. F. as early as 1560; the music is given in Naylor's Shakespeare and Music (1896), p. 193. 105. " My heart is full of li'oe''] The burden of the first stanza of A Pleasant A'ew Ballad of Tivo Lovers, printed in Sh. Soc. Papers, I. p. 12: " Hey ho! my heart is full of \voe." 106. dump] NCT.U En^. Did. : " A mournful or plaintive melody or SOUL; ; also, by extension, a tune in general : sometimes apparently used for a kind of dance.'' The adjective nici-ry is a comic incongruity. So in Tu-o Gentlemen of Verona, ill. ii. 85 : "to their instruments Tune a de- ploring dump." 109. First Mus.] Here and in later speeches the speaker is Minst. or Min. (Minstrel) in Oq and Mu. in F. 112, 113. tlic ^leek . . . minstrel] "To give the gleek" meant to flout or scoff. "Where's the Bastard's braves and Charles his gleeks?" (scoffs), 1 Henry VI. III. ii. 123 ; " gleeking and galling at this gentle- man," Henry V. v. i. 78. Turber- vile's Ovid's Epistles, x. vi. : "To him alone she closely clinges, and gives the rest the gleake.' There may be a quibble in "give the minstrel " on gleeman or gligman. Minstrel may have been a scoffing name, because of the inclusion of wandering "minstrels" in 39 Eliza- beth 3 and 4 with bearwards, fencers, etc., as "rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars.'' For to give mean- ing to represent or describe, compare Corio/anus, i. ix. 55 : "to us that ,;/YT'r.' you truly.'' 114. Kn'ing-treature] Perhaps a more contemptuous title than serving- man. In The Three Ladies of London (1584^, Simplicity says, "Faith I'll be a sett'ing - creature" ; Ilazlitt's Dudsley's Old Plays, x. 253. 156 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTIV. Peter. Then will I lay the serving-creature's dagger 115 on your pate. I will carry no crotchets : I '11 re you, I '11 fa you. Do you note me ? First Mus. An you re us and fa us, you note us. Second Mus. Fray you, put up your dagger, and 1 20 put out your wit. Peter. Then have at you with my wit ! I will dry- beat you with an iron wit, and put up my iron dagger. Answer me like men : When griping grief the heart doth wound, 125 And doleful dumps the mind oppress, Then music with her silver sound why " silver sound " ? why " music with her silver sound " ? What say you, Simon Catling? 130 First Mus. Marry, sir, because silver hath a sweet sound. nS. An~\ Pope; And Q, F. 122. Then . . . wit'] continued to Sec. Mus. Q, F ; as here Q 4. 125-127. When . . . sound] verse Q I ; prose (,), F. 125. grief] Q I ; griefes Q, F. 126. And . . . oppress] O i ; omitted Q, F. 131. First Mus.] I Q I, Minst. Q, Mu. F. 116. crotehets\ I will bear none of "dry-beating." But probably no your whims ; the same play on the quibble is intended, words crotchets and note occurs in 122. Jiave at you~\ Peter takes/;// Much Ado, II. iii. 58, 59. oitl not as meant, i.e. extinguish, but 116, 117. /'// re yon, /Y/fajvar] Rolfe : "drunk in by the gentlemen of the "quick -dispatching stuff." From Temple." Brooke's poem, " Faire syr (quoth 51. present] immediate. Knight he) be sure this is the speeding says there was no law in England gere." against the sale of poisons, but (quot- 67. any he} Delius cites Tawing oj ing Raleigh's Discourse oj Tenures in the S/uru', ill. ii. 256: "I'll bring proof) that such a law was in force in mine action on the proudest he." Spain and Portugal. Other examples could be added. T T 162 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT v. Rom. Art thou so bare, and full of wretchedness, And fear'st to die ? famine is in thy cheeks, Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes, 70 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. Ap. My poverty, but not my will, consents. 75 Rom. I pay thy poverty, and not thy will. Ap. Put this in any liquid thing you will, And drink it off; and, if you had the strength Of twenty men, it would dispatch you straight. Rom. There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls 80 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. Corne, cordial and not poison, go with me 85 To Juliet's grave, for there must I use thee. {Exeunt. 71. Contempt . . . back'} Q, F; Upon thy backe Jiangs ragged Miserie Q \. 76. fay] Q I, Qq 4, 5 ; pray Q, F. 80. There is] Q, There's F. 8l. murder] Q, F ; murders Qq 4, 5. 84. thyself iii] Q, F ; thee into Q I. 70. starvr.th] are hungry. Changed but the line should be read in connec- by Rowe (following Otway's version lion with "take this," line 74. in Cains Man' us) to s/arcf/i. Pope 77. Put Ihis] Steevens suggests read stare ivitliin ; slarlclh in has that Shakespeare had not quite forgot been suggested. a somewhat similar commendation of 76. f>ay] Knight retains pray Q, F; his poison by the Potccary in Chaucer's Fardoncrcs Talc, sc. ii.] ROMEO AND JULIET 163 SCENE II. Verona, friar Laurence's cell. Enter Friar JOHN. Fri. John. Holy Franciscan friar ! brother, ho ! Enter Friar LAURENCE. Fri. Lau. 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. Fri. John. Going to find a bare-foot brother out, 5 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, 10 Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth ; So that my speed to Mantua there was stay'd. Fri. Lau. Who bare my letter then to Romeo ? Fri. Joint. I could not send it, here it is again, Nor get a messenger to bring it thee, i 5 So fearful were they of infection. Fri. Lau. Unhappy fortune ! by my brotherhood, Verona] Dyce. Friar Laurence's cell] Capell. 5. bare-foot brother} In his account 9. he use'} Delius notes that, accord- of the Franciscan brothers going ing to both Brooke and Painter, the abroad in company one with another "house" was the convent to which Shakespeare follows Brooke's poem ; the bare-foot brother belonged. but Brooke represents the pestilence n. 6Va/V/] a duty of the English as at Mantua. constable. Hcrford : " The Middle- 6. associate] accompany. So Hall, sex Sessions Rolls contain cases of the Chronicle (quoted in New Eng. Diet.]: trial of constables for neglecting this " He should have associated him in his journey." 164 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT v. The letter was not nice, but full of charge Of dear import ; and the neglecting it May do much danger. Friar John, go hence ; 20 Get me an iron crow, and bring it straight Unto my cell. Fri. John, Brother, I '11 go and bring it thee. \Exit. Fri. Lau. Now must I to the monument alone ; Within this three hours will fair Juliet wake: 25 She will beshrew me much that Romeo Hath had no notice of these accidents ; But I will write again to Mantua, And keep her at my cell till Romeo come: Poor living corse, closed in a dead man's tomb ! 30 [Exit. SCENE III. The Same. A churchyard ; in it a monument belonging to the Capulets. Enter PARIS and his Page, bearing flowers and a torch. Par. Give me thy torch, boy : hence, and stand aloof: Yet put it out, for I would not be seen. Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along, A churchyard . . .] Rowe (substantially). Enter . . .] Capell (sub- stantially) ; Enter Countie Paris and his Page with flowers and sweete water Q I ; Enter Paris and his Page Q, F. I. aloof] Q, aloft F. 3. yond yew-trees'} Pope; this Elv-tree O I; yond young trees Q, F; along} (), ; alone F 2. 18. nice} trivial; see in. i. 160 ; " full of charge," full of importance ; Scene III. so "parcels of charge," Winter's Tale, iv. iv. 261. A churchyard . . .] Brooke in his 26. beshrew} blame severely. Ful- poem "refers to the Italian custom ler, Holy and Profane State, IV. ix. of building large family tombs " 280 : " lie hath just cause to beshrciv (Rolfe). his fingers." sc. in.] ROMEO AND JULIET 165 Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground ; So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread, 5 Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves, But thou shalt hear it : whistle then to me, As signal that thou hear'st something approach. Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee ; go. Page. [Aside.] I am almost afraid to stand alone i o Here in the churchyard ; yet I will adventure. [Retires. Par. Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew, O woe ! thy canopy is dust and stones Which with sweet water nightly I will dew, Or, wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans : I 5 The obsequies that I for thee will keep Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep. [The Page whistles. The boy gives warning something doth approach. What cursed foot wanders this way to-night, To cross my obsequies and true love's rite? 20 What, with a torch ! muffle me, night, awhile. [Retires. 4. Holding //&/w] Capell ; Keeping thine O I ; Holding thy O, F. 10. [Aside]] Capell. 11. Retires] Capell ; Exit F 2; omitted (,), F. 12, 13. strew, . . . stones ] strew: . . . stones, O, F. I?. The Page whistles] Whistle Boy Q, F. 18. warning something} Collier ; warning, something Cj, F. 19. way] Q, rcayes F. 2O. rite] Pope (ed. 2); right O, F; rites Q I. 21. Retires] Capell. Dyce takes "stand" to 14. sweet ivater] water perfumed, mean remain. as in Titus Androniciis, n. iv. 0. 12, 13. strew, . . . stones ] See stage-direction (.,> I at opening The pointing, which differs little from of this scene. that of the Cambridge Shakespeare, 1 8. warning something] Several is intended to make the second line editors point as U, F. of this sonnet-like sextet parenthetic, 166 ROMEO AND JULIET [ ACT V. Enter ROMEO and BALTHASAR, with a torch, mattock, etc. Rom. Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron. Hold, take this letter ; early in the morning See thou deliver it to my lord and father. Give me the light : upon thy life I charge thee, 2 5 Whate'er thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof, And do not interrupt me in my course. Why I descend into this bed of death Is partly to behold my lady's face, But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger 30 A precious ring, a ring that I must use In dear employment : therefore hence, be gone : But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry In what I farther shall intend to do, By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint, 35 And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs : The time and my intents are savage-wild, More fierce and more inexorable far Than empty tigers or the roaring sea. Bal. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you. 40 Rom. So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that: Enter . . .] Malone, from Theobald and Capell ; Enter Romeo and Peter Qq 2, 3, Ef ; Enter Romeo and Balthazar his man, Oq 4, 5 ; Enter Romeo and Balthasar, with a torch, a mattocke, and a crow of yron O i. 34. farther] Q, further F. 37. savage -wild] hyphen, Steevens. 40, 43. Bal.] Qq 4, 5 ; Pet. Q, F. 40. you] ,}' Q. 41. show me friendship] Q, F ; win my favour Q I. 21. Balthasar] Peter in Q, F. portant, as in 1 Henry IV. IV. i. 34: Collier suggests that Kemp doubled " so . . . dear a trust." his part, acting both Peter and 33. jealous] suspicious, as often in Balthasar, whence the confusion. Shakespeare. 32. dear] precious in import, im- ROMEO AND JULIET 167 Live, and be prosperous ; and farewell, good fellow. BaL [Aside.] For all this same, I '11 hide me hereabout : His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt. [Retires. Rom. Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death, 45 Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth, Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open, {Opens the tomb. And, in despite, I '11 cram thce with more food ! Par. This is that banish'd haughty Montague, That murder'd my love's cousin, with which grief 50 It is supposed the fair creature died ; And here is come to do some villanous shame To the dead bodies : I will apprehend him. \Comes forivard. Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague ! Can vengeance be pursued further than death ? 55 Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee: Obey, and go with me ; for thou must die. Rom. I must indeed ; and therefore came I hither. Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man ; Fly hence and leave me : think upon these gone ; 60 Let them affiright thee. I beseech thee, youth, 43. [Aside]] Capell. 44. Retires] Ilunmcr. Kxit F 2. 47. Open.-. . .] Capell substantially ; Cambridge after line 48. 53. Conies forward] draws and rushes forward Capell (after line 54). 60. thisc'] (J, t/wf*: F. 45. detestable] accented as in IV. thinks a trap-door may have been 47. Opens the tomb] Daniel sup- brought Juliet up in his arms from poses that the tomb was placed in the vault beneath the stage. the space under the gallery at the 48. ctcsfitt] Keiglnley conjectures back of the stage proper. Malone requite. 168 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT v. Put not another sin upon my head By urging me to fury : O, be gone ! By heaven, I love thee better than myself, For I come hither arm'd against myself: 65 Stay not, be gone ; live, and hereafter say A madman's mercy bid thee run away. Par. I do defy thy conjurations And apprehend thee for a felon here. Rom. Wilt thou provoke me ? then have at thee, boy ! [ They fight. 7 o Page. O Lord, they fight ! I will go call the watch. {Exit. Par. O, I am slain ! \_Fal I s\ If thou be merciful, Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet. [Dies. Rom. In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face : Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris ! 7 5 What said my man when my betossed soul Did not attend him as we rode ? I think He told me Paris should have married Juliet : Said he not so ? or did I dream it so ? Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet, 80 To think it was so? O, give me thy hand, One writ with me in sour misfortune's book ! 62. Put} O, F ; Htape O i ; Pull Rowe. 67. hid} O, F ; bad O 5. 68. conjurations} Q i ; comniiration Q ; cotnmisseration O 3. F. 69. appre- hend} Q, F ; doc attach Q I. 70. They fight] Q I. 71. Page] Qq 4, 5 ; omitted Qq 2, 3 ; Pet. F ; Boy Q I. Exit] Capell. 72. [Falls]] Capell. 73. Dies] Theobald. 82. book!} Capell, booke, Q, hooL-e. F. 62. Put} Capell conjectures Pluck, and reads commiseration. Mommsen 68. conjurations} solemn entreaties, conjectures comminution. as in Henry V. i. ii. 29. A passage 71. O . . . watc/i} Printed in in Painter's tale misled Steevens into italics, without prefix, in Oq 2, 3. supposing that it meant magical in- Mommsen supposes that the italics cantations. Collier (MS.) omits thy indicate that it was spoken behind the scenes. ROMEO AND JULIET 169 I '11 bury thcc in a triumphant grave ; A grave ? O, no, a lantern, slaughter'd youth ; For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes 85 This vault a feasting presence full of light. Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd. {Laying Paris in the tomb. How oft when men are at the point of death Have they been merry ! which their keepers call A lightning before death : O, how may I 90 Call this a lightning? O my love! my wife! Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty : Thou art not conquer'd ; beauty's ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, 95 And death's pale flag is not advanced there. Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet ? 87. Laying . . .] Theobald. 94. art} O, arc V. 84. lantern} used in the archi- tectural sense ; a structure on the top of a dome, or the roof of a hall for the admission of light ; a tower the interior of which, open to view from the ground, is lighted from an upper tier of windows (e.g. the lantern of Ely), also a light open erection on the top of a tower. Steevens cites Holland's Pliny, 35. 12: "hence came the louvers and Ian femes reared over the roofes of temples.' 1 86. presence} presence - chamber, state-room, as in Richard II. I. iii. 289. 87. Death} Dyce (ed. 2) adopts Lettsom's conjecture Dead. Romeo brings "Death," in the person of Paris, into the presence-chamber. 87. a dead man} For Romeo him- self already has parted with life. Clarke aptly compares Keats, Isa- bel/a : " So the two brothers and their murder d man Rode past fair Florence." 90. lightning} Ray gives as a pro- verbial saying, "It's a lightning before death." Steevens quotes an example from The Second Part of The Downfall of Robert, Earl of Hunting- don (1601). For other examples, and a fine simile from Daniel's Ciril li'ars, see Nares' Glossary. 96. death's pale Jlag} Steevens com- pares Daniel's Complaint of Rosamond (1592), lines 773-775 : . " And nought-respecting death (the last of paines) I'lac'd his pale colours (th 1 ensigne of his might) Upon his new-got spoyle before his right." 97. Tybalt} This address to Tybalt had its suggestion in Hrouke's poem. 170 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT v. O, what more favour can I do to thee Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain To sunder his that was thine enemy ? I oo Forgive me, cousin ! Ah, dear Juliet, Why art thou yet so fair ? shall I believe That unsubstantial Death is amorous, And that the lean abhorred monster keeps Thee here in dark to be his paramour? 105 For fear of that I still will stay with thee, And never from this palace of dim night Depart again : here, here will I remain With worms that are thy chambermaids ; O, here Will I set up my everlasting rest, I I o And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace ! and, lips, O you, 100. thine] Q, thy F. 102. shall I believe] Theobald ; I -will believe, Shall I believe Q, F. 107. palace} pallat Q (alone). 103. Death is amorous] Malone Thy drugs are quicke. Thus with compares Daniel's Complaint of Rosa- a kisse I die." mond (1592), lines 841-845 : Qq 4, 5 omit these lines; Daniel " Ah, how me thinkes I see Death supposes that they are a shortened dallying seekes, version of the speech intended for To entertaine it selfe iii Loves sweet the stage and by accident printed. place. Where ere thou tut/iblest in, he adds, "may possibly be a corruption of a And ugly Death sits faire within stage-direction to the actor to fall her face." into the tomb." The words may only 106. still] constantly, as often in be a grim way of saying, "Wherever Shakespeare. thy grave may be." 108. Depart again] Following line HO. set . . . rest] See note on iv. 107 and preceding line 108 Qq 2, 3 v. 6. and Ff read: 112-118. Eyes . . . bar/;] Whiter " Depart againe, come lye thou in notes the coincidence that in Romeo's my arme, (armes Ff) speech I. iv. 106 of ominous pre- Heer's to thy health, where ere monition, ideas drawn from the stars, thou tumblest in. the land, the sea succeed one another O true Appothecarie ! as here. sc. in.] ROMEO AND .JULIET 171 The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss A dateless bargain to engrossing death ! 115 Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide ! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark ! Here 's to my love ! [Drinks] O true apothecary ! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. 120 [Dies. Enter, at the other end of the churchyard, Friar LAURENCE, with a lantern, crow, and spade. Fri. Saint Francis be my speed ! how oft to-night Have my old feet stumbled at graves ! Who 's there ? Bal. Here 's one, a friend, and one that knows you well. Fri. Bliss be upon you ! Tell me, good my friend, What torch is yond, that vainly lends his light 125 To grubs and eyeless skulls ? as I discern, It burneth in the Capels' monument. 119. [Drinks]] Theobald (substantially). 120. Dies] Theobald. 121. Enter . . .] Malone (after Capell) ; Enter Erier with Lanthorne, Crowe, and Spade. Q, F. 114. doors of breath'] Compare 2 Capell and Dyce adopt. Rolfejustlv Henry IV. iv. v. 31: "gates of observes that Romeo has given up the breath,'' in the sense of lips. helm to the "desperate pilot,'' wh'i 115. dateless. . . engrossing] Date- now is master of the bark. less is without a term, everlasting, as 122. stumbled] an evil omen, re- in Sonnets, xxx. 6: "death's dateless ferred to in ,? Henry I' I. IV. vii. II. night." " Engrossing," probably not Sir Tobie Matthew, stumbling on the copying a document, but rather buy- morning of his intended reception into ing up wholesale, as in Sonneh, the Roman Catholic Church, \va> cxxxiii. 6. So Misselden, Free Trad,-, tempted to postpone it to another 71 (1622): "Some one or few . . . day. After this line (122^ Steevens do joine together to engrosse and buy inserts from Q i, "'Who is it that in a Commodotie." consorts, so late, the dead?" 116. conduct] See III. i. 130. 123. T'al.] So, and in subsequent 118. thy~\ Pope read my, which speeches, Oq 4, 5; "Man.''O, E. 172 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT v. Bal. It doth so, holy sir ; and there 's my master, One that you love. Fri. Who is it ? Bal. Romeo. Fri. How long hath he been there ? Bal. Full half an hour. 130 Fri. Go with me to the vault. Bal. I dare not, sir : My master knows not but I am gone hence ; And fearfully did menace me with death If I did stay to look on his intents. Fri. Stay, then ; I '11 go alone. Fear comes upon me ; 135 O, much I fear some ill unlucky thing. Bal. As I did sleep under this yew-tree here, I dreamt my master and another fought, And that my master slew him. Fri. Romeo ! [Advances. Alack, alack, what blood is this which stains 140 The stony entrance of this sepulchre ? What mean these masterless and gory swords To lie discolour'd by this place of peace ? [Enters the tomb. Romeo ! O, pale ! Who else ? what, Paris too ? 135. Stay, then ;~\ Ilazlitt, Slay then O, Stay, then F, Slay then, Q 5; Fear] Q, Fcarcs F. 136. unlucky'} F, unthriftic O (alone). 137. yew- tree} Pope, yong tree. Q, young tree F. 139. Romeo '.} Rowc ; Komeo. O, F ; J\oieo'{ llanmer. Advances] Malone. 143. Enters . . .] Capell, sub- stantially. 136. unlucky} Some editors, follow- that Balthasar, who did not venture ing Q, -unthrifty. to his master's assistance, wishes to 138. / dreamt'} I fail to see any break the fact to the Friar rather than other "touch of nature'' here than state it plainly. sc. in. I ROMEO AND JULIET 173 And steep'd in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour 145 Is guilty of this lamentable chance ! The lady stirs. {Juliet -cakes. Jit!. O comfortable friar ! where is my lord ? I do remember well where I should be, And there I am: where is my Romeo? i 50 \_Xoise Ti '/////;/. Fri. I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep : A greater power than we can contradict Hath thwarted our intents : come, come away : Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead ; 155 And Paris too : come, I '11 dispose of thce Among a sisterhood of holy nuns. Stay not to question, for the watch is coming ; Come, go, good Juliet ; I dare no longer stay. [Exit. Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away. i 60 What 's here ? a cup closed in my true love's hand ? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end : O churl ! drunk all, and left no friendly drop To help me after? I will kiss thy lips; Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, 165 147. Juliet wakes] Pope (substantially), Juliet rises O i. 148. -jL\- /.>] Q, where V F. 150. Noise within] Capell. 151. noise. L'idy~\ Capell ; noyse Lady, O, F. 159. Exit . . .] O, F: after line 160 Dyce. 163. 0]Q, F ; Ah O i ; //,] O, all? F ; drunk . . . !,ft] O ; drinkc .' . . .' // < > 3, Ff; drinkc . . . Icarc. Q I. 148. co/iifortah!,:] strengthening, Dyceand the Cambridge editors indi- supporting ; used, as often, in the cale by bringing '' Exit ;> to line 160, active sense. So All 's \\ r >-!!, I. i. 86, may he addressed to the Friar: hut " Be comfortable to my mother.'' they may also he uttered by Juliet to 158. thc-iay\ The words, as Richard II, tv. i. 5. 174 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT v. To make me die with a restorative. [Kisses him. Thy lips are warm ! First Watch. [ Within.~\ Lead, boy : which way ? Jul. Yea, noise ? then I '11 be brief. O happy dagger ! [Snatching Romeo's dagger. This is thy sheath ; [Stabs herself. there rust, and let me die. [Falls on Romeo's body, and dies. Enter Watch, with the Page of PARIS. Page. This is the place ; there, where the torch doth burn. 170 First Watch. The ground is bloody ; search about the churchyard : Go, some of you, whoe'er you find, attach. [Exeunt some. Pitiful sight ! here lies the county slain, And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead, Who here hath lain this two days buried. 175 Go, tell the prince ; run to the Capulets ; 167. First Watch [Within]] Capell ; Enter boy and Watch. Watch Q, F. 168. Snatching . . .] Steevens. 169. This is\ Q, ' Tis in F. Stabs herself] Kils herselfe Y (at end of line), omitted Q, She stabs herselfe and falles Q i ; rust] Q, F ; rest Q I. Falls . . .] Malone. Enter Watch . . .] Capell substantially, here, in place assigned by Q I (compare collation, line 167). 170. Page] Capell, Watch boy Q, Boy F. 172. Exeunt . . .] Hanmer substantially. 175. this] Q these F. 169. rnst~\ Of course restQ I, which otherwise rust in its sheath, rusting many editors prefer, may be right ; in her heart ; and, with fierce and but our best authority is Q, and rust amorous joy, she cries, ' This is thy would more readily be misprinted rest sheath ; there rust, and let me die.' " than vice versa. Grant White, who 'Tis in of F is an attempt to emend had regarded rust as a misprint, altered the misprint '77s is of Q 3. Mr. Fleay his opinion, and wrote: "Juliet's proposes dagger lie In this, ending imagination is excited, and, looking line 167 at noise. beyond her suicidal act, she sees her 175. two days'] See iv. i. 105. dead Romeo s dagger, which would sc. in.] HOMEO AND JULIET 175 Raise up the Montagues ; some others search : {Exeunt other Watchmen. We see the ground whereon these woes do lie ; Hut the true ground of all these piteous woes We cannot without circumstance descry. i 80 Re-enter some of the Watch, witli HALTHASAR. Second Watch. Here 's Romeo's man ; we found him in the churchyard. First Watch. Hold him in safety till the prince come hither. Re-enter Friar LAURENCE, and another Watchman. Third Watch. Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs and weeps : We took this mattock and this spade from him, As he was coming from this churchyard side. 185 First Watch. A great suspicion : stay the friar too. Enter the PRINCE and Attendants. Prince. What misadventure is so early up, That calls our person from our morning's rest ? Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, and others. Cap. What should it be that they so shriek abroad ? 177. Exeunt . . .] Capell. 180. Re-enter . . .] Dyce ; Enter Rnmeos man O, E. iSi. Second Watch] Rowe ; Watch o, E. 182, iS6. Eirst Watch] Rowe, Chiefe Watch O, O>n. E. 185. churchyard} V . church- yards O. 1 86. too} E, too too O. iSS. i/toniiiijs] E, /.///;/- U. Enter . . .] Capell (substantially), Enter Capel> (J, Enter Capulet and hi.-. Wife P". 189. they so shriek] E, is so s/irikt: (.). 176 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT v. Lady Cap. The people in the street cry " Romeo," 1 90 Some " Juliet," and some " Paris " ; and all run With open outcry toward our monument. Prince. What fear is this which startles in our ears ? First Watch. Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain ; And Romeo dead ; and Juliet, dead before, 195 Warm and new kill'd. Prince. Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes. First Watch. Here is a friar, and slaughtered Romeo's man, With instruments upon them fit to open These dead men's tombs. 200 Cap. O heaven ! O wife, look how our daughter bleeds ! This dagger hath mista'en, for, lo, his house Is empty on the back of Montague, And it mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom ! Lady Cap. O me ! this sight of death is as a bell 205 That warns my old age to a sepulchre. Enter MONTAGUE and others. Prince. Come, Montague ; for thou art early up, 190. The people'] Pope ; O the people Q, F. 193. our'] Capell( Johnson and Heath conjee.) ; yotirQ, F. 194, 198. First Watch] Capell ; Watch Q, F. 201. hcaven~\ F, heavens Q (alone). 204. //] Q (alone), is F. Enter . . .] Capell ; Enter Mountague Q, F. gestion of the Cambridge editors, "that on the back below the waist. See for is so shriek'd abroad?" evidence Steevens's note. 190. The people] Several editors 204. And if} The force of lo, line retain OofO, F. 202, goes on from " his house " (the 200. tombs] Here Q, which had sheath) to it, the dagger. With the " Enter Capels" line 188, has "Enter reading And is F, from for lo to Capulet and his Wife." Montague must be regarded as paren- 203. bac/s] The dagger was carried thetic. Mommsen conjectures " And it is mis-sheath'd." sc. in.] ROMEO AND JITLIET 177 To see thy son and heir more early down. i\fon. Alas ! my liege, my wife is dead to-night ; Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath : 210 What further woe conspires against mine age ? Prince. Look, and thou shalt see. Lion. O thou untaught ! what manners is in this, To press before thy father to a grave ? Prince. Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while, 2 I 5 Till we can clear these ambiguities, And know their spring, their head, their true descent ; And then will I be general of your woes, And lead you even to death : meantime forbear, And let mischance be slave to patience. 220 Bring forth the parties of suspicion. Fri. I am the greatest, able to do least, Yet most suspected, as the time and place Doth make against me, of this direful murder ; And here I stand, both to impeach and purge 225 Myself condemned and myself excused. Prince. Then say at once what thou dost know in this. 2io. breath] After this line Uyce equivalent to a :,\ liable, is perhaps (following Ritson) inclines to think intended alter S.iw/c. the following line from Q I should be 213. manners] Shakespeare makes added: "And young Benvolio is the word, at pleasure, singular or deceased too." plural. 212. Look] Stccvens conjectures 215. outrage] passionate utterance, " Look in this monument, and," etc. as in 1 Henry I'l. \\ . i. 126: "Look here," and "Look there" " this immodest, clamorous outrage." have been proposed. A pause, Collier (MS.), outcry. I 2 178 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT v. Fri. I will be brief, for my short date of breath Is not so long as is a tedious tale. Romeo, there dead, was husband to that Juliet ; 230 And she, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife : I married hem ; and their stol'n marriage-day Was Tybalt's doomsday, whose untimely death Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from this city ; For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pined. 235 You, to remove that siege of grief from her, Betroth'd, and would have married her perforce, To County Paris : then comes she to me, And with wild looks bid me devise some mean To rid her from this second marriage, 240 Or in my cell there would she kill herself. Then gave I her, so tutor'd by my art, A sleeping potion ; which so took effect As I intended, for it wrought on her The form of death : meantime I writ to Romeo 245 That he should hither come as this dire night, To help to take her from her borrow'd grave, Being the time the potion's force should cease. But he which bore my letter, Friar John, Was stay'd by accident, and yesternight 250 231. that'} Qq 4, 5 ; (hats Q, that's F. 239. mean] Q, means F. 228. brief] M alone : "Shakespeare -//,;''. Diet.}. I have noticed it fre- was led into this uninteresting nar- quently in Richardson's novels, used rative by following Rotneus and Juliet as in the following from Mrs. Delany's too closely." Ulrici argues that it is Anlobio. iii. 608 (quoted in New needed for the reconciliation of the Eiig. Diet.): "To carry us off to houses, which follows. Longlcat as next Thursday." Its 246. as] This as used with adverbs force was restrictive ; now we regard and adverbial phrases of time is still it as redundant. Compare Measure common dialectically, but literary for Measure, v. i. 74: " As then the English retains only as yet (A'cw messenger." sc.m.1 ROMEO AND JULIET 179 Return'd my letter back. Then, all alone, At the prefixed hour of her waking, Came I to take her from her kindred's vault, Meaning to keep her closely at my cell Till I conveniently could send to Romeo: 255 But when I came, some minute ere the time Of her awakening, here untimely lay The noble Paris and true Romeo dead. She \vakes ; and I entreated her come forth And bear this work of heaven with patience : 260 But then a noise did scare me from the tomb, And she, too desperate, would not go with me, But, as it seems, did violence on herself. All this I know ; and to the marriage Her nurse is privy: and, if aught in this 265 Miscarried by my fault, let my old life Be sacrificed some hour before his time Unto the rigour of severest law. Prince. We still have known thee for a holy man. Where 's Romeo's man ? what can he say to this? 270 Bal. I brought my master news of Juliet's death; And then in post he came from Mantua To this same place, to this same monument. This letter he early bid me give his father, 256. minute} Hanmer minutes', 272. in post} in haste, or post- compare liour in line 267. haste, as often in Shakespeare. 264. All fills'} Daniel conjectures 274. he early} Marshall conjectures "This, all I know"; "hid me give his father early," or 269. still} constantly, always. " bid me early give his father." 180 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTV. And threaten'd me with death, going in the vault, 275 If I departed not and left him there. Prince. Give me the letter ; I will look on it. Where is the county's page that raised the watch ? Sirrah, what made your master in this place ? Page. He came with flowers to strew his lady's grave ; 280 And bid me stand aloof, and so I did : Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb ; And by and by my master drew on him ; And then I ran away to call the watch. Prince. This letter doth make good the friar's words, 285 Their course of love, the tidings of her death : And here he writes that he did buy a poison Of a poor pothecary, and therewithal Came to this vault to die, and lie with Juliet. Where be these enemies ? Capulet ! Mon- tague ! 290 See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love ; And I, for winking at your discords too, Have lost a brace of kinsmen : all are punish'd. Cap. O brother Montague, give me thy hand: 295 280. Page] F, Boy Q. 279. madc~\ was doing, or was 294. brace} Mercutio and Paris, about, as in Alcrry Wives, II. i. 244: See in. i. 115, in. v. 180 ( li frincffy "What they made there I know parentage" Q i), and v. iii. 75. In not." Trail us and Cress ida, iv. v. 175 283. by and by} immediately, pre- brace is used as here: "Your brace sently, as often in Shakespeare. of warlike brothers." sc. in.] ROMEO AND JULIET This is my daughter's jointure, for no more Can I demand. Mon. But I can give thee more : For I will raise her statue in pure gold ; That whiles Verona by that name is known, There shall no figure at such rate be set 300 As that of true and faithful Juliet. Cap. As rich shall Romeo by his lady lie ; Poor sacrifices of our enmity ! Prince, A glooming peace this morning with it brings ; The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head : 305 Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things ; Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished : For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. \_E.veunt. 301. true] Collier (.MS. )/ai>: 307. pardon' d . , . fmiL/u'd] In 302. Ro?nco\ Several editors follow Brooke's poem the Nurse is banished, O Romeo's and lady s. Theobald because she had hid the marriage ; has J\o>/ieo's and lady. Romeo's servant is allowed to live 304. glooming] The word is neither free ; the apothecary is handed ; Knur uncommon nor obsolete, but it dropped Lawrence is discharged, retires to a for a timeout of literature ; hence prob- hermitage two miles from Verona, ably F 4 gloomy. and, after five years, there dies. APPENDIX I SOMK PASSAC.KS FROM THK QUARTO OF 1597 THK passages here selected differ considerably from the text of 1599. The following is the scene in O i corresponding to II. vi. : Enter Ro.MEO, Frier. Rojn. Now Father Laurence, in thy holy grant Consists the good of me and luliet. Fr. Without more words I will doo all I may, To make you happie if in me it lye. Rom. This morning here she pointed we should meet, And consumate those never parting bands, Witnes of our harts love by ioyning hands, And come she will. Fr. I gesse she will indeed, Youths love is quicke, swifter than swiftest speed. Enter IUI.IET somewhat fast, and embracctJi Romeo. See where she comes. So light of foote nere hurts the troden flower : Of love and ioy, see see the soveraignc power. ////. Romeo. Rom. My luliet welcome. As doo waking eyes (Cloasd in Nights mysts) attend the frolicke Da}-, So Romeo hath expected luliet, And thou art come. lul. I am (if I be Day) Come to my Sunne : shine foorth, and make me faire. Rom. All beauteous fairnes dwelleth in thine eyes. ////. Romeo from thine all brightnes doth arise. Fr. Come wantons, come, the stealing houres do passe 184 APPENDIX I Defer imbracements till some fitter time, Part for a while, you shall not be alone, Till holy Church have ioynd ye both in one. Rom. Lead holy Father, all delay seemes long. lul. Make hast, make hast, this lingring doth us wrong. Fr. O, soft and faire makes sweetest worke they say. Hast is a common hindrer in crosse way. \_Exeunt omnes. The following corresponds in Q I to III. i. 94-114 : Mer. Is he gone, hath hee nothing? A poxe on your houses. Rom. What art thou hurt man, the wound is not deepe. Mer. Noe not so deepe as a Well, nor so wide as a barne doore, but it will serve I warrant. \Vhat meant you to come betweene us ? I was hurt under your arme. Rom. I did all for the best. Mer. A poxe of your houses, I am fairely drest. Sirra goe fetch me a Surgeon. Boy. I goe my Lord. Mer. I am pepperd for this world, I am sped yfaith, he hath made wormes meate of me, and ye aske for me to morrow you shall finde me a grave man. A poxe of your houses, I shall be fairely mounted upon four mcns shoulders : For your house of the Mountegues and the Capolets : and then some peasantly rogue, some Sexton, some base slave shall write my Epitaph, that Tybalt came and broke the Princes Lawes, and Mercutio was slaine for the first and second cause. Wher 's the Surgeon ? Boy. Hee 's come sir. Mer. Now heele keepe a mumbling in my guts on the other side, come Benvolio, lend me thy hand : a poxe of your houses. {Exeunt. The following corresponds in O i to IV. i. 77 to end of scene : Jul. Oh bid me leape (rather than marrie Paris From off the battlements of yonder tower : APPENDIX I 185 Or chaine me to some stecpic mountaities top, Where roaring Beares and savage Lions are : Or shut me nightly in a Charnell-house, With reekie shankes, and yeolow chaples sculls : Or lay me in tombc with one new dead : Things that to hcare them namde have made me tremble ; And I will cloo it without feare or doubt, To keep my selfe a faithfull unstaind Wife To my deere Lord, my decrest Romeo . Fr. Hold Juliet, hie thee home, get thee to bed, Let not thy Nurse lye with thee in thy Chamber : And when thou art alone, take thou this Violl, And this distilled Liquor drinke thou off: When presently through all thy veynes shall run A dull and heavie slumber, which shall sea/.e Kach vitall spirit: for no Pulse shall keepe His naturall progresse, but surcease to beate : No signe of breath shall testifie thou livst. And in this borrowed likenes of shrunke death, Thou shalt remaine full two and fortie houres. And when thou art laid in thy Kindreds Vault, He send in haste to Mantua to thy Lord, And he shall come and take thee from thy grave. I uL Frier I goe, be sure thou send for my deare Romeo. {Exeunt. The following in O I corresponds to iv. v. 41-95 : Par. Have I thought long to see this mornings face, And doth it now present such prodegies? Accurst, unhappy, miserable man, Forlorne, forsaken, destitute I am: Borne to the world to be a slave in it. Distrest, remediles, and unfortunate. O heavens, O nature, wherefore did you make me, To live so vile, so wretched as I shall. Cap. O heere she lies that was our hope, our joy, And being dead, dead sorrow nips us all. \All at once cry out and luring their /lands, 186 APPENDIX I All cry. And all our ioy, and all our hope is dead, Dead, lost, undone, absented, wholy fled. Cap. Cruel, uniust, impartiall destinies, Why to this day have you preserv'd my life? To see my hope, my stay, my ioy, my life, Deprivde of sence, of life, of all by death, Cruell, uniust, impartiall destinies. Cap. O sad fac'd sorrow map of misery, Why this sad time have I desird to see. This day, this uniust, this impartiall day Wherein I hop'd to see my comfort full, To be deprivde by suddaine destinie. Moth. O woe, alacke, distrest, why should I live ? To see this day, this miserable day. Alacke the time that ever I was borne, To be partaker of this destinie. Alacke the day, alacke and welladay. Fr. O peace for shame, if not for charity. Your daughter lives in peace and happines, And it is vaine to wish it otherwise. Come sticke your Rosemary in this dead coarse, And as the custome of our Country is, In all her best and sumptuous ornaments, Convay her where her Ancestors lie tomb'd. Cap. Let it be so come wofull sorrow mates, Let us together taste this bitter fate. [ They all but the Nurse goefoortk, casting Rose- mary on her and shutting the Curtcns. The following in O i corresponds to V. iii. 1-17 : Enter COUXTIE PARIS and Ids Page with flowers and siveete water. Par. Put out the torch, and lye thee all along Under this Ew-tree, keeping thine eare close to the hollow ground. And if thou heare one tread within this Churchyard Staight give me notice. Boy. I will my Lord. [Paris strewes the Tomb ivith flo ivers. APPENDIX I 187 Par. Swecte Flower, with flowers I strew thy Bridalc bed : Sweete Tombe that in thy circuite dost containe, The perfect modell of eternitie: Faire Juliet that with Angells dost remaine, Accept this latest favour at my hands, That living honourd thee, and being dead With funerall praises doo adorne thy Tombe. Boy ivJii sties and calls. My Lord. APPENDIX II ANALYSIS OF BROOKE'S "THE TRAGICALL HISTORYE OF ROMEUS AND lULIET," WITH QUOTATIONS VERONA described 1-12. The houses of Capelet and Montagew ; their strifes ; to allay which Prince Escalus uses first gentle means, and then sterner. (25-50.) Romeus, a beautiful youth, loves a fair maid, but she, being wise and virtuous, repels him. (51-72.) After many months of hopeless love, he desires to cure himself by travel ; yet cannot resolve upon it : He languisheth and melts avvaye, as snow against the sonne. His kyndred and alyes do wonder what he ayles. (73-100.) The trustiest of his friends rebukes him, and advises him to love a kinder mistress : Some one of bewty, favour, shape, and of so lovely porte : With so fast fixed eye, perhaps thou mayst beholde : That thou shalt quite forget thy love, and passions pastofolde. (101-140.) Romeus promises to attend feasts and banquets, and to view other beauties. (141-150.) Before three months pass, Christmas games begin, and Capel gives a banquet : No Lady, no knight in Verona But Capilet himselfe hath byd unto his feast : Or by his name in paper sent, appoynted as a geast. (151-164.) 188 APPENDIX II 189 Romcus goes masked with other five; when they un- mask, he retires to a nook, but is recognised by the torches' light. (165-182.) The Capilets restrain their ire. (183-190.) Me views the ladies; sees one more beautiful than the rest ; and quite forgets his former love. Juliet's eyes anchor on him. Love shoots her with his bow. Their eyes inform them of mutual love. (191-244.) After a dance, Juliet finds Romeus seated by her : And on the other side there sat one cald Mercutio, A courtier that eche where was highly had in pryce : For he was coorteous of his speche, and pleasant of devise. Even as a Lyon would emong the lambes be bolde : Such was emong the bashful! maydes, Mercutio to beholdc. With frendly gripe he ccasd fayrc Juliets snowish hand : A gyft he had that nature gave him in his swathing band. That froscn mountayne yse was never halfe so cold As were his handes. The lovers' hands meet, palm to palm. Romeus cannot speak ; Juliet calls the time of his arrival blessed, and then is silent with love ; presently they are able to discourse, and Romeus declares his passion. (245-308.) Juliet, before leaving Romeus, confesses that (her honour saved) she is his. (309-318.) Romeus learns her name ; blames Fortune and Love ; but he now serves one who is not cruel. (319-340.) Juliet, inquiring first concerning others, learns from her old Nurse her lover's name : And tell me who is he with vysor in his hand That yender doth in masking weede besyde the window stand. His name is Romeus (said she) a Montegewe. Juliet inwardly despairs, but keeps up an outward show of gladness. She cannot sleep, and questions with 190 APPENDIX II herself, May not Romeus be false? But treason cannot lurk in a shape so perfect. She will love him, if he mind to make her his lawful wedded wife, for the alliance may procure the houses' peace. (341-428.) Morning comes ; Romeus passes, and sees Juliet at her window; but is wary of danger. This happens often. He discovers a garden-plot fronting full upon her leaning place. Thither, when night has spread her black mantle, he goes armed ; but for a week or two in vain. One moonlight night Juliet leans within her window, and espies him. She rejoices even more than he, for she could not account for his absence by day. She is alarmed for his safety : Oh Romeus (of your lyfe) too lavas sure you are : That in this place, and at thys tyme to hasard it you dare. What if your dedly foes my kynsmen saw you here ? He answers that he can defend himself, and loves life only for her sake. Weeping, her head leaning on her arm, she tells her love, and promises that, if wedlock be his end and mark, she will follow him wherever he may go ; but if he intends her dishonour, let him cease his suit. Romeus rejoices, and says he will seek advice early tomorrow from Friar Lawrence. (429564.) The Friar is described : The barefoote fryer gyrt with cord his grayish weede, For he of Frauncis order was, a fryer as I reede. The secretes eke he knew in natures woorkes that loorke. Romeus, not staying till the morrow, goes to him. He advises delay, but, hoping to reconcile the houses by the marriage, is overcome. Romeus consents to the delay of a day and a night. (565-616.) Juliet's confidante is the ancient Nurse, who lies in her chamber, and whose aid she secures by promised hire. The Nurse eoes to Romeus : APPENDIX II i in On Satcrclay, quod he, if Juliet come to shrift, She shal be shrived and mariecl. She promises to devise an excuse for going, and talks of her babe Juliet : And how she gave her suckc in youth, she leavcth not to tell. A prety babe (quod she) it was when it was yong : Lord how it could full pretely have prated with it tong. Romcus gives her gold ; she returns, full of his praises : But of our marriage say at once, what aunswer have you brought? Nay soft, quoth she, I feare, your hurt by sodain ioye : I list not play quoth Juliet, although thou list to toye. (617-714.) On Saturday Juliet, the Nurse, and a maid, sent by Juliet's mother, go to the church. The Friar dismisses the Nurse and maid to hear " a mass or two." Romeus has already waited two hours in the Friar's cell : " Echc minute seemde an howre, and every howre a day." The lovers are married. Romeus bids Juliet send the Nurse to him for a ladder of cord. They think the day long; if they might have the sun bound to their will " Black shade of night and doubled darke should straight all over hyde." (715-826.) The hour arrives ; Romeus leaps the wall ; climbs the ladder. Bride and bridegroom embrace, and talk of their past and present state. The Nurse urges them to consummate their union. (827-918.) Dawn comes : " The hastines of Phoebus steeds in great despyte they blame." Their bliss lasts a month or twain. On Easter Monday Tibalt, a young Capilet, Juliet's uncle's son, "best exercisd in feates of armes," leads a street-fight against the Montagewes. Romeus seeks to part the combatants : " Not dread, but other waighty cause my hasty hand doth stay." Tybalt addresses him as "coward, traytor boy"; they fight; Tybalt is slain. 192 APPENDIX II The Capilets demand Romeus' death ; the Montagewes remonstrate; the lookers-on blame Tybalt; the Prince pronounces exile as his sentence, and bids the households lay aside their bloody weapons. (919-1074.) Juliet weeps and tears her hair ; wails Tybalt's death ; curses her fatal window ; rails against Romeus ; and charges herself with murder for touching the honour of his name. The Nurse finds her seemingly dead upon her bed ; she revives ; breaks into lamentation ; is cheered by the Nurse with the hope of Romeus' recall from exile. The Nurse offers to go to Romeus, who lurks in the Friar's cell. Her mistress sends her forth. (1075-1256.) Romeus does not yet know his doom. The Friar goes forth, learns the sentence, and returns. He tells the Nurse that Romeus shall come at night to Juliet to devise of their affairs. He informs Romeus that the sentence is good, not death but banishment. Romeus is frantic, tears his hair, throws himself on the ground, and prays for death ; he blames nature, his time and place of birth, the stars, and Fortune. The Friar rebukes him : Art thou quoth he a man ? thy shape saith, so thou art: Thy crying and thy weping eyes denote a womans hart. So that I stoocle in doute this howre (at the least) If thou a man or woman wert, or els a brutish beast. He exhorts Romeus to fortitude ; he has slain his foe; he is not condemned to death; his friends may resort to him at Mantua. Romeus grows reasonable ; the Friar advises him as to how to quit Verona unknown ; and bids him visit cheerfully his lady's bower. (1257- 1526.) Night comes; Romeus visits Juliet; he discourses of Fortune, and exhorts Juliet to patience ; she pleads to be permitted to accompany him in disguise ; he explains that they would be pursued and punished ; he hopes to procure his recall to Verona within four months ; if he does not, he will then carry her off to a foreign land. APPENDIX II 193 Juliet submits, only requiring a promise that Romeus shall, through the Friar, keep her informed of his state. (1527-1700.) Light begins to appear in the East : " As yet he saw no day, ne could he call it night." Romeus and Juliet embrace and then part : Then hath these lovers clay an encle, their night begonne, For eche of them to other is as to the world the sunne. Romeus sets forth, clad as a merchant venturer, to Mantua. He states his grievance to the Duke ; he is overwhelmed with sorrow. (1701-1786.) Juliet pines and pales, though she endeavours to conceal her grief. Her mother notices the change in her ; tries to cheer her ; bids her forget Tibalt's death. Juliet declares that, a great while since, her last tears for Tybalt were shed. Her mother informs Capilet, and tells him of her suspicion that Juliet pines for envy of her married companions ; she urges Capilet to have her married. He replies that she is too young scarce sixteen years ; yet he will seek a husband. (1787-1874.) County Paris, an Earl's son, becomes a suitor. Her mother informs Juliet, commending "his youthfull yeres, his fayrenes, and his port, and semely grace." Juliet expresses amazement ; threatens to slay herself; kneels and implores. Old Capilet comes to her ; she grovels at his feet ; he charges her with unthankfulness and disobedience: thou playest in this case The dainty foole, and stubberne gyrle ; for want of skill Thou dost refuse thy offred weale, and disobey my will. Unless by Wednesday next she consents, he will dis- inherit and confine her. (1875-1996.) Next morning Juliet visits the Friar ; states her case ; threatens suicide, if marriage with Paris be otherwise un- avoidable. The Friar is in perplexity ; not five months 194 APPENDIX II past, he had wedded her to Romeus ; the marriage with Paris is fixed for the tenth day of September. He tells Juliet of his youthful travels, in which he had learnt the virtues of stones, plants, metals. He explains the properties of the sleeping-powder ; exhorts her to courage ; bids her receive the " vyoll small," and on her marriage- day before the sun clears the sky, fill it with water : Then drinke it of, and thou shalt feele throughout eche vayne and lim A pleasant slumber slide, and quite dispred at length On all thy partes, from every part reve all thy kindly strength. Her kindred will suppose her dead ; will bear her to their forefathers' tomb ; the Friar will send to Mantua, and he and Romeus will take her forth that night. (1997- 2172.) Juliet courageously agrees; passes with stately gait through the streets ; tells her mother that the Friar has made her another woman, and consents to marry Paris ; she will go to her closet to choose out the bravest garments and richest jewels. Old Capilet praises the Friar, and at once goes to inform Paris ; who visits Juliet, is charmed, and now only desires to haste the day. (2173- 2276.) The bridal feast is prepared ; the dearest things are bought. In Juliet's chamber the Nurse praises Paris ten times more than she had praised Romeus : " Paris shall dwell there still, Romeus shall not retourne," or, if he do, Juliet shall have both husband and paramour. Juliet maintains a cheerful aspect ; sends away the Nurse, for she would spend the night in prayer ; then hides the viol under her bolster, and retires to bed. She doubts the unknown force of the powder. Will it work at all ? Serpents and venomous worms may lurk in the tomb. How shall she endure the stench of corpses? Will she not be stifled ? She thinks she sees Tybalt's dead body ; she is in a cold sweat ; fearing her own weakness, she swiftly drinks the mixture, then crosses her arms on her breast, and falls into a trance. (2277-2402.) APPENDIX II 105 At sunrise the Nurse would wake her: "Lady you slepc to long, (the Earle) will rayse you by and by. ' She finds that Juliet is dead; the mother laments; the father, Paris, and a rout of gentlemen and ladies enter ; old Capilet has no power to weep or speak : If ever there hath been a lamentable day, A day, ruthfull, unfortunate and fatall, then I say this is that day. (2403-2472.) Meanwhile Friar Lawrence sends a friar of his house to Romeus with a letter, bidding him come "the next night after that," to take Juliet from the tomb. Friar John hies to Mantua ; seeks, according to custom, a companion brother, but, plague being in the house, is detained, and not knowing the contents of the letter, he defers till the morrow. All in Capilet's house is changed from marriage to funeral ; according to the Italian manner Juliet is borne to the tomb with open face and in wonted weed. Romeus' man, sent to Verona as a spy, sees the funeral, and bears tidings to his master. Thinking that his death would be more glorious if he died near Juliet, Romeus resolves to go to Verona. Me wanders through Mantua streets, sees an apothecary sitting outside his poor shop, furnished with few boxes, and bribes him with gold to sell poison, "speeding gere," contrary to the law. (2473-2588.) Romeus sends his man, Peter, to Verona, bidding him provide instruments to open the tomb. He calls for ink and paper, and writes an account of the events and his design, to be given to his father. At Verona Peter meets him with lantern and instruments. He orders Peter to leave him, and early in the morning to deliver the letter to his father. Romeus descends into the vault, finds Juliet dead, embraces her, and devours the poison. He addresses Juliet ; what more glorious tomb could he have craved ? He addresses the dead Tybalt ; prays to Christ for his grace ; throws himself on Juliet's body, and dies. (2589-2688.) Friar Lawrence comes to open the tomb, and is startled by the light in it. Peter explains to him that 196 APPENDIX II his master is within ; the Friar enters and finds the body of Romeus. Juliet awakens ; the Friar shows her lover's corpse ; exhorts her to patience, and promises to place her in some religious house. She weeps, falls on Romeus' body, covers it with kisses, and laments her loss. Hearing a noise, the Friar and servant fly. Juliet, with a speech welcoming death, plunges Romeus' dagger in her heart. (2689-2792.) Watchmen, supposing that enchanters were abusing the dead, enter the tomb, find the corpses, arrest the Friar and Peter, and next day inform the Prince. (2793- 2808.) Crowds visit the tomb. By the Prince's order the bodies are placed on a stage. Peter and Friar Lawrence are openly examined. The Friar in a long speech justifies himself, and explains all that had happened. His account is confirmed by Peter and by the letter of Romeus. Prince Escalus banishes the Nurse and lets Peter go free. The apothecary is hanged by the throat. The Friar retires to a hermitage and five years later dies, aged seventy-five (see line 2843). The bodies of the lovers are placed in a stately tomb, supported by great marble pillars : And even at this day the tombe is to be scene ; So that among the monumentes that in Verona been, There is no monument more worthy of the sight, Then is the tombe of Juliet and Romeus her knight. (2809-3020.) A P P E N D I X III RUNAWAY'S EVKS {Footnote to Page 100) AN editor has to consider whether the word runaway is to be retained ; and if it is, whether runaway s or runaways should be printed. The proposed substitutes are not happy ; among them are Rumour's, Renomy's, Luna's, unawares, rumourors', Cynthia's, enemies, rude day's (Dyce, ed. 2), sunny day's, sun-weary, and others of equal infelicity. The word runaway is strongly supported by the parallel (with variations) in ideas and language of Merchant of Venice, II. vi. 34-47. Jessica is on the balcony ; love, she says, is blind, and lovers cannot see their pretty follies. Lorenzo bids her " come at once, For the close night doth play the runaway" When Lorenzo speaks it is night; when Juliet speaks it is day, and she is gazing at the sun. I believe the genitive singular runaivays to be right. and I agree with Warburton that the sun or Phcebus is meant. It is objected that Juliet has complained of the slow pace of the sun ; but now she imagines night as having arrived, and the tardy sun has proved himself to be the runaway he actually was. I do not wish to innovate in the text, and I have left the commonly received punctuation. But a different punctuation might solve the difficulty. The word TJiat (before runaway's] may be the demonstrative pronoun, as in " That ' banished,' " line 113. " That runaway " ma}- mean "yonder runaway," or "that runaway (of whom I have 197 198 APPENDIX III spoken)." The central motive of the speech is " Come night, come Romeo." Having invoked night to spread the curtain, Juliet says, with a thought of her own joyful wakefulness, "Yonder sun may sleep" (wink having commonly this sense) ; and then she calls on Romeo to leap to her arms. I am not quite sure that " untalk'd of and unseen " is rightly connected with " Romeo." Possibly we should connect it with what follows. Lovers unseen seeing is in the manner of the play. This is a secondary question ; but perhaps the whole might be pointed thus : Spread thy close curtains love-performing night ! That [ = Yonder] runaway's eyes may wink and Romeo, Leap to these arms ! Untalk'd of and unseen, Lovers can see, etc. If following Delius we read runaways' eyes, the runaways (if not the stars) must be wanderers in the streets. Attempts have been made to produce an ex- ample of runaway in such a sense, but, I think, without success, and Professor Hales (Longman's Magazine, Feb. 1892) has to admit that the word in this sense is a a^a^ 7.s~/6/j,ivov not only in Shakespeare, but in all English literature. Expressions of the desire of lovers for silence and the absence of babblers can of course be found, and Spenser's Epithalamium may be compared with Juliet's soliloquy, but the points in common are not, I think, such as prove more than that a community of subject suggested like ideas. Theobald read "That th' Runaway's" (after War- burton). Allen suggests the absorption of the by the final t in that. Commentators have named as the runaway the Night, the moon, Phaeton, Romeo, Juliet, etc. Halpin, with learning and ingenuity, argues that he is the runaway Cupid. See thirty closely printed pages on this line in Furness's Romeo and Juliet. White, who, after resisting it, came round to War- APPENDIX III 199 burton's explanation, quotes from The Faithful Friends (Dycc, Beau, and Flet. vol. iv.) : The all-seeing sun, that makes fair virgins blush, But three short nights hath hid his peeping eyes ; Since that uniting Hymen tied our hearts, etc. So Mucedoms (noted by Professor Littledale), p. 35, ed. Delius : "The crystal eye of heaven shall not thrice wink" i.e. the sun shall not thrice set. I would ask the reader to consider my suggestion as to " That runaway's eyes " as offered with some degree of assurance ; but to observe that I throw out the notion of pointing "arms ! Untalk'd of" merely as a possibility, which ought not to be wholly lost sight of in studying the passage. PKINTKD BY MOKklSON ANIJ GIHB LIMT1ED, EDINBURGH. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. APR 7 1997 \l O/tt 'NIV. OF CAUF LIBRARY. LOS ANGELES AA 000014240