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KOMEO  AND   JULIET 


> 


fTT'A.  fV/^' 


Romeo  and  Juliet 


By 

William    Shakespeare 


WITH  INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES  BY 

K.   Deighton 


London 
Macmillan  and    Co.,  Limited 

New  York  :    The  Macmillan  Company 

1905 

AU  rights  reserved 


First  Edition  1S93. 
Reprinted  1903,  1905. 


GLASGOW  :    PRINTED   AT   THE    UNIVERSITY   PRESS 
BY   ROBERT   MACLEHOSE    AND    CO.    LTD. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Introduction, >        .        .  vii 

Romeo  and  Juliet, 1 

Notes, gg 

Index  to  Notes,       ...,.,,.  213 


J 


INTKODUCTION. 

As  to  the  date  at  which  Borneo  and  Juliet  was  first  Date  of  Piay. 
written,  and  what  its  form  then  was,  we  have  no  certain 
information.  Its  first  printed  appearance  is  the  Quarto 
of  1597,  but  that  quarto  was  without  doubt  a  pirated 
one.  The  second  quarto,  1599,  is  described  on  the  title- 
page  as  "newly  corrected,  augmented,  and  amended"; 
and  this  edition  is  our  best  authority  for  the  play  in  its 
complete  state,  though  it  does  not  enable  us  to  decide 
with  certainty  how  far  the  alteration  of  form  is  due  to 
revision  by  the  poet,  how  far  to  correction  and  com- 
pletion of  the  pirated  quarto.  Nor  of  course  does  it 
give  us  any  help  as  to  the  date  of  composition.  In- 
ternal evidence  clearly  points  to  two  periods  of  work, 
the  earlier  being  indicated  by  the  abundance  of  rhyme 
and  of  forced  conceits ;  and  it  is  now  pretty  generally 
held  that  the  j^lay  in  its  original  form,  or  a  substantial 
part  of  it,  was  written  in  1591  or  1592,  and  received  its 
final  shape  in  1596.  If  the  Nurse's  words  in  i.  3.  23 
allude,  as  has  been  supposed,  to  the  earthquake  of  1580, 
we  have  the  year  1591  as  the  date  of  that  part  of  the 
play,  or  the  year  1593,  if  the  Nurse's  miscalculation  is 
to  be  harmonized  with  her  statement  of  Juliet's  age. 
It  is,  however,  to  be  doubted  whether  any  particular 
,earthc{uake  is  alluded  to. 

vii 


viii  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 


Source  of  the  Here  we  are  upon  more  certain  ground.  Though  the 
story  in  its  main  incidents  is  found  in  various  old 
romances  and  poems,  Greek,  Italian,  and  French,  Shake- 
speare's main  source  was  the  poem  of  Bomeus  and  Juliet 
by  Arthur  Brooke,  published  in  1562,  while  here  and 
there  in  the  play  are  indications  that  he  had  consulted 
a  translation  of  Boisteau's  Histoire  de  Deux  Amans  (itself 
an  adaptation  of  the  Italian  Bandello's  romance  on  the 
same  subject)  which  appeared  in  Painter's  Palace  of 
Pleasure,  1597.  He  may  also  have  seen  a  play,  probably 
an  English  one,  to  which  Brooke  refers  in  his  address 
"  to  the  Eeader,"  though  no  such  play  has  come  down  to 
us,  nor  do  we  even  know  its  title.  Brooke's  poem  of 
alternated  twelve  and  fourteen  syllable  rhymes,  extends 
to  3026  lines,  and,  says  Grant  White,*  "  the  tragedy 
follows  the  poem  with  a  faithfulness  which  might  be 
called  slavish,  \vere  it  not  that  any  variation  from  the 
course  of  the  old  story  was  entirely  unnecessary  for  the 
sake  of  dramatic  interest,  and  were  there  not  shown  in 
the  progress  of  the  action,  in  the  modification  of  one 
character,  and  in  the  disposal  of  another,  all  peculiar  to 
the  play,  self-reliant  dramatic  intuition  of  the  highest 
order.  L,For  the  rest,  there  is  not  a  personage  or  a 
situation,  "hardly  a  speech,  essential  to  Brooke's  poem, 
which  has  not  its  counterpart — its  exalted  and  glorified 
counterpart — in  the  tragedy.  To  mention  every  point 
of  correspondence  between  the  poem  and  the  play, 
would  be  to  recount  here  the  entire  progress  of  the 
story  in  both,  accompanied  by  a  description  of  the 
characters  :  .  .  .  Suffice  it  here  to  observe,  that  in  the 
poem  we  find  even  Romeo's  invisible  and  soon-forgotten 
*  Shakespeare's  Worlcs,  Vol.  x.  pp.  8-10. 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

mistress,  the  remorseless  Eosaline,  though  without  her 
name ;    Friar   Lawrence  addicted   to  study.    .    .    .   the 
Nurse,  greedy,  garrulous,  gross,  and  faithless,  just  as  we 
find  her  in  the  play ;  the  Apothecary,  Avhom  by  '  his 
heavy  countenance  '  Romeo  '  gessed  to  be  poore,'  .  .  . 
Tibalt,   '  best  exercised  in  feates  of  armes ' ;  and  even 
Friar  John,  who,  seeking  to  be  '  accompanide  by  one  of 
his   profession,'   enters   a   house   whence,    to   carry   his 
brother  Lawrence's  letter  to  Romeo,  '  he  might  not  issue 
out   agayne,    For  that  a   brother  'of  the  house  a  day 
before  or  twayne  Dyed  of  the  plague.'     And  not  only 
have  such  minor  characters  and  incidents  of  the  play 
their  germs  or  counterparts  in  the  old  story,  but  even 
such   incidental   passages   as   the  soliloquy  uttered   by 
Juliet,  terror-stricken  at  her  imagination  of  what  might 
await  her  in  her  kinsmen's  vault  if  she  should  take  the 
friar's  iDotion,  and   that  other  soliloquy,   in  which  she 
passionately  calls  on  Xight  and  Romeo  to  come  to  her. 
jln  brief,  Romeo  and  Jtdiet  owes  to  Shakespeare  only  its^ 
J  dramatic  form  and  its  poetic  decoration.     But  what  an 
exception  is  the  latter !     It  is  to  saj'  that  the  earth  owes 
to  the  sun  only  its  verdure  and  its  flowers,  the  air  only 
its  perfume  and  its  balm,  the  heavens  only  their  azure 
and  their  glow.     Yet  this  must  not  lead  us  to  forget 
that  the  original  tale  is  one  of  the  most  truthful  and 
touching  among  the  few  that  have  entranced  the  ear 
and  stirred  the  heart  of  the  world  for  ages,  or  that  in 
Shakespeare's   transfiguration  of  it   his  fancy    and   his 
youthful   fire  had  a  much  larger  share  than  his  philo- 
sophy or  his  imagination.^    The  only  variations  from  the 
story  in  the  play  are  the  three  which  have  just  been 
alluded  to. — The  compression  of  the  action,  which  iu 


X  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 

the  story  occupies  four  or  five  months,  to  within  as 
many  clays,  thus  adding  impeti;osity  to  a  passion  which 
had  only  depth,  and  enhancing  dramatic  effect  hy  quick- 
ening truth  to  vividness ; — the  conversion  of  Mercutio 
from  a  mere  'courtier,'  'bold  emong  the  bashfull 
maydes,'  '  courteous  of  his  speech  and  pleasant  of  devise,' 
into  that  splendid  union  of  the  knight  and  the  fine 
-^  gentleman,  in  portraying  which  Shakespeare,  with  pro- 

phetic eye  piercing  a  century,  shows  us  the  fire  of  faded 
chivalry  expiring  in  a  flash  of  wit ; — and  the  bringing  in 
of  Paris  (forgotten  in  the  story  after  his  bridal  disap- 
pointment) to  die  at  Juliet's  bier  by  the  hand  of  Romeo, 
thus  gathering  together  all  the  threads  of  this  love 
entanglement  to  be  cut  at  once  by  Fate." 
Outline  of  the      Throughout  this  tragedy  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind 

play  with  re-  o  o      j 

marks  upon     that  the  sccne  is  Italy,  and  the  actors  the  passionate 

the  charac- 
ters, children  of  the  South,  passionate  alike  in  love  and  in 

hatred.     "  The  mid-July  heat,"  as  Dowden  says,  "  broods 

over  the  five  tragic  days  of  the  story.     The  mad  blood  is 

stirring  in  men's  veins  during  these  hot  summer  days,"* 

the  veins  of  a  race  wearing  "  the  shadow'd  livery  of  the 

burnish'd  sun."     Material  for  fateful  issues  is  ready  in 

the   long-standing    blood-feud   of    the   families   of    the 

Montagues  and  the  Capulets.     Tragedy  is,  so  to  speak, 

in  the  air,  and  it  needs  but  little  that  the  electric  current 

should  discharge  itself     The  protagonists  of  the  drama 

are   in   the   hey-day   of    life ;    the   hero   handsome,    of 

sprightly   wit,   trained   in    all   manly  accomplishments, 

brave,  and  gentle  in  the  security  of  true  courage,  but, 

partly  from  his  surroundings,  as  yet  without  a  sufficient 

purpose  in  life,  greatly  the  slave  of  emotion,  his  soul 

questing  about  for  love  and  fancying  that  it  has  found 

*  Shakspere,  His  Mind  and  Art,  p.  115. 


f*  INTRODUCTION. 


XI 


r  \its  desire ;  the  heroine  of  but  fourteen  summers,  yet  of 
an  age  at  which  in  those  sunny  climes  love  blossoms 
with  a  splendour  unknown  to  maidens  of  the  frozen 
^Torth,  impulsive  but  fancy-free,  of  incomparable  loveli- 
ness but  a  stranger  to  the  mie;ht  with  which  such 
guerdon  dowers  her,  capable  of  boundless  devotion,  deli- 
cate of  mind  as  of  person,  trustful,  while  at  the  same 
time  instinct  with  the  sensitiveness  of  whitest  purity. 
In  such  an  atmosphere  of  blended  romance  and  passion 
the  curtain  rises  upon  a  bloody  encounter  between  the 
servants  of  the  rival  houses  ever  glad  of  an  opportunity 
to  l-enew  the  ancient  quarrel.  While  the  riot  is  at  its 
height,  the  heads  of  the  two  houses  themselves  appear 
upon  the  scene,  no  less  eager  than  their  servants  to  join- 
in  the  fray.  On  the  entry  of  Escalus,  Prince  of  Verona,  • 
and  his  train,  the  combatants  are  parted,  Capulet 
accompanying  the  Prince  to  his  palace,  and  Montague 
being  ordered  to  attend  him  in  the  afternoon  to  learn 
his  pleasure  regarding  the  affray.  Montague,  Lady 
Montague,  and  their  nephew  Benvolio  remain,  and  Lady 
Montague  now  inquires  of  Benvolio  as  to  her  son,  Eomeo. 
From  the  conversation  we  learn  that  for  some  time  past 
he  has  given  way  to  a  deep  melancholy,  the  cause  of 
which  his  parents  have  in  vain  sought  to  discover. 
While  his  conduct  is  still  under  discussion  Romeo  enters, 
and  Benvolio  having  promised  to  worm  his  secret  from  — 
him,  the  father  and  mother  leave  the  cousins  together. 
As  might  be  anticipated,  Romeo's  secret  is  love,  or  what 
he  takes  to  be  love,  for  a  certain  irresponsive  Rosaline. 
That  his  passion  is  but  a  faint  shadow  of  the  reality  is 
soon  evident.  For  when  persuaded  by  Benvolio  to 
unbosom  himself,  he  does  so  in  a  string  of  wire-drawn 


xii  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 

conceits,  bares  his  wounds  in  flimsy  tropes,  languishes, 
in  clear-cut  epigram,  disputes  in  stilted  antithesis,  play.j^ 
the  mincing  sonneteer ; — parades,  in  a  word,  all  tl]j._ 
plague-tokens  of  love's  green-sickness,  all  the  emotions, 
that  if  genuine  Avould  have  been  jealously  guarded  from 
closest  gaze.  His  protestations  of  undying  constancy 
are,  however,  soon  to  be  tested.  For  the  same  night, 
at  a  ball  given  by  the  Capulets,  to  which  in  the  hopes 
of  seeing  Rosaline  he,  though  unbidden,  repairs,  he 
meets  Juliet.  The  result  is  instantaneous.  To  him 
Eosaline  had  been 

"  The  summer  pilot  of  an  empty  heart 
Unto  the  shores  of  nothing  "  ; 

with  the  sight  of  Juliet,  love  finds  acknowledged 
"  empire  for  life."  Nor  is  conviction  less  swift  in  hers. 
A  few  brief  looks,  the  interchange  of  less  than  a  dozen 
sentences,  and  she  owns  to  herself  the  mastery  of  the 
same  power.  Eomeo  departs  ;  but  for  him  there  can  be 
no  rest  that  night.  He  has  come  face  to  face  with 
realities  that  demand  exercise  of  will,  contempt  of 
danger,  action.  An  hour  or  so  later  he  finds  his 
way  to  the  garden  of  his  hereditar}^  foe,  and  by  love's 
instinct  to  the  very  spot  overlooked  by  Juliet's  chamber. 
At  the  window  stands  the  maiden  in  converse  with  her- 
self upon  the  events  of  the  evening,  and,  all  unconscious 
of  any  neighbouring  ear,  pouring  forth  her  heart's  con- 
fession. Such  confession  overheard  by  Romeo  puts  an 
end  to  any  hesitancy  that  might  still  linger  in  his  mind. 
Discovering  himself,  he  claims  fulfilment  of  those  vows 
by  which  in  her  innocent  outpouring  Juliet  had  bpund 
herself,    and   now   the   unspoken   contract   of  looks   is 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

ratified  by  words.     Yet  it  is  not  Romeo  but  Juliet  who 
-^es  things  in  their  practical  light.     For  a  brief  space 
^^  has  had  her  trepidations  at  the  suddenness  of  her 
Tv-.s;  "although,"  she  says,  "I  joy  in  thee," 

"  I  have  no  joy  of  this  contract  to-night : 
It  is  too  rasli.  too  unadvised,  too  sudden, 
Too  like  the  lig^htning  which  doth  cease  to  be 
Ere  one  can  say  '  It  lightens '  "  ; 

but  in  spite  of  this,  and  though  the  confession  of  her 
love  which  in  fancied  security  she  has  made  to  herself, 
and  which  when  surprised  she  has  no  power  to  retract, 
may  cause  "a  maiden  blush  bepaint"  her  "cheek,"  yet 
in  the  purity  of  her  heart  and  the  utter  surrender  of 
herself  which  she  is  importunate  to  complete,  she  recoo--  -' 
nizes  that  if  Eomeo's  love  resembles  hers  there  is  but 
one  issue  possible,  and  that,  placed  as  they  are  by  the 
jmplacable  hatred  of  their  parents,  all  scruples  "as  to 
JPorm  and  show  must  yield  to  more  imperative  demands 
and  the  sanction  of  marriage  put  its  seal  upon  their 
love.*     If  to  Romeo  there  comes  no  such  swift  recoo-ni- 

*  Of  this  perfect  scene  it  is  noticeable  that  the  beauty  of 
thought  and  language  is  matched  by  the  beauty  of  versification. 
"In  two  scenes,"  observes  Swinburne,  A  Sfudj/  of  Shakespeare, 
pp.  35,  6,  "  we  may  say  that  the  whole  heart  or  spirit  of  Borneo 
and  Juliet  is  summed  up  and  distilled  into  perfect  and  pure 
expression  ;  and  these  two  are  written  in  blank  verse  of  equable 
and  blameless  melody.  Outside  the  garden '  scene  in  the  second 
act  and  the  balcony  scene  in  the  third,  there  is  much  that  is 
fanciful  and  graceful,  much  of  elegiac  pathos  and  fervid  if  fan- 
tastic passion  ;  much  also  of  superfluous  rhetoric  and  (as  it  were) 
of  wordy  melody,  which  flows  and  foams  hither  and  thither  into 
something  of  extravagance  and  excess  ;  but  in  these  two  there 
is  no  flaw,  no  outbreak,  no  superflux,  and  no  failure." 


xiv  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 

tion  of  facts,  he  at  all  events  needs  no  spur  to  urge  him 
forward  on  the  path  of  happiness.  As  the  day  dawns, 
he  hurries  off  to  the  cell  of  his  life-long  friend  and 
spiritual  adviser,  Father  Laurence,  by  whose  aid  he 
hopes  to  attain  his  end.  The  Friar,  trusting  that  by 
such  alliance  the  feud  between  the  two  families  will  be 
healed  for  ever,  yields  to  the  lover's  importunities  and 
assents  to  a  secret  marriage  on  the  same  afternoon. 
Later  in  the  day,  Romeo  through  Juliet's  Nurse  is  able 
to  convey  the  glad  tidings  of  the  Friar's  promise,  and 
early  in  the  afternoon  the  ceremonj''  is  performed.  For 
the  present  the  wedded  pair  separate,  hopefully  looking 
forward  to  the  time  when  through  the  instrumentality 
of  the  Friar  the  minds  of  their  parents  may  be  prepared 
for  a  discovery  of  their  marriage.  Such  hope,  however, 
is  to  be  suddenly  dashed  to  the  ground.  The  parting  is 
just  over  when  Eomeo  meets  Tybalt,  nephew  of  the 
Capulets,  who  is  seeking  him  out  in  order  to  fasten  a 
quarrel  upon  him  for  having  uninvited  been  present  at 
the  last  night's  ball.  Eomeo  is  of  course  anxious  to 
avoid  fighting  with  Juliet's  cousin,  and  meets  his  angry 
taunts  with  calm  replies.  His  hot-blooded  friend 
Mercutio,  however,  will  not  let  Tybalt's  words  pass  by, 
but  draws  the  quarrel  upon  himself,  and  in  the  combat 
that  ensues  is  stabbed  by  Tybalt  under  the  arm  of 
Romeo  who  is  endeavouring  to  part  the  combatants. 
Mercutio  dies,  and  Tybalt,  who  had  left  the  scene, 
returning,  Romeo's  just  wrath  at  his  friend's  death  puts 
aside  all  considerations  of  prudence,  and  rushing  fiercely 
upon  Tybalt  he  lays  him  dead  at  his  feet.  The  Prince 
now  appears,  inquires  into  the  origin  of  the  fray,  and 
concludes  by  passing  sentence  on  Romeo  of  banishment 


INTRODUCTION.  xv 

to  Mantua,  sparing  his  life  only  because  the  quarrel  had 
in  a  measure  been  forced  upon  him.  Meanwhile  Juliet 
is  counting  the  moments  for  her  next  meeting  with 
Romeo,  when  the  Nurse  enters  with  the  news  of  Tybalt's 
death.  So  incoherent,  however,  are  her  words  that 
Juliet  at  first  believes  it  to  be  Eomeo  who  has  fallen. 
When  at  length  she  perceives  the  truth  she  bursts  forth 
into  execrations  upon  Romeo  whose  deeds  have  proved 
so  far  at  variance  with  his  looks.  The  Nurse  in  parasitic 
agreement  echoes  her  words.  This  quickly  produces  a 
revulsion  in  Juliet's  mind.  She  becomes  conscious  that 
Romeo  has  after  all  acted  only  in  self-defence,  reproaches 
herself  bitterly  for  her  doubts,  and,  the  course  of  her 
griefs  thus  turned,  is  sensible  of  all  that  his  banishment 
means  to  her — the  ruin  of  her  life.  The  Nurse  comforts 
her  with  the  promise  of  quickly  bringing  Romeo,  and 
she  nerves  herself  for  what  she  knows  must  be  a  long 
farewell.  Romeo  is  even  more  broken  with  grief  at  the 
sentence  that  has  fallen  upon  him.  The  sudden  strength 
of  purpose  which  his  love  had  inspired  now  deserts  him. 
Seeking  the  Friar's  cell,  he  abandons  himself  to  a 
paroxysm  of  despair,  threatens  to  take  his  own  life,  and 
rejects  all  consolation  that  the  Friar  would  administer. 
While  thus  prostrated,  he  is  aroused  by  the  coming  of 
the  Nurse  to  bid  him  visit  his  bride.  This  summons 
gives  the  Friar  the  opportunity  of  further  urging  reason. 
With  stern  directness  he  chides  the  cowardly  refuge  to 
which  Romeo  would  fly,  adding  to  the  crime  of  slaying 
Tybalt  the  further  crime  of  self-slaughter,  and  in  that 
the  probable  death  of  her  whom  he  is  bound  to  cherish, 
not  destroy  ;  points  out  that  his  fury  is  rather  that  of  a 
beast  than  of  a  man,  his  utter  self-abandonment    the 

b 


xvi  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 

weakness  of  a  woman,  his  meditated  desertion  a  perjury 
of  the  soul ;  then  taking  a  gentler  tone  he  shows  how 
fortunate  Romeo  should  think  himself  in  that  his  sen- 
tence is  exile,  not  death,  how  that  Juliet  is  still  alive 
and  his  own,  how  that  life  at  Mantua  may  be  borne 
with  courage  and  patience  till  happier  hours  shall  enable 
him  to  return  and  claim  his  bride,  and  how  in  the 
meantime  tidings  shall  be  sent  to  him  of  everything 
happening  at  Verona  that  may  smooth  the  path  to  such 
good  fortune.  The  impressionable  Romeo,  to  whom  life 
has  hitherto  been  all  sunshine,  real  grief  a  thing 
unknown,  and  therefore  terrible  to  encounter,  is 
soothed  like  a  frightened  child,  and  now  thinks  only  of 
the  near  approach  of  joy  in  once  more  holding  Juliet 
in  his  arms.  The  meeting  alternates  between  rapture 
and  despair ;  between  happy  auguries  of  joyous  re-union 
and  all  too  prescient  forebodings  of  death's  divorcing 
hand,  and  ends  in 

"  those  caresses,  when  a  hundred  times 
In  that  last  kiss,  which  never  was  the  last, 
Farewell,  like  endless  welcome,  lived  and  died." 

Romeo  now  enters  upon  his  banishment,  and  if  the  lot 
is  one  hard  to  endure,  his  trial  is  as  nothing  to  that 
which  awaits  Juliet.  For  some  time  past  a  kinsman  of 
the  Prince,  Paris  by  name,  has  been  a  suitor  for  her  hand, 
and  his  suit  is  one  welcomed  by  her  parents,  though  she 
herself  has  scarcely  contemplated  as  serious  the  hints 
that  have  been  given  her.  Now  "to  put  her  from  her 
heaviness,"  which  at  first  they  suppose  to  be  on  account 
of  Tybalt's  death,  they  determine  to  force  the  marriage 
upon  her.     Juliet  receives  their  decision   with    terror. 


INTRODUCTION.  xvii 

To  her  mother  she  flatly  refuses  to  accept  Paris.  With 
her  father,  who  in  furious  anger  insists  on  compliance, 
she  pleads  to  be  heard  in  objection  to  such  an  union. 
The  onJy.  answer  is  more  anger,  fresh  vituperation. 
Alone  with  the  Nurse,  she  seeks  comfort  from  one  who 
has  so  often  been  the  sharer  of  her  hopes  and  her 
secrets,  i^nd  has  helped  her  in  her  marriage  with  Romeo. 
For  all  consolation,  she  gets  from  the  treacherous  old 
woman  the  advice  to  accept  Paris  : 

"  0,  he  's  a  lovely  gentleman  ! 
Romeo's  a  dishclout  to  him," 

says  this  time-serving  harridan,  who,  finding  how  the  \/ 
wind  blows,  is  now  in  terror  at  her  own  share  in  what 
she  looks  upoji  as  an  escapade  to  be  blotted  out  as  best 
may  be.     Aghast  at  such  treachery,  which  at  first  she 
cannot  believe  to  be  real,  Juliet  for  ever  casts  her  olf : 

"  Thou  and  my  bosom  henceforth  shall  be  twain. 
I  '11  to  the  friar,  to  know  his  remedy  : 
If  all  else  fail,  myself  have  power  to  die. " 

In  the  scene  which  follows,  all  the  purity  of  a  pure 
I  heart,  all  the  heroism  of  ancient  heritage  and  individual 
nobility,  shine  forth  in  steady  light.  Separation  from 
Romeo,  bitter  as  the  experience  comes  to  her  new-born 
bliss,  is  bearable,  and  she  bears  it.  But  to  shame,  to  a 
violation  of  her  soul,  anything  is  preferable,  death  but  a 
paltry  shock.  She  will  dare  all,  and  she  accepts  with 
alacrity  the  one  resource  the  Friar  can  oflfer,  a  resource 
jin  its  uncertainty  and  its  gruesome  concomitants  many 
times  more  terrible  than  death.  For  the  Friar's  proposal 
is  that  the  night  before  the  threatened  marriage  day  she 


xviii  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 

shall  drink  a  potion  which  for  the  space  of  forty-two 
hours  will  throw  her  into  a  death-like  trance,  during 
which  she  is  to  be  interred  in  the  family  vault,  the  Friar 
being  ready  with  Romeo,  to  whom  instructions  are  to 
be  sent,  to  set  her  free  from  the  tomb  as  soon  as  the 
effects  of  the  potion  wear  off,  when  the  pair  are  to  make 
their  escape  to  Mantua.  Possessed  of  the  phial  Juliet 
returns  home  and  pretends  compliance  with  her  parents' 
wishes.  The  preparations  for  the  wedding  on  the  day 
next  but  one  are  hurried  forward,  and  on  its  eve  Juliet 
retires  to  her  chamber  knowing  that  no  respite  is  now 
possible,  that  the  Friar's  remedy  is  the  only  loophole  of 
hope.  As  she  prepares  to  follow  his  directions  she  is 
tortured  by  horrible  forebodings,  with  doubts  whether 
the  mixture  will  have  its  promised  effects,  whether  it 
may  not  be  a  poison  given  her  by  the  Friar  in  order  to 
shield  himself  from  the  dishonour  that  would  fall  upon 
him  if  performing  a  second  marriage  while  her  husband 
is  still  alive.  Her  over-wrought  fancies  then  picture  to 
her  the  terrors  of  awaking  from  her  trance  before 
Romeo  comes  to  set  her  free,  the  stifling  vault,  the 
neighbourhood  of  her  newly-buried  cousin,  the  apparition 
of  the  spirits  of  the  dead, — terrors  sufficient  she  feels  to 
drive  her  into  madness  and  self-destruction.  "  Suddenly 
in  her  disordered  vision  the  figure  of  the  murdered 
Tybalt  rises,  and  is  manifestly  in  pursuit  of  some  one. 
Of  whom  1  Not  of  Juliet,  but  of  her  lover  who  has 
slain  him.  A  moment  before  Juliet  had  shrunk  with 
horror  from  the  thought  of  confronting  Tybalt  in  the 
vault  of  the  Capulets.  But  now  Romeo  is  in  danger. 
All  fear  deserts  her.  To  stand  by  Romeo's  side  is  her 
one  necessity.     With  a  confused  sense  that  this  draught 


INTRODUCTION.  xix 

will  somehow  place  her  close  to  the  murderous  Tybalt, 
and  close  to  Eomeo  whom  she  would  save,  calling  aloud 
to  Tybalt  to  delay  one  moment — '  Stay,  Tybalt,  stay  ! ' 
—she  drains  the  phial,  not  'in  a  fit  of  fright,'*  but  with 
the  Avords,  '  Komeo  !  I  come ;  this  do  I  drink  to  thee.'"  f 
The  day  breaks,  Juliet  is  found  to  all  appearance  dead, 
and  in  accordance  with  the  necessities  of  the  climate  her 
funeral  follows  without  delay.     The  Friar  has  meanwhile 
sent  news  to  Romeo  of  the  threatened  marriage,  and 
instructions  as  to  the  measures  to  be  taken.     Unfortu- 
nately his  messenger,  another  Friar,  on  repairing  to  the 
house  of  his  order  in  Mantua  and  seeking  for  one  of  his 
brethren  to  accompany  him  to  Romeo's  abode,  is  pre- 
vented from  going  forth  to  the  city  in  consequence  of 
a  death  from  the   plague  having  occurred  within  the 
convent  walls  and  all  egress   being  forbidden  by  law. 
Before  he  can  find  means  to  deliver  his  letter,  Romeo's 
servant,  who  had  been  sent  back  to  Verona,  returns  to 
his   master  with   tidings  of  Juliet's  death  and  burial. 
The  moment  before  his  arrival  Romeo  had  been  indulg- 
ing in  one  of  his  golden-hued  visions,  auguring  from  a 
dream  just  dreamt  "  some  joyful  news  at  hand,"  dreaming 
for  the  last  time  in  his  life.     But  if  till  now  he  still 
retains  something  of  his  wistful  way  of  looking  at  life, 
some  of  that  self-consciousness   shown    in    his  morbid 
outbursts  about  Rosaline,  some  of  that    indulgence  in 
the  luxury   of  woe   which   even    after  his  union  with 
Juliet  he  cannot  forgo,  there  is  from  this  moment  no 
longer  any  blindness  as  to  reality,  no  shrinking  from  the 

*  As  Coleridge  explains. 

tDowden,  Shakspere,  His  Mind  and  Art,  pp.  115,  6. 


XX  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 

blow  that  has  fallen,  nothing  indeterminate  as  to  his 
future.  Death  has  taken  his  beloved  one.  There 
remains  therefore  only  to  join  her  in  her  grave.  All  is 
to  him  summed  up  in  this,  and  his  prompt  resolve  is  as 
promptly  carried  into  action.  Buying  of  an  apothecary 
in  Mantua  a  poison  which  is  to  have  instantaneous 
effect,  he  sets  out  for  Verona,  and  arriving  at  night 
proceeds  to  Juliet's  grave.  Thither  at  the  same  hour 
comes  Paris  to  strew  with  flowers  the  last  resting-place 
of  her  whom  he  had  hoped  to  make  his  wife.  As 
Romeo  is  opening  the  vault,  Paris  discovers  himself  and 
seeks  to  arrest  the  "  villanous  shame  to  the  dead  bodies  " 
which  he  imagines  Romeo  in  his  vengeance  about  to 
perpetrate.  Romeo  would  appease  his  wrath  with 
gentle  words  ;  he  shrinks  from  laying  another  sin  upon 
his  already  burdened  soul ;  he  prays  Paris  not  to  tempt 
to  fury  a  desperate  man  who  comes  armed  against  him- 
self alone.  But  his  words  are  useless.  A  hand  to  hand 
combat  ensues  and  Paris  is  slain.  Laying  Paris  in  the 
monument,  and  taking  a  final  farewell  of  Juliet,  Romeo 
swallows  off  the  poison  and  falls  dead.  As  he  does  so, 
the  Friar  with  implements  to  open  the  vault  comes  to 
the  churchyard  and  entering  the  tomb  is  in  time  to  see 
Juliet  awaken  from  her  trance.  On  his  approach  he 
had  discovered  Romeo's  dead  body,  and  now  in  answer 
to  her  inquiries  has  to  tell  her  what  has  happened. 
His  Avords  are  fatal,  for  Juliet,  refusing  all  comfort,  audi 
taking  a  last  kiss  from  Romeo's  lips,  seizes  a  dagger  he , 
is  wearing  and  plunges  it  into  her  breast.  At  this 
juncture  the  city  watch,  brought  thither  by  Pai'is's  page, : 
who,  from  a  distance,  had  witnessed  the  combat  between  I 
his  master  and  Romeo,  come  upon  the  scene  and  arrest 


INTRODUCTION.  xxi 

the  Friar  and  Romeo's  servant.  The  news  of  strange 
events  at  Juliet's  tomb  has  moreover  spread  to  the  city, 
and  presently  the  Prince,  followed  by  the  Capulets, 
Montague,  and  others,  hurry  to  the  spot.  The  Friar  and 
Romeo's  servant  relate  at  full  the  story  of  the  marriage 
and  the  subsequent  events,  and  the  play  ends  with  the 
reconciliation  of  Montague  and  Capuleb  over  the  grave 
of  their  lost  ones. 

We  have  now  followed  the  "pair  of  star-cross'd  lovers  " 
in    "  the   fearful    passage   of  their  death-mark'd   love." 

I  The  heritage  of  hate  has  determined  in  reconciliation. 
But  at  what  a  cost !  The  sole  hopes  of  two  houses  lie 
side  by  side  in  their  self-made  graves,  the  noble  Paris 
perishes  while  strewing  with  flowers  his  love's  "bridal 
bed  "  in  death,  the  witty,  gallant,  irrepressible,  Mercutio 
owes  his  fatal  wound  to  the  intervention  of  his  friend, 
"grief  of"  her  "son's  exile  hath  stopped"  the  mother's 
"  breath  "  !  Passion  has  had  its  day,  the  passion  of  an 
emotional  but  finely-strung  soul  in  Romeo,  whom  con- 
tact with  a  higlier  nature  takes  out  of  himself,  rouses 
from  an  apathy  threatening  to  paralyse  his  life,  ennobles 
into  earnest  purpose,  strengthens  for  self-abandonment, 
though  the  piteous  self-abandonment  which  sees  in  a 
ruined  love  the  ruin  of  life  itself:  the  passion  of  a  far 
grander  soul  in  Juliet  who,  an  untaught  girl,  owing 
little  to  a  mother's  love,  still  less  to  the  wise  counsels  of 
a  careful  father,  is  yet  garrisoned  about  by  the  intuitions 
of  purity,  unswerving  devotion,  singleness  of  mind  and 
directness  of  aim,  fortitude  to  suffer  all  but  the  polluting 
touch  of  sin  :  the  passion  of  less  noble  souls  to  Avhich 
worldly  honoui',  the  dictates  of  family  pride,  the  conven- 
tional obligations  to  maintain  a  tradition  of  uncompro- 


xxii  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 

raising  hostility,  merely  because  it  is  a  tradition,  render 
peace  and  good-will,  the  study  of  the  public  well-being, 
•^  the  comity  of  private  life,  things  altogether  outside  their 
ken. 

To  avoid  interruption  of  the  narrative,  little  has  been 
said  of  certain  characters  who  play  a  part,  subordinate 
indeed,  but  still  of  much  importance.  These  are  espe- 
cially the  Friar,  Mercutio,  and  the  Nurse.  When  first 
we  meet  the  Friar,  he  is  out  in  the  early  morning  cull- 
ing simples  for  use  in  medicine,  a  science  he  has  deeply 
and  successfully  studied.  He  has  been  Romeo's  spiritual 
adviser  from  early  youth,  his  confidant  in  regard  to 
Rosaline,  and  his  aid  is  now  sought  to  solve  the  difficulty 
of  marriage  with  Juliet.  A  good  old  man  who  in  his 
youth  has  known  stormy  passions  and  the  stress  of  life, 
he  has  sought  in  religion  and  retirement  the  comfort  he 
could  not  elsewhere  find ;  his  great  delight  is  to  alleviate 
suffering  of  whatever  kind,  and  above  all  to  promote 
peace  among  his  fellow-creatures.  In  the  matter,  how- 
ever, before  us  his  pursuit  ofthis  goodlv  task  masters  his 
sounder  judgment,  and  with  too  ready  compliance  he 
assents  to  Romeo's 'request.  He  in  fact  does  evil  that 
good  may  c^me — and  with  the  usual  result  of  such 
temporizing.  His  piety,  benevolence,  and  sympathy  are 
undoubted,  but  whereas  in  his  solitary  musings  and  his 
priestly  intercourse  with  human  nature  he  thinks  to 
have  garnered  up  the  teachings  of  philosophy,  he  has 
in  reality  missed  true  wisdom  of  life.  Face  to  face  with 
Romeo's  distress  at  the  sentence  of  exile,  he  can  indeed 
reprove  his  despair  with  wholesome  counsel,  and  by 
reasonable  argument  bring  him  into  a  sounder  frame  of 
mind.     But  when  he  lias  himself  to  act,  his  stored  up 


INTRODUCTION.  xxiii 

wisdom  only  leads_him_wrong.  He  _erES~m=-being_a»„ 
party  to  the  marriage,  and  his  ingenuity  and  resource 
suggesting  an  escape  from  the  inconvenient  consequences 
of  this  step,  he  thinks  to  Temedy  his  first  error  by  a 
stratagem  in  which  the  child-hke  JuHet  is  to  be  involved. 
No  doubt  the  courage  to  confess  to  the  parents  how 
matters  stand  would  bring  down  upon  himself  much 
unpleasantness.  It  would  bring  down  something  worse 
upon  Romeo  and  Juliet,  and  this  consideration  we  may 
well  believe  weighs  more  heavily  upon  him  than  any 
personal  penalties.  Still,  his  duty  is  or  should  be  clear 
before  him.  Even  at  the  last  when  the  tragic  ending 
has  come,  and  he  is  forced  to  unburden  himself  of  his 
secret,  though  he  palliates  nothing,  his  confession  of 
error  is  only  conditional ;  "  if  aught  in  this,"  he  says, 

"  Miscarried  by  my  fault,  let  my  old  life 
Be  sacrificed  some  hour  before  his  time 
Unto  the  rigour  of  severest  law." 

"  If  aught !  "  yet  without  his  too  facile  compliance  there 
would  be  no  tragedy  to  bewail !  Hudson  has  "  always 
feir"a  special  comfort  in  the  part  of  Friar  Laurence. 
HoAv  finely  his  tranquillity  contrasts  with  the  surround- 
ing agitation  !  And  how  natural  it  seems  that  from 
that  very  agitation  he  should  draw  lessons  of  tran- 
quillity ! "  Tranquillity,  yes ;  but  what  if  it  be  a  tran- 
quillity that  diff&rs  not  much  from  an  easy-going  evasion 
of  unpleasant  realities," "a"  tfiTnguiliity  which-isLto  be 
maintained  at  the  cost  uf  three  Jives  ?  According  to 
Gefvinus,  the  Friar  *^  represents,  as  it  were,  the  part  of 
the  chorus  in  this  tragedy,  and  expresses  the  leading 
idea  of  the  piece  in  all  its  fulness,  namely,  that  excess  in 


xxiv  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 

any  enjoyment,  however  pure  in  itself,  transforms  its 
sweel  into  bitterness ;  that  devotion  to  any  single 
feeling,  however  noble,  bespeaks  its  ascendancy;  that 
this  ascendancy  moves  the  man  aiTd  wnman  out  ofTheir 
natural  spheres ;  that  love  can  only  1)8  an  accompani- 
ment  to  life,  and  that  it  cannot  completely  fill  out  the 
life  and  business  of  the  man  especially ;  that  in  the  full 
power  of  its  first  feeling  it  is  a  paroxysm  of  happiness, 
the  very  nature  of  which  forbids  its  continuance  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.'  ' 

But  surely  Shakespeare  means  nothing  of  the  kind. 
Surely  he  does  not  seek  to  "moralize  this  spectacle" 
through  the  agency  of  one  who  despite  his  long  years, 
his  acquisition  of  knowledge,  his  experience  of  life,  his 
trusted  philosophy,  errs  so  grievously,  errs  in  broad 
daylight,  and  without  the  excuse  of  passion  to  disturb 
his  calm  and  tranquil  mind.  Sliakespeare,  it  seems  to 
me,  dramatizes  Brooke's  narrative  in  his  own  incom- 
parable fashion,  and  he  does  nothing  more. 

Mercutio  is  the  very  antithesis  to  Borneo.  "  The 
brooding  nature  of  Romeo,"  says  Dowden,*  "  which 
cherishes  emotion,  and  lives  in  it,  is  made  salient  by 
contrast  with  Mercutio,  who  is  all  wit,  and  intellect,  and 
vivacity,  an  uncontrollable  play  of  gleaming  and  glanc- 
ing life.  Upon  the  morning  after  the  betrothal  with 
Juliet,  a  meeting  happens  between  Romeo  and  Mercutio. 
Previously,  while  a  lover  of  Rosaline,  Romeo  had  culti- 

*  Shakspere,  His  Mind  and  Art,  pp.  116,  7. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxv 

vated  a  lover-like  melancholy.     But  now,  partly  because 
his  blood  runs  gladly,  partly  because  the  union  of  soul 
with  Juliet  has  made  the  whole  world  more  real  and 
substantial,  and  things  have  grown  too  solid  and  lasting 
to  be  disturl)ed  by  a  laugh,  Romeo  can  contend  in  jest 
with  Mercutio  himself,  and  stretch  his  wit  of  cheveril 
'from  an  inch  narrow  to  an  ell  broad.'      Mercutio  and 
the  Nurse  are  Shakespeare's  creations  in  this  play.     For 
the  character  of  the  former  he  had  but  a  slight  hint  in 
the  poem  of  Arthur  Brooke.     There  we  read  of  Mer- 
cutio as  a  courtier  who  was  bold  among  the  bashful 
maidens  as  a  lion  among  lambs,  and  we  are  told  that  he 
had  an   'ice-cold    hand.'      Putting  together  these  two 
suggestions,    discovering   a   significance    in    them,    and 
animating  them  with  the  breath  of  his  own  life,  Shake- 
speare created  the  brilliant  figure  which  lights  up  the 
first  half  of  Romeo  and  Juliet,  and  disappears  when  the 
colours  become  all  too  grave  and  sombre.     Romeo  has 
accepted  the  great  bond  of  love.     Mercutio,  with  his 
ice-cold  hand,  the  lion   among  maidens,  chooses  above 
all  things  a  defiant  liberty  of  speech,^jjly  at  war  with_ 
the  proprieties,  an  airy  freedom  of  fancy,  a  careless  and 
masterful'bourage  in  dealing  with  life,  as  though  it  were 
a  matter  of  slight  importance.     He  will  not  attach  him- 
self to  either  of  the  houses.     He  is  invited  b}'  Capulet 
to  the  banquet ;  but  he  goes  to  the  banquet  in  company 
with  Romeo  and  the  Montagues.     He  can  do  generous 
and  disinterested  things  ;  but  he  will  not  submit  to  the 
trammels  of  being  recognized  as  generous.       He  dies 
maintaining  his  freedom,  and  defying  death  with  a  jesl. 
To  be  made  worm's  meat  of  so  stupidly,  by  a  villain 
that   fights   by    the    book  of  arithmetic,    and   through 


xxvi  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 

Romeo's    awkwardness,    is    enough    to    make    a    man 
impatient.       *  A   plague   o'   both   your   houses  ! '  [^he 
/death   of  Merciitio   is   like  th'e' removal  of  a  sliittmg""'"* 
breadth'oT  sunlight  which  sparkles  o^Jhe'sea  ;  nowjhe 
clouds  close  in  upon'mie°^nothei\and  the  stress  of  the 

y  -gale  begiiisr^/To'tlTe  Gi-erman  critic  Mercutio  is  "a 
man  without  culture ;  coarse,  rude,  and  ugly ;  a  scornful 
ridiculer  of  all  sensibility  and  love,  of  all  dreams  and 
presentiments ;  a  man  who  loves  to  hear  himself  talk, 
and  in  the  opinion  of  his  noble  friend  '  will  speak  more 
in  a  minute  than  he  will  stand  to  in  a  month.' "  Does, 
then,  Shakespeare  put  into  the  mouih  of  "  a  man  with- 

-  out  culture "  the  splendid  coruscations  of  fancy  that 
flash  forth  in  Mercutio's  description  of  Queen  Mab  and 
her  chariot  ]  Is  there  no  poetry  in  the  soul  of  one  who 
could  conceive  and  embody  images  of  so  tine  a  fibre  1 
For  his  ridicule,  is  it  the  ridicule  of  love  and  sensibility, 
—  or  not  rather  ridicule  of  their  sickly  adumbiations 
which  his  keen  vision  pierces  in  the  morbid  parade  of 
despair  affected  by  Eomeo  at  Rosaline's  repulse  ?  For 
such  affectations  Mercutio's  full-blooded  vitality  lias  no 
sympathy,  for  the  annihilation  of  such  unrealities  no 
engine  seems  to  him  better  devised  than  unsparing 
raillery.  He  Js  ^  tinies__coarse  no  doubt,  but  mainly 
with  the  c";?rgt^n'^s.s  of  unj;anieable_animal  spirits  a-tilt^ 
against  maudlin  sentimentality,  opposing  one  kind  of 
extravagance  by  another,  making,  as  it  were,  its  protest 
with  a  defiani^_a&(m(/(>«.  irhe  ugly  ?  well,  he  jocularly 
confesses  to  the  enormity  of  "  beetle-brows  " ;  but  this, 
the  sole  hint  that  Shakespeare  furnishes  us  Avitli,  does 
not  seem  to  argue  any  terrible  indictment.  Does  he 
love  to  hear  himself  talk  1     The  sin  may  be  admitted, 


INTRODUCTION.  xxvii 

but  Eomeo's  depreciation  is  merely  an  impromptu  of 
the  moment  meant  to  soothe  the  plumes  of  the  Nurse 
ruffled  by  boisterous  disregard  of  would-be  dignity ; 
and  there  is  nothing  in  the  abundant  flow  of  3Iercutio's 
sallies  that  is  either  rude,  arrogant,  malicious,  or  ego- 
tistical. He  lunges  swiftly  with  the  rapier  of  his  wit, 
but  is  no  less  ready  to  take  thrust  for  thrust  ''and  so 
part  fair." 

In  Brooke's  poem  Juliet  is  called  the  "nurse-child," 
and  it  is  to  the  fact  that  the  old  woman  has  been  her 
foster-mother  that  she  owes  what  influence  she  possesses. 
From  their  mutual  relations  it  results  that  Juliet  fails 
to  see  that  the  fondness  of  which  she  is  the  object  is 
more  the  fondness  of  one  conscious  that  her  hold  over 
her  "  lady -bird  "  lies  in  compliance  with  each  whim  and 
petty  fancy,  than  any  genuine  love  and  care.  The  old 
woman  is  no  doubt  proud  of  her  charge,  and  in  the 
garrulity  of  old  age,  largely  spiced  with  individual 
coarseness,  she  dilates  upon  her  services  with  a  com- 
placent feeling  of  satisfaction  that  whatever  is  good  in 
the  girl  had  its  origin  in  her  nurture.  She  rejoices  that 
Juliet  should  be  sought  by  Paris,  not  because  she  knows 
anything  of  that  suitor's  fitness,  but  because  it  is  a  fine 
thing  for  a  maiden  to  have  a  lover.  She  is  equally 
rejoiced  that  Juliet  should  have  fallen  in  love  with 
Romeo.  She  will  help  in  the  secret  marriage,  because  it 
is  easier  to  do  so  than  to  refuse.  When  Juliet  pours 
forth  her  maledictions  upon  Romeo  for  the  slaughter  of 
Tybalt,  their  echo  is  ready  from  the  Nurse's  tongue. 
When  Juliet's  mood  changes,  the  Nurse  veers  round 
Avith  an  off"er  to  fetch  Romeo.  When  the  marriage 
with  Paris  is  decided  upon  by  the  parents  it  is  plain  to 


xxviii  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 

her  that,  poAver  and  authority  being  on  their  side,  all 
thought  of  resistance  is  out  of  the  question.  The  sin  of 
taking  a  second  husband  while  the  first  is  still  alive 
does  not  seem  so  much  as  to  pass  before  her  mind. 
Romeo  and  Juliet  cannot  come  together,  therefore  it  is 
well  that  Paris  and  Juliet  should  : 

"  I  think  you  ai'e  happy  in  this  second  match, 
For  it  excells  your  first :  or  if  it  did  not, 
Your  first  is  dead,  or  'twere  as  good  he  were 
As  liviaig  here  and  you  no  use  to  him." 

Believing  from  her  behaviour  on  returning  from  the 
Friar's  cell  that  Juliet  has  seen  her  mistake  and  now 
wisely  acqixiesces  in  the  inevitable,  the  Nurse  makes  no 
more  ado  about  the  matter,  but  is  up  early  in  the 
morning  to  deck  the  bride,  when  to  her  horror  she  finds, 
as  she  supposes,  that  death  has  forbidden  the  banns  of 
an  union  that  to  lier  had  seemed  so  satisfactory  a 
solution  of  all  difficulties,  and  her  optimism  receives 
a  shock  that  even  she  cannot  misunderstand.  Hitherto 
the  world  has  to  her  been  the  best  of  all  possible  worlds. 
A  trusted  member  of  a  high-born  household,  she  fancies 
her  behaviour  to  be  modelled  on  their  example,  ])lumes 
herself  on  decorum,  in  her  walks  abroad  must  be 
attended JjyJb-er  own  -servant,  like  her  betters  must  be 
careful  of  the  proprieties  of  the  fan,  with  due  self- 
respect  must  bridle  at  the  familiarities  of  that  "  saucy 
merchant,"  Mercutio,  "  so  full  of  his  ropery,"  and  let  it 
be  known  to  all  men  that  she  is  "none  of  his  flirt-gills." 
She  could  stay  all/  night  to  listen  to  the  good  counsel  of 
the  Friar,  and  rapturously  exclaims,  "0,  what  learning 
is  ! "  for  the  good  counsel  and  learning  chime  in  with 


INTRODUCTION.  xxix 

the  demands  of  the  moment ;  to  her  the  fact  that  Romeo 
will  not  dare  to  claim  Juliet  is  an  all-sufficient  excuse 
for  casting  him  off ;  £ner  supreme  law  is  expediencj^T 
she  recognizes  no  dictates  higher  than  those  of  personal 
colilenfment ;  of  loyalty,  love,  purity,  self-sacrifice,  she 
is  utterly  ignorant,  while  believing  all  the  time  that 
her  rule  of  life  is  squared  with  every  requirement  of 
rectitude. 

The  Montagues  and  the  Capulets,  though  important 
factors  in  the  drama,  do  not  fill  up  any  great  space  in 
the  action.  Both  seem  equally  animated  by  the  fierce 
rivalry  of  the  famil}'  feud,  but  the  former  are  Jn^_otlier 
respects  of  a  gentler  type  than  the  latter.  They  dearly 
love  their  son,  whose  exile  kills  the  mother,  and  whose 
death  well  nigh  breaks  the  father's  heart.  The  Capulets 
to  the  rancour  of  public  hatred  add  a  harsh  repression 
of  family  affection.  The  father,  hasty,  tyrannical,  ^nd 
vindictive  when  thwarted,  seemj_to_hine  l)ut  little  love 
for  his  daughter,  and  is  utterly  without  sympathy  with, 
or  imderstanding  of,  her  nature.  His  will  must  be~law 
though  it  crush  the  heart  of  his  child,  and  to  gratify  his 
pride  he  is  ready  to  sell  that  child  to  a  kinsman  of  the 
Prince.  Yet  he  is  not  without  his  good  points,  but  is 
jovial  and  hospitable,  and  shows  a  chivalry  of  feeling 
when  the  son  of  his  hereditary  foe  comes  uninvited  to 
his  banquet.  The  mother,  if  she  has  something  more  of 
love  for  her  daughter,  has  no  tenderness,  and  is  eqrrally 
impatient"  of  opposition.  Many  years  her  liusband's 
junior,  she  has  evTdently  foTmd  but  little  of  wecIHed 
happiness,  and  her  proud  h"eaTr"Mks~^r"ncrreposal  of 
trustfulness  or  interconrse' of"  feeling.  Her"cold  tem- 
perament  is  at  the  same  time  mixed  with  a  passionate 


XXX  ROMEO  AND  JULIET„ 

resentment  that  is  ready  to  poison  Eomeo  for  the  death 
of  her  nephew,  and  she  clearly  would  hesitate  at  nothing 
to  gratify  revenge  or  sweep  an  obstacle  from  her  path. 
From  neither  has  Juliet  received  much  guidance,  though 
plenty  of  discipline,  to  neither  can  she  look  for  help  in  a 
difficulty  of  the  heart  or  pardon  of  a  transgression  into 
which  that  heart  has  led  her. 
Duration  of         ^ive  da  VS.     The  banquet  of  the  Ca])ulets  is  on  the 

the  action.  j  i  i 

Sunday  ;  on  Monday  afternoon  the  marriage  takes  place  ; 
on  Tuesday  at  dawn  we  witness  the  parting  of  the 
lovers ;  the  wedding  with  Paris,  fixed  for  Thursday,  is 
hurried  forward  by  a  day ;  on  the  night  of  Thursday 
Juliet  awakens  at  the  tomb  and  the  catastrophe  comes. 


EOMEO   AND   JULIET. 


DRAMATIS  PERSONS. 

EsCALUS,  prince  of  Verona. 

Paris,  a  young  nobleman,  kinsman  to  the  prince. 

Montague, 


D' 


p  rheads  of  two  houses  at  variance  with  each  other. 

An  old  man,  cousin  to  Capulet. 

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,' 

^Franciscans. 


•}= 


Friar  John, 

Balthasar,  servant  to  Romeo. 

Sampson,  ")  ^ 

GREG0RY,r^^^^^*"*°^^P"^^*- 

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 ;  several  Men  and  Women,  relations  to  both 
houses  ;  Maskers,  Guards,  Watchmen,  and  Attendants. 

Chorus. 

Scene  :   Verona  ;  Mantua. 


^^vi-      f^l'i-  V^'^\. 


ROMEO   AND   JULIET. 


PROLOGUE. 

Two  households,  both  alike  in  dignity, 

In  fair  Verona,  where  we  lay  our  scene. 
From  ancient  grvidge  break  to  new  mutiny, 

Where  civil  blood  makes  civil  hands  unclean. 
jVomforth  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,  10 

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, 
^VTiat  here  shall  miss,  our  toil  shall  strive  to  mend. 

ACT  I. 

Scene  I.     Verona.     A  public  place. 

Enter  Sampson  a7id  Gregory,  of  the  hoiise  of  Capulet,  armed 
xoith  sioords  and  bucklers. 

Sam.  Gregory,  o'  my  word,  we  '11  not  carry  coals. 
Gre.  No,  for  then  we  should  be  colliers. 
Sam.  I  mean,  an  we  be  in  choler,  we  '11  draw. 
C  3 


4  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

(?re.  Ay,  while  you  live,  draw  your  neck  out  o'  the  collar. 

Sam.  I  strike  quickly,  being  moved.  '  o^-_i,  / 

Ore.  But  thou  art  not  quickly  moved  to  strike. 
-^  w-KUxf'  Sami  fA  dog  of  the  house  of  Montague  moves  me. 

Gre.  To  move  is  to  stir  ;  and  to  be  valiant  is  to  stand  : 
therefore,  if  thou  art  moved,  thou  runn'st  away. 

Sam.  A  dog  of  that  house  shall  move  me  to  stand  :  I  will 
take  the  wall  of  any  man  or  maid  of  Montague's.  11 

G7-e.  That  shows  thee  a  weak  slave  ;  for  the  weakest  goes 
to  the  wall. 

Sam.  True ;  and  therefore  women,  being  the  weaker 
vessels,  are  ever  thrust  to  the  wall  :  therefore  I  will  push 
Montague's  men  from  the  wall,  and  thrust  his  maids  to  the 
wall. 

Gre.  The  quarrel  is  between  our  masters  and  us  their  men. 

'        "^     Sam.  'Tis  all  one,  I  will  show  myself  a  tyrant :  when  I 

have  fought  with  the  men,  I  will  be  cruel  with  the  maids, 

and  cut  off  their  heads.  21 

Gre.  Draw  thy  tool ;  here  comes  two  of  the  house  of  the 
Montagues.  ^^  ,-y/^.-.-^^  W/**' 

Sam.  My  naked  weapon  is  out  :  quarrel,  I  will  back  thee. 

Gre.  How  !  turn  thy  back  and  run  ? 

Sam.  Fear  me  not.  ' 

Gre.  No,  marry  ;  I  fear  thee  ! 

Sam.  Let  us  take  the  law  of  our  sides  ;  let  them  begin. 

Gre.  I  will  frown  as  I  pass  by,  and  let  them  take  it  as     » 
they  list.  30 

Sam.  Nay,  as  they  dare.  I  will  bite  my  thumb  at  them  ; 
which  is  a  disgrace  to  them,  if  they  bear  it. 

Enter  Abraham  and  Balthasar. 

Abr.  Do  you  bite  your  thumb  at  us,  sir  1 

Sam.  I  do  bite  my  thumb,  sir. 

Abr.  Do  you  bite  your  thumb  at  us,  sir  ? 

Sam.  [Aside  to  Gre.]  Is  the  law  of  our  side,  if  I  say  ay  ?  i 


SCENE  I.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  5 

Gre.  No. 

Sam.  No,  sir,  I  do  not  bite  my  thumb  at  you,  sir,  but  I 
bite  my  thumb,  sir. 

Gre.  Do  you  quarrel,  sir  ?  40 

Abr,  Quarrel,  sir  !  no,  sir. 

Sam.  If  you  do,  sir,  I  am  for  you  :  I  serve  as  good  a  man 
as  you. 

Abr.  No  better. 

Sam.  Well,  sir.  „ 

Gre.  Say  '  better  :'  here  comes  one  of  my  master's  kinsmen. 

Sam.  Yes,  better,  sir. 

Abr.  You  lie. 

Sam.  Draw,  if  you  be  men.  Gregory,  remember  thy  swash- 
ing blow.  {They  fight.     50 

Enter  Benvolio. 

Ben.  Part,  fools  ! 

;  you  know  not 

[Beats  down  their  swords. 

Enter  Tybalt. 


Put  up  your  swords  ;  you  know  not  what  you  do. 


Tyb.  What,  art  thou  drawn  among  these  heartless  hinds  ? 
Turn  thee,  Benvolio,  look  upon  thy  death. 

Ben.  I  do  but  keep  the  peace  :  put  up  thy  sword, 
Or  manage  it  to  part  these  men  with  me. 

Tyb.  What,  drawn,  and  talk  of  peace  !  I  hate  the  word, 
As  T  hate  hell,  all  Montagues,  and  thee  : 
Have  at  thee,  coward  I  [They  fight. 

Enter  several  of  both  houses,  xoho  join  the  fray ;    then  enter 
Citizens,  loith  clubs. 

First  Git.  Clubs,  bills,  and  partisans  !  strike  !  beat  them 
down!      -i--"--  60 

Down  with  the  Capulets  !  down  with  the  Montagues  ! 


6  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

Enter  Capulet  in  his  gown,  and  Lady  Capulet. 

Cap.  What  noise  is  this  ?     Give  me  my  long  sword,  ho  ! 

La.  Cap.  A  crutch,  a  crutch  !  why  call  you  for  a  sword  ?  S*^^ 

Cap.  My  sword,  I  say  !     Old  Montague  is  come,  'ih  i^ 

And  flourishes  his  blade  in  spite  of  me.     .^rj-^^-^i   U'-\^t<,\J^      ■  ^^ 

Enter  Montague  and  Lady  Montague.  yW' 


Mon.  Thou  villain  Capulet, — Hold  me  not,  let  me  go. 
La.  Mon.  Thou  shalt  not  stir  a  foot  to  seek  a  foe. 


1 


Enter  Prince,  with  Attendants.  j, 

i ,  Prin.  Rebellious  subjects,  enemies  to  peace, 

(^    "       Profaners  of  this  neighbour-stained  steel,—  f 

^  ^-y     Will  they  not  hear  1    What,  ho  !  you  men,  you  beasts,       70 
r   (j^       That  quench  the  fire  of  your  pernicious  mge    c^J^^tu"^  ,y^^ 
'yy^  With  purple  fountains  issuing  from  your  veins. 

On  pain  of  torture,  from  those  bloody  liands 

Throw  your  mistemper'd  weapons  to  the  ground. 

And  hear  the  sentence  of  your  moved  prince. 

Three  civil  brawls,  bred  of  an  airy  word, 

_By  thee,  old  Capulet.  and  Montague, 

Have  thrice  disturb'd  the  quiet  of  our  streets. 

And  made  Verona's  ancient  citizens 

C^st  by  their  gi-ave  beseeming  ornaments,  80 

To  wield  old  partisans,  in  hands  as  old,  ,-jv^^^ 

Cankered  with  peace,  to  part  your  canker'd  liate  :  ^^ 
ever  you  disturb  our  streets  again. 

Your  lives  shall  jmy  the  forfeit  of  thepeace^ 

"For  this  time,  all  the  rest  depart  away  : 

You,  Capulet,  shall  go  along  with  me  : 

And,  Montague,  come  you  this  afternoon. 

To  know  our  further  pleasure  in  this  case. 

To  old  Free-town,  our  common  judgement-place. 

Once  more,  on  pain  of  death,  all  men  depart.  90 

\_Exetint  all  but  Montague,  Lady  Montague,  and  BenvoUo. 


SCENE  I.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  7 

Hon.  "VQio  set  this  ancient  quarrel  new  abroach  ? 
Sppak^  nephew,  werfi  yon  hy  when  it  began  ? 

Ben.  Here  were  the  servants  of  your  adversary, 
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, 
Who  nothing  hurt  withal  hiss'd  him  in  scorn  ; 
While  we  were  interchanging  thrusts  and  blows,  100 

Came  more  and  more  and  fought  on  part  and  part. 
Till  the  prince  came,  who  parted  either  part. 

La.  Moil.  O,  where  is  Romeo  ?  saw  you  him  to-day  ? 
Right  glad  I  am  he  was  not  at  this  f i;a^ 
■  Ben.  Madam,  an  hour  beforetlie  worshipp'd  sun 
Peer'd  forth  the  golden  window  of  the  east, 
A  troubled  mind  drave  me  to  walk  abroad  ; 
Where,  underneath  the  grove  of  sycamore 
That  westward  I'ooteth  from  the  city's  side, 
So  early  walking  did  I  see  your  son  :  110 

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,  — i 

Which  then  most  sought  where  most  might  not  be  found,       j 
Pursued  my  humour  not  pursuing  his,  j 

And  gladly  shunn'd  who  gladly  fled  from  me.  J 

Mon.  Many  a  morning  hath  he  there  been  seen, 
With  tears  augmenting  tlie  fresh  morning's  dew, 
Adding  to  clouds  more  clouds  with  his  deep  sighs  ; 
BufalTsosoonas  the  all-cheering  sun  *  120 

Should  in  the  furthest  east  begin  to  draw     «-s^'    .j-yv*^*^ 
The  shady  curtains  from  Aurora's  bed,    ' 
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 :  f,^->XC  ^  ^^^  *^'^^ 


l'\i  fi.    f.l&^M,'^^ 


8  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

Black  and  portentous  must  this  humour  prove,      ^^  =. 

Unless  good  counsel  may  the  cause  remove. 

Ben.  My  noble  uncle,  do  you  know  the  cause  ? 

Moil.  I  neither  know  it  nor  can  learn  of  him.  130 

Ben.  Have  you  importuned  him  by  any  means  ? 

Mon.  Both  by  myself  and  many  other  friends  : 
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  wi)rm^ 
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^  140 

We  would  as  willingly  give  cure_as  kno^^. 

Enter  Romeo. 

Ben.  See,  where  he  comes  :  so  please  you,  step  aside ; 
I  '11  know  his  grievance,  or  be  much  denied.  ''^      ■ 

Mon.  I  would  thou  wert  so  happy  by  thy  stay,        aa^m^ 
To  hear  true  shrift.     Come,  madam,  let 's  away. 

,,^J^  \Exeunt  Montague  and  Lady. 

Ben.  Good  morrow,  cousin.  1 

Rom.  '<  Is  the  day  so  young  ?      •       - 

Ben.  But  new  struck  nine.  t 

Rom.  Ay  me  !  sad  hours  seem  long.  " 

Was  that  my  father  that  went  hence  so  fast  ? 

Ben.  It  was.     What  sadness  lengthens  Romeo's  hours  1 

Rom.  Not  having  that,  which,  having,  makes  them  short. 

Ben.  In  love  1  151 

Rom.  Out — 

Ben.  Of  love? 

Rom.  Out  of  her  favour,  where  I  am  in  love. 

Ben.  Alas,  that  love,  so  gentle  in  his  view. 
Should  be  so  tyraimous  and  rough  in  proof  ! 

Rom.   Alas,  that  love,  whose  view  is  muffled  still. 


^—^ 


SCENE  I.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 

Should,  without  eyes,  see  pathways  to  his  will ! 
Where  shall  we  dine  ?     O  me  !     What  fray  was  here  ? 
Yet  tell  me  not,  for  I  have  heard  it  all.  /  160 

Here 's  much  to  do  with  hate,  but  more  with  love. 

hy,  then,  O  brawling  love  !  O  loving  hate  ! 
O  any  thing,  of  nothing  first  create  1 
O  heavy  lightness  !  serious  vanity  ! 
Mis-shapen  chaos  of  well-seeming  forms  !  i  f'f 
Feather  of  lead,  bright  smoke,  cold  fire;  sick  health  ! 
Still-waking  sleep,  that  is  not  what  it  is  !      '-''"' 
This  love  feel  I,  that  feel  no  love  in  this. 
Dost  thou  not  laugh  ? 

Be7i.  No,  coz,  I  ratlier  weep. 

^<>     Rom.  Good  heart,  at  what  ? 

Ben.  At  thy  good  heart's  oppression. 

Rom.  Why,  such  is  love's  transgression.  171 

Griefs  of  mine  own  lie  heavy  in  my  breast, 
Which  thou  wilt  propagate,  to  have  it  prest 
With  more  of  thine  :  this  love  that  thou  hast  .showri 
Doth  add  more  grief  to  too  much  of  mine  own. 
)  Love  is  a  smoke  raised  with  the  fume  of  sighg  ; 
\  Being  purged,  a  fire  spai'kling  in  lovers'  eyes  ; 
i  Being  vex'd,  a  sea  nourish'd  with  lovers'  tears  : 
6j  .What  is  it  else  ?  a  madn£ss_niQat_discreet, 

A  choking  gall  and  a  preserving  sweet.  180 

Farewell,  my  coz. 

Ben.  Soft !  I  will  go  along  ; 

An  if  you  leave  me  so,  you  do  me  M^rong. 

Rom.  Tut,  I  have  lost  myself  ;  I  am  not  here  ; 
This  is  not  Romeo,  he 's  some  other  where. 

Ben.  Tell  me  in  sadness,  who  is  that  you  love. 

Rom.  What,  shall  I  groan  and  tell  thee  ? 

Ben.  Groan  !  why,  no; 

But  sadly  tell  me  who. 

Ro7n.  Bid  a  sick  man  in  sadness  make  his  will : 
Ah,  word  ill  urged  to  one  that  is  so  ill  ! 


10  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

In  sadness,  cousin,  I  do  love  a  woman.  190 

Ben.  I  aim'd  so  near,  when  I  supposed  you  loved. 

Rom.  A  right  good  mark -man  !     And  she 's  fair  I  love. 

Ben.  A  right  fair  mark,  fair  coz,  is  soonest  hit. 

Rom.  "Well,  in  that  hit  you  miss  :  she'll  not  be  hit 
With  Cupid's  arrow  ;  she  hath  Diau's  wit ; 
And,  in  strong  proof  of  chastity  well  arm'd, 
tJri'^'    From  love's  weak  childish  bow  she  lives  unharm'd. 
She  will  not  stay  the  siege  of  loving  terms. 
Nor  bide  the  encounter  of  assailing  eyes, 
Nor  ope  her  lap  to  saint-seducing  gold  :  200 

ij;J..j,y^^  O,  she  is  rich  in  beaut>',  only  poor, 

That  when  she  dies  with  beauty  dies  her  store. 

Ben.  Then  she  hath  sworn  that  she  will  still  live  chaste  ? 

Rom.  She  hath,  and  in  that  sparing  makes  huge  waste, 
For  beauty  starved  with  her  severity 
Cuts  beauty  off  from  all  posterity. 
She_is  too  fair,  too  wise,  wisely  too  fair,  • 
To  merit  bliss  by  making- me  despair  : 
SJieJiath  forsworn  to  love,  and  in  that  vow 
Do  I  live  dead  that  live  to  tell  it  now.  210 

Ben.  Be  ruled  by  me,  forget  to  think  of  her. 

Rom.  O,  teach  me  how  I  should  forget  to  think. 

Ben.  By  giving  liberty  unto  thine  eyes  ; 
Examine  other  beauties. 

Rom.  'Tis  the  way 

To  call  hers^  exquisite,  in  question  more  : 
These  happy  masks  that  kiss  fair  ladies'  brows 
Being  black  put  us  in  mind  they  hide  the  fair ; 
He  that  is  strucken  blind  cannot  forget  '  » /    ^ 

The  precious  treasure  of  his  eyesight  lost :  '     ^  I 

Show  me  a  mistress^^iat  is  passing  fair,        >  .ffV-'^Hvr 


220 

0" 


The  precious  treasure  of  his  eyesight  lost : 

What  dotli  her  beavity^  serve,  but  as  a  note   ^-^   s}' 
Where  I  may  read  who  pass'd  that  passing  fair  ? 
Farewell  :  thou  canst  not  teach  me  to  forget. 
Befb7  I  '11  pay  that  doctrine,  or  else  die  in  debt.       \^EMunt. 


J 


SCENE  IX.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  11 

Scene  II.     A  street. 
Enter  Capulet,  Paris,  and  Servant. 

Cap.  But  Montague  is  bgund  as  well  as  I, 
In  penalty  alike  ;  and  'tis  not  hard,  I  think, 
For  men  so  old  as  we  to  keep  the  peace. 

Par.  Of  honouraljle  reckoning  are  you  both  ; 
And  pity  'tis  you  lived  at  odds  so  long. 
But  now,  my  lord,  what  say  you  to  my  suit  ? 

Cap.  But  saying  o'er  what  I  have  said  before  : 
■        ;^J^y  child  is  yet  a  stranger  in  the  world  ; 

. /"^he  hatli  not  seen  the  change  of  fourteen  years  ; 
jt;^     Let  two  moi-e  summers  wither  in  their  pride,  10 

Erejwe  inavjthink  her  ripe  to  be  a  bride. 

Par.  Younger  than  she  are  happy  mothers  made. 

Cap.  And  too  soon  marr'd  are  those  so  early  made. 
The  earth  hath  swallow'ffall  my  hopes  but  she. 
She  is  the  hopeful  lady  of  my  earth  : 
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  j)ld"accustom'd  ?east, "  20 

Whereto  I  have  invit'ed  many  a  guest, 
Such  as  I  love  ;  and  you,  among  the  store, 
One  more,  most  welcome,  makes  my  number  more. 
At  my  poorjiouse  look  to  behold  this  nighto..^"'''^'^ 
Earth-treading  stars  that  make  dark  heaven  light : 
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. 


12  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

Come,  go  with  me.     [To  Serv.,  giving  a  paper. "]    Go,  sirrah, 

trudge  about 
Through  fair  Verona  ;  find  those  persons  out  ,     a'^s^)'^ 

Whose  names  are  written  there,  and  to  them  say, 
My  house  and  welcome  on  their  pleasure  stay.  37 

[Exeunt  Cajmlet  and  Paris. 
Serv.  Find  them  out  whose  names  are  written  here  !  It  is  \0^^ 
written,  that  the  shoemaker„should  meddle  withhis  }'arij,  and 
the  tailor  with  his  last,  the  ^sher_witli_hispencnjfUKf  th^ 
painter  withj^iis  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. 

Enter  Benvolio  and  Eomeo. 

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 : 
/  Take  thou  some  new  infection  to  thy  eye,\ 
\^  And  the_rank  poison  of  the  old  will  die.^  J  60 

Rom.  Your  plaintain-leaf  is  excellent  for  that. 
Ben.  For  what,  I  pray  thee  ? 

Rom.  For  your  broken  shin. 

Ben.  Why,  Romeo,  art  thou  mad  ? 
Rom.  Not  mad,  but  bound  more  than  a  madman  is  ; 
/    Shut  up  in  prison,  kept  without  my  food, 

Whipp'd  and  tormented  and — God-den,  good  fellow. 
Serv.  God  gi'  god-den.     I  pray,  sir,  can  you  read  ? 
I  Rom.  Ay,  mine  own  fortune  in  my  misery.  ,^  »va/\n  ""^ 

u^/^w't  Serv.  Perha]3s  you  have  learned  it  without  book  :  but,  I 
1^*^        pray,  can  you  read  any  tlinig  you  see  '/     '  60 

Rom.  Ay,  if  I  know  the  letters  and  the  language. 
Serv.  Ye  say  honestly  :  rest  you  merry  ! 
Rom.  Stay,  fellow  ;  I  can  read.  [Reads. 

'  Siguior  Martino  and   his  wife  and   daughters  ;   County 


SCENE  II.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  13 

Anselme  and  his  beauteous  sisters ;  the  lady  widow  of 
Vitruvio ;  Signior  Placentio  and  his  lovely  nieces  ;  Mer- 
cutio  and  his  brother  Valentine  ;  mine  uncle  Capulet,  his 
wife,  and  daughters  ;  my  fair  niece  Rosaline  ;  Livia  ;  Signior 
Yalentio  and  his  cousin  Tybalt ;  Lucio  and  the  lively  Helena.' 
A  fair  assembly  ;  whither  should  they  come  ?  70 

Serv.  Up. 
Rom.  Whither  ? 
Serv.  To  supper  ;  to  our  house. 
Rom.  Whose  house  ? 
Serv.  My  master's. 

Rmn.  Indeed,  I  should  have  ask'd  you  that  before. 
Serv.  Now  I  '11  tell  you  without  asking  :  my  master  is  the 
great  rich  Capulet  ;  and  if  you  be  not  of  the  house  of  Mon- 
tagues, I  pray,  come  and  crush  a  cup  of  wine.     Rest  you 
merry !  [Exit.     80 

Beiu  At  this  same  ancient  feast  of  Capulet's 
Sups  the  fair  Rosaline  whom  thou  so  lovest, 
With  all  the  admired  beauties  of  Verona  : 
Go  thitheiv^_andjjwithunattainted  eye, 
Compare  her  face  with  some  that  r"sliall  show. 
And  I  will  make  thee  think  thy^ypi  acmw. 
Rom.  When  the  devout  religion  of  mine  eye 

Maintains  such  falsehood,  then  turn  tears  to  fires ; 
And  these,  who  often  drown'd  could  never  die, 

Transparent  heretics,  be  burnt  for  liars  !  90 

One  fairer  than  my  love  !  the  all-seeing  sun 
u ,  ^    Ne'er  saw  her  match  since  first  the  world  begun. 
Ben.  Tut,  you  saw  her  fair,  none  else  being  by. 
Herself  poised  with  herself  in  either  eye  : 
But  in  that  crystal  scales  let  there  be  weigh'd 
Your  lady's  love  against  some  other  maid 
That  I  will  show  you  shining  at  this  feast. 
And  she  shall  scant  show  well  that  now  shows  best. 

Rom.  I  '11  go  along,  no  such  sight  to  be  shown, 
But  to  rejoice  in  splendour  of  mine  own.  [Exeunt.     100 


14  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

Scene  III.      A   room  in  Capulefs  house. 

Enter  Lady  Capulet  and  Nurse. 

■^ La.  Cap.  Nurse,  where 's  my  daughter  ?  call  her  forth  to  me. 
Nurse.  I  bade  her  come.     What,  lamb  !  what,  lady -bird  ! 
God  forbid  !     Where  's  this  girl  ?     What,  Juliet  ! 

Enter  Juliet. 

Jul.  How  now  !     Who  calls  ? 

Nurse.  Your  mother. 

Jul.  Madam,  I  am  here. 

What  is  your  will  ?  ,  ^ 

La.  Cap.  This  is  the  matter  : — Nurse,  give  leave  awhile, 
We  must  talk  in  secret : — nurse,  come  back  again  ; 
I  have  remember'd  me,  thou's  hear  our  counsel. 
Thou  know'st  my  daughter's  of  a  pretty  age.  'W^" 

N^irse.  Faith,  I  can  tell  her  age  unto  an  hour.  10 

La.  Cap.  She  's  not  fourteen. 

Nurse.  I  '11  lay  f ouiteen  of  my  teeth, — 

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

La.  Cap.  A  fortnight  and  odd  days. 

Nurse.  Even  or  odd,  of  all  days  in  the  year, 
V  Come  Lammas-eve  at  night  shall  she  be  fourteen. 

•p^    Susan  and  she — God  rest  all  Christian  souls  !  — 
Were  of  an  age :  well,  Susan  is  with  God  ; 
She  was  too  good  for  me  :  but,  as  I  said,        ^,- 
On  Lammas-eve  at  night  shall  she  be  fourteen  ;  j  20 

That  shall  she,  marry  ;  I  remember  it  well.        i 
'Tis  since  the  earthquake  now  eleven  years  ;  <— ^ 
And  she  was  wean'd, — i  never  shall  forget  it, — 
Of  all  the~3aysof  the  year,  upon  that  day  :. 
For  I  had  then  laid  wormwood  to  my  dug. 
Sitting  in  the  sun  under  the  dove-house  wall ; 


SCENE  in.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  15 

My  lord  and  you  were  then  at  Mantua  : — 

Nay,  T  do  hear  a  Ijrain  :— but,  as  I  said. 

When  it  did  taste  the  wormwood^on_the  nipple 

Of  my  dug  and  felt  it  bitter,  pretty  fool,  30 

To  see  it  tetchy  and  fall  out  with  the  dug  ! 

|_Shake '  quoth  the  doveJ[iouse  :  'twas  no  need,  I  trow, 

To  bid  me  trudge  : 

And  since  that  time  it  is  eleven  years  ; 

For  then  she  could  stand  alone ;  nay,  l\v  the  rood. 

She  could  Jiave  run  and  waddled  all  about ; 

For  even  the  day  before,  she  broke  her  brow. 

La.  Cap.  Enough  of  this  ;  I  pray  thee,  hold  thy  peace. 

Nurse.  Peace,  I  have  done.     God  mark  thee  to  his  grace  ! 
Thou  wast  the  prettiest  babe  that  e'er  I  nursed  :  40 

An  I  might  live  to  see  thee  married  once, 
I  have  my  wish. 

La.  Cap.  Marry,  that  '  marry '  is  the  very  theme 
I  came  to  talk  of.     Tell  me,  daughter  Juliet, 
How  stands  your  disposition  to  be  married  ?    ) 

Jul.  It  is  an  honour  that  I  dream  not  of.    ^ 

Niorse.  An  honour  !  were  not  I  thine  only  nurse, 
I  would  say  thou  hadst  suck'd  wisdom  from  thy  teat. 
^.^^^    La.  Cap.  Well,  think  of  marriage  now  ;  younger  than  you, 
Here  in  Verona,  ladies  of  esteem,  50 

Are  made  already  mothers  :  by  my  count, 
I  was  your  mother  much  upon  these  years 
*^That  you  are  now  a  maid.     Thus  then  in  brief  : 
The  valiant  Paris  seeks  you  for  his  love. 

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

La.  Cap.  Verona's  summer  hath  not  such  a  flower.  ~ 

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

La.  Cap.  What  say  you  ?  can  you  love  the  gentleman  ? 
This  night  you  shall  behold  him  at  our  feast ; 
Eead  o'er  the  volume  of  young  Paris'  face 
And  find  delight  writ  there  with  beauty's  pen  ; 


60 


16  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

Examine  every  married  lineament 

And  see  how  one  another  lends  content,  '"- 

And  what  obscured  in  this  fair  volume  lies 

Find  written  in  the  margent  of  his  eyes. 

This  precious  book  of  love,  this  unbound  lover, 

To  beautify  him,  only  lacks  a  cover  ;  u,^^  ^  ,1 

The  £j^  lives  in_tlie  sea,  and  'tis  much  pride  j^^ii^it!^ 

For  fair  witliout  the  fair  within  to  hide  :    -  TO 

That_book_in  many's  eyes  doth  share  the  glory. 

That  in  gold  clasps  locks  in  the  golden  story  ; 

So  shall  you  share  all  that  he  doth  possess,    ,;.,  /  ^  l^ 

By  having  him,  making  yourself  no  less. 

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  78 

Enter  a  Servant. 

Serv.  Madam,  the  guests  are  come,  sagger  served  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. 

La.  Cap.  We  follow  thee.      [E.vit  Servant.]      Juliet,  the 
county  stays. 

Nurse.  Go,  girl,  seek  happy  nights  to  happy  days.  [Exeunt. 

Scene  IV.     A  street. 

Enter  Romeo,  Mercutio,  Benvolio,  loith  five  or  six 
Maskers,  Torch-bearers,  and  others. 

Rom.  What,  shall  this  speech  be  spoke  for  our  excuse  ? 
Or  shall  we  on  without  apology  1 

Ben.  The  date  is  out  of  such  prolixity  : 
We  '11  have  no  Cupid  hoodwink'd  with  a  .scarf, 
Bearing  a  Tartar's  painted  bow  of  lath,  ,i 


SCENE  IV.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  jy 

Scaring  the  ladies  like  a  crow-keeper  ; 

Nor  no  without-book  prologue,  faintly  spoke 

After  the  prompter,  for  our  entrance  : 

But  let  them  mpasnre  us  by  what  thev  will ; 

We  '11  nieasure  them  a  measure,  and  be  gone.  10 

Rom.  Give  me  a  torch  :  I  am  not  for  this  ambline  : 
Being  but  heavy,  I  will  bear  the  light.       ... 

Jiier.  JNay,  gentle  Romeo,  we  must  have  you  dance. 

Rom.  Not  I,Jjeli£xa-m£j_jx)u  have  dancing  slmps 
With  nimb!e"sQles  :  I  have  a  soul  of  lead 
So  stakes  me  to  the  ground  I  cannot  move.  • ' 

Mer.  You  are  a  lover  ;  borrow  Cupid's  wings, 
Anjijpar~wrth  them~a5ove  a  commonljound?"" 

Bom.  I  am  too  sore  eupierced  with  his  shaft     *  *^^^' 
To  soar  with  his  light  feathers,  and  so  bound,  '  20 

I  cannot  bound  a  pitch  above  dull  woe  : 
XJnd£rjovels_heavy_burden  do  I  sink. 

J/e?-.  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,     ^'^  fy^^*-^^^^ 
ToQ-mdeTtoo  boisterous,  and  it  pricks  like  thorn..^  ■    .   ^ 

^fer.  If  love  be  rough  with  you,  be  rough  with  love  ;    [ti^"^ 
PrickJoye.for  pricking,  and  you  beat  love  down. 
Give  me  a  case  to  put  my  visage  in  : 

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. 

Rom.  A  torch  for  me  :  let  wantons  light  of  heart 
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. 

Mer.  Tut,  dun  's  the  mouse,  the  constable's  own  word  :    40 
If  thou  art  dun,  we  '11  draw  thee  from  the  mire 

B 


18  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

^  ) 
Of  this  sir-reverence  love,  wherein  thou  stiek'st 
Up  to  the  ears.     Come,  we  burn  daylight,  ho  ! 

Rom.  Nay,  that 's  not  so. 

Mer.  I  mean,  sir,  in  delay 

We  waste  our  lights  in  vain,  light  lights  by  day. 
Take  our  good  meaning,  for  our  judgement  sits 
Five  times  in  that  ere  once  in  our  five  wits. 

Rom.  And  we  mean  well  in  going  to  this  mask  ; 
But  'tis  not  wit  to  go. 

Mer.  Why,  may  one  ask  ? 

Ro7n.  I  dream'd  a  dream  to-night. 

jj/g^.  And  so  did  I.  "HD 

Rom.  Well,  what  was  yours  ? 

jj^gf^  That  dreamers  often  lie. 

Rom.  In  bed  asleep,  while  they  do  dream  things  true. 
^    Mer.  0,  then,  I  see  Queen  Mab  hath  been  with  you. 
She  is  the  fairies'  midwife,  and  she  comes  !.< ;  lu 

In  .shape  no  bigger  than  an  agate-stone 
On  the  fore-finger  of  an  alderman, 
Drawn  with  a  team  of  little  atomies 
Athwart  men's  noses  as  they  lie  asleep  ; 
Her  waggon-spokes  made  of  long  spinners'  legs. 
The  cover  of  the  wings  of  grasshoppers,  60    .j 

The  traces  of  the  smallest  spider's  web, 
The  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 
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'  coachmakers. 
And  in  this  state  she  gallops  niglit  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, 


scEXE  n^]  RO^rEO  AND  JULIET.  19 

O'er  ladies'  lips,  who  straight  on  kisses  dream, 
Which  oft  the  angry  Mab  with  blisters  plagues. 
Because  their  breaths  with  sweetmeats  tainted  are  : , 
Sometime  she  gallops  o'er  a  courtier's  nose, 
And  then  dreams  he  of  smellinif  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,  1~ 

Of  healths  five-fathom  deep  ;  and  then  anon  .  -^^Aj^^^-X  vX 

.Drums  in  his  ear.  at  which  he  starts  and  wakes, 
And  being  thus  frighted  swears  a  prayer  or  two 
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  she — 

Rom.  Peace,  peace,  Mercutio,  peace  ! 

Thou  taik'st  of  nothing. 

Mer.  True,  I  talk  of  dreams, 

Which  are  the  children  of  an  idle  brain,  '^ .       {^ 

Begot  of  nothing  but  vain  fantasy,  p>j[^'vT 

j  Which  is  as  thin  of  substance  as  the  air 
I  And  more  inconstant  than  the  wind,  who  wooes 
Even  now  the  frozen  bosom  of  the  north,     »jr  »#.«»-^  v« ■*■■■* '•■^~ " 
And,  being  anger'd,  puffs  away  from  thence. 
Turning  his  face  to  the  dew-dropping  .south  >^^7^^  100 

Ben.  Tliis  wind,  you  talk  of,  blows  us  from  ourselves  ; 
Supp^r-^done,  and  we  shall  come  too  late.^1 

Rom.  I  fear,  too  early  :  for  my  mind  misgives 
Some  consequence  yet  hanging  in  the  stars 
Shall  bitterly  begin  his  fearful  date 
With  this  night's  revels  and  expire  the  term 
Of  a  despised  life  closed  in  my  breast 


20  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

By  some  vile  forfeit  of  untimely  death. 
But  He,  that  hath  the  steerage  of  my  course, 
Direct  my  sail !     On,  lusty  gentlemen.  110 

Ben.  Strike,  drum.  [^Exeunt. 

ScENK  Y.     A  hall  in  Capulefs  house. 
Musicians  waiting.     Enter  Servingmen,  with  napkins. 

First  Seri\  Where 's  Potpan,  that  he  helps  not  to  take 
away  1     He  shift  a  trencher  ?  he  .scrape  a  trencher  ? 

Sec.  Serv.  When  good  manners  shall  lie  all  in  one  oi'  two 
men's  hands  and  they  unwashed  too,  'tis  a  foul  thing. 

First  Sei'v.  Away  with  the  joint-stools,  remove  the  court- 
cupboard,  look  to  the  plate.  Good  thou,  save  me  a  piece  of 
marchpane  ;  and,  'as  thou  lovest  me,  let  the  porter  let  in 
Susan  Grindstone  and  Nell.     Antony,  and  Potpan  ! 

Sec.  Serv.  Ay,  boy,  ready. 

First  Serv.  You  are  looked  for  and  called  for,  asked  for 
and  sought  for,  in  the  great  chamber.  11 

Sec.  Serv.  We  cannot  be  here  and  there  too.  Cheerly, 
boys  ;  be  brisk  awhile,  and  the  longer  liver  take  all. 

Enter  Capulet,  with  Juliet  and  others  of  his  house,  meeting 
the  Guests  and  Maskers. 

Cap.  Welcome,  gentlemen  !  ladies  that  have  their  toes 
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  ?  Y^ 

Welcome,  gentlemen  !  I  have  seen  the  day 
That  I  have  worn  a  visor  and  could  tell  20 

A  whispering  tale  in  a  fair  lady's  ear. 
Such  as  would  please  :  'tis  gone,  'tis  gone,  'tis  gone  : 
You  are  welcome,  gentlemen  !     Come,  musicians,  play. 
A  hall,  a  hall  !  give  room  !  and  foot  it,  girls.  i 

[Micsic  plai/s,  and  they  dance. 


SCENE  v.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  21 

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  sjwrt  comes  well. 

Nay,  sit,  nay,  sit,  good  cousin  Capulet ; 

For  you  and  I  are  past  our  dancing  days  : 

How  long  is 't  now  since  last  yourself  and  I  30 

Were  in  a  mask  ? 

Sec.  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,  '■'<^'  ^'^^ 
Some  five  and  twenty  years  ;  and  then  we  mask'd. 

Sec.  Cap.  'Tis  more,  'tis  more  :  his  son  is  elder,  sir  ; 
His  son  is  thirty. 

Cap.  Will  you  tell  me  that  ?     ■^.vii/^a./' 

His  son  was  but  a  ward  two  years  ago. 

Rom.  [To  a  Servingmani  What  lady  is  that,  which  doth 
enrich  the  hand 
Of  yonder  knight  1  40 

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  Ethiope's  ear  ; 
Beauty  too  rich  for  use,  for  earth  too  dear  ! 
So  shows  a  snowy  dove  trooping  with  crows,        rv  ^^jXtK 
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  tilljv^w^nrswar  it-,,  .sig^'^"' V^  50 

For  I  ne'er  saw  true"beaut\'  till  tliis  niolit —  ^^ 

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, 
To  fleer  and  scorn  at  our  solemnity  ?  I.,. ' 
Now,  by  the  stock  and  honour  of  ray  kin, 
To  strike  him  dead  I  hold  it  not  a  sin. 


22  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

Cap.  Why,  how  now,  kinsman  !  wherefore  storm  you  so  ? 

Tyh.  Uncle,  this  is  a  Montague,  our  foe, 
A  villain  that  is  hither  come  in  spite,  60 

To  scorn  at  our  solemnity  this  night. 

Cap.  Young  Romeo  is  it  ? 

Tyh.  '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 
To  be  a  virtuous  and  well-govern'd  youth  : 
I  would  not  for  the  wealth  of  all  the  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,  70 

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.  He  shall  be  endured  • 

_Wlia.t,  g-ondman  boy  !   I  sav,  lift  sli'vH  •   p'l  tn  ; 
Ami  the  master  here,  or  you  ?  go  to._ 
You  '11  not  endure  him  !     God  shall  mend  my  soul  ! 
You  '11  make  a  mutiny  among  my  guests  ! 
You  will  set  cock-a-hoop  !  you  '11  be  the  man  ! 

Tyh.  Why,  uncle,  'tis  a  shame. 

Cap.  Go  to,  go  to ;  80 

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  ! 
I  '11  make  you  quiet.     What,  cheerly,  my  hearts  ! 

Tyh.  Patience  perforce  with  wilful  choler  meeting 
Makes  my  flesh  tremble  in  tlieir  different  greeting. 


yVW*' 


,'»>■ 


^ —  ^ 

,    I  will  withdraw  ;  but  this  intrusion  sliall 


Now  seeming  sweet  convert  to  bitter  gall,  m  [^Exit. 


90 


SCENE  v.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  23 

Ro7n.  {To  Juliet]  If  I  profane  with  my  unworthiest  hand 
This  holy  shrine,  the  gentle  fine  is  this  : 
My  lips,  two  blushing  pilgrims,  ready  stand 
To  smooth  that  rough  touch  with  a  tender  kiss. 
Jul.     Good  pilgrim,  you  do  wrong  your  hand  too  much, 
iAi^v^i  <v  Which  mannerly  devotion  shows  in  this  ; 

For  saints  have  hands  that  pilgrims'  hands  do  touch, 
And  paiigjto  palm  is  holypalmei's'  kiss.  Z 
Rom.  Have  not  saintsTtfKTand  Eoly  palmers  too  ? 
Jul.        Ay,  pilgrim,  lips  that  they  must  use  in  prayer.  100 
Rom.  O,  then,  dear  saint,  let  lips  do  what  hands  do  ; 
.1^  ^Tt^i  ..  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. 

Thus  from  my  lips,  by  yours,  my  sin  is  purged. 
Jill.         Then  have  my  lips  the  sin  that  they  have  took. 
Rom.  Sin  from  my  lips  1    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  ?      "^'^-^  v  '^'^f  '^-'  - 
Nurse.  Marry,  bachelor,  110 

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  ? 

0  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  towai-ds.  120 

Is  it  e'en  so  ?  why,  then,  I  thank  you  all ; 

1  thank  you,  honest  gentlemen  ;  good  night. 
More  torches  here  !     Come  on  then,  let 's  to  bed. 


24  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i.  sc.  v. 

A3%  sirrah,  by  my  fay,  it  waxes  late  : 

I'll  to  my  rest.  [Exeunt  all  hut  Juliet  and  Nurse. 

Jul.  Come  hither,  nurse.     What  is  yond  gentleman  ? 

Nurse.  The  son  and  heir  of  old  Tiberio. 

Jul.  What 's  he  that  now  is  going  out  of  door  ? 

Nurse.  Marry,  that,  I  think,  be  young  Petrucio. 

Jul.  What 's  he  that  follows  there,  that  would  not  dance  ? 

Nurse.  I  know  not.  131 

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. 


Jid.  My  only  lovTsprung  f  i^om  my  only  hate  '■ 
(Too  early  seen  unknown,  and  known  too  latej_ 
'Prodigiousljirth  of  love  it  is  to  me. 
That  I  must  love  a  loathed  enemy. 
"Nurse.  What 's  this  1  what 's  this  ? 

Jid.  A  rhyme  I  learn'd  even  now. 

Of  one  I  danced  withal.  [One  calls  within  '  Juliet.' 

Nurse.  Anon,  anon  !    '^-^  ^^" 

Come,  let 's  away  ;  the  strangers  all  are  gone.  [E.veu7it. 


ACT  II. 

PROLOGUE. 

f  Enter  Chorus. , 

C/wr.  Now  old  desire  doth  in  his  death-bed  lie. 

And  young  aflfection  gapes  to  be  his  heir  ;  l>.<^^" 
That  fair  for  which  love  groan'd  for  and  would  die, 

With  tender  Juliet  match'd,  is  now  not  fair. 
Now  Romeo  is  beloveclTa^  loves  again^ 
trni      **   Alike  bewitched"By~the  charm  oT'looks,  ,;_^  \^i^^ 

But  to  his  foe  supposedTie  must  complain, 

And  she  steal  love's  sweet  bait  from  tearful  hooks  : 


ACT  11.  PROLOGUE.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  25 

Being  held  a  foe,  he  may  not  have  access 
^  To_breatlie  such  vows  as  lovers  use  to  swearj  10 

And  she  as  much  in  love,  her  means  much  less 
'      To  meet  her  new-beloved  any  where  : 
li  But  passion  lends  them  power,T)time  means,  to  meet. 
Tempering  extremities  with  extreme  sweet.         [^Exit. 

Scene  I.     A  lane  hy  the  wall  of  Capulefs  orchard. 

Enter  Eomeo. 

Rom.  Can  I  go  forward  when  my  heart  is  here  .' 
Turn  back,  dull  earth,  and  find  thy  centre  out. 

[iTe  climbs  the  wall,  and  leaps  down  within  it. 

Enter  Benvolio  ami  Mercutio. 

Ben.  Romeo  !  my  cousin  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  : 
Call,  good  Mercutio. 

Mer.  Nay,  I  '11  conjure  too. 

Romeo  !  humours  !  madman  !  passion  !  lover  ! 
Api^ear  thou  in  the  likeness  of  a  sigh  :  U  luu.^ 
Speak  but  one  rhyme,  and  I  am  satisfied  ; 
Cry  but  '  Ay  me  ! '  pronounce  but  '  love '  and  '  dove  ;  10 

t^*"^  Speak  to  my  gossip  Venus  one  fair  word, 
Ai^^  One  nick-name  for  her  purblind  son  and  heir. 
Young  Adam  Cupid,  he  that  shot  so  trim,  -^^^h^ 
When  King  Cophetua  loved  the  beggar-maid  !  "i^, 
He  heareth  not,  he  stirreth  not,  he  moveth  not ; 
The  ape  is  dead,  and  I  must  conjure  him.   Im^  ■^4^.1^ 
I  conjure  thee  by  Rosaline's  bright  eyes. 
By  her  high  forehead  and  her  scarlet  lip. 
That  in  thy  likene.ss  thou  appear  to  us  ! 

Ben.  An  if  he  hear  thee,  thou  wilt  anger  hiiu.  20 


26  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  n. 


3 


Mer.  This  cannot  anger  him  :  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. 
To  be  consorted  with  the  humorous  night  : 
Blind  is  his  love  and  best  befits  the  dark. 

Mer.  If  love  be  blind,  love  cannotJiitJ-.h(^  marlj^  / 

Romeo,  good  jiight :  I  '11  to  my  truckle-bed  ; : 
This  field-bed  is  too  cold  for  me  to  sleep  :  ^ 

I^me,  shall  we  go  ? 

Ben.  Go,  then  ;  for  'tis  in  vain  30 

To  seek  him  here  that  means  not  to  be  found.  \Exeunt. 


Scene  II.     Capulets  orchard. 

Enter  Romeo. 

Rom.  He  jests  at  scars  that  never  felt  a  wound. 

\Jnliet  appears  above  at  a  windoto. 

But,  sj)ft  !  what  light  through  yonder  window  breaks  ? 

It  is  the  east,  and  Juliet  is  the  sun. 
/  Arise,  fair  sun,  and  kill  the  envious  moon,  /u<)  -  -  - 
L   "Whois  already  sick  and  pale  with  grief, 
)  That  thou  her  maid  art  far  more  fair  than  she  : 
j    Be  not  her  maid,  since  she  is  envious  ; 

Her  vestal  livej'y  is  but  sick  and  green 

And  none  but  fools  do  wear  it ;  cast  it  off. 

It  is  my  lady,  O,  it  is  my  love  !  10 

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, 

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  ? 


SCEXE  II.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  27 

The  brightness  of  her  cheek  would  sliame  those  stars, 

As  daylight  doth  a  lamp  ;  her  eyes  in  heaven  20 

"Would  through  the  airv  region  sti-eam  so  brifjht 

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  ! 

Jid.  Ay  me  ! 

Rom.  She  speaks  : 

O,  sj^eak  again,  bright  angel !  for  thou  art 
As  glorious  to  this  night,  being  o'er  my  head, 
As  is  a  winffed  messenger  of  heaven 

Unto  the  white-uptui'iied  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.  ^ 

Jul.  O  Romeo,  Romeo  !  wherefc/re  art  £hou  Romeo  ?  ' 
Deny  thy  father  and  refuse  thy  name  ;  <  vA^vr 
I  Or,  if  thou  wilt  not,  be  but  sworn  my  love. 
I  And  I  '11  no  longer  be  a  Capulet. 

K0'm7\_Aside\  Shall  I  hear  more,  or  shall  I  speak  at  this  ? 

Jul.  'Tis  but  thy  name  that  is  mv  enemy  ;    \(^ 
Xhou  art  thyself,  though  not  a  Montague. 
What 's  Montague  ?  it  is  nor  hand,  nor  foot,  40 

Xor  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  am"  other  name  would  smell  as  sweet ; 
So  Romeo  would,  were  he  not  Romeo  call'd, 
.Retain  that  dear  perfection  which  he  owes 
Wij;,hniit.  tliat  title.     Romeo^_doff  thy  name, 
And  for  tliat  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. 


$ 


■1  -' 


-tA  - 


28  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

Jxil.  What  man  ai't  thou  that  thus  bescreen'd  in  night 
So  stumblest  on  my  counsel  ?      -V, .' , 

Rom.  By  a  name        "U-iAxlr  iWt^/*--' 

I  know  not  how  to  tell  thee  who  I  am  : 
My  name,  dear  saint,  is  hateful  to  myself. 
Because  it  is  an  enemy  to  thee  ; 
Had  I  it  written,  I  would  tear  the  word. 

Jul.  My  ears  have  not  yet  drunk  a  hundred  words 
Of  that  tongue's  utterance,  yet  I  know  the  sound  : 
Art  thou  not  Romeo  and  a  Montague  ?  60 

Rom.  Neither,  fair  saint,  if  either  thee  dislike.  / 

Jul.  How  camest  thou  hither,  tell  me,  and  wherefore  ? 
^The  orchard  walls  are  high  and  hard  t.n  nlhul-.^       ^^X'O'*^     cJL 
vAndthe  place  death,jconsideriiig_  who  thou  art,       ijW  U-*"^"^-^  ' 
If  any  of  mv  kinsmen  find  thee  here. 

Rom.  With  love's  light  wings  did  I  o'er-perchjhftsfi  walisi  ; 
For  stonv  limits  cannot  hold  lovft  nu<-.^ 
And  what  love  can  do  that  dares  love  attempt  ; 
Therefoi'e  thy  kinsmen  are  no  let  to  me. 

Jul.  If  they  do  see  thee,  they  will  murder  thee.  70 

Rom.  Alack,  there  lies  more  peril  in  thine  eye 
Than_twenty  of  their  swords  :  look  thou  but  swee.t, 
And  I  am  proof  against  their  enmity. 

Jul.  I  would  not  for  the  world  they  saw  thee  here. 

Rom.  I  have  night's  cloak  to  hide  me  fi-om  tlieir  sight  ; 
^    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,  who  first  did  promjit  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  wasli'd  with  the  farthest  sea, 
1 1  would  adventure  for  such  merchandise. 

Jul.  Thou  know'st  the  mask  of  night  is  on  my  face, 
Else  would  a  maiden  blush  bepaii,it  my  cheek 


il*V| 


I 


SCENE  II.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  ^9 

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  swe^r'st, 
Thou  mayst  prove  false. ;  at  lover's  perjuries. 
They  say,  Jove  laughs.     O  gentle  Romeo,         ,sCw.*-«  - '..    -  •  j 
If  thou  dost  love,  pronounce  it  faithfully  :    ^ak^"*'-     ■  ^^'i- 
JDjlif  thou  think'st  I  am  tnn  qmV-Vly  vjr,-,^^  ^^—^ 
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.  Qhj 
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, 
Which  the  dark  nip^ht  h^th  1"^  rligpAvt^rprl  _ 

Rom.  Lady,  by  yonder  blessed  moon  I  swear 
That  tips  with  silver  allthese  fruit-tree  tops — 

Jul.  O,  swear  not  by  the  moon,  the  inconstant  moon. 
That  monthly  changes  in  her  circled  orb,  110 

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 — 

^  Jul.  Well,  do  not  swear  :  although  I  joy  in  thee, 
I  have  no  joy  of  this  contract  to-night  :  1 

Lt  is  too  rash,  too  unadvised,  too  sudden  :  "X.  i.^-   ^'•' 

Too  like  the  lightning,  which  doth  cease  to  be\ 

■ ^ ^ "'   — * 

Ere  one  can  say  'It  lightens?     Sweet,  good  night  !  120 


30  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

This  bud  of  love,  by  sunmier'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  1 
Jul.  What  satisfaction  canst  thou  have  to-night  ? 
Rom.  The  exchange  of  thy  love's  faithful  vowJFor  mine. 
Jul.  I  gave  thee  mine  before  thou  didst  request  it  : 
And  yet  I  would  it  were  to  give  again.  129 

Rom.  Wouldst  thou  withdraw  it  ?  for  what  purpose,  love  ? 
J^d.  But  to  be  frank,  and  give  it  thee  again. 
And  yet  I  wish  but  for  the  thing  I  have  :  Vvcv  *<^*v>.'*yiKi-c£c.^.<- 
My  bounty  is  as  boundless  as  the  sea, 
^MyTove  a.s  deep  ;  the  moi-e  I  give  to  thee, 

The  more  I  have,  for  both  are  infinite.       ^Nurse  calls  within. 
_T  hear  some  noise  within  ]  dear  love,  adieu  ! 
Anon,  good  nurse  !     Sweet  Montague,  be  true. 
Stay  but  a  little,  I  will  come  again.  [Exit,  above. 

C     Rom.  O  blessed,  blessed  night  !  I  am  afeard, 
/Being  in  night,  all  this  is  but  a  dream,  140 

J  Too  flattering-sweet  to  be  substantial. 

Re-enter  Juliet,  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, 
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  ! 

Jill.  I  come,  anon. — But  if  thou  mean'st  not  well,  150 

I  do  beseech  thee — 

Nurse.  [  Within]  Madam  ! 

Jul.  By  and  by,  I  come  : — 


SCENE  11.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  31 

To  cease  thy  suit,  and  leave  me  to  luy  grief  : 
To-morrow  will  I  send. 

Rom.  So  thrive  my  soul — 

Jul.  A  thousand  times  good  night !  \^E.vit,  above. 

Rom.  A  thousand  times  the  worse,  to  want  thy  light. 
Love  goes  toward  love,  as  schoolboys  from  their  books, 
But  love  from  love,  toward  school  with  heavy  looks. 

[Retiring. 

Re-enter  Juliet,  above. 

Jul.  Hist !  Eomeo,  hist !     0,  for  a  falconer's  voice, 
To  lure  this  tassel-gentle  back  again  !  160 

Bondage  is  hoarse,  and  may  not  speak  aloud  ;       '^'^  '- 
Else  would  I  tear  the  cave  where  Echo  Ijaa^ 
And  make  her  airy  tongue  more  hoarse  thanmiue, 
^With  repetition  ofmy" ITomeoVname. 

Ttom.  It  is  my  soul  that  calls  upon  my  name  : 
How  silver-sweet  sound  lovers'  tongues  by  night, 
Like  softest  music  to  attending  ears  !  , 

Jul.  Eomeo  ! 

Rom.  My  dear  ? 

Jtil.  At  what  o'clock  to-morrow 

Shall  I  send  to  thee  ? 

Rom.  At  the  hour  of  nine. 

Jul.  I  will  not  fail  :  'tis  twenty  years  till  then.  170 

I  have  forgot  why  I  did  call  thee  back. 

7^0?/!.  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, 
Forgettin<:r  anv  other  home  but  this. 

Jid.  'Tis  almost  morning  ;  I  would  have  thee  gone  : 
And  yet  no  further  than  a  wanton's  bird  ;    ,m*-aA***-»"«^ 
Who  lets  it  hop  a  little  from  her  hand. 

Like  a  poor  prisoner  in  his  twisted  gyves,  :  •'  180 

And  with  a  silk  thread  plucks  it  back  again, 


32  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

So  loving- jealous  of  his  liberty. 

Rom.  I  would  I  were  thy  bird. 

Jul.  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_tilLLbJ3e-4ttoiu:o^ft'.        \^Ex{t  above. 

Rom.  Sleep  dwell  upon  thine  eyes,  peace  in  thy  breast ! 
Would  I  were  sleep  and  peace,  so  sweet  to  rest ! 
Hence  will  I  to  ray  ghostly  father's  cell,       s  l-^-'i^'^U^M  r 
His  help  to  crave,  and  my  dear  hap  to  tell.  [Exit.     190 


Scene  III.     Friar  Laurence^  Cell. 
Enter  Friar  Laurence,  with  a  basket. 
I    Fri.  L.  The  grey-eyed  morn  smiles  on  the  frowning  night, 


C)^-^ 


1 


Chequering  the  eastern  clouds  with  streaks  of  light, 
And  flecked  darkness  like  a  drunkard  reels 
From  forth  day's  path  and  Titan's  fiery  wheels  :    3  ^^t^-**- 
Now,  ere  the  sun  advance  his  burning  eye, 
/  The  day  to  cheer  and  night's  dank  dew  to  dry, 
I  must  up-fill  this  osier  cage  of  ours  Jj*^wl»>Jr 

♦♦i*-*"^*-  With  balefiil  weeds  and  precious- juiced  flowers. 

The  earth  that's  nature's  mother  is,^ier  tomb  ;    (fj--^  '■ 
What  is  her  burying  grave  that  is^her  Avomb,      a-*--^'-  10 

"■^tiu^^  And  from  her  womb  children  of  divers  kind 
We  sucking  on  her  natural  bosom  find, 
Many  for  many  virtues  excellent,         .^o^)-^*"*' 
None  but  for  some  and  yet  all  different.  ^_^  ^  [^ 

O,  mickle  is  the  powerful  grace  that  lies  axy-*^^  " 

,..vA.f  J      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,  I 
Nor  aught  so  good  but  sti'ain'd  from  that  fair  use^ 
Revolts  from  true  birth,  stumbling  on  abuse  :     /  20 

Virtue  itself  turns  vice,  being  misapplied  ; 


SCENE  III.]  EOMEO  AND  JULIET.  33 

And  vice  sometimes  by  action  dignified. 
"Within  the  infant  rind  of  this  small  flower 
Poison  hath  residence  and  medicine  power  : 
For  this,  being  smelt,  with  that  part  cheers  each  part ; 
_Being  tasted,  slays  all  senses  with  the  heart. 

Twosucli  opposed  kings  encamp  them  still ^ul^^t*^  ^'•X^  \\»i^a  «j>'— ^ 
Injnanas  well  as  herbs,  grac^  ''"^j  T]]f]p  ^yjl'  •  ^>'^**-^'^  tAjrtS'-  -^^ 
And  where  the  worser  is  jaredominant, 
Full  soon  the  canker  death  eats  un  that.  pla]^|-  30 

Enter  Eomeo^ 

Rom.  Good  morrow,  father. 

■Fri.  L.  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  on  every  old  man's  eye. 
And  where  care  lodges,  sleep  will  never  lie  ;  T 

But  where  uiibjoiised  youth  with  unstuft''d  brain   I 
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  Eomeo  hath  not  been  in  bed  to-night. 

Rom.  That  last  is  true  ;  the  sweeter  rest  was  mine. 

Fn.  L.  God  pardon  sin  !  wast  thou  with  Rosaline  ? 

Rom.  "With  Eosaline,  my  ghostly  father  ?  no  ; 
I  have  forgot  that  name,  and  that  name  's  woe.      M 

Fri.  L.  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,  _ 
IWhere  on  a  sudden  one  hath  wounded  me,    _  -  50 

That 's  by  me  wounded  :  both  our  remedies 
"Within  thy  help  and  holy  physic  lies  : 


u 


34 


ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 


[act  II. 


i^<X^f'<- 


I  bear  no  hatred,  blessed  man,  for,  lo, 

Mj  intercession  likewise  steads  my  foe.     ^^'^■^  ' 

Fri.  L.  Be  plain,  good  son,  and  homely  in  thy  drift ; 
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 
^y  holy  marriage  ;  w^heu  and  where  and  how 
We  met^_we_woo'd  and  made  exchange  of  vow. 
"l  '11  tellthee  as~we  j)ass  ;  but_this  i  pray^ 
'  That  thoucoiisent  to  marry  us  to-day.    V-    " 

Fri.  L.  Hojv_SaintFrancis.  what  a  change  is  here  ! 
Is  Rosaline^hom  thoiTdidst  love  so  dear, 
s  So  soon  f ors^jjlLypung  men'Tlove  thenjies  \ 
\  Nnt.  truly  in  t.heir  hearts,  but  in  their  eyes.  ^ 
'  Jesu  Maria,  what  a  deal  of  brine 
"  Hath  wash'd  tln_sallow  cheeks  for  Rosaline  ! 
How  much  salt  water  thrown  away  m  waste, 
To  season  love,  that  of  it  doth  no^  taste  ! 
The  sun  not  yet  thy  sighs  from  heaven  clears. 
Thy  old  groans  ring  yet  in  my  ancient  ears  ; 
Lo,  here  upon  thy  cheek  the  stain  doth  sit 
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  thpju?l^ig^edl-|a:mioijrice.±his 
Womenmay  fall,  when  there  's  no  strength  in  meiL 
Rom.  Thou  chid'st  me  oft  for  loving  Rosaline. 
Fri.  L.  For  doting,  not, for  loving,  pupil  mine. 
Ro^n.  And  bad'st  me  bury  love. 
Fri.  L.  Not  in  a  grave. 

To  lay  one  in,  another  out  to  have. 

Rom.  t^iray  thee,  chide  not :  she  whom  I  love  now 
Doth  grace  for  grace  and  love  for  love  'allow  ; 
The  other  did  not  so.     ■ 


60 


70 


80 


SCENE  II r.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  gg 

Fri.  L.  O,  she  knew  well  /  ^,      ^ 

_T^ip^^id  fead  by  rote  and  could  not  spell.  -  V^'^V'^ 

But  come,  young  waverer,  come,  go  with  me,  V<^^  \    -;j^ 

In  onexespect  I 'IIllii_assistant  be  : ""     V^'^    90  ^^ 

For  this  alliance  may  so  happy  prove,  -  ^      ^^  , 

To  turn  your  households'  rancour  to  pure  love.    '  j  iV^f^^^-^^^'^y'^*^^ 

Rom.  0,  let  us  hence  ;  1  stand  on  sudden  liaste.    ^.  P''~j^^^ 

Fri.  L.  Wisely  and  slow  ;  they  stumble  that  run  fastjl'   ' 

[^Exeunt. 


Scene  IV.     A  street. 

■ 

Enter  Benvolio  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.  Ah,  that  same  pale  hard-hearted  wench,  that  Eosaline, 
Torments  him  so,  that  he  will  sure  run  mad. 

Ben.  Tybalt,  the  kinsman  of  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  letter.  10 

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  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  ? 

Be7i.  Why,  what  is  Tybalt  ? 

Mer.  More  than  prince  of  cats,  I  can  tell  you.  O,  he 's  the 
courageous  captain  of  compliments.  He  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  duellist ;  a  gentle- 


36  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

man  of  the  very  first  house,  of  the  first  and  second  cause  : 
ah,  the  immortal  passado  !  the  punto  reverso  !  the  hai  ! 

Ben.  The  what  ? 

Mer.  Tlie  plague  of  such  antic,  lisping,  affecting  fantas- 
ticoes  ;  these  new  tuners  of  accents  !  '  By  Jesu,  a  very  good 
blade  !  a  very  tall  man  ! '  Why,  is  not  this  a  lamentable 
thing,  gi'andsire,  that  we  should  be  thus  afflicted  with  these 
strange  flies,  these  fashionmongers,  these  pardonnez-moys, 
who  stand  so  much  on  the  new  form,  that  they  cannot  sit  at 
ease  on  the  old  bench  1    0,  their  hons,  their  hons !  32 

Enter  Eomeo. 

Be7i.  Here  comes  flomeo,  here  comes  Ronieo. 
f'^  Mer.  Without  his  roe,  like  a  dried  herring  :  O  flesh,  flesh, 
how  art  thou  fishified  !  Now  is  he  for  the  numbers  that 
Petrarch  flowed  in  :  Laura  to  his  lady  was  but  a  kitchen- 
wench  ;  marry,  she  had  a  better  love  to  be-rhyme  her  ;  Dido 
a  dowdy  ;  Cleopatra  a  gipsy  ;  Helen  and  Hero  hildings  ; 
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  counterfeit  fairly  last  night.  41 

Rom.  Good  morrow  to  you  both.  What  counterfeit  did  I 
give  you  ? 

Mer.  The  slip,  sir,  the  slip  ;  can  you  not  conceive  ? 

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  con- 
strains a  man  to  bow  in  the  hams. 

Rom.  Meaning,  to  court'sy. 

Mer.  Thou  hast  most  kindly  hit  it.  50 

Rom.  A  most  courteous  exposition. 

Mer.  Nay,  I  am  the  very  pink  of  courtesy, 

Rom.  Pink  for  flower. 

Mer.  Right. 

Rom.  Why,  then  is  my  pump  well  flowered. 

Mer,  Well  said  :    follow  me  this  jest  now  till   thoa  hast 


SCENE  IV.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  37 

worn  out  thy  pumi:),  that  when  the  single  sole  of  it  is  worn, 
the  jest  may  remain,  after  the  wearing,  sole  singular. 

Rom.  O  single-soled  jest,  solely  singular  for  the  singleness ! 

Mer.  Come  between  us,  good  Benvolio  ;  my  wits  faint.    60 

Rom.  Switch  and  spurs,  switch  and  spurs  ;  for  I  '11  cry  a 
match. 

Mer.  Nay,  if  thy  wits  run  the  wild-goose  chase,  I  have 
done,  for  thou  hast  more  of  the  wild-goose  in  one  of  thy  wits 
than,  I  am  sure,  I  have  in  my  whole  five  :  was  I  with  you 
there  for  the  goose  1 

Rom.  Thou  wast  never  with  me  for  any  thing  when  thou 
was  not  there  for  the  goose. 

Mer.  I  will  bite  thee  by  the  ear  for  that  jest. 

Rom.  Nay,  good  goose,  bite  not.  70 

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  ? 

Mer.  O,  here 's  a  wit  of  cheveril,  that  stretches  from  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  love  ? 
now  art  thou  sociable,  now  art  thou  Eomeo  ;  now  art  thou 
what  thou  art,  by  art  as  well  as  by  nature  :  for  this  drivelling 
love  is  like  a  gi'eat  natural,  that  runs  lolling  up  and  down  to 
hide  his  bauble  in  a  hole.  -  82 

Ben.  Stop  there,  stop  there. 

Mer.  Thou  desirest  me  to  stop  in  my  tale  against  the  hair.  qA.iX^y'v^ 

Ben.  Thou  wouldst  else  have  made  thy  tale  large.         '        ^         .'-•vAe^ 

Mer.  O,  thou  art  deceived  ;  I  would  have  made  it  short  : 
for  I  was  come  to  the  whole  depth  of  my  tale  ;  and  meant, 
indeed,  to  occupy  the  argument  no  longer. 

Rom.  Here 's  goodly  gear  ! 

Enter  Nurse  and  Peter. 
Mer.  A  sail,  a  sail  !  90 


38  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

\^Ben.  Two,  two  ;  a  shirt  and  a  smock. 

Nurse.  Peter  ! 

Peter.  Anon  ! 

Nicrse.  My  fan,  Peter. 

Mer.  Good  Peter,  to  hide  her  face  ;  for  her  fan's  the 
fairer  face. 

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.  100 

Nurse.  Gentlemen,  can  any  of  you  tell  me  where  I  may 
find  the  young  Romeo  ? 

Ro77i.  I  can  tell  you  ;  but  young  Eomeo  will  be  older  when 
you  have  found  him  than  he  was  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. 

Nurse.  If  you  be  he,  sir,  I  desire  some  confidence  with  you. 

Ben.  She  will  indite  him  to  some  supper.  Romeo,  will 
you  come  to  your  father's  ?  we  '11  to  dinner,  thither.  Ill 

Rom.  I  will  follow  you. 

Me):  Farewell,  ancient  lady  ;  farewell,  [singi7ig]  '  lady, 
lady,  lady.'  [B.i:eunt  Mercutio  and  Benvc.lio. 

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

Rom.  A  gentleman,  nurse,  that  loves  to  hear  himself  talk, 
and  will  speak  more  in  a  minute  than  he  will  stand  to  in 
a  month.  119 

Nwse.  An  a'  speak  any  thing  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. 
And  thou  must  stand  by  too,  and  suffer  every  knave  to  use 
me  at  his  pleasure  ? 

Feter.  I  saw  no  man  use  }ou  at  his  pleasure  ;  if  I  had, 


SCENE  IV.  i  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  39 

my  weapon  should  quickly  have  beeu  out,  I  warrant  you  :  I 
dare  draw  as  soon  as  another  man,  if  I  see  occasion  in  a  good 
quarrel,  and  the  law  on  my  side.  129 

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

Rom.  Nurse,  commend  me  to  thy  lady  and  mistress. 
I  protest  unto  thee —  140 

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

Ro7n.  What  wilt  thou  tell  her,  nurse  ?  thou  dost  not 
mark  me. 

Xio7-se.  I  will  tell  her,  sir,  that  you  do  protest  ;  which,  as 
I  take  it,  is  a  gentlemanlike  offer. 

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.  150 

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, 
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.  160 

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

Rovi.  What  say'st  thou,  my  dear  nurse  'i 


40  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  li. 

Nurse.  Is  your  man  secret  ?     Did  you  ne'er  hear  say, 
Two  may  keep  counsel,  putting  one  away  ?    cd  ft*^  *« .  *<*— ^i--, 

Rom.  I  warrant  thee,  my  man  's  as  true  as  steel. 

Nurse.  Well,  sir  ;  my  mistress  is  the  sweetest  lady — Lord, 
Lord  !  when  'twas  a  little  prating  thing  : — O,  there  is  a 
nobleman  in  town,  one  Paris,  that  would  fain  lay  knife 
aboard  ;  but  she,  good  soul,  had  as  lieve  see  a  toad,  a  very 
toad,  as  see  him.  I  anger  her  sometimes  and  tell  her  that 
Paris  is  the  properer  man  ;  but,  I  '11  warrant  you,  when  I 
say  so,  she  looks  as  pale  as  any  clout  in  the  versal  world. 
Doth  not  rosemary  and  Romeo  begin  both  with  a  letter  ? 

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  other  letter  :  and  she 
hath  the  jjrettiest  sententious  of  it,  of  you  and  rosemary, 
that  it  would  do  yoi;  good  to  hear  it. 

Rom.  Commend  me  to  thy  lady. 

Nurse.  Ay,  a  thousand  times.     \^Exit  Romeo.^     Peter  !    180 

Pet.  Anon  ! 

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

\_Exeunt. 

Scene  V.     Capulefs  orchard. 

Enter  Juliet. 

Jul.  The  clock  struck  nine  when  I  did  send  the  nurse  ; 
In  half  an  hour  she  promised  to  return. 

Perchance  she  cannot  meet  him  :  that's  not  so.       .  ..w^e-**'**'^'" 
O,  she  is  lame-f  love's  heralds  should  be  thoughts, 
Which  ten  times  faster  glide  than  the  sun's  beams, 
Driving  back  shadows  over  louring  hills  :     .fn^te^'^"^ 
Therefore  do  nimble-pinion'd  doves  draw  love, 
And  therefore  hath  the  wind-swift  Cupid  wings.    :    ^^..c-tJ^cui^, 
Now  is  the  sun  ujDon  the  highmost  hill         ^^  <  ..,'<  r/- 
Of  this  day's  journey,  and  from  nine  till  twelve  10 

Is  three  long  hours,  yet  she  is  not  come. 


SCENE  v.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  41 

Had  she  affections  and  warm  youthful  blood,  a-c^^i*-^ 

She  would  be  as  swift  in  motion  as  a  ball  ; 

My  words  would  bandy  her  to  my  sweet  love, 

And  his  to  me  : 

But  old  folks,  many  feign  as  they  were  dead  ;      --C-uA.- 

Unwieldy,  slow,  heavy  and  pale  as  lead. 

0  God,  she  comes  ! 

Efiter  Nurse  and  Peter. 

O  honey  nurse,  what  news  ? 
Hast  thou  met  with  him  1     Send  thy  man  away. 

yurse.  Peter,  stay  at  the  gate.  {Exit  Peter. 

Jul.  Now,  good  sweet  nurse, — O  Lord,  why  look'st  thou 
sad  ?  21 

Though  news  be  sad,  yet  tell  them  merrily  ; 
If  good,  thou  shamest  the  music  of  sweet  news 
By  playing  it  to  me  with  so  sour  a  face.      '  ' 

Nurse.  I  am  a-weary,  give  me  leave  awhile  : 
Fie,  how  my  bones  ache  !  what  a  jaunce  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  oi;t  of  breath  ?  30 

Jul.  How  art  thou  out  of  breath,  when  thou  hast  breath 
To  say  to  me  that  thou  art  out  of  breath  1 
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  ; 
Say  either,  and  I  '11  stay  the  circumstance  :    i'^d' ; 
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,  not  he  ;  though  his 
face  be  better  than  any  man's,  yet  his  leg  excels  all  men's  ; 
and  for  a  hand,  and  a  foot,  and  a  body,  though  they  be  not 
to  be  talked  on,  yet  they  are  past  compare  :  he  is  not  the 
flower  of  courtesy,  but,  I  '11  warrant  him,  as  gentle  as  a  lamb. 


42  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  il. 

Go  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  ! 
It  beats  as  it  would  fall  in  twenty  pieces. 
My  back  o'  t'  other  side, — O,  my  back,  my  back  !  50 

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. 
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  ? 

Jul.  Where  is  my  mother  !  why,  she  is  within  ; 
Where  should  she  be  ?  How  oddly  thou  repliest ! 
*  Your  love  says,  like  an  honest  gentleman,  60 

Where  is  your  mother  ? ' 

Nurse.  O  God's  lady  dear  ! 

Are  you  so  hot  1  marry,  come  up,  I  trow  ; 
Is  this  the  poultice  for  my  aching  bones  ? 
'.'■  i^  Henceforward  do  your  messages  yourself. 

Jul.  Here 's  such  a  coil !  come,  what  says  Eomeo  ? 

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

Jul.  I  have. 

Nurse.  Then  hie  you  hence  to  Friar  Laurence'  cell  ; 
There  stays  a  husband  to  make  you  a  wife  : 
Now  comes  the  wanton  blood  up  in  your  cheeks,  70 

They  '11  be  in  scarlet  straight  at  any  news. 
Hie  you  to  church  ;  I  must  another  way. 
To  fetch  a  ladder,  by  the  which  your  love 
Must  climb  a  bird's  nest  soon  when  it  is  dark  : 
I  am  the  drudge  and  toil  in  your  delight. 
Go  ;  I'll  to  dinner  ;  hie  you  to  the  cell. 

Jul,  Hie  to  high  fortune  !  Honest  nurse,  farewell. 

\_Exeunt. 


«*■ 


scExVE  VI.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  43 

Scene  VI.     Friar  Laurences  cell. 
Enter  Friar  Laurence  and  Romeo. 

Fri.  L.  So  smile  the  lieavens  upon  this  holy  act, 
That  after  hours  with  sorrow  chide  us  not ! 

Rom.  Amen,  amen  !  but  come  what  sorrow  can. 
It  cannot  countervail  the  exchange  of  joy  o-uU*-*-'^^**^  ^* 

That  one  short  minute  gives  me  in  her  sight  : 
Do  thou  but  close  our  hands  with  holy  words, 
Then  love-devouring  death  do  what  he  dare  ; 
It  is  enough  I  may  but  call  her  mine. 

Fri.  L.  These  violent  delights  have  violent  ends 
7kxA  in  their  triumph  die,  like  fire  and  powder,  10 

Which  as  they:  kiss  consume  :  the  sweetest  honey     (tt*«'#«' 
Is  loathsome  in  his  own  deliciousness 
And  in  the  taste  confounds  the  appetite  : 
Therefore  love  moderately  ;  long  love  doth  so  ;  .j__^ 
Too  swift  arrives  as  tardy  as  too  slow.  ^ 

^ft^er  Juliet.  '*^*^'^  .v^^^.  ^y' 

Here  comes  the  lady  :  O,  so  light  a  foot 

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.  L.  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        S''**^ 
f  Be  heap'd  like  mine  and  that  thy  skill  be  more  ,^-wA  t**^ 

( To  blazon  it,  then  sweeten  with  thy  breath 
_This  neighbour  air,  and  let  rich  music's  tongue  , 

'Unfold  the  imagined  happiness  that  both     A*^.;un/' . 
'Heceive  in  either  by  this  dear  encounter..  _ 

Jul.  Conceit,  more  rich  in  matter  than  in  words,  30 


c^. 


>UC^«t4^^ 


44  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  {act  m. 

Brags  of  his  substance,  not  of  ornament ;       -*^  J'"'^^*^'  **  'f'^' 

They  are  but  beggars  tliat  can  count  their  worth  ; 

But  my  true  love  is  grown  to  such  excess 

I  cannot  sum  up  sum  of  half  my  wealth.  /  '**■*'.''"*■  ^^ 

Fri.  L.  Come,  come  with  me,  and  we  will  make  short  work ; 
For,  by  your  leaves,  you  shall  not  stay  alone 
Till  holy  church  incorporate  two  in  one.  \^Exeunt. 


ACT   III. 

Scene  I.     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  he 
enters  the  confines  of  a  tavern  claps  me  his  sword  ujion  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. 

Ben.  Am  I  like  svich  a  fellow  ?  10 

Mer.  Come,  come,  thou  art  as  hot  a  Jack  in  thy  mood  as 
any  in  Italy,  and  as  soon  moved  to  be  moody,  and  as  soon 
moody  to  be  moved. 

Ben.  And  what  to  ? 

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  for 
cracking  nuts,  having  no  other  reason  but  because  thou  hast 
hazel  eyes  :  what  eye  but  such  an  eye  would  spy  out  such  a 
q«arrel  ?  Thy  head  is  as  full  of  quarrels  as  an  egg  is  full  of 
meat,  and  yet  thy  head  hath  been  beaten  as  addle  as  an  egg 


SCENE  I.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  45 

for  quarrelling  :  thou  hast  quarrelled  with  a  man  for  couo-hino- 
in  the  street,  because  he  hath  wakened  thy  dog  that  hath 
lain  asleep  in  the  sun  :  didst  thou  not  fall  ovit  with  a  tailor 
for  wearing  his  new  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,  auv  man 
should  buy  the  fee-simple  of  my  life  for  an  hour  and  a 
quarter.  31 

Mer.  The  fee-simple  !     O  simple  ! 

Ben.  By  my  head,  here  come  the  Capulets. 

Mer.  By  my  heel,  I  care  not. 

Enter  Tybalt  and  others. 

Tyh.  Follow  me  close,  for  I  will  speak  to  them.  Gentlemen, 
good  den  :  a  word  with  one  of  you. 

Mer.  And  but  one  word  with  one  of  us  ?  couple  it  witli 
something  ;  make  it  a  word  and  a  blow. 

Tyh.  You  shall  find  me  apt  enough  to  that,  sir,  an. you  will 
give  me  occasion.  ^^---  -   ^^ 

^Mer.  Could  you  not  take  some  occasion  without  giving  T 
Tyh.  Mercutio,  thou  consort'st  with  Romeo, — 
Mer.  Consort  !    what,  dost  thou  make  us  minstrels  ?   an 
thou  make  minstrels  of  us,  look  to  hear  nothing  but  discords  : 
here  's  my  fiddlestick  ;   here  's  that  shall  make  you  dance. 
'Zounds,  consort ! 

Ben.  We  talk  here  in  the  public  haunt  of  men  :  \ 
Either  withdraw  into  some  private  place,  ] 

And  reason  coldly  of  your  grievances,  l 

Or  else  depart ;  here  all  eyes  gaze  on  us.  50 

Mer.  Men's  eyes  were  made  to  look,  and  let  them  gaze  ; 
I  will  not  budge  for  no  man's  pleasure,  I. 

Enter  Romeo. 

Tyh.  Well,  peace  be  with  you,  sir  :  liere  comes  my  man. 


46  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  hi. 

Mer.  But,  I  '11  be  hang'd,  sir,  if  he  wear  your  livery  : 
Marry,  go  before  to  field,  he  '11  be  your  follower  ; 
Your  worship  in  that  sense  may  call  him  '  man.' 

Tyh.  Romeo,  the  hate  I  bear  thee  can  afford 
No  better  term  than  this, — thou  art  a  villain. 

Rom.  Tybalt,  the  reason  that  I  have  to  love  thee 
Doth  much  excuse  the  appertaining  rage  60 

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, 
But  love  thee  better  than  thou  canst  devise, 
Till  thou  shalt  know  the  reason  of  my  love  : 
And  so,  good  Capulet, — which  name  I  tender 
As  dearly  as  my  own, — be  satisfied. 

Mer.  O  calm,  dishonourable,  vile  submission  !  VO 

Alia  stoccata  carries  it  away.  [Draws. 

Tybalt,  you  rat-catcher,  will  you  walk  ? 

Tyh.  What  wouldst  thou  have  with  me  ? 

Mer.  Good  king  of  cats,  nothing  but  one  of  your  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  ears  ?  make  haste,  lest 
mine  be  about  your  ears  ere  it  be  out. 

Tyh.  I  am  for  you.  [Bramng. 

Rom.  Gentle  Mercutio,  put  thy  rapier  up.  80 

Mer.  Come,  sir,  your  passado.  [They  Jight. 

Rom.  Draw,  Benvolio  ;  beat  down  their  weapons. 
Gentlemen,  for  shame,  forbear  this  outrage  ! 
Tybalt,  Mercutio,  the  prince  expressly  hath 
Forbidden  bandying  in  Verona  streets  : 
Hold,  Tybalt !  good  Mercutio  ! 

[Tyhalt  under  Romeo^s  arm  stabs  Mercutio,  and  flies 

with  his  followers. 

Mer.  I  am  hurt. 


8CE>t:  I.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  47 

A  plague  o'  both  your  houses  !     I  am  sped. 
Is  he  gone,  and  hath  nothing  ? 

Ben.  "What,  art  thou  hurt  ? 

Mer.  Ay,  ay,  a  scratch,  a  scratch  -,  many,  'tis  enough. 
Where  is  my  page  ?     Go,  villain,  fetch  a  surgeon.  90 

l^Exit  Page. 

Rom.  Courage,  man  ;  the  hurt  cannot  be  much. 

Mer.  No,  'tis  not  so  deep  as  a  well,  nor  so  wide  as  a  church- 
door  ;  but  'tis  enough,  'twill  serve  :  ask  for  me  to-morrow, 
and  you  shall  find  me  a  grave  man.  I  am  peppered,  I 
warrant,  for  this  world.  A  plague  o'  both  yoiir  Houses ! 
'Zounds,  a  dog,  a  rat,  a  mouse,  a  cat,  to  scratch  a  man  to 
death  !  a  braggart,  a  rogue,  a  villain,  that  fights  by  the  book 
of  arithmetic  !  Why  the  devil  came  you  between  us  ?  I 
was  hurt  under  your  arm. 

Rom.  I  thought  all  for  the  best.  100 

Mer.  Help  me  into  some  house,  Benvolio, 

Or  I  shall  faint.     A_plague  o'  both  your  housesj 

They  have  made  worminneat^fme  :  T  have  it. 
And  soundly  too  :  your  houses  ! 


[E.veunt  Mercutio  and  Benvolio. 
Rom.  This  gentleman,  the  prince's  near  ally. 
My  very  friend,  hath  got  his  mortal  hurt 
In  my  behalf  ;  my  reputation  stain'd 
With  Tybalt's  slander, — Tybalt,  that  an  hour 
Hath  been  my  kinsman  !     0  sweet  Juliet, 
Thy  beauty  hath  made  me  effeminate  i  110 

And  in  my  temper  soften'd  valour's  steel  ! 

Re-enter  Benvolio. 


Ben.  O  Romeo,  Romeo,  brave  Mercutio 's  dead  ! 
That  gallant  spirit  hath  aspired  the  clouds, 
Which  too  untimely  here  did  scorn  the  earth. 

Rom.  This  day's  black  fate  on  more  days  doth  depend 
This  but  begins  the  woe  others  must  end. 


1 


48  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  hi. 

Ben.  Here  comes  the  furious  Tybalt  back  again. 

Rom.  Alive,  in  triumph  !  and  Merputio  slain  ! 
Away  to  heaven,  respective  lenity, 
^nd  fire-eyed  fury  be  my  conduct  now  !  120 

Re-enter  Tybalt. 

Now,  Tybalt,  take  the  villain  back  again, 
That  late  thou  gavest  me  ;  for  Mercutio's  soul 
Is  but  a  little  way  above  our  heads, 
Staying  for  thine  to  keep  him  company  : 
Either  thou,  or  I,  or  both,  must  go  with  him. 

Tyh.  Thou,  wretched  boy,  that  didst  consort  him  here, 
Shalt  with  him  hence.       ^s/eiNj  \f^5\j<SJr>^ 

Rom.  This  shall  determine  that. 

[They  fight;  Tybalt  falls. 

Ben.  Romeo  away,  be  gone  ! 
The  citizens  are  up,  and  Tybalt  slain. 

Stand  not  amazed  :  the  prince  will  doom  thee  death,         130 
If  thou  art  taken  :  hence,  be  gone,  away  ! 

Rom.  O,  I  am  fortune's  fool  ! 

Ben.  "  Why  dost  thou  stay  ? 

[E.Tit  Romeo. 

Enter  Citizens,  &c. 

First  Cit.  Which  way  ran  he  that  kill'd  Mercutio  ? 
Tybalt,  that  murderer,  which  way  ran  he  ? 

Ben.  There  lies  that  Tybalt. 

First  Cit.  Up,  sir,  go  with  me  ; 

I  charge  thee  in  the  prince's  name,  obey. 

Enter  Prince,  attended  ;  Montague,  Capulet,  their  Wives, 

and  others. 

Prin.  Where  are  the  vile  beginners  of  this  fray  ? 
Ben.  O  noble  prince,  I  can  discover  all 
The  unlucky  manage  of  this  fatal  brawl  : 


^-/^ 


c      ~       ^ 


SCENE  I.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  ,,^^.--=5^ 

There  lies  the  man,  slain  by  young  Romeo,  140       ^ 

That  slew  thy  kinsman,  brave  Mercutio. 
La.  Cap.  Tybalt,  my  cousin  !  O  my  brother's  child  ! 

O  prince  !  O  cousin  !  husband  !  0,  the  blood  is  spilt 

Of  my  dear  kinsman  !     Prince,  as  thou  art  true, 

For  blood  of  ours,  shed  blood  of  Montague. 

O  cousin,  cousin ! 

Prin.  Benvolio,  who  began  this  bloody  fray  ? 

Ben.  Tybalt,  here  slain,  whom  Romeo's  hand  did  slay  ; 

Romeo  that  spoke  him  fair,  bade  him  bethink 

How  nice  the  quarrel  was,  and  urged  withal  150 

Your  high  displeasure  -:  all  this  uttered  ^ 

With  gentle  breath,  calm  look,  knees  humbly  bow'd. 

Could  not  take  truce  with  the  vmruly  spleen 

Of  Tybalt  deaf  to  peace,  but  that  he  tilts 

With  piercing  steel  at  bold  Mercutio's  breast,  Cm'^  D 

Who,  all  as  hot,  turns  deadly  point  to  point,  ^ 

And,  with  a  martial  scorn,  with  one  hand  beats 

Cold  death  aside,  and  with  the  other  sends 

It  back  to  Tybalt,  whose  dexterity 

Retorts  it :  Romeo  he  cries  aloud,  160 

'Hold,  friends  !  friends,  part ! '  and,  swifter  than  his  tongue, 

His  agile  arm  beats  down  their  fatal  points. 

And  'twixt  them  rushes  ;  underneath  whose  arm 

An  envious  thrust  from  Tybalt  hit  the  life 

Of  stout  Mercutio,  and  then  Tybalt  fled  ; 

But  by  and  by  comes  back  to  Romeo, 

Who  had  but  newlv  entertain'd  revenge, 

And  to  't  they  go  like  lightning,  for,  ere  I 

Could  draw  to  part  them,  was  stout  Tybalt  slain. 

And,  as  he  fell,  did  Romeo  turn  and  fly.  170 

This  is  the  truth,  or  let  Benvolio  die. 

La.  Cap.  He  is  a  kinsman  to  the  Montague  ; 
Aflfection  makes  him  false  ;  he  speaks  not  true  : 
Some  twenty  of  them  fought  in  this  black  strife, 
And  all  those  twenty  could  but  kill  one  life. 

D 


50  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  hi. 

I  beg  for  justice,  which  thou,  prince,  must  give  ; 
Komeo  slew  Tybalt,  Romeo  must  not  live. 

Prin.  Romeo  slew  him,  he  slew  Mercutio  ; 
Who  now  the  price  of  his  dear  blood  doth  owe  ? 

Mon.  Not  Romeo,  prince,  he  was  Mercutio's  friend  ;       180 
His  fault  concludes  but  what  the  law  should  end,  - 

The  life  of  Tybalt. 

Pnn.  And  for  that  offence 

.         Immediately  we  do  exile  him  hence  : 
[^/f^  ^  I  have  an  interest  in  your  hate's  proceeding,     c^^^'law-  <-y  ^#«*vA< 

My  blood  for  your  rude  brawls  doth  lie  a-bleeding  ; 
'kt.iy.:  •'       But  I'll  ameice  you  with  so  strong  a  fine 
That  you  shall  all  repent  the  loss  of  mine  : 
I  will  be  deaf  to  pleading  and  excuses  ; 
Nor  tears  nor  prayers  shall  purchase  out  abuses  : 

Therefore  use  none  :  let  Ron^eo  hence  in  haste,^ 190 

Else,  when  he's  found,  that  hour  is  his  last.  g^u^ H 

Bear  hence  this  body  and  attend  our  will  :      "*^  (f-^<^^    ^j^c^. 
Mercy  but  murders,  pardoning  those  that  kill.  \Exeunt. 


Scene  II.     Capulet's  orchard. 

Enter  Juliet. 

J^il.  Gallop  ajjace,  you  fieiy-footed  steeds, 
j-*^  Towards  Phoebus'  lodging  :  such  a  waggoner 

As  Phaetlion  would  whip  you  to  the  west. 
And  bring  in  cloudy  night  immediately. 
Spread  thy  close  curtain,  love-performing  night. 
That  runaways'  eyes  may  wink,  and  Romeo 
Leap  to  these  arms,  untalk'd  of  and  unseen. 
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.  10 

Come,  gentle  night,  come,  loving,  black -brow'd  night. 
Give  me  my  Romeo  ;  and,  when  he  shall  die, 


SCENK  II.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  51 

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  gaiish  sun.       jf.£^'X*^-*^ 

O,  I  have  bousfht  the  mansion  of  a  love. 

But  not  possess'd  it,  and,  though  I  am  sold,  1 

Not  yet  enjoy'd  :  so  tedious  is  this  day  ^ 

As  is  the  night  before  some  festival  20 

To  an  impatient  child  that  hath  new  robes 

And  may  not  wear  them.     O,  here  comes^my  nursCj^ 

And  she  brings  news  ;  and  every  tongue  that  speaks^; 

But  Eomeo's  name  speaks  heavenly  eloquence.^ 

Enter  Nurse,  ipith  cords. 

Now,  nurse,  what  news  ?    What  hast  thou  there  ?  the  cords 
That  Romeo  bid  thee  fetch  ? 

Nurse.  Ay,  ay,  the  cords. 

[Throws  them  doi'm. 

Jid.  Ay  me  !  what  news  1  why  dost  thou  wring  thy  hands? 

Nurse.  Ah,  well-a-day  !  he 's  dead,  he 's  dead,  he 's  dead  ! 
We  are  undone,  ladv,  we  are  undone  I 
Alack  the  day  !  he  's  gone,  he  's  kill'd,  he 's  dead  !  30 

Jul.  Can  heaven  be  so^envious  ? 

Nurse.  Romeo  can, 

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

Jul.  AVhat  devil  art  thou,  that  dost  torment  me  thus  ? 
This  torture  should  be  roar'd  in  dismal  hell. 
Hath  Romeo  slain  himself  ?  sav  thou  but  '  I,' 
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.'  40 

If  he  be  slain,  say  '  I ' ;  or  if  not,  no  : 
Brief  sounds  determine  of  my  weal  or  woe. 


52  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  hi. 

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

Jul.  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  ;  50 

And  thou  and  Eomeo  press  one  heavy  bier  ! 

^^urse.  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  contrarj^? 
Is  Romeo  slaughter'd,  and  is  Tybalt  dead  ? 
My  dear-loved  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  ;  60 

Romeo  that  kill'd  him,  he  is  banished. 

Jtd.  O  God  !  did  Romeo's  hand  shed  Tybalt's  blood  1 

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

Jul.  O  serpent  heart,  hid  with  a  flowering  face  ? 
Bid  ever  dragon  keep  so  fair  a  cave  ?     i^Lal-  ■ 
;    Beautiful  tyrant !  fiend  angelical  ! 

Dove-feather'd  raven  !  wolvish-ravening  lamb  ! 
p«*^      Dfispised  svibstance  of  divinest  show  !    a^^^u^t^'t^c^^ 
I  Just  opposite  to  what  thou  justly  seem'st, 
^  A  damned  saint7  alTlTonourable  villain  !  70 

O  nature,  what  hadst  thou  to  do  in  hell,        -«'*^  f*^  ****V  *'*^^' 
When  thou  didst  bower  the  spirit  of  a  fiend     .a^^M*^<3<- 
In  mortal  paradise  of  such  sweet  flesh  ?  <   ~t^C<iA^  (if^i^fwu-^. 

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, 

No  faith,  no  honesty  in  men  ;  all  naught,       y 


f 


SCENE  II.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  53 

All  perjured,  all  dissemblers,  all  forsworn. 

Ah,  where 's  my  man  ?  give  me  some  aqua  vitte  : 

These  griefs,  these  woes,  these  soi'rows  make  me  old.  80 

Shame  come  to  Romeo  ! 

Jul.  Blister'd  be  thy  tongue 

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  croAvn'd  f<tl*^ 
Sole  monarch  of  the  universal  earth. 
O,  what  a  beast  was  I  to  chide  at  him  ! 

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,    'Jf^^      ^ 
When  I,  thy  three-hours  wife,  have  mangled  it  1  90 

But,  wherefore,  villain,  didst  thou  kill  my  cousin  ? 
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  ; 
Ajid  Tybalt's  dead  that  would  have  slain  my  husband  : 
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  ;  100 

But,  O,  it  presses  to  my  memory, 
Like  damned  guilty  deeds  to  sinners'  minds  : 
'Tybalt  is  dead,  and  Eomeo — banished  ;' 
That  '  banished,'  that  one  word  '  banished,' 
Hath  slain  ten  thousand  Tybalts.     Tybalfs  death 
Was  woe  enough  if  it  had  ended  there  : 
Or,  if  sour  woe  delights  in  fellowship 
And  needly  will  be  rank'd  with  other  griefs. 
Why  f oUow'd  not,  when  she  said  '  Tybalt's  dead,' 
Thy  father,  or  thy  mother,  nay,  or  both,  110 

Which  modern  lamentation  might  have  moved  ? 
But  with  a  rearward  following  Tybalt's  death, 


54  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  in. 

'  Romeo  is  banished/  to  speak  that  word, 

Is  father,  mother,  Tybalt,  Eomeo,  Juliet, 

All  slain,  all  dead.     'Eomeo  is  banished  ! ' 

There  is  no  end,  no  limit,  measure,  bound. 

In  that  word's  death  ;  no  words  can  that  woe  sound. 

Where  is  my  father,  and  my  mother,  nurse  1 

Nurse.  Weeping  and  wailing  over  Tybalt's  corse  : 
Will  you  go  to  them  1     I  will  bring  you  thither.  120 

Jid.    Wash  they  his  wounds  with  tears  :    mine  shall  be 
spent, 
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. 
Come,  cords,  come,  nurse  ;  I  '11  to  my  wedding-bed. 

Nurse.  Hie  to  your  chamber  :  I  '11  find  Eomeo 
To  comfort  you  :  I  wot  well  where  he  is. 
Hark  ye,  your  Eomeo  will  be  here  at  night :  130 

I  '11  to  him  ;  he  is  hid  at  Laurence'  cell. 

Jul.  O,  find  him  !  give  this  ring  to  my  true  knight, 
Ajid  bid  him  come  to  take  his  last  farewell.  [Exeunt. 


Scene  III.     Friar  Laurence^  cell. 

Enter  Friar  Laurence. 

Fri.  L.  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, 
That  I  yet  know  not  ? 


^ 


SCENE  III.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  55 

Fri.  L.  Too  familiar 

Is  my  dear  son  with  such  sour  company  : 
I  bring  thee  tidings  of  the  prince's  doom. 

Ro7n.  What  less  than  dooms-day  is  the  prince's  doom  ? 

Fri.  L.  A  gentler  judgement  vanished  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  '  banisliment.' 

Fri.  L.  Hence  from  Verona  art  thou  banished  : 
Be  patient,  for  the  world  is  broatl  and  wide. 

Rom.  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  banishment. 
Thou  cutt'st  my  head  off  with  a  golden  axe. 
And  smilest  upon  the  stroke  that  murders  me. 

Fri.  L.  O  deadly  sin  !     O  rude  unthankf  ulness  ! 
Thy  fault  our  law  calls  death  ;  but  the  kind  prince, 
Taking  thy  part,  hath  rusli'd  aside  the  law. 
And  turn'd  that  black  word  death  to  banished  : 
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,    i^'—'  '^  ■^^^ 
Live  here  in  heaven  and  may  look  on  her ; 

But  Romeo  may  not :  more  validity,       a  <,'v.-vv-«-^  ■  -^  -v- 

More  honourable  state,  more  courtship  lives   ^  /^.^  ^"' /**f^''^^^***' 
In  carrion-flies  than  Eomeo  :  they  may  seize  ^^  ^  ''Y 

On  the  white  wonder  of  dear  Juliet's  hand      r^-^--^  ^'  -^  iv^^^tU^^*^-*^f ^ 
And  steal  immortal  blessing  from  her  lips, 


Who,  even  in  pure  and  vestal  modesty,  .ut.." 

Still  blush,  as  thinking  their  own  kisses  sin  ;  '^^  '"    ""  o^M*^ 

But  Eomeo  may  not ;  he  is  banished  :  40' 

Tliis  may  flies  do,  when  I  from  this  must  fly  : 


56  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ill. 

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,     of  r-a-C-tt- 

But  '  banished '  to  kill  me  ? — '  banished '  ? 

O  friar,  the  damned  use  that  word  in  hell  ; 

Howlings  attend  it :  how  hast  thou  the  heart, 

Being  a  divine,  a  ghostly  confessor,  ^/z-v<**^  *■/ 

A  sin-absolver,  and  my  friend  profess'd,  50 

To  mangle  me  with  that  word  '  banished '  ? 

Fri.  L.  Thou  fond  mad  man,  hear  me  but  speak  a  word. 

Rom.  O,  thou  wilt  speak  again  of  banishment. 

Fri.  L.  I  '11  give  thee  armour  to  keep  off  that  word  ; 
Adversity's  sweet  milk,  philosophy. 
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.  L.  J3^  then  I  see  that  madmen  have  no  ears. 

Rom.  How  should  they,  when  that  wise  men  have  no  eyes  1 

Fri.  L.  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. 
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,  69 

Taking  the  measure  of  an  unmade  grave.      {^Knocking  xvithin. 

Fri.  L.  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.  \K710cking. 

Fri.  L.  Hark,  how  they  knock  !     Who 's  there  !     Romeo, 
arise  ; 
Thou  wilt  be  taken.     Stay  awhile !     Stand  up  ;      [Knocking. 
Run  to  my  study.     By  and  by  !     God's  will, 


SCENE  III.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  57 

What  simpleness  is  this  !     I  come,  I  come  !  [Knocking. 

Who  knocks  so  hard  ?  whence  come  you  1  what 's  your  will  ? 

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

Fri.  L.  Welcome,  then.  80 

Enter  Nurse. 

NvjTse.  O  holy  friar,  O,  tell  me,  holy  friar, 
Where  is  my  lady's  lord,  where 's  Eomeo  ? 

Fri.  L.  There  on  the  ground,  with  his  own  tears  made 
drunk. 

Nurse.  O,  he  is  even  in  my  mistress'  case. 
Just  in  her  case  !     O  woful  sympathy  ! 
Piteous  predicament  !     Even  so  lies  she,  '"^ 
Blubbering  and  weeping,  weeping  and  blubbering. 
Stand  up,  stand  up  ;  stand,  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  ?  how  is  it  with  her  ? 
Doth  she  not  think  me  an  old  murderer,  &^:ryM^'^^yv-*^- 
Now  I  have  stain'd  the  childhood  of  our  joy 
With  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  Eomeo  cries. 
And  then  down  falls  again. 

Rom.  As  if  that  name. 

Shot  from  the  deadly  level  of  a  gun,    4*>a<^  rf^At*,^-^  »-'  •- 
Did  murder  her  ;  as  that  name's  cursed  hand 
Murder'd  her  kinsman.     O,  tell  me,  friar,  tell  me, 


58    /\i^y^^jjQr^  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  in. 


/ 


In  what  vile  pai't  of  this  anatomy 

Doth  my  name  lodge  1  tell  me,  that  I  may  sack 

The  hateful  mansion. [Drau'ing  his  sword. 

^^.  X.  Holdjhy  desperate  hand  : I 

.  Art  thou  a  man  ?  thy  form  cries  out  thou  art : 

Thy  tears  are  womanish  ;  thy_wild  acts  denote  110 

The  unreasonable  fury  of  a  beast  : 

Unseemly  woman  in  a  seeming  man  ! 

Or  ill-beseeming  beast  in  seeming  both  ! 

Thou  hast  amazed  me  :  by  my  holy  order, 

I  thought  thy  disposition  better  temper'd. 

Hast  thou  slain  Tybalt  ?  wilt  thou  slay  thyself  ? 

And  slay  thy  lady  too  that  lives  in  thee, 

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  ;  .yfv«»^,«j^«.vi 
'  Which,  like  a  usurer,  abound'st  in  all, 

And  usest  none  in  that  true  use  indeed 

Which  should  bedeck  thy  shape,  thy  love,  thy  wit : 

Thy  noble  shape  is  but  a  form  of  wax,     ^j  .r\^  LLU/^T^-fc,     «  C--  ■- 
.  Digressing  from  the  valour  or  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,  130 

"Mis-shapen  in  the  conduct  of  them  both. 

Like  powder  in  a^killess  sofdier's  flask, 
_.Is_5£t.a^re_b2^thme^wTiJgnorance,  -Hx  f^-   '♦■^'^^ 

And  thou  dismember'd  with  thine  own  defence.  '^^.fUi-i 

What,  rouse  thee,  man  !  thy  Juliet  is  alive. 

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 


SCENE  III.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  59 

A  pack  of  blessings  lights  upon  thy  back  ; 
Happiness  courts  thee  in  her  best  array  ; 
But,  like  a  misbehaved  and  sullen  wench,     .^-^CL-  m^,^^ 
Thou  pout'st  upon  thy  fortune  and  thy  love  :    ^y^-^Mjt^  a^  -u^ 
Take  heed,  take  heed,  for  such  die  miserable. 

Go,  get  thee  to  thy  love,  as  was  decreed,    coc  ia,^*  <£«'Ce'»«**«^-t*/' 
Ascend  her  chamber,  hence  and  comfort  her  J 
But  look  thou  stay  not  till  the  watch  be  set,    r^.^  to#c< 
For  then  thou  canst  not  pass  to  Mantua  ; 

Where  thou  shalt  live,  till  we  can  find  a  time    ^.£,^.,,4^.       1^^  .>>i,t.«^ij: 
*^  To  lilaze  your  marriage,  reconcile  yoijr  friends,  '■ 

Beg  pardon  of  the  prince,  and  call  thee  back  ^ 

With  twenty  himdred  thousand/times  more  joy 
Than  thou  went'st  forth  in  lamentation. 


Go  before,  nurse  :  commend  me  to  thy  lady  ; 
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  I 

Fri.  L.  Go  hence ;  good  night ;  and  here  stands  all  your 
state  : 
Either  be  gone  before  the  watch  be  set, 
^Orby  thebreak_i2f,day  disguised  froni  hence  : 
Sojourn  in  Mantua  ;  I  '11  find  out  your  man. 
And  he  shall  signify  from  time  to  time      ,.^..a^K*'  ■  v"-^        IVO 
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. 


60  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  in. 

Scene  IV.     A  room  in  Capulefs  house. 
Enter  Capulet,  Lady  Capulet,  mid  Paris. 

Cap.  Things  have  fall'n  out,  sir,  so  unhickily, 
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  ; 
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. 

La.  Cap.  I  will,  and  know  her  mind  early  to-morrow  ;     10 
To-night  she  is  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  ; 
Acquaint  her  here  of  my  son  Paris'  love  ; 
And  bidTier,  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  1  do  yoix  like  this  haste  ? 


We^l  keep  no  great  ado, — a  friend  or  two  ; 

For,  hark  you,  Tybalt  being  slain  so  late, 

It  may  be  thought  we  held  him  carelessly, 

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 

Go  you  to  Juliet  ere  you  go  to  bed. 


SCENE  IV.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 


61 


Prepare  her,  wife,  against  tliis  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. 

Good  night.  •  [Ea^eunt. 


Scene  V.     Capulet's  orchard. 
Enter  Romeo  and  Juliet  above,  at  the  ivindoiv. 

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  yon  pomegranate-tree  : 
Believe  me,  love,  it  was  the  nightingale. 

Rom.  It  was  the  lark,  the  herald  of  the  morn, 
No  nightingale  :  look,  love,  what  envious  streaks     ^j-^"l..^-v. 
Do  lace  the  severing  clouds  in  yondei^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.  Yon  light  is  not  day-light,  I  know  it,  I  :  ^ 

It  is  some  meteor  that  the  sun  exhales,      di/x&*^^  -  ^'^*~t^ 

To  be  to  thee  this  night  a  torch-bearer,  "" 

And  light  thee  on  thy  way  to  Mantua  : 
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  : 
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. 


62  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  in. 

Jul.  It  is,  it  is  :  hie  hence,  be  gone,  away  ! 
It  is  the  lark  that  sings  so  out  of  tune,  y^ 

Straining  harsh  discords  and  unpleasing  sharps. 
Some  say  the  lark  makes  sweet  division  ',,xi^cwy^ 
This  doth  not  so,  for  she  divideth  us  :  30 

Some  say  the  lark  and  loathed  toad  change  eyes  ; 
0,  now  I  would  they  had  changed  voices  too  ! 
Since  arm  from  arm  that  voice  doth  thus  affray,    ^'^*^  J^i^i^ 
Hunting  thee  hence  with  hunt's-up  to  the  day. 
O,  now  be  gone  ;  more  light  and  light  it  grows. 

Rom.  More  light  and  light  ;  more  dark  and  dark  our  woes  ! 

Ente?-  Nur^e,  to  the  chamber. 

Nurse.  Madam  ! 

J%d.  Nurse  ? 

Nurse.  Your  lady  mother  is  coming  to  your  chamber  : 
The  day  is  broke  ;  be  wary,  look  about.  {Exit.     40 

J^d.  Then,  window,  let  day  in,  and  let  life  out. 

Rom.  Farewell,  farewell  !  one  kiss,  and  I  '11  descend. 

{He  goeth  down. 

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  : 
O,  by  this  count  I  shall  be  much  in  years 
Ere  I  again  behold  my  Romeo. 

Ro7n.  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 
For  sweet  discourses  in  our  time  to  come. 

J\d.  O  God,  I_have  an  ill-divining  soul  ! 
Methinks  I  see_thfifi,__now  thou  art  below, 
As  one^ead  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  : 


SCENE  v.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  63 

Dry  sorrow  drinks  o\;r  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^ 

La.  Cap.  [Within^  Ho,  daughter  !  are  you  up  ? 

Jul.  Who  is 't  that  calls  ?  is  it  my  lady  mother  ? 
Is  she  not  down  so  late,  or  up  so  early  ? 
What  unaccustom'd  cause  procures  her  hither  ? 

Enter  Lady  Capulet. 

La.  Cap.  Why,  how  now,  Juliet  ! 

Jul.  Madam,  I  am  not  well. 

La.  Cap.  Evermore  weeping  for  your  cousin's  death  ? 
What,  wilt  thou  wash  him  from  his  grave  with  tears  ?        70 
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. 

J21I.  Yet  let  me  weep  for  such  a  feeling  loss. 

La.  Cap.  So  shall  you  feel  the  loss,  but  not  the  friend 
Which  you  weep  for. 

Jul.  Feeling  so  the  loss, 

I  cannot  choose  but  ever  weep  the  friend. 

La.  Cap.  Well,  girl,  thou  weep'st  not  so  much  for  his  death. 
As  that  the  villain  lives  which  slaughter'd  him. 

Jul.  What  A'illain,  madam  ? 

La.  Cap.  That  same  villain,  Eomeo.    80 

Jid.  [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. 

La.  Cap.  That  is,  because  the  traitor  murderer  lives. 

Jtd.  Ay,  madam,  from  the  reach  of  these  my  hands  : 
Would  none  but  I  might  venge  mv  cousin's  death  ! 

La.  Cap.  We  will  have  vengeance  for  it,  fear  thou  not : 


64  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  hi. 

Then  weep  no  more.     I  '11  send  to  one  in  Mantua, 

Where  that  same  banish'd  runagate  doth  live, 

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  Bomeo,  till  I  behold  him — dead — 

Is  my  poor  heart  so  for  a  kinsman  vex'd  : 

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 

Upon  his  body  that  hath  slaughter'd  him  ! 

La.  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  : 
What  are  they,  I  beseech  your  ladyship  ? 

La.  Cap.  Well,  well,  thou  hast  a  careful  fathei-,  child  ; 
One  who,  to  put  thee  from  thy  heaviness. 
Hath  sorted  out  a  sudden  day  of  joy. 

That  thou  expect'st  not  nor  I  look'd  not  for.  110 

Jul.  Madam,  in  happy  time,  what  day  is  that  ? 
La.  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. 

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 
EreHie,  that  should  be  husband,  comes  to  woo. 
I  pray  you,  tell  my  lord  and  father,  madam,  120 

fwilliiot  marry  yet ;  and,  when  I  do,  I  swear, 
It  shall  be  Romeo,  whom  you  know  I  hate. 
Rather  than  Paris.     These  are  news  indeed  ! 


SCENE  v.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  65 

La.  Cap.  Here  comes  your  father  ;  tell  him  so  yourself, 
And  see  how  he  will  take  it  at  your  hands. 

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. 

How  now  !  a  conduit,  girl  ?  what,  still  in  tears  ? 
Evermore  showering  ?     In  one  little  body  130 

Thou  counterfeit'st  a  bark,  a  sea,  a  wind  ; 
For  still  thy  eyes,  which  I  may  call  the  sea, 
Do  ebb  and  flow  with  tears  ;  the  bark  thy  body  is. 
Sailing  in  this  salt  flood  ;  the  winds,  thy  sighs  ; 
"Who,  raging  with  thy  tears,  and  they  with  them, 
Without  a  sudden  calm,  will  overset 
Thy  tempest-tossed  body.     How  now,  wife  ! 
Have  you  deliver'd  to  her  our  decree  ? 

La.  Cap.  Ay,  sir  ;  but  she  will  none,  she  gives  you  thanks. 
I  would  the  fool  were  married  to  her  grave  !  140  ^ 

Cap.  Soft  !  take  me  with  you,  take  me  with  you,  wife.  i  _*;r:     '^ 

How  !  will  she  none  ?  doth  she  not  cive  us  thanks  ?  '     ,  \(y^ 

O  \       j      ■ 

Is  she  not  proud  ?  does  she  not  count  her  blest,  ;,  -i 

Unworthy  as  she  is,  that  we  have  wrought  ^^ 

So  worthy  a  gentleman  to  be  her  bridegroom  ? 

Jul.J^ot  proud,  you  have  ;  but  thankful,  that  you  have  : 
Proud  can  1  never  be  of  what  I  hate^       ~~ 
But  thankful  even  for  hate,  that  is  meant  love.  — - ' 

Cap.  How  now,  how  now,  chop-logic  !     What  is  this  ? 
'  Proud,'  and  '  I  thank  you,'  and  '  I  thank  you  not ; '  150     ^ 

And  yet  '  not  proud  : '  mistress  minion,  you,      ■      ''    ["■^•^'^^     *t 
Thank  me  no  thankings,  nor  i)roud  me  no  prouds. 
But  fettle  your  fine  joints  'gainst  Thursday  next,  ,    •  a,  Z"**^^ 

To  go  with  Paris  to  Saint  Peter's  Church, 
Or  I  will  drag  thee  on  a  hurdle  thither.    X 
Out,  you  green  sickneis^cafrlon  !  out,  you  baggage  ! 

E 


66  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  hi. 

You  tallow-face  ! 

La.  Cap.  Fie,  fie  !  what,  are  you  mad  ? 

Jul.  Good  father,  I  beseech  you  on  Iny  knees. 
Hear  me  with  patience,  but  to  speak  a  word. 

Cap.  Hang  thee,  young  baggage  !  disobedient  wretch  !  160 
I  tell  thee  what  :  get  thee  to  church  o'  Thursday, 
Or  never  after  look  me  in  the  face  : 
Speak  not,  reply  not,  do  not  answer  me  ; 
My  fingers  itch.     Wife,  we  scarce  thought  us  blest 
That  God  had  lent  us  but  this  only  child  ; 
But  now  I  see  this  one  is  one  too  much, 

And  that  we  have  a  curse  in  having  her  :  -^   . 

Out  on  her,  hilding  !         '  '.  ,     '  '  '  r^— ~ 

Niirse.  God  in  heaven  bless  her  ! 

Yoii  are  to  blame,  my  lord,  to  rate  her  so. 

Cap.  And  why,  my  lady  wisdom  ?  hold  your  tongue,      170 
Good  prudence  ;  smatter  with  your  gossips,  go. 

Nurse.  I  speak  no  treason. 

Cap.  ■        O.  God  ye  god-den.  •/^/«/*"' 

N^irse.  May  not  one  speak  ?  '  ' 

Cap.  Peace,  you  mumbling  fool  ! 

Utter  your  gravity  o'er  a  gossip's  bowl ; 
For  here  we  need  it  not. 

La.  Cap.  You  are  too  hot; 

Cap.  God's  bread  !  it  male es  me  mad  : 
Day,  night,  hour,  tide,  time,  work,  play, 
Alone,  in  company,  still  my  care  hath  been, 
To  have  her  match'd  :  and  having  now  provided 
A  gentleman  of  noble  parentage,  180 

Of  fair  demesnes,  youthful,  and  nobly  train'd, 
StufF'd,  as  they  say,  with  honourable  parts, 
Proportion'd  as  one's  thought  would  wish  a  man  ; 
And  then  to  have  a  wretched  puling  fool, 
A  whining  mammet,  in  her  fortune's  tender, 
Tolanswer"' T'U  not  wed  ;  I  cannot  love, 
I  am  too  young  ;  I  pray  you,  pardon  me.' 


SCENE  v.]  KOMEO  AND  JULIET.  67 

But,  an  yoti  will  not  wed,  I  '11  pardon  you  : 

Graze  where  you  will,  you  shall  not  house  with  me  :     ,  ^ 

Look  to 't,  think  on 't,  I  do  not  use  to  jest.  yi*''        190 

Thursday  is  near  ;  lay  hand  on  heart,  advise  :    i;:;«^>*v 

An  you  be  mine,  I  '11  give  you  to  my  friend  ; 

An  you  be  not,  hang,  beg,  starve,  die  in  the  streets, 

.For,  by  my  soulTT'll  ne'er  acknowledge  thee, 

Nor  what  is  mine  shall  never  do  thee  good  : 

Trust  to 't,  bethink  you  ;  I '11  not  be  forsworn.         -j.t,-ii.[^Exit.-- 

Jul.  Is  there  no  pity  sitting  in  the  clouds,  ^,  ,,\**i>-.- 

That  sees  into  the  bottom  of  my  grief  ■? 
O,  sweet  my  mother,  cast  me  not  away  ! 
Delay  this  mairiage  for  a  month,  a  week  ;  200 

Or,  if  you  do  not,  make  the  bridal  bed 
In  that  dim  monument  where  Tybalt  lies. 

La.  Cap.  Talk  not  to  me,  for  I  '11  not  speak  a  word  : 
Do  as  thou  wilt,  for  I  have  done  with  tliee.  \^E.vit. 

Jul.  O  God  ! — O  luirse,  how  shall  this  be  prevented 
My  husband  is  on  earth,  my  faith  in  heaven  ; 
How  shall  that  faith  return  again  to  eartli, 
Unless  that  husband  send  it  me  from  lieaven 
By  leaving  earth  1  comfort  me,  counsel  me. 
Alack,  alack,  that  heaven  should  practise  stratagems         210 
Upon  so  soft  a  subject  as  myself  !  " 

AYhat  say'st  thou  ?  hast  thou  not  a  word  of  joy  ? 
Some  comfort,  nurse. 

Nurse.  Faith,  here  it  is. 

Romeo  is  banish'd  ;  and  all  the  world  to  nothing. 
That  he  dares  ne'er  come  back  to  challenge  you  'tcCg^*^*^^.,. 
Or,  if  he  do,  it  needs  must  be  by  stealth. 
Then,  since  the  case  so  stands  as  now  it  doth, 
I  think  it  best  you  married  with  the  county. 
O,  he 's  a  lovely  gentleman  ! 

Romeo  's  a  dishclovit  to  him  :  an  eagle,  madam,     di^'^^     220     'tf 
Hath  not  so  green,  so  quick,  so  fair  an  eye  ''  ' 

As  Paris  hath.     Beshiew  my  very  heart, 


68  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

I  think  you  are  happy  in  this  second  match, 
For  it  excels  your  first :  or  if  it  did  not, 
Your  first  is  dead  ;  or  'twere  as  good  he  were, 
As  living  here  and  you  no  use  of  him. 

Jul.  Speakest  thou  from  thy  heart  ? 

Nurse.  And  from  my  soul  too  ; 

Or  else  beshrew  them  both. 

Jul.  Amen  ! 

Nurse.  What  1 

Jul.  Well,  thou  hast  comforted  me  marvellous  much. 
Go  in  ;  and  tell  my  lady  1  am  gone,  £30 

Having  displeased  my  father,  to  Laurence'  cell, 
To  make  confession,  and  to  be  absolved. 

Nurse.  Marry,  I  will  ;  and  this  is  wisely  done.  \^Exii. 

Jul.  Ancient  damnation  !  O  most  wicked  fiend  ! 
Is  it  more  sin  to  wish  me  thus  forsworn. 
Or  to  dispraise  my  lord  with  that  same  tongue 
Which  she  hath  praised  him  with  above  compare 
So  many  thousand  times  1    Go,  counsellor  ; 
Thou  and  my  bosom  henceforth  shall  be  twain. 
I'll  to  the  friar,  to  know  his  remedy  :  240 

If  all  else  fail,  myself  have  power  to  die.  [^E.vit. 


ACT  IV. 

Scene  I.    Friar  Laurence's  cell. 
Enter  Friar  Laurence  and  Paris. 

Fri.  L.  On  Thursday,  sir  1  the  time  is  very  short. 

Par.  My  father  CajDulet  will  have  it  so  ; 
And  I  am  nothing  slow  to  slack  his  haste. 

Fri.  L.  You  say  you  do  not  know  the  lady's  mind 
Uneven  is  the  course,  I  like  it  not. 

Par.  Immoderately  she  weeps  for  Tybalt's  death. 


SCENE  r.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  69 

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^oth  give  her  sorrow  so  much  sway,      ^  10 

md  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. 

Fri.  L.  [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. 

Par.  That  may  be  must  be,  love,  on  Thursday  next.         20 

Jul.  "What  must  be  shall  be. 

Fri.  L.  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. 

Pai:  So  will  ye,  I  am  sure,  that  you  love  me. 

J\d.  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. 

Jid.  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. 

Jid.  That  is  no  slander,  sir,  which  is  a  truth  ; 
And  wliat  I  s]mke,  I  spake  it  to  my  face. 

Par.  Thy  face  is  mine,  and  thou  hast  slander'd  it. 

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  ? 


70  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

Fri.  L.  My  leisure  serves  me,  pensive  daughter,  now. 
My  lord,  we  must  entreat  the  time  alone.  40 

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  ! 

Fri.  L.  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,  oJl/U-^^^^^" 

And  with  this  knife  I  '11  help  it  presently. 
God  join'd  my  heart  and  Romeo's,  thou  our  hands  ; 
And  ere  this  hand,  by  thee  to  Romeo  seal'd, 
Shall  be  the  label  to  another  deed. 

Or  my  true  heart  with  treacherous  revolt  , 

Tiu'n  to  another,  this  shall  slay  them  both  :     \-jUj.-''X  ^ 
Therefore,  out  of  thy  long-experienced  time,  60 

Give  me  some  present  counsel,  or,  behold,  j- 

'Twixt  my  extremes  and  me  this  bloody  knife  '*'        &iiM^'^\ 

Shall  play  the  umpire,  arbitrating  that       .'.  ,  Cl<J* 

Which  the  commission  of  thy  years  and  art  ^^ 
Could  to  no  issue  of  true  honour  bring.  ~<^/- 

Be  not  so  long  to  speak  ;  I  long  to  die, 
If  what  thou  speak'st  speak  not  of  remedy. 

Fri.  L.  Hold,  daughter  :  I  do  spy  a  kind  of  hope, 
Wliicli  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,        'yji^J^       j     i 


SCENE  I.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  71 

That  cop'st  with  death  himself  to  scape  from  it ; 
And,  if  tliou  dar'st,  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 
Where  serpents  are  ;  chain  me  with  roaring  bears  ;  80 

Or  shut  me  nightly  in  a  charnel-house,  -  ^^' 

O'er-covei-'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  ; 
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.  L.  Hold,  then  ;  go  home,  be  merry,  give  consent 
To  marry  Paris  :  Wednesday  is  to-morrow  :  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  throvigh  all  thy  veins  shall  run 
A  cold  and  drowsy  humour,  for  no  pulse  ^^xjiA^^j   "7  f--^^*^ 

Shall  keep  his  native  progress,  but  surcease  :      -^  '^^y- 
No  warmth,  no  breath,  shall  testify  thou  li^^st ; 
The  roses  in  thy  lips  and  cheeks  shall  fade 
To  paly  ashes,  thy  eyes'  windows  fall,  100 

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, 
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  110 


72  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

Thou  shalt  be  borne  to  that  same  ancient  vault 

Where  all  the  kindred  of  the  Capulets  lie. 

In  the  mean  time,  against  thou  shall  awake, 

Shall  Romeo  by  my  letters  know  ourjirif t,    p^^,^.;^>^"^  ^ 

And  hither  shall  he  come  :  and  he  and  I 

Will  watch  thy  waking,  and  that  very  night 

Shall  Eomeo  bear  thee  hence  to  Mantua. 

And  this  shall  free  thee  from  this  present  shame  ; 

If  no,inconstant  toy,^  nor  jmmanish  fear^  ^^ 

Abate  thy  valour  in  the  acting  it.  120 

Jxhl.  Give  me,  give  me  !     O,  tell  not  me  of  fear  ! 

Fn.  L.  Hold  ;  get  you  gone,  be  strong  snd  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. 
Farewell,  dear  fatherj__  '  ~  {Exeunt. 


Scene  II.     Hall  in  Capulefs  house. 
Enter  Capulet,  Lady  Capulet,  Nurse,  and  two  Servingmen. 

Cap.  So  many  guests  invite  as  here  are  writ. 

\^Exit  First  Servant. 
Sirrah,  go  hire  me  twenty  cunning  cooks. 

Sec.  Serv.  You  shall  have  none  ill,  sir  ;  for  I  '11  try  if  they 
can  lick  their  fingers. 

Cap.  How  canst  thou  try  them  so  ? 

Sec.  Serv.  Marry,  sir,  'tis  an  ill  cook  that  cannot  lick  his 
own  fingers  :  therefore  he  tliat  cannot  lick  his  fingers  goes 
not  with  me. 

Cap.  Go,  be  gone.  [Exit  Sec.  Servant. 

We  shall  be  much  unfurnish'd  for  this  time.  10 

What,  is  my  daughter  gone  to  Friar  Laurence  ? 

J/tcrse.  Ay,  forsooth. 


SCENE  II.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  73 

Cap.  Well,  he  may  chance  to  do  some  good  on  her. 
Nurse.  See  where  she  comes  from  shrift  with  meriy  look. 

Enter  Juliet. 

Cap.  How  now,  my  headstrong  !    where  have  you  been  \^ 

gadding?  y^^ 

Jul.  Where  I  have  learn'd  me  to  repent  the  sin  V,    ^ 

Of  disobedient  opposition  ^  "^ \\r/^^ 

To  von  and  vnnr  bflifists.  nnd  nm  pninin'rl  '      '\     ■' . 


To  you  and  your  behests,  and  am  enjoin'd  ^     '^    •'  ^^^ 

p  And  beg  your  pardon  :  pardon,  I  beseech  you  !     1   A  20 


By  holy  Laurence  to  fall  prostrate  here,  _  JK   S^ 

I   Henceforward  I  am  ever  ruled  by  you. 


Cap.  Send  for  the  county  ;  go  tell  him  of  this  : 
I'll  have  this  knot  knit  up  to-morrow  morning. 

Jul.  I  met  the  youthful  lord  at  Laurence'  cell  ; 
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. 
Now,  afore  God  !  this  reverend  holy  friar,  30 

All  our  whole  city  is  much  bound  to  him. 

Jicl.  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  ? 

La.  Cap.  No,  not  till  Thursday  ;  there  is  time  enough. 

Cap.  Go,  nurse,  go  with  her  :  we'll  to  church  to-morrow. 

[Kveuni  Jxdiet  atid  Nurse. 

La.  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  : 
Go  thou  to  Juliet,  help  to  deck  up  her  ;  40 

I'll  not  to  bed  to-night  ;  let  me  alone  ; 
I'll  play  the  housewife  for  this  once.     What,  ho  ! 
They  are  all  forth.     Well,  I  will  walk  myself 


74  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

To  County  Paris,  to  prepare  him  up 

■Against  to-morrow  :  my  heart  is  wondi'ous  light, 

Since  this  same  wayward  girl  is  so  reclaim' d._  [Exeunt. 

Scene  III.     Juliet's  chamber. 

Enter  Juliet  and  Nurse. 

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  -    ^-^-^5^5-^*-" 

To  move  the  heavens  to  smile  upon  my  state,  <^,.-'.c.v  d 
Which,  well  thou  know'st,  is  cross  and  full  of  sin. 

Enter  Lady  Capulet. 

La.  Cap.  What,  are  you  busy,  ho  ?  need  you  ray  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. 

La.  Cap.  Good  night : 

Get  thee  to  bed,  and  rest ;  for  thou  hast  need. 

[Exeunt  Lady  Cwpulet  and  Nurse. 

Jul.  Farewell !     God  knows  when  we  shall  meet  again. 
I  have  a  faint  cold  fear  thrills  through  my  veins, 
That  almost  freezes  up  the  heat  of  life  :  » 

I  '11  call  them  Ijack  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  1 
No,  no  :  this  shall  forbid  it  :  lie  thou  there. 

[Laying  down  her  dayger. 


SCENE  III.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  75 

What  if  it  be  a  poison,  which  the  friar 
Subtly  hath  miiiister'd  to  have  me  dead, 
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,  t-r^^f  ■' 
For  he  hath  still  been  tried  a  holy  man.   /jl^/v*-**-- 
How  if,  when  I  am  laid  into  the  tomb,  30 

I  awake  before  the  time  that  Romeo 
^^ome  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  inj_ 
And  there  die  strangled  ere  my  Romeo  comes  ?  __ 
Or,  if  i  live,  is  it  not  very  like, 
TJie  liorj-ible  conceit  of  death  and  night,      -*      ''  ""1^ 


Together  with  the  terror  of  the  place, — 

As  in  a  vault,  an  ancient  recejjtacle. 

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, 
(So  early  waking,  what  with  loathsome  smells, 
[And  shrieks  like  mandrakes'  torn  out  of  the  earth, 
I  That  living  mortals,  hearing  them,  run  mad  : — 

O,  if  I  wake,  shall  I  not  be  distraiight, 

EnA'ironed  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  ~^ — .  /        ( 

Seeking  out  Romeo,  that  did  sprt  his  body    ^»1*^*^' 

Upon  a  rapier's  point  :  stay,  Tybalt,  stay  ! 

Romeo,  I  come  !  this  do  I  drink  to  thee. 

\She  falls  upon  her  bed,  ivithin  tlie  curtains. 


76  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

Scene  IV.     Hall  in  Capulet's  house. 

Enter  Lady  Capulet  and  Nurse. 

La.  Cap.  Hold,  take  these  keys,  and  fetch  more  spices, 

nurse. 
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  : 
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 

La.  Cap.  Ay,  you  have  been  a  mouse-hunt  in  your  time  ; 
But  I  will  watch  you  from  such  watching  now. 

[Exeunt  Lady  Capulet  and  Nirse. 

Cap.  A  jealous-hood,  a  jealous-hood  ! 

Enter  three  or  four  Servingmen,  with  spits,  logs,  and  baskets. 

Now,  fellow. 
What's  there. 

First  Herv.  Things  for  the  cook,  sir  ;  but  I  know  not  what. 

Cap.  IV^ake  haste,  make  haste,     [Exit  First  Serv.']     Sirrah, 
fetch  drier  logs  : 
Call  Peter,  he  will  show  thee  where  they  are. 

Sec.  Serv.  I  have  a  head,  sir,  that  will  find  out  logs, 
And  never  trouble  Peter  for  the  matter.  [Exit. 

Cap.  Mass,  and  well  said  ;  20 

Thou  shalt  be  logger-head.     Good  faith,  'tis  day  : 
The  county  will  be  here  with  music  straight, 


SCENE  IV.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  77 

For  so  he  said  he  would  :  I  hear  him  near.         [Mtisic  within. 
Nurse  !  Wife  !  What,  ho  !  What,  nurse,  I  say  ! 

Re-enter  Nurse. 

Go  waken  Juliet,  go  and  trim  her  up  ; 

I  '11  go  and  chat  with  Paris  :  hie,  make  haste, 

Make  haste  ;  the  bridegroom  he  is  come  already  : 

Make  haste,  I  say.  [^Exexint. 


Scene  V.     Juliet's  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  ! 
Marry,  and  amen,  how  sound  is  she  asleep  ! 
I  must  needs  wake  her.     Madam,  madam,  madam  ! 
Ay,  let  the  county  take  you  in  your  bed  ; 
He'n  fright  you  up,  i'  faith.     Will  it  not  be  ? 

[Undraws  the  curtains. 
What,  dress'd  !  and  in  your  clothes  !  and  down  again  ! 
I  must  needs  wake  you  :  Lady  !  lady  !  lady  ! 
Alas,  alas  !     Help,  help  !  my  lady 's  dead  !  10 

O,  well-a-day,  that  ever  I  was  born  ! 
Some  aqua  vitse,  ho  !     My  lord  !  my  lady  ! 

Enter  Lady  Capulet. 

La.  Cap.  What  noise  is  here  ? 

Nurse.  O  lamentable  day  ! 

La.  Cap.  What  is  the  matter  ? 

Nurse.  Look,  look  !  O  heavy  day  ! 

La.  Cap.  O  me,  O  me  !  My  child,  my  only  life, 


78  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

Revive,  look  iip,  or  I  will  die  with  thee  ! 
Help,  lielp  !  Call  help. 

Enter  Capulet.  ■ 

Cap.  For  shame,  bring  Juliet  forth  ;  her  lord  is  come. 

Nu7'se.  She 's  dead,  deceased,  she 's  dead  ;  alack  the  day  ! 

La.  Cap.  Alack  the  day,  she's  dead,  she's  dead,  she's  dead  ! 
•    Cap.  Ha  !  let  me  see  her  :  out,  alas  !  she 's  cold  ;  21 

Her  blood  is  settled,  and  her  joints  are  stiff  ; 
Life  and  these  lips  have  long  been  separated  : 
Death  lies  on  her  like  an  untimely  frost 
Upon  the  sweetest  flower  of  all  tlie  field. 

Niirse.  O  lamentable  day  ! 

La.  Cap.  O  woful  time  ! 

Cap.  Death,  that  hath  ta'en  her  hence  to  make  me  wail. 
Ties  up  my  tongue,  and  will  not  let  me  speak. 

Enter  Friar  Laurence  and  Paris,  with  Musicians. 

Fri.  L.  Come,  is  the  bride  ready  to  go  to  church  ? 

Cap.  Ready  to  go,  but  never  to  return.  30 

O  son  ;-  the  njght  before  thy  wedding-day 
Hath  Deatli  lain  with  thy  wife.     There  she  lies, 
C,  Flower  as  she  was,  deflowered  by  him. 
Death  is  my  son-in-law.  Death  is  my  heir  ; 
My  daughter  he  hath  wedded  :  I  will  die. 
And  leave  him  all  ;  life,  living,  all  is  Death's. 

Par.  Have  I  thought  long  to  see  this  morning's  face, 
And  doth  it  give  me  such  a  sight  as  this  ? 

La.  Cap.  Accursed,  unhajjpy,  wretch,  hateful  day  ! 
Most  miserable  hour  that  e'er  time  saw  40 

In  lasting  labour  of  his  pilgrimage  ! 
But  one,  poor  one,  one  poor  and  loving  child. 
But  one  thing  to  rejoice  and  solace  in. 
And  cruel  death  hath  cateh'd  it  from  my  sight  ! 

Nurse.  O  woe  !  O  woful,  woful,  woful  day  ! 


SCENE  v.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  79 

Most  lamentable  day,  most  woful  day, 

That  ever,  ever,  I  did  yet  behold  ! 

O  day  !  0  dav  !  O  dav  !  O  hateful  dav  ! 

Never  was  seen  so  black  a  day  as  this  : 

O  wofvil  day,  O  woful  day  !  50 

Par.  Beguiled,  divorced,  wronged,  spited,  slain  ! 

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 

To  mui'der,  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.  60 

Fri.  L.  Peace,  ho,  for  shame  !  confusion's  cure  lives  not     /ak^^^*-' 

In  these  confusions.     Heaven  and  yourself  tt-aAts'ji*' 

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. 

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  ?  70 

O,  in  this  love,  you  love  your  child  so  ill, 

That  you  run  mad,  seeing  that  she  is  well  :  ^ 

She 's  not  well  married  that  lives  married  long  ;       .Ciu>a-*  14. 

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, 

In  all  her  best  array  bear  her  to  church  : 

For  though  faud,  nature  bids  us  all  lament,     «r-t>-a^*-  •  ^x^^^-^vm:- 

Yet  nature's  tears  are  reason's  merriment. 

Cap.  All  things  that  we  ordained  festival,     ^x'  80 

Turn  from  their  office  to  black  f uneraT; 


80  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

Our  instruments  to  melancholy  bells, 

Our  wedding  cheer  to  a  sad  burial  feast, 

Our  solemn  hymns  to  sullen  dirges  change,  ^ ,  AH«.t,»*,.w/  ^  W< 

Our  bridal  flowers  serve  for  a  buried  corse,     'Muj^A^a^^T 

And  all  things  change  them  to  the  contrary. 

Fri.  L.  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  ;  90 

Move  them  no  more  by  crossing  their  high  will. 

[Exeunt  Capulet,  Lady  Capulet,  Paris,  and  Friar. 

First  Mks.  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.  \E.vit. 

First  Mus.  Aj,  by  my  troth,  the  case  may  be  amended. 

Enter  Peter. 

Pet.  Musicians,  O,  musicians,  '  Heart's  ease,  Heart's  ease  :' 
O,  an  you  will  have  me  live,  play  '  Heart's  ease.' 

First  Mus.  Why  '  Heart's  ease '  ? 

Pet.  O,  musicians,  because  my  heart  itself  plays  '  My  heart 
is  full  of  woe  : '  O,  play  me  some  merry  dump,  to  comfort 
me.  101 

First  Mus.  Not  a  dump  we  ;  'tis  no  time  to  play  now. 

Pet.  You  will  not,  then  ? 

First  Mus.  No. 

Pet.  I  will  then  give  it  you  soundly. 

First  Mus.  "What  will  you  give  us  ? 

Pet.  No  money,  on  my  faith,  but  the  gleek  ;  I  will  give 
you  the  minstrel. 

First  Mus.  Then  will  I  give  you  the  serving-creature. 

Pet  Then  will  I  lay  the  serving-creature's  dagger  on 
your  pate.  I  will  carry  no  crotchets  :  I  '11  re  you,  I  '11  fa 
you  ;  do  you  note  me  ?  112 

First  Mus.  And  you  re  us  and  fa  us,  you  note  us. 


O 


SCENE  v.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  gl 

Sec.  Mils.  Pray  you,  put  up  your  dagger,  and  put  out 
your  wit. 

Pet.  Then  have  at  you  with  mv  wit  !  I  will  dry-beat  vou 
with  an  iron  wit,  and  put  up  my  iron  dagger.  Answer  me 
like  men  : 

'  When  griping  grief  the  heart  doth  wound, 

And  doleful  dumps  the  mind  oppress,  120 

Then  music  with  her  silver  sound ' — 
why  'silver  sound'?  why  'music  with  her  silver  sound'? 
What  say  you,  Simon  Catling  ? 
First  Mus.  Marry,  sir,  because  silver  hath  a  sweet  sound. 
Pet.  Pretty  !  What  say  you,  Hugh  Eebeck  ? 
Sec.  Mus.  I  say  '  silver  sound,'  because   musicians   sound 
for  silver. 

Pet.  Pretty  too  !  What  say  you,  James  Soundpost  ? 
Third  Mus.  Faith,  I  know  not  what  to  say.'  129 

Pet.  O,  I  cry  you  mercy  ;  you  are  the  singer  :  I  will  say 
for  you.  It  is  'music  with  her  silver  sound,'  because  musi- 
cians have  no  gold  for  sounding  ; 

'  Then  music  with  her  silver  sound 

With  speedy  help  doth  lend  redress.'  {E.vit. 

First  Mus.  What  a  pestilent  knave  is  this  same  ! 
Sec.  M^is.  Hang  him.  Jack  !     Come,  we  '11  in  here  ;  tarry 
for  the  mourners,  and  stay  dinner.  [Exeunt. 


ACT  V. 

Scene  I.     Mantua.     A  street. 

Enter  Eomeo. 

Rom.  If  I  may  trust  the  flattering  truth  of  sleep. 
My  dreams  presage  some  joyful  news  at  hand  : 
My  bosom's  lord  sits  lightly  in  his  throne  ; 
And  all  this  day  an  unaccustom'd  spirit 
;    Lifts  me  above  the  ground  with  cheerful  thoughts. 


82  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

I  dreamt  my  lady  came  and  found  me  dead — 

Strange  dream,  that  gives  a  dead  man  leave  to  think  ! — 

And  breathed  such  life  with  kisses  in  my  lips, 

That  I  revived,  and  was  an  emperor. 

Ah  me  !  how  sweet  is  love  itself  possess'd,  10 

When  but  love's  shadows  are  so  rich  in  joy  ! 

Enter  Balthasar,  hooted. 


20 


News  from  Verona  ! — How  now,  Balthasar  ! 
Dost  thou  not  bring  me  letters  from  the  friar  1 
How  doth  my  lady  ?    Is  my  father  well  ? 
How  fares  my  Juliet  ?  that  I  ask  again  ; 
For  nothing  can  be  ill,  if  she  be  well. 

Bal.  Then  she  is  well,  and  nothing  can  be  ill  : 
Her  body  sleeps  in  Capel's  monument. 
And  her  immortal  part  with  angels  lives. 
I  saw  her  laid  low  in  her  kindred's  vavilt. 
And  presently  took  post  to  tell  it  you  : 
O,  pardon  me  for  bringing  these  ill  news, 
Since  you  did  leave  it  for  my  office,  sir. 

Rom.  Is  it  even  so  ?  then  I  defy  you,  stars  ! 
Thou  know'st  my  lodging  :  get  me  ink  and  paper. 
And  hire  post-horses  ;  I  will  hence  to-night. 

Bal.  I  do  beseech  you^  sir,  have  patience  j__ 
Yours  looks  are  pale  and^wjld,  and  do  import 
Some  misadventure. 

'Emn.         '  Tush,  thou  art  deceived  : 

Leave  me,  and  do  the  thing  I  bid  thee  do. 
Hast  thou  no  letters  to  me  from  the  friar  1 

Bal.  No,  my  good  lord. 

Rom.  No  matter  :  get  thee  gone. 

And  hire  those  horses  ;  I  '11  be  with  thee  straight. 

[Exit  Balthasar. 
Well,  Juliet,  I  will  lie  with  thee  to-night. 
Let's  see  for  means  :  O  mischief,  thou  art  swift 


30 


SCEJJE  I.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  83 

To  enter  in  the  thoughts  of  desperate  men  ! 

I  do  remember  an  apothecary, — 

And  hereabouts  a'  dwells, — which  late  I  noted     ^x.^ 

In  tatter'd  weeds,  with  overwhelming  brows,      ^it*;<J/. 

Culling  of  simples  ;  meagre  were  his  looks,     ..^,,.   ^  40 

Sharp  misery  had  worn  him  to  the  bones  : 

And  in  his  needy  shop  a  tortoise  hung,        «,-^t^% 

An  alligator  stiiff'd,  and  other  skins 

Of  ill-shaped  fishes  ;  and  about  his  shelves 

A  beggarly  account  of  empty  boxes,  ?    .  '^i  ^ 

Green  earthen  pots,  bladders  and  musty  seeds. 

Remnants  of  packthread  and  old  cakes  of  roses, 

Were  thinly  scatter'd,  to  make  up  a  show.* 

Noting  this  penury,  to  myself  I  said 

'  An  if  a  man  did  need  a  poison  now,  50 

Whose  sale  is  present  death  in  Mantua, 

Here  lives  a  caitiff  Avretch  would  sell  it  him. 

0,  this  same  thought  did  Init  forerun  mv  need  ; 

And  this  same  needy  man  must  sell  it  me.     ^ 

As  I  remember,  this  should  be  the  house. 

Being  holiday,  the  beggar's  shop  is  shut. 

What,  ho  !  apothecary  ! 

Enter  Apothecary. 

Ap.  Who  calls  so  loud  ? 

Rom.  Come  hither,  man.     I  see  that  thou  art  poor  : 
Hold,  there  is  forty  ducats  :  let  me  have 

A  dram  of  poison,  such  soon-speeding  gear       .^«..*/vii^-f    •60'  ***" 

As  will  disperse  itself  through  all  the  veins 
That  the  life- weary  taker  may  fall  dead 
And  that  the  trunk  may  be  discharged  of  breath 
As  violently  as  hasty  powder  fired  ^ 
Dotli  hurry  from  the  fatal  caiinon's  womb. 

Ap.  Such  mortal  drugs  I  have  ;  but  Mantua's  law 
Is  death  to  any  he  that  utters  them. 


^«l^ 


84  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  thine  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. 

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  goldjj^rse  poison  to  men's  souls,        80 
'Doing  more  nuuders  in  this  loathsome  world, 
Than  these  jjoor  compounds  that  thou  mayst  not  sell.___^ 
,  I  sell  thee  poison  TThou  hast  sold  me  none. 
Farewell :  buy  food,  and  get  thyself  in  flesh. 
Come,  cordial  and  not  poison,  go  with  me 
To  Juliet's  grave  ;  for  there  must  I  use  thee.  {Exeunt. 


Scene  II.     Friar  Laurences  cell. 
Enter  Friar  John. 
Fri.  J.  Holy  Franciscan  friar  !  brother,  ho  ! 
Enter  Friar  Laurence. 

Fri.  L.  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.  J.  Going  to  find  a  bare-foot  brother  out, 
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 


SCENE  II.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  85 

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.  L.  Who  bare  my  letter,  then,  to  Romeo  ? 

Fri.  J.  I  could  not  send  it, — here  it  is  again, — 
Nor  get  a  messenger  to  bring  it  thee, 
So  fearful  were  they  of  infection. 

Fri.  L.  Unhappy  fortune  !  by  my  brotherhood. 
The  letter  was  not  nice  but  full  of  charge        L  ^-^<^<.u 
Of  dear  import,  and  tlie  neglecting  it 

May  do  much  danger.     Friar  John,  go  hence  ;  20 

Get  me  an  iron  crow,  and  brint;  it  straight 
Unto  my  cell. 

Fri.  J.  Brother,  I  '11  go  and  bring  it  thee.  [^E.rit. 

Fri.  L.  Now  must  I  to  the  monument  alone  ; 
Within  this  three  hours  will  fair  Juliet  wake  : 
She  will  beshrew  me  nuich  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  !       {Exit.     30 

Scene  III.     A  churchyard ;  in  it  a  tomb  belonging  to  the 

Capulets. 

Enter  Paris,  and  his  Page  bearing  floioers  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, 
Holding  thine  ear  close  to  the  hollow  ground  ; 
So  shall  no  foot  upon  the  churchyard  tread. 
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. 


86  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

Page.  [Aside]  I  am  almost  afraid  to  stand  alone  10 

Here  in  the  churchyard  ;  yet  I  will  adventure.  [Retires. 

Fa^  Sweet  flower,  with  flowers  thy  bridal  bed  I  sti-ew, — 
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  : 
The  obsequies  that  I  for  thee  will  keep 
Nightly  shall  be  to  strew  thy  grave  and  weep. 

[The  Page  lohistles. 
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,  awliile  [Retires. 

Enter  Eomeo  aiid  Balthasar,  ^vith  a  torch,  inattock,  etc. 

Rom.  Give  me  that  mattock  and  the  wrenching  iron.     fj*.  <  * 
Hold,  take  this  letter  ;  early  in  the  morning 
See  thou  deliver  it  to  my  lord  and  father. 
Give  me  the  light  :  \\]>o\\  thy  life.  I  charge  thee, 
Whate'er  thou  heai-'st  or  seest,  stand  all  aloof,      ^,.*«»*-6t    ***^ "- 
And  do  not  interrupt  me  i]i  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  2>i'ecious  ring,  a  ring  that  I  nmst  use 
In  dear  employment  :  therefore  hence,  be  gone  :     '^^ 
But  if  thou,  jealous,  dost  return  to  pry   ut<-*ui^.*^fi'u  ■ 
In  what  I  further  shall  intend  to  do. 
By  heaven,  I  will  tear  thee  joint  by  joint 
And  strew  this  himgry  churchyard  with  thy  limbs  : 
The  time  and  my  intents  are  savau'e-wild. 
More  fierce  and  more  inexorable  far 


Than  emjity  tigers  or  the  roaring  sea. 

5aZ.  I  will  be  gone,  sir,  and  not  trouble  you.  40 

Rom.  So  shalt  thou  show  me  friendsbip.     Take  thou  that : 


SCENE  III.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  87 

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,*; 
Goi'ged  with  the  dearest  morsel  of  the  earth, 
Thus  I  enforce  thy  rotten  jaws  to  open. 
And,  in  despite,  I  '11  cram  thee  with  more  food  ! 

[Opens  the  tomb. 

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  Avill  apprehend  him.     [Comes  fonuard. 
Stop  thy  unhallow'd  toil,  vile  Montague  ! 
Can  vengeance  be  pursued  further  than  death  ? 
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  affright  thee.     I  beseech  thee,  youth, 

jPut  not  another  sin  upon  my  head, . 

By  urging  me  to  fury  :  O,  be  gone  ! 
'■      By  Tieaven,  I  love  thee  better  than  myself  ; 
For  I  come  hither  arm'd  against  myself  ; 
Stay  not,  be  gone  ;  live,  and  hereafter  say, 
A  madman's  mercy  bade  thee  run  away. 

Tar.  I  do  defy  thy  conjurations, 
And  apprehend  thee  for  a  felon  here. 

Rom.  Wilt  thou  provoke  me  ?  then  have  at  thee,  boy  !    70 

[They  fight. 

Page.  O  Lord,  they. fight  I  I  will  go  call  the  watch.     Exit. 

Par.  O,  I  am  slain  !  [Falls.']  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  ! 


ok!  \ 


88  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

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  1  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 

I  '11  bury  thee  in  a  triumphant  grave  ; 

A  grave  !  O.  no  !  a  lantern,  slaughter'd  youth, 

For  here  lies  Juliet,  and  her  beauty  makes 

This  vault  a  feasting  presence  full  of  light. 

Death,  lie  thou  there,  by  a  dead  man  interr'd. 

[Lai/ing  Paris  in  the  tomb. 
vHow  oft  when  men  are  at  the  point  of  death 
/Have  they  been  merry  !  which  their  keepers  call    ^^^i  u      ./-A**^J 
|A  lightning  before  death  :  O,  how  maj'  T  90 

Call  this  a  lightning  ?     O  my  love  I  my  wife  ! 

Death,  that  hath  suck'd  the  honey  of  thy  breath. 

Hath  had  no  jDower  yet  upon  thy  beauty  : 

Thou  art  not  conquer'd  ;  beauty's  ensign  yet 

Is  crimson  in  thy  lips  and  in  thy  cheeks, 

And  death's  pale  flag  is  not  advanced  there. 

Tybalt,  liest  thou  there  in  thy  bloody  sheet  ? 

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  ?  100 

Forgive  me,  cousin  !     Ah,  dear  Juliet, 

Why  art  thou  yet  so  fair  ?  shall  I  believe 
ZThat  unsubstantial  death  is  amorous,  <^ii,  ii'  '^•^■»<'  "* 

^And  that  the  lean  abhorred  monster  keeps 
PThee  here  in  dark  to  be  his  paramour  ? 
'For  fear  of  that,  I  still  will  stay  with  thee  :  ;  / 

And  never  from  this  palace  of  dim  night 

Dejiart  again  :  here,  here  will  I  remain 

With  worms  tliat  are  tliy  cliamber-maids  ;  O,  here 

Will  I  set  ujj  my  everlasting  rest,  110 


SCENE  III.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  89 

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 
The  doors  of  bi-eath,  seal  with  a  righteous  kiss 
A  dateless  bargain  to  engrossing  death  I 

vome,  bitter  conduct,  come,  unsavoury  guide  !       .'i^W"**-*-^*^  '-■ 

?hou  desperate  pilot,  now  at  once  run  on 

Che  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.        {Dies.     120 

Enter,  at  the  other  end  of  the  churchyard,  Friar  Laurence, 
with  a  lantern,  croiv,  and  spade. 

Fri.  L.  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.  L.  Bliss  be  upon  you  !     Tell  me,  good  my  friend, 
What  torch  is  yond,  that  vainly  lends  his  light 
To  grubs  and  eyeless  skulls  ?  as  I  discern. 
It  burneth  in  the  Capels'  monument. 

Bal.  It  doth  so,  holy  sir  ;  and  there  's  my  master, 
One  that  you  love. 

Fri.  L.  Who  is  it  ? 

Bal.  Eomeo. 

Fri.  L.  How  long  hath  he  been  there  ? 

Bal.  Full  half  an  hour.     130 

Fri.  L.  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.  L.  Stay,  then  ;  I  'U  go  alone.     Fear  comes  upon  me  : 
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,  ^  • 


90  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

And  that  my  master  slew  him. 

Fri.  L.  Romeo !  [Advances. 

'Alack,  alack,  what  blood  is  this,  which  stains  140 

The  stony  entrance  of  this  sepulchre  1 
What  mean  these  niasterless  and  gory  swords 
iTo  lie  discoloiu-'d  by  this  place  of  2)eace  ?        [Enters  the  tomh. 
Romeo  !  O,  pale  !     Who  else  ?  wliat,  Paris  too  ? 
And  steep'd  in  blood  ?     Ah,  what  an  unkind  hour 
Is  guilty  of  this  lamentable  chance  ! 
The  lady  stirs.  [Juliet  wakes. 

Jul.  O,  comfortable  friar  !  where  is  my  lord  ? 
I  do  remember  well  where  I  should  be, 
And  there  I  am.     Where  is  my  Romeo  ?    [Noise  vnthin.    150 

Fri.  L.  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  ; 
And  Paris  too.     Come,  I  '11  dispose  of  thee 
Among  a  sisterhood  of  holy  nuns  : 
Stay  not  to  question,  for  the  watch  is  coming  ; 
Come,  go,  good  Juliet  [Noise  again],  I  dare  no  longer  stay. 

Jtd.  Go,  get  thee  hence,  for  I  will  not  away.  160 

[E.vit  Fri.  L. 
What's  here  ?  a  cup,  closed  in  my  true  love's  hand  % 
Poison,  I  see,  hath  been  his  timeless  ejid  : 
O  churl  !  drunk  all,  and  left  no  friendly  drop 
To  hel]}  me  after  l     I  Avill  kiss  thy  lips  ; 
Haply  some  poison  yet  doth  hang  on  them, 
To  make  me  die  with  a  restorative.  [Kissts  him. 

Thy  lips  are  warm. 

First  Watch.  [  Withiii]  Lead,  bo}-  :  which  way  ? 

Jid.  Yea,  noise  ?  then  I  '11  be  brief.     O  happy  dagger  I 

[Snatching  Romeo's  dagger. 
This  is  thy  sheath  [Stabs  herself] ;  there  rust,  and  let  me  die. 

[Falls  on  Romeo's  body,  and  dies. 


SCENE  III  ]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  91 

Enter  Watch,  tinth  the  Page  of  Paris. 

Page.  This  is  the  place  ;  there,  where  the  torch  doth  burn. 
First  Watch.    The   ground   is   bloody  ;    search   about   the 
churchyard  :  171 

Go,  some  of  you,  whoe'er  you  find  attach. 
Pitiful  sight  !  here  lies  the  county  slain  ; 
And  Juliet  bleeding,  warm,  and  newly  dead. 
Who  here  hath  lain  this  two  days  buried. 

Go,  tell  the  prince  :  run  to  the  Caj)ulets  :  /v 

Raise  i,ip  the  Montagues  :  some  others  search  :  /\       n     ^     \  <^ 

^^"^  We  see  the  ground  whereon  these  woes  do^li^^''^/    //  '   '  ^  4-»>ui/ 

.j>^    But  tlieJ:nie-gjjjimdx>£allJdi£se„piteou_s  woes  ^J  -j  k^^  "T^  '^      ^^ 
Cj^  We  cannot  without  circumstance  descry. '4  180    ^ 

Re-enter  some  of  the  Watch,  mth  Balthasar. 

Sec.  Watch.    Here  's  Romeo's  man  ;    we  found  him  in  the 

cliurchyard. 
First  Watch.    Hold   him   in   safety    till    the    prince   come 

hither. 

He-enter  others  of  the  AVatch,  idth  Friar  Laurence. 

Third  Watch.  Here   is  a  friar,  that  trembles,  sighs,  and 
weeps  : 
We  took  this  mattock  and  this  spade  from  him, 
As  lie  was  caming  from  this  churchyard  side. 

First  Watclt.  A  great  suspicion  :  stay  the  friar  too. 

Enter  the  Prince  and  Attendants. 

Prince.  What  misadventure  is  so  early  ujj, 
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  ? 
La.  Cap.  The  people  in  the  street  cry  Romeo,  190 

Some  Juliet,  and  some  Paris  ;  and  all  run, 


92  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

With  open  outcry,  toward  our  moiuiment. 

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. 
Warm  and  new  kill'd. 

Prince.  Search,  seek,  and  know  how  this  foul  murder  comes. 

Fh-st  Watch.  Here  is  a  friar,  and  slaughter'd  Romeo's  man ; 
With  instruments  upon  them,  fit  to  open 
These  dead  men's  tombs.  200 

Cap.  O  heavens  !  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  !  ir~^ 

La.  Cap.  O  me_!  tjiis  sight^of  death  is  as  a  bell,      jl     ijl' 
A  Tliat  warns  my  old  an:e  to^  se])ulchre.  V   ^   ri^f^ 

Enter  Montague  and  others. 

Prince,  Come,  Montague  ;  for  thou  art  early  up. 
To  see  thy  son  and  heir  more  early  down. 

Mon.  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. 

Mon.  U  thou  untaught !  what  manners  is  in  this, 
To  press  before  thy  father  to  a  grave  1  ^-t.*-*^ 

Prince.  Seal  up  the  mouth  of  outrage  for  a  while,  / 't^  ^d  t^'^'^ 
Till  we  can  clear  these  ambiguities, 

Ajidjciiow  their  spinng,  their  head,  their  true^descent ;  <>-i^«-«^ 
y  And  then  will  I  be  geii¥iSr  of  your  woes,  -'4^^ 

And  lead  vou  even  to  death  :  meantime  forbear, 
And  let  mischance  be  slave  to  patience.  220 

Bring  forth  the  parties  of  suspicion. 

Fri.  L.  I  am  the  greatest,  able  to  do  least, 
Yet  most  suspected,  as  the  time  and  place 
Doth  make  against  me,  of  this  direful  murder  ; 


SCENE  III.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  93 

And  here  I  stand,  both  to  impeach  and  purge       *<Ci4,4C  'y»^^ 
Myself  condemned  and  myself  excused.  ' 

Prince.  Then  say  at  once  what  tliou  dost  know  in  this. 

Fri.  L.  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  them  ;  and  their  stol'n  marriage-day 
Was  Tybalt's  dooms-day,  whose  untimely  death 
Banish'd  the  new-made  bridegroom  from  this  city, 
For  whom,  and  not  for  Tybalt,  Juliet  pined. 
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, 
Ajleeping  potion  ;  which  so  took  effect 
As  I  intended,  for  it  wrought  on  her 
The  form  of  death  :  meantime  I  writ  to  Romeo, 
That  he  should  hither  come  as  this  dire  nicht. 
To  help  to  take  her  from  her  borrowed  grave. 

Being  the  time  the  potion's  force  should  cease.  L     "^^^^ 

But  he  which  bore  my  letter,  Friar  John,  /.jJ-^^  i- 

Was  stay'd  by  accident,  and  yesternight     '^'^j.x^<y<^-^'i'b^ 


^-^- 


Return'd  my  letter  back.     Then  all  alone 

At  the  prefix'd  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  : 

But  when  I  came,  some  minute  ere  the  time 

Of  her  awaking,  here  untimely  lay 

The  noble  Paris  and  true  Romeo  dead. 

She  wakes  ;  and  I  entreated  her  come  forth. 

And  bear  this  work  of  heaven  with  patience  :  260 


94  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

But  then  a  noise  did  scare  me  from  the  tomb  ; 
And  she,  too  desperate,  would  not  go  witli  me, 
Bnt,  as  it  seems,  did  violence  on  herself. 
All  this  I  know  ;  and  to  the  marriage 
Her  nnrse  is  privy  :  and,  if  anght  in  this 
Miscarried  by  my  fault,  let  my  old  life 
Be  sacrificed,  some  hour  before  his  time. 
Unto  the  rigour  of  severest  law.  I 

Prince.  We  still  have  known  thee  for  a  holy  man. 
Where 's  Romeo's  man  ?  what  can  he  say  in  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. 
And  threaten'd  me  with  death,  going  in  the  vault. 
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  'I 
Sirrah,  what  made  your  master  in  this  place  ?  279 

Page.  He  came  with  flowers  to  strew  his  lady's  grave  ; 
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, 
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  !     Montague  !  290 

v^See^,  what_a^scourge  is  laid  uponj^our  hate,, 
^^fiat  heaven  finds  means  to  kill  your  joys  with  love. 
7  AirdTT  for  wTiikihg  at  your  discords  too 
/  Have  lost  a  brace  of  kinsmen  :  all  are  punish'd. 

Cap.  O  brother  Montague,  give  me  thy  hand 
This  is  my  daughter's  jointure,  for  no  more 


SCENE  III.]  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  95 

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  Eomeo's  by  his  lady's  lie  ; 
Poor  sacrifices  of  our  enmity  ! 

Prince.  A  glooming  peace  this  morning  with  it  brings  ; 

The  sun,  for  sorrow,  will  not  show  his  head  : 
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  Komeo.  $  {E.veunt. 


NOTES. 


Prologue. 

1.  alike,  equal ;  cp.  K.  J.  ii.  1.  231,  "Strength  match'd  with 
strength,  and  power  confronted  power  :  Both  are  alike  ;  and  both 
alike  we  like. " 

2.  fair  Verona.  The  capital  of  one  of  the  nine  provinces  of 
Venetia,  and  of  all  the  cities  of  those  provinces  second  in  im- 
portance to  Venice  alone.  Originally  founded  by  the  Gauls,  it 
afterwards  became  a  Koman  colony,  and  was  the  residence  of  the 
Lombard  princes  in  the  middle  ages ;  later  on  it  suffered 
severely  from  the  contests  between  the  Ghibellines  and  the 
Guelphs,  the  former  the  supporters  of  the  imperial  authority 
in  Italy,  the  latter  its  opponents.  The  supposed  house  of  the 
Capulets  and  the  tomb  of  Juliet  are  still  shown,  though  the  tra- 
dition regarding  both  is  without  any  authority.  Borneo  and  Juliet 
is,  however,  founded  on  events  that  actually  took  place,  and 
Escalus,  prince  of  Verona,  was  Bartolommeo  della  Scala,  who 
died  in  130,3. 

3.  grudge,  ill  will,  hatred  :  mutiny,  discord,  the  active  mani- 
festation of  the  ill-will  cherished  by  the  two  families  ;  for  this 
sense  of  the  word,  cp.  below,  i.  5.  82,  "You'll  make  a  mutiny 
among  my  guests";  Cor.  ii.  3.  264,  "This  mutiny  were  better 
put  in  hazard,  Than  stay,  past  doubt,  for  greater."  The  original 
sense  of  the  word  is  merely  '  movement,'  thence  '  commotion,'  it 
being  through  the  French  from  the  Lat.  movere,  to  move. 

4.  Where,  in  which  strife :  though  in  civil  blood,  civil  hands, 
civil  means  that  which  relates  to  the  community  of  citizens,  there 
is  probably  in  the  latter  phrase  a  play  upon  the  word  in  its  sense 
of  'polite,'  'well-mannered.' 

5.  these  two  foes,  the  two  hostile  families. 

6.  star-cross'd,  destined  by  the  stars  to  ill-fortune.  For  a 
fuller  reference  to  the  astrological  beliefs  of  the  time,  see  Lear, 
i.  2.  112-144. 

96 


PROLOGUE.]  NOTES.  97 

7,  8.  Whose  . . .  strife,  the  ill-fated  termination  of  whose  love 
buries  hi  tlieir  graves  the  strife  that  raged  between  their  parents  ; 
misadventured,  unfortunate ;  one  of  those  adjectives  formed 
from  nouns  M'hich  are  so  frequent  in  Shakespeare,  and  which 
have  generally  been  mistaken  for  participles  :  Do,  the  quartos 
give  Doth,  Avhich  is  justified  by  some  on  the  grounds  that  it  is 
the  old  southern  plural  in  -eth,  as  in  M.  V.  iii.  2.  33,  "Where 
men  enforced  doth  speak  everything  "  (the  reading  of  the  first 
folio),  by  others  as  an  instance  of  the  singular  verb  where  the  sense 
of  the  subject  is  collective.  The  latter  seems  the  more  probable 
case  here. 

9.  The  fearful  ...  love,  tlie  terrible  course  of  their  love  marked 
out  for  death  ;  for  passage,  cp.  7'.  C.  ii.  3.  I4U,  "  The  2mssage 
and  whole  carriage  of  this  action  Rode  on  his  tide." 

11.  but,  except. 

12.  the  two  ...  stage,  that  in  which  our  stage  deals  for  two 
hours,  the  transaction  with  Mhich  our  play  is  concerned.  The 
duration  of  a  plaj^  is  frequently  spoken  of  in  tlie  prologues  to 
them  as  being  of  two  hours  only,  tliough  three  hours  is  sometimes 
given. 

li.  miss,  be  deficient,  or,  perhaps,  miss  the  mark.  This  pro- 
logue, which  is  written  on  the  same  metrical  scheme  as  the 
Sonnets,  viz.,  two  rhymed  quatrains  closing  in  a  rhymed  couplet, 
is  omitted  in  the  folios,  and  by  some  is  supposed  not  to  be  Shake- 
speare's. 

Act  I.     Scene  I. 

1.  carry  coals,  put  up  with  insults.  A  phrase  very  common  in 
the  old  dramatists  and  owing  its  origin  to  the  fact  that  the 
carriers  of  coals  were  the  lowest  of  menials.  Cp.  e.g.  H.  V.  iii. 
2.  49,  "  Nym  and  Bardolpli  are  sworn  brothers  in  filching,  and 
in  Calais  they  stole  a  fire-shovel :  I  knew  by  that  piece  of  service 
the  men  would  carry  coals  " ;  Jonson,  Every  Man  Out  of  His 
Humour,  v.  1.  IS,  9,  "  here  comes  one  that  will  carry  coals,  ergo, 
will  hold  my  dog  " ;  Chapman,  May  Day,  iii. ,  speaks  of  "an  nti- 
cole-carryiiKj  spirit."  Fi'om  the  same  source  we  have  the  word 
hlachjuarcl  as  a  term  of  abuse,  it  being  originally  applied  to  "  the 
smutty  regiment,"  as  Gifford  calls  them,  "  who  attended  the 
[sovereign's]  progresses,  and  rode  with  the  pots  and  kettles,  which, 
with  every  otlier  article  of  furniture,  were  then  moved  from 
palace  to  palace  "... . 

2.  colliers,  a  term  of  contempt,  not  merely  from  their  being 
ready  to  carry  coals,  i.e.  put  up  with  insults,  but  from  the  black- 
ness of  their  appearance.  So,  in  T.  N.  iii.  4.  130,  Satan  for  his 
blackness  is  called  "  foul  collier." 


98  •  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

3.  an  we  be  ...  draw,  if  our  temper  be  up,  we  will  draw  our 
swords  ;  for  an,  see  Abb.  §  101. 

4.  Ay,  ...  collar,  yes,  so  long  as  you  live,  do  your  best  to  get 
out  of  difficulties  ;  merely  said  for  the  sake  of  the  pun  on  colliers, 
choler,  and  collar. 

5.  moved,  excited,  stirred  to  anger. 

6.  But  thou  ...  strike,  but  it  takes  a  good  deal  to  provoke  you 
to  such  a  step. 

7.  A  dog  ...  me,  I  am  easily  provoked  to  striking  whenever  I 
meet  one  of  the  rascally  retinue  of  the  Montague  household. 

10,  1.  shall ...  stand,  is  certain  to  provoke  me  to  take  up  my 
stand  for  a  combat  with  him  ;  for  shall,  to  denote  inevitable 
futurity  without  reference  to  will,  desire,  see  Abb.  §  315  :  will 
take  the  wall,  will  assert  my  right  to  walk  nearest  the  wall,  on 
the  inside  of  the  pathway,  not  allow  myself  to  be  thrust  off  the 
pavement  on  to  the  roadway  ;  and  so  to  get  the  better  of  any  one. 

12,  3.  goes  to  the  wall,  is  thrust  against  tlie  wall ;  a  j^roverbial 
expression  for  getting  the  worst  of  a  dispute.  .Schmidt  (Lex.) 
quotes  from  the  Life  and  Death  of  Thomas  Lord  Cromwell  (a  play 
sometimes  attributed  to  Shakespeare),  iii.  3,  "though  the  drops 
be  small,  Yet  have  they  force  to  force  men  to  the  wall." 

14,  5._jth8  ^yeaker  vessels,  women  ;  a  term  taken  from  the 
Bible,  i.  Peter,  iii.  7,  "Likewise,  ye  husbands,  dwell  with  them 
according  to  knowledge,  giving  honour  imto  the  wife,  as  unto 
the  iveaker  vessel." 

16.  men,  servants  ;  cp.  7'e?M?x  ii.  1.  274,  "  'Ban,  'Ban,  Cacali- 
ban  Has  a  new  master  ;  get  a  new  man." 

19.  'Tis  all  one,  that  makes  no  difference.  In  the  previous 
line  Hartley  conjectures  'not  us'  for  "us,"  which  would  make 
Sampson's  answer  more  pertinent. 

22.  thy  tool,  your  weapon,  sword  ;  generally  in  this  sense  used 
in  a  contemptuous  way  :  here  comes  two,  for  the  inflection  in  -s, 
preceding  a  plural  subject,  see  Abb.  §  335.  Malone  quotes  from 
Gascoigne's  Devise  of  a  Masque  a  passage  to  show  that  the  par- 
tizans  of  the  Montagues  wore  a  token  in  their  hats  to  distinguish 
them  from  their  enemies,  the  Capulets,  and  that  hence,  through- 
out the  play,  they  are  known  at  a  distance. 

24.  quarrel,  provoke  them  to  fight  by  using  taunting  words  : 
back,  support ;  now  more  commonly  '  back  up. '  Delius  compares 
i.  H.  IV.  ii.  4.  166,  "call  you  that  hacking  of  your  friends?  a 
plague  upon  svxch  backing  I " 

26.  Fear  me  not,  do  not  fear  as  to  the  way  in  which  I  shall 
behave,  do  not  be  afraid  of  my  running  away  ;  me,  for  me,  as 
regards  me. 


SCENE  I.]  NOTES.  .  99 

27.  marry,  a  corruption  of  Mary,  the  Mother  of  Jesus,  equi- 
valent to  'by  Mary,'  and  used  as  a  petty  oath;  a  corruption 
employed  in  order  to  avoid  the  statutes  against  profane  swearing: 
I  fear  thee  !  do  you  fancy  that  I  fear  you  ?  pretending  to  take 
the  words  in  their  more  ordinary  sense. 

28.  Let  us  . . .  begin,  let  us  make  sure  of  having  the  law  on  our 
side  by  leaving  it  to  them  to  begin  the  quarrel. 

30.  list,  choose,  please  ;  from  the  A.S.  hist,  pleasure  ;  often 
used  in  old  authors  as  an  impersonal  verb,  '  it  lists  me, '  like  '  it 
likes  me.' 

31.  Nay,  as  they  dare,  don't  say  'as  they  pJease,'  but  rather 
'as  they  dare.'  Sampson  throughout  the  dialogue  is  the  greater 
blusterer  :  bite  my  thumb,  an  insulting  gesture.  Singer  quotes 
Cotgrave  :  "  Faire  la  nique  :  to  mockeby  nodding  or  lifting  up 
the  chinne  ;  or  more  properly,  to  threaten  or  defie,  by  putting  the 
thumhe  naile  into  the  mouth ,  and  ivith  a  jerJce  [from  the  upper 
teeth)  make  it  to  hiacke."  An  Italian  custom  intended  to  provoke 
a  quaiTel. 

32.  if  they  bear  it,  if  they  should  take  it  quietly,  not  resent  it. 
36.  of  our  side,  on  our  side. 

42.  If  you  do,  . . .  you.  An  elliptical  expression  for  '  you  say  that 
you  do  not  quarrel,  but  if  you  do,  I  am  ready  to  meet  you.' 

45.  Well,  sir.  Sampson  is  non-plussed  and  does  not  like  to 
venture  on  the  word  'better.' 

46.  here  comes  ...  kinsmen.  As  it  is  Benvolio,  one  of  the  Mon- 
tagues, who  first  comes  on  the  scene,  Steevens  is  probably  right 
in  supposing  that  Gregory's  eyes  are  looking  in  the  direction 
from  which  Tybalt,  who  enters  immediately  afterwards,  is 
coming,  and  does  not  see  Benvolio. 

49,  50.  thy  swashing  blow,  that  crushing  blow  of  yours  for 
which  you  are  so  famous.  To  '  swash '  is  to  strike  with  a  heavy 
and  sounding  blow.  Shakespeare  also  uses  tlie  word  in  the  sense 
of  'swaggering,'^.  Y.  L.  i.  3.  122,  "  We '11  have  a  sjiusM?;;/ and  a 
martial  outside  "  ;  and  swasher  for  a  bully,  H.  V.  iii.  2.  30,  "As 
young  as  I  am,  I  have  observed  these  three  S2vnshers. " 

53.  What,  art  thou  . . .  hinds  ?  What !  have  you  drawn  your 
sword  to  take  part  in  a  quarrel  between  these  cowardly  boors  ? 
Is  that  the  sort  of  occupation  for  a  man  of  your  rank  ?  If  you 
want  to  fight,  you  will  find  in  me  a  foe  worthy  of  your  steel. 

54.  Turn  thee  . . .  death,  leave  those  hinds  and  face  me  from 
whose  sword  you  will  meet  your  death. 

56.  manage  it,  wield  it,  make  use  of  it ;  to  manage,  in  the 
sense  of  wielding  weapons,  was  formerly  a  common  expression  ; 
cp.  i?.  //.  iii.  2.  118,  "Yea,  distaff  women  manage  rusty  bills 
Against  thy  seat";  ii.  H.  IV.  iii.  2.  292,   "Come,  manage  me 


100  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

your  caliver";  301,  "a'  would  manafje  you  his  piece  thus." 
Literally  meaning  to  '  handle,'  from  Lat.  maims,  a  hand,  it  is 
now  more  commonly  used  in  a  figurative  sense  :  witli  me,  in  co- 
operation with  me. 

57.  What,  drawn,  ...  peace  !  The  "  fiery  Tybalt"  cannot  con- 
ceive the  idea  of  a  sword  being  drawn  for  any  other  purpose  than 
that  of  fighting.  For  drawn,  in  this  absolute  sense,  cp.  H.  V.  ii. 
L  39,  "  0  well  a  day.  Lady,  if  he  be  not  drawn  now." 

59.  Have  at  thee,  coward !  here  goes  for  a  blow  at  you. 
Shakespeare  has  also  "  have  after,"  "  have  to,"  "  have  through," 
"  hare  with  "  ;  '  let  me,'  or  '  let  us,'  having  to  be  supplied. 

60.  Clubs,  bills,  partisans  !  a  ccrmmon  cry  in  affrays  in  London 
for  armed  persons  to  part  the  combatants.  The  clubs  were  those 
borne  by  the  London  apprentices  who  were  called  in  for  this 
purpose,  though  sometimes  the  cry  was  raised  to  stir  up  a  dis- 
turbance ;  for  the  cry  in  the  former  case,  cp.  T.  A.  ii.  1.  37, 
"  Clubs,  clubs/  these  lovers  will  not  keep  the  peace" ;  in  the  latter, 
H.  VIII.  V.  4.  53,  "  I  missed  the  meteor  once,  and  hit  that 
woman  ;  who  cried  out  '  Clubs ! '  when  I  might  see  from  far  some 
forty  truncheons  drawn  to  her  succour  "  ;  bills,  originally  a  kind 
of  pike  carried  by  the  English  infantry,  later  on  the  weapon  with 
which  the  civic  watchmen  were  armed  ;  partisans,  much  the 
same  as  tlie  pike  or  halberd  ;  etymology  doubtful. 

Stage  Direction.  In  his  gown,  i.e.  what  we  should  now  call 
dressing-gown  ;  showing,  as  Delius  points  out,  that  he  had  been 
disturbed  in  his  night's  rest. 

62.  my  long  sword.  "  The  weapon  used  in  active  warfare  ;  a 
lighter,  shorter,  and  less  desperate  weapon  was  used  for  orna- 
ment, to  which  we  have  other  allusions.  [A.  W.  ii.  1.  32,  3] 
'  Till  honour  be  bought  up  and  no  sword  worn  But  one  to  dance 
with  '  "  (Singer). 

63.  a  crutch,  a  crutch !  call  rather  for  a  crutch  to  support  your 
feeble  limbs  ;  the  sword  is  no  weapon  for  you. 

65.  in  spite  of  me,  not  •  notwith-standing  me,' as  the  words 
would  now  mean,  but  in  malicious  hostility  towards  me. 

69.  Profaners  ...  steel,  who  profane  the  use  of  M'eapons  by 
dying  them  in  the  blood  of  your  fellow-citizens. 

74.  mistemper'd,  furious,  but  also  involving  the  idea  of  tem- 
pered, welded,  fashioned,  to  an  evil  use.  To  '  temper  '  steel  is 
to  bring  it  to  the  proper  degree  of  hardness  by  plunging  it  into 
icy-cold  water  when  red-hot ;  cp.  0th.  v.  2.  253.  In  its  meta- 
phorical sense  mistempered  occurs  in  A'.  •/.  v.  1.  12,  "  This 
inundation  of  mintemper'd  humour  Rests  by  you  only  to  be 
qualified." 

75.  moved,  sc.  to  wrath. 


SCENE  ].]  NOTES.  101 

76.  bred  of  an  airy  word,  having  their  origin  in  tlie  Tn-eath  of 
taunting  words. 

70.   ancient,  eklerly. 

80.  their  ..  ornaments,  the  dress  and  weapons  (sc.  walking 
sticks)  suitable  to  tJieir  time  of  life  and  gravity.  In  i.  //.  VI.  iv. 
1.  29,  the  sword  is  called  the  "  ornaiiiriif  of  knighthood,"  and  in 
M.  A.  V.  4,  125,  in  the  "  reverend  staft""  (used  with  a  double  en- 
/rudrc)  the  reference  is  to  the  walking-sticks  or  staves  headed 
with  a  cross  piece  of  hoi-n  or  sometimes  of  amber  which  were 
carried  by  elderly  persons. 

81,  2.  To  wield  ...  hate,  to  wield  old  weapons  eaten  up  liy  rust 
in  order  to  separate  you  M'liose  hearts  are  eaten  up  with  hatred  ; 
'  canker,'  a  doublet  of  '  cancer,'  is  sonjething  that  corrodes,  eats 
into,  a  substance,  the  former  being  used  especially  of  rust,  or  of 
a  worm  that  preys  upon  blossoms,  the  latter  of  the  tumonr  M'hich 
eats  into  the  flesh  ;  both  from  Lat.  cancer,  a  crab.  Cp.  V.  A. 
767,  "  Yowl-cankerivg  rust  the  hidden  treasure  eats."  For  par- 
tisans, see  note  on  1.  60,  above. 

84.  the  forfeit  of  the  peace,  the  penalty  due  for  breahing  the 
peace.  A  forfeit  is  a  thing  lost  by  a  misdeed,  and  we  speak  of 
the  '  forfeit  of  the  crime, '  but  not  '  the  forfeit  of  the  peace. '  The 
MOrd  is  ultimately  from  the  Lat.  foris  facere,  to  do  or  act  abroad 
or  beyond. 

85.  For  this  time,  for  the  present  :  all  the  rest,  all  except 
Capulet. 

88.  our  further  pleasure,  what  else  we  are  pleased  to  determine. 

89.  Free-town,  a  translation  of  the  Villa  franca  in  the  Italian 
story  on  which  the  play  is  founded. 

91.  new  abroach,  newly  stirring,  running  afresh  ;  abroach  is 
on  broach,  from  the  M.  E.  j^hrase  setten  on  broche,  and  to  broach 
is  to  pierce  a  cask  in  order  to  set  tlie  liquor  running  by  inserting 
a  peg  or  spit  (broach).  Cp.  ii.  //.  IV.  iv.  2.  14,  "  What  mischiefs 
miglit  he  set  abroach  ";  and,  in  the  literal  sense,  of  to  spit,  H.  V., 
V.  Chor.  32,  "  Bringing  rebellion  broarhcrl  on  his  sword." 

92.  by,  present,  at  hand,  on  the  spot. 

94.  close  fighting,  in  hand  to  hand  combat. 

95.  in  the  instant,  at  the  instant,  the  vei-y  same  minute. 

96.  prepared,  sc  for  fighting,  by  being  drawn. 

99.  Who,  for  who  personifying  irrational  antecedents,  see  Abb. 
§  264  :  nothing,  in  no  way  :  withal,  with  the  stroke  of  his  sword  ; 
cp.  2Iarb.  V.  8.  9,  "As  easy  maj^est  thou  the  intrenchant  air 
^^'ith  thy  keen  sword  impress  as  make  me  bleed"  ;  Hainl.  iv.  ]. 
44,  "hit  the  toonndlcss  air";  Temp.  iii.  3.  61-4,  "the  elements. 
Of  whom  your  swords  are  temper'd,  may  as  well  Wound  the  loud 
winds,  or  with  bemocked-at  stabs  Kill  the  atill-clo.sing  waters." 


102  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

101.  more  and  more,  reinforcements  to  both  parties:  on  part 
and  part,  on  one  side  and  the  other. 

102.  parted  either  part,  separated  the  two  parties. 

104.  the  worshipp'd  sun,  not  of  course  literally  as  with  the 
Persians,  but  figuratively,  joyously  welcomed  ;  and  perhaps  with 
an  allusion  to  worshipping  the  rising  sun,  i.e.  courting  those  on 
the  high  road  to  power. 

106.  Peer'd  forth,  peeped  out  from  ;  peer,  from  Low  G.  jnren, 
to  look  closely,  distinct  from  ;*eer,  a  shortened  form  of  appear,  as 
in  W.  T.  iv.  3.  1,  "When  daffodils  begin  to  jieer  "  ;  for  forth,  as  a 
preposition,  cp.  A.  G.  iv.  10.  7,  "  They  have  ]int  forth  the  haven"  : 
golden  . . .  east,  of  course  golden  only  when  the  sun  is  rising. 

107.  drave,  Shakespeare  frequently  uses  this  form  as  well  as 
drove. 

108.  sycamore,  "properly  'sycomore,'  Gk.  o-uKOfiopos,  i.e.  fig- 
mulberry  tree. ...  The  trees  so  called  in  Europe  and  America  are 
different  from  the  Oriental  sycamore  "...  (Skeat,  Ety.  Diet.). 

109.  That  westward  . . .  side,  that  grows  on  the  west  side  of  the 
city. 

111.  I  made,  I  directed  my  steps  :  ware  of  me,  aware  of  my 
approach  ;  literally  on  guard  against,  from  A.S.  ivctr,  cautious. 

113.  affections,  inclinations. 

114.  "Which  then...  found,  which  (sc.  Benvolio's  inclinations) 
then  most  desired  a  place  where  fewest  people  would  be  found. 
The  first  quarto  gives  "That  most  are  busied,  when  they're 
most  alone,"  and  this  reading,  first  introduced  by  Pope,  has  been 
adopted  in  the  Old  Variorum  Shakespeare,  and  by  Knight,  Dyce, 
Staunton,  and  Clarke  ;  for  most  might  Allen  conjectures  viore 
might,  remarking,  "  Shakespear  was  not  the  man  (in  Romeo  and 
Juliet,  at  least)  to  let  slip  the  chance  of  running  through  the 
Degrees  of  Comparison,  many,  more,  most":  Being  ...  self,  find- 
ing my  own  wearisome  company  more  than  enough  for  myself. 

115.  Pursued  ...  Ms,  followed  my  own  inclination  to  solitude 
without  owing  any  prompting  to  his  inclination  ;  for  his  Thirlby 
conjectured  him,  which  was  adopted  by  Theobald,  Hanmer,  War- 
burton,  and  Johnson. 

116.  who  gladly  ...  me,  who  was  only  too  anxious  to  escape  me. 

119.  his  deep  sighs,  the  breath  of  the  deep  sighs  he  drew. 
Delius  compares  T.  A.  iii.  1.  212,  "Or  with  our  sighs  we'll 
breathe  the  M^elkin  dim." 

120.  all  so  soon,  as  soon  as  ever. 

121.  should,  was  bound  to. 

123.  heavy,  in  mind  ;  for  sake  of  the  antithesis  with  light. 


SCENE  I.]  NOTES.  103 

124.  pens  himself,  shuts  himself  up  ;  to  j)en  is  connected  with 
pin,  and  comes  ultimately  from  the  Lat.  penna,  a  feather. 

127.   portentous,  ominous. 

1,31.  Have  you  ...  means,  have  you  made  any  great  effort  to 
discover  it,  have  you  pressed  him  with  persistent  questioning  or 
sought  to  get  to  the  bottom  of  the  matter  through  his  associates? 

133.  his  own  ...  counsellor,  resolutely  keeping  his  own  secret, 
confiding  in  no  one. 

136.  So  far  ...  discovery,  as  much  beyond  tlie  possibility  of 
being  sounded,  of  having  the  depth  of  his  thoughts  measured, 
and  of  being  got  to  reveal  his  secret :  to  sound  is  to  measure 
depth  with  a  plummet ;  the  etymology  of  the  word  is  doubtful. 

137.  envious,  malignant :  worm,  the  canker  worm  ;  see  note 
on  1.  81,  above,  and  cp.  T.  N.  ii.  4.  113-5,  "She  never  told  her 
love,  But  let  concealment  like  a  worm  i'  the  bud  Feed  on  her 
damask  cheek." 

142,  3.  so  please  ...  denied,  if  you  will  be  good  enough  to  with- 
draw out  of  sight,  I  will  ascertain  the  cause  of  his  dejection,  or 
at  all  events  will  not  allow  myself  to  be  easily  put  off  in  my 
endeavour  to  do  so.  In  the  sense  of  'provided  that,'  'on  these 
terms,'  so  is  sometimes  preceded  by  he  it  (i.e.  if  it  be),  as  in 
M.  N.  D.  i.  1.  39,  "  Be  it  so  she  will  not,"  sometimes  is  used 
elliptically,  as  here,  and  in  both  cases  sometimes  with,  and  some- 
tunes  without,  that  following  it ;  see  Abb.  §  1.33  ;  for  know,  in 
the  sense  of  'ascertain,'  'make  oneself  acquainted  with,'  cp. 
below,  v.  3.  198,  "  Search,  seek,  and  hioiv  how  this  foul  murder 
comes "  ;  grievance  is  more  commonly  used  by  Shakespeare  for 
'grief,'  'sori'ow,'  'suffering,'  as  here,  though  sometimes  in  the 
more  modern  sense  of  'cause  of  complaint,'  as  below,  iii.  1.  55, 
"reason  coldly  of  your  grievances";  for  denied,  =  refused  an 
answer,  or  an  entreaty,  cp.  B.  II.  v.  3.  103,  "He  prays  but 
faintly  and  would  be  denied. " 

144.  happy,  fortunate,  successful  in  your  attempt. 

145.  To  hear  true  shrift,  as  to  obtain  from  him  a  triiP  confp..s-.. 
sion  of  his  sorrow  ;  fortlie  omission  of  as  after  so,  see  Abb.  §  281  ; 
shrift,  more  usually  in  Shakespeare  for  confession  made  to  a 
priest,  and  the  absolution  consequent  uj^on  it,  but  sometimes,  as 
here,  for  confession  only  ;  while  in  0th.  iii.  3.  24,  it  means_  a 
penitential  exercise  or  rigorous  discipline.  "  The  verb  to  shrive 
is  M.  E.  schrirrn,  shriven  ...  — A.S.  scrifan,  to  shrive,  to  impose  a 
penance  or  compensation,  to  judge.  ..  But  although  it  thiis 
appears  as  a  strong  verb,  it  does  not  appear  to  be  a  true  Teutonic 
word.  It  was  rather  borrowed  (at  a  very  early  period)  from 
Lat.  scribere,  to  write,  to  draw  up  a  law. ...  The  particular  sense 
is  due  to  the  legal  use  of  the  word,  signifying  (1)  to  draw  up  a 
law,  (2)  to  impose  a  legal  obligation  or  penalty,  (3)  to  impose  or 


104  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

prescribe  a  penance. . . .  The  substantive  shrift  is  M.  E.  shrift . . .  A.  S. 
serif t,  confession,  ...  and  just  as  tlie  A. S.  verb  scri/an  is  due  to 
Lat.  scribere,  so  A.S.  scri/t  is  due  to  Lat.  p.p.  scriptiis"  ...  (Skeat, 
Ety.  Diet.) 

146..  morrow,  morning;  'good  morrow,'  or  'good  day,'  was 
the  salutation  used  until  noon,  after  which  time  it  became  '  good 
e'en'  (evening) :  so  young,  so  early.  Steevens  compares  Acolastns, 
a  comedy,  1540,  "It  is  yet  young  nyghte,  or  there  is  moche  of  the 
nyghte  to  come." 

147.  new,  newly,  just  now. 

149.  lengthens,  causes  to  seem  tedious. 

154.  where,  with  whom  ;  where  is  often  used  by  Shakespeare 
in  a  wide  sense  =  in  which,  in  which  case,  on  which  occasion,  etc. 
Cp.  W.  T.  V.  1.  21.?,  "you  have  broken  from  his  liking  Where 
you  were  tied  in  duty,"  almost  =  towards  whom  ;  N.  V.  i.  2.  121, 
"  They  have  a  king  and  officers  of  sorts,  Where  some  like 
magistrates  correct  at  home,"  almost  =  in  whose  case,  among 
whom. 

155.  in  his  view,  in  appearance,  to  look  at  ;  cp.  M.  V.  iii.  2. 
132,  "You  that  choose  not  by  the  vieiu";  view,  sight:  still, 
ever. 

156-8.  Should  ..will!  apparently  means  ' sliottld__h£_aliIe  to 
find  the  means  of  wounding  tjiose  he  chooses  to  wound." 
Steevens  explains,  "Romeo  lameivEs  that  love,  though  blind, 
should  discover  pathways  to  his  will,  and  yet  cannot  avail  him- 
self of  them  ;  should  perceive  the  road  which  he  is  forl)idden  to 
take  "  ;  Singer,  "  That  is,  should  blindly  and  recklessly  think 
he  can  surmount  all  obstacles  to  his  will."  But  the  personifica- 
tion of  love  seems  to  show  that  it  is  the  objective  power  of  love 
over  others,  not  his  own  subjective  inability,  that  Romeo  laments ; 
and  to  "  see  pathways  to  his  will  "  is  equivalent  to  '  to  see  the 
way  to  carry  out  his  will,'  '  be  able  to  carry  out  his  will.' 

159.  What  fray  was  here  ?  What  disturbance,  conflict,  has 
been  raging  here  ?  said  as  he  notices  the  marks  of  the  struggle 
and  the  blood  of  the  combatants  still  fresh  on  the  ground. 

161.  Here's  much  hate!  this  conflict  has  much  to  do  with 
hatred,  i.e.  so  far  as  the  rival  families  are  concerned,  but  has 
more  to  do  with  love,  i.e.  so  far  as  he  is  concerned  (the  object  of 
his  love,  Rosaline,  belonging  to  tlie  Capulet  family)  ;  the  two 
things,  love  and  hatred,  being  in  this  case  so  intimately  blended, 
Romeo  says  he  may  well  speak  of  brawling  love  and  loving 
hatred. 

162-7.  Why,  then,  ...  it  is  !  Hudson  well  remarks,  "  Such  an 
affected  way  of  speaking  not  unaptly  shows  the  .state  of  Romeo's 
mind  ;    his  love  is  rather  self-generated  than  iuspiied  by  any 


SCENE  I.]  NOTES.  105 

object.  As  compared  with  his  style  of  speech  after  meeting  with 
Juliet,  it  seems  to  mark  the  difiference  between  being  loiK-sick 
and  beinr/  hi  love."  At  the  same  time  it  sliould  be  remembered 
that  such  description  of  love  by  means  of  antitheses  was  connnon 
among  the  sonneteers  and  the  Proven9al  and  Italian  poets. 
Farmer  quotes  several  sucli  laboured  contrarieties  :  create,  for 
the  omission  of  -ed  in  the  past  participles  of  verbs  ending  in  -te, 
-t,  and  -d,  see  Abb.  §  342  :  well-seeming,  apparently  well  pro- 
portioned, symmetrical :  that  is  not  what  it  is,  that  is  a  contra- 
diction to  itself. 

168.  that  feel  ...  this,  who  feel  no  satisfaction  in  such  love. 

169.  coz,  an  abbreviation  of  '  cousin.' 

170.  Good  heart,  dear  friend:  At  thy...  oppression,  at  the 
burden  your  warm  heart  has  to  bear. 

171.  Why,  such  ...  transgression,  why,  such  are  the  cruelties 
of  whicli  lo^'e  is  commonly  guilty.  To  complete  tlie  metre^oTTTie 
line.  Collier  inserted  BencoUo  after  such  ;  Keiglitley  conjectured 
gentle  cousin  ;  Orger,  stick  a  love  is,  etc. 

173-4.  Which  thou  ...  thine,  M-hich  griefs  you  will  increase  and 
multiply  by  causing  my  breast  to  be  burdened  with  griefs  of 
yours. 

175.  too  much,  "used  substantively  as  a  compound  word" 
(Delius). 

177.  Being  purged  ...  eyes,  M'hich  when  it  is  purified  of  its 
smoky  character,  i.e.  of  the  doubts  and  anxieties  with  which  it 
is  clouded,  blazes  up  as  a  bright  fire  in  tlie  eyes  of  lovers  ;  m-g\l, 
puff  d,  7-ag'd,  have  been  suggested  for  purged,  but  there  seems  no 
need  of  alteration. 

178.  Being  vex'd,  .  .  tears,  which  if  it  is  thwarted,  cliafed  by  ^ 
restraint,  becomes  a  sea,  etc.     The  idea  is  that  of  a  sea  swollen 
by  torrents,  and  raging  against  its  confining  shores  ;  cp.  J.  C.  i. 
2.  101,  "The  troubled  Tiber  chafing  with  her  shoi'es." 

179.  What  is  it  else  ?  do  you  ask  to  what  else  it  may  be 
likened  ? 

180.  A  choking  ...  sweet,  at  one  time  a  bitter  so  ppworfnl  as 
almost  to  choke  tlie  swallow,  at  anotlier,  something  as  delicious 
as  fruits  used  in  preserving,  As  Shakespeare,  ./.  C.  i.  1.4,  uses 
"  a  labouring  day  "  for  "  a  day  on  which  men  lalwur,"  and  A.  C. 
iii.  13.  77,  "  his  all-obeying  breath"  for  "breath  which  all  obey," 
so  a  preserving  sweet  seems  to  mean  'a  sweet  of  the  kind  used  for 
preserving. '  Ulrici,  who  takes  preserving  as  =  '  preserved, ' 
explains,  "  Love  may  be  compared  to  a  preserved  SM'eet  because, 
although  against  our  will,  it  is  kept  and  cherished " ;  which 
appears  to  me  a  very  forced  meaning. 

181.  Soft!    gently;    do  not   be  in  such   a  hurry:    along,   se. 


106  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

with  you;  the  omission  of  'with  nie,  you,'  etc.,  is  frequent  in 
Shakespeare. 

182.  An  if.  On  the  insertion  of  '  if  '  after  '  and  '  (an),  when  the 
subjunctive,  falling  into  disuse,  was  felt  to  be  too  weak  unaided 
to  express  the  hypothesis,  see  Abb.  §  103. 

183.  lost.  Daniel  adopts  left,  a  conjecture  by  Allen,  who 
says,  "It  is  exactly  in  Romeo's  manner,  in  this  dialogue,  that  he 
should  take  up  the  very  word  of  Benvolio  in  his  answer."  He 
adds  that  tlie  converse  misprint  of  left  for  lost  occurs  in  Gor. 
i.  4.  55,  and  Daniel  refers  to  Haml.  iii.  1.  99,  where  the  quartos 
read  lost,  the  folios  left. 

184.  some  other  where,  elsewhere  ;  in  another  place. 

185.  in  sadness,  in  all  sober  truth,  in  earnest ;  a  sense  frequent 
in  Shakespeare,  e.g.  M.  W.  iii.  5.  125,  T.  >S.  v.  2.  64.  So  sadly 
below,  i.  1.  187,  M.  A.  ii.  3.  229,  and  sad  constantly:  for  the 
uninfected  who,  see  Abb.  §  274. 

186.  what  ...tell  thee?  Romeo  pretends  to  misunderstand 
Benvolio's  use  of  sadness. 

188.  will,  testament. 

189.  word,  sc,  "sadness":  ill-urged,  which  you  do  wrong  to 
make  use  of  so  persistently. 

190.  In  sadness,  ...  woman.  Romeo  here  combines  the  two 
senses,  seriousness  and  sorrow. 

192.  mark-man,  aimer  ;  the  earlier  form  of  marksman. 

193.  A  right  fair  mark,  a  mark  easily  distinguished. 

194.  5.  Well,  ...  arrow,  well,  in  that  hit  of  yours,  i.e.  in  as- 
suming that  she  must  easily  be  hit,  your  aim  is  beside  tlie  mark  : 
for  it  is  impossible  for  Cupid's  arrow  to  hit  her,  she  refuses  to 
allow  Cupid's  arrow  to  reach  her  bosom  :  Dian's  wit,  Diana's 
wisdom,  prudence,  in  repelling  all  love  attacks. 

196.  And,  in  strong  ...  arm'd,  and  secure  in  the  proof-armour 
of  chastity  ;  '  armour  of  proof '  or  '  proof-armour '  is  armour 
which  has  been  tested  in  the  manufactory  by  a  severe  strain 
being  put  upon  it ;  so  we  speak  of  swords,  guns,  cannon,  being 
'  proved '  before  they  are  issued  for  use.  Steevens  sees  in  these 
lines  an  oblique  compliment  to'  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  would  be 
gi-atified  by  praise  of  her  chastity  and  beauty. 

197.  unharm'd.  This,  the  reading  of  the  first  quarto,  seems 
quite  satisfactory  ;  but  several  editors  approve  of  Collier's  con- 
jecture encharmed,  and  Grant  White  is  inclined  to  read  "  'Gaiii,st 
ioves  . ..  eiicharmed,"  following,  as  regards  the  preposition,  the 
text  of  the  first  quarto. 

198.  She  will  not...  terms,  she  will  not  suff'er  herself  to  be 
besieged  by  propositions  of  love.     Probably  in  terms  there  is 


SCENE  T.]  NOTES.  107 

an  allusion  to  the  conditions  oiTered  by  besiegers  to  the  besieged, 
i.e.  she  will  not  make  peace  with  her  lovers  on  tlie  terms  of  love 
which  they  propose. 

199.  Nor  bide  ...  eyes,  nor  wait  the  shock  of  dangerous  love- 
looks.  Cp.  M.  A.  i.  1.  327,  "  I  will  ...  take  her  hearing  prisoner 
with  the  force  And  strong  encounter  of  my  amorous  tale." 

200.  saint-seducing,  sufficiently  powerful  to  overcome  the 
scruples  of  tlie  most  saintly  persons. 

202.  That,  when  . . .  store,  that  with  her  death  perishes  that 
with  which  she  is  so  richly  endowed,  viz.  beauty.  Tlieobald, 
however,  plausibly  conjectured  "with  her  dies  beauty's  store," 
which  several  editors  have  accepted,  and  which  tallies  closely 
witli  the  purport  of  tlie  earlier  Sonnets,  probably  written  about 
tlie  same  time  with  Romeo  and  Juliet. 

204.  in  that  sparing  ...  waste,  in  being  thus  sparing  of  herself, 
in  not  allowing  her  beauty  to  be  propagated  by  succession,  she 
is  guilty  of  great_3Kiiste.  This  thought,  again,  is  closely  paral- 
lelled by  the  first  Sonnet,  where  the  theme  is  precisely  the  same  ; 
"  Thou  tliat  art  now  the  world's  fresh  ornament  And  only  lierald 
to  tlie  gaudy  spring.  Within  tliine  own  bud  buriest  thy  content. 
And,  tender  churl,  mak'st  loaste  in  niggmxlinr/." 

205,6.  For  beauty  ...  posterity,  for  beauty,  by  her  severity 
made  to  pine  away,  prevents  all  succession  of  like  beauty ; 
beauty  perishes  without  an  heir.     Cp.   V.  A.  751-60. 

207,  8.  she  is  too  fair  . . .  despair,  fair  and  wise  as  she  is,  her 
beauty  being  set  off  by  her  wisdgm,  her  personni  clm.rms  enhanced 
by  liPT-  iiipiitii.1  gi-a,ceSj  it  is  wrong  that  she-  should  inlieiit  bliss 
by  driving  me  to  despair.  I  take  wisely  too  fair  to  be  notliing 
more  than  an  expansion  of  too  wise,  too  fair.  Delius  (cqmd 
Furness)  explains,  "The  excess  of  her  beauty  does  not  accord 
with  the  excess  of  her  wisdom  ;  she  ouglit  not  to  try  to  win 
heavenly  bliss  while  burdening  herself  with  sin  by  plunging 
Romeo  into  despair."  Malone,  "There  is  in  her  too  much 
sanctimonious  wisdom  united  with  beauty,  whicli  induces  her 
to  continue  chaste  with  the  hopes  of  attaining  heavenly  bliss." 

209,  10.  in  that  vow  ...  now,  by  that  vow  (tliat  she  will  die 
unmarried)  which  I  live  to  tell  you,  my  life  is  made  a  living 
death. 

211.  ruled,  guided,  advised. 

21.3.  By  giving  ...  eyes,  by  allowing  your  eyes  to  dwell  on  the 
beauty  of  others,  not  restricting  yourself  to  the  contemplation  of 
her  charms  only. 

214,  5.  'Tis  the  way  ...  more,  the  only  result  of  examining  the 
beauty  of  otliers  would  be  to  make  me  more  curious  in  noting 
that  beauty  of  hers  which  is  so  exquisite  ;  cp.  T.  G.  iii.  2.  60, 


108  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

"she  '11. bereave  you  o'  the  deeds  too,  if  she  call  your  activity  in 
question"  i.e.  if  she  examines  it  by  trying,  as  Schmidt  explains. 
Here,  however,  exquisite  and  question,  both  being  of  the  same 
origin,  have  suggested  each  otlier. 

216,  7.  These  happy  masks  ...  fair?  The  gist  of  these  lines  is 
as  follows  ;  when  we  behold  the  masks  Avorn  l)y  ladies,  the  fact 
of  their  being  black  only  serves  to  make  us  think  of  the  fair  com- 
plexions they  hide  ;  and  so,  if  I  look  at  other  beauties,  I  shall 
only  be  led  to  think  of  Rosaline  :  men  may  lose  their  eyesight, 
but  that  does  not  prevent  their  remembering  with  a  yearning 
regret  that  they  once  had  that  precious  possession  ;  and  so,  if  I 
examine  other  features,  my  doing  so  will  only  serve  to  call  up  the 
painful  remembrance  that  I  have  before  looked  on  other  features 
more  beautiful  (sc.  those  of  Rosaline) :  if  you  show  me  some  one 
exquisitely  lovely,  the  only  result  will  be  to  put  me  in  mind  of 
one  whose  loveliness  far  surpassed  hers  :  These,  used  generically, 
these  masks  that  we  are  so  familiar  with  :  fair,  used  in  a  double 
sense  (1)  beautiful,  (2)  fair  as  opposed  to  dark. 

218.  strucken.  Shakespeare  uses  struck,  struclcen,  stroken, 
stricken,  and  perhaps  other  forms  of  the  participle. 

220.  passing,  surpassingly  ;  an  adverbial  use  very  frequent  in 
Shakespeare,  in  the  same  sense  as  pass'd  just  below. 

221.  what  doth  ..  serve,  what  purpose  does  her  beauty  serve  ; 
i.e.  it  serves  no  other  purpose  :  note,  memorandum,  writing  from 
which  something  may  be  gathered. 

224.  I  '11  pay  ...  debt,  I  will  render  you  that  instruction,  teach 
you  to  forget,  or  else  die  owning  myself  your  delator.  For 
doctrine,  cp.  ^.  C.  v.  2.  31,  "I  hourly  learn  a  doctrine  of  obedi- 
ence." 

Scene  II. 

1.  bound,  sc.  to  keep  the  peace. 

2.  In  penalty  alike,  under  the  same  penalty  for  disobedience. 

3.  Of  honourable  . .  both,  both  of  you  are  esteemed  as  honour- 
able men. 

4.  at  odds,  at  enmity. 

7.  But  saying  . . .  before,  I  have  nothing  to  say  beyond  saying, 
etc. 

8.  is  yet  . . .  world,  as  yet  knows  nothing  of  the  world,  is  hardly 
out  of  the  nursery. 

10.  Let  two.,  pride,  let  the  leaves  and  flowers  of  one  more 
sunnner  fade. 

l.S.  marred,  sc.  by  their  youth  and  beauty  quickly  fading. 
For  the  jingle  of  marr'd  and  made,  very  frequent  in  Shakespeare, 


SCENE  II.]  NOTES.  109 

cp.  e.q.  M.  N.  D.  i.  2.    39,   "And  make  and  mar  The  foolish 
Fates.'" 

14.  The  earth...  she,  all  my  children,  on  whom  I  pinned  my 
hopes,  have  died  except  her. 

15.  She  is...  earth.  If  the  reading  is  genuine,  this  probably 
means  '  she  is  the  heiress  of  my  property  on  whom  my  hopes  are 
centered' ;  some  take  earth  to  mean  body,  as  in  Sonnet  cxvi.  1, 
"Poor  soul,  the  centre  of  my  sinful  earth,"  while  others  explain 
"she  is  the  hopeful  mistress  of  my  world,  my  life."  Steevens 
quotes  tlie  French  phrase  Fille  de  terre,  i.e.  heiress,  in  support  of 
the  first  given  meaning,  but  the  expression  is  not  exactly 
analogous.  The  line  is  not  found  in  the  first  quarto  ;  and,  as  it 
has  no  line  to  rhyme  with  it,  whereas  the  rest  of  the  speech  is 
complete  in  this  respect,  there  is  probably  some  corruption. 

17.  My  will ...  part,  my  consent  depends  upon  hers  ;  my  will  is 
but  an  adjunct  to  her  consent,  if  you  obtain  the  latter,  the  former 
follows  as  a  part  and  parcel  of  it. 

18,  9.  An  she  agree  ...  voice,  if  she  assents,  my  consent  and 
approval  go  with  tiiat  choice  which  she  is  free  to  make.  Walker 
and  Dyce  hyphen  fair  according,  and  in  1.  20  old  accustomed. 

22,  3.  and  you  . . .  more,  and  your  presence  among  the  full 
assemblage,  welcome  as  that  presence  will  be,  adds  to  the  wealth 
of  company  that  will  grace  my  halls. 

24.  my  poor  house.     Said  with  an  assumption  of  humility. 

25.  that  make  . . .  light,  whose  beauty  is  sufficient  to  light  up 
the  darkness  of  night. 

26.  comfort,  pleasure,  contentment  of  mind  :  for  young  men, 
Daniel  follows  the  first  quarto  in  reading  younrpnen,  taking  it  to 
=  yeomen,  a  word  which  Johnson  had  conjectured  here. 

27.  8.  When . . .  treads,  Malone  compares  Sonn.  xeviii.  2,  3, 
"  When  proud-pied  April  dress'd  in  all  his  trim  Hatli  put  a  .spirit 
of  youth  in  everything  "  :  limping  winter,  winter  that  is  so  long 
in  passing  away. 

.30.  Inherit,  possess,  enjoy  ;  cp.  Cor.  ii.  1.  215,  "I  have  lived 
To  see  inherited  my  very  wishes"  ;  Cymh._  iii.  2.  63,  "Tell  me 
how  Wales  was  made  so  happy  as  To  inherit  such  a  haven." 

,32,  3.  Which  on  more  view...  none.  The  first  quarto  gives 
"Such  amongst  view,"  etc.  ;  the  reading  in  the  text  is  that  of  the 
fourth  and  fifth  quartos,  which  vary  from  the  second  and  third 
only  in  having  on  for  one.  With  this  reading,  the  meaning 
seems  to  be,  h^er^  who  when  you  have  carefully  pyed  a  l.n.rge 
number  of  those  present,  my  d^y^^^M.cr  .imnn^the  rest,  may  speoji 
to  you  to  hold  the  first  place,  thouL^h  being  but  one  she  does  not 
count  for  anything  in  reckoningjjtone,  as  is  generally  admitted, 
cleariv  refers  to  the  old    proverb  that  one   is   no    number,    a 


no  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i.    — 

proverb  to  which  Shakespeare  refers,  Sonn.  cxxxvi.  8,  "Among 
a  number  one  is  reckoned  none."  This  explanation  in  its  more 
important  point  is  essentially  that  given  by  Singer,  though  the 
latter  words  he  explains  "though  she  may  be  reckoned  nothing, 
or  held  in  no  estimation."  On  which  used  intercl^angeably  with 
who,  see  Abb.  §  265.  The  majority  of  editors  take  mine  as  the 
subject  to  May  stand  ;  but  to  this  there  seems  the  objection  that 
Capulet  is  trying  to  persuade  Paris  that  he  may  easily  find  some 
one  as  well  fitted  for  a  bride  as  his  own  daughter,  and  therefore 
would  not  be  likely  to  suggest  that  slie  might  hold  the  first  place. 
But  for  this  objection,  I  should  be  inclined  to  follow  (with 
Steevens  and  Staunton)  the  reading  of  the  first  quarto,  "Such, 
amongst  view  of  many,  mine,  being  one,"  etc.,  though  while  we 
say  "amongst  many,"  it  is  perhaps  doubtful  Mhether  we  could 
say  "amongst  view  of  many."  The  conjectures  are  many: 
"Within  your,"  Johnson;  "On  which  more,"  Capell  ; 
"Amongst  such,"  Ulrici ;  "Such  as  on,"  Keightley  ;  "Whilst 
on,"  Mason,  followed  Dyce  ;  "  Such  amongst  few,"  Badham  : 
while  the  punctuation  of"  tlie  former  of  the  two  lines  is  equally 
various.  Possibly  we  should  read  '  Such  amongst  ricw'd,'  i.e. 
seen  among  such,  my  daughter,  being  one  of  many,  may,  etc. 

34.  trudge,  properly  meaning  to  walk  along  with  a  heavj^  step, 
is  here  and  elsewhere  in  Shakespeare  used  to  express  a  busy 
activity. 

37.  My  liouse  ...  stay,  I  am  waiting  to  give  them  hearty 
welcome  to  my  house. 

38-41.  It  is  written  ...  nets,  the  servant  is  of  course  turning  the 
sayings  topsy-turvy  :  meddle  with,  busy  himself  witli :  yard, 
yard-measure  :  last,  wooden  mould  of  the  foot  on  which  shoes 
are  shaped  and  sewn. 

43.  I  must  to.  On  the  omission  of  the  verb  of  motion,  see 
Abb.  §  405. 

44.  In  good  time,  in  good  luck,  Fr.  a  la  bonne  heure  ;  said  as 
he  sees  Benvolio  and  Romeo  approaching,  as  from  them  he  will 
be  able  to  find  out  the  directions  given  to  him. 

45.  one  fire  . . .  burning.  A  reference  to  a  fire  in  a  grate  being 
extinguished  by  the  more  powerful  fire  of  the  sun  ;  cp.  Cor.  iv.  7. 
54,  "  One  fire  drives  out  one  fire  ;  one  nail,  one  nail  " ;  T.  G.  ii.  4. 
192,  3,  "  Even  as  one  heat  another  heat  expels.  Or  as  one  nail  by 
strength  drives  out  another  "  ;  and  Brooke's  Romem  ami  Jnliet, 
1.  207,  "  as  out  of  a  planke  a  nayle  a  nayle  doth  drive." 

46.  another's  anguish,  the  anguish  caused  by  another  pain ; 
the  subjective  genitive. 

47.  holp,  Shakespeare  uses  both  holp  and  helped,  the  former 
more  frequently  :  backward,  in  the  reverse  direction. 


I 


k 


SCENE  II.]  NOTES.  Ill 

51.  Your  plantain-leaf,  the  plantain-leaf  which  you  know  so 
well ;  cp.  Haml.  iv.  3.  22,  4,  "  Your  worm  is  your  only  emperor 
for  diet  ...  your  fat-king  and  your  lean-beggar  is  but  variable  ser- 
vice"; A.  C.  ii.  7.  29-31,  "Fonr  serpent  of  Egj'pt  is  bred  now  of 
your  mud  by  the  operation  of  your  sun  :  so  is  yoiir  crocodile  " ; 
and  see  Abb.  §  220  :  the  plantain-leaf,  the  leaf  of  this  herb,  or 
rather  Aveed,  was  of  old  supposed  to  be  efficacious  in  case  of  fresh 
wounds  and  various  other  ailments  ;  cp.  L.  L.  L.  iii.  1.  74,  where 
Costard  calls  for  it  for  his  broken  shin. 

52.  your  broken  shin,  your  shin  the  skin  of  which  has  been 
broken  ;  your,  as  in  the  line  above.  As  a  plantain-leaf  was  used 
to  staunch  blood  and  not  for  a  fracture  of  a  bone,  Ulrici  su])poses 
a  sarcasm  here,  '  Thy  remedy  is  as  excellent  for  my  complaint  as 
a  plantain  leaf  is  for  a  broken  shin. '  •  But  a  '  broken  head  '  or  a 
'broken  shin  '  meant  a  head  or  a  shin  of  which  the  skin  had  been 
abraded,  not  in  which  the  bone  had  been  fractured  ;  so  in  i.  3.  39, 
"hrolv  her  brow"  means  'knocked  the  skin  off  her  forehead.' 
Romeo  is  of  course  f-eazing  "Reiiyolio  by  his  inconsequent  remarks, 
but  no  such  deep  meaning  is  intended  asJTInVi  gnsppoig — 

54.  bound  ..  is,  shackled  in  fetters  heavier  tlian  tliose  put  upon 
a  madman  ;  in  former  daj's  the  restraints  put  upon  lunatics  were 
cruelly  severe,  they  being  shut  up  in  dark  rooms,  heavily  fettered 
and  frequently  whipped  ;  cp.  7'.  A^.  iii.  4.  148,  9,  "  Come,  we'll 
have  him  in  a  dark  room  and  hound,'"  said  of  Malvolio  whom  they 
pretend  to  be  mad.     Romeo's  fetters  are  of  course  those  of  love. 

56.  God-den,  a  contraction  of  '  God  give  you  good  even,'  found 
in  many  similar  forms,  such  as  that  given  in  reply  by  the  Servant. 

58.  mine  own  ...  misery,  my  own  miserable  fortune. 

59.  Perhaps  ..  book,  "for  that  jDurpose,  the  Servant  means,  it 
is  not  necessary  for  a  man  to  have  learnt  to  read  "  (Delius). 

62.  Ye  say  ...  merry  !  thanks  for  your  honest  answ^er  and  fare- 
well !  rest  you  merry,  or  "  God  rest  you  merry,"  as  in  A.  Y.  L. 
V.  1.  65,  was  a  common  form  of  faiewell  among  the  lower  orders, 
and  equivalent  to  'good  luck  to  you.'  The  Servant,  getting 
nothing  but  ' '  riddling  shrift  "  from  Romeo,  is  about  to  proceed 
on  his  way. 

64.  County.  Another  form  of  'Count,'  oftentimes  used  by 
Shakespeare  ;  originally  meaning  a  companion,  i.e.  of  some  great 
leader,  the  modern  '  county  '  =  shire,  being  the  portion  of  territory 
of  which  the  Count  had  the  government.  Capell  pointed  out  that 
this  list  of  guests  becomes  metrical  if  Anselme  is  changed  to 
Anftehno  and  an  epithet  given  to  Livia.  Following  this  sug- 
gestion, except  that  he  inserts  and  before  Livia,  Dyce  prints  the 
passage  as  metre.  Very  possibly,  as  Delius  suggests,  Romeo  in 
reading  it  aloud  inserts  some  of  the  epithets  which  help  to  make 
it  metrical. 


1 1  2  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

70.  should  they  come  ?  are  they  expected  to  come  :  Up,  sc.  to 
the  house.  Poi?.sibly  with  an  allusion  to  the  common  expression 
"  Marry,  come  up  "  as  used  by  the  Nurse,  ii.  5.  63,  below. 

72.  Whither?  All  the  old  copies  give  "  Whither  to  supper?" 
which  some  editors  retain,  perhaps  rightly.  The  alteration  was 
suggested  by  ^Varburton  and  first  accepted  by  Theobald. 

76.  I  should  . . .  hefore,  I  should  have  done  better  before  putting 
these  questions  to  you,  to  have  asked  you  who  your  master  is. 

78.  great  rich,  very  rich ;  great,  used  adverbially  as  in 
ii.  H.   VI.  iii.  1.  379,  "  as  'tis  (jreat  like  he  will." 

79.  crush  a  cup  of  wine,  as  we  now  say  '  crack  a  bottle  of  wine. ' 
Steevens  quotes  several  instances  of  the  expression  from  old 
writers. 

79,  80.  Rest  you  nierry  !     See  above,  1.  62. 

81.  this  same  ancient  feast,  this  time-honoured  festival  of 
which  he  speaks  and  which  we  all  know  so  well.  The  expression 
"this  same"  or  "that  same"  is  frequently  used  with  a  con- 
temptuous emphasis,  like  the  modern  vulgarity  "this  here,"  and 
even  when  no  contempt  is  intended  there  is  generally  a  sort  of 
familiarity  implied. 

84.  unattainted  eye,  unbiased,  impartial,  eye  ;  eye  not  preju- 
diced by  your  admiration  for  Rosaline. 

85.  show,  point  out  to  you. 

86.  And  I . . .  crow,  and  I  will  convince  you  that  she  whom  you 
think  so  lovely  is  but  a  poor  creature  after  all. 

87.  8.  When  the  devout ...  fires,  when  mv  eye,  thatnow  wor- 
ships with  such  devout  belief  in  her  beatity,  perjijxes- itself  4>y — 
such  heresy  as  you  suggest,  then  let  tears_tanx^tQlfa€s.  The  old 
copies  give  '  fire,'  which  was  alterl^n^y  Pope  to  fires  for  the  sake 
of  tlie  rhyme  with  liars  ;  Grant  White  remarks,  "  The  mare 
difference  of  a  final  s  seems  not  to  have  been  regarded  in  rhyme 
in  Shakespeare's  day,  and  the  reading  '  fires '  tends  to  impoverish 

a  line  not  over-rich. " 

89,  90.  And  these,  ...  liars  !  and  may  these  eyes,  which,  though 
often  drowned  in  tears,  refused  to  die,  be  burnt  as  liars,  trans- 
parent heretics  as  they  will  tlien  proA'e  themsehes  to  be  !  In 
transparent  there  is  a  pun  upon  '  evident,'  in  tlie  figurative 
sense,  and  '  clear,'  in  the  literal  sense. 

92.  her  match,  her  equal,  much  less  her  superior. 

93.  you  saw  her  fair,  in  your  eyes  she  seemed  fair. 

94.  Herself  poised  . . .  eye,  each  of  your  eyes  being  filled  with  her 
image,  whereas,  in  order  that  you  should  judge  impartially,  her 
image  in  your  one  eye  sliould  have  been  balanced  by  the  image  of 
some  other  fair  one  in  your  other  eye  ;  to  '  poise,'  or  '  peize '  as 


SCENE  11.]  NOTES.  113 

Shakespeare  sometimes  •mrites  it,  is  to  weigh,  balance,  from  Old 
F.  peiser,  to  weigh. 

95.  scales,  pair  of  scales,  used  as  a  singular  ;  conversely,  in 
AT.  r.  iv.  1.  255,  balance  is  used  as  a  plural,  "  .4re  these  balance 
here  to  weigh  The  flesh  ?  " 

96.  Your  lady's  love.  As  it  is  neither  the  love  which  he  bore  to 
the  lady,  nor  the  love  which  the  lady  bore  to  him,  we  should 
probably  read,  with  Theobold,  lady-love  Though  we  do  not  find 
the  word  elsewhere  in  Shakespeare,  Dyce  has  shown  that  it  was 
already  in  use. 

97.  shilling,  sc.  in  all  the  splendour  of  loveliness. 

98.  And  she  . . .  best,  and  she  who  now  seems  to  you  fairest  in 
all  the  world  will  scarcely  seem  fair  at  all ;  scant,  as  an  adverb, 
occurs  here  only  in  Shakespeare. 

99.  along,  see  note  on  i.  1.181  ;  no  such  . . .  shown,  not  in  the  ex- 
pectation, or  for  the  purpose,  of  being  shown  such  a  sight. 

100.  splendour  of  mine  own,  the  splendid  beauty  of  her  whom 
I  love. 

Scene  III. 

2.  What,  an  exclamation  of  impatience  at  not  finding  her  ;  so 
why  frequently  in  the  same  way  :  lady-bird,  a  term  of  endear- 
ment ;  tlie  lady -bird  is  really  a  small  scarlet  insect  which  flits 
about  from  leaf  to  leaf. 

3.  God  forbid  !  sc.  that  anything  should  have  happened  to  her. 

4.  How  now  !  what's  the  matter,  that  you  call  out  in  this  way 
for  me  ! 

6.  This  is  the  matter,  this  is  what  I  want  to  speak  to  you 
about  :  give  leave  awhile,  leave  us  alone  for  a  time  ;  cp.  K.  J.  i. 
1.  2.30,  "James  Gurney,  M'ilt  thou  give  us  leave  aichile?"  and 
i.  H.  IV.  iii.  2.  1,  "Lords,  give  us  leave;  the  Prince  of  Wales 
and  I  Must  have  some  private  conference." 

8.  I  have  remember'd  me,  on  second  thoughts,  there  is  no  need 
for  you  to  leave  us  ;  me,  used  reflexively  ;  cp.  T.  N.  v.  1 .  286, 
"  alas,  noAV  /  reinember  me,"  i.e.  now  that  I  come  to  think  of  the 
matter  again  :  thou's,  a  colloquialism  for  '  thou  shalt,'  as  in  Lear, 
iv.  6,  246,  "  ise  try  "  is  a  provincialism  for  '  /  shall  try '  :  counsel, 
consultation,  deliberation. 

9.  of  a  pretty  age,  well  grown,  of  a  marriageable  age. 

10.  Faith,  in  faith,  assuredly  :  unto  an  hour,  exactly, 

11.  lay,  stake  as  a  wager. 

12.  to  my  teen,  to  my  sorrow,  sorry  as  I  am  to  say  it  ;  cp. 
Temp.  i.  2.  64,  "  To  think  of  the  teen  that  I  have  turned  you  to." 
Here  of  course  for  the  sake  of  the  jingle  with  "  fourteen." 

H 


114  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

14.  Lammas-tide,"  a  name  for  the  first  of  August.  ..  The  literal 
sense  is  '  loaf- mass,'  because  a  loaf  was  offered  on  this  day  as  an 
offering  of  first  fruits  [sc.  of  the  harvest]  ...—A.. S.  hid/,  a  loaf, 
and  mcesse,  a  mass"  (Skeat,  Ety.  Diet.):  -tide,  for  time,  as  Nares 
remarks,  adding,  "  Tide  was  also  scrupulously  used  by  the 
Puritans,  in  composition,  instead  of  the  popish  word  mass,  of 
which  they  had  a  nervous  abhorrence.  Thus,  for  Christmas, 
Hallowmass,  Lammas,  they  said  Christ-tide,  Hallow-^ide,  Lamb- 
tide,"  Lammas  being  in  those  days  popularly  supposed  to  be 
derived  from  lamb  and  tide. 

15.  Even  or  odd,  ...  year,  whether  the  number  of  days  between 
now  and  Lammastide  be  even  or  odd,  on  that  day  and  no  other. 

16.  Come  . . .  night,  an  instance,  as  Wright  remarks,  note  on 
M.  N.  D.  i.  2.  6,  7,  of  an  uneducated  person's  anxiety  to  be 
scrupulously  exact. 

17.  Susan,  her  own  daughter. 

18.  of  an  age,  of  one  and  the  same  age. 

19.  She  was  too  good  for  me,  I  did  not  deserve  so  good  a  child, 
and  therefore  she  was  taken  from  me  ;  a  pathetic  expression  still 
to  be  heard  among  the  poorer  classes. 

22.  the  earthquake.  It  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  Shake- 
speare is  here  alluding  to  tlie  earthquake  that  took  place  in 
England  in  1580,  and  that  therefore  the  play  was  written  in 
1591,  by  others  that  he  alludes  to  the  far  more  serious  earth- 
quake in  Italy  in  1570. 

23.  wean'd,  made  to  give  up  being  suckled.  The  word  is  from 
the  A.S.  wenian,  to  accustom,  and,  as  .Skeat  points  out,  the  child 
who  is  being  accustomed  to  bread,  etc.,  is  at  the  same  time  dis- 
accustomed to,  or  weaned  from,  the  breast.  Hence  our  present 
use  of  the  word  in  the  sense  of  '  disaccustom  to.' 

25.  laid  ...  dug,  sc.  in  order  to  make  the  dug  distasteful  to  the 
child,  -wormwood  being  a  plant  with  a  bitter  juice.  Skeat  has 
shown  that  the  word  has  really  nothing  to  do  with  either  worm 
or  icood,  but  is  from  the  A.S.  wermdd  =  mind  preserver,  from  A.S. 
werian,  to  protect,  and  A.S.  mod,  mind,  thus  pointing  back  "to 
some  primitive  belief  as  to  the  curative  property  of  the  plant  in 
mental  afflictions." 

26.  Sitting ...  wall,  again  wishing  to  display  her  extreme 
accuracy. 

28.  Nay,  ...brain,  for,  believe  me,  I  remember  the  circum- 
stances most  minutely  ;  the  use  of  Nay  here  is  elliptical,  and 
equivalent  to  'nay,  do  not  wonder,  for,'  'nay,  you  need  not 
doubt  my  memory,  for '  ;  bear  a  brain,  much  the  same  as  the 
more  modern  'have  a  good  head,'  an  expression  of  which  the 
commentators  quote  many  instances  from  old  writers. 


SCENE  III.]  NOTES.  115 

31.  To  see  ...  dug  !  what  a  pretty  sight  it  was  to  see  it  get 
augry  and  quarrel  with  the  dug  !  tetchy,  fretful,  peevish ;  the 
sense,  says  Skeat,  is  'full  of  fetches  or  teches,  i.e.  bad  habits, 
freaks,  whims,  vices  ' ;  of  course  nothing  to  do  with  touchy,  which 
is  often  used  in  the  sense  of  peevish. 

32.  Shake  ...  dove-house.  Wise  {Shakespeare:  His  Birthplace 
and  its  Neighbourhood,  p.  112),  remarks,  "a  peculiar  use  of  the 
verb  '  quoth  '  is  noticeable  among  the  lower  orders  in  Warwick- 
shire. It  is  universally  applied  to  inanimate  things  :  for  instance, 
though  the  ploughshare  could  not  speak,  still  the  verb  '  quoth ' 
would  not  be  inapplicable  to  it.  'Jerk,  quoth  the  ploughshare,' 
that  is,  the  ploughshare  went — to  use  a  vulgarism — jerk.  So, 
precisely  in  this  sense  in  Borneo  and  Jidiet  the  old  Nurse  says, 
'Shake,  quoth  the  dove-house,'  that  is,' the  dove-house  went  or 
began  shaking."  Cp.  Heywood,  The  Fair  Maid  of  the  West,  iv. 
1,  "I  was  sent  to  the  top-mast  to  watch,  and  there  I  fell  fast 
asleep.  'Bounce,'  quoth  the  guns,  down  tumbles  Clem  [the 
speaker]."  Here  the  shaking,  on  thf_rhi1d's  di'^ti^'it"  ^»nt,b  tlip 
dug,  is  ominous  of  the  Nurse's  duty  b^ing  at  ■A^^  pnd — - 

32,  3.  'twas  no  need  . . .  trudge,  there  was  no  need  to  bid  me 
pack  off  about  my  business,  for  the  child's  quarrelling  with  the 
dug  was  enough  to  show  that  my  duties  were  over. . 

35.  for  then  . . .  alone,  i.  e.  for  then  she  was  between  two  and 
three  years  old  ;  the  first  quarto  gives  high-lone,  and  Dyce  has 
shown  that  the  phrase  a  high  lone,  for  quite  alone,  was  in  use  by 
old  writers. 

35,  6.  nay  . .  about,  nay,  not  only  could  stand  alone,  but,  I 
swear,  could  have  run  about  everywhere  though  her  feet  were 
not  as  steady  as  they  might  be  ;  the  rood,  the  cross  (of  Christ), 
sometimes  used  for  the  crucifix,  i.e.  the  cross  with  a  figure  of 
Christ  on  it. 

37.  broke  her  brow,  broke  the  skin  of  her  brow  by  a  fall  as 
she  was  running  about  on  her  not  too  steady  feet.  See  note 
on  i.  2.  52. 

.39.  Peace,  ...grace,  very  good,  I  have  done.  May  God  set 
the  mark  of  his  favour  upon  you,  show  that  He  loves  you  !  to, 
for,  as  an  object  of. 

41,  2.  An  I  might ...  wish,  if  I  might  only  live  to  see  you 
married,  my  fondest  wish  would  be  gratified  ;  once  belongs  to 
live  not  to  married. 

45.  How  stands  . . .  married  ?  how  arc  you  disposed  as  regards 
marriage?  is  your  inclination  for  or  against  marriage?  Cp.  A. 
Y.  L.  i.  1.  131,  "Orlando  hath  a  disposition  to  come  in  disguised 
against  me  to  try  a  fall. " 

48.  I  would  say...  teat,  i.e.  but  if  I  were  to  pay  you  that 
compliment,  I  should  also  be  complimenting  myself. 


116  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

50.  ladies  of  esteem,  honourable  ladies,  ladies  of  rank  and 
character. 

51.  by  my  count,  if  my  memory  is  right. 

52.  .3.  I  was  . . .  maid.  "  In  the  old  poem  Juliet's  age  is  set  down 
at  sixteen  [1.  1864,  "Scarce  saw  she  yet  full  sixteen  yeres  "]  ; 
in  Paynter's  novel  at  eighteen  ["  sith  as  yet  shee  is  not  attayned 
to  the  age  of  xviii.  yeares"].  As  Shakespeare  makes  his  heroine 
only  fourteen.  Lady  Capulet  would  be  eight  and  twenty  ;  while 
her  husband,  having  done  masking  some  thirty  years,  must 
be  at  least  three  score.  Knight  veils  the  disparity,  and  per- 
haps improves  the  passage  [by  reading  a  for  your],  but  we 
believe  witiiout  authority  "  (Staunton). 

54.  for  his  love,  in  marriage  ;  as  his  bride. 

56.  As  all  the  wcrld — the  Nurse's  enthusiasm  is  too  great  for 
expression:  a  man  of  wax,  "well  made,  as  if  he  had  been 
modelled  in  wax  "  (Weston) ;  an  explanation  which  Dyce  confirms 
by  a  quotation  from  Fair  Em,  a  play  sometimes  attributed  to 
Shakespeare,  i.  3.  50-2,  Simpson's  ed.,  "  A  body,  were  it  framed 
of  wax  By  all  the  cunning  Artists  of  the  world.  It  could  not 
better  be  proportioned." 

63.  every  married  lineament,  all  his  features,  each  of  which 
is  in  such  complete  harmony  with  the  rest ;  cp.  ii.  If.  IV.  v.  1. 
77,  "their  spirits  are  so  married  in  conjunction  with  the  par- 
ticipation of  society  "  ;  T.  C.  i.  3.  100,  "  Tiie  unity  and  married 
calm  of  states." 

64.  And  see  ...  content,  and  mark  "how  one  sets  off  another's 
beauty,  to  satisfy  the  eye  "  (Schmidt). 

65.  6.  And  what  ...  eyes,  and  whatever  is  not  clearly  expressed 
in  the  lines  of  that  face,  in  those  lineaments,  find  illusti'ated  by 
the  light  of  his  eyes.  In  old  books  the  text  was  illustrated  by 
comments  in  the  margin,  to  which  the  reader  was  r.ften  directed 
by  an  index  finger  (8®°).  For  other  instances  in  Shakespeare  of 
a  face  compared  to  a  book,  cp.  K.  J.  ii.  1.  485,  Lucr.  615, 
M.  N.  D.  ii.  2.  122  ;  for  the  form  margent,  cp.  Haml.  v.  2.  162, 
Lucr.  102,  L.L.L.  ii.  1.  246,  in  the  two  latter  the  figure  being 
the  same  as  that  in  the  text. 

67,  8.  This  precious  book  ..  cover,  to  him,  though  full  of  excel- 
lence, yet  incomplete,  the  bonds  of  marriage  will  give  that  grace 
of  completeness  which  the  binding  gives  to  the  book  ;  cp.  K.  J. 
ii.  1.  437,  8,  "  He  is  the  half  part  of  a  blessed  man  Left  to  be 
finished  by  such  as  .she. "  Mason  points  out  that  in  cover  there 
is  a  quibble  on  the  law  phrase  for  a  married  woman,  styled  feme 
covert  in  law-French. 

69,  70.  The  fish  , . .  hide,  as  the  beauty  of  the  element  in  which 
it  lives  sets  off  the  beauty  of  the  fish,  so  man  is  graced  by  his 


SCENE  III.]  NOTES.  117 

nninn  wHh  wnmaii  ;  pride  is  taken  ill  covering  with  a  beautiful 
outside  that  which  is  beautiful  within,  and  his  innate  virtues 
Avill  find  their  complement  in  your  outward  beauty.  I  cannot 
believe  with  Farmer  that  there  is  any  allusion  to  the  fish-skin 
covers  in  which  books  were  sometimes  bound,  or  with  Clarke  that 
Lady  Capulet  means  to  say  "  the  fish  is  not  yet  caught  which  is 
to  supply  this  '  cover  '  or  '  coverture. '  The  bride  who  is  to  be 
bound  in  marriage  with  Paris  has  not  yet  been  won." 

71,  2.  That  book  ...  story,  that  book  which  locks  in  a  golden 
story  in  golden  clasps  is  by  many  prized  as  much  for  those  clasps 
as  for  its  precious  contents  ;  and  your  outward  beauty  will  be  as 
much  regarded  as  his  inward  excellence. 

73,  4.  So  shall . . .  less,  so  shall  you  l)e  a  sharer  in  all  that 
adorns  him,  and  by  taking  him  in  marriage  shall  in  no  M'ay  lessen 
your  own  estimation.  These  two  lines  summarize  the  whole  pass- 
age from  "This  precious  book"  to  "golden  story,"  and  are 
entirely  opposed  to  the  interpretations  of  11.  69,  70,  given  by 
Farmer  and  Clarke. 

75.  like  of,  approve  of,  accept ;  for  this  partitive  sense,  cp. 
Tem}j.  iii.  1.  57,  "a  shape  to  like  of"  ;  M.  A.  v.  4.  59,  "  if  you 
like  of  me." 

76.  I  '11  look  . . .  move,  I  will  look  with  the  object  of  liking,  if  so 
be  that  looking  is  likely  to  cause  liking.  Quibbles  abound  so 
greatly  in  this  scene  that  I  '11  look  to  may  have  the  double  mean- 
ing of  '  I  will  expect  to. ' 

77.  endart  mine  eye,  set  darts  in  ;  see  Abb.  §  440,  on  the  force 
of  en-  as  a  prefix. 

78.  Than  your  consent . . .  fly,  than  you  would  approve  of  my 
doing. 

80.  asked  for,  inquired  about :  cursed,  "because  she  is  not  at 
hand  to  help"  (Delius). 

81.  in  extremity,  on  the  tip-toe  of  bustle  :  wait,  attend  upon 
the  guests  :  straight,  straightway  ;  at  once. 

83.  stays,  is  \\-aiting  for  your  coming. 


Scene  IV. 

Stace  Direction.  Maskers,  men  wearing  masks  and  prepared 
to  take  part  in  a  masquerade,  i.e.  an  assembly  of  maskers  or 
buffoons,  not  the  same  as  masque. 

1.  this  speech,  which  they  had  prepared  ;  see  note  on  1.  3. 

2.  Or  shall  we  on,  or  shall  we  go  forward,  on  to  the  house. 

3.  The  date  ...  prolixity.  "In  Henry  VIII.,  when  the  king 
introduces  himself  to  the  entertainment  given  by  Wolsey,  he 


118  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

appears,  like  Romeo  and  his  companions,  in  a  7nask,  and  sends  a 
messenger  before  him  to  make  an  apology  for  his  intrusion. 
This  was  a  custom  observ^ed  by  those  who  came  uninvited,  with 
a  desire  to  conceal  themselves  for  the  sake  of  intrigue,  or  to 
enjoy  the  greater  freedom  of  convei'sation.  Their  entry  on  these 
occasions  was  always  prefaced  by  some  speech  in  praise  of  the 
beauty  of  the  ladies  or  the  generosity  of  the  entertainer  ;  and  to 
the  jwolixity  of  such  introductions  allusion  is  here  made.  So,  in 
Histriomastix,  1610,  a  man  wonders  that  the  maskers  enter  with- 
out any  compliment  :  '  What  come  they  in  so  blunt,  ivithout 
device  ?\..  Of  the  same  kind  of  masquerading,  see  a  specimen  in 
Timon  [i.  2.  121,  et  seqq.],  where  Cupid  precedes  a  troop  of  ladies 
with  a  speech  "  (Steevens). 

4.  hoodwinked  •with  a  scarf,  with  his  eyes  blinded  with  a 
scarf  ;  to  '  hoodwink '  is  to  blind  the  eyes  by  covering  the  head 
with  a  hood,  as  hawks  M'ere  blinded,  until  the  moment  arrived 
for  flying  them  at  their  prey,  by  a  hood  drawn  over  their  eyes  ; 
the  word  is  used  figuratively  in  Macb.  iv.  3.  72,  ' '  the  time  you 
may  so  hoodwink  "  ;  and  Cymb.  v.  2.  16,  Temp.  iv.  1.  206.  The 
object  here  is  of  course  to  symbolize  Cupid's  blindness. 

5.  Bearing  ...  lath.  "  The  Tartarian  bows,  as  well  as  most  of 
those  used  by  the  Asiatic  nations,  resembled  in  their  form  the  old 
Roman  or  Cupid's  bow,  such  as  we  see  on  medals  and  bas-reliefs. 
Shakespeare  used  the  epithet  to  distinguish  it  from  the  English 
bow,  whose  shape  [when  bent]  is  the  segment  of  a  circle"  (Douce) ; 
painted  ...  lath,  not  a  real  bow  made  of  yew,  but  a  painted  imi- 
tation made  of  a  slip  of  such  wood  as  is  used  for  toys. 

6.  like  a  crow-keeper,  as  a  crow-keeper  scares  crows  ;  a  crow- 
keeper  is  a  boy  employed  to  scare  birds  from  the  crops,  of 
which  crows  are  supposed  to  be  the  greatest  enemies ;  but  the 
word  is  also  used  of  a  stuffed  figure,  made  of  sticks  with  an  old 
coat  covering  it,  and  sometimes  ai-med  with  a  bow  ;  in  this  pas- 
sage, as  Nares  points  out,  such  a  iigure  is  clearly  meant. 

7.  8.  Nor  no  ...  entrance,  nor  any  halting  prologue,  indistinctly 
delivered  as  the  actor  follows  the  prompter  reading  from  the 
book  at  the  wings  of  the  stage,  to  gain  admission  for  us.  For 
the  emphatic  double  negative,  see  Abb.  §  406.  Ulrici  supposes  a 
without-toook  prologue  to  be  a  prologue  not  in  tlie  book — that  is, 
not  composed  by  the  poet ;  but  this  seems  a  forced  meaning,  and 
probably  nothing  more  is  meant  than  a  contrast  between  pro- 
logues read  out  from  the  book  and  those  delivered  from  memory : 
entrance,  a  trisyllable  ent{e)rance  ;  see  Abb.  §  477. 

9.  But  let  them  ...will,  but,  let  them  judge  of  us  as  they 
please,  take  our  measure  by  whatever  standard  they  choose. 

10.  We'll  measure  ...  gone,  we  will  just  go  through  a  dance 
with  them  and  then  depart  ;  a  measure,  though  used  for  dancing 


SCENE  IV,]  NOTES.  119 

to  music  generally,  was  especially  applied  to  a  slow,  stately, 
dance  resembling  the  later  minuet  :  them,  for  them,  for  their 
behalf,  but  probably  used  here  to  correspond  with  measure  us  in 
the  previous  line.  On  what  is  commonly  called  the  ethical 
dative,  see  Abb.  §  220. 

11.  Give  me  a  torcli,  let  me  play  the  part  of  torch-bearer  :  I 
am  not  for,  I  am  not  inclined  for,  do  not  care  to  take  part  in  : 
ambling,  used  contemptuously  of  an  affected  manner  of  move- 
ment ;  cp.  Haml.  iii.  1.  151,  "you  jig,  you  amble,  and  you  lisp 
...  and  make  your  wantonness  your  ignorance." 

12.  Being ...  light,  tlie  same  pun  as  in  i.  1.  164. 

13.  we  must . . .  dance,  we  shall  not  be  contented  unless  you 
dance. 

15.  nimble,  light,  and  so  enabling  the  wearers  to  be  nimble, 
acti^-e :  soul,  of  course  with  the  sorry  pun  which  Shakespeare 
has  again  in  M.   V.  iv.  1.  123,  J.  G.  i.  1.  15. 

16.  So  stakes  me,  ...move,  which  so  pins  me  down  that  I 
cannot  move  ;  for  the  omission  of  the  relative,  see  Abb.  §  244. 

18.  above  ...  bound,  to  a  height  to  which  without  them  you 
could  not  leap. 

19.  enpierced,  pierced  in  my  heart ;  see  Abb.  §  440. 

20.  and  so  bound,  and  Mith  that  restraint,  pinned  down  as  I 
am  by  his  shafts  ;  of  course  for  the  sake  of  the  quibble.  Steevens 
quotes  a  similar  quibble  in  Paradise  Losl  iv.  18,  though  there 
the  substantive  means  boundary,  limit. 

21.  bound  a  pitch  above,  soar  above.  Taken  in  connection 
with  the  previous  line,  pitch  is  probably  used  in  the  teclinical 
sense  of  the  height  to  which  a  falcon  towers  ;  for  tliat  sense  used 
figuratively,  as  here,  cp.  E.  II.  i.  1.  109,  "  How  high  a  pitch  his 
resolution  soars";  /.  C.  i.  1.  78,  "Will  make  him  fly  an  ordi- 
nary  pitch  "  ;  dull,  heavy,  laden. 

29.  a  case,  a  mask. 

30,  1.  A  visor  ...  deformities,  a  fig  for  masks  !  I  care  nothing 
what  prying  ej^e  examines  the  blemishes  of  my  face,  notes  the 
plainness  of  my  face.  A  visor  for  a  visor  !  apparently  means  '.I 
care  not  a  jot,  not  the  value  of  a  mask,  for  the  concealment  of  my 
plainness  which  a  visor  affords  :  quote,  cp.  T.  C.  iv.  5.  233,  "  I 
have  with  exact  view  perused  thee,  Hector,  And  quoted  every 
joint  "  ;  Haml.  ii.  1.  112,  "  I  am  sorry  that  with  better  heed  and 
judgement  I  had  not  quoted  him." 

32.  Here  are  ...  me,  if  anything  is  to  blush  for  me,  it  shall  be 
these  beetle-brows  of  mine,  i.e.  I  '11  face  them  all  without  being 
in  the  least  ashamed  of  myself :  beetle-brows,  probably  heavy 
and  shaggy,  bushy,  brows  :  the  etymology  is  doubtful,  but  "it  is 
probable  . . .  that  the  comparison  is  to  the  short  tufted  antenna  of 


120  ROMEO  A.ND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

some  species  of  beetles,  projecting  at  right  angles  to  the  head, 
which  might  have  been  called  '  eyebrows '  in  Eng.  as  well  as  in 
Fr. ;  for  the  expression  sourcils  de  hannetou  'cockchafers'  eye- 
brows '  is  the  name  given  to  a  species  of  fringe  made  in 
imitation  to  the  antemiEe  of  these  insects  "  (Murray,  Eng.  Diet.). 

33,4.  and  no  sooner  ...  legs,  and  let  us  all,  as  soon  as  we 
enter,  engage  in  the  dance ;  i.  e.  so  as  more  easily  to  escape 
observation. 

35.  Tickle  ...  heels,  caper  about  in  the  dance  ;  senseless,  with- 
out feeling,  which  may  be  tickled  without  objecting  to  it,  but 
also  with  an  allusion  to  the  empty-headedness  of  the  wantons 
themselves.  In  the  days  before  carpets,  it  was  customary  to 
strew  the  floors  with  rushes. 

37.  For  I  am  ...  phrase,  for  I  am  fortified  against  such  frivoli- 
ties by  an  old-world  proverb  which  suits  ray  frame  of  min.d.  The 
grandsire  phrase  is  apparently  that  of  the  following  line,  of 
which  Steevens  gives  an  illustration  from  Ray's  Proverbs,  "  A 
good  candle-holder,"  i.e.  spectator,  "  proves  a  good  gamester. " 
Some  commentators  include  the  next  line  also,  while  Malone 
refers  the  phrase  to  that  line  alone.  Milton  uses  ' '  proverbed  " 
as=  'made  a  byword  of,'  S.  A.  203,  "Am  I  not  sung  and  pro- 
verbed for  a  fool  In  every  street." 

39.  The  game  ...  done.  Malone  says  tlie  proverb  "  Our  sport 
is  at  the  best  "  (see  below  i.  5.  117)  meant  '  we  have  had  enough 
of  it '  ;  Ritson  that  tlie  allusion  is  to  "a  proverbial  saying  which 
advises  to  give  over  when  the  game  is  at  the  best "  ;  though  how 
this  would  apply  to  Romeo's  state  of  mind,  it  is  not  easy  to  see. 
Possibly  the  meaning  is  '  The  game  (i.e.  dancing)  was  never  one 
I  much  cared  for,  and  I  am  not  going  to  argue  the  point  further.' 

40.  Tut,  dun's  the  mouse  . . .  word,  nonsense  !  what  have  you  to 
do  with  the  word  dun  (done)  1  It  comes  very  well  from  the  lips 
of  a  constable  in  his  favourite  phrase,  but  not  from  a  fine  fellow 
like  you.  What  precise  meaning  the  phrase  had  has  not  been 
discovered,  though  there  is  of  course  a  reference  to  the  colour  of 
the  mouse,  and  the  same  quibble  with  done  is  found  in  many  old 
writers.  Nor  is  it  clearer  why  the  monopoly  should  belong  to 
the  constable.  Malone,  indeed,  supposes  it  to  have  meant 
"  Peace,  be  still  ! "  but  the  passage  he  quotes  seems  to  prove 
nothing.  Possibly  it  had  no  more  pertinence  to  the  occasion 
than  the  oft-repeated  exclamation  of  Mr.  F.  's  Aunt,  ' '  There  's 
milestones  on  the  Dover  road,"  while  it  was  equally  comforting 
to  the  speaker  with  the  old  lady's  "  blessed  word"  Mesopotamia. 
For  word,  =  saying,  cp.  E.  II.  i.  3.  152,  "  The  hopeless  icord  of 
'  never  to  return. ' " 

41.  2.  If  thou  art  dun  ...  love.  "  D^m  is  in  the  mire  is  a  Christ- 
mas gambol,  at  which  I  have  often  played.     A  log  of  wood  is 


SCENE  IV.]  NOTES.  121 

brought  into  the  midst  of  the  room  :  this  is  Dun  (the  cart-horse), 
and  a  cry  is  raised  that  he  is  stuck  in  the  mire.  Two  of  the  com- 
pany advance,  either  with  or  without  ropes,  to  draw  him  out. 
After  repeated  attempts,  tliey  find  tliemsehes  unable  to  do  it, 
and  call  for  more  assistance.  The  game  continues  till  all  the 
company  take  part  in  it,  when  Dun  is  extricated  of  course  ;  and 
the  merriment  arises  from  the  awkward  and  affected  efforts  of  the 
rustics  to  lift  the  log,  and  from  sundry  arch  contrivances  to  let 
the  ends  of  it  fall  on  one  another's  toes.  This  will  not  be  thouglit 
a  very  exquisite  amusement ;  and  yet  I  have  seen  much  honest 
mirth  at  it"  (GLfFord).  The  saying,  which  was  also  the  name  of 
a  tune,  was  a  very  old  one,  and  Douce  quotes  it  from  the 
^lanciple's  prologue  in  Chaucer,  1.  4  :  this  sir-reverence  love,  this 
dung-heap,  love.  The  term  sir-reverence  is  a  corruption  of  '  save 
reverence,'  Lat.  sahd  rererentid,  an  apologetical  expression  for  the 
use  of  anything  indelicate,  and  later  on  '•  in  one  instance  became 
the  substitute  for  tlie  word  which  it  originally  introduced  ;  as  '  I 
trod  in  a  so"  reverence^ — dropping  the  real  name  of  the  thing  " 
(Nares). 

43.  we  burn  daylight,  we  are  wasting  time  ;  originally  used  of 
burning  candles  by  daylight,  as  Mercutio  explains  in  answer  to 
Romeo's  literal  acceptation  of  the  words. 

45.  light  lights.  The  quartos,  except  the  first,  give  "  liyhts 
lights  by  day."  I  have  followed  Daniel  in  adopting  Nicholson's 
easy  and  most  satisfactory  emendation. 

46,  7.  Take  our  good  meaning  ...  wits,  take  our  words  as  they 
were  meant,  for  it  is  in  that  meaning  that  our  good  sense  shows 
itself  much  oftener  thanJn_tii£ai^ajQ£jiurJive_^^  ii  our  words 
are  strictTy  taken,  they  are  often  misunderstood.  The  five  wits 
were  common  wit,  imagination,  fantasy,  estimation  [i.e.  judg- 
ment), and  memory  ;  though  the  phrase  was  sometimes  used  as 
an  equivalent  to  the  five  senses. 

48.  mask,  masquerade,  masked  ball ;  not  a  masked  entertain- 
ment sucli  as  that  in  the  Teinpest,  iv.  1,  or  Milton's  Gomus. 

53.  Queen  Mab.  The  origin  of  the  name  Mab  is  uncertain,  and 
Shakespeare,  according  to  Thorns,  is  apparently  the  earliest 
writer  to  give  her  the  title  of  queen.  He  mentions  that  Beaufort, 
in  his  Antient  Topography  of  Ireland,  speaks  oi  Mabh  as  the 
chief  of  the  IcishJaiues,  and  adds  that  the  word  Mab  is  Celtic, 
meaning  both  in  Welsh,  and  in  tlie  kindred  dialects  of  Brittany, 
a  child  or  infant,  "  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  an  epithet 
that  better  befits  Shakespeare's  description  of  the  dwarf-like 
sovereign. "  If  Shakespeare  was  the  first  to  apply  the  designa- 
tion of  Fairy  Queen  to  Mab,  that  designation  seems  to  have  been 
a  well-recognized  one,  for  Jonson  in  his  Satyr,  written  in  1603, 
speaks  of  "  a  bevy  of  Fairies,  attending  on  Mab  their  queen." 


122  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

54.  the  fairies'  midwife,  the  fairy  whose  "  department  it  was  to 
deliver  the  fancies  of  sleeping  men  of  their  dreams,  those  children 
of  ail  idle  hrain  "  (Steevens)  ;  see  1.  94,  below. 

55.  In  shape  . . .  agate-stone,  in  size  no  bigger  than  the  small 
figures  engraved,  or  cut  in  relief,  on  agate  stones  set  in  rings. 
Shakespeare  again  refers  to  these  figures  as  symbols  of  diminutive- 
ness,  in  M.  A.  iii.  1.  65,  where  Beatrice  is  said  to  compare  a  tall 
man  to  "  a  lance  ill-headed  "  and  a  short  one  to  "  an  agate  vilely 
cut" ;  while  in  ii.  H.  IV.  i.  2.  19,  Falstaif,  speaking  of  his  page, 
says  "  I  was  never  manned  roith  an  agate  till  now." 

56.  On  the  ...  alderman.  In  the  first  quarto  for  alderman  we 
have  hurgomanter,  the  Dutch  equivalent  of  our  mayor,  and 
Steevens  points  out  that  in  the  old  pictures  of  these  dignitaries 
the  ring  is  generally  placed  on  the  fore-finger,  whereas  in  England 
it  appears  to  have  been  more  commonly  worn  on  the  thumb. 

57.  atomies,  only  another  form  of  atonw,  the  Lat.  pi.  of 
atomus,  atomi,  being  treated  as  an  English  singular ;  literally 
something  so  small  as  to  be  incapable  of  division ;  cp.  v4 .  Y.  L. 
iii.  2.  245,  "  It  is  as  easy  to  count  atomies  as  to  resolve  the  pro- 
positions of  a  lover. " 

59.  long- spinners'  legs,  what  children  call  a  '  daddy-long-legs,' 
but  different  from  the  common  spider  ;  cp.  M.  N.  D.  ii.  2.  21, 
"  Hence,  you  long-legged  spinners,  hence  !" 

60.  cover,  awning,  hood. 

61.  traces,  that  by  which  the  vehicle  is  drawn. 

64.  grey-coated  gnat,  what  Milton,  Lyridas,  28,  calls  the 
"gray-fly,"  either  the  trumpet-fly,  or  possibly  the  cricket. 

66.  Prick'd . . .  maid,  taken  out  with  a  needle  from  the  finger  of  a 
lazy  maid.  It  was  of  old  popularly  believed  that  small  parasites 
were  sometimes  harboured  in  the  flesh  of  the  fingers  of  lazy  per- 
sons. Nares  quotes  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  TAe  Woman  Hater, 
iii.  1.  Ill,  2,  "Keep  thy  hands  in  thy  nmff  and  warm  the  idle 
Worms  in  thy  fingers'  ends." 

67-9.  Her  chariot  . . .  coachmakers.  Lettsom  would  place  these 
lines  after  1.  58,  as  "it  is  preposterous  to  speak  of  the  parts  of  a 
chariot  before  mentioning  the  chariot  itself":  joiner,  carpenter, 
grub,  worm  ;  the  squirrel  and  the  grub,  because  the  former  is 
fond  of  cracking  nuts,  and  the  latter  of  boring  its  way  through 
the  shell,  both  eating  the  kernel  and  so  hollowing  out  the  shell 
which  thereby  becomes  fitted  for  a  coach  for  fairies. 

69.  Time  out  o'  mind,  from  time  immemorial. 

70.  in  this  state,  with  this  pomp  and  splendour. 

72.  court'sies,  bowing  and  cringing  in  the  presence  of  those 
whose  favour  they  seek  to  win. 


SCENE  IV.]  NOTES.  123 

73.  straight,  straightway,  immediately. 

76.  Because  ...  are,  allusions  to  the  sweatmeats  eaten  by  ladies 
to  sweeten  the  breath  are  very  common  in  the  old  dramatists, 
and  one  of  the  names  given  to  them  was  "kissing-comfits,"  as  in 
3f.  W.  V.  5.  22. 

78.  smelling  out  a  suit,  scenting  out  some  appointment,  office, 
etc.,  for  which  he  might  become  a  suitor  to  the  king,  or  to  those 
high  in  his  favour.  As  courtiers  have  already  been  mentioned, 
it  has  been  proposed  to  substitute  '  counsellor's  '  here. 

79.  tithe-pig,  a  pig  given  to  a  priest  in  payment  of  tithes,  or 
tenth  parts  of  the  parishioner's  annual  income. 

81.  another  benefice,  I.e.  an  increase  to  his  income  by  his  being 
presented  with  a  richer  living,  better  church  preferment,  or 
perhaps  a  living  in  addition  to  that  already  held  by  him,  it 
l)eing  common  in  those  days  for  priests  to  hold  more  than  one 
living  at  a  time. 

84.  Spanish  blades.  The  toledo,  a  sword  made  at  Toledo,  in 
Spain,  was  in  high  favour  formerly,  the  steel  of  the  blade  being 
of  gi'eat  excellence  and  finely  tempered. 

85.  Of  healths  ...  deep,  of  jKrha,tions  without  stint :  of  cups 
which  no_thirst  could  dl^ain  dry  ;  the  pledges  drunk  to  the  health 
of  friends,  mistresses,  etc.,  are  "put  for  the  cup  from  which  they 
are  drunk. 

80.  Drums  in  his  ears,  he  dreams  that  the  signal  for  battle  has 
been  sounded  by  the  drums,  and  he  must  up  and  arm. 

87.  swears  a  prayer  or  two,  his  vocabulary  is  so  largely  made 
up  of  oaths  that  even  when  in  his  alarm  lie  tries  to  remember  a 
prayer,  he  cannot  do  so  without  an  admixture  of  blasphemy  ;  cp. 
A.  Y.  L.  ii.  7.  150,  "Then  a  soldier.  Full  of  strange  oaths,  and 
bearded  like  the  pard." 

88.  And  sleeps  again.  Cp.  Mach.  ii.  2.  22-5,  where,  during  the 
murder  of  Duncan,  the  sleeping  chamberlains  start  up  in  their 
sleep,  "There's  one  did  laugh  in 's  sleep,  and  one  cried  'Mur- 
der ' :  I  stood  and  heard  them  :  But  they  did  say  their  prayers, 
and  address'd  them  Again  to  sleep." 

89.  That  plats  . . .  night.  ' '  It  was  believed  that  certain  malig- 
nant spirits  ...  assumed  occasionally  the  likeness  of  women  clothed 
in  white  ;  that  in  this  character  they  sometimes  haunted  stables 
in  the  night-time,  carrying  in  their  hands  tapers  of  wax,  which 
they  dropped  on  the  horses'  manes,  thereby  plaiting  them  in 
inextricable  knots"  ...  (Douce). 

90.  And  bakes  . . .  hairs,  and  causes  the  hair  of  those  who  are 
uncleanly  in  person  to  become  caked  in  elf  knots ;  the  reference 
is  said  to  be  to  a  horrid  disease  called  plica  poloiiica,  in  which  the 
hair  became  injected  with  blood,  an   inlliction   superstitiously 


124  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

attributed  to  the  malice  of  wicked  elves.  See  next  note,  and  cp. 
Lear,  ii.  3.  10,  "my  face  I'll  grime  with  filth;  Blanket  my 
loins  ;  and  elf  my  hair  in  knots. "  For  baked  =  caked,  clotted, 
cp.  Haml.  ii.  2.  481,  "horridly  trick'd  With  blood  of  fathers, 
mothers,  daughters,  sons.  Baked  and  impasted  with  the  parching 
streets."  Queen  Mab's  hatred  of  sluttishness  is  again  referred 
to  in  M.  W.  V.  5.  50,  ' '  Elves,  list  your  names  ;  silence,  you  airy 
boys. '  Cricket,  to  Windsor  chimneys  slialt  thou  leap :  Where  fires 
thou  find'st  unraked  and  hearths  unswept,  There  pinch  the  maids 
as  blue  as  bilberry  :  Our  radiant  queen  hates  sluts  and  sluttery'"  ; 
a  passage  which  Jouson  has  imitated  in  his  Satyr,  34-7,  where, 
speaking  of  "  Mab,  the  mistress  Fairy,"  he  says,  "She  that 
pinclies  country  wenches.  If  they  rub  not  clean  their  benches. 
And  with  sharper  nails  remembers  When  they  rake  not  up  their 
embers." 

91.  Whicli  once  ...  bodas,  the  disentangling  of  which  forebodes, 
etc.  The  nominative  to  bodes  is  the  adjectival  clause  WMch 
untangled;  so  the  noun  clause  in  Haml.  iii.  1.  182,  "Whereon 
his  brain.s  still  beating  put.s  him  thus  From  fashion  of  himself," 
i.e.  the  beating  of  his  brains  puts ;  ^.  C.  i.  2.  115,  "  our  ills  told 
us  Is  as  our  earing,"  i.e.  the  telling  of  our  ills  is,  etc.  Why  the 
disentanglement  should  have  tliis  effect  is  not  clear,  unless  it  is 
that  it  would  further  provoke  the  malice  of  Mab  at  seeing  her 
work  undone.  On  this  subject  of  "elf-locks"  and  the  "  ejj- 
tangling  "  or  the  "  ?t?itangling  "  there  has  in  recent  years  been 
much  controversy.  Daniel,  in  the  revised  edition  of  our  play, 
published  by  the  New  Shakspere  Society,  prefers  "e?itangled," 
believing  the  entanglement,  not  the  disentanglement,  to  be  in- 
auspicious. W.  G.  Black,  in  Notes  and  Queries,  5th  Series,  xi. 
22,  quotes  a  passage  from  Sir  T.  Overburie's  Vision,  1616,  which 
perhaps  bears  out  Daniel's  contention  ;  and  W.  G.  Stone,  in  the 
same  journal,  xi.  205,  quotes  from  Turner's  Remarkahle  Pro- 
vidence, 1697,  a  further  passage  in  support  of  the  same  view. 
"  '  Pride  of  Hair  was  punished,'  saith  Dr.  Bolton,  'at  first  with 
an  ugly  Intanglement,  sometime  in  the  form  of  a  great  Snake, 
sometime  of  many  little  ones,  full  of  Nastiness,  Vermin,  and 
noisome  Smell ;  and  that  which  is  most  to  be  admired,  and  never 
Age  saw  before,  pricked  with  a  Needle,  they  yielded  bloody 
drops.  This  first  began  in  Poland,  afterwards  entered  into 
Germany ;  and  all  that  then  cut  off  liis  horril>le  snaky  Hair, 
either  lost  their  Eyes,  or  the  Humour  falling  down  upon  other 
Parts  tortured  them  extremely  ' . . .  "  Brinsley  Nicholson  remarks 
that  "  while  a  felting  or  inextricable  interlacing  of  the  hair — a 
result  of  neglect  and  want  of  cleanliness — was  doubtless  known 
in  England  (a  state  called  by  Dr.  Copland  '  false  plica '),  there  is 
not,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  any  recorded  instance  of  the  occiirrence 
of  the  true  iMca  polonica  in  England  so  early  as  Shakespeare's 
time."     J.  W.  Legg  says  that  if  there  is  an  allusion  here  to  the 


SCENE  TV.]  NOTES.  125 

plica  polonica,  "it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  accept  the  early 
reading  'untangled.'  If  we  accept  ' entangled  '  as  the  reading, 
then  we  must  reject  any  allusion  under  the  name  of  '  elf-locks ' 
to  the  }>lica  :  for  the  entanglement  of  the  ]>lica  boded  no  misfor- 
tune ;  it  was  a  piece  of  great  good  fortune,  which  lasted  for  ever 
if  the  hair  did  not  become  untangled." 

93.  Thou  talk'st  of  nothing,  j^our  talk  is  all  nonsense. 

95.  fantasy,  fancy  ;  of  which  it  is  the  older  form. 

96.  of  substance,  as  regards  substance  ;  in  the  matter  of  sub- 
stance. 

97.  wooes,  with  the  hope  of  softening  it. 

98.  9.  Even  now  ...  And,  at  one  moment ...  and  at  the  next. 

100.  dew-dropping  south,  so  Cymh.  iv.  2.  34-9,  "the  f^pongy 
south";  and  of  the  south  wind,  A.  Y.  L.  iii.  5.  50,  "  Like/of/r/y 
south  puffing  with  M'ind  and  rain." 

101.  This  wind  ...  ourselves,  this  inconstancy,  in  which  we 
resemble  the  wind,  diverts  us  from  our  purpose,  is  hindering  us 
from  joining  the  festivities. 

103.  misgives,  forebodes  ;  more  commonly  with  the  reflexive 
pronoun. 

104.  yet  ...  stars,  as  yet  impending  in  the  stars  that  govern 
our  fates,  not  yet  fallen,  but  threatening  to  do  so. 

105.  shall  bitterly  ...  date,  is  surely  about  to  start  on  that 
cruel  course  which  shall  end  so  fatally.     Cp.  below,  ii.  2.  117. 

106.  expire,  for  other  instances  of  intransitive  verbs  used 
transitivelj%  see  Abb.  §  291. 

107.  8.  Of  a  despised  ...  death,  of  my  unfortunate  life  prema- 
turely paying  the  penalty  of  an  undeserved  death  ;  despised, 
held  of  no  account  by  the  poA\-ers  above  ;  not  thought  worthy  of 
being  allowed  the  ordinary  span. 

110.  lusty  gentlemen,  my  brave  fellows. 

114.  strike,  drum,  said  to  the  attendant  bearing  the  drum, 
which  gives  the  signal  for  resuming  the  march  of  the  procession. 

SCEXE  V. 

1,  2.  Where's  Potpan  . . .  away  ?  What  can  Potpan  be  about, 
that  he  is  not  here  to  help  in  removing  the  plates  and  dishes? 
he  shift  ...  a  trencher  !  does  he  call  himself  a  waiter  ?  he  is  a 
pretty  sort  of  felloM'  to  call  himself  a  waiter  Avhen  he  thus  neglects 
his  duties  :  a  trencher,  from  F.  trencher,  to  cut,  was  a  wooden 
platter  used  to  cut  food  upon,  and  cleaned  by  scrapmg :  shift  a 
trencher,  as  we  should  now  say  'change  the  plates.'     Nicliols 


126  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

points  out  that  these  platters  wei-e  continued  much  longer  in 
public  societies,  particularly  in  Colleges  and  Inns  of  Court,  and 
that  they  are  still  retained  at  Lincoln's  Inn. 

3,  4.  When  good  ...  thing,  when  it  comes  to  this  that  nearly 
every  one  forf^ets  his  duties,  that  perhaps  only  one  otiiKO — and 
those  fellows  with  hands  begrimed  with  tlieir  dirty  work — re- 
member to  do  their  work,  things  are  at  a  pretty  pass  ;  shall  has 
the  idea  of  inevitable  consequence  ;  foul,  used  in  the  double  sense 
of  'shameful'  and  'dirty.' 

5.  joint-stools,  stools  that  folded  up  when  not  in  use :  court- 
cupboard,  ' '  a  sort  of  movable  sideboard  without  doors  or  drawers, 
in  which  was  displayed  the  plate  of  the  establishment "  (Dyce). 

6.  plate,  the  silver  dishes,  forks,  spoons,  etc.,  of  which  it  was 
necessary  to  take  care  that  they  should  not  be  stolen  ;  the  word 
is  nothing  more  than  the  feminine  of  the  F.  plat,  flat,  but  in  the 
form  ^j/ato  was  by  the  Spanish  used  of  silver  plate.  Good  thou, 
my  good  fellow  ;  on  the  use  of  thou,  see  Abb.  §§231,  232. 

7.  marchpane,  a  confection  common  in  the  desserts  of  our 
ancestors,  of  which  various  recipes  are  given,  the  ingredients 
being  principally  almonds,  filberts,  sugar,  and  flour :  as  thou 
lovest  me,  if  you  love  me,  as  I  am  sure  you  do. 

12,3.  Cheerly,  hoys  ;...  all,  stir  younselves,  my  boys;  don't 
grudge  a  little  extra  labour  ;  he  who  lives  longest  will  inherit 
most;  the  latter  words  being  a  proverb  (somewhat  like  "the 
devil  take  the  hindmost")  meaning  'he  who  works  hardest  and 
lives  longest  will  fare  the  best. ' 

14.  gentlemen,  said  to  Romeo  and  his  friends. 

15.  a  hout  with  you,  a  turn  at  dancing  with  you.  Daniel 
follows  the  later  quartos  and  the  folios  in  reading  "  walk  a  bout " 
{i.e.  the  adverb  'about,'  generally  written  in  Shakespeare's  day 
as  two  words),  comparing  M.A.  ii.  1.  99,  "  Lady,  will  you  walk 
a  bout,  with  your  friend,"  said  as  an  invitation  to  dance. 

16.  my  mistresses,  my  fine  madams. 

17.  Will  now  ...  dance,  will  have  the  courage,  by  refusing  to 
dance,  to  admit  that  she  has  corns  :  makes  dainty,  hesitates 
about  dancing. 

18.  am  I ...  now?  have  I  touched  you  to  the  quick  by  hinting 
that  some  of  you  possibly  have  corns?  Corns  being  commonly 
caused  by  wearing  too  tight  shoes,  the  ladies  by  admitting  that 
they  were  troubled  in  this  way,  Avould  be  confessing  to  the  vanity 
of  trying  to  make  their  feet  look  smaller  than  they  naturally 
were. 

19.  I  have  seen  the  day,  I  can  well  recall  the  time. 

22.  'tis  gone,  'tis  gone,  'tis  gone,  but  that  is  long,  long,  ago  ; 
said  with  a  regretful  repetition.     Cp.  the  solemn  repetition  in 


SCENE  v.]  NOTES.  -  127 

Mach.  V.  5.   19,   "To-morrow,  and  to-morrow,  and  to-morrow, 

Creeps  in  tliis  petty  pace  from  day  to  day." 

24.  A  hall,  a  hall  !  Clear  the  room  for  the  dance  ;  as  we  say, 
"  A  ring,  a  ring  ! "  M-hen  preparations  are  being  made  for  a  light 
Avith  iists  :  foot  it,  dance  away  merrily  !  So,  Temp.  i.  2.  380, 
''Foot  it  featly  here  and  there";  for  it,  used  indefinitely,  see 
Abb.  §  226. 

25.  you  knaves,  you  fellows  there;  hiave,  from  A.S.  cnafa,  a 
boy,  was  of  old  used  in  the  sense  of  servant,  the  modern  sense 
being  of  later  origin  ;  and  Capulet  here  uses  the  term  in  good- 
humoured  command  :  turn  the  tables  up,  fold  up  the  tables  (and 
set  them  against  the  wall  to  give  more  room) ;  tables  in  former 
days  were  like  the  modern  camp  tables,  the  leaves  and  the  frame 
on  which  they  were  spread  out  being  made  to  fold  up. 

28.  cousin.  Used  in  Shakespeai-e  for  any  relationship  not  of 
the  first  degree. 

31.  Were  in  a  mask,  took  part  in  a  masquerade:  By 'r  lady, 
by  our  lady,  i.e.  the  Virgm  Mary,  Mother  of  Christ;  a  common 
form  of  petty  oath. 

33.  nuptial,  marriage  ;  in  Shakespeare's  day  the  word  was 
used  in  the  singular,  as  conversely  '  funerals,'  F.  funerailles,  Lat. 
funtra,  both  plural,  where  we  should  use  the  singular. 

34.  Come  pentecost . . .  will,  however  quick  Pentecost  may 
come  ;  not  till  Pentecost,  however  near  that  may  be.  Pentecost, 
Whitsuntide,  originally  a  Jewish  festival,  Gk.  irevTCKOo tt|  (T||A£'pa), 
the  fiftieth  (day),  sc.  after  the  Passover. 

35.  we  mask'd,  we  took  part  in  a  masquerade. 

36.  elder,  older  ;  we  now  use  the  word  only  in  comparison  of 
ages. 

37.  Will  you  ...  that,  nonsense  !  how  can  you  say  such  a  thing. 

38.  ward,  one  under  guardianship  ;  not  yet  of  age. 

39.  What  lady,  the  use  of  what  is  less  definite  than  if  the  ques- 
tion had  been  '  who  is  that  lady  ? ' 

39,  40.  which  ...  knight,  who  graces  the  hand  of  yonder  knight 
by  taking  it  in  the  dance  :  on  that  ...  which,  see  Abb.  §  267. 

43,  4.  It  seems  ...  ear.  Steevens  compares  <S'o?iH.  xxvii.  11,  2, 
"  Which,  like  a  jewel  hung  in  ghastly  night,  Makes  black  night 
beauteous  and  her  old  face  new  "  :  Etliijipe's,  generically  for  any 
daiik-skinned  race  ;  '\n  A.  Y.  L.  iv.  3.  35,  it  is  ever  used  figura- 
tivel}'  of'wi'itteii  irorch,  ' '  Such  Ethiop  words,  blacker  in  their 
effect  Than  in  their  countenance. " 

45.  too  rich  for  use,  too  splendid  for  common  wear ;  cp.  3f.  A. 
ii.  1.  340-2,  where  Beatrice,  on  the  Prince  asking  whether  she 
would  have  him  as  a  husband,  replies,  ' '  No,  my  lord,  unless  I 


128  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i, 

might  have  another  for  working-days  :  your  grace  is  too  costly  to 
wear  every  day." 

46.  trooping'  with  crows,  the  reference  is  to  a  flock  of  crows 
alighting  on  a  field  and  marching  about  in  search  of  worms. 

47.  her  fellows,  not '  her  equals '  but '  her  associates,'  those  like 
her  taking  part  in  the  dance. 

48.  The  measure  ...  stand,  as  soon  as  the  dance  is  over,  I  will 
watch  to  see  w^here  she  takes  up  her  position,  i.e.  to  wait  till  she 
accepts  a  partner  for  the  next  dance.  In  watch  ...  stand  Shake- 
speare was  probably  thinking  of  the  station  taken  up  by  the 
huntsman  watching  for  game,  as  in  L.  L.  L.  iv.  1.  10,  Cymh. 
iii.  4.  Ill,  Juliet  being  the  game  which  Romeo  is  to  stalk. 

49.  my  rude  hand,  my  hand  which  will  be  guilty  of  profanity 
in  venturing  to  touch  hers. 

50.  forswear  it,  sight !  he  appeals  to  his  eyes  to  disclaim  hav- 
ing ever  before  seen  real  beauty. 

52.  should  be  a  Montague,  cannot  possibly  be  any  but  a  member 
of  the  house  of  jMontague  ;  ought  to  be  a  member,  etc. ,  unless  I 
am  greatly  mistaken ;  should  being  the  past  tense  of  shall,  inherits 
the  idea  of  necessity  belonging  to  that  word. 

54.  an  antic  face.  "Tybalt  refers  to  the  mask  which  Romeo 
had  donned,  a  grinning  face  such  as  merry-andrews  wear" 
(Delius) ;  antic,  originally,  as  here,  an  adjective,  and  a  doublet  of 
antique,  meaning  "old,"  then  "old-fashioned,"  and  finally 
"fancifxd,"  "odd." 

55.  To  fleer ...  solemnity,  to  grin  and  mock  at  our  festivities ; 
solemnity,  originally  something  occurring  annually  like  a  religious 
rite,  Lat.  solemnis,  annual,  then  anything  celebrated  with  pomp 
and  parade;  cp.  Macb.  iii.  1.  14,  "To-night  we  hold  a  solemn 
supper,  sir"  ;  T.  A.  v.  2.  115,  "And  bid  him  come  and  banquet 
at  thy  house.  When  he  is  here,  even  at  thy  solemn  /east " ; 
especially  a  nuptial  celebration,  as  in  Jil.  jV.  D.  v.  1.  376,  "A 
fortnight  hold  we  this  solemnity,  In  nightly  revels  and  new 
jollity." 

56.  by  the  stock ...  Mn,  I  swear  by  the  honour  of  that  family  to 
which  I  am  proud  to  belong. 

57.  I  hold  . . .  sin.  Here  it  is  really  superfluous,  the  construction 
being  '  I  hold  the  striking  of  him  dead  not  a  sin,  no  sin.'  Abbott 
(§417)  takes  To  strike  as  equivalent  to  a  noun  absolute. 

60.  in  spite,  out  of  malice  ;  with  a  malicious  intention,  sc.  that 
of  scorning. 

61.  To  scorn  at.  Though  we  still  use  the  preposition  at  after 
'  scorn  '  as  a  substantive,  we  omit  it  after  the  verb. 

62.  Young  Romeo  is  it  ?  this  is  said  more  as  an  assertion  than 


SCENE  v.]  NOTES.  129 

as  a  question  ;  a  question  to  which  the  speaker  felt  that  he  knew 
the  answer. 

63.  Content  thee,  do  not  vex  yourself,  keep  your  temper ;  as 
frequently  in  Shakespeare  in  the  imperative  mood  with  the 
reflexive  pronoun. 

64.  bears  him,  carries  himself,  behaves;  portly,  "this  word, 
in  our  day,  in  addition  to  the  sense  of  '  dignity,'  comprises  some- 
what of  large  and  cumbrous ;  which  formerly  it  did  not  include" 
(Clarke). 

65.  6.  brags  ...  be,  is  proud  of  him  as  being :  wellgovern'd,  of 
well-regulated  chai-acter  and  conduct. 

67.  for  the  wealth,  even  if  by  so  doing  I  could  acquire  the 
wealth. 

68.  do  him  disparagement,  offer  him  an  indignity  ;  act  towards 
him  in  a  way  unworthy  of  his  rank  (0.  F.  pai-age,  lineage,  rank). 

69.  be  patient,  restrain  yovirself  ;  be  calm. 

70.  the  which,  giving  a  more  definite  force  tlian  ichich  alone, 
"is  generally  used  either  where  tlie  antecedent,  or  some  word  like 
the  antecedent,  is  repeated,  or  else  wliere  such  a  repetition  could 
be  made  if  desired.  In  almost  all  cases  there  are  two  or  more 
possible  antecedents  from  which  selection  must  be  made  "  (Abb. 
§  270). 

71.  Show  a  fair  presence,  look  pleasant  and  courteous. 

72.  An  ill-beseeming  semblance,  in  apposition  with  frowns  ; 
which  give  a  look  to  the  feast  tliat  ill  becomes  it. 

74.  shall  be,  said  with  imperious  command  ;  I  am  determined 
that  he  shall  be  allowed  to  take  part  in  the  feast. 

75.  What,  goodman  boy !  What  !  my  fine  fellow,  do  you 
presume  to  say  wlio  shall  be  endured  and  who  not  ?  goodman 
boy,  used  in  the  same  sarcastic  sense  in  Lear,  ii.  2.  48,  "With 
you,  goodman  hoy,  an  you  please  "  ;  the  term  goodman  was  more 
commonly  applied  in  good-natured  familiarity,  to  old  men,  like 
•  gaffer,'  a  corruption  of  grandfather  :  go  to,  don't  talk  nonsense  ; 
a  phrase  very  commonly  used  in  reproof  or  in  exhortation. 

77.  You  '11  not  endure  him  I  do  yott  tell  me  you'll  not  endure 
him ?    you ?  said  Mith  great  scorn. 

77,  8.  God  shall  ...  guests  !  is  it  you,  in  Heaven's  name,  that 
are  going  to  raise  a  riot  among  my  guests?  God  ...  soul,  used  as 
a  form  of  oath,  and  equivalent  to  the  \nore  modern  vulgarism, 
'  As  I  hope  to  be  saved.' 

79.  You  will  set  cock-a-hoop  ?  You  are  going  to  set  everything 
at  sixes  and  sevens,  are  you  ?  You  are  going  to  set  all  by  the 
ears,  are  you  ?  The  origin  of  the  phrase  '  to  set  cock-a-hoop  '  is 
doubtful.     Blount,  Glossographia,  1670,  says  that  the  '  cock  '  was 

I 


130  KOMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

the  spigot  of  a  vessel,  and  that  this  being  taken  out  and  laid  on 
the  '  hoop'  of  the  vessel  "  they  used  to  drink  up  the  ale  as  it  ran 
out  without  intermission  ...  and  then  they  were  Cock-on- Hoop,  i.e. 
at  the  height  of  mirth  and  jollity"....  But  there  is  no  clear 
evidence  that  '  cock  '  ever  meant  a  spigot,  or  that  the  '  hoop '  of 
the  vessel  was  used  as  a  place  on  which  to  lay  it.  Whatever  its 
origin,  the  phrase  came  by  extension  to  mean  (a)  To  abandon 
oneself  to  reckless  enjoyment,  (b)  To  cast  off  all  restraint,  become 
reckless,  (c)  To  give  a  loose  to  all  disorder,  to  set  all  by  the  ears. 
In  modern  use  '  cock-a-hoop '  means  elated,  exultant,  boastfully 
and  loudly  triumphant.  The  attenipt  to  connect  '  hoop '  with 
the  F.  kuppe,  a  tufted  crest,  or  with  'whoop'  as  in  'war- 
whoop,'  are  mere  guesses.  See  Murray's  Enrj.  Diet.  :  you  11  he 
tlie  man  !  you  are  going  to  take  this  upon  you,  are  you  !  a  pretty 
fellow  you  to  assume  this  function  ! 

81.  is  't  so,  indeed  ?  Ulrici  points  out  that  this  is  an  answer 
to  some  remark  of  one  of  the  guests,  and  so  also  the  words,  '  I 
know  what,'  in  the  next  line,  are  an  interrupted  answer  or 
address  to  a  guest.  So,  too,  perhaps,  the  words  'marry  'tis 
time,'  in  the  following  line. 

82.  This  trick  ...  you,  you  may  possibly  find  that  this  freak  of 
yours  will  hereafter  cost  you  dear.  The  reading  of  the  old  copies 
is  "This  trick  may  chance  to  scathe  you,  I  know  what"  :  and 
if  this  is  the  genuine  reading,  the  meaning  will  be"  this  freak 
of  yours  may  chance  to  cost  you  dear  in  a  certain  way  that 
I  am  not  going  to  mention  "  ;  a  dark  hint  probably  that  Tybalt 
will  find  himself  not  mentioned  in  his  will. 

83.  You  must  contrary  me  !  the  idea  that  you  of  all  men  in  the 
world  should  venture  to  cross  me  in  this  way  !  The  verb  contrary 
(with  the  accent  penultimate)  was  common  in  former  days,  and 
the  adjective  with  the  same  accent  is  still  to  be  heard  among  un- 
educated persons. 

84.  Well  said,  my  hearts  !  Well  done,  my  brave  fellows  ;  my 
hearts,   an  exclamation  of  encouragement;    so   "my  hearties." 
still  among  sailors  :  a  princox,  a  conceited  upstart ;  derived  by 
some  from  Lat.  prcecox,  early  ripe,  precocious  ;~by^  others  from  ^ 
prime-cock,  a  cock  of  fine  spirit,  hence  a  pert,  conceited,  forward  ' 
person. 

86.  I  '11  make  you  quiet,  if  you  will  not  be  quiet  of  your  own 
accord,  I  will  take  means  to  make  you  so. 

87,  8.  Patience  ...  greeting,  enforced  patience  meeting  with 
passionate  anger  in  my  breast  makes  me  tremble  all  over  with 
their  hostile  encounter,  i.e.  what  with  this  restraint  put  upon 
me  by  my  uncle  and  my  own  passionate  indignation,  I  am  all  of 
a  tremble;  cp.  Mach.  i.  3.  139,  40,  "My  thought,  ...Shakes  so 


SCEXE  v.]  NOTES.  131 

my  single  state  of  man,"  though  the  shaking  there  is  figurative. 
Steevens  quotes  the  proverb  "Patience  jyerforce  is  a  medicine  for 
a  mad  dog. " 

89,  90.  but  tMs  intrusion  ...  gall,  Romeo  may  enjoy  himself  for 
the  moment,  but  hereafter  lie  shall  paj'  dearly  for  having  thrust 
himself  in  upon  our  festivities.  Lettsom  takes  sweet  as  a  sub- 
stantive and  convert  as  transitive,  but  the  verb  is  frequently 
used  intransitively  in  Shakespeare,  and  it  seems  imnecessary  to 
insist  upon  the  antithesis. 

92-4.  tbe  gentle  fine  . .  kiss,  the  appropriate  penance,  which  I 
shall  think  a  light  one,  is  that  my  lips,  here  ready  for  the  pur- 
pose, should  smooth  away  that  profane  touch  bj^  a  tender  kiss, 
as  devout  pilgrims  wipe  out  their  sins,  by  kissing  the  shrine  to 
which  thej'  have  made  their  pilgrimage  ;  the  reading  of  the  old 
copies  is  "gentle  .sm,"  or  "sinne  ,"  and  is  retained  by  Ulrici  and 
Delius,  though  their  explanation  seems  very  forced.  Ulrici 
shows  that  '  Romei '  was  formerly  a  title  given  to  pilgrims  to 
Rome,  by  later  Italian  writers  to  pilgrims  generally,  and  thinks 
that  this  accounts  for  Romeo's  assuming  a  pilgrim's  dress. 

96.  wWcli  mannerly  . . .  this,  which,  instead  of  being  guilty  of 
profanation  in  toucliing  mine,  only  shows  a  courteous  reverence. 

97,  8.  For  saints  . .  kiss,  for  even  saints  allow  their  hands  to 
be  touched  by  pilgrims,  and  jnjpincf  h.nnd  in  hand  is  the  saluta- 
tion used  by  holy  palmers.  Palmers  were  pilgrims  who  had 
visited  the  sacred  shrine  in  Palestine,  and  brought  back  palms  in 
token  of  their  having  accomplished  their  pilgrimage.  Thej^  are 
here  called  holy  as  having  thus  earned  forgiveness  of  their  sins. 

101.  what  hands  do,  sc.  kiss,  as  Juliet  had  said  that  the  hands 
of  holy  palmers  did. 

102.  They  pray,  ...  despair,  their  pi-ovince  is  to  pray,  yours  to 
answer  thei£_praver  ;  \\hich  uiiless_vQu  do,  my  faith  will-tofH  to 
despaix^  Grant  White  follows  the  old  copies  in  putting  a  comma 
only  after  do  in  the  previous  line,  and  explains,  "  they  [i.e.  the 
lips]  pray  that  they  may  do  what  hands  or  palms  do  :  grant  thou 
this,"  etc. 

103.  do  not  move,  do  not  allow  themselves  to  be  won  over 
from  what  they  know  to  be  right. 

104.-  move  not,  pretending  to  take  her  words  literally  :  my 
prayer's  effect,  the  result  of  my  prayer,  that  which  my  prayer 
has  been  eftectual  in  obtaining. 

106.  took,  frequent  in  Shakespeare,  as  well  as  taken. 

107.  0  trespass  sweetly  urged  !  hoAv  sweetly  do  you  accuse  me 
of  sin  !  it  is  no  pain  to  be  accused  of  sin  in  such  terms  as  you  use. 

108.  You  kiss  by  the  hook,  "  you  kiss  methodically  ;  you  oflfer 
as   many  reasons  for   kissing,   as   could  have  been  found  in  a 


132  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  i. 

treatise  professedly  written  on  the  subject"  (Amner,  i.e.  Steevens). 
So,  in  A.   Y.  L.  v.  4.  95,  "  we  quarrel  in  print,  hy  the  hook,"  i.e. 
according  to  rules  duly  laid  down  ;  cp.  Haml.  v.   1.  149,  "  we 
must  speak  hy  the  card,"  i.e.  with  the  utmost  preciseness. 
110.  What,  who  ;  but  with  a  sense  of  indefiniteness. 

114.  lay  hold  of  her,  win  her  as  his  bride. 

115.  the  chinks,  her  father's  wealth  ;  the  chinking  coin.' 

116.  0  dear  account ...  debt,  0  sad  relation!  then  is  my  life 
forfeited  tp,  at  the  mercy  of,  one  who  is  my ioci.  since,  as 
Staunton  says,  bereft  of  Juliet  he  could  not  live. 

117.  the  sport... best,  we  shall  not  by  staying  see  anything 
better  than  what  we  have  seen. 

118.  Ay,  so  ...unrest,  Romeo,  applying  the  words  in  a  larger 
sense,  says,  I  fear  indeed  that  I  shall  never  know  such  happiness 
as  I  have  known  this  night. 

120.  a  trifling  . . .  towards,  a  slight  banquet,  feast,  nearly  ready. 
Schmidt  takes  banquet  here  as  =  dessert,  which  seems  to  me  to 
spoil  Capulet's  affected  humility  :  towards,  m  this  sense  Shake- 
speare more  commonly  uses  toward,  as  e.g.  M.  N.  D.  iii.  1.  81, 
Haml.  V.  2.  376. 

121.  Is't  e'en  so?  must  you  really  go?  said  in  answer  to  the 
excuses  of  Romeo  and  his  friends  :  thank  you  all,  i.e.  for  coming. 

124.  sirrah,  said  to  one  of  the  servants  :  by  my  fay,  assuredly ; 
fay,  a  corruption  of  '  faith ' :  waxes,  grows,  is  becoming. 

126.  yond,  properly  an  adverb,  as  yon  is  properly  an  adjective. 

129.  that  ...  be,  a  confusion  of  '  That,  I  think,  is,'  and  '  I  think 
that  that  he'  (Abb.  §411)  ;  but  probably  a  confusion  that  would 
only  be  put  into  the  mouth  of  an  illiterate  person. 

1,33.  My  grave  ...  bed,  I  am  not  likely  ever  to  marry  ;  except 
my  union  with  death  I  shall  have  no  marriage.  Cp.  Romeo's 
lament,  v.  3.  102-5. 

136.  My  only  ...  hate  !  To  think  that  the  only  love  I  can  ever 
feel  should  have  sprung  from  him  whom  above  all  men  I  am 
bound  to  hate  !  hate,  object  of  hatred. 

137.  Too  early  ...  late  !  Alas,  that  I  should  ever  have  seen 
him,  without  knowing  who  he  was,  and  should  have  found  out 
who  he  is  only  when  it  is  too  late  to  recall  the  love  1  have  given 
him  ! 

138.  9.  Prodigious  ...  enemy,  portentous  to  me  is  the  offspring 
to  which  love  has  given  birth,  seeing  that  I  am  compelled  to  love 
him  who  is  (by  the  inheritance  of  an  ancestral  feud)  a  hated 
enemy. 

140,1.  A  rhyme,  withal.  The  Nurse  having  overheard  Juliet's 
last  words,  slie,  from  terror  of  their  being  reported  to  her  parents, 


SCENE  v.]  NOTES.  133 

pretends  that  she  is  only  repeating  some  lines  she  has  just  heard  ; 
Anon,  anon,  coming,  coming ;  as  a  more  modern  writer  would 
say  ;  literally  in  one  (moment),  A.S.  on,  in,  and  an,  an  old  form 
of  oiie  ;  see  the  amusing  dialogue  between  the  Prince  and  Francis 
ini.  H.  IV.'ii.  4. 


Act  II.     Prologue. 

I,  2.  Now  old  desire  ...  heir,  Romeo's  passing  fancy  for  Rosa- 
line is  now  atjts  1,-igt  gasp,  and  his  newly-conceived  love  for 
Juliet  is  hastening  to  take  its  place  in  his  heart.  The  desire  for 
something  of  the  nature  of  a  toy,  something  tliat  merely  capti- 
vates the  fancy,  is  giving  way  to  real  passion  ;  mere  desire  has 
had  its  day  and  is  now  succeeded  by  a  warmer,  truer,  feeling. 
Cp.  Tennyson,  ^'^e  Gardener's  Daughter,  13-20. 

3.  fair,  beauty  ;  frequently  of  old  used  in  this  sense,  whether 
in  the  abstract  or  the  concrete  sense  :  for  . . .  for,  on  the  doubled 
preposition,  see  Abb.  §  407  :  would  die,  determined  to  die. 

4.  With  tender  ...  fair,  Benvolio's  prophesy,  i.  2.  94-9,  has  now 
come  true. 

6.  Alike  bewitched,  i.e.   hnth.  equally  hpwifp]iPf1 

7.  his  foe  supposed,  her  whom,  as  belonging  to  the  Capulet 
family,  he  would  naturally  regard  as  an  enemy  :   complain,  pour__ 
forth  his  plaints  of  love  ;  cp.  T.  G.  v.  4.  5,  "  The  nightingale's 
complaining  notes." 

8.  And  she  steal  ...  hooks,  and  she  only  by  stealth  pluck  the 

tpmpti'ng  frni'tn  n'liinVi   Invn  rliypliyg  witli   gn^l^   df?,'iger""«  lurC. 

II.  And  she  ..  less,  while  to  her,  equally  love-stricken,  the 
means  are  much  less  ;  a  noininativus  pendens. 

14.  Tempering...  sweet,  mingling  with  the  keen  dangers  de- 
lights as  keen  ;  correcting  the  sharp  taste  of  danger  by  the 
sweetness  which  followed  upon  its  being  braved. 

Scene  I. 

1,  2.  Can  I  go  ...  out,  can  I  leave  the  place  and  return  home 
when  she,  who  is  the  fountain  of  my  life,  is  here  ?  turn  back, 
gross,  earthy  l)ody,  and  iind  in  lier  tlie  pivot  on  -^vhivli  yf>u- 
reyolve  ;  for  earth,  in  the  sense  of  what  is  groas^or  didl,  cp. 
7'emp.  "What  ho!  .slave!  Caliban?  Thou  eai-fh,  thou!"  B. 
II.  iii.  4.  78,  "  Darest  thou,  thou  little  ))etter  thing  than  earth 
Divine  his  downfal  ? "  For  the  simile  Delius  compares  T.  C.  iii. 
2.  186,  "As  true  as  steel,  as  plantage  to  the  moon,  As  sun  to 
day,  as  turtle  to  her  mate,  As  iron  to  adamant,  as  earth  to  the 
centre." 


134  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

3.  wise,  sc.  in  betaking  himself  to  bed. 

4.  on  my  life,  I  will  stake  my  life  :  stol'n  him,  we  should  now 
omit  the  reflexive  pronoun. 

5.  orchard,  garden,  as  always  in  Shakespeare  ;  properly  a  yard 
of  orts  or  worts,  i.  e.  vegetables ;  now  used  only  for  a  garden  or 
enclosure  of  fruit-trees. 

6.  I  '11  conjure  too,  I  will  not  only  call,  but  also  conjure  him 
in  the  terms  suitable  to  one  in  love  ;  as  he  does  in  the  following 
lines. 

7.  humours,  "  amorous  fancies  "  (Clarke).  The  various  words 
are  in  imitation  of  those  used  by  conjurers  in  their  invocations. 

8.  Appear  thou  . . .  sigh.  He  calls  upon  him  to  appear  in  the 
form  of  a  sigh  (a  form  appropriate  to  lovers)  as  conjurers  and 
witches  invoked  spirits  in  any  form  suitable  to  their  ends. 

9.  Speak  ...  satisfied,  utter  but  a  single  rhyme,  the  language  in 
which  lovers  speak,  and  I  shall  know  that  all  is  well  with  you, 
that  you  have  not  broken  your  neck  in  the  leap  you  took. 

11.  my  gossip  Venus,  my  dear  old  crony  Venus.  A  gossip  is 
literally  a  gQikcelative,  a  sponsor  in  baptism,  and  as  these 
sponsors  were  frequently  talkative  old  women,  it  came  to  mean 
an  idle,  chattering  person,  and  lastly  idle  talk,  the  modern 
sense. 

12.  nick-name.  Properly  an  eke-name,  a  name  used  to  eke  out 
a  name,  an  additional  name,  frequently  with  a  familiar  or 
endearing  or  contemptuous  sense  ;  cp.  newt  =  an  ewt,  and  con- 
versely a7i  auger  =  a  nauger  :  purblind,  originally,  as  here,  pure- 
blind,  wholly  blind  ;  so  again  in  T.  0.  i.  2.  31,  "■'  imrUind  Argus, 
all  eyes  and  no  sight "  ;  though  iShakespeare  also  uses  the  word 
in  its  more  modern  and  less  correct  sense  of  partly  blind^short 
sighted,  V.  A.  679,  i.  H.  VI.  ii.  4.  21. 

13.  Adam  Cupid.  The  old  copies  give  Abraham  Gupid  ;  Upton 
conjectured  Adam,  which  has  been  adopted  by  most  modern 
editors,  the  allusion  being  to  Adam  Bell,  a  notable  archer,  said 
to  be  meant  in  M.  J[.  i.  1.  261,  "If  1  do,  hang  me  in  a  bottle  and 
shoot  at  me  ;  and  he  that  hits  me  let  him  be  clapped  on  the 
shoulder,  and  called  AaJsuol."  Dyce  conjectui-ed  that  Abraham 
was  a  corruption  of  ahron,  i.e.  auburn,  and  this  reading  has 
been  accepted  by  Grant  White  and  Hudson.  Schmidt  explains 
the  old  reading  as  being  "in  derision  of  the  eternal  boyhood  of 
Cupid,  though,  in  fact,  he  was  at  least  as  old  as  Abraliam  " — a 
very  far-fetched  explanation,  as  it  seems  to  me.  Others,  again, 
take  Abraham  as  an  allusion  to  the  Abraham,  or  Abram,  men,  as 
cheats  and  begging  impostors  were  formerly  called,  Cupid's 
roguery  in  love  matters  being  the  point  of  the  raillery  :  he  that 
shot  so  trim,  from  the  ballad  of  '  King  Cophetua  and  the  beggar 
maid,'  once  so  popular,  of  which  Malone  quotes  the  following 


SCENE  I.]  NOTES.  135 

stanza,  "  The  blinded  boy  that  shoots  so  trim.  From  heaven  down 
did  hie,  And  drew  a  dart  and  shot  at  him,  In  place  where  he 
did  lie." 

16.  The  ape,  "an  expression  of  tenderness,  like  poor  fool" 
{Lear,  v.  3.  305]  (^Slalone)  ;  so  "poor  monkey,"  Mach.  iv.  2.  59. 

18.  high  forehead.  Formerly  considered  a  great  beauty,  as  a 
broad  forehead  is  nowadays;  so  in  Temp.  iv.  1.  250,  A.  G.  iii.  3.  35, 
low  foreheads  are  disparaged,  though  nowadays,  if  broad  also, 
they  are  admired  by  many.  As  Grant  White  says,  "There  are 
fashions  even  in  beaut j'." 

19.  in  thy  likeness,  in  your  own  form  and  shape  ;  not  as  in  the 
case  of  conjurers'  invocations  in  some  transformed  shape. 

20.  An  if,  see  Abb.  §  103  :  thou  wilt  anger  him,  sc.  by  ventur- 
ing to  make  use  of  his  mistress's  name. 

23.  only  but,  one  of  the  two  words  is  superfluous. 

25.  To  he  consorted . . .  night,  to  hold  communion  with  the  dewy 
night ;  but  with  a  quibble  upon  humorous.  Steevens  quotes 
several  instances  from  old  writers  of  the  word  used  in  a  literal 
sense,  e.g.  Chapman's  translation  of  Homer's  Iliad,  bk.  ii. ,  "  The 
other  gods  and  knights  at  arms  slept  all  the  humourous  night." 

27.  cannot  hit  the  mark,  cp.  above,  i.  1.  213-7. 

28.  truckle-bed,  properly  a  bed  on  wheels  (Lat.  trodea,  a  wheel) 
which  was  used  by  attendants,  and  in  the  daytime  wheeled  under 
the  '  standing  bed  ' ;  cp.  M.  W.  iv.  5.  7  ;  sometimes  called  a 
'trundle-bed,'  as  the  first  quarto  reads.  In  speaking  of  his  bed 
as  a  truckle  bed,  Mercutio  probably  means  that  any  bed,  even  a 
truckle-bed,  would  be  better  than  a  "field-bed,"  i.e.  lying  upon 
the  cold  ground. 

29.  to  sleep,  sc.  in. 

30.  Go,  then,  yes,  let  us  go. 

31.  that  means  ...  found,  that  is  determined  not  to  be  found  ; 
that  'means  not-to-be  found,'  not  that  'means-not  to  be. found.' 


Scene  II. 

1.  He  jests  ...  wound,  Mercutio,  who  never  felt  the  wound  of 
love,  may  well  jest  at  the  scars  which  Cupid's  arrows  have  left 
in  my  heart.  That  this  is  not  a  general,  but  a  particular,  remark 
is,  I  think,  proved  by  the  answering  rhyme,  as  Staunton  has 
noticed.  And  as  neither  the  folios  nor  tlie  quartos  make  any 
division  of  scene,  such  division,  originally  due  to  Rowe,  seems 
clearly  wrong. 

2.  soft !  he  bids  himself  'hush,'  cautions  himself  to  talk  in  a 
lower  voice. 


136  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

4.  envious,  jealous. 

7.  Be  not  her  maid,  no  longer  serve  her,  no  longer  keep  a 
vow  to  live  unmarried ;  as  Diana's  votaries  pledged  themselves 
to  do. 

8.  Her  vestal . . .  ^een,  the  life  of  chastity  to  which  she  binds 
tiEc-pfiesteaafiais  one  of  sickly,  jauncliced,  hue.  In  iickand  green 
there  is  probably,  as  Delius  suggests,  an  allusion  to  the  ' '  green- 
sickness" of  which  Shakespeare  often  speaks,  and  which  in 
iii.  5.  157,  below,  Capulet  applies  as  an  epithet  to  Juliet  in  his 
anger  at  her  refusal  of  Paris,  "Out,  you  greensickness^  carrion  ! 
out,  you  baggage  !  You  tallow-face," — an  ailment  of  languish- 
ing girls  characterized  l)y  a  pale  complexion.  The  reading  of  the 
first  quarto  is  pale  for  sick,  and  this  is  preferred  by  many  editors. 
Collier  would  change  sioik  into  white,  seeing  in  the  line  an  allusion 
to  the  white  and  green  livery  formerly  worn  by  the  Court  fools  ; 
but  it  seems  iinlikely  that  Shakespeare  would  use  the  word  fools 
in  this  literal  sense  when  referring  to  Juliet,  while,  as  Grant 
White  points  out,  if  such  an  allusion  were  intended,  it  would  be 
obtained  from  the  reading  of  the  first  quarto,  pale,  without  the 
violent  change  to  white  ;  vestal  livery.  Vesta  was  the  Roman  god- 
dess of  the  hearth,  corresponding  with  the  Greek  Hestia,  and  her 
priestesses  were  vowed  to  a  life  of  chastity  and  celibacy  ;  cp.  Per. 
iii.  4.  10,  "A  vestal  livery  will  I  take  me  to,  And  never  more 
have  joy." 

12.  what  of  that  ?  but  that  matters  little. 

13.  discourses,  is  eloquent  in  its  mere  look. 

16.  some  business,  some  private  affairs  of  their  own  which 
would  be  hindered  by  their  having  to  perform  their  nightly  duty 
of  lighting  up  the  sky. 

17.  in  their  spheres.  According  to  the  Ptolemaic  system  of 
astronomy,  I'ound  about  the  earth,  which  was  the  centre  of  the 
system,  were  nine  hollow  spheres,  consisting  of  the  seven  planets, 
the  fixed  stars  or  firmament,  and  the  Primwn  Mobile  ;  the 
spheres  "with  the  stars  and  planets  in  them  being  whirled  round 
tlie  earth  in  twenty-four  hours  by  the  driving  power,  the  Prinmm 
Mobile. 

21.  the  airy  region,  the  upper  air  ;  region,  was  originally  a 
division  of  the  sky  marked  out  by  the  Roman  augurs.  In  later 
times  the  atmosphere  «-as  divided  into  three  regions,  upper, 
middle,  and  lower.     Cp.  also  Haml.  ii.  2.  509. 

24,  5.  0,  that , . .  cheek,  cp.  Tennyson,  The  Miller's  Daughter, 
169-186. 

28.  winged  messenger,  angel. 

29.  white-upturned,  turned  up  in  adoration  so  that  the  pupils 
are  scarcely  seen. 


I 


SCENE  n.]  NOTES.  137 

30.  fall  back,  stand  back  in  awe,  and  also  in  order  to  get  a 
clearer  view. 

31.  lazy-pacing,  slowly  drifting.  Grant  White  compares 
Macb.  i.  7.  21-5  ;  lazy-pacing  is  Pope's  conjecture  for  lasie 
pacing,  of  the  first  quarto  ;  the  remaining  quartos  and  the  folios 
give  lazie,  or  lazj/,  pvffiing. 

34.  refuse,  disown,  disclaim  ;  cp.  T.  C.  iv.  5.  267,  "  We  have 

had  pelting  wars,  since  you  refused  The  Grecians'  cause." 

37.  speak  at  this,  answer  her  without  allowing  her  to  go 
further,  interrupt  her  at  this  point. 

39.  Thou  art ...  Montague.  Staunton  explains  "  That  is,  as  she 
afterwards  expresses  it,  you  wnnMatiV!  rpt«in  pi]  t]i°  2iprf°"tW>^ 
whi^h  pidnrn  3'^""i  •"-'"'''  y""  ^i"*'  f^Tlprl  nrnntnipn^-''  ■  and  so  sub- 
stantially Grant  White,  though  Dyce  calls  such  an  explanation 
"unintelligible."  Others  follow  Malone  in  putting  the  comma 
after  though,  as  used  in  the  sense  of  hoicever,  with  the  explana- 
tion that  Juliet  is  simply  endeavouring  to  account  for  Romeo's 
being  amiable  and  excellent  though  he  is  a  Montague,  to  prove 
•which  she  asserts  that  he  merely  bears  the  name,  but  has  none  of 
the  qualities  of  that  house.  Various  emendations  have  also  been 
proposed,  but  Staunton's  explanation  seems  to  me  quite  satis- 
factory. 

42.  be  some  other  name,  be  somebody  else  in  name  than 
Montague.  Lettsom  ol>jects  that  Shakespeare  could  not  have 
written  "  fte  some  other  name";  but  after  the  expression 
"  What 's  Montague  ?  ",  where  "  Montague  "  is  used  as  though  it 
were  a  thing,  there  seems  no  reason  why  we  should  not  have 
"be  some  other  name." 

46.  owes,  owns  ;  as  frequently  in  Elizabethan  literature,  the 
final  n  of  the  M.  E.  oicen,  to  pcssess,  being  dropped.  The 
modern  sense  of  the  word  '  to  be  in  debt,'  '  to  be  obliged,'  comes 
from  the  sense  of  possessing  another's  property,  but  the  word 
has  no  etymological  connection  with  to  '  own '  =  to  possess  ;  it 
being  from  the  A.S.  cigan,  to  have,  while  the  latter  is  from  the 
A.S.  cignian,  to  appropriate,  claim  as  one's  own,  from  dgn,  con- 
tracted form  of  ugeii,  one's  own  (Skeat,  My.  Diet.). 

47.  doff,  put  off ;  do  off,  as  don,  do  on  ;  dtq-),  do  up  ;  dout, 
do  out. 

48.  for  thy  name,  in  exchange  for  your  name. 

53.  So  stumblest  on  my  counsel,  come  so  unexpectedly  upon 
my  secret  thouglits  ;  cp.  M.  X.  D.  i.  1.  216,  "  Emptying  our 
bosoms  of  their  counsel  sweet,"  i.e.  confiding  to  each  other  our 
inmost  thoughts. 

53,  4.  By  a  name...  am,  if  I  could  let  you  know  who  I  am 


138  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

without  using  a  name,  I  would  gladly  do  so,  for  it  is  impossible 
for  me  to  name  myself  without  distressing  you. 

55.  saint.  Delius  points  out  that  this  word  recalls  their  first 
meeting  when,  as  a  pilgrim,  Romeo  had  thus  greeted  Juliet. 

58.  drunk,  unconsciously  acknowledging  the  avidity  with 
which  she  had  listened  to  his  words. 

61.  if  either  thee  dislike,  if  either  be  unpleasant  to  your  ears  ; 
dislike  is  really  impersonal,  as  in  0th.  ii.  3.  49,  "I  '11  do  't ;  but 

it  mislike.s  me." 

64.  And  the  place  death,  and  to  venture  liere  is  to  risk  your 
life. 

66.  o'er-perch  these  walls,  fly  over  these  walls  and  settle  here, 
as  a  bird  settles  upon  a  branch  after  a  flight  from  some  other 
spot ;  a  perch  is  literally  a  rod,  bar,  then  a  bough  or  twig  on  which 
a  bird  settles. 

67-  stony  limits,  limits  formed  of  stone,  i.e.  walls  ;  stony,  more 
commonly  used  as  =  of  the  nature  of. 

69.  are  no  let  to  me,  are  no  hindrance  to  me,  cannot  bar  my 
way  and  keep  me  out. 

71.  Alack,  according  to  Skeat,  either  a  corruption  of  '  ah  ! 
lord,'  or,  which  seems  more  probable,  from  ah!  and  M.  E.  lak, 
loss,  failure. 

73.  proof  against,  able  to  endure,  hold  out  against ;  see  note 
on  i.  1.  216. 

76.  but  thou  love  me  . . .  here,  except,  unless,  you  love  me,  I 
am  quite  willing  that  they  should  find  me  here  and  kill  me  ; 
without  your  love,  life  to  me  is  not  worth  living. 

787~Than  death  . . .  love,  tliaii_that  my  death  should  be  delayed 
if  I  am  to  be  without  your  love  ;  prorogued,  the  Lat.  prorogare 
was  to  propose  a  further  extension  of  ofiice,  lience  to  defer, 
though  literally  meaning  only  to  ask  publicly,  from^:>ro-,  publicly, 
and  rogare,  to  ask. 

81.  counsel,  advice. 

83.  vast  shore.      "Lat.  vasttis,  empty,  waste"  (Walker). 

84.  I  would  adventure  for,  I  would  make  my  voyage  in  quest 
of,  however  great  the  danger. 

88.  Fain  ...  form,  gladly  would  I,  if  it  were  possible,  stand  on 
ceremony  with  you,  treat  you  with  distant  formality  ;  Fain,  pro- 
perly an  adjective. 

89.  but  farewell  compliment,  "but  away  with  formality  and 
punctilio  "  (Staunton) ;  I'now  cast  such  things  to  the  winds. 

93.  laughs,  good-humouredly  disdains  fnjTii'iisb  \hpjii.  Douce 
compares  Marlowe's  translation  of  Ovid's  A7-t  of  Love,  i.  633, 


SCENE  II.]  NOTES,  139 

"  For  Jove  himself  sits  in  the  azure  skies,  And  laughs  below  at 
lover's  perjuries,"  from  which  he  thinks  that  Shakespeare  bor- 
rowed. 

94.  pronounce  it  faithfully,  assure  me  of  your  love  without 
adding  an  oath  to  contirm  your  words. 

97.  So,  provided  that. 

98.  fond,  foolishly  loving  ;  fond,  originally  fonned,  the  past 
participle  of  the  verb/orme?t,  to  act  foolishly,  from  the  substantive 
fon,  a  fool. 

99.  light,  full  of  leiitj^r  wanton. 

101.  more  cunning  ...  strange,  more  skill  in  affecting  coyness. 

104.  passion,  passionate  confession  ;  the  word  was  formerly 
used  of  any  strong  emotion. 

106.  Which  the  dark  ...  discovered,  which  (love)  has  been  re- 
vealed to  you  by  tlie  darkness  of  the  niglit  whose  office  should  be 
to  conceal ;  which  you  have  discovered  thanks  to  the  darkness  of 
the  night. 

110.  circled,  revolving;  not,  I  think,  'round,"  as  Schmidt 
explains. 

111.  likewise,  equally. 

113.  gracious,  attractive,  finding  favour  in  my  eyes  ;  cp.  T.  A. 
i.  1.  429,  "  if  ever  Tamora  Were  gracious  in  those  princely  eyes 
of  thine. "  This  is  the  reading  of  the  first  quarto,  the  other  old 
copies  giving  glorious,  which  Grant  White  thinks  more  suitable 
to  the  context. 

114.  of  my  idolatry,  that  I  worship. 

117.  I  have  ...  to-night,  I  feel  no  joy  in  now  ratifying  with 
oaths  a  contract  between  us.  Lik  Romeo,  i.  4.  106-11,  she  has 
a  presentiment  of  some  evil  befalling  their  plighted  love. 

118.  unadvised,  imprudent,  formed  without  sufficient  con- 
sideration. 

121,2.  This  bud  of  love . . .  meet,  this  new  love  of  ours,  cherished 
in  our  hearts,  may  expand  into  full  growth  by  the  time  we  next 
meet,  as  beneath  the  summer's  warmth  the  bud  expands  into  a 
beauteous  blossom. 

as  that  , . .  breast,  "  as  to  that  heart  within  my  breast "  (Delius). 

126.  satisfaction,  Delius  points  out  tlie  double  sense  here  of 
jmyment  and  comfort. 

129.  And  yet ...  again,  and  yet  I  wish  I  had  not  given  it,  in 
order  that,  J  miglit  nnw  aga4H4tarVt;  Lhi-  juy  of  giving  it. — ■ 

131.  frank,  liberal,  free  of  hand;  cp.  Lear,  iii.  4.  20,  "Your 
old  kind  father,  whose  frank  heart  gave  all." 

132.  the  thing  I  have.  sc.  her  own  infinite  love. 


140  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

143.  If  that  . .  honourable,  if  your  love  is  honourable  in  its 
intentions  ;  for  that,  as  a  conjunctional  affix,  see  Abb.  §  287. 

145.  procure  to  come,  arrange  to  have  sent. 

146.  the  rite,  sc.  of  marriage. 

152.  By  and  by,  in  a  minute,  directly. 

153.  suit.  Malone  quotes  from  Brooke's  poem,  Romeus  and 
Juliet,  "and  now  your  Juliet  you  beseekes  To  cease  your  sute, 
and  suffer  her  to  live  emong  her  likes. " 

154.  So  thrive  my  soul — may  my  soul  prosper  (according  as  I 
mean  well  to  you),  the  concluding  words  being  broken  off  by 
Juliet's  farewell. 

156.  A  thousand ...  light,  in  answer  to  Juliet's  wish  of  r/ood- 
night  he  says,  nay,  not  good  night  but  bad  night,  night  made  a 
thousand  times  the  worse  by  the  absence  of  you  who  are  its  only 
light. 

158.  toward  . . .  looks,  .sc.  as  schoolboys  go  toward,  etc. 

159.  Hist !  Listen  ! 

159,  60.  0,  for  ...  again  !  would  that  I  had  a  voice  that  would 
bring  bajJi_my  gentle  Romeo  as  supply  as  \hp  fa.lpoi^pr'.ci  vniot. 
brinj:s_back ^eJasggTgentle  !  ^'^The  tassel  or  tiercel  (for  so  it 
sEould  be  .spelts  Tsthp  mM.1p~7.f  ihp  gn^f^lif,,^ylr  ;  so  called  because 
it  is  a  tierce  or  tjm-d  less  than  thgjemale_. . .  This  species  of  hawk 
had  the  epithet  geiitle  annexed  toTt,  from  the  ease  with  which  it 
was  tamed,  and  its  attachment  to  man  "  (Steevens).  "Itappears," 
adds  Malone,  "that  certain  hawks  were  considered  as  appro- 
priated to  certain  ranks.  The  tercel-gentle  was  appropriated  to 
the  prince,  and  thence  was  chosen  by  Juliet  as  an  appellation  for 
her  beloved  Romeo." 

161.  Bondage  .aloud,  one  fettprpri  constrained  by  fear  of 
being  overheard,  like  me,  is  as  much  unable  to  call  aloud  as  one 
whose  voice  is  stopped  by  hoarseness  of  the  throat. 

162.  Else  ...  lies,  otherM-ise  by  my  loud  cries  I  would  rend  the 
cave  in  which  Echo  dwells  ;  Echo,  an  Oread  m  ho  by  Juno  was 
changed  into  a  being  neither  able  to  speak  until  somebody  had 
spoken,  nor  to  be  silent  when  anybody  had  spoken. 

163.  And  make  ...  mine,  and,  by  compelling  her  to  repeat  my 
cries,  make  her  lioarser  than  myself  even.  Dyce  compares  Comus, 
208,  "And  airy  tongues  that  syllable  men's  names  On  sands  and 
shores  and  desert  wildernesses." 

_  166.   sUver-sweet,  in  allusion  to  the  sweet  tone  of  bells  made  of 
silver. 

167.  attending,  attentive. 

173.   to  have  ...  there,  in  order  to  keep  you  standing  there. 

175.  to  have  ...  forget,  so  that  you  may  continue  to  forget. 


SCENE  II.]  NOTES.  141 

176.  Forgetting  ...  this,  forgetting  that  I  have  any  home  but 
this,  forgetting  that  this  is  not  really  my  home. 

178.  a  wanton's  bird,  the  pet  bird  of  a  mischievous  girl,  a  girl 
that  loves  to  teaze  her  pets. 

180.  gyves,  chains,  fetters. 

182.  So  loving- jealous  . . .  liberty,  so  fond  of  it  and  yet  so  jealous 
of  its  getting  its  liberty. 

186.  shall  say  good  night,  shall  contimie  saying  'good  night.' 

188.  so  sweet  to  rest,  having  so  sweet  a  resting  place. 

189.  ghostly  father,  spiritual  father ;  father,  a  title  given  to 
catholic  priests. 

190.  my  dear  hap,  the  good  fortune  .that  has  befallen  me  ;  hap, 
fortune,  chance,  accident,  from  which  we  get  to  '  happen '  and 
'  happy. ' 

Scene  III. 

1 .  grey-eyed,  of  a  pale  blue  not  yet  tinted  with  the  coloured 
rays  of  the  sun. 

2.  Chequering,  interlacing,  variegating ;  a  '  chequer '  was 
originally  a  chess-board,  a  board  divided  into  squares  coloured 
alternately  dark  and  light,  then,  among  various  other  senses,  an 
alternation  of  colours.  Cp.  .If.  A.  v.  3.  27,  "the  gentle  day, 
Before  the  wheels  of  Phoebus,  round  about,  Dapples  the  drowsy 
east  with  spots  of  grey  ;  "  where  "  grey  "  is  used  as  in  1.  1,  above. 

3.  flecked,  spotted,  streaked. 

4.  From  forth  ...  wheels,  out  of  the  path  about  to  be  taken  by 
the  sun's  bright  wheels  :  Titan,  the  original  Titans  dwelt  in 
heaven,  from  which,  after  a  contest,  they  were  liurled  by  Zeus 
beneath  Tartarus ;  among  their  descendants  were  Helios  (tlie  sun) 
and  Selene  (the  moon) ;  the  fiery  wheels  are  those  of  the  chariot 
which  Helios  drove  round  the  world  each  twenty-four  hours. 

6.  dank,  moist,  damp;  according  to  Skeat,  probably  a  nasalized 
form  of  the  provincial  English  dag,  dew. 

7.  osier  cage,  basket  made  of  withes  ;  the  osier  is  the  water-  _ 
iKJllow :  of  ours,  belonging  to  our  monastery. 

8.  baleful,  poisonous,  harmful,  i.e.  if  not  properly  used,  but 
containing  valuable  medicinal  properties. 

9.  10.  The  earth...  womb,  that  is  the  mother  of  all  nature,  is 
also  the  tomb  of  all  nature  ;  and,  conversely,  that  in  which  all 
things  are  buried,  is  that  from  which  all  things  spring. 

11.  from  her  womb,  sprung  from  her. 

12.  We  sucking...  find,  we  find  drawing  their  nourishment 
from  the  bosom  of  their  natural  mother. 


142  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

13.  virtues,  useful  properties. 

15.  mickle  ...  grace,  abundant  and  mighty  is  the  excellence; 
mickle,  like  much,  from  the  A.S.  myccd,  great,  and  connected 
with  Gk.  fj.«'y°'^*>S- 

16.  stones,  minerals :  their  true  qualities,  their  properties  when 
turned  to  their  right  use. 

19,  20.  Nor  aught ...  abuse,  nor  anything  so  good  that,  if 
diverted  from  its  proper  use,  does  not  forswear  its  original  nature 
and,  by  the  accident  of  being  thus  diverted,  become  harmful ;  in 
stumbling  the  meaning  is  that  its  original  tendency  was  good, 
but  that  something  coming  in  its  way  caused  it  to  stagger  from 
its  path. 

22.  And  vice  . . .  dignified,  and  vice  sometimes  a  worthiness  by 
the  way  in  which  it  works,  by  the  good  result  it  effects,  though 
its  intention  was  evil. 

23.  infant,  as  yet  undeveloped  :  for  small,  the  reading  of  the 
first  quarto,  the  other  copies  give  weal-,  which  Daniel  prefers  as 
marking  the  contrast  with  power  in  the  next  line. 

24.  medicine  power,  medicinal  power. 

25.  6.  For  this,  ...heart,  for  this,  if  smelt,  by  the  property  of 
its  odour  cheers  the  frame  througlT'every  part,  whereas,  if 
tasted,  it  destroys  the  lieart  and  with  it  ail  the  sensgs^  It  seems 
better,  witlTDelius,  to  take  that  part  to  mean  'the  odour,'  than 
with  Malone,  to  understand  it  as  '  the  part  that  smells,  the 
olfactory  nerves.'  For  slays,  the  second  quarto  gives  the  tempt- 
ing reading  stayi,  i.e.  brings  to  a  standstill,  which  Mommsen 
adopts  ;  in  H.  V.  ii.  1.  92,  3,  we  have  the  expression  "  The  King 
has  killed  his  hearf,^'  but  there  it  is  a  metaphor  and  is  put  into 
the  mouth  of  the  Hostess. 

27.  encamp  them  still,  ever  pitch  their  camp.      \ 

28.  rude  will,  brutal  obstinacy,  perverseness. 

30.  the  canker,  the  worm  that  preys  upon  blossoms  ;  Lat. 
cancer,  a  crab.  Hunter  remarks,  "  The  beaiitiful  lines  given  to 
the  Friar  are  introduced  for  the  sake  of  repose  ;  but  in  the  choice 
of  tlie  topic  in  tliese  seven  [eight]  lines  \i.e.  11.  23-30]  the  Poet 
seems  to  have  had  a  further  view.  Poison  is  hereafter  to  become 
a  main  agent  in  the  piece,  and  the  Poet  prepares  the  audience 
for  the  use  of  poison  by  familiarizing  them,  in  the  early  portion 
of  the  play,  with  the  idea,  and  thus  preparing  them  to  witness 
the  use  of  it  without  being  so  much  shocked  as  they  would  be 
were  no  such  preparation  made. " 

31.  Benedicite,  an  ecclesiastical  salutation  at  meeting  or  part- 
ing ;  literally  '  bless,  praise,'  sc.  God. 

32.  What  early  . . .  me  ?  what  voice  so  early  greets  me  so 
pleasantly  ? 


SCKNE  III.]  NOTES,  143 

34.  to  bid  good  morrow  to,  i.e.  to  leave  ;  literally  to  salute 
with  the  words  '  good  morning,'  i.e.  with  words  used  after  one  has 
risen. 

35.  keeps  his  watch,  is  ever  wakeful,  ever  present  and  on  the 
alert. 

37.  unhruised  youth,  youth  that  has  not  yet  known  the 
wounds  of  time  and  trouble  :  unstuff'd  brain,  brain  free  from 
anxieties. 

38.  golden  sleep,  calm  and  invigorating  sleep. 

40.  dlstemperature,  uneasiness  of  mind,  mental  disorder ;  op. 
Per.  V.  1.  27,  "  Upon  what  ground  is  his  distemjxrature  ?" 
43.  the  sweeter  . . .  mine,  all  the  sweeter  was  the  rest  I  enjoyed. 

^6.  that  name's  woe,  the  sorrow  that  name  used  to  cause  me, 
sc.  by  Rosaline's  unkindness  to  his  suit. 

47.  That's  my  good  son,  well  done,  my  son  ;  I  am  glad  to  hear 
that,  my  son  ;  an  exclamation  of  approval  very  common  in  Shake- 
speare, e.g.  Temp.  i.  2.  215,  "Why,  that's  my  spirit!"  Co7:  v. 
3.  76,  "  That's  my  brave  boy." 

51,  2.  both  our  ...  lies,  the  I'emedy  for  the  disease  of  both  of  us 
lies  in  your  liands  ;  lies,  a  confusion  of  proximity  due  to  the 
singular  nouns  help  and  physic  coming  between  the  nominative 
and  the  verb  ;  and  perhaps  in  part,  as  Delius  says,  because 
both  our  remedies  is  in  reality  a  singular  —  the  remedy  of 
both  of  us. 

53.  no  hatred,  i.e.  towards  her  whom  I  have  called  "mine 
enemy." 

54.  My  intercession  ...  foe,  the  intercession  I  make  with  you 
on  my  own  behalf  is  one  which  will  benefit  my  foe  also. 

56.  Riddling  . . .  shrift,  if  your  confession  is  made  in  riddles,  the 
absolution  you  will  receive  from  me  will  be  equally  ambiguous  ; 
for  shrift,  see  note  on  i.  1.  165,  above. 

60.  And  all  combined,  and  the  union  between  us  is  complete. 

63.  as  we  pass,  as  we  walk  along. 

65.   Saint  Francis,  the  patron  saint  of  his  Order,  the  Franciscan. 

69.  Jesu  Maria,  0  Jesus,  son  of  the  Virgin  Mary  ;  Jesu,  the 
vocative  case. 

69,  70.  what  a  deal  . . .  Rosaline,  what  floods  of  salt  tears  have 
coursed  down  your  cheeks  on  Rosaline's  account,  and  made  them 
pale  ;  sallow,  used  proleptically. 

72.  To  season  ...  taste,  to  give  freshness  and  relish  to  that  love 
which  now  no  longer  has  any  taste  of  such  seasoning,  Avhich  now 
has  lost  all  relish  to  your  palate  ;  cp.  T.  N.  i.  1.  .30,  "she  will 
veiled  walk  And  water  once  a  day  her  chamber  round  With  eye- 


144  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

offending  brine  ;  all  this  to  season  A  brother's  dead  love,  which 
she  would  keep  fresh  And  lasting  in  her  sad  remembrance." 
Daniel  conjectures  '  that  of  itself  doth  taste.' 

73.  The  sun  . . .  clears,  the  siin  has  not  yet  cleared  away  the 
vapours  caused  by  your  thick  sighs  for  Rosaline  ;  cp.  Romeo's 
words  above,  i.  1.  188,  "Love  is  a  smoke  raised  with  the  fume 
of  sighs." 

77,  8.  If  e'er  ...  Rosaline,  if  ever  you  were  really  yourself,  not 
a  counterfeit,  and  if  these  woesyou  pretendedjo^^^^  were 
genuine,  then  they  and  yoiTalike^belonged  to  Rosaline  and  no 
one  else. 

80.  Women  ...  men,  when  men  show  themselves  such  weak 
creatures,  there  is  nothing  wonderful  in  women  being  frail. 

82.  doting,  loving  to  excess,  foolishly. 

83,  4.  Not  in  a  grave  ...  have,  I  did  not  bid  you  bury  love  in  a 
grave  only  in  order  that  as  soon  as  you  had  buried  one  you  should 
exhume  another. 

86.  Doth  grace  ...  allow,  meets  kindness  with  kindness,  love 
with  love. 

87,  8.  she  knew  . . .  spell,  her  refusal  to  give  love  in  return  was 
only  because  she  knew  that  your  love  was  but  a  parrot-like 
acquaintance  with  such  love. 

90.  In  one  respect,  in  consideration  of  one  point. 

92.  To  turn,  as  to  turn. 

93.  I  stand  ...  haste,  it  is  imperative  upon  me  to  make  great 
haste,  I  depend,  for  success,  upon  losing  no  time  ;  see  Abb.  §  204. 

94.  Wisely  ...  fast,  an  adaptation  of  the  Latin  saying,  Festina 
lente. 

Scene  IV. 

I.  Where  ...  should  ...  be?  where  can  this  troublesome  fellow, 
Romeo,  possibly  have  got  to  ? 

3.  man,  servant. 

4.  pale,  a  depreciatory  epithet,  as  Capulet  below,  iii.  5.  158, 
calls  Juliet  "tallow-face." 

II,  2.  Nay,  he  will  answer  ...  dared,  nay,  he  will  not  merely 
answer  the  letter  in  writing,  but  will  answer  its  writer  in  person, 
and  show  him  what  he  dares  do  being  challenged  ;  for  answer,  = 
meet  in  combat,  cp.  A.  C.  iii.  13.  27,  "And  answer  me  declined, 
sword  against  sword."  For  the  play  on  the  two  senses  cf  dare, 
Delius  compares  ii.  H.  VI.  iii.  2.  203,  "  What  rfarps  not  Warwick, 
if  false  Suffolk  dare  him  ?  " 

13.  he  is  already  dead,  i.e.  and  therefore  there  is  no  need  for 
Tybalt  to  challenge  him. 


SCENE  IV.]  NOTES.  145 

15.  pin,  centre  ;  literally  the  wooden  peg  by  which  the  target 
was  fastened  to  the  mai-k  at  archery  practice. 

16.  butt-shaft,  arrow  used  in  shooting  at  the  butts  ;  a  butt  was 
properly  a  mound  or  ei-ection  on  which  the  target  was  set  up, 
0.  F.  but,  a  goal :  a  man,  the  proper  sort  of  person,  seeing  what 
his  condition  is. 

17.  Why,  what  is  Tybalt?  why,  what  is  there  about  Tybalt 
that  is  so  terrible  ? 

18.  prince  of  cats.  "  Tybert  is  the  name  given  to  the  cat  in 
Reynard  the  Fox"  (Warburton) ;  and  that  name,  or  Tibalt,  is  in 
old  writers  frequently  used  of  cats. 

18,  9.  he  's  the  courageous  . . .  compliments,  he  is  at  the  head  of 
the  troop  of  valiant  formalists,  men  versed  in  all  the  nicest  forms 
of  ceremony. 

19,  20.  as  you  sing  prick- song,  with  the  minutest  attention  to 
every  detail;  prick-song,  "  harmony  pricked  or  noted  down,  in 
opposition  to  plain-song,  where  the  descant  rested  with  the  will 
of  the  singer  "  (Chappell's  Popular  Music  of  the  Olden  Time,  etc., 
quoted  by  Dyce). 

20,  1 .  rests  me  . . .  bosom,  poises  his  weapon  during  the  time 
that  a  musician  could  count  one,  two,  and  by  the  time  that  he 
could  count  three,  has  it  right  through  you  ;  a  rest  is  a  pause  in 
musical  time,  and  a  minim,  formerly  spelt  minum,  was  once  the 
shortest  note,  from  Lat.  minimum,  the  least.  For  one,  two,  cp. 
Temp.  iv.  1.  44,  5,  "  Before  you  can  say  '  come '  and  '  go,'  And 
breathe  twice  and  cry  '  so,  so. ' 

21,  2.  the  very  ...  button,  one  who  in  fencing  can  hit  a  button 
with  as  much  certainty  as  a  butcher  can  stick  a  pig.  Staunton 
quotes  Silver's  Paradoxes  of  Defence,  1599,  "  thou  that  takest 
upon  thee  to  hit  anie  Englishman  with  a  thrust  upon  anie 
button." 

22,  3.  a  gentleman  ...  cause,  "  a  gentleman  of  the  first  rank,  of 
the  first  eminence  among  these  duelfists,  and  one  who  understands 
the  whole  science  of  quarrelling,  and  will  tell  you  of  W\e  first  cause 
and  the  second  cause  for  which  a  man  is  to  fight"  (Steevens). 
These  causes  are  wittily  ridiculed  in  A.  Y.  L.  v.  4.  51,  et  seqq. 

24.  the  immortal . . .  reverse.     "The  passado,  more  properly  pas- 

Safa,  TiT^Tif  a  gfpp  fnvwn.rd  nr  nsjdp  in  fpncinfr  ...  The  puntO  reVCVSO 

was  also  an  Italian  term,  moaning  a  bap.k-lmuilfd  slroke "  (Staun- 
ton) :  the  hai.  "  The  hay  is  the  [Italian]  word  h^^yo\iJiaj:£^, 
used  when  a  thrust  reaches  the  antagonist  "  (Johnson). 

26.  fantasticoes,  fantastic  fellows  with  their  duelling  jargon. 

27.  these  new  tuners  of  accents,  these  fellows  who  are  ever  in- 
troducing new  terms  :  a  very  good  blade  !  a  fine  fencer  !  the 
weapon  being  put  for  the  wielder  of  it. 

K 


146  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  n. 

28.  tall,  lusty,  spirited  ;  in  this  sense  a  term  generally  used 
by  Shakespeare  either  with  irony,  or  as  a  piece  of  bragging,  or 
put  into  the  mouth  of  mean  persons  ;  cp.  the  phrase  "  a  tall  man 
of  his  hands,"  M.  W.  i.  4.  26  ;  "  a  tall  fellow  of  thy  hands,"  W.  T. 
V.  2.  177. 

29.  grandsire,  my  staid,  sober  friend. 

29,  30.  these  strange  flies,  this  new  kind  of  Ijuzziug-ittseetis, 
these  fellows  who  are  here,  there,  and  everywhere  with  their  in- 
cessant chatter  ;  cp.  Haml.  v.  2.  84  :  fajhioiuiioage-rs,  fellows 
who  are  for  ev^r  inventing  some  new  fashion  oi-  othei- :  these  par- 
donnez-moys,  these  fellows  witli  their  everlasting  affectation  of 
courtesy  ;  these  fellows  who  ever  have  on  their  lips  the  phrase 
pardonnez  moy,  excuse  me. 

31.  Stand ...  form,  are  so  punctilious  in  observing  the  new 
formalities  ;  with  a  pun  on  form  in  the  sense  of  a  long  wooden 
seat. 

32.  Oh,  their  bons,  their  toons  !  oh,  how  sick  I  am  of  their 
eternal  exclamation  of  bon !  i.  e.  good.  The  old  copies  give  '  their 
hones,  their  hones,'  and  though  Theobald's  correction  is  almost 
certainly  right,  there  is  probably  a  pun  on  bo7ies  in  allusion  to 
the  former  sentence. 

34.  Without  his  roe.  "  That  is,  he  comes  but  half  hiuis&lf-.  he 
is  only  a  sigh — 0  me!  i.e.  me  O !  the  half  of  his  name  "  (Seymour) : 
like  a  dried  herring,  from  which,  before  it  was  dried,  tlie  roe  had 
been  taken  out  to  be  preserved  separately. 

35.  fishified,  made  like  a  fish:  Now . . .  numtoers,  now  is  he 
given  up  to  such  love-songs. 

36.  Laura,  Petrarch's  mistress,  to  whom  so  much  of  his  poetry 
is  addressed  :  to,  compared  with. 

37.  marry,  ...  her,  by  the  holy  Virgin,  she  was  more  fortunate 
than  Rosaline  in  the  poet  who  celebrated  her  perfections. 

38.  a  dowdy,  a  mere  slattern  :  a  gipsy,  a  sun-burnt  vagabond  ; 
from  M.  E.  Egypcien,  an  Egyptian,  the  gipsies,  though  really  of 
Indian  origin,  being  formerly  supposed  to  have  come  from  Egypt. 
Cleopatra,  though  by  birth  an  Egyptian,  was  by  descent  Greek. 
hildings,  menial  wretches.  ^'Hiiding  is  short  for  hilderling 
and  hilderling  stands  for  M.  E.  hinderling,  base,  degenerate"... 
(Skeat,  Ety.  Dirt.). 

39.  a  grey  eye  . . .  purpose,  a  lady  whose  grey  eyes  were  fairly 
good,  but  nothing  to  l^e  compared  with  those  of  Rosaline. 

41.  slop,  baggy  trousers  ;  more  commonly  in  the  plural,  as  in 
M.  A.  iii.  2.  36,  "a  German  from  the  waist  downward,  all 
slops";  ii.  N.  IV.  i.  2.  34,  "  \Yliat  said  Master  Dombledon 
about  the  satin  for  my  short  cloak  and  my  slops?" 


SCENE  IV.]  NOTES.  147 

44.  The  slip  . . .  conceive,  why,  the  slip  ;  are  you  so  dull  that 
you  cannot  see  my  little  joke  ?  sHps  were  pieces  of  counterfeit 
money,  brass  covered  over  with  silver,  and  to  '  give  one  the  slip ' 
is  to  play  one  the  trick  of  stealing  away  iinnoticed. 

45.  great,  important. 

46.  may  strain  courtesy,  may  be  forgiven  if  he  does  not  stand 
upon  ceremony. 

48.  to  bow  in  the  hams,  to  be  particularly  polite  ;  to  bow  low 
in  respect  to  the  knee,  to  curtsy,  as  Romeo  interprets  the  phrase, 
not  to  treat  us  as  you  did. 

50.   Thou  hast  ...  it,    "  your   reply   was  of   a   piece   with    my, 
speech  "  (Grant  White)  ;  but  though  kindly  is  primarily  used  as 
^oTtTie  same  kind,  or  sort,  the  way  in  Avhich  "courtesy"  and 
"  courteous  "  are  insisted  upon  shows  that  there  is  a  play  upon 
the  other  sense  of  the  word. 

53.  Pink  for  flower,  by  pink  you  mean  flower ;  you  are  using 
the  species  for  the  genus. 

55.  then  is  ...  flowered,  then  is  my  court-shoe  well  flowered, 
ornamented,  for  it  is  pinked  (i.e.  punched  with  holes  in  patterns) 
abundantly.     This  '  piiilcmg '  is  still  to  be  seen__in_ladie£shoesj_ 
pump,  so  called  because  worn  for  pomp ;  from  F.  pompe,  pomp, 
state,  show. 

56.  follow  me  this  jest,  cap  this  jest  for  me  by  another,  and 
another,  till,  etc. 

57.  the  single  sole  of  it,  pumps  are  made  with  thin,  or  single, 
soles  to  give  lightness  in  dancing. 

57,  8.  that,  when  ...  singular,  that,  when  its  thin  sole  is  worn 
out,  there  may  remain  nothing  but  the  Imre  feet.  Mercutio  s 
jest  is  something  like  the  phantom  grin  of  the  Cheshire  cat  in 
Alice  in  Wonderland,  and  to  try  to  embody  his  wit  as  the 
weaving  of  coarse  canvas  out  of  the  spider's  web. 

59.  0  single-soled  ...  singleness  !  0  threadbaxa_ieet  unique 
only  in  being  so  silly  !  Singer  has  shown  that  single-soled  or 
' single-souled '  was  often  used  for  'simple,'  'silly,'  and  some- 
times meant  '  threadbare.'  He  quotes  from  Cotgrave,  "  Monsieur 
de  trois  au  boissean  et  de  trois  a  un  ep4e  :  a  threadbare,  coarse- 
spun,  single-soled  gentleman." 

60.  my  wits  faint.  This,  the  reading  of  the  later  quartos  and 
the  first  folio,  seems  better  than  that  of  the  first  quarto  more 
generally  adopted,  "my  Avits  fail." 

61,2.  Switch  ...  match,  give  me  whip  and  spurs,  whip  and 
spurs  ;  for  I'll  cry  '  Done  with  you  ! '  I'll  make  a  niatcli  with 
you,  enter  myself  for  a  race  against  you.  I  have  adopted 
Capell's  for  in  place  of  'or,'  the  reading  of  tlie  old  copies,  since 
an  alternative  seems  to  make  nonsense  of  the  passage. 


148  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

63.  the  wild-goose  chase.  "  A  kind  of  horse  race  which  re- 
sembled the  flight  of  wild  geese  [which  fly  in  a  long  stream, 
marshalled  by  one  of  the  older  birds].  Two  horses  started 
together  ;  and  whichever  rider  could  get  the  lead,  the  other  was 
obliged  to  follow  him  over  whatever  ground  the  foremost  jockey 
chose  to  go.  That  horse  which  could  distance  the  other  won 
the  race"...  (Holt  White).  The  references  to  this  kind  of 
'  steeple-chase '  are  frequent  in  the  old  dramatists. 

65,  6.  was  I . . .  {joose  ?  did  I  touch  you  there  in  my  reference 
to  the  goose  ?  did  you  feel  that  the  cap  fitted  you  when  I  men- 
tioned the  word  goose  ?  The  expression,  '  to  be  here,  or  there, 
with  '  a  person  seems  to  have  been  especially  used  of  contemptuous 
exclamations,  gestures,  etc.  ;  thus  in  W.  T.  i.  2.  217,  "They  Ve 
here  rvith  me  already,  whispering,  rounding  '  Silicia  is  a  so-forth.'" 
In  Cor.  iii.  2.  73,  "here  be  with  them  "  means  '  here  salute  them 
with  a  courteous  wave  of  the  bonnet. ' 

67,  8.  Thou  wast  ...  goose,  you  were  never  with  me  for  any 
purpose  except  that  of  playing  the  part  of  a  goose  ;  the  words 
with  me  being  taken  in  their  literal  sense. 

69.  I  will  bite  thee  by  the  ear.  "  This  odd  mode  of  expressing 
pleasure,  which  seems  to  be  taken  from  the  practice  of  animals, 
who,  in  a  playful  mood,  bite  each  other's  ears,  etc.,  is  very 
common  in  our  old  dramatists  "  (Giffbrd  on  Jonson's  Every  Man 
out  of  his  Humoiir,  v.  4).  Cp.  e.g.  Chapman,  Byron's  Tragedy, 
V.  1,  "let  me  draw  Poison  into  me  with  this  cursed  air.  If  he  be- 
witched me  and  transformed  me  not  ;  He  hit  me  hy  the  ear  and 
made  me  drink  Enchanted  waters. " 

70.  bite  not,  according  to  Steevens  a  proverbial  saying. 

71.  sweeting,  an  apple  of  that  name,  remarkable  for  its  sweet- 
ness, which  is  still  grown  about  Stratford.  Often  used  as  a  term 
of  endearment,  as  in  0th.  ii.  3.  252,  T.  N.  ii.  3.  43 

73.  And  is  it  not . . .  goose.  An  allusion  to  the  apple  sauce  usual 
with  roast  goose. 

74.  cheveril,  kid  leather,  i.e.  something  very  pliaiit,_capaM£-of 
beiftg-siratcbed  ;  0.  F.  chevreJe,  kid,  diminutive  of  chevre,  from 
capra,  a  she-goat.  Cp.  H.  VIII.  ii.  3.  32,  "which  gifts  ...  the 
capacity  Of  your  soft  cheveril  conscience  would  receive,  If  you 
might  please  to  stretch  it." 

76.  for  that  word  'broad,'  for  the  sake  of  bringing  in  that 
word  'broad.'  "What  Romeo  means,"  says  Collier,  "is  that 
Mercutio  has  proved  himself  '  far  and  wide  abroad '  a  goose  "  ; 
possibly  as  Singer  suggests  Eomeo  is  playing  on  the  term  '  hrood- 
goose,'  i.e.  a  brooding-goose,  which  we  have  in  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher's  Humorous  Lieutenavt,  iii.  1.  54,  "They  have  no  more 
burden  than  a  brood-goose,  brother." 


SCENE  IV.]  NOTES.  149 

80.  by  art  ...  nature,  not  merely  your  natural  self,  but  youi'self 
improved  by  art,  i.e.  by  the  cultixation  of  your  natural  wit. 

81.  a  great  natural,  a  loutish  idiot;  one  born  a  fool;  op. 
A.  Y.  L.  i.  2.  52,  "when  Fortune  makes  Nature's  natural  the 
cutter-off  of  Nature's  wit,"  referring  to  the  professional  Fool, 
Touchstone;  also  1.  57,  "hath  sent  this  natural  for  our  whet- 
stone." 

82.  bautole,  the  Fool's  sceptre,  a  short  stick  ornamented  at  the 
top  with  ■  a  fool's  head,  or  a  doll ;  or  sometimes  an  inflated 
bladder  with  which  the  Fool  belaboured  those  who  ofiiended  him. 

84.  against  the  hair,  against  the  grain,  with  a  pun  on  the  word 
tale  (tail) ;  T.  C.  i.  2.  27,  "he  is  melancholy  without  cavise,  and 
merry  against  the  hair" ;  M.  W.  ii.  3.  4l,  "if  you  should  fight, 
you  go  against  the  hair  of  your  professions." 

88.  to  occupy  the  argument,  to  take  part  in  the  discussion  ;  to 
occupy,  a  cant  term;  see  ii.  H.  IV.  ii.  4.  IGI,  "these  villains 
will  make  the  word  as  odious  as  the  word  '  occivpy' ;  which  was 
an  excellent  good  word  before  it  was  ill  sorted. " 

89.  Here  's  goodly  gear  !  here's  a  pretty  business  !  said  as  he 
sees  the  Nurse  af)proaching  ;  but  also  with  a  play  on  the  word 
gear  in  the  sense  of  '  dress,'  here's  a  fine  object !  Cp.  L.  L.  L. 
V.  2.  303,  "Disguised  like  Muscovites,  Ln  shapeless  gear."  The 
original  sense  of  the  word  is  'preparation,'  hence  'dress,'  'har- 
ness,' '  tackle.' 

90.  A  sail,  a  sail !  the  exclamation  of  the  watch  at  sea  when  a 
strange  vessel  is  seen  approaching.  Cp.  Samson's  sarcastic 
exclamation  as  he  sees  Dalila  approaching  in  all  her  finery, 
Samson  Agonistes,  710,  et  seqq.,  "But  who  is  this,  what  thing  of 
sea  or  land  ?  Female  of  sex  it  seems.  That,  so  bedecked,  ornate, 
and  gay.  Comes  this  way,  sailing  Like  a  stately  ship  Of  Tarsus, 
bound  for  the  isles  of  Javan  or  Gadire,  With  all  her  bravery  on, 
and  tackle  trim,  Sails  filled,  and  streamers  waving,"  etc. 

91.  a  shirt  and  a  smock,  a  man  and  a  woman;  the  under- 
garment of  each  being  used  for  the  persons. 

93.  Anon  !  here  !  present. 

94.  My  fan.  The  commentators  point  out  that  the  fans  of  those 
days  were  very  large  and  might  well  require  a  man  to  carry  them. 

95.  Good  Peter,  . . .  face,  do,  good  Peter,  give  it  to  her,  etc. 
97.  God  ye  ...  gentlemen,  see  note  on  i.  2.  57. 

99.  Is  it  good  den  ?  is  it  so  late  as  that  ?  is  it  past  noon,  that 
one  ought  to  say  '  good  even '? 

105.  I  am  the  youngest  ...  worse,  I  am  that  '  young  Romeo 


150  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

you  seek,  the  youngest  in  fact  of  those  who  bear  that  name,  in 
the  absence  of  any  less  worthy  of  it.  Romeo  jestingly  alters  the 
ordinary  form  of  excuse,  '  for  fault  of  a  better.' 

107.  is  the  worst  ■well?  does  this  '  worst,'  as  Romeo  by  infer- 
ence calls  himself,  satisfy  you  ?  took,  understood. 

109.  confidence,  conference  ;  as  in  M.  A.  iii.  5.  3,  "  Marry,  sir, 
I  would  havs  some  confidence  with  you  that  decerns  you  nearly  " 
(Dogberry's  speech) ;  and  again  M.  W.  i.  4.  172. 

110.  indite,  invite;  which  the  first  quarto  reads,  thougli  the 
word  is  doubtless  Benvolio's  mocking  imitation  of  the  Nurse's 
"  confidence." 

11.3,  4.  lady,  lady,  lady,  the  burden  of  the  Ballad  of  Susanna, 
of  which  Staunton  quotes  a  stanza  from  Percy's  Bcliques. 

116.  merchant,  formerly  used  in  a  contemptuous  sense,  like  the 
modern  '  huckster ' :  ropery,  possibly  only  the  Nurse's  mistake 
for  '  roguery,'  though  the  word  was  commonly  used  for  roguery, 
mischief,  with  an  allusion  to  the  hangman's  rope ;  so  also  '  rope- 
tricks,'  '  rope -ripe,'  'roper.' 

118.  stand  to,  maintain. 

120.  a',  he  ;  in  Old  English  ha  and  a  are  sometimes  found  =  he, 
she,  it,  they  ;  a'  is  common  in  the  old  dramatists,  and  we  even 
find  'am  for  theni,  e.g.  Middleton,  The  PItoenix,  ii.  2,  "  Should 
still  afli'ect  'am. " 

120,  1.  I  '11  take  him  down,  I  '11  make  him  pay  for  it :  an  a' . . .  is, 

and  woidd  do  *o  even  if  it  weie,  etc. :  Jacks,  saucy  fellows  ;  so 
"a  Jack-sauce,"  //.  V.  iv.  7.  148.  Skeat  quotes  Tyrwhitt  on 
Chaucer's  '  Sir  John ':  "  I  know  not  how  it  has  happened  that  in 
the  principal  modern  languages,  John,  or  its  equivalent,  is  a  name 
of  contempt,  or  at  least  of  slight.  So  the  Italians  use  LHanni, 
from  whence  Zani ;  the  Spaniards  Juan,  as  hobo  Jiiai),  a  foolish 
John  ;  the  French  Jea?i,  with  various  additions  ;  and  in  English, 
when  we  call  a  man  a  John,  we  do  not  mean  it  as  a  title  of 
honour . . . . " 

122.  Scurvy,  literally  afflicted  with  scurf,  hence  mean,  vile. 

123.  flirt-gills.  "  An  arbitrary  transposition  of  the  compound 
word  (jill-Jiirt,  that  is  a.jlirting-gill,  a  woman  of  light  behaviour  ... 
Gill  was  a  current  and  familiar  term  for  a  female"...  (Nares)  : 
skains-mates.  ' '  The  word  skain,  I  am  told  by  a  Kentishman,  was 
formerly  a  familiar  term  in  paits  of  Kent  to  express  what  we  now 
call  a  scape-grace,  or  ne'er-do-well ....  Even  at  this  day,  my  in- 
formant saj's,  sJcain  is  often  heard  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  and 
about  the  adjacent  coast,  in  the  sense  of  recJclisff,  dare-devil  sort 
of  fellow"  (Staunton).  Others  derive  the  word  from  skean,  a 
sword,  and  7nate,  companion,  i.e.  brothers  of  the  sword,  royster- 
ing  companions,  with  which  Schmidt  compares  the  G.  f<piesgeselh. 


SCENE  IV.]  NOTES.  151 

124,  5.  And  thou  ...  pleasure,  and  you  could  stand  there  could 
you,  and  allow  me  to  be  insulted  as  any  scoundrel  chose  !  shame 
on  you  for  your  cowardice  ! 

133.  what  she  hade  ...  myself.  Distrusting  Romeo's  attendant, 
the  Nurse  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  she  cannot  better  perform 
her  errand  than  by  keeping  back  the  very  ojjject  of  that  errand. 

1.34.  a  fool's  paradise,  a  state  of  fallacious  happiness.  Milton, 
P.  L.  iii.  495,  has  a  "Paradise  of  Fools"  which  he  makes 
identical  with  the  Limbo  to  which  he  consigns  all  popish  observ- 
ances, insignia,  and  their  wearers. 

138.  weak  dealing.  '  Wicked  '  has  been  suggested  for  weak,  but 
the  point  seems  to  lie,  as  Clarke  observes,  in  tiie  Nurse's  intend- 
ing to  Tise  a  most  forcible  expression",  and  blundering  upon  a 
most  feeble  one.  Fleay,  cqnid  Daniel,  suggests  that,  if  any 
change  is  needed,  the  old  word  ivicke,  still  in  use  in  the  midland 
counties  in  the  sense  otfoid,  loicked,  should  be  adopted. 

139.  commend  me,  give  my  best  compliments  ;  literally  recom- 
mend me  to  her  favour  (by  bearing  my  loving  greetings). 

141.  Good  heart,  rny  good  fellow  ;  a  form  of  familiar  address, 
like  '  poor  heart,'  '  old  heart,'  '  noble  heart.' 

152.  Go  to,  nonsense,  you  must. 

156.  a  tackled  stair,  a  rope  ladder  ;  like  the  ratlines  or  ratlins 
of  a  \'essel,  the  small  transverse  ropes  across  the  shrouds  forming 
a  ladder. 

157,  8.  which  to  the  high  ...  secret,  by  which  I  must  in  the 
darkness  of  night  convoy  myself  to  the  summit,  pinnacle,__Qf  my — 

happiness  ;  the  '  top-gallant_sail-'  iu  a  ^^ssei  is  tlie^iailjibpye  the 

top^aail,  and  the  nautical  figure  in  top-gallant  and  convoy  is 
suggested  to  Romeo's  mind  by  the  "  tackled  stair." 

159.  quit,  requite  ;  as  very  frequently  in  Shakespeare,  both  in 
a  good  and  a  bad  sense. 

164.  Two  may  keep  ...  away,  two  may  keep  a  secret,  if  one  is 
away. 

168,  9.  that  would  ...  aboard,  that  would  be  only  too  glad  to 
*  get  a  cut  at  her,'  to  make  her  his  own  :  lieve,  gladly  ;  lieve,  or 
lief,  like  "fain"  in  the  previous  line,  is  properly  an  adjective 
meaning  dear,  pleasing. 

170.  sometimes.  "  But  a  few  hours  have  in  fact  elapsed  since 
last  night's  interview  Ijetween  the  lovers,  yet  the  dramatic  eilect 
of  a  longer  period  is  thus  given  to  the  interval  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  single  word  '  sometimes '  "  (Clarke)  :  and  teU  her,  by 
telling  her  :  preparer,  handsomer  ;  proper,  Lat.  proprius,  one's 
own,  then  what  becomes  a  man,  and  so  handsome. 

172.  verbal,  universal. 


152  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

173.  Doth.  All  instance  of  the  singulai-  inflection  preceding  a 
plural  subject  :  a  letter,  one  and  the  same  letter  :  rosemary,  in 
Haml.  ii.  5.  175,  Ophelia  says,  "  There  's  rosemarii,  that 's  for  re- 
membrance," to  which  adage  Juliet  in  her  "  prettiest  sententious 
of  it  "  was  probably  referring  ;  the  word  has  nothing  to  do  with 
either  the  flower  or  with  the  name  Mary,  being  from  the  Lat. 
ros  marinus,  dew  of  the  sea,  i.e.  the  plant  that  delights  in  the 
spray  of  the  sea 

1 75.  that 's  the  dog's  name.  From  its  resemblance  to  the  snarling 
of  a  dog,  the  letter  R  was  by  the  Romans  called  '  the  dog's  letter,' 
and  Jonson  in  his  English  grammar  says  "  R  is  (he  dorfu  letter, 
and  hurreth  in  the  sound."  The  Nurse  having  heard  the  adage, 
substitutes  name  for  letter. 

175,  6.  R  is  for  the— No  ;  ...letter,  R  is  for  the  dog,  she  was 
going  to  say,  but  breaks  off  and  continues,  I  know  your  name 
does  not  begin  with  such  an  ugly  sound.  The  old  copies  give 
"  R  is  for  the  no,"  which  Tyrwhitt  emended  "  R  is  for  the  dog, 
No"  ;  the  reading  in  the  text  is  Ritson's  conjecture. 

176,  7.  she  hath  ...  of  it,  she  frames  tlie  prettiest  sentences  or 
sentiments  about  it. 

182.  apace,  quickly;  "at  an  earlier  period  the  word  was 
written  as  two  words,  a  jms,  as  in  Chaucer....  It  is  also  to  be 
remarked  that  the  phrase  has  widely  changed  its  meanmg.  In 
Chaucer  ...  it  means  '  a  foot-pace, '  and  was  originally  used  of 
horses  when  proceeding  slowly,  or  at  a  walk.  The  phrase  is  com- 
posed of  the  Eng.  indef.  article  a,  and  the  M.  K  j^as,  Mod.  E. 
pace,  a  word  of  F.  origin  "  (Skeat,  Ety.  Diet. ). 

Scene  V. 

3.  that 's  not  so,  it  is  impossible  that  that  should  be  the  case. 

4.  0,  she  is  lame,  not  literally,  but  in  comparison  with  what  a 
messenger  of  \ovg  should  be. 

6.  Driving  ...  hills.  It  is  perhaps  doubtful  whether  this  means 
'  when  tliey  drive  back  shadows  beyond  frowning  hills  and  so 
cause  them  to  disappear ';  or  '  when  they  drive  back  shadows 
that  rest  upon  the  frowning  hills ' ;  lour  is"  said  to  be  connected 
with  leer,  M.  E.  lere,  A.S.  hle6r,  the  cheek,  hence  the  face,  look. 

7.  doves,  sacred  to  Venus;  cp.  M.  N.  D.  i.  1.  171,  "By  the 
simplicity  of  Venus'  doves";  M.  V.  ii.  6.  5,  "  0,  ten  times  faster 

Venus'"  2jigeons  fly  To  seal  love's  bonds  new-made";  also  V.  A. 
1189-92. 

8.  wind-swift,  swift  as  the  wind  ;  cp.  T.  C.  iv.  2.  14,  "  wings 
more  .momentary -swift  than  thought." 

9.  10.  upon  the  highmost  ...  journey,  at  its  zenith  ;  journey,  is 

in  itself  literally  a  day's  travel.  ♦ 


SCENE  v.]  NOTES.  153 

12.  affections,  passions ;  the  warm  feelings  which  youth  and 
love  inspire. 

14.  bandy.  A  metaphor  very  common  in  Shakespeare  and  the 
old  dramatists  from  the  game  of  tennis  in  which  the  ball  is  banded 
or  bandied,  i.e.  struck  forwards  and  backwards,  from  each  end  of 
the  court ;  the  origin  of  the  word  is  obscure :  love,  the  concrete, 
lover,  while  in  the  next  line  the  word  is  used  in  the  abstract. 

16.  But  old  ...  dead,  but  old  folks,  like  mj^  Nurse,  do  many  of 
them  behave  as  if  thej'  had  no  life  at  all  in  their  limbs.  The 
reading  of  the  old  copies  is  fain  ovfaine  ;  feign  is  Johnson's  con- 
jecture. After  old  foUis  there  is  a  slight  aposiopesis,  Juliet 
qualifying  her  statement  by  the  word  many,  and  there  seems 
no  difficulty  in  feign  ...  dead  in  the  sense  of  'pretend  they 
have  no  life,  no  strength  in  them  for  the  duty  they  have  to  do.' 
Dyce  conjectured  that  the  '  copy '  of  the  printer  of  the  second 
quarto  had  more  yfaith  and  was  corrupted  by  him  into  many 
fain. 

17.  pale  as  lead.  Here  it  is  objected  that  lead  is  not  pale, 
and  dull  has  been  suggested  in  its  place ;  but  lead  in  its  original 
state  is  of  an  ashy  colour,  and  the  epithet  pale  is  applied  to  it  by 
Chaucer. 

18.  honey,  sweet,  darling ;  also  used  as  a  substantive  in  this 
sense,  0th.  ii.  1.  206. 

22.  news,  frequently  used  by  Shakespeare  as  a  plural  noun, 
like  the  F.  nouvelles,  of  which  it  is  a  translation ;  so  Lat.  nova, 
new  things,  i.e.  news. 

24.  By  playing . . .  face,  by  giving  voice  to  it  with  the  accom- 
paniment of  so  sour  a  face. 

25.  a-weary.  The  a-  represents  a  corruption  of  the  A.S.  inten- 
sive of,  thoroughly,  as  in  'afeard,'  'a?i-huugered,'  etc. :  give  me 
leave,  excuse  me. 

26.  what  a  jaunce  . . .  had  !  what  a  hunt  I  have  had  to  find  him  ! 
cp.  below  1.  53,  and  /.'.  //.  ^■.  5.  94,  "  Spurr'd,  gall'd  and  tired  by 
jauncincj  (i.e.  hard  ridhig)  Bolingbroke. "  The  word  is  from  the 
F.  jancer  ;  Cotgrave  gives  "  Jancer  un  cheral.  To  stir  an  horse 
in  the  stables  till  he  sweat  withal";  connected  with  our  jazuit. 

.34.  Is  longer  . . .  excuse,  takes  longer  to  teU  than  the  tale  would 
which  you  make  excuses  for  not  telling. 

36.  I  '11  stay  the  circumstance,  I  will  wait  for  the  details. 

.38.  you  have  made  ...  choice,  this  is  a  pretty  choice  you  have 
made  in  choosing  Romeo  for  a  husband  ;  simple,  foolish. 

39.  no,  not  he,  he's  not  the  sort  of  man  you  ought  to  have 
chosen. 

39,  40.  though  his  face  ...  mens.     The  Nurse  pretending  or  in- 


154  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ii. 

tending  to  qualify  her  complimentary  estimate  by  some  detrac- 
tion, only  intensifies  her  praise. 

41,  2.  not  to  be  talked  on,  not  worth /peaking  about  ;  on  for 
of,  as  frequently  in  colloquial  language  :  compare,  comparison  ; 
frequent  in  Shakespeare  as  a  substantive. 

43.  flower  of  courtesy,  as  in  ii.  4.  56  we  had  ' '  pink  of  courtesy. " 

44.  Go  thy  ways,  here  ways  is  not  the  plural,  but  the  old 
genitive  used  adverbially,  on  your  way. 

44,  5.  have  you  . . .  home  ?  is  dinner  o\er  ? 

48.  what  a  head,  i.t.  aching  head. 

50.  My  back  ...  side,  perhaps  means  '  and  my  back,  too,  how  it 
aches  ! ' 

51.  Beshrew,  a  mild  form  of  imprecation,  to  shrew  meaning  to 
'  curse. ' 

52.  jaunting,  see  above,  1.  26. 

59.  Where  should  she  be  ?  where  else  do  you  expect  her  to  be? 

61.  0  God"s  lady  dear,  0,  by  the  blessed  Virgin  ! 

62.  so  hot,  so  eager,  so  impatient  ;  marry,  come  up,  a  vulgar 
phrase  of  reproof  or  impatience:  I  trow,  literally  'I  trust,' 
'  believe,'  but  often  used  to  express  surprise  or  indignation. 

63.  Is  this  . . .  bones  ?  Is  this  how  you  reward  me  for  all  my 
trouble  ? 

65.  Here  's  such  a  ceil  !  what  a  fuss  you  make  of  the  matter  ! 
coil  is  frequently  used  by  .Shakespeare  in  the  sense  of  bustle,  stir, 
turmoil.  "  Like  nmny  half-slang  words,"  says  Skeat,  "it  is 
Celtic.     Gaelic  goil,  boiling,  fume,  battle,  rage,  fury"...  . 

68.  hie  you,  hasten. 

71.  They  '11  be  ...  news,  you  have  such  a  guilty  conscience  (sc. 
as  to  having  given  your  love  to  Romeo)  that  anything  is  enough 
to  call  up  a  blush  into  your  cheek. 

75.  in  your  delight,  in  order  that  you  may  reap  the  benefit, 
that  you  may  enjoy  happiness,  while  I  profit  nothing  by  my  pains. 

Scene  VI. 

1.  So  smile  the  heavens,  may  the  heavens  so  smile  !  may 
Providence  so  approve  of  this  marriage  that,  etc. 

4,  5.  It  cannot . . .  sight,  it  cannot  outweigh  the  joy  that  the 
sight  of  her  for  one  short  minute  gi\'es  me,  even  though  I  have 
to  endure  the  bitterest  sorrow  the  next  minute  ;  the  exchange  of 
joy  does  not  mean  the  exchange  from  some  past  sorrow,  but  the 
enjoyment  of  happiness  in  the  pi'esent,  which  may  have  to  be  ex- 
changed for  sorrow  hereafter^ 


SCENE  VI,]  NOTES.  155 

6.  close,  unite. 

7.  dare,  subjunctive,  may  dare. 

8.  It  is  enough  ...  mine,  it  is  enough  for  me  to  have  once  called 
her  mine.  Cp.  Dry  den,  transl.  of  Horace,  Odes,  i.  29,  "Not 
Heaven  itself  upon  the  past  lias  power.  But  what  has  been,  has 
been,  and  I  have  had  my  hour." 

9.  These  violent . .  ends.  Walker  points  out  that  violent  is  used 
in  the  first  instance  as  a  trisyllable  and  in  the  second  as  a 
dissyllable. 

10.  And  in...  die,  and  perish  when  at  their  summit  of  enjoy- 
ment. Malone  compares  Lucr.  894,  "  Thy  violent  vanities  can 
never  last. " 

11.  kiss,  meet,  as  thoiigh  they  were  friends. 

12.  Is  loathsome  ...  deliciousness,  cloys  the  taste  from  the  very 
fact  of  being  so  luscious. 

13.  confounds,  renders  it  incapable  of  proper  appreciation. 

14.  long  love,  enduring,  lasting,  love. 

15.  Too  swift  ..  slow.  Another  version  of  the  proverb  "The 
more  haste,  the  less  speed." 

16.  7.  so  light . . .  flint.  The  corresponding  line  in  the  first  quarto 
is  "So  light  a  foot  ne^er  hurts  the  trodden  flower,"  of  which,  as 
Grant  White  remarks,  the  words  in  the  text  do  not  seem  an  im- 
provement ;  everlasting,  of  course  not  in  its  strict  sense. 

18.  gossamer,  "  fine  spider-threads  seen  in  fine  weather. .. .  Of 
disputed  origin  :  Init  M.  E.  gossomer  is  literally  (joose- summer, 
and  the  provincial  E.  (C"ra^•en)  name  for  gossamer  is  summer- 
goose  ..  The  word  is  probably  nothing  but  a  corruption  of  '  goose- 
summer '  or  '  summer-goose,'  from  the  downy  appearance"  of  the 
film"...  (Skeat,  Ety.  Diet.). 

20.  vanity,  the  unsubstantial  delight  felt  by  lovers. 

22.  shall  thank  you,  shall  requite  you  for  your  kind  salutation  ; 
I  will  leave  Romeo  to  acknowledge  your  greeting. 

23.  As  much  ...  much,  '  nay,'  says  Juliet,  '  I  must  greet  him  as 
well  as  you,  for  if,  without  my  doing  so,  he  gives  thanks  for  both 
of  you,  his  thanks  will  be  more  than  I  desire.' 

24.  measure,  apparently  used  in  a  double  sense,  (1)  great  quan- 
tity, (2)  the  vessel  containing  the  quantity. 

25.  Be  heap'd,  be  filled  to  the  brim  ;  cp.  Lxike,  vi.  38,  "Give, 
and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you  ;  good  measure,  pressed  down,  and 
shaken  together,  and  runnmg  over,  shall  men  give  into  your 
bosom." 

26.  To  blazon  it,  to  depict  it  in  worthy  colours  ;  to  blazon  is 
"  to  pourtiay  armorial  bearings  ...  — F.  blazon,  '  a  coat  of  arms  ; 


156  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.         [act  ii.  sc.  vi. 

in  the  11th  century  a  buckler,  a  shield  ;  then  a  shield  with  a 
£oat  of  arms  of  a  knight  painted  on  it  ;  lastly,  towards  the 
fifteenth  century,  the  coats  of  arms  themselves';  Brachet"... 
(Skeat,  Ety.  Dirt.). 

27.  neighbour,  neighbouring;  cp.  R.  II.  i.  1.  119,  "Such 
neighbour  nearness  to  our  sacred  blood "  :  rich  music's  tongue, 
identifying  Juliet's  voice  with  music. 

28.  the  imagined  happiness,  the  happiness  wrapped  up  in  the 
soul. 

29.  in  either,  each  in  the  other. 

30.  Conceit,  conception  ;  literally  that  which  is  conceived  ; 
used  in  Shakespeare  for  idea,  fanciful  thought,  mental  faculty,  etc. 

.31.  Brags  ..ornament,  is  proud  of  the  reality  and  does  not 
care  to  set  forth  its  possession  by  mere  ornament,  does  not  value 
any  such  display  as  you  would  have  me  make  in  words. 

32.  They  are  taut ...  worth.  Cp.  M.  A.  ii.  1.  318,  "  I  were  but 
little  happy,  if  I  could  say  how  much  " ;  A.  G.  i.  1.  15,  "  There 's 
beggary  in  the  love  that  can  be  reckoned." 

34.  I  cannot ...  wealth.  The  "reading  in  the  text,  that  of  the 
second  and  third  quartos,  seems  intelligil^le  enougli,  and  means 
'  I  cannot  sum  up  the  total  of  half  my  wealth ' ;  but  Capell  altered 
it  to  "I  cannot  sum  up  half  my  sum  of  wealth,"  which  most 
modern  editors  follow. 

35.  make  short  work,  finish  the  business  off  quickly. 

37.  incorporate  two  in  one.  Cp.  Matthew,  xix.  5,  "  For  this 
cause  shall  a  man  leave  father  and  mother,  and  shall  cleave  to 
his  wife  ;  aiid  they  twain  shall  he  one  flesh." 


Act  III.     Scene  I. 

2.  abroad,  out  in  the  town. 

4.  For  now,  ...  stirring,  for  in  these  hot  days  men's  passion 
bursts  out  into  fury.  According  to  Johnson,  it  is  observed  that 
in  Italy  almost  all  assassinations  take  place  in  the  summer. 

6.  claps  me,  see  Abb.  §  220. 

7,  8.  by  the  operation . . .  cup,  by  the  time  his  second  draught 
has  begun  to  work  upon  him  :  the  drawer,  the  waiter  who  draws 
the  wine  from  the  casks. 

11.  a  Jack,  see  note  on  ii.  4.  121. 

12,  3.  and  as  soon  ...  be  moved,  and  as  soon  provoked  to  be  ill- 
tempered,  and  as  soon  in  the  mood  to  be  provoked. 

15.  two  such,  Mercutio  pretends  to  take  Benvolio's  '  what  to ' 
for  '  which  two. ' 


« 


ACT  III.  sc.  I.]  NOTES. 


157 


20.  hazel  eyes,  eyes  of  the  colour  of  the  hazel-nut,  light  brown. 

22.  beaten  as  addle,  beaten  till  it  becomes  as  addled  •  addle 
more  properly  addled,  is  literally  diseased,  from  A.S.  ddl,  disease! 
but  used  of  an  egg  when  it  will  not  hatch. 

30.  the  fee-simple,  the  most  absolute  property  ;  an  estate  in 
fee-simple  is  the  greatest  estate  or  interest  which  the  law  of 
England  allows  any  person  to  possess  in  landed  property  ,  cp. 
A.  W.  iv.  3.  312,  "  Sir,  for  a  quart  d'ecu  he  will  sell  the  fee-simnle 
of  his  salvation,  the  inheritance  of  it." 

32.  0  simple  !  0  foolish  fellow. 

37.  And  but  one  ...  us  ?  and  is  that  all  you  want  with  us  ? 

38.  make  it . . .  blow,  couple  the  '  word  '  with  a  '  blow ' ;  a 
reference  to  the  phrase  "a  word  and  a  blow,"  i.e.  readiness' to 
follow  up  an  angry  word  by  a  blow. 

41.  Could  you  not ...  giving  ?  could  you  not  find  occasion  for  a 
quarrel  without  waiting  for  some  provocation  ? 

42.  consort'st  with,  are  a  friend,  companion  of. 

43.  Consort,  an  old  term  for  a  company  of  musicians  ;  cp.  T.  O. 
iii.  2.  84,  "Visit  by  night  your  lady's  chamber- window  With 
some  sweet  consort." 

45.  my  fiddlestick,  i.e.  his  sword  with  which  he  will  play  a 
tune  on  them  that  will  make  them  dance  to  get  out  of  its  way. 
Cp.  Faulconbridge's  scornful  use  of  "  toasting-fork"  for  "  sword." 
K.  J.  iv.  3.  99. 

46.  'Zounds,  a  corruption  of  "God's  wounds,"  i.e.  the  wounds 
of  Christ  when  crucified,  often  spelt  'sounds;  so  'sNood  for 
"  God's  blood,"  'sbody  for  "  God's  body,"  etc. 

49.  And  reason . . .  grievances,  and  discuss  in  temperate  language 
the  matter  in  dispute,  the  cause  of  complaint  you  have  against 
each  other.  The  old  copies  give  ' '  0>-  reason, "  the  word  being 
probably  caught  from  the  line  below  ;  and  is  Capell's  emendation. 

50.  depart,  part,  separate  ;  cp.  Cymb.  i.  1.  108,  "  The  loath- 
ness  to  depart  would  grow." 

52.  budge,  stir  a  step  ;  F.  bouger,  to  stir  ;  for  the  emphatic 
double  negative,  see  Abb.  §  406. 

53.  my  man,  he  whom  I  am  in  searcli  of. 

54.  But  I  '11 . . .  livery,  but  assuredly  he  does  not  belong  to  the 
same  household  with  you  ;  pretending  to  take  man  in  the  sense 
of  '  servant,'  as  two  lines  below. 

55.  Marry,  ..  follower,  I'll  swear  he  will  be  ready  enough  to 
follow  you  to  the  field  of  combat,  if  you  care  to  show  him  the 
way  ;  for  the  definite  article  omitted  in  adverbial  phrases,  see 
Abb.  §  90. 


158  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  ni. 

56.  Your  worship,  said  ironically. 

57.  tlie  hate.  This  is  the  reading  of  the  first  quarto  ;  the  re- 
maining quartos  and  the  folios  give  "the  love,"  which  some 
editors  prefer.  But  an  antithesis  to  Romeo's  emphatic  "  love," 
two  lines  lower,  seems  to  be  plainly  intended. 

57,  8.  can  afford  ...tMs,  will  not  allow  me  to  use  any  better 
term. 

60,1.  the  appertaining ...  greeting,  the  rage  which  would 
otherwise  belong  to,  be  the  necessary  consequence  of,  such  an 
insolent  address  ;  for  otlier  instances  of  transposition  of  ad- 
jectival phrases,  see  Abb.  §  419a. 

63.  Boy,  used  as  a  term  of  contempt,  and  not  necessarily  in- 
dicating seniority  in  tlie  speaker  ;  the  injuries,  the  insult  you 
have  put  upon  me  (in  coming  uninvited  to  Capulet's  feast)  ;  for 
injuries,  in  this  sense,  op.  iii.  //.  VI.  iv.  1.  107,  "  But  wliat  said 
Warwick  to  these  injuries?"  i.e.  the  insulting  words  used  by  the 
queen. 

66.  devise,  imagine,  conceive. 

68.  tender,  hold  dearly,  cherish  ;  F.  tendre,  adjective,  tender. 

71.  Alia  . .  away,  an  appeal  to  the  sword  wins  the  day ;  stoccata 
is  the  Italian  term  for  a  thrust  of  a  sword,  and  Alia  means  '  to 
the,'  the  phrase  being  equivalent  to  our  'Come  on,'  said  as  a 
challenge.  I  take  the  line  to  refer  to  Romeo's  declining  the 
combat,  as  though  Mercutio  had  said  '  See,  a  challenge  is  enough 
to  cow  Romeo,'  not  to  refer  to  what  Mercutio  himself  is  going  to 
do,  i.e.  fight  with  Tybalt.  The  stage  direction  in  the  margin, 
Drawfi,  is  not  found  in  the  old  copies,  but  was  first  inserted  by 
Capell,  and  is  perhaps  not  necessary.  For  carries  it  away,  cp. 
Haml.  ii.  2,  377,  "Do  the  boys  carry  it  mcay?"  i.e.  get  the 
better  in  the  contest,  win  the  day. 

72.  rat-catcher.  See  note  on  ii.  4.  18:  will  you  walk?  will  you 
go  with  me  to  a  spot  where  we  can  decide  our  differences  by  the 
sword  ? 

74.  your  nine  lives,  in  allusion  to  the  nine  lives  that  a  cat  is 
said  to  have. 

75.  to  make  bold  withal,  to  take  the  liberty  of  ending. 

75,  6.  and,  as  you  shall . . .  eight,  and  according  as  opportunity 
serves,  to  cudgel  soundly  the  remaining  eight  ;  as  you  shall  use 
me,  according  as  you  treat  me  when  I  have  put  an  end  to  one  of 
your  nine  lives,  i.e.  unless  I  find  you  more  than  a  match  for  me, 
which  I  have  no  fear  of  ;  for  dry-beat,  cp.  below,  iv.  5.  126,  "I 
will  dry-heat  you  with  an  iron  wit  ";  and  C.  E.  ii.  2.  63,  "  Lest 
it  make  you  choleric  and  purchase  me  another  dry  hasting  ",•  the 
idea  being  that  of  beating  something  moist  until  all  the  moisture 
is  expelled  fi'om  it. 


SCENE  I.]  NOTES.  159 

77.  pilcher,  scabbard  ;  probablj'  for  pilch,  a  leathern  garment, 
a  garment  made  of  skins  ;  Lat.  peUicens,  made  of  skins.  The 
word  is  not  fonnd  elsewhere  in  this  sense,  and  it  has  been  con- 
jectured that  the  final  -er  is  a  printer's  addition,  or  a  mistake  for 
pilrh,  sir ;  so  Dekker,  Satiromastix,  "  how  thou  amblest  in 
leather  pikh  by  a  play-waggon  " :  ears,  hilts,  which  stood  out 
from  the  blade  as  ears  do  from  the  head  ;  used  also  for  the 
handles  of  a  jug,  as  in  T.  S.  iv.  4.  52,  "  Pitchers  have  ears,"  with 
a  quibble. 

77,  8.  lest  mine  ...  out,  lest  you  find  mine  a  good  deal  too  close 
to  your  head  before  you  have  drawn  your  sword. 
79.  I  am  for  you,  I  am  ready  to  meet  you. 

81.  your  passado,  let  me  see  you  make  a  thrust,  a  pass  ;  see 
above,  ii.  4.  26. 

83.  for  shame,  you  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourselves. 

85.  bandying,  exchanging  of  blows,  fighting ;  see  note  on 
ii.  5.  14. 

Stage  Direction,  under  Romeo's  arm,  i.e.  Romeo  having 
rushed  between  them  to  part  them,  Tybalt  aims  a  blow  at 
Mercutio,  the  sword  passing  under  Romeo's  arm. 

87.  I  am  sped,  I  am  done  for,  my  business  is  settled  :  cp.  M.  V. 
ii.  9.  72,  "  So  be  gone  :  you  are  sped,"  i.e.  you  have  got  your  dis- 
missal. The  original  sense  of  '  speed  '  is  '  success,'  then  '  a  hasty 
issue. ' 

88.  and  hath  nothing,  without  any  hurt. 

90.  villain,  not  used  in  the  same  strong  sense  as  at  present  ; 
the  original  meaning  being  '  a  farm-servant ' ;  here  =  '  you  rogue,' 
said  good  humouredly. 

94.  a  grave  man.  With  a  pun  on  '  grave  '  =  tomb,  a  pun  which 
Marston  borrows  in  The  Insatiate  Countess,  v.  2.  65  :  tomorrow. 
In  Italy,  as  in  all  hot  climates,  the  funeral  follows  closely  upon 
death:  I  am  peppered,  ...world,  as  regards  this  world  I  am 
finished  off;  cp.  i.  H.  IV.  ii.  4.  212,  "I  have  peppered  two  of 
them  ;  two  I  am  sure  I  have  paid,  two  rogues  in  buckram  suits." 

96,  7.  a  dog  ...  death  !  to  think  that  I  should  meet  my  death 
at  the  hands  of  a  wretched  fellow  like  Tybalt  ! 

97,8.  that  fights  ...  arithmetic,  that  is  a  mere  calculating 
assassin  ;  referring  to  the  fact  that  Tybalt  had  taken  the  oppor- 
tunity of  Romeo's  being  between  them  to  aim  a  cowardly  blow 
at  him  and  then  to  fly. 

98,  9.  Why  the  devil ...  arm,  i.e.  if  you  had  not  so  oflSciously 
interfered,  I  sliould  liave  killed  him  instead  of  his  killing  me. 

100.  I  thought ...  best,  I  did  wliat  I  thought  was  for  the  best. 

103.   I  have  it,  I  am  done  for  ;  like  the  Lat.  habet,  he  has  it, 


160  -  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iti. 

said  when  a  fatal  blow  was  given  in  the  gladiatorial  shows  at 
Rome  ;  see  note  on  ii.  4.  24. 

104.  your  houses !  curse  your  families,  and  their  quarrels 
which  have  brought  me  to  this  pass  !  On  Merciitio's  death 
Hallam  remarks,  "  It  seems  to  have  been  necessary  to  keep  down 
the  other  characters  that  they  might  not  overpower  the  principal 
one  ;  and  though  we  can  by  no  means  agree  with  Dryden,  that  if 
Shakespeare  had  not  killed  Mercutio,  Mercutio  would  have 
killed  him,  there  might  have  been  some  danger  of  his  killing 
Romeo.  His  brilliant  vivacity  shows  the  softness  of  the  other  a 
little  to  a  disadvantage." 

105.  near  ally,  near  relation  ;  in  the  dramatis  personae  he  is 
described  as  a  "  kinsman  of  the  prince." 

106.  My  very  friend,  my  true,  close,  friend. 

108.  Tybalt's  slander.     His  slanderous  accusation  in  1.59  above. 

108,  9.  that  an  hour  . . .  kinsman,  who,  by  my  marriage  with 
Juliet,  has  only  just  become  my  kinsman. 

111.  And  in  my ...  steel,  and  melted  the  courage  of  my  tempera- 
ment. Though  here  the  result  is  that  of  softening,  there  is  in 
my  temper  probably  an  allusion  to  the  tempering  of  steel,  i.e. 
hardening  by  cooling  it. 

113.  hath  aspired  the  clouds,  has  been  wafted  to  heaven ;  for 
aspire  without  a  preposition,  Malone  quotes  Marlowe's  Tamher- 
laine,  "  And  both  our  souls  asipire  celestial  thrones."  So  Faire 
Em,  i.  68,  "And  to  aspire  that  bliss  ...  Thyself  and  I  will  travel 
in  disguise "  ;  for  prepositions  omitted  after  verbs  of  motion, 
see  Abb.  §  198. 

114.  Which  too...  earth,  prematurely  scorning  to  remain  on 
earth. 

115.  doth  depend,  hangs  over  like  an  ominous  cloud,  and  pre- 
sages other  evils  to  come. 

116.  others,  other  calamities. 

119.  respective  lenity,  gentleness  that  pays  any  respect  to,  has 
any  regard  for,  considerations  of  kinsmanship  ;  for  respective, 
cp.  K.  J.  i.  1.  188,  "  'Tis  too  respective  and  too  sociable  for  your 
conversion." 

120.  my  conduct,  my  guiding  principle  ;  cp.  below,  v.  .*).  116, 
"  Come,  bitter  conduct,  come  unsavoury  guide,"  said  of  the 
poison  Romeo  is  about  to  drink. 

121.  take  ...again,  I  hurl  back  in  your  teeth  the  word  'villain' 
with  which  just  now  you  slandered  me. 

122-4.  for  Mercutio's  soul ...  company.  Cp.  H.  V.  iv.  6.  15-7, 
"  Tarry,  dear  cousin  Suffolk  !    My  soul  shall  thine  keep  company 


SCENE  I.]  NOTES.  161 

to  heaven  ;  Tarry,  sweet  soul,  for  mine,  then  fly  abreast,"  said  by 
York  on  Suffolk's  death  in  battle. 

126.  consort,  accompany. 

127.  Shalt  with  him,  shall  accompany  him. 

129.  are  up,  are  in  a  state  of  commotion. 

130.  will  doom  thee  death,  will  condemn  you  to  death. 

132.  fortune"s  fool,  the  sport  of  fortune  ;  cp.  i.  H.  IV.  v.  4.  81, 
' '  But  thought 's  the  slave  of  life,  and  life 's  time's  fool. " 

135.  Up,  sir,  come  along,  make  haste  ;  cp.  M.  W.  iii.  3.  179, 
^'Up,  gentlemen,  you  shall  see  some  sport  anon:  follow  me, 
gentlemen. " 

136.  obey,  to  obey  ;  dependent  on  I  charge  thee. 

138.  discover,  show,  relate. 

139.  manage,  course  and  conduct. 

144.  as  thou  art  true,  I  call  upon  you  in  the  name  of  your 
justice. 

149.  spoke  him  fair,  used  fair  words  to  him,  tried  to  turn  away 
his  wrath  by  conciliatory  words. 

150.  nice,  trivial,  petty  ;  R.  III.  iii.  7.  175,  "But  the  respects 
thereof  are  nice,  and  trivial." 

150,  1.  urged  withal  ...  displeasure,  and  further  pointed  out 
how  by  quarrelling  they  would  incur  your  deep  displeasui'e. 

153.  take  truce  with,  obtain  peace  ;  cp.  K.  J.  iii.  1.  17,  "  With 
my  vex'd  spirits  I  cannot  take  a  truce." 

154.  but  that  he  tilts,  and  prevent  him  from  tilting. 
156.  all  as  hot,  equally  passionate. 

157,8.  beats  ...  aside,  put  aside,  foils,  the  deadly  thrust  of 
Tybalt's  sword. 

159,  60.  whose  dexterity  ...  it,  who  dexterously  turns  it  back 
upon  him  :  Romeo  he,  for  the  redundant  pronoun  after  a  proper 
name,  see  Abb.  §  243. 

164.  envious,  malignant:  hit  the  life  . . .  Mercutio,  mortally 
wounds  Mercutio. 

167.  Who  had  ...  revenge,  into  whose  breast  the  thought  of 
revenge  had  only  just  entered,  i.e.  on  hearing  of  Mercutio's  death. 

173.  Aflfection  makes  him  false,  his  love  for  Komeo  and  his 
friend  Mercutio  makes  him  partial  in  his  story. 

174,  5.  Some  twenty  ...  life,  i.e.  it  was  no  fair  fight  as  Benvolio 
would  make  out,  but  a  treacherous  attack  made  upon  Tybalt  Ijy 
a  number  of  Romeo's  followers. 

179.  Who  now...  owe?  who  must  be  made  to  pay  the  price  of  his 
death  ? 


162  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  hi. 

181.  His  fault  ..  end,  his  fault  (in  taking  upon  him  to  avenge 
Mercutio's  death  instead  of  leaving  punishment  to  the  law)  has 
merely  ended  that  life  which  would  ha^  e  been  cut  short  by  the 
ordinary  course  of  justice. 

184.  I  have  ..  proceeding,  the  course  which  the  hatred  between 
you  has  taken  has  afiected  me  personally. 

185.  My  Wood,  he  who  was  my  blood  relation ;  cp. ./.  C.  i.  1.  56, 
"And  do  you  now  strew  flowers  in  his  way  That  comes  in  triumph 
over  Pompey's  hlood  ?  "  i.e.  Pompey's  sons  :  a-bleeding,  the  prefix 
is  the  preposition  OM,  i.e.  in  the  act  of  bleeding ;  as  in  0th.  iv.  1. 188, 
"  I  would  have  him  nine  years  a-killing."     See  Abb.  §  24. 

186.  amerce,  fine,  mulct,  punish  ;  Lat.  merces,  reward,  used  in 
the  sense  of  punishment :  strong,  heavy,  powerful  in  the  effect  it 
will  produce. 

187.  the  loss.     Allen  conjectures  '  ^A«s  loss.' 

189.  purchase  out,  buy  out,  redeem  ;  so  K.  J.  iii.  1.  164, 
"  Dreading  the  curse  that  money  may  bity  out"  ;  out  having  the 
intensive  force  of  doing  a  thing  completely. 

192.  attend  our  will,  be  observant  of  our  decision. 

193.  pardoning,  when  it  pardons. 


Scene  II. 

2.  Phoebus'  lodging,  the  western  ocean.     Malone  thi 
Shakespeare  probably  had  in  mind  Marlowe's  Edward 
42-6,    "  Gallop   apace,   bright    Phoebus,   through  the 
dusky  night,  in  rusty  iron  car.  Between  you  both  shorten 
time,  I  pray,  That  I  may  see  that  most  desired  day,  When  we 
may  meet  these  traitors  in  the  field." 

3.  Phaethon.  The  son  of  Helios  (the  Sun-God),  who,  when 
allowed  for  one  day  to  drive  his  father's  chariot  across  the 
hea\'«ns,  drove  so  furiously  that  the  horses  rushed  out  of  the 
usual  track,  and  came  so  near  the  earth  as  almost  to  set  it  on 
fire. 

6.  runaways'  eyes.  The  emendations  and  their  explanations  of 
this  phrase  occupy  twenty-eight  pages  of  small  print  in  Furness's 
quarto  edition  of  this  play.  Of  those  emendations,  if  emenda- 
tion was  necessary,  the  more  reasonable  are  runagates,  rude 
day's,  Luna's,  sunny  day's,  noonday  s,  sxm-aweary :  but  no 
emendation  seems  required.  The  latest  contribution  to  the 
discussion  is  by  Professor  Hales,  in  Longman's  Magazine  for 
February,  1892,  from  which  I  take  the  following  extracts  : 
"  Surely  the  words  '  untalked  of  and  unseen '  show  that  by  the 
much  disputed  word  in  the  preceding  line  is  meant  some  spying 
busybody,   some  tale-telling  lounger,   some  impertinent  tattler, 


SCENE  II.]  NOTES.  163 

who,  if  the  night  were  clear,  ■woiihl  mark  the  lover  making  for 
liis  love,  and  officiously  report  what  he  had  seen  up  and  down 
the  town.  ...  Juliet's  fear  is  natural  enough.  Some  scandal- 
niongering  Montagu  might  be  hovering  around  the  premises  as 
her  bridegroom  drew  near.  By  night  and  day  Paul  Prys  and 
Peeping  Toms,  and  such  gentry,  are  hanging  al)0ut  the  streets, 
prowling  quidnuncs,  self-appointed  inquisitors,  indefatigable 
gossips,  zealous  eavesdroppers,  listening  and  peeping  and  sneak- 
ing      Evidently    if    '  runaway es'   can   denote   this    species    of 

creature,  it  would  make  capital  sense  in  the  speech  of  Juliet 
that  concerns  us."  Professor  Hales  then  proceeds  to  illustrate 
tlie  word  by  a  passage  from  Spenser's  '  Epithalamion,'  a  poem  of 
about  the  same  date  with  Romeo  and  Juliet.  "These  are 
Spenser's  lines — he,  like  Juliet,  is  apostrophizing  Night : 

Spread  thy  broad  wing  over  my  love  and  me, 

That  no  man  may  us  see  ; 

And  in  thy  sable  mantle  us  enwrap 

From  fear  of  peril  and  foul  horror  free. 

'  That  no  man  may  us  see  '  seems  exactly  to  equate  *  that  run- 
awayes  ej'es  may  wink.'"  ISIentioning  that,  since  he  himself 
noticed  the  parallelism,  Dr.  Mommsen  had  also  observed  it,  but 
prefeiTed  Collier's  conjecture  'enemies,'  Professor  Hales  con- 
tinues, "And  now  as  to  this  word  '  runawayes.'  First,  let  me 
remark,  it  ought  probably  to  be  printed  in  our  modern  English 
'  runaways','  not  '  runaway's' ;  that  is,  it  should  be  parsed  as  a 
genitive  plural.  In  the  next  place,  it  is,  I  believe,  in  the  sense 
we  are  considering  a  dtiral  Xe^ofJievov,  not  only  in  Shakespeare, 
but  in  English  literature.  It  must  be  remembered,  however, 
that  this  is  not  a  fatal  fact ;  there  ai'e  analogous  cases.  And  the 
question  rather  to  be  asked  is,  whether  there  is  any  internal 
reason  why  it  should  not  bear  the  meaning  we  have  in  view. 
Now  airai/  in  our  language,  besides  signifying  '  from '  or  '  off,' 
signifies  also  \igorously,  incessantly.  Observe  the  colloquial 
phrases,  '  he  talked  away,'  '  fire  au-ay,'  etc.  And  so  a  'runaway' 
might  well  denote  not  only  a  fugitive,  as  of  course  it  commonly 
does,  but  also  one  that  is  perpetually  running,  that  is  always 
a-foot,  that  runs  to  and  fro....  It  is  undeniable  that  'away'  in 
rnnavay  might  have  such  a  force.  And  if  the  word  is  not 
actually  found  elsewhere  with  such  a  meaning,  it  is  certainly 
found  "in  combinations  that  suggest  it,  and  certainly  there  are 
kindred  formations  that  countenance  it.  Thus  King  Richard  III. 
V.  iii.  315. 

Remember  whom  you  have  to  cope  withal : 
A  sort  of  vagabonds,  rascals,  and  runnrcayfi, 
A  scum  of  Britons,  and  base  lackey  peasants, 
Whom  their  o'ercharged  country  vomits  forth 
To  desperate  ventures  and  assured  destruction. 


164  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  hi. 

...  Hunter,  who  understood  runaways  in  the  sense  adopted  in 
this  paper,  pointed  out  a  late  autliority  for  it  in  Dyche's  Dic- 
tionary, 1735:  'Runagate  or  Runaway,  a  rover,  a  wanderer.'" 
Space  does  not  admit  of  my  quoting  several  apt  illustrations 
from  parallel  phrases  in  classical  and  early  English  literature, 
which  _  Professor  Hales  has  adduced  ;  but  I  may  add  that  the 
retention  of  ruimawayes  has  the  powerful  support  of  Professor 
Dowden,  who,  in  his  Shakespeare,  His  Mind  and  Art,  p.  135, 
edn.  of  1875,  compares  for  an  echo  of  sense  and  speech,  M.  V.  ii. 
6.  46,  "  Jessica.  Love  is  blind,  and  lovers  cannot  see  The  pretty 
follies  that  themselves  commit. ...  Lorenzo.  But  come  at  once; 
For  the  close  night  doth  play  the  runaway. " 

8.  thou  day  in  night,  you  (sc.  the  night)  who  will  be  to  me 
bright  with  all  delight. 

9.  thou,  i.e.  in  efifect,  the  happiness  which  Romeo's  coming 
will  bring,  which  is  synonymous  and  coeval  with  Romeo's 
coming. 

11.  black-brow'd  night,  night  which  though  frowning  in  look 
is  so  welcome  in  Juliet's  eyes.  Steevens  compares  K.  J.  v.  6. 
17,  "  Why,  here  walk  I,  in  the  black  brow  of  night." 

13.  cut  him  ...  stars,  cut  him  out  into  patterns  or  shapes  of 
stars. 

14.  fine,  bright,  resplendent. 

16.  garish,  glaring;  literally  'staring';  cp.  II  Penseroso,  141, 
"Hide  me  from  day's  garish  eye." 

18.  But  not  possess'd  it,  but  not  yet  entered  upon  possession  : 
though  I  am  sold,  though  Romeo  has  purchased  me  at  the  price 
of  his  love. 

20-2.  As  is  the  night ...  them.     Cp.  M.  N.  D.  i.  \.  3-6. 

24.   But  Romeo's  name,  merely  his  name,  that  single  avoixI. 

28.  well-a-day.  A  corruption  of  walaiva,  an  intei-jection  made 
up  of  two  interjections  ira  and  la,  which  was  gradually  modified 
into  the  feebler  form  'well-away,'  and  then  into  'well-a-day.' 
In  Per.  iv.  4.  49,  the  word  is  used  as  a  substantive.  Decker 
writes  ivellada,  as  well  as  hoida  or  hoyda  for  the  later  'hey-day.' 

31.   envious,  malicious,  cruel ;  as  more  usually  in  Shakespeare. 

31,  2.  Romeo  ...  cannot,  the  mischief  is  not  heaven's  doing, 
but  Romeo's. 

34.  What  devil  . . .  thus  ?  surely  you  must  be  a  devil  to  cause 
me  the  tortures  of  the  damned  by  exclaiming  '  Romeo,'  '  Romeo,' 
and  keeping  me  in  this  suspense. 

35.  should  be  roar'd  . . .  hell,  hell  with  its  outcries  of  the  tor- 
tured would  be  the  fitting  place  for  exclamations  that  torture 
me  so. 


scEXE  II.]  NOTES.  165 

36.    '  I, '  formerly  the  adverb  '  ay '  =  yes,  was  frequently  written 

38.  cockatrice,  a  fabulous  creature,  said  to  be  from  the  egg 
of  a  cock,  and  having  the  form  of  a  serpent  with  a  cock's  head, 
which  was  supposed  to  kill  with  its  mere  look.  Sometimes 
identified  with  the  basilisk. 

39.  I  am  not ...  an  I,  I  am  a  dead  woman  if  it  is  possible  that 
you  should  answer  in  the  affirmative  as  to  Romeo  having  slain 
himself. 

40.  Or  tbose  eyes  ...  'I,'  or  if  those  eyes  are  closed  in  death, 
and  thus  oblige  you  to  answer  in  the  affirmative  ;  with  a  further 
pun  on  eyes  and  /. 

42.  Brief  sounds  ...  woe,  let  brief  sounds  (i.e.  a  single  word) 
show  whether  I  am  happy  or  miserable,  whether  Romeo  is  alive 
or  dead. 

44.  God  save  the  mark  !  This  expression,  which  occurs  again 
in  i.  H.  IV.  i.  3.  56,  Ofh.  i.  1.  33,  and  with  the  variation  "God 
bless  the  mark  ! "  in  M.  V.  ii.  2.  25,  T.  G.  iv.  4.  21,  has  never 
been  fully  explained.  Schmidt,  it  is  true,  has  seen  that  the 
reference  is  to  personal  blemishes,  tokens,  as  they  were  called, 
which  were  considered  ominous,  and  that  the  phrases  "God 
bless  the  mark,"  "God  save  the  mark,"  were  used  to  avert  the 
evil  omen  ;  but  in  giving  the  words  ' '  saving  your  reverence, 
under  your  pardon,"  as  its  equivalent,  he  somewhat  misses  its 
force.  To  a  friend,  learned  in  Irish  ways  and  Irish  folk-lore,  I 
owe  the  following  fuller  account  of  the  superstition.  "The 
superstition  of  the  evil  eye,"  he  says,  "which  was  originally  a 
purely  eastern  one,  is  still  prevalent  among  the  Keltic  population 
of  Ireland.  If  a  child  is  born  with  any  peculiar  mark  on  the 
skin  of  the  leg,  face,  arm,  etc.,  it  is  customary  for  the  midwife 
to  touch  it,  saying  '  God  bless  the  mark  ! '  Also,  later  on  in 
life,  if  any  one  laughs  at  such  a  mark,  and  the  person  who  has 
the  mark  falls  ill,  it  is  firmly  V^elieved  that  the  illness  is  the 
result  of  the  evil  eye.  In  the  year  1867  I  knew  a  peasant's  child 
who  had  a  red  mark  on  his  arm.  He  was  playing  about  when 
a  woman  observed  this  mark  and  laughed  at  it.  A  few  days 
later  the  child  fell  sick,  and  the  father  went  to  the  woman  and 
accused  her  of  '  making  a  bad  eye  '  (I  translate  the  Irish  idiom) 
on  the  child.  He  then  told  her  that  unless  she  came,  spat  on 
the  mark,  and  said  '  God  bless  the  mark  ! '  he  would  bring  her 
before  the  bench  of  magistrates.  On  her  refusal,  they  came 
liefore  my  father  who,  to  satisfy  both  parties,  bade  the  woman 
do  as  the  man  had  asked  her.  Accordingly  the  woman  went, 
spat  on  the  place,  crossed  herself,  and  said  '  God  bless  the  mark  ! ' 
The  child  recovered,  as  he  would  have  done,  of  course,  without 
this  ceremony,  and  the  woman,  having  got  the  name  of  the  '  evil 


166  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iii. 

eye,'  left  the  neighbovirhood.  This  treatment  for  bemg  'over- 
looked,' as  they  call  it,  has  been  in  the  country  from  time  im- 
memorial, and  I  have  no  doubt  gave  rise  to  the  expression  '  God 
bless,  or  save,  the  mark  ! ' "  Allusion  to  some  such  ceremony 
seems  to  be  made  in  a  line  in  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  (?)  play 
of  The  Noble  Gentleman,  iv.  4.  93,  '^  God  bless  the  mark,  and 
every  good  man's  child  !  " 

47.  gore-blood.  "That  is,  clotted,  congealed  blood. ...  As  the 
nurse  says  of  Tybalt,  'all  in  gore-blood,'  exactly  so  would  an 
East  Anglian  nurse  say  on  a  like  occasion.  Or,  j^erliaps,  '  all  of 
a  gore,'  or  'all  of  a  r/oj-e  o/ blood '"  (Forby).  Halliwell  quotes 
Vicars's  Virgil,  1632,  "Whose  hollow  wound  vented  much  l)lack 
gore-bloud."  swounded,  swooned;  swound  is  a  form  frequently 
found  in  the  old  copies  of  Shakespeare,  and  swounded  is  perhaps 
an  intentional  vulgarism  here. 

50.  Vile  earth,  sc.  her  own  body  :  resign,  sc.  yourself. 

51.  press  ...  bier,  make  heavy  by  your  weight  a  single  bier; 
bier,  is  the  frame  on  which  a  coffin  is  borne  ;  from  the  same 
root  as  hear. 

55.  What  storm  ...  contrary?  What  storm  is  this  that  blows 
at  tlie  same  time  from  two  such  opposite  directions?  what 
calamity  is  this  of  such  a  double  and  different  nature? 

58.  trumpet,  sc.  of  the  Archangel,  to  be  blown  on  the  Day  of 
Judgement. 

61.  he  is  banished,  for  the  redundant  pronoun  after  a  jiroper 
name,  see  Ahh.  243. 

64.  0  serpent ...  face.  Cp.  Much.  i.  5.  66,  7,  "look  like  the  inno- 
cent _^o«'er.  But  be  the  serpent  under  it";  iii.  H.  VI.  i.  4.  1.37, 
"  0  tiger's  heart  wrapt  in  a  woman's  hide  ! " 

65.  keep,  inhabit,  occupy  ;  very  frequent  in  Shakespeare,  and 
still  in  use  in  the  universities,  where  a  man  is  said  to  '  keep '  in 
such  and  such  rooms. 

68.  Despised,  hateful ;  cp.  above,  i.  4.  110,  and  below,  iv.  5.  59  : 
show,  appearance. 

71.  what  hadst  ...  hell,  what  were  you  busy  about  in  hell,  and 
how  came  you  to  be  there,  as  you  must  have  been  ? 

72.  bower,  enclose ;  the  substantive  originally  means  a  place  to 
dwell,  a  cliamber,  then  more  commonly  a  shady  recess  formed  l)y 
trees  and  shrubs,  a  sense  here  implied  in  allusion  to  paradise,  i.e. 
a  pleasure-ground,  garden,  particularly  the  garden  of  Eden. 

74,  5.  Was  ever  . . .  bound.     For  this  metaphor,  see  above,  i.  8.  67. 

75,  6.  O,  that  deceit ...  palace  !  Cp.  TemjJ.  i.  2.  457,  "  There's 
nothing  ill  can  dwell  in  such  a  temple " ;  said  by  Miranda  of 
Ferdinand. 


SCENE  11.]  NOTES.  167 

78.  All  perjured  ...  forsworn.  With  Daniel,  I  have  substituted 
Fleay's  conjecture  for  the  reading  of  the  old  copies,  "  All  per- 
jui'ed,  all  forsworn,  all  naught,  all  dissemblers." 

79.  man,  servant:  aqua  vitse,  brandy,  or  'strong  waters'  of 
some  kind. 

84:.  may  be  crown'd,  may  fitly  be  crowned,  need  not  blush  to  be 
crowned. 

89.  smooth  thy  name,  restore  to  its  former  state  after  being 
mangled  by  my  cruel  words  ;  cp.  above,  i.  5.  98. 

92.  That  villain . . .  husband,  I  sufficiently  answer  my  own 
accusing  question  when  I  say  that  that  villain  cousin  sought  my 
husband's  death. 

93.  foolish  tears.  Steevens  compares  Miranda's  words,  Temp. 
iii.  1.  73,  "  I  am  a  fool  to  weep  at  what  I  am  glad  of." 

94.  Your  tributary  . . .  woe,  your  drops  are  properly  due  to  woe ; 
in  tributary  and  belong  together  there  is  something  of  redun- 
dancy. 

98.  All  this  is  comfort,  there  is  nothing  in  this  but  what  should 
give  me  comfort. 

99.  worser,  in  form  a  double  comparative. 

101.  presses,  forces  itself  upon,  thrusts  itself  into. 

105.  Hath  slain  ...  Tybalts,  outweighs  to  me  the  death  of  ten 
thousand  Tybalts  ;  is  sufficient  to  make  me  acquiesce  in  the  death 
of  ten  thousand  such  relatives  as  Tybalt. 

108.  And  needly . . .  griefs,  and  demands  to  have  some  companion 
calamity  ;  needly,  not  elsewhere  used  by  Shakespeare. 

109,  10.  Why  foUow'd  ..  both,  why  did  she  not  follow  up  her 
news  by  saying  that  my  father,  or  my  mother,  or  both,  were  dead. 

111.  Which  modern  ...  moved,  news  which  might  have  called 
forth  ordinary  lamentation  ;  modern,  always  used  by  Shakespeare 
in  the  sense  of  commonplace,  common,  trite  ;  cp.  e.f/.  A.  II.  ii.  .3.  2, 
"  we  have  our  philosophical  persons,  to  make  modern  and  familiar, 
things  supernatural  and  causeless";  Mach.  iv.  3.  170,  "where 
violent  sorrow  seems  A  modern  ecstasy ;  the  dead  man's  knell  Is 
there  scarce  ask'd  for  who." 

1 12.  a  rearward,  as  a  rear-guard,  as  something  supplementary ; 
cp.  M.  A.  iv.  1.  128,  "For,  did  I  think  thou  wbnldst  not  quickly 
die  ...  Myself  would,  on  the  rearward  of  reproaches,  Strike  at  thy 
life," i.e.  follow  up  my  reproaches  by  killing  you.  For  rearward 
Collier  conjectured  'rear-word,'  which  Lettsom  approves  and 
Hudson  adopts. 

117.  In  that  words  death,  in  the  death  that  is  comprised  in 
that  single  word  :  sound,  i.e.  adequately,  to  the  full  extent. 


168  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iir. 

120.  bring,  conduct. 

121.  Wash  they,  let  them  wash. 

123.  beguiled,  cheated  of  your  purpose,  rendered  useless. 

125.  made  you  for,  intended  you  for. 

127.  my  wedding-bed,  sc.  the  grave  ;  cp.  above,  i.  5.  133. 

132.  my  true  knight,  it  being  customaiy  in  the  days  of  chivalry 
for  ladies  to  adorn  their  lovers  with  some  mark  of  their  favour. 


Scene  III. 

1 .  fearful,  apparently  combining  the  sense  of  '  full  of  fear '  and 
of  '  terrible  '  in  consequence  of  the  awful  nature  of  his  calamities. 

4.  doom,  sentence. 

5,  6.  What  sorrow  . . .  not  ?  With  what  fresh  sorrow  am  I  to 
become  acquainted  ? 

8.  tidings,  news,  information  ;  used  by  Shakespeare  both  as  a 
singular  and  a  plural  noun  ;  literally  things  that  happen,  and  then 
information  about  such  things. 

9.  dooms-day,  death  ;  literally  the  day  of  death  ;  cp.  R.  III. 
V.  1.  12,  "  Why,  then,  All-Souls'  day  is  my  body's  dooms-day.'" 

10.  vanished.  The  nearest  approach  in  Shakespeare  to  the  word 
used  in  this  sense  is  in  Lucr.  1041,  "more  vent  for  passage  of  her 
breath  ;  Which,  thronging  through  her  lips,  so  I'an'mheth  As  smoke 
from  ^tna."  Heath  conjectured  issued,  and  it  seems  not  impos- 
sible that  the  word  was  caught  by  the  copyist  from  "banishment" 
in  the  line  below. 

16.  Be  patient   ..  wide,  cp.  B.  II.  i.  3.  275-93. 

17.  Verona  walls.  Cp.  J.  C.  i.  1.  63,  "Tiber  banks";  Otli. 
i.  1.  151,  "  Cyprus  wars,"  and  for  other  instances  of  substantives 
converted  into  adjectives,  see  Abb.  §  22. 

19.   Hence-banished,  to  be  hence  banished. 

21.  mis-term'd,  called  by  too  favourable  a  name  :  for  banished 
the  first  quarto  gi\es  baiushment,  which  many  editors  adopt.  For 
a  similar  insistence  on  a  single  word  as  in  the  case  of  "banished" 
here,  cp.  M.  V.  v.  1.  197-200,  K.  J.  iii.  1.  12-5  ;  B.  III.  i.  3.  292-4. 

22.  Thou  cutt'st ...  axe,  i.e.  you  merely  employ  an  euphemism. 

23.  And  smilest  ...  me,  and  look  cheerfully  upon  that  which  is 
death  to  me. 

25.  calls  death,  calls  a  capital  one. 

26.  rush'd  aside,  ^•iolently  thrust  aside  ;  the  word  is  common 
in  modern  parlance  in  the  phrase  to  '  rush  '  a  measure  through  a 
meeting. 


SCENE  III.]  NOTES.  169 

31.  every  unworthy  thing,  every  insignificant  creature  that 
has  no  claim  to  such  happiness. 

.^.3.  more  validity,  a  more  valid  title  to  honour,  a  greater 
privilege;  in  A.  H".  v.  3.  192,  "  Whose  .  rich  ra^/r///;/ Did  lack 
parallel,"  the  word  is  used  in  the  simpler  sense  of  value. 

34.  More  honourable  state,  a  higher  position  :  more  courtship, 
not,  it  seems  to  me,  'more  courtesy,'  as  is  generally  interpreted, 
but  'a  better  opportunity  for  wooing';  in  M.  V.  ii.  8.  44,  the 
word  means  '  courting,'" "  employ  your  chiefest  thoughts  To 
cou7iship  and  .such  fair  ostents  of  love"  ;  in  A.  Y.  L.  iii.  2.  364, 
the  senses  of  courtesy,  civility,  and  courting  are  blended  together, 
"an  old  religious  uncle  of  mine  ...  who  was  in  his  youth  an 
inland  man;  one  that  knew  courtship  well,  for  there  he  fell  in 
love  "  ;  and  in  this  blended  sense  Schmidt  takes  the  word  here. 

36.  the  -white  wonder ...  hand,  that  hand  of  Juliet's  so  won- 
drously  fair  ;  cp.  M.  X.  D.  iii.  2.  144,  "0  let  me  kiss  That 
princess  oj  pure  white,"  sc.  her  hand. 

38.  vestal,  see  note  on  ii.  2.  8  :  for  who,  personifying  an 
irrational  antecedent  ;  see  Abb.  §  264. 

39.  their  own  kisses,  sc.  M-hen  they  meet  each  other. 

40.  3.  But  Romeo  . . .  death.  The  old  copies  vary  considerably  in 
these  lines,  and  transpositions  and  omissions  have  been  employed 
by  the  editors  to  get  rid  of  the  repetition  involved  ;  I  follow  the 
text  and  order  of  lines  given  by  Grant  White,  Furness,  and 
Daniel. 

45.  No  sudden . . .  mean,  no  sudden  means  of  death,  however 
poor,  ignoble,  that  means  might  be.  Shakespeare  uses  both  the 
singular  and  the  plural  form  of  the  word  mean  and  the  plural 
form  as  a  singular  noun,  as  so  commonly  nowadays. 

48.  Howlings  attend  it,  it  is  accompanied  by  howls  and  groans ; 
cp.  iii.  2.  44. 

49.  a  divine,  a  man  of  priestly  office. 

52.   fond,  foolish  ;  see  note  on  ii.  2.  98. 

5.^.  Adversity's  sweet  milk,  the  food  that  sweetens  adversity  ; 
cp.  A.  Y.  L.  ii.  1.  12,  et  ^eqq. 

57.  Hang  up  philosophy  !  away  with  pliilosophy  !  throw  it 
aside  for  a  more  convenient  season. 

59.  Displant  a  town,  transplant  it  to  the  scene  of  my  exile, 
and  so  bring  .Juliet  with  it. 

60.  prevails  not,  is  of  no  use. 

02.  How  should  they,  how  is  it  to  be  expected  that  they  should 
have  ?  when  that,  for  the  conjunctional  affix,  see  Abb.  §  287. 

63.  Let  me  . . .  estate,  let  me  argue  with  you  as  to  the  position 
in  which  you  are  placed  by  being  exiled.     So,  W.  T.  iv.  4.  411, 


170  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  hi. 

"  can  he  speak  ?  hear  ?  Know  man  from  man  ?  dispute  his  own 
estate  ?  "  i.e.  reason  of  his  own  affairs,  but  perhaps  with  the  added 
sense  of  vindicating  his  right  to  what  he  possesses. 

70.  Taking . . .  grave,  lying  my  full  length  on  the  ground,  as  I 
soon  shall  do  in  my  grave.  Cp.  A.  Y.  L.  ii.  6.  2,  "  Here  lie  I 
down  and  measure  out  my  grave  ",•  Lear,  i.  4.  100,  "  If  you  will 
measure  your  htbher's  length  again,  tarry,"  i.e.  if  you  wish  to  be 
knocked  down  again. 

72.  Mist-like  ...  eyes,  cp.  above,  i.  1.  176. 

74.  Who's  there?  said,  like  "  Stay-a-while,"  "By-and-by,"  "I 
come,  I  come,"  in  the  following  lines,  to  the  person  knocking, 
whom  the  Friar  fancies  to  be  someone  come  to  arrest  Romeo. 

76.  study,  private  reading-room. 

77.  simpleness,  folly. 

79.  errand,  business  on  which  I  come,  message  that  I  bring ; 
the  ulterior  etymology  of  the  word  is  disputed,  though  we  get 
the  word  from  A.  S.  arende,  a  message,  business. 

85,  6.  0  woful ...  predicament.  The  old  copies  all  give  these 
words  to  the  Nurse,  the  present  arrangement  being  Farmer's. 
Delius  would  leave  them  with  the  Nurse,  on  the  ground  that 
throughout  this  and  the  followuig  scenes  the  readiness  of  the 
Friar  to  act  is  in  contrast  with  the  vain  wailings  of  the  Nurse 
and  Romeo.  But  such  language  seems  much  out  of  place  in  the 
Nurse's  mouth. 

87.  Blubbering,  weeping  copiously,  effusively,  the  radical  sense 
being  that  of  bul)l)ling  up  ;  generally  used  derisively.  The  sense 
of  weeping  till  the  face  swells  is  due  to  the  influence  of  the 
adjective  blubber  =  swollen. 

90.  so  deep  an  0,  such  cries 'of  affliction,  such  depths  of  de- 
spair ;  possibly,  from  the  words  fall  into,  with  the  idea  of  a  deep 
hole. 

92.  WeU,  ...  all,  well,  we  must  all  die  some  day, and  then  at  all 
events  our  troubles  will  be  at  an  end. 

94.  an  old  murderer,  a  confirmed  murderer  ;  but  said  for  the 
sake  of  the  antithesis  with  the  childhood  of  our  joy  in  the  next 
line. 

98.  My  conceal'd  lady,  ' '  my  lady,  whose  being  so,  together 
with  our  marriage  which  made  her  so,  is  concealed  from  the 
world  "  (Heath)  :  cancell'd,  rendered  void,  annulled  ;  originally  to 
obliterate  by  drawing  lines  over  a  writing  in  the  form  of  lattice- 
work, from  Lat.  cancellus,  a  grating. 

103.  deadly  level  of  a  gun,  gun  levelled  with  deadly  aim. 

106,  7.  In  what  part ...  lodge,  cp.  Ci/mb.  ii.  4.  19,  20,  "  Could  I 
find  out  The  woman's  part  in  me  !  ",  where  the  action  is  implied-; 


SCENE  m.]  NOTES.  171 

for  anatomy,  =  body,  cp.  T.  N.  iii.  2.  67,  "I'll  eat  the  rest  of 
the  anatomy,"  where,  as  here,  the  expression  is  a  scornful  one. 

108.  mansion.  Cp.  above,  iii.  2.  26,  wliere  Juliet  uses  with  such 
pride  a  term  that  in  Romeo's  mouth  is  here  so  disdainful. 

109.  cries  out,  proclaims. 

112.  Unseemly  ...  man,  whereby  you,  Avho  in  form  are  a  man, 
are  transformed  into  an  effeminate  woman,  a  transformation  that 
ill  becomes  you. 

113.  Or  ill-heseeming  ...  both,  or,  rather  I  should  call  you,  a 
hideous  animal,  partaking  the  form  of  a  man,  and  the  effeminate 
nature  of  a  woman  ;  with  the  idea  in  seeming  of  specious 
appearance. 

114.  amazed,  astounded  ;  literally  bewildered  :  order,  the 
religious  society  of  M'hich  he  was  a  member,  the  Franciscan 
Order  of  monks.     See  note  on  v.  2.  1. 

11-5.  temper 'd,  framed,  conditioned. 

116.  Hast  thou  ...  myself  ?  will  you  after  having  committed  one 
rash  crime,  now  commit  another  equally  rash  ? 

118.  damned  hate,  an  act  of  hatred  against  yourself  for  which 
you  will  consign  your  soul  to  perdition  ;  though  perhaps  damned 
means  no  more  than  accursed,  execrable. 

119.  Why  rail'st  ...  earth  ?  Probably,  as  Malone  remarks, 
Shakespeare  is  here  following  Brooke's  Eomeus  and  Jtdiet,  in 
which  such  railing  is  found,  though  Ulrici  suggests  that  the 
railing  may  be  supposed  to  have  taken  place  before  the  scene 
opens. 

120.  1.  all  three  ...  once,  all  have  a  share  in  you,  all  go  to  the 
making  up  of  you  :  lose,  hastily  throw  away. 

122.  wit,  good  sense. 

123.  Which,  though  you,  seeing  that  you. 

126.  is  but . . .  wax,  is  no  better  than  a  form  moulded  out  of  wax. 

127.  Digressing  from,  if  you  abandon. 

128.  Thy  dear  love  ...  perjury,  you  make  a  hollow  mockery  of 
the  oaths  you  have  so  solemnly  taken  (in  marriage). 

129.  that  love,  that  loved  one  :  cherish.  A  reference  to  the 
Marriage  Service  in  which  the  husband  swears  tiiat  he  takes  his 
wife  "  for  better,  for  worse,  for  richer  for  poorer,  in  sickness  and 
in  health,  to  love  and  to  cherish,  till  death  us  do  part." 

130.  1.  Thy  wit,  ...both,  that  good  sense  which,  if  properly 
used,  so  well  becomes  your  outwardly  comely  form  and  the 
passion  with  which  your  heart  is  hispired,  being  distorted  by  the 
way  in  which  you  employ  it  towards  yourself  and  your  heart's 
feelings. 


172  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  hi. 

132.  Like  powder  ...  flask.  "The  ancient  English  soldiers, 
using  7natch-\ocks  instead  of  locks  with  iiints,  were  obliged  to 
carry  a  lighted  match  hanging  at  their  belts,  very  near  to  the 
wooden  ^a.s^-  in  which  they  kept  their  powder  "  (Steevens). 

134.  dismemtoer'd,  utterly  destroyed  ;  in  a  literal  sense,  blown 
to  pieces  :  thine  own  defence,  that  which  should  be  your  pro- 
tection. 

135.  rouse  thee,  shake  off  this  morbid  despondency. 

1 36.  For  whose  . . .  dead,  for  desire  of  whom  you  were  lately  at 
the  point  of  death  ;  see  his  passionate  language  to  the  Friar,  ii.  3, 
or  perhaps  the  reference  may  be  to  words  supposed  to  be  spoken 
while  Romeo  was  in  hiding  at  the  Friar's  cell. 

137.  There,  in  that  matter  ;  would,  wished,  sought,  to. 

141.  A  pack  ...  back,  instead  of  a  burden  to  be  wearily  borne, 
a  shower  of  blessings  descends  upon  you  ;  so  T.  G.  iii.  1.  20,  "a 
pack  of  woes. " 

143.  misbehaved,  ill-mannered  ;  not  gratified  at  being  made 
love  to  by  happiness  in  all  its  bright  attire,  but  disdainful  and 
sulky. 

144.  pout'st  upon,  make  a  wry  face  at  ;  cp.  Co?:  v.  i.  52,  "  The 
veins  unfiU'd,  our  blood  is  cold,  and  then  We  pout  upon  the 
morning." 

146.  decreed,  determined  upon  between  you  ;  cp.  J/.  ^.  i.  3. 

35,  ' '  I  have  decraed  not  to  sing  in  my  cage. " 

147.  Ascend,  sc.  by  the  rope  ladder  :  hence,  be  off  at  once  ! 

148.  But  look  ...  not,  take  care  not  to  delay  :  the  watch,  tlie 
night  police  mIio  were  posted  at  a  certain  hour. 

149.  pass  to  Mantua,  make  your  way  out  of  the  city  to 
Mantua. 

150.  a  time,  a  suitable  opportunity. 

151.  To  blaze,  to  make  public,  proclaim  ;  originallj'  to  blow, 
as  with  a  trumpet. 

157.  Which  heavy  .  unto,  to  which  they  will  be  all  the  more 
disposed  on  account  of  their  sorrow  for  Tybalt. 

160.  what  learning  is  !  what  a  fine  thing  it  is  to  be  learned  ! 
The  omission  of  the  article  is  frequent  in  Shakespeare  in  ex- 
clamations of  astonishment,  etc.  ;  so  J.  C.  i.  3.  42,  "  Cassius, 
what  night  is  this  ? ",  i.e.  what  a  terrible  night  this  is  ;  Cymh.  iv. 
4.  35,  "what  thing  it  is  that  I  never  Did  see  man  die!",  i.e. 
what  a  disgrace  it  is  that  I  never  took  part  in  battle. 

165.  is  revived  by  this,  sc.  by  the  proof  she  had  given,  in 
sending  the  ring,  of  her  continued  love  in  spite  of  knoM'ing  that 
he  had  slain  Tybalt. 


SCENE  III.]  NOTES.  173 

166.  here  stands  ...  state,  this  is  the  position  in  which  you 
stand,  M-hat  you  must  do.  Johnson  explains,  "The  whole  of 
your  fortune  depends  on  this." 

170.  signify,  make  known  by  letter  or  messenger. 

173.  past  joy,  beyond  all  other  joy. 

1 74.  so  brief,  so  briefly,  with  such  few  words  of  farewell. 


Scene  IV. 

2.  move,  try  to  persuade. 
6.  promise,  assure. 

10.  know,  ascertain,  discover  ;  cp.  t.  3.  198. 

11.  she  is  mew'd  ...  heaviness,  she  is  a  prisoner  to  her  grief,  is 
alone  with  her  grief.  "  Meiv  is  the  place,  whether  it  be  abroad 
or  in  the  house,  in  which  the  Hawk  is  put  during  the  time  she 
casts,  or  doth  change  her  Feathers  "'  (R.  Holme's  Academy  of 
Ai-viory  and  Blazon,  quoted  by  Dyce,  Gloss.).  From  the  sub- 
stantive 7neiv,  from  which  comes  the  verb,  we  get  our  -word  yjieics 
-  stables,  original^  a  place  for  falcons. 

12.  3.  I  wiU  make...  love,  I  will  hazard  the  offer  of  my 
daughter's  love  without  waiting  to  learn  finally  what  her  in- 
clinations on  the  subject  are.  Paris  being  "  kinsman  to  the 
Prince,"  Capulet  is  anxious  to  secure  the  alliance. 

16.  my  son,  i.e.  son  in  law.  So  in  M.  A.  iv.  1.  27,  Claudio, 
betrothed  to  Hero,  calls  Leonato  "  Father"  before  the  marriage, 
and  Leonato  answers  him  as  "my  son";  in  T.  S.  ii.  1.  318, 
Petruchio  addresses  his  future  father-in-law,  "  Provide  the  feast, 
falher,"  and  five  lines  lower  down  says,  "  Father  and  icife,  and 
gentlemen,  adieu,"  it  being  then  customary  for  those  betrothed  to 
term  one  another  '  husband  '  and  '  wife  '  even  Ijefore  the  marriage 
ceremony,  and  consequently  their  future  parents-in-law  '  father ' 
and  '  mother. ' 

18.   soft,  gently  !  let  me  paiise  to  consider. 

21.  earl,  nobleman  ;  the  title  of  course  is  an  English,  not  an 
Italian,  one. 

23.  We  '11  . . .  ado,  we'll  not  make  much  fuss  about  the  matter, 
not  celebrate  the  marriage  with  any  great  feasting  :  ado,  troul)le, 
"properly  v.  i)if.  =  at  do,  which  was  the  fuller  form  ...  (1)  in-es. 
inf.  to  do;  ...  (2)  In  doing,  being  done  ;  at  work,  astir  ...  hence 
through  such  phrases  as  7nuch  ado,  etc.,  by  taking  the  adverbs 
as  adjectives  qualifj'ing  ado,  the  latter  was  viewed  as  a  sub- 
stantive" ...  (Murray,  En/j.  Diet.). 

25.  held  him  carelessly,  held  him  cheap,  did  not  sorrow  for 
him  as  much  as  we  should  have  done. 


174  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  hi. 

26.  Being  our  kinsman,  considering  that  he  was  a  relation. 

28.  And  thero  an  end,  and  that  is  sufficient. 

30.  get  you  gone.  "An  idiom  ;  that  is  to  say,  a  peculiar  form 
of  expression,  the  principle  of  which  cannot  be  carried  out 
beyond  the  particular  instance.  Thus  we  cannot  say  either 
Make  thee  gone  or  He  got  hiin  (or  himself)  gone.  Phraseologies, 
on  the  contrary,  which  are  not  idiomatic  are  paradigmatic,  or 
may  serve  as  models  or  moulds  for  otliers  to  any  extent.  All 
expression  is  divided  into  these  two  liinds"...  (Craik  on  </.  C.  ii. 
4.  2). 

32.  against,  in  anticipation  of,  so  that  slie  may  be  ready 
when  the  day  comes  ;  cp.  M.  N.  D.  iii.  2.  99,  "I  '11  charm  his 
eyes  against  she  do  appear."     The  use  is  now  colloquial  only. 

34.  Afore  me,  a  form  of  petty  oath,  by  my  soul ;  softened 
from  '  afore  God.' 

Scene  V. 

1.  Wilt  thou  be  gone,  are  you  determined  to  go? 

3.  That  pierced  ...  ear,  that  sounded  in  your  ear  and  made  you 
afraid,  i.e.  of  staying  here  too  late  to  make  your  escape  to 
Mantua. 

4.  pomegranate-tree.  Though  flourishing  in  England,  this 
tree  was  originally  brought  from  warmer  climates,  and  was 
particularly  abundant  in  Palestine.  Tlie  Romans  introduced  it 
into  Italy,  whence  it  spread  to  other  European  countries.  Tlie 
date  of  its  first  cultivation  in  England  is  uncertain,  though 
Chaucer  mentions  the  tree  in  his  Romaunt  of  the  Rose,  1356, 
"Of  ponie-garnetiys  a  fuUe  gret  delle."  In  England  its  fruit, 
though  handsome,  is  not  worth  eating.  Knight  is  informed  l)y 
a  friend  that  "throughout  his  journeys  in  the  East  he  never 
heard  such  a  choir  of  nightingales  as  in  a  row  of  pomegranate 
trees  that  skirt  tlie  road  from  Smyrna  to  Boudjia."  From  Lat. 
pomuniy  an  apple,  and  granatum,  filled  with  seeds.  Shakespeare, 
like  most  poets,  speaks  of  the  female  bird  as  singing  ;  though, 
as  he  no  doubt  well  knew,  it  is  tlie  male  bird  alone  tliat  sings, — 
he,  like  otliers,  being  mfluenced  by  the  myth  that  Philomela, 
daughter  of  King  Pandion,  was  metamorphosed  into  a  night- 
ingale. 

6.  herald,  cp.  V.  A.  531,  "The  owl,  night's  herald,  shrieks 
"Tis  very  late.'" 

7.  envious,  spiteful,  malignant. 

8.  Do  lace  ...  east,  crosses  with  bands  of  light  the  clouds  that 
part  at  its  advent ;  cp.  Haml.  ii.  2.  313,  "this  brave  o'erhanging 
firmament,  this  majestical  vooi  fretted  with  golden  fire." 


SCENE  v.]  NOTES.  175 

9.  Night's  candles,  the  stars;  cp.  Macb.  ii.  1.  4,  5,  "There's 
husbandry  in  heaven  ;  their  candles  are  all  out." 

10.  tiptoe,  eager  for  his  journey,  alert.  So  we  speak  of  being 
'on  the  tiptoe  of  expectation.' 

11.  I  must  ...  die,  if  I  am  to  live,  1  must  be  gone  ;  for,  if  I 
stay,  my  life  will  be  forfeit. 

13.  exhales,  draws  up  from  the  earth;  cp.  i.  H.  IV.  v.  1.  19, 
"And  he  no  more  an  exhaled  meteor"  ;  ii.  4.  352,  "My  lord  do 
you  see  these  meteors?  do  you  behold  these  exhalations?",  the 
belief  being  that  they  were  vapoiirs  which  the  sun  had  drawn 
up  from  the  earth  and  condensed. 

14.  torch-bearer.  Todd  compares  Sidney's  Arcadia,  "  The 
moon,  then  full,  not  thinking  scorn  to  be  a  torch-bearer  to  such 
beauty,  guided  her  steps." 

18.  so,  provided  that. 

20.  Cynthia's  brow.  Collier's  MS.  Corrector  gives  how  for  broio, 
which  is  a  very  tempting  conjecture,  Cynthia,  or  Diana  {i.e.  the 
moon)  being  generally  represented  with  her  bow.  Clarke  sup- 
poses the  allusion  to  be  to  the  crescent  moon  ujion  her  brow 
with  which  she  is  cla-ssically  represented. 

21.  Nor  .  not,  for  the  emphatic  double  negative,  see  Abb.  §  406 : 
beat,  strike  with  their  vibrations. 

23.  care,  desire  :  will,  determination. 

25.  my  soul !  addressed  to  Juliet. 

28.  Straining  . . .  sharps,  in  the  straining  of  her  voice  to  the 
highest  pitch,  producing  jarring  discords  and  notes  of  piercing 
shrillness  ;  discords  and  sharps,  both  technical  terms  in  music, 
tlie  former  "a  combination  of  notes  which  produces  a  certain 
restless  craving  in  the  mind  for  some  furtlier  coml)ination  upon 
which  it  can  rest  with  satisfaction";  the  latter  "a  term  which 
expresses  the  raising  of  a  note  by  a  less  quantity  than  a  whole 
tone.  F  sharp  is  half  a  tone  higher  than  F  natural :  a  singer 
'sang  sharp,'  that  is,  sang  slightly  higher  than  tlie  accompani- 
ment; 'the  pitch  was  sharpened,'  that  is,  was  slightly  raised" 
(Diet,  of  Music,  edited  by  Sir  George  Grove). 

29.  division,  "is  what  we  now  call  variation;  where  instead 
of  one  note,  two,  three,  or  more  notes  are  sung  to  one  syllable 
or  to  one  chord  "  (Staunton). 

31,  2.  Some  say...  too!  because  the  croaking  toad  would 
not  be  "the  herald  of  the  morn"  to  frighten  Romeo  away. 
"The  toad,"  says  Warburton,  "having  very  line  eyes,  and  the 
lark  very  ugly  ones,  was  the  occasion  of  a  common  saying  among 
the  people  that  the  toad  and  lark  had  changed  eyes." 


176  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  m. 

33.  Since  arm  . . .  afifray,  since  that  voice  frightens  us  from  our 
loving  embraces. 

34.  hunt's-up.  "Any  song  intended  to  arouse  in  the  morning, — 
even  a    love-song, — was    formerly    called    a    hunf,'s-up  ;  and  tlie 

-  name  was,  of  course,  derived  from  a  tune  or  song  employed  by 
early  hunters"  ...  (.Staunton). 

36.  More  light  ...  woes,  the  brighter  the  day  shines  forth,  the 
darker  fall  the  shadows  of  our  woes. 

40.  be  wary,  look  about,  take  heed  and  be  on  your  guard,  .sc. 
that  Romeo  should  not  be  discovered  ;  cp.  Lear,  iv.  7.  93,  '"Tis 
time  to  look  about ;  the  powers  of  the  kingdom  approach  apace." 

44,  5.  I  must  ...  days,  you  must  let  me  hear  from  you  every 
day  in  the  hour.  I  say  '  every  day  in  the  hour, '  for  a  minute  of 
your  absence  will  to  me  be  as  tedious  as  many  days  of  ordinary 
reckoning. 

46.  by  this  count  ...  years,  by  this  reckoning  I  shall  be  far 
advanced  in  years,  well  on  in  life. 

52.  I  doubt  it  not.  To  Daniel  "  it  seems  probable  that  the  I 
here  stands  for  the  affirmative  Ay,"  in  which  case  a  comma  will 
be  necessary  after  the  word.  The  first  quarto  reads  "  No  doubt, 
no  doubt,"  a  reading  which  confirms  the  conjecture, — to  me  a 
nearly  certain  one. 

54.  0  God  ! ...  soul.    Cp.  Romeo's  forebodings  above,  i.  4.  106-11. 

55.  now  thou  art  below,  now  that  he  has  descended  to  the 
ground. 

59.  Dry  sorrow  ...  blood.  Sighs  were  supposed  to  drain  the 
blood  from  the  heart  ;  cp.  ]\r.  N.  D.  iii.  2.  97,  "sighs  of  love, 
that  costs  the  fresh  blood  dear "  ;  ii.  H.  VI.  iii.  2.  63,  ' '  Look 
jjale  as  primrose  with  hlood-drinkimj  sighs." 

61.  what  dost...  him,  what  business  have  you  to  associate 
yourself  with  him  ?  you  and  he  are  no  fit  companions. 

66.  Is  she  not  . . .  early,  am  I  to  suppose  that  she  has  stayed 
downstairs  so  late  (i.e.  has  not  been  in  bed),  or  that  she  has  risen 
so  early  ? 

67.  procures,  brings  about  her  coming  ;  cp.  above,  ii.  2.  145, 
"  By  one  that  I  '11  procure  to  come  to  thee." 

68.  Why,  how  now,  Juliet  ?  said  in  reproach  at  not  finding  Jier 
dressed. 

72.  have  done,  cease  lamenting. 

73.  But  much  . . .  wit.  Ulrici  notices  that  it  is  thoroughly  in 
keeping  with  Lady  Capulet's  heartless  character  and  artificial 
nature  that  she  should  consider  deep  feeling  an  indication  of  want 
of  wit.  i.e.  good  sense. 


I 


SCENE  v.]  NOTES.  177 

74,  such  a  feeling  loss,  such  a  heartfelt  loss  ;  op.  Lear,  iv.  6. 
226,  "  Who,  by  the  art  of  known  and  feeling  sorrows.  Am  pregn- 
ant to  good  pity. " 

75,  6.  So  shall  you  ...  for,  in  that  way  you  will  only  expei'ience 
the  bitterness  of  tiie  loss  without  bringing  back  to  life  him  who 
is  lost. 

76,  7.  Feeling  ...  friend,  since  I  feel  the  loss  so  bitterly,  I  can- 
not help  for  ever  mourning  the  friend  to  whose  loss  that  bitter 
grief  is  due. 

78,  9.  Well,  girl,  ..  him,  well,  girl,  whatever  you  may  say  of 
your  grief  for  Tybalt,  I  believe  the  real  cause  of  your  sorrow  is 
that  Romeo  has  not  yet  been  punished  with  death. 

81.  Villain  ...  asunder.  Many  editors  have  adopted  Hanmer's 
stage  direction,  Aside.  This  seems  to  me  a  mistake.  Juliet's 
words  are  purposely  made  ambiguous,  as  in  the  following  speeches, 
by  the  use  of  he  ;  as  she  intends  the  words  to  be  taken  by  her 
mother,  they  express  a  wish,  as  she  means  them,  they  are  a 
statement. 

83.  like  he,  more  grammatically  him. 

84r.  traitor,  traitorous  ;  so  R.  II.  i.  1.  102,  "a  traitor  coward." 

88.  Then  weep  no  more,  then,  if,  as  I  supposed,  this  is  the 
cause  of  your  grief,  you  may  dry  your  tears. 

89.  runagate,  scoundrel,  vagabond;  literally  an  'apostate,' 
from  Lat.  reuegare,  to  deny  again,  to  abjure  one's  religion,  from 
which  we  have  renegade.  Skeat  shows  that  the  form  is  due  to  a 
confusion  with  7'iin  and  gate,  a  way,  the  M.  E.  rcnegat  being 
popularly  supposed  to  stand  for  remie  a  gate,  i.e.  to  run  on  the 
way.  The  word  is  familiar  to  ^^s  from  the  Prayer  Book  version 
of  the  P.salms,  Ixviii.  6,  "  letteth  the  runagates  continue  in  scarce- 
ness," where  tlie  Bible  version  has  "  the  rebellious." 

90.  such...  dram,  a  draught  very  different  from  his  usual 
potations.  A  dram,  here  =  a  poisonous  draught,  is  the  same 
word  as  dram,  a  small  weight,  Gk.  8paxH-T|,  a  handful,  such 
draughts  being  given  in  small  quantities  ;  in  v.  1.  60,  below,  the 
word  is  probably  used  in  the  more  literal  sense. 

93-5.  Indeed  ...  vex'd.  "  The  several  interpretations  of  which 
this  ambiguous  speech  is  capable  are  I  suppose  :  1.  I  shall  never 
be  satisfied  with  Romeo.  2.  I  shall  never  be  satisfied  with 
Romeo  till  I  behold  him.  3.  I  shall  never  be  satisfied  with 
Romeo  till  I  behold  him  dead.  4.  Till  I  behold  him,  dead  is  my 
poor  heart.  5.  Dead  is  my  poor  heart,  so  for  a  kinsman  vext " 
(Daniel). 

96.  but,  a  transposition,  the  word  really  belonging  to  find  out. 

97.  temper,  mix,  compound;  so  Haml.  v.  2.  339,  "It  is  a 
'poison  tempeved  by  himself." 

M 


178  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  in. 

99.  sleep  in  quiet,  again  ambiguously,  the  potion  she  would 
really  like  to  administer  being  her  own  presence,  companionship. 

100.  and  cannot ...  Mm,  seeing  that  I  (implied  in  my  heart)  (1) 
cannot  find  my  way  to  join  him,  (2)  cannot  get  at  him  to  poison 
him. 

101.  To  wreak  ...  cousin,  to  show,  by  the  vengeance  I  would 
take,  how  great  my  love  was  for  my  cousin  ;  of  course  the 
"vengeance"  she  would  really  take  would  be  to  throw  herself 
into  her  husband's  arms  ;  wreak,  from  A.S.  to  revenge,  punish, 
originally  to  urge,  impel.  Some  word  has  evidently  fallen  out 
from  the  line,  which  is  supplied  in  the  later  folios  by  "  Tybalt." 
Malone,  who  points  out  that  the  last  word  of  a  line,  especially 
when  a  proper  name,  is  not  likely  to  have  been  lost,  conjectures 
"  murder' d  cousin";  others  suggest  "tender  love,"  or  "ever 
bore,"  or  "  bore  unto." 

105.  needy  time,  time  that  has  such  good  need  of  something  to 
cheer  it  ;  in  Per.  i.  4.  9.5,  needy  is  used  either  for  '  needful,'  or 
for  that  which  supplies  the  wants,  "  our  ships  ...  Are  stored  with 
corn  to  make  your  needy  bread " ;  elsewhere  it  is  used  of 
persons,  =  indigent,  or  of  things,  =  scantily  supplied,  as  below,  v. 
1.  42,  "  neecZy  shop. " 

107.   careful,  sc.  of  her  interests  and  happiness. 

109.  Hath  sorted ...  joy,  has  picked  out  a  day  for  the  sudden 
accomplishment  of  your  happiness  ;  in  sorted  there  is  no  doubt 
an  allusion  to  choosing  a  propitious  day  by  consulting  an  oracle, 
the  word  in  all  its  senses  being  ultimately  referable  to  the  Lat. 
sors,  sorii'i,  a  lot,  decision  by  lot,  an  oracular  response  (often 
written  on  a  little  tablet  or  lot)  ;  so  in  iii.  H.  VI.  v.  6.  85,  with- 
out the  adverb,  ' '  But  I  will  sort  a  pitchy  day  for  thee. " 

111.  in  happy  time.  A  literal  translation  of  the  F.  a  la  honne 
heure,  an  expression  iised  in  acquiescence,  astonishment,  or  in- 
dignation, here  with  doubtful  satisfaction  ;  so  very  frequently 
"  in  good  time." 

114.  County,  see  note  on  i.  2.  68. 

118,  9.  that  I  must ...  woo,  according  to  which  I  am  destined 
to  be  married  before  he  who  is  to  be  my  husband  has  even  come 
to  seek  my  love  ;  should,  is  to  be,  as  he  thinks. 

123.  These  ...  indeed  !  this  is  a  pretty  piece  of  news  you  had  to 
give  !  you  may  well  call  your  communication  '  news. ' 

12-3.  how  he  will...  hands,  what  he  will  think  of  such  an 
answer  from  your  lips  ;  though  it  is  used  indefinitely  ;  see 
Abb.  §  226. 

126.  the  air.  The  earlier  quartos  and  the  folios  give  earth,  but 
though  it  may  be  scientifically  true  that  dew  rises  from  the  earth, 
and  in  that  sense  the  earth  may  be  said  to  drizzle  dew,  the  words 


SCENE  v.]  NOTES.  179 

It  rains  downright  shovr  that  air  must  be  the   right   reading 
here. 

127.  sunset.  In  Campbell's  beautiful  lines  in  Lochiel,  the  word 
is  used  not  for  death  itself  but  for  the  approach  of  death  ;  "  'Tis 
the  sunset  of  life  gives  me  mystical  lore  And  coming  events  cast 
their  shadows  before." 

129.  a  conduit,  girl  ?  what,  are  your  tears  still  flowing  like  a 
conduit  never  dry  ! 

1.30-7.  In  one  ...  body.  Cp.  the  king's  fanciful  similes,  R.  II.  v. 
5.  50-60. 

136.  Without ...  calm,  unless  quickly  followed  by  a  calm. 

138.  decree,  decision  ;  cp.  above,  iii.  3.  146. 

139.  but  she  ...  thanks,  but  she  is  goc3d  enough  to  thank  you 
and  to  say  that  she  will  have  none  of  our  decision,  nothing  to  do 
with  the  plan  of  wedding  her  to  Paris. 

140.  were  married  .  grave.     Cp.  above,  i.  5.  132,  3. 

141.  take  me  with  you,  let  me  be  sure  I  understand  you  ;  cp. 
i.  H.  IV.  ii.  4.  508,  "  I  would  your  grace  would  take  me  with 
you,"  i.e.  be  explicit  in  your  language. 

143.  proud,  sc.  of  the  noble  alliance  we  have  secured  for  her. 

144,  5.  we  have  . . .  bridegroom,  we  have  arranged  that  so 
worthy  a  gentleman  should  be,  etc. 

146.  Not  proud  ...  have,  I  cannot  say  that  I  am  proud  you 
should  have  done  this  ;  though  I  am  thankful,  knowing  that  you 
did  it  out  of  love  for  me. 

148.  is  meant  love,  is  meant  as  love,  is  done  with  a  loving 
purpose. 

149.  How . . .  chop-logic,  have  you  become  a  splitter  of  straws,  do 
you  venture  to  bandy  arguments  with  me  in  this  quibbling  way  ? 

151.  mistress  minion,  my  pert  young  madam  ;  minion,  F. 
mignon,  a  favourite,  darling,  from  the  adjective  mi(jnon.  dainty, 
neat,  pleasing,  kind.  Skeat  says  that  the  sinister  sense  which 
the  word  so  commonly  has  is  probably  borrowed  from  the  Italian 
ynignone,  a  minion,  a  favourite. 

152.  Thank  ...  prouds.  don't  talk  this  nonsense  of  your  being 
thankful  and  proud  ;  cp.  B.  II.  ii.  3.  87,  "  Grace  me  no  grace 
and  uncle  me  no  uncles,"  said  in  answer  to  Bolingbroke's  words, 
"  My  gracious  uncle." 

153.  But  fettle  ...  next,  but  make  ready  those  dainty  limbs,  of 
which  you  are  so  vain,  in  anticipation  of  Thursday  next,  i.e.  of 
having  to  go  to  church  for  your  marriage  ;  to  fettle,  though  of 
uncertain  origin;  is  to  set  about  doing  a  thing,  generally  with  the 
idea  of  something  difficult  or  unpleasant ;  for  'gainst,  cp.  above, 
iii.  4.  32. 


180  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iir. 

155.  on  a  hurdle.  As  convicted  criminals  were  dragged  to 
punishment. 

156.  Out,  ...  carrion,  shame  on  yon,  you  languid,  whining, 
creature  with  a  face  as  pale  as  a  corpse  ;  the  green  sickness,  a 
disease  of  a  hysterical  nature,  accompanied  by  a  pale,  livid,  com- 
plexion, to  which  females  were  subject  :  baggage,  worthless 
minx  ;  used  of  a  good-for-nothing  woman,  from  the  idea  of  an 
encumbi-ance  and  thence  useless  encumbrance,  rubbish  ;  in  a 
similarly  contemptuous  sense,  that  of  encumbrance,  the  corpse  of 
Hotspur  is  called  liu/'jage  in  i.  H.  IV.  v.  4.  160. 

157.  are  you  mad  ?  said  as  Capulet  is  about  to  strike  Juliet. 

159.  but,  properly  belonging  to  a  word. 

160.  Hang  thee,  reflexive  ;  though  thee  here,  and  in  the  next 
line,  is  used  with  scornful  emphasis. 

164.  itch,  long  to  strike  you. 

164-7.  we  scarce  ...  her.  Cp.  M.  A.  iv.  1.  129-31,  "Grieved  I, 
I  ha<l  but  one  ?  Chid  I  for  that  at  frugal  nature's  frame  ?  0,  one 
too  much  by  thee  !  Why  had  I  one  ? "  :  lent,  the  first  quarto 
gives  sent,  which  many  editors  adopt,  but  which  seems  to  me  a 
very  inferior  reading  :  in  but  and  only  there  is  a  redundancy. 

168.  hilding,  see  note  on  ii.  4.  44. 

169.  to  rate  her  so,  in  scolding  her  so  bitterlj'  ;  to  rate,  the 
infinitive  used  indefinitively  ;  see  Abb.  §  .356. 

170.  my  lady  wisdom  !  you,  my  fine  lady,  who  set  up  for  being 
so  wise. 

171.  prudence.  ".Just  as  'prudence'  is  here  personified  as  a 
female,  it  was  in  The  Temp.  ii.  1.  286,  personified  as  a  male  " 
(Delius)  :  smatter  with,  vent  your  smatterings  of  wisdom,  utter 
your  bits  and  scraps  of  wisdom  ;  gossips,  see  note  on  ii.  1.11. 

172.  God  ye  god-den,  see  note  on  1.2.57.  In  order  to  mend  the 
metre  Theobald  reads  "  Peace,  peace,"  etc. ;  Fleay  "  speak  t'  ye." 

174.  Utter  . . .  bowl,  go  and  litter  your  platitudes  among  your 
cronies  as  you  sit  sipping  your  bowl  of  wine  ;  cp.  M.  N.  D.  ii.  1. 
47,  "  And  sometimes  lurk  I  in  a  gossip's  boid." 

175.  hot,  passionate. 

176.  God's  bread  !  by  the  bread  of  the  holy  sacrament  ! 
176-8.  God's  bread  ...  company.     Many  conjectures  have  been 

proposed  here,  the  most  satisfactory  of  which  seems  to  be  that  of 
Fleay,  whom  Daniel  follows  ;  "  Lady  Cap.  You  are  too  hot. 
Cap.  God's  bread  !  it  makes  me  mad  ;  Day-time,  night-tide, 
waking  or  sleeping  hour.  At  home,  abroad,  alone,  in  company, 
Working  or  playing,  still  my  care  hath  been  To  have  her 
match'd."  The  reasoning  on  which  this  conjecture  is  based  is 
extremely  ingenious,  but  too  long  to  be  quoted  here. 


SCENE  v.]  NOTES,  181 

179.  To  have  her  match'd,  to  get  her  a  woi-thy  husband. 

182.  Stuflf'd,  full  of  ;  Capulet  speaks  of  the  word  as  if  when 
used  in  this  sense  it  was  somewhat  ridiculous,  as  they  say,  just 
as  we  might  say  '  crammed '  ;  though  the  term  is  used  in  all 
seriousness  in  W.  T.  ii.  1.  185,  "whom  you  know  Of  stvff'd 
sufficiency";  M.  A.  i.  1.  56,  ^'stuffed  with  all  honourable 
virtues. " 

183.  Proportion'd . . .  man,  every  part  as  completely  in  pro- 
portion Vi'iih  the  rest  as  one  could  possibly  wish  if  he  were  con- 
ceiving a  perfect  man. 

184.  puling,  whimpering  ;  literally  to  chirp  like  a  bird  ;  from 
F.  piauler,  '  to  peep,  or  cheep,  as  a  young  bird  ;  also  to  jmle  or 
howle,  as  a  young  whelp';  Cotgrave.  Cp.  Ital.  pigolare,  to 
chirp,  moan,  complain.  These  are  imitative  words  "...  (Skeat, 
Kty.  Diet.). 

185.  mammet,  puppet,  doll :  in  her  fortune's  tender,  "  in  the 
moment  when  good  fortune  presents  itself  to  her  "  (Clarke). 

188.  I  '11  pardon  you,  said  ironically,  his  pardon  being  only 
such  as  he  expresses  in  the  following  line. 

189.  Graze  ...  me,  you  can  go  and  get  your  food  in  the  fields, 
for  there  will  Ije  no  home  for  you  in  my  house. 

190.  do  not  use.  We  no  longer  employ  the  verb  in  this  sense  in 
the  present  tense. 

191.  lay  .  advise,  consider  the  matter  thoroughly  and  be  wise  ; 
to  '  lay  the  hand  on  the  heart '  is  a  gesture  used  in  protesting  the 
reality  of  tlie  feeling  expressed  ;  advise,  consider  ;  so  reflexively, 
T.  N.  iv.  2.  102,  ^^ Advise  you  what  you  say." 

196.   Trust  to  't,  be  sure  I  mean  what  I  say. 

199.  Sweet  my  mother,  on  the  transposition  of  my,  see  Abb. 
§13. 

203.  I  '11  not  speak  a  word,  sc  in  your  behalf. 

204r.  for  I ...  thee,  for  I  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  you,  I 
wash  my  hands  of  you  and  your  concerns. 

206-9.  My  husband  . . .  earth,  all  that  I  love,  my  husband,  is  on 
earth  ;  all  tliat  I  trust  in,  my  belief  in  God,  is  in  heaven  ;  how 
shall  trust  come  back  to  earth  and  l)e  felt  bj^  me  in  regard  to 
earthly  matters  unless  he  in  whom  all  my  love  is  placed  send  it 
to  me,  a  thing  he  cannot  do  without  leaving  earth,  while,  if  he 
did  so,  I  should  no  longer  have  any  interest  in  earthly  matters  ; 
if  my  husband  lives,  1  have  no  hope  of  earthly  happiness  (for  we 
can  never  be  together),  if  he  dies,  my  case  is  equally  hopeless. 
Such  I  take  to  be  the  meaning  of  the  passage,  which  seems  to  be 
obscure,  but  on  which  none  of  the  commentators  has  any 
comment. 


182  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.        [act  hi.  sc.  v. 

210.  practise  stratagems,  contrive  plots  ;  practise  (vb. )  and 
practice  (.sb. )  being  frec^uently  used  by  Shakespeare  in  a  bad  sense. 

214.  and  all ...  nothing,  it  is  beyond  all  odds. 

215.  challenge,  claim. 

218.  you  married,  that  you  should  marry. 

220.  a  dishclout,  a  dirty  rag  ;  not  that  dishclouts  are  neces- 
sarily dirty,  tliough  in  the  Nurse's  mind  that  would  be  their  more 
usual  condition. 

221.  green.  Though  rare  in  England  and  not  greatly  admired, 
green  eyes,  as  the  commentators  show,  have  been  enthusiastically 
praised  by  foreign  writers,  especially  Spanish  writers. 

222.  Beshrew,  see  note  on  ii.  5.  51. 

225,  6.  or  'twere  ...  him,  or,  if  he  is  not  dead,  he  might  just  as 
well  be  so  as  be  alive  here  when  you  can  derive  no  pleasure  from 
his  companionship  ;  here  seems  rather  questionable,  and  Hanmer 
reads  hence. 

227.  Speakest ...  heart  ?  a  phrase  varied  in  Lear,  i.  1.  106,  by 
"But  goes  thy  heart  with  this ?  " 

228.  Amen !  Juliet  emphatically  endorses  the  Nurse's  maledic- 
tion on  herself. 

229.  Well.  Afraid  that  she  has  roused  the  Nurse's  suspicions  by 
her  emphatic  "Amen  !  ",  Juliet  tries  to  put  her  off  by  assuming  a 
good-humoured  tone  :  marvellous,  used  adverbially. 

230.  my  lady,  using  the  term  which  would  be  proper  in  the 
Nurse's  mouth  :  I  am  gone,  the  difference  between  '  am  gone  '  and 
'  have  gone '  is  that  the  former  expresses  the  present  state,  the 
latter  the  activity  necessary  to  cause  the  present  state  ;  see  Abb. 
§295. 

234.  Ancient  damnation !  the  old  devil ! 

237.  above  compare,  as  being  above  all  comparison. 

238.  counsellor,  you  from  whom  I  have  so  often  asked  and 
received  advice  (as  in  1.  209  she  says  "counsel  me"),  but  here 
with  scorn. 

240.  his  remedy,  what  remedy  he  may  suggest. 

241.  myself.  Strictly  speaking  the  '  my  '  in  myself  is  not  a  pro- 
nominal adjective  but  the  inflected  case  of  the  pronoun  '  I,'  and 
myself  is  equivalent  to  '  for  the  same  me  ' ;  see  Abb.  §  20. 

Act  IV.    Scene  I. 

3.  And  I . . .  haste,  and  I  am  in  nothing  dilatory  so  as  to  hinder 
his  haste  in  concluding  the  marriage. 

4.  the  lady's  mind,  how  Juliet  is  inclined  as  to  the  marriage. 


ACT  IV.    SO.  I.]  NOTES.  183 

5.  Uneven  is  the  course,  this  way  of  proceeding  is  far  from 
regular,  is  not  one  that  can  be  commended  as  the  proper  one. 
The  Friar,  having  married  Romeo  and  Juliet,  is  of  course  bound 
to  put  all  possible  objections  in  the  way  of  a  marriage  with  Paris. 

7    little  ...  love,  said  little  to  her  about  my  passionate  love. 

8.  house,  household  ;  probably,  from  the  mention  of  Venus, 
there  is  also  an  allusion  to  the  terra  as  used  in  astrology  of  that 
sign  of  the  Zodiac  in  which  a  planet  happens  to  be  at  a  particular 
time.  So  Massinger,  The  City  JSFadam,  ii.  1.  59,  "  Venus  in  the 
west  angle,  the  Jiouse  of  marriage  "  ;  and  again,  79,  84,  5,  "Venus 
...  in  cazimi  of  the  sun,  in  her  joy,  and  free  from  the  malevolent 
beams  of  infortunes  "  ;  Jonson,  The  Alchemist,  i.  1,  "to  Mercury 
...  His  house  of  life  being  Libra." 

9,  10.  counts  it  .  sway,  is  afraid  that  if  her  grief  is  allowed  to 
hold  such  complete  possession  of  her,  is  not  diverted  by  some 
event  of  importance,  it  may  lead  to  a  disastrous  result,  i.e.  either 
by  her  going  out  of  her  mind  or  by  her  doing  herself  some  personal 
mischief. 

13.  too  much  ...  alone,  wholly  occupying  her  tlioughts  so  long 
as  she  is  left  by  herself;  tears  in  the  line  above  implies  'grief,' 
to  which  word  minded  is  more  applicable. 

14.  May  be  ...  society,  may  be  removed  by  her  taking  part  in 
social  distractions. 

16.  I  would  ...  slow'd,  I  only  wish  I  did  not  know  too  good 
reason  why  matters  should  be  delayed. 

19.  That  may  be . . .  wife,  it  will  he  time  enough  to  say  that  when 
I  am  a  (i.e.  your)  wife,  if  ever  I  am  to  be  so. 

20.  That  may  be  . . .  next,  what  you  talk  of  as  a  possibility  will 
be  a  certainty  by  Thursday  next. 

23.  To  answer  that,  by  answering  that,  if  I  were  to  answer 
that ;  the  infinitive  used  indefinitely. 

25.  I  will ...  him,  if  I  cannot  admit  to  him  that  I  love  you,  at 
all  events  I  may  admit  to  you  that  I  love  him  (which  I  dare  say 
will  do  just  as  well). 

28.  spoke.  On  the  curtailed  forms  of  past  participles,  see 
Abb.  §  343. 

29.  abused,  ill-treated,  i.e.  disfigured. 
32.  than  tears,  sc.  do. 

.34.  to  my  face.  With  a  play  on  the  phrase  in  the  sense  of 
openly,  not  behind  the  back. 

36.  It  may...  own,  it  may  be  that  I  have  slandered  it,  for  it 
belongs  to  another  (of  course  Romeo),  and  what  I  might  have 
said  of  it  without  injury  to  any  one  so  long  as  it  belonged  to  my- 
self, becomes  now  injurious. 


184  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

38.  at  evening  mass.  Shakespeare  has  been  supposed  to  make 
a  mistake  here,  mass  being  said  only  in  the  morning  when  the 
priest  is  fasting  ;  but  Simpson  has  shown  (Nfw  Shak-espeare 
Transactions,  1875)  that  the  practice  of  saying  mass  in  the  after- 
noon was  continued  at  certain  places  even  after  it  had  been 
expressly  forbidden  by  Pius  the  Fifth,  and  that,  at  the  Cathedral 
of  Verona,  strangely  enough,  so  late  as  1824  the  prohibition  of 
evening  mass  was  disregarded. 

40.  we  must . . .  alone,  we  nuist  ask  you  to  leave  us  in  private 
for  the  present ;  an  elliptical  expression  for  '  entreat  of  yoa  to 
give  us  the  time  alone,'  i.e.  to  ourselves. 

41.  God  shield,  heaven  forbid  !  i.e.  I  would  not  on  any  account 
disturb,  etc.;  cp.  A.  II'.  i.  3.  174,  "God  shield  you  mean  it 
not !  ";  M.  M.  iii.  1.  141,  "  Heaven  shield  my  mother  play'd  my 
father  fair  ! " 

42.  rouse  ye,  come  early  to  your  chamber  to  take  you  to  church. 

46.  thy  grief,  your  cause  of  grief,  your  trouble. 

47.  It  strains  . . .  wits,  it  is  so  great  that  it  paralyses  my  wits  to 
find  a  remedy. 

48.  prorogue,  delay,  postpone  ;  see  note  on  ii.  2.  78. 

53.  Do  thou  but ...  wise,  all  I  ask  is  that  you  should  sanction 
with  your  approval  my  determination  to  kill  my.self. 

54.  this  knife.  Dyce  quotes  Gilford's  note  on  Jonson's  The 
Staple  of  News,  ii.  1,  "  Daggers,  or,  as  they  were  more  commonly 
called,  knives,  were  worn  at  all  times,  by  every  woman  in 
England — whether  they  were  so  in  Italy,  Shakspeare,  I  believe, 
never  enquired,  and  I  cannot  tell  "  :  help  it,  prevent  my  marriage 
with  Paris. 

57.  the  label,  the  attestation  ;  the  seals  to  ancient  documents 
were  attached  to  them  by  slips  of  parchment  or  '  labels '  ;  cp. 
T.  N.  i.  5.  265,  "  it  shall  be  inventoried,  and  every  particle  and 
utensil  labelled  to  my  will,"  i.e.  attached  by  labels  as  seals  were. 

59.  both,  sc.  heart  and  hand. 

60.  out  of...  time,  out  of  the  accumulated  experience  of  a  long 
life-time  ;  out  of  indicates  the  heap  from  which  the  particular 
piece  of  advice  is  to  be  taken. 

62.  extremes,  extremity  of  suffering  :  bloody,  cruel,  ready  to 
shed   blood  ;  not  yet  stained  with  blood  but  which  will  be  so  ■ 
stained  by  my  deed  ;  a  somewhat  similar  prolepsis  occurs   in 
K.  J.  iv.  2.  210,  "  To  break  with  in  the  bloody  house  of  life,"  i.e. 
the  house  of  life  which  will  by  the  action  be  made  bloody. 

63.  Shall  play  the  umpire,  shall  decide  between  me  and  my 
miseries,  decide  whether  they  are  to  continue  to  torture  me,  or 
whether  I  am  to  overcome  them  by  putting  an  end  to  myself. 


SCENE  I.]  NOTES.  185 

63-5.  arbitrating  ...  bring,  detenuining  that  matter  which  the 
authority  of  youi-  years  and  knowledge  was  unable  to  bring  to 
any  honourable  issue  ;  deciding  that  question  to  which  you  with 
all  the  warrant  of  long  years  and  wide  experience  were  unable  to 
give  a  satisfactory  answer,  not  the  question  whether  she  is  to 
live  or  die,  but  whether  it  is  possible  for  her  to  live  with  honour. 

66.  to  speak,  in  speaking  :  I  long,  with  a  play  on  long  in  so 
long  to  speak. 

67.  If  what . . .  remedy,  if  what  you  suggest  is  not  of  the  nature 
of  a  remedy. 

69.  Which  craves  ...  execution,  to  carry  out  which  demands 
action  as  desperate. 

71.  If,  i-e.  if,  as  you  say  you  hare. 

74.  to  chide  ...  shame,  literally  to  scare  away  this  disgrace  by 
reproachful  M-ords,  i.e.  to  get  rid  of,  escape,  this  disgrace. 

75.  That  cop'st  with  death,  you  who  are  ready  to  encounter 
death  ;  the  original  sense  of  '  to  cope'  is  '  to  bargain  with,'  then 
'  to  vie  with.' 

78.  yonder.  The  reading  of  the  first  quarto,  the  remaining 
copies  giving  any,  which  some  editors  prefer  as  being  more 
forcible. 

79.  thievish  ways,  ways  in  which  I  am  likely  to  meet  with 
thieves,  robbers. 

81.  charnel-house,  house  of  -the  dead,  sepulchre  ;  from  0.  F. 
camel,  carnal,  Lat.  caro,  flesh. 

82.  0"er-cover"d,  strewed  all  over  :  rattling,  sc.  in  the  wind. 

83.  reeky  shanks,  legs  steaming  with  putrefaction  :  chapless, 
with  their  jaws  no  longer  adhering  to  the  rest  of  the  skull,  those 
jaws  being  attached  only  by  a  cartilage  which  has  been  eaten 
away  by  ^\orms. 

85.  shroud,  the  garment  in  which  it  is  customary  to  wrap  the 
corpse  ;  closely  allied  with  shred,  i.e.  a  strip,  a  piece  torn  or 
cut  off. 

86.  Things  . . .  tremble,  which  are  things  that  have  made  me 
shudder  merely  to  hear  them  spoken  about. 

91.  look  that  ...  alone,  take  care  to  sleep  alone. 

92.  Let  not . . .  chamber,  it  being  customary  for  attendants  to 
sleep  in  the  same  chamber  ;  see  note  on  ii.  1.  39. 

93.  being  then  in  bed,  as  soon  as  you  have  got  into  bed. 

96.  A  cold  . . .  humour,  a  feeling  of  coldness  and  drowsiness. 

96,  7.  for  no  pulse  ...  surcease,  for  the  pulse  throughout  your 
body  shall  no  longer  V)eat  with  its  usual  activity,  but  shall  stop  ; 
Ms,  its,  see  Abb.  §  228  ;  surcease  is  from  F.  sursis,  the  p.  p.  of 


186  ROMEO  AND  JULIET  [act  iv. 

surseoir,  to  pause,  intermit,  and  has  notliing  to  do  with  our  cease, 
though  Shakespeare  always  uses  the  verb  Hiu-cease  as  a  synonym 
of  that  word,  and  the  substantive  probably  as  =  cessation  (to  be) 
in  Marb.  i.  7-4. 

100.  paly,  palish ;  the  termination  -y  having  a  modifying 
force  :  thy  eyes'  windows,  your  eyelids  ;  '  window  '  being  used  by 
Shakespeare  in  regard  to  eyes  rather  as  that  which  shuts  out  the 
light  rather  than  that  which  admits  it ;  so  Cymh.  ii.  2.  22, 
"would  under- peep  her  lids,  To  see  the  enclosed  lights,  now 
canopied  Under  these  loindows." 

101.  the  day  of  life,  that  which  gives  light  to  life. 

102.  deprived  ...  government,  deprived  of  that  control  which 
i-enders  it  supple,  pliant ;  supple  really  belongs  to  the  effect  not 
to  the  cause. 

103.  stark,  rigid. 

105.  forty.  Maginn  would  ve&d. fifty.  "Juliet,"  he  remarks, 
"  retires  to  bed  on  Tuesday  night  at  a  somewhat  early  hour. 
Her  mother  says,  after  she  departs,  '  'Tis  now  near  night.'  Say 
it  is  eleven  o'clock  ;  forty-two  hours  from  that  hour  bring  us  to 
five  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  Thursday  ;  and  yet  we  find  the 
time  of  her  awakening  fixed  in  profound  darkness,  and  not  long 
before  the  dawn.  We  should  allow  at  least  ten  hours  more,  and 
read  '  two  and  fifty  hours,'  which  would  fix  her  awakening  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  a  time  which  has  been  marked  in  a  former 
scene  as  the  approach  of  day.  In  iv.  4.  4,  Capulet  says,  '  'tis 
three  o'clock.'  Immediately  after  he  says  '  Good  faith,  'tis  day.' 
This  observation  may  appear  superfluously  minute,  but  those 
who  take  the  pains  of  reading  the  play  critically  will  find  that  it 
is  dated  throughout  with  a  most  exact  attention  to  hours.  We 
can  time  almost  every  event."  Shakespeare  no  doubt  followed 
the  story  of  Rhomeo  and  Julietta  as  told  in  Painter's  Palace  of 
Pleasure,  vol.  iii.  p.  109,  Jacob's  edn. ,  where  the  words  are  "  and 
you  [shall]  abide  in  such  extasie  the  space  of  40  hours  at  the 
least." 

108.  there  art  thou  dead,  there  they  will  find  you,  to  all 
appearance,  dead. 

109-12.  Then  as  the  manner  ...  lie.  This  custom  of  carrying 
the  dead  to  the  grave  "  uncover'd  on  the  bier"  is  described 
in  Brooke's  Romeus  and  Jidiet,  and  still  prevails  in  Italy. 
Knight  quotes  from  Roger's  Italy,  "And  lying  on  her  funeral 
couch  Like  one  asleep,  her  eyelids  closed,  her  hands  Folded 
together  on  her  modest  breast  As  'twere  her  nightly  posture, 
through  the  crowd  vShe  came  at  last — and  richly,  gaily  clad,  As 
for  a  birthday  feast." 

113.  against ...  awake,  in  anticipation  of  your  awaking. 


SCENE  I.]  NOTES.  187 

114.  our  drift,  our  purpose  ;  literally  that  which  is  driven,  and 

so  the  course. 

116.  watch  your  waking,  watch  for  the  moment  of  your  waking. 

119.  inconstant  toy,  freak  of  caprice  ;  cp.  0th.  iii.  4.  156, 
"  Pray  heaven  it  be  state-matters,  as  you  think,  And  no  concep- 
tion nor  no  jealoiis  toy  Concerning  you."  Malone  points  out  that 
the  phrase  in  the  text  is  from  the  poem,  Eomeiis  and  Juliet. 

121.  tell  not  me  of,  do  not  talk  to  me  about  fear,  do  not 
imagine  that  fear  will  make  me  shrink. 

122.  get  you  gone,  see  note  on  iv.  4.  30. 
125.  help,  a  remedy  for  my  misery. 


SCEXE  II. 

2.  twenty.  "  Twenft/  cooJcs  for  half-adozen  guests!  Either 
Capulet  has  altered  his  mind  strangely,  or  Shakespeare  forgot 
what  he  had  just  made  him  tell  us  [iii.  4.  27,  '  Therefore  we  '11 
have  some  half-a-dozen  friends  And  there  an  end ']  "  (Ritson). 

5.  try  them,  test  them,  see  what  they  are  fit  for. 

6,7.  'tis  an  ill  ..fingers.  For  this  adage  Steevens  quotes 
Puttenham's  Arte  of  EiujU-ih  Poesie,  "As  the  old  cocke  crowes 
so  doeth  the  chick  :  A  had  cooke  that  cannot  his  owne  fincfers 
lick  "  ;  the  licking  of  the  fingers  being  for  the  purpose  of  testing 
the  food  he  is  cooking. 

7,  8.  goes  not  with  me,  will  not  be  engaged  by  me. 

10.  unfumish'd,   unprepared  ;    so  used  in  H.   V.  i.  2.   148,  of 

England  not  prepared  for  defence. 

1 5.  my  headstrong,  sc.  one,  my  obstinate  girl :  gadding,  used 
in  a  contemptuous  way,  going  about  from  place  to  place  in  an 
aimless  way,  as  if  she  was  not  likely  to  have  any  settled  or  useful 
purpose. 

16.  leam'd  me,  learned  for  myself,  to  my  profit ;  see  Abb. 
§  220. 

21.  I  am  ever  ruled,  i  am  and  ever  shall  be  obedient  to  your 
wishes. 

25.  hecomed  love,  becoming,  decorous,  marks  of  love ;  the  pass- 
ive participle  for  the  active. 

26.  Not  stepping  o'er,  without  exceeding,  transgressing,  the, 
etc. 

30,  1.  Now,  afore  . . .  him.  A  confusion  of  constructions  between 
'Now,  afore  God,  all  our  city  is  much  bound  to  this  reverend 
holy  friar,'  and  'Now,  afore  God,  this  I'everend  holy  friar  has 
laid  the  whole  city  under  great  obligations ' :  afore  God,  I  say  it 


188  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

in  the  presence  of  God,  i.e.  I  call  God  to  wdtness  the  truth  of 
what  I  say.     Cp.  above,  iii.  4.  34. 

32.  closet,  private  room,  or  cupboard,  for  keeping  clothes. 

33.  To  help  me  sort,  to  help  nie  to  choose  out ;  for  the  omission 
of  '  to '  before  sort,  see  Abb.  §  349.  The  idiom  is  still  in  use 
among  Scotch  people. 

34.  to  furnish  me,  to  dress  me,  for  me  to  wear  ;  cp.  M.  A. 
iii.  1.  103,  "Come,  go  in  :  I  '11  show  thee  some  attires,  and  have 
thy  counsel  Which  is  the  best  to  furnitih  me  to-morrow  "  ;  said  by 
Hei'o  to  her  Nurse  on  the  eve  of  her  marriage. 

37.  We  shall  be  ...  provision,  if  the  wedding  takes  place  a  day 
before  that  ali'eady  fixed,  our  arrangements  for  its  celebration 
will  be  incomplete  ;  provision  includes  everything  necessary  for 
the  feast ;  cp.  Lear,  ii.  4.  208,  "I  am  now  from  home,  and  out  of 
that  p7-ovisio)i  Which  shall  be  needful  for  your  entertainment." 

38.  I  ■will  stir  about,  I  will  busy  myself  in  hurrying  on  the 
preparations. 

40.  to  deck  up  her,  in  1.  45,  below,  we  have  "prepare  him  up" 
(quartos  "prepare  up  him")  and  in  iv.  4.  25,  "trim  her  up"; 
and  as  there  is  no  reason  for  emphasis  here,  Lettsom  would  trans- 
pose the  adverb  and  pronoun. 

41.  let  me  alone,  do  not  interfere  with  me,  leave  me  to  manage 
matters  in  my  own  way  ;  said  with  a  self-satisfied  air  of  confid- 
ence in  his  powers  to  smooth  away  all  difficulties. 

42.  I  '11  play  . . .  once,  for  once  and  away  I  will  take  upon  myself 
to  see  to  household  affairs. 

43.  They  are  all  forth,  all  the  servants  are  out  of  doors,  none  of 

them  within  call. 

45.  Against,  see  note  on  iii.  4.  32. 

46.  wayward,  perverse  ;   "  originally  a  headless  form  of  aivei- 

ward,  adverb Thus  vjayward  is  away-ivard,  i.e.  turned  away, 

perverse....  It  is  a  parallel  formation  to  fro-ward.  It  is  now 
often  made  to  mean  heid  on  one's  jray  "  ...  (Skeat,  Ely.  Diet.): 
reclaim'd,  brought  to  her  right  senses  ;  a  metaphor  from  falconry, 
in  which  sport  to  '  reclaim '  {i.e.  to  call  back)  a  hawk  was  to  bring 
it  back  to  obedience  in  stooping  to  the  lure  ;  thus  Cotgrave, 
"  Reclame,  a  loud  calling,  whooting,  whooping,  to  make  a  Hawk 
stoop  unto  the  lure";  cp.  Haml.  ii.  1.  34,  "A  savageness  in 
unreclaimed  blood. " 


Scene  III. 

1.  those  attires  are  best,  those  are  the  best  dresses,  etc.,  for  the 
occasion. 


SCENE  in.]  NOTES.  189 

3.  orisons,  prayers  ;  0.  F.  orison,  prayer,  ultimately  from  Lat. 
orare,  to  pray. 

4.  my  state,  sc.  of  mind. 

5.  cross,  perverse,  not  willing  to  acquiesce  in  God's  will. 

7.  cull'd,  picked  out,  selected  ;  Lat.  colligere,  to  collect. 

8.  behoveful  for  our  state,  appropriate  to  the  pomp,  splendour, 
of  to-morrow's  ceremony ;  such  as  it  behoves  us  to  use  ;  to 
'  behove '  is  literally  to  be  necessary. 

9.  So  please  you,  if  you  will  be  so  good  ;  provided  it  pleases 
you. 

11.  full  all,  thoroughly,  very  fully,  occiipied. 

12.  In  this  ...  business,  in  these  preparations  that  have  so  un- 
expectedly come  upon  us. 

14.  God  knows  ...again,  possibly  we  may  never  meet  again. 
Juliet  is  determined  to  kill  herself,  rather  than  marry  Paris,  if 
the  potion  does  not  woi'k  as  the  Friar  assured  her  it  would,  and 
at  the  same  time  she  has  a  suspicion  that  the  potion  may  be  a 
fatal  poison. 

15.  thrills,  which  thrills  ;  for  the  omission  of  the  relative,  see 
Abb.  §  544. 

16.  the  heat  of  life,  the  warmth  which  life  sends  through  the 
body  ;  not  the  heat  that  belongs  to  life. 

18.  What  should  ..  here  ?  but  what  is  the  use  of  my  calling  the 
Nurse  back  ?  she  can  he  of  no  use  in  that  which  I  have  to  do. 

1 9.  My  dismal . .  alone.  Shakespeare's  figurative  use  of  terms  of 
the  stage  is,  as  might  be  expected,  very  fi'equent ;  the  words  act, 
scene,  staqe,  proloque,  j^rt,  etc.,  being  thus  employed  by  him. 
Cp.  e.g.  A.  Y.  L.ii.  7.  139-4.3,  "  All  the  world's  a  stacje.  And  all 
the  men  and  women  merely  players  :  They  have  their  exits  and 
their  entrances ;  And  one  man  in  his  time  plays  many  parts,  His 
acts  being  seven  ages." 

21.  What  if ...  all?  supposing  this  mixture  has  no  such  effect  as 
the  Friar  promised,  what  will  happen  then  ? 

23.   forbid,  pre\'ent. 

Stage  Direction.  Laying  down  her  dagger.  Steevens  has  shown 
that  "  knives  were  formerly  part  of  the  accoutrement  of  a  bride," 
but  it  does  not  follow  that  the  dagger  here  was  such  part,  for  we 
have  seen  above,  iv.  1.  62,  that  she  is  provided  with  a  "bloody 
knife,"  though  without  any  thought  of  decking  herself  for 
marriage  with  Paris. 

25.  Subtly . . .  dead,  has  cunningly  provided  in  order  to  make 
sure  of  my  death  ;  to  '  minister  a  poison '  would  in  modern  par- 
lance mean  rather  'cause  it  to  be  taken,'  than  merely  furnish  it. 


190  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

28.  it  should  not,  it  is  not  likely  to  be. 

29.  tried,  .sv.  and  proved  ;  proved  by  trial,  test.  After  this 
line  there  follows  in  the  first  quarto  "  I  will  not  entertain  so  bad 
a  thought,"  and  this  has  been  incorporated  by  a  niajoi'ity  of  the 
editors.  Ulrici,  however,  points  out,  with  great  force  as  it  seems 
to  me,  that  Juliet's  loftiness  of  resolve  and  the  depth  of  her  love 
and  fidelity  are  shown  more  clearly  if  her  suspicion  of  the  Friar 
remains  not  wholly  allayed. 

32.  a  fearful  point,  a  thing  terrible  to  contemplate. 

34.  To  whose  ...in,  into  whose  foul  mouth  no  wholesome  air 
finds  its  way. 

35.  strangled,  suffocated,  choked  ;  the  modern  sense  of  choked 
by  external  compression  is  more  accurate,  the  word  coming  from 
the  Gk.  a-rpayyaX-r],  a  halter. 

36.  is  it  not  very  like.  The  construction,  interrupted  here,  is 
taken  up  in  1.  45,  again  interrupted,  and  finally  otherwise  shaped 
in  1.  49. 

37.  The  horrible  ...  night,  the  horrible  thoughts  of  death  which 
the  tomb  will  force  upon  me,  those  thoughts  being  intensified  by 
the  terror  that  belongs  to  night. 

38.  the  terror  of  the  place,  the  terror  which  is  naturally 
inspired  by  such  a  place. 

39.  As  in  a  vault,  I  finding  myself  in  a  vault. 

40.  this  many  hundred  years,  this  period  of  many,  etc.,  though 
this  gives  an  idea  of  vagueness  ;  so  Af.  M.  i.  3.  21,  "this  nineteen 
years'"  ;  Macb.  v.  5.  37,  "  Within  this  three  mile" ;  Cor.  iv.  1.  55, 
"but  one  seven  years."     Also  below,  v.  2.  25,  v.  3.  175. 

41.  pack'd,  so  closely  mixed,  stored  in  such  numbers  ;  the  num- 
ber of  the  dead,  like  the  antiquity  of  the  place  (1.  39)  adds  to 
the  horror. 

42.  yet  but ...  earth,  so  lately  buried:  as  we  should  say 
'  hardly  cold  in  his  grave.' 

43.  festering,  rotting,  corrupting. 

46.  So  early  waking,  waking  before  daylight  has  come. 

46,  7.  what  with  . . .  earth,  with  the  combined  effect  upon  my 
senses  of  the  loathsome  smells  and  the  shrieking,  gibbering,  of 
the  spirits  as  though  they  were  mandrakes  being  plucked  from 
the  earth  ;  what  with,  as  we  now  say,  '  what  with  one  thing  and 
another,'  i.e.  such  was  the  result  of  all  the  circumstances  :  man- 
drakes, the  plant  mandragora,  supposed  to  resemble  a  man's 
figure,  and  sometimes  represented  with  a  duck's  head  (man-drake). 
"An  inferior  degree  of  animal  life,"  says  Nares,  "  was  attributed 
to  it,  and  it  was  commonly  supposed  that  when  torn  from  the 


SCENE  III.]  NOTES.  191 

ground  it  uttered  groans  of  so  pernicious  a  nature  that  the  person 
who  committed  the  violence  went  mad  or  died.  To  escape  that 
danger,  it  was  recommended  to  tie  one  end  of  a  string  to  the 
plant  and  the  other  to  a  dog,  upon  whom  the  fatal  groan  would 
then  discharge  its  full  malignity."  It  was  also  said  to  he  especi- 
ally found  in  graveyards  in  which  animals  had  been  buried.  The 
references  to  the  superstition  are  frequent  in  old  writers  ;  and  in 
ii.  H.  VI.  iii.  2.  310,  we  have  "Would  curses  kill,  as  doth  the 
mandrake's  groan,  I  would  invent  as  bitter- searching  terms,  As 
curst,  as  harsh  and  horrible  to  hear." 

49.  0,  if  I  wake,  again  taking  up  the  construction,  and  now 
completing  it  :  distraught,  distracted  ;  mentally  torn  asunder, 
the  feelings,  as  it  were,  tearing  and  rending  the  frame.  So, 
Lear,  iii.  2.  57,  8,  "close  pent-up  guilts,  Eire  your  concealiiuj 
continents,"  i.e.  burst  through  the  bodies  in  which  you  are  en- 
veloped. 

51.  madly,  in  my  madness. 

53.  great  kinsman's,  "compounded  like  great-nephew,  great- 
grandfather and  the  like  "  (Delius) ;  i.e.  great  in  distance  of  time. 

56.  spit,  thrust  through  as  witli  a  spit,  skewer,  on  which  meat 
is  roasted  ;  cp.  H.  V.  iii.  3.  38,  "  Your  naked  infants  spitted  upon 
pikes." 

57.  stay,  Tybalt,  stay,  "she  does  not  call  upon  Tybalt  to 
remain,  but  to  hold.  In  her  vision  she  imagines  he  is  going  to 
hurt  Romeo  "  (Delius). 

58.  this  do  . . .  thee,  I  pledge  you  in  this  potion. 

Stage  Directiox.  within  the  curtains.  ' '  Some  explanation 
of  the  business  of  the  old  stage  may  perhaps  here  be  necessary. 
The  space  '  within  the  curtains '  where  Juliet's  bed  is  placed, 
was  the  space  at  the  back  of  the  stage  proper,  beneath  the  raised 
stage  or  gallery  which  served  for  a  balcony,  or  the  walls  of  a 
besieged  town  as  the  case  required  ;  this  was  divided  from  the 
stage  proper  by  a  traverse  or  curtain.  The  curtain  closing  before 
Juliet's  bed,  the  stage  was  now  supposed  to  represent  a  hall  in 
Capulet's  house  (Sc.  4)  where  Capulet  busies  himself  with  the 
preparations  for  the  wedding.  On  his  hearing  of  the  arrival  of 
Paris  he  summons  the  Nurse  to  call  forth  Juliet,  which,  he  being 
gone,  she  proceeds  to  do,  and  opening  the  curtains  the  scene 
again  becomes  Juliet's  chamber  (Sc.  5)  where  she  is  discovered 
dead  apparently  on  her  bed.  After  the  general  lamentations 
which  take  place  on  this  occasion,  '  They  all  but  the  Nurse  goe 
foorth  casting  Rosemary  on  her  (Juliet)  and  shutting  the  curtens  ' 
(Q  1) ;  and  then  follows  the  scene  with  Peter  and  the  Musicians, 
the  stage  then  again  being  supposed  a  hall  or  some  other  apart- 
ment in  Capulet's  house  "  (Daniel). 


192  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 


Scene  IV. 

2.  pastry,  the  room  in  which  paste  {i.e.  dough  baked  for  the 
outside  of  pies,  etc.)  is  made  ;  formed  on  the  same  analogy  as 
pantry,  a  room  in  which  bread  (Lat.  pnnix,  bread,)  was  kept, 
buttery,  (i.e.  bottlery),  a  room  in  which  the  bottling  of  wine  was 
done,  .ipicery,  a  place  where  spices  were  kept.  We  now  use  the 
word  less  correctly  for  the  paste  itself. 

3.  the  second  . . .  crow'd,  the  cock  has  crowed  a  second  time. 

4.  The  curfew-'bell,  i.  e.  the  bell  for  covering  or  putting  out  the 
fires,  was  formerly  rung  at  night,  in  the  summer  at  nine,  in  the 
winter  at  eight,  o'clock  ;  and  elsewhere  Shakespeare  uses  the 
word  in  its  propeHtgignification.  It  has  therefore  been  supposed 
that  in  the  presesn  instance  what  is  meant  is  tliat  the  same  bell 
which  was  used  for  the  curfew  was  now  rung  as  the  morning 
bell,  i.e.  as  the  signal  to  get  up  and  light  the  fires. 

5.  baked  meats,  meat  baked  in  pastry  :  whether  Angelica  is 
Lady  Capulet  or  the  Nurse  is  uncertain. 

6.  Spare  not  for  cost,  do  not  be  sparing,  stingy,  on  account  of 
the  expense  ;  do  not  count  the  cost  of  what  you  provide  :  COt- 
quean,  a  busy-body  in  household  affairs  ;  the  derivation  of  the 
first  element  of  the  word  is  uncertain  ;  -quean,  according  to 
Skeat,  is  "  absolutely  the  same  word  as  queen,  the  original  sense 
being  '  woman.' "  By  some  editors  this  speech  is  given  to  Lady 
Capulet  as  being  one  that  the  Nurse  would  not  venture  to  make 
to  her  master  ;  but  Dyce  points  out  that  in  the  first  quarto 
Capulet's  answer  is  "I  warrant  thee  Nurse  I  have  ere  now 
Avatcht,"  etc.  Others  suppose  that  considerable  latitude  of 
speech  was  allowed  to  a  servant  who  had  so  long  been  in  the 
family. 

7.  siek,  ill. 

8.  watching,  keeping  awake  ;  as  very  frequently  in  Shakespeare. 

11.  a  mouse-hunt,  one  who  runs  after  women. 

12.  But  I ...  now,  but  I  will  take  care  that  you  do  not  sit  up 
all  night  for  such  purposes  now. 

13.  A  jealous-hood,  wliat,  you  are  jealous  of  me,  are  yoii  ? 
jealous-hood,  jealousy  ;  the  abstract  for  the  concrete. 

17,  8.  I  have  a  head,  ...  matter,  I  have  a  head  on  my  shoulders 
(i.e.  I  have  plenty  of  sense)  and  shall  be  able  to  find  out  whei-e 
the  logs  are  without  troubling  Peter  in  the  matter  ;  cp.  the 
Nurse's  compliment  to  herself,  i.  3.  29,  "  Nay,  I  do  bear  a  brain." 

19.  Mass,  by  the  mass.  i.e.  the  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist. 

20.  Thou  Shalt  he  logger-hea,d,  we'll  call  you  logger-head, 
since  you  boast  yourself  so  keen  in  finding  out  logs  ;  logger-head, 


SCENE  IV.]  NOTES.  193 

i.q.  lori-head,  like  block-head,  though,  as  Skeat  points  out,  it  is 
difficult  to  account  for  the  syllable  -er.  Possibly  the  word  was 
originally  '  /ogr/at-hend,'  /oggats  or  lof/gefs  being  small  blocks  of 
wood  thrown  at  fruit  which  could  not  otherwise  be  got  at. 

21.  music,  i.e.  the  band  of  musicians  who  were  to  play  the 
"  hunt's-up"  to  awaken  the  bride  on  the  wedding  morning  ;  see 
note  on  iii.  5.  34  ;  the  word  in  this  sense  occurs  frequently  in 
Shakespeare  :  straight,  straightway,  immediately. 

26.  tlie  bridegroom  he.  For  the  insertion  of  the  pronoun,  see 
Abb.  §  243. 

Scene  V 

1.  fast,  sc.  asleep. 

2.  slug-abed,  slug  in  a  bed,  lazy  creature  ;  '  slug '  being  often 
used  as  a  type  of  laziness  from  its  sleepy  motion.  The  word 
here;  however,  seems  like  a  coinage  of  the  Nurse,  a  compound  of 
"  sluggard  '  and  '  lie-abed.' 

4.  Marry,  and  amen,  by  the  Virgin,  blessed  be  her  name  ; 
amen,  so  be  it,  said  as  though  in  invoking  the  Virgin  she  had 
imi^lied  a  blessing  on  her  name ;  the  phrase  occurs  again  in 
i.  FT.  IV.  ii.  4.  128,  though  in  the  not  very  pious  mouth  of 
Falstaff. 

6.  take  . .  bed,  catch  you  asleep. 

7.  Will  it  not  be  ?  can't  I  wake  you  ? 

8.  down  again,  lying  down  again  after  you  have  got  up  and 
dressed. 

9.  I  must ...  you,  I  can't  let  you  sleep  on,  however  tired  you 
may  be. 

11.  well-a-day,  see  note  on  iii.  2.  28. 

13.  Wliat  noise  is  here  ?  what  is  the  reason  of  all  this  noise 
here  ? 

14.  heavy,  sorrowful,  lamentable. 

15.  my  only  life,  you  who  are  everything  in  life  to  me. 
18.  For  shame,  why  is  there  all  this  delay  ? 

21.  out,  alas  !  Here  out  intensifies  the  exclamation  of  grief,  and 
has  much  the  same  sense  of  completeness  as  in  Temp.  iv.  1.  101, 
"  And  be  a  boy  right  out "  ;  Cor.  iv.  5.  127,  "  thou  hast  beat  me 
out  Twelve  several  times."  Shakespeare  has  the  phrase  often, 
e.g.  M.  W.  iv.  5.  64,  W.  T.  iv.  4.  110,  and  in  0th.  v.  2.  119, 
"Out,  and  a/a.s.'" 

22.  is  settled,  no  longer  flows  freely  in  her  veins. 

28.  Ties  up...  speak.  As  Capulet  immediately  afterwards 
breaks    out    into   a   passionate   lament,    Malone   supposes   that 

N 


194  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

Shakespeare,  when  writing  this  line,  had  in  his  mind  the  poem 
of  Bonieus  and  Julief,  in  which,  though  the  mother  makes  a  long 
speech,  the  father  does  not  utter  a  word.  But  it  was  possible 
for  Capulet  to  be  struck  dumb  at  first  and  afterwards  to  find  his 
voice. 

29.  Come  . . .  church  ?  Staunton  would  give  this  line  to  Paris, 
on  the  ground  that  at  this  juncture  the  Friar  is  too  critically- 
placed  to  be  anxious  to  lead  the  conversation.  He  thinks,  too, 
that  Capulet's  answer  tends  to  show  tliat  Paris  had  asked  the 
question.  To  me  it  seems  clear  that  Capulet,  in  the  first  line  of 
his  speech,  briefly  answers  the  Friar's  question,  and  then  turns 
to  Paris  in  the  words  "  0  son,"  etc.  The  Friar  had  good  reason 
to  be  anxious  to  find  out  whether  his  potion  had  had  its  effects  ; 
and  Dyce  well  asks,  "  Would  the  deeply-enamoured  Paris  speak 
of  his  Juliet  merely  as  '  the  bride  '  ?  " 

36.  living,  my  possessions,  property  ;  cp.  W.  T.  iv.  3.  104, 
"  within  a  mile  where  my  land  and  liniKj  lies  "  ;  M.  V.  iii.  2.  158, 
V.  i.  286.  Capell  made  the  unnecessary  conjecture  'life-leaving/ 
and  has  been  followed  by  some  editors. 

37.  thought  long,  been  long  and  eagerly  expecting. 

41.  In  lasting  labour,  in  the  long  toil ;  perhaps  witli  an  allu- 
sion to  labour  in  tlie  sense  of  'pangs  of  childbirth,'  as  in  A.  G. 
iii.  7.  81,  "With  news  the  time's  with  labour  and  throes  forth. 
Each  minute,  some." 

42.  one  poor.  It  seems  doubtful  wliether  he  means  '  ill  fated 
wretcli  that  she  was,'  or  '  one  only '  ;  but  in  the  following  words, 
one  poor  and  loving  child,  poor  is  certainly  used  in  the  latter 
sense,  as  in  V.  A.  207,  "  What  were  thy  lips  the  worse  for  one 
poor  kiss  ?  "  and  Cor.  v.  1.  27,  "For  one  jioor  grain  or  two." 

43.  to  ...  solace  in,  to  find  comfort  in  ;  cp.  Cymb.  i.  6.  86,  "To 
hide  me  from  the  radiant  sun,  and  solace  I'  the  dungeon  by  a 
snuff." 

44.  catch'd,  a  form  of  the  participle  used  again  in  L.  L.  L.  v. 
2.  69,  A.  W.  i.  3.  176,  and  of  the  past  tense  in  Cor.  i.  3.  68. 

45.  0  woe,  . . .  day.  In  this  and  the  two  following  speeches, 
Grant  White  thinks  that  Shakespeare  was  probably  ridiculing 
the  translation  of  Seneca's  tragedies,  published  in  1581.  But 
the  lines  do  not  seem  out  of  place  in  the  mouth  of  the  speakers. 

51.  Beguiled,  cheated ;  as  more  commonly  in  Shakespeare. 
Nowadays  the  word  more  generally  means  to  deceive  pleasingly, 
to  drive  away  anything  unpleasant  by  an  agreeable  delusion  ; 
and  in  this  sense  also  Shakespeare  uses  it,  though  less  fi-equentlj'. 

54.  not  life  ...  death,  not  'my  life,'  as  I  have  so  often  called 
you,  but  still  in  death  my  loved  one. 

55.  Despised,   treated   by  Fate  with  contumely :    distressed, 


SCENE  v.]  NOTES.  195 

r.fflictetl,  a  stronger  sense  than  the  word  now  usually  has  and 
closer  to  its  Latin  source  districts,  torn  asunder,  sc.  by  grief. 

56.  Uncomfortable,  cheerless,  joyless  ;  but  with  more  of  an 
active  force  than  the  word  now  has,  and  similar  to  "discomfort- 
able"  in  B.  II.  iii.  2.  36,  "  Discomfortable  cousin  !  " 

57.  our  solemnity,  see  note  on  i.  5.  59. 

5S.  not  my  child,  no  longer  to  be  called  'my  child.' 

61,  2.  Confusion's  ...  confusions,  the  ciu-e  of  such  a  terrible 
sorrow  has  no  being  in  such  tumultuous  abandonment  to  grief  ; 
confusion  is  used  in  two  senses  here,  the  trouble  that  confounds, 
paraJyses,  us,  and  the  frantic  disorder  consequent  upon  that 
trouble.  For  lives  Lettsom  would  read  lies,  but  the  former  word 
seems  much  more  expressive  and  forcible,  'has  no  vitality,  no 
principle  of  life  and  efficacy. ' 

63."  Had  part  in,  shared  in. 

65.  keep  from  death,  preserve  from  death,  hold  back  from 
death  when  it  laid  its  grasp  upon  her. 

66.  But  heaven  .  life,  but  heaven  preserves  his  share  in  her  in 
life  eternal. 

67.  her  promotion,  her  rise  in  life  by  marriage  with  the  prince's 
kinsman. 

68.  your  heaven,  your  highest  idea  of  happiness  and  glory. 

71.  in  this  love  ..  ill,  this  manner  of  showing  your  love  does 
not  evidence  any  true  love,  any  love  worthy  of  the  name. 

72.  is  well,  is  at  rest,  is  in  happiness  ;  a  frequent  euphemism 
for  being  dead.  Cp.  A.  G.  ii.  5.  33,  where,  in  answer  to  the 
Messenger's  report  that  Antony  "  is  well,"  Cleopatra  says,  "But, 
sirrah,  mark,  we  use  To  say  the  dead  art  icelV  ;  also  W.  T.  v.  1. 
30,  Mach.  iv.  3.  179. 

75.  rosemary,  a  hei-b  commonly  used  at  funerals  as  an  emblem 
of  immortality,  from  being  an  evergreen,  and  of  lasting  affection, 
it  being  supposed  to  strengthen  the  memory.  See  above,  ii.  4. 
219. 

77.  In  all  ...  church,  see  note  on  iv.  1.  109-12. 

78.  fond,  over-loving ;  see  note  on  iii.  3.  52. 

79.  Yet  nature's  ...  merriment,  yet  the  tears  which  natural 
affection  bids  us  shed  are  laughed  at  by  reason,  are,  if  viewed  in 
the  '  dry  '  light  of  reason,  a  mere  weakness. 

80.  festival,  for  the  purpose  of  festivity  ;  an  adjective,  as  is 
funeral  in  the  next  line  ;  for  the  former,  cp.  A'.  J.  iii.  1.  76, 
"  this  blessed  day  Ever  in  France  shall  be  kept /es^ica^ ";  for  the 
latter,  J.  C.  iii.  1.  245,  "  You  shall  not  in  your  funeral  speech 
blame  us." 


196  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  iv. 

81.  their  office,  their  proper  use. 

8,S.  a  sad  burial  feast.  This  custom,  derived  from  the  Romans, 
still  obtains  in  Ireland  amo7ig  the  lower  classes,  and  the  feast  is 
called  a  'wake,'  i.e.  a  vigil,  or  sometimes,  from  a  misunder- 
standing of  that  term,  '  a  waking  of  the  dead.' 

84.  dirges,  mournful  chants ;  from  the  Lat.  dirige,  direct, 
guide,  the  first  word  of  a  ohaunt  used  by  Catholics  at  the  burial 
service,  from  Psalms,  v.  8,  "  Dirige,  Dominus  mens,  in  conspectu 
tuo  vifam  meam,"  "Guide  my  life,  0  Lord,  in  Thy  siglit " : 
sullen,  originally  meaning  '  solitary,'  tlien  '  morose,'  '  gloomy.' 

85.  serve  for,  are  used  as  a  decoration  for. 
88.  every  one  prepare,  let  every  one  prepare. 

90.  lour,  frown  ;  see  note  on  ii.  5.  6  ;  ill,  evil  deed. 

92.  put  up  our  pipes,  sc.  in  their  cases,  preparatory  to  going 
away. 

95.  the  case... amended.  The  Musician  pretending  to  take  the 
Nurse's  word  case  as  referring  to  the  case  of  his  instrument, 
answei's.  Yes,  in  truth,  it  might  be  a  better  one.  Delius  com- 
pares a  similar  pun  in  W.  T.  iv.  4.  844,  "though  my  case  be  a 
pitiful  one,  I  hope  I  sliall  not  be  flayed  out  of  it." 

96.  '  Heart's  ease,'  a  popular  tune  at  the  time. 

97.  have  me  live,  see  me  lively,  in  good  spirits. 

99,  100.  My  heart  . .  woe.  "  The  burthen  of  the  first  stanza  of 
A  Pleasant  New  Ballad  of  Two  Lovers  :  '  Hey  hoe  !  my  heart  is 
full  of  woe '  "  (Steevens)  :  dump,  a  melancholy  strain  in  music  ; 
said  to  be  used  also  for  a  dance.  Tlie  colloquialism  '  in  the 
dumps,'  i.e.  in  a  dismal  humour,  may  still  be  heard.  Of  course 
Peter's  merry  is  an  intentional  contradiction  of  terms,  as 
Staunton  points  out. 

105.  give  it  you  soundly,  pay  you  out  well  for  refusing  to  play. 

107.  gleek.  '  To  give  the  gleek,'  said  to  be  taken  from  an  old 
game  at  cards  called  gleel',  was  to  scorn  or  flout,  and  by  some 
there  is  supposed  to  be  a  pun  on  the  word  gleeman  or  gligman,  a 
minstrel. 

109.  win  I  give  you  the  serving- creature,  I  will  retort  by 
calling  you  serving-creature. 

110,  1.  Then  will  I ...  pate,  my  reply  to  your  insult  will  be  a 
blow  on  your  head  with  my  dagger  :  I  will  carry  no  crotchets,  I 
will  put  up  with  no  insults,  endure  none  of  your  caprices  ;  with 
a  pun  on  crotchets  in  its  musical  use  =  a  quaver. 

111,2.  I  Ii  re  you  ...  me,  I'll  play  a  pretty  tune  on  yo\ir  head 
with  my  dagger.  A  similar  figure  of  speech  from  music  is  '  I'll 
beat  you  into  fiddle-strings.'  re,  fa,  the  names  given  in  the 
Binging  of  the  notes  of  the  gamut  or  scale  in  music  to  the  notes 


SCENE  v.]  "  NOTES,  197 

D  and  F  ;  note,  of  course  with  a  pun  on  '  note,' =  pay  attention 
to  what  I  say,  and  '  note '  in  music. 

114.   put  out,  extinguish,  have  done  with. 

116.  Ttien  have  at  you  with  my  wit,  then  here  goes  for  a  blow 

at  you  with  my  wit. 

123.  Catling',  or  catgut,  the  intestines  of  sheep  from  which  the 
strings  of  string  instruments  are  made. 

125.  Rebeck,  a  three-stringed  iiddle  ;  cp.  L' Allegro,  94,  "And 
the  jocund  i-ebecl's  sound. " 

126,  7.  sound  for  silver,  play  for  money. 

130.  I  cry  you  mercy,  I  beg  your  pardon  for  asking  you  :  you 
are  the  singer,  sc.  and  tlierefore  cannot  be  expected  to  answer 
for  the  musicians. 

130,  1.  I  will  say  for  you,  I  will  answer  myself  in  your  stead. 

135.  pestilent  knave,  insolent  and  troublesome  fellow. 

136.  Jack,  see  note  on  ii.  4.  121. 

136,  7.  tarry  for  the  mourners,  wait  here  till  the  funeral 
procession  conies  forth  and  then  accompany  it  to  the  grave.  The 
propriety  of  this  scene  has  been  much  debated.  Coleridge  thinks 
that  as  the  audience  knew  that  Juliet  was  not  dead,  "  it  is, 
perhaps,  excusable,"  though  not  a  thing  to  be  imitated  by 
inferior  hands.  Knight  thus  defends  it  :  "  Rightly  understood, 
it  appears  to  us  that  the  scene  requires  no  apology.  It  was  the 
custom  of  our  ancient  theatre  to  introduce  in  the  irregular  pauses 
of  a  play  that  stood  in  the  place  of  a  division  into  acts,  some 
short  diversion,  such  as  a  song,  a  dance,  or  the  extempore 
buffoonery  of  a  clown.  At  this  point  of  Eomeo  and  Juliet  there 
is  a  natural  pause  in  the  action,  and  at  this  point  such  an  inter- 
lude would  probably  have  been  presented  whether  Shakspere  had 
written  one  or  not.  The  stage  direction  in  the  second  quarto 
puts  this  matter,  as  it  appears  to  us,  beyond  a  doubt.  That 
direction  says,  '  Enter  Will  Kempe,'  and  the  dialogue  innnedi- 
ately  begins  between  Peter  and  the  musicians.  Will  Kempe 
was  the  Liston  of  his  day  ;  and  Mas  as  great  a  popular  favourite 
as  Tarleton  had  been  before  him.  It  was  wise,  therefore,  in 
Shakspere  to  hnd  some  business  for  Will  Kempe,  that  should 
not  be  entirely  out  of  harmony  with  the  great  business  of  his 
play.  This  scene  of  the  musicians  is  very  sliort,  and,  regarded 
as  a  necessary  part  of  the  routine  of  the  ancient  stage,  is  ex- 
cellently managed.  Nothing  can  be  more  naturally  exhibited 
than  the  indifference  of  hirelings,  without  attacliment,  to  a 
family  scene  of  grief.  Peter  and  the  musicians  bandy  jokes  ; 
and,  although  the  musicians  think  Peter  '  a  pestilent  knave,' 
perhaps  for  his  inopportune  sallies,  they  are  ready  enough  to 
look  after  their  own  gratification,  even  amidst  the  sorrow  which 


198  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.        [act  iv.  sc.  v. 

they  see  arounrl  them.  A  wedding  or  a  burial  is  the  same  to 
them.  '  Come,  we'll  in  here — tarry  for  the  mourners,  and  stay 
dinner.'  So  Shakspere  read  the  course  of  the  woidd — and  it  is 
not  much  changed."  In  Clarke's  opinion,  too,  "the  intention 
was  to  show  how  grief  and  gaiety,  pathos  and  absurdity,  sorrow 
and  jesting,  elbow  each  other  in  life's  crowd  ;  how  the  calamities 
of  existence  fall  heavily  upon  the  souls  of  some,  while  others, 
standing  close  beside  the  grievers,  feel  no  jot  of  suffering  or 
sympathy"... .  The  grave-digger  in  Hamlet,  the  porter  in  Mac- 
beth, and  the  clown  in  Othello  are  equally  jocose  amid  scenes  not 
less  tragic,  and  the  hired  mourners  at  a  modern  funeral  would 
hardly  be  libelled  by  a  comparison  with  Peter  and  the  musicians, 
except  that  their  wit  would  probably  have  less  wit  in  it.  " 

Act  V.     Scene  I. 

1.  If  I  may  . . .  sleep,  if  I  may  take  for  truth  the  encouraging 
vision  that  sleep  has  shown  me,  a  vision  that,  however,  may  be 
merely  illusive.  A  great  deal  has  been  written  as  to  the  con- 
tradiction of  terms  in  flattering  truth ;  but  Romeo  seems  to 
mean  nothing  more  than  that  he  hardly  dares  to  trust  a  dream 
so  unexpectedly  favourable  to  his  hopes,  just  as,  in  ii.  2.  139-41, 
Juliet  says,  "  I  am  afraid.  Being  in  night,  all  this  is  but  a  dream, 
Too  flattering-sweet  to  be  substantial."  The  first  quai^to  gives 
'flattering  e?/e,'  which  many  editors  adopt,  explaining  "the 
visions  with  which  my  eye  flattered  me  during  sleep,"  or  taking 
'  eye '  for  view,  prospect.  The  conjectures  are  as  numerous  as 
they  generally  are  when  there  is  no  need  for  them,  and  include 
"soother,'  'sooth  of,'  'signs  of,'  'toys  of,'  'breath  of,'  'birth  of,' 
'  vouch  of, '  and,  most  monstrous  of  all,  '  death  of, '  due  to  Collier's 
MS.  Corrector. 

3.  My  bosom's  lord,  my  love  ;  cp.  T.  N.  ii.  4.  22,  "  It  gives  a 
very  echo  to  the  seat  Where  Love  is  throned "  :  in ;  on,  as 
frequently. 

4.  an  unaccustom'd  spirit,  a  frame  of  mind  diiTerent  to  that 
which  had  been  his  ever  since  he  began  to  love,  and  especially 
different  from  that  in  which,  i.  4.  10611,  he  had  presaged  the 
terrible  consequences  that  actually  follow. 

5.  Lifts  me  ...  ground,  makes  me  '  tread  on  air,'  as  we  say. 

6.  I  dreamt ...  dead,  cp.  Juliet's  foreboding,  iii.  5.  55,  6. 

7.  that  gives  ...  think,  in  which  it  is  possible  for  a  dead  man  to 
think. 

8.  in,  within,  into. 

9.  an  emperor,  not,  I  think,  literally,  but  in  the  sense  of  the 
happiest  and  most  glorious  of  mortals. 

10.  possess'd,  when  actually  enjoyed. 


ACT  V.  sc.  1.]  KOTES.  199 

17.  is  well,  is  at  peace  in  death  ;  a  frequent  euphemism  ;  cp. 
ii.  H.  IV.  V.  2..Z,  A.  C.  ii.  5.  33. 

18.  in  Capel's  monument,  in  the  family  vault  of  the  Capulets ; 
for  monument  in  this  sense,  cp.  above,  iii.  5.  203.  As  INIalone 
points  out,  Shakespeare  found  Capd  and  Capulet  used  indis- 
criminately in  Romeus  and  Juliet. 

21.  took  post,  hurried  off;  literally  mounted  a  post-horse. 
^^  Post  'originally  signified  a  fixed  place,  as  a  military  post; 
then,  a  fixed  place  on  a  line  of  road  where  horses  are  kept  for 
travelling,  a  stage,  or  station  ;  thence  it  was  transferred  to  the 
person  who  travelled  in  this  way,  using  relays  of  horses,  and 
finally  to  any  quick  traveller ' ;  Eastwood  and  Wright,  Bible 
Wordbook"  (Skeat,  Ely.  Diet.).  For- the  word  =  a  post-horse, 
cp.  ii."  H.  IV.  iv.  3.  40,  "  I  have  foundered  [i.e.  exhausted)  nme 
score  and  odd  jwsts." 

23.  it,  the  task  of  bringing  you  news. 

24.  defy,  renounce,  reject,  refuse  to  believe  in  you  any  longer. 
Cp.  K.  J.  iii.  4.  23,  "I  defy  all  counsel,  all  redress."  The  later 
quartos  and  the  folios  give  deny,  the  meaning  of  which  would  be 
much  the  same. 

27.  have  patience,  compose  yourself. 

28,  9.  do  import ...  misadventiire,  indicate  some  terrible  pur- 
pose in  your  mind. 

32.  No  matter,  it  does  not  matter,  signify  :  get  thee  gone,  see 
note  on  iv.  1.  122. 

33.  those  horses,  sc.  that  I  just  now  spoke  of. 

35.  Let 's  see  for  means,  let  me  consider  how  to  find  means  to 
efifect.my  purpose. 

38.  a',  see  note  on  ii.  4.  120  :  noted,  marked,  noticed. 

39.  weeds,  clothes  ;  from  "  A.S.  wcede,  neut.,  also  ivdd,  fem., 
a  garment  ...  literally  something  which  is  wound  or  wrapped 
round,  exactly  as  '  2veed  wide  enough  to  icrap  a  fairy  in,'  Shake- 
speare, M.  N.  D.  ii.  1.  256"  (Skeat,  Ety.  Diet.)  :  overwhelming 
brows,  bushy,  hanging,  eyebrows  ;  see  note  on  "  beetle-brows," 
above,  i.  4.  32. 

40.  Culling  of.  For  '  of '  following  a  verbal  noun,  see  Abb. 
§  178  :  meagre,  thin  and  pinched. 

41.  to  the  hones,  so  that  there  was  nothing  left  of  him  but 
skin  and  bones  ;  to  expressing  the  result. 

42.  needy,  scantily  furnished  :  a  tortoise,  like  the  "  alligator" 
and  "  ill-shaped  fishes,"  symbols  of  his  profession  formerly  hung- 
up in  an  apothecary's  shop,  just  as  nowadays  we  see  the  huge 
bottles  of  coloured  water  in  the  windows  of  a  chemist's  shop. 

43.  alligator,  the  sharp-nosed  crocodile,  the  magar  of  Indian 


200  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

rivers  as  contrasted  with  the  nari/al,  or  snub-nosed  crocodile  ; 
literally  '  the  lizard,'  i.e.  the  lizard  jxir  excdlenca,  from  Span,  el, 
the,  Ar.  at,  and  lagarto,  lizard,  Lat.  lacerta. 

44.  ill-sliaped,  strange-shaped,  and  therefore  more  attractive 
of  notice  :  about  his  shelves,  here  and  there  on  his  shelves. 

45.  A  beggarly  account,  a  poor  and  scanty  store. 

47.  old  cakes  of  roses,  dried  petals  of  roses  (sold  for  scenting 
clothes,  etc.)  which  had  become  caked  together  from  so  long 
remaining  untouched. 

50.  An  if,  see  Abb.  §  103. 

51.  Whose  sale  . . .  Mantua,  the  sale  of  which  is  in  Mantua 
punished  with  immediate  death. 

52.  a  caitiff  wretch,  a  miserable  creature  ;  caitifi,  from  Lat. 
captivus,  a  captive,  prisoner,  then  a  mean-looking,  miserable, 
being  ;  now  used  as  a  substantive  only  :  would,  the  relative 
omitted. 

53.  this  same  . . .  need,  this  thought  of  mine,  as  I  now  see,  did 
but  anticipate  the  need  in  wliich  1  stand  at  this  moment. 

54.  must,  is  destined  to. 

55.  As  I  remember,  if  my  memory  is  right :  should  be,  ought 
to  be. 

56.  Being  holiday,  it  being  a  holiday. 

59.  Hold,  liere,  take  :  there  is  forty  ducats,  for  the  singular 
inflection  preceding  a  plural  subject,  see  Abb.  §  3.35  ;  ducats,  a 
coin  so  called  from  the  inscription  it  bore,  "Sit  tibi,  Christe, 
datus  Queni  tu  regis  iste  Ducatus,"  D^icaius  meaning  a  Duchy, 
and  thence  a  coin  struck  Ijy  a  Duke.  Its  value  seems  to  have 
varied  at  different  times  from  three  shillings  and  fourpence  to 
four  shillings  and  twopence. 

_  60.  A  dram,  here  probably  the  amount  in  weight,  i.e.  the 
eighth  part  of  an  ounce;  see  note  on  iii.  5.  91  ;  such...  gear, 
such  quickly  operative  stuff ;  for  gear,  see  note  on  ii.  4.  89. 

63.  the  trunk,  the  body  ;  literally  a  piece  cut  off,  from  Lat. 
truncm,  maimed,  mutilated  ;  hence  often  for  the  body  witliout 
the  limbs  :  dischariged,  freed,  liberated  ;  for  the  sake  of  the 
simile  from  a  cannon. 

64.  hasty,  that  blazes  up  eagerly  on  a  spark  being  applied  to 
it.  In  J.  G.  iii.  4.  112,  Shakespeare  uses  the  epithet  of  fire 
struck  out  of  a  flint  and  immediately  vani-shing  ;  "0  Cassias, 
you  are  yoked  with  a  lamb  That  carries  anger  as  the  flint  bears 
fire  ;  Who,  much  enforced,  shows  a  hasty  spark,  And  straight  is 
cold  again." 

66.  mortal,  fatal. 

67.  to  any  he,  so  he  for  him,  Haml.  i.  2.  104,  "  From  the  first 


SCENE  I.]  NOTES.  201 

corse  till  he  that  died  to-day,'  where  till  is  a  proposition  :  utters, 
sells  ;  "  is  a  regular  frequentative  form  of  the  M.  E.  oufen,  to  put 
out,  and  means  to  keep  on  putting  out"  ...  (Skeat,  Ety.  Did.) ; 
so  to  *  utter'  {i.e.  circulate)  spurious  coin. 

68.  bare,  sc,  of  all  comforts. 

69.  And  ffear  st,  and  yet  fear. 

70.  Need...  eyes,  the  hungry  look  in  your  eyes  declares  only 
too  plainly  that  want  and  oppression  have  brought  you  close  to 
starvation  ;  stareth,  start  in,  and  starteth  have  been  conjectured 
for  starveth,  but  are  immeasurably  less  forcible  ;  Need  and 
oppression  is  little  more  than  a  hendiadys  -  oppressive  need,  and 
the  compound  idea  hence  has  a  singular  verb.  See  also  Abb. 
§  336. 

71.  Contempt ...  back,  beggary,  that  subject  of  men's  scorn, 
shows  itself  in  your  tattered  clothes.  Here  again  the  idea  is 
compound. 

72.  is  not  thy  friend,  does  nothing  to  befriend  you. 

73.  affords,  furnishes. 

76.  I  pay  . . .  will,  then  consider  that  it  is  your  poverty  and  not 
your  will  that  accepts  this  payment,  and  so  satisfy  your  con- 
scientious scruples  ;  consider  that  your  will  is  no  free  agent,  it 
being  so  completely  under  the  constraint  of  poverty. 

77.  you  will,  you  choose. 

79.  dispatch,  a  euphemism  for  '  kill.' 

80.  thy  gold,  the  gold  I  offered  you. 

80-2.  worse  poison  . . .  sell,  cp.  Timon's  language  when  coming 
upon  gold  as  he  digs  for  roots,  Tim.  iv.  3.  30  et  seqq. 

83.  I  sell  thee  . . .  none,  compared  to  the  gold  you  receive  in 
exchange,  your  drug  is  nothing  of  a  poison. 

84.  get  thyself  in  flesh,  set  j'ourseLf  into  good  condition  of 
body,  eat  heartily  and  put  on  flesh. 

85.  cordial,  used  of  anything  that  comforts  and  gladdens  the 
heart ;  Lat.  cordi-,  from  cor,  heart,  w  itli  suffix  -alis :  go  with  me, 
as  if  he  were  addressing  some  familiar  friend. 

Scene  II. 

1.  Holy  Franciscan  friar.  "  Friar  Laurence  and  his  associates 
must  be  supposed  to  belong  to  the  Franciscan  order  of  friai's.  In 
his  kindliness,  his  learning,  and  his  inclination  to  mix  with  and, 
perhaps,  control  tlie  aifairs  of  the  world  he  is  no  unapt  repre- 
sentative of  one  of  this  distinguished  order  in  its  best  days... 
Warton  says  the  Franciscans  '  managed  the  machines  of  every 
important  operation  or  event,  both  in  the  religious  and  political 


202  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

world ' "  (Knight).  The  Franciscan  orders  include  the  three 
orders  of  the  Minorites  and  all  the  less  important  associations 
who  trace  their  rule  to  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  The  rule  originally 
prescribed  by  St.  Francis  was  very  strict,  and,  rigidly  enforced, 
would  have  made  all  the  members  of  the  order  pious  beggars.  It 
soon  became  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  mediajval  monastic 
orders,  and  produced  a  long  array  of  distinguished  theologians 
and  churchmen. 

3,  4.  what  says . . .  letter.  The  two  alternatives,  if  they  had 
exactly  corresponded  in  form,  would  liave  been  either  '  tell  me 
what  Romeo  says,  or,  if  he  has  written,  let  me  see  what  his 
letter  contains,'  or,  '  what  does  Romeo  say,  or,  if  he  has  written, 
what  does  he  write  ?  let  me  see  his  letter. ' 

5.  a  bare-foot  brotLer,  a  member  of  our  order,  who,  as  our 
rules  enjoin,  goes  barefooted  in  his  walks. 

6,  7.  to  associate  me  . . .  sick,  to  accompany  me  in  my  visits  to 
the  sick.  "  Eacli  friar,"  says  Steevens,  "  has  always  a  companion 
assigned  him  by  the  Superior  [of  the  Monastery]  when  he  asks 
leave  to  go  out  ;  and  thus,  says  Baretti,  they  are  a  check  upon 
each  other."  Gp.  Webster,  The  Devil's  Law-Case,  iii.  3,  "mis- 
chiefs are  like  the  visits  of  Franciscan  friars,  They  never  come  to 
prey  upon  us  sinrfle."  Malone,  though  he  afterwards  withdrew 
the  conjecture,  wished  to  transpose  11.  7  and  8.  The  construc- 
tion is  made  sufficiently  harsh  by  the  nominative  finding  Mm 
without  any  finite  verb,  but  the  searchers  of  the  town  clearly 
goes  with  suspecting,  nut  with  visiting.  For  the  participle  used 
with  a  nominative  absolute,  see  Abb.  §  376. 

8.  the  searchers  of  the  town,  those  appointed  to  find  out  what 
houses  were  infected  by  the  plague  and  to  prevent  all  communica- 
tion with  them.  Malone  points  out  that  in  Romeus  and  Juliet 
the  plague  is  represented  as  raging  at  Verona,  not  at  Mantua. 

9.  were  in  a  house,  belonged  to  a  convent ;  house,  i.e.  religious 
house. 

11.  Seal'd  up  the  doors,  piit  the  official  seal  upon  the  doors, 
thus  marking  the  house  as  one  not  to  be  entered  from  the  outside 
or  quitted  by  its  inmates. 

12.  So  that ...  stay'd,  so  that  the  haste  I  should  have  made  to 
go  to  Mantua  was  prevented  by  my  being  confined  thei'e. 

14.  here  it  is  again,  I  now  return  it  to  you. 

16.  they,  the  messengers  I  wished  to  employ. 

17.  by  my  brotherhood,  I  swear  by  my  holy  order. 

18.  nice,  trivial,  of  slight  importance;  cp.  above,  iii.  1.  159: 
full  of  charge,  of  weighty  consequence. 

19.  dear,  precious,  vital,  important. 


SCENE  II.]  NOTES.  203 

21.  crow,  crowbar  ;  to  wreuch  open  the  tomb  ;  straight,  im- 
mediately. 

25.  this  three  hours,  see  note  on  iv.  3.  40. 
2G.  beshrew,  reproach  ;  literally  'curse.' 

27.  accidents,  events,  sc.  the  interruption  of  communication 
owing  to  the  plague. 

Scene  III. 

Stage  Direction.  A  churchyard.  "It  is  clear  that  Shake- 
speare, or  some  writer  whom  he  followed,  had  in  mind  the 
churchyard  of  Saint  Mary  the  Old  in  Verona,  and  the  monument  of 
the  Scaligers  which  stood  in  it.  We  bave  nothing  in  England 
which  corresponds  to  this  scene,  and  no  monument  or  vault  in 
which  such  scenes  as  this  could  be  exhibited  "  ..  (Hunter). 

1 .  aloof,  away,  at  a  distance  ;  ' '  from  a,  prep.  +  loof,  luff, 
weather-gage,  windward  direction  ;  perhaps  immediately  from 
Du.  locf,  in  te  loef,  to  the  windward"...  (Murray,  Eng.  Diet.). 

2.  Yet,  contradicting  his  first  order  to  give  him  the  torch. 

3.  lay  ...  along,  lie  do\ra  at  full  length. 

4.  Holding . . .  ground,  iu  which  position  the  tread  of  any  one 
approaching  would  be  more  easily  heard  ;  hollow,  and  therefore 
more  readily  reverberating  to  any  sound  ;  so  7'.  S.,  Ind.  ii.  48, 
"  And  fetch  shrill  echoes  from  the  hollow  earth." 

6.  Being,  it  being. 

7.  But  thou  ...  it,  without  your  hearing  it. 

10.  to  stand  alone,  to  be  alone  ;  there  being  no  reference  to  his 
standing  or  his  lying  down  as  directed  by  Paris. 

13.  canopy,  covering  ;  from  "  Gk.  KcovcoTreitov,  Kuvw-irtiov,  an 
Egyptian  bed  with  mosquito  curtains.  —  Gk.  kuvcott-,  stem  of 
KwvtdiJ/,  a  great  mosquito;  literally  'cone-faced,'  or  an  animal 
with  a  cone-shaped  head,  from  some  resemblance  to  a  cone.  — 
Gk.  Koivos,  a  cone  ;  and  dixj;,  a  face,  appearance"  ...  (Skeat,  Efy. 
Diet.)  :  is  dust  and  stones,  i.e.  not  a  fitting  canopy  for  one  like 
you. 

14.  Which,  sc.  the  "  bridal  bed  "  :  Bweet  water,  scented,  per- 
fumed, water. 

15.  distill'd  by  moans,  forced  from  the  eyes  by  grief. 

16.  obsequies,  funeral  rites  ;  Lat.  ohnequice,  funeral  rites, 
literally  '  following  close  upon  ' :  keep,  observe,  pay. 

9.  cursed,  because  interrupting  him. 

20.  To  cross  my  obsequies,  to  hinder  the  obsequies  I  am  paying. 

21.  Muffle,  wrap  me  in  darkness  ;  Steevens  compares  the  word, 
used  in  a  neuter  sense,  Covms,  330,  "  Unmuffle,  ye  faint  stars"  ; 


204  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

and  Dyce  points  out  that  a  '  muffler  '  "  is  a  sort  of  wrapper  worn 
by  women,  which  generally  covered  the  mouth  and  chin,  but 
sometimes  almost  the  whole  face."  In  M.  W.  iv.  2.  73,  one  is 
produced  by  Mrs.  Ford  to  disguise  FalstafF  in. 

22.  mattock,  a  kind  of  pick-axe  for  tearing  up  the  earth. 

26.  all  aloof,  quite  away  ;  so  that  he  might  not  witness  what 
was  done. 

28.  Why  I  descend,  my  reason  for  descending. 

32.  In  dear  employment,  in  a  matter  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance ;  "  '  dear  '  is  used  of  whatever  touches  us  nearly  either 
in  love  or  hate,  joy  or  sorrow"  (CI.  Pr.  Edd.  on  Haml.  i.  2.  182, 
"  my  dearest  foe  "). 

33.  jealous,  suspicious  ;  cp.  Lear,  i.  4.  75,  "  which  I  have 
rather  blamed  as  mine  own  jealous  curiosity." 

34.  shall  intend  to  do,  may  have  an  intention  of  doing  ;  shall 
indicating  some  further  intention  he  certainly  will  have. 

35.  joint  by  joint,  piecemeal,  each  joint  from  the  other. 

36.  hungry,  as  though  the  churchyard  was  for  ever  longing  for 
fresh  corpses,  never  satisfied  however  many  might  be  buried  in  it. 

37.  The  time  ...  savage-wild,  the  thoughts  in  my  mind  are  wild 
even  to  savageness  and  this  midnight  hour  well  accords  with 
them. 

39.  empty,  starving. 

41.  that,  giving  him  money. 

43.  For  all  this  same,  in  spite  of  all  these  injunctions  and 
threats. 

44.  His  looks  I  fear,  not  as  regards  his  own  per.sonal  safety, 
but  as  regards  Romeo's  intentions  against  himself. 

45.  Detestable.  Accented  on  the  first  syllable,  as  in  iv.  5.  56, 
K.  J.  iii.  4.  29. 

48.  And,  in  despite  ...  food,  out  of  hatred  to  you,  not  to  satisfy 
your  gluttonous  voracity,  I  will  cram  you  with  my  own  body  also. 

50.  with  which  grief,  owing  to  which  grief. 
52.  is  come,  the  omission  of  the  nominative  is  most  common 
with  '  has,'  'is,'  '  was  ' ;  see  Abb.  §  400. 

55.  Can  vengeance  . . .  death  ?  is  it  possible  that  you  are  not 
satisfied  with  the  vengeance  you  have  already  taken  in  killing 
Tybalt  ?  a  particular,  not  a  general,  question. 

56.  Condemned,  not  merely  condemned  by  law,  but  accursed 
for  his  intentions. 

58.  therefore,  for  that  very  purpose. 

59.  Good  gentle  youth.     "  The  gentleness  of  Romeo  was  shown 


SCENE  III.]  NOTES.        ^  205 

before  as  softened  by  love,  and  now  it  is  doubled  by  love  and 
sorrow,  and  awe  of  the  place  where  he  is  "  (Coleridge). 

60.  gone,  dead  ;  an  euphemism, 

61.  Let  them  affright  thee,  let  their  deaths  deter  you  from 
such  a  rash  act  as  that  of  seizing  a  man  so  desperate  as  myself. 

62.  another  sin,  i.e.  of  killing  him. 

67.  A  madman's  . . .  away,  a  madman  in  a  lucid  interval  of  mercy 
bade  you  run  away,  and  thus  you  escaped  to  tell  the  tale. 

68.  conjurations,  earnest  appeals,  entreaties  ;  cp.  R.  II.  iii.  2. 
23,  H.   V.  i.  2.  29  ;  the  ^^erb  in  this  sense  is  common  enough. 

70.  have  at  thee,  see  note  on  i.  1 .  59. 

71.  the  watch,  the  police,  as  we  should  now  say. 

74.  peruse,  examine  closely  ;  originally  meaning  to  use 
thoroughly  or  carefully. 

76.  betossed,  stonm-tossed,  violently  agitated. 

77.  attend  him,  pay  heed  to  his  words. 

78.  should  have,  was  to  have  ;  see  Abb.  §  325. 

81.  To  think,  in  thinking  ;  the  infinitive  used  indefinitely. 

82.  One  writ . . .  hook,  one,  like  myself,  entered  as  a  debtor  in 
misfortiTue's  account-book  ;  or  perhaps  only  enrolled  in  the  list  of 
the  unfortunate. 

83.  triumphant,  glorious,  splendid  ;  cp.  A.  C.  ii.  2.  189,  "a 
most  trmmphant  lady." 

84.-  a  lantern.  "A  spacious  round  or  octagonal  turret  full  of 
windows,  by  means  of  which  cathedrals,  and  sometimes  halls,  are 
illuminated.    See  the  beautiful  lantern  at  Ely  Minster  "  (Steevens). 

86.  a  feasting  presence,  a  stateroom  in  all  the  splendour  of  a 
feast ;  cp.  E.  II.  i.  3.  289,  "Suppose  ...  The  grave  whereon  thou 
tread'st  tlie  presence  strewed  "  ;  H.  VIII.  iii.  1.  17,  "  the  two 
great  cardinals  ^Yait  in  the  presence." 

87.  Death,  the  abstract  for  the  concrete  ;  Lettsom  conjectures 
Dead,  and  Dyce  so  reads  :  a  dead  man,  sc.  himself,  whom  he  now 
regards  as  nothing  better  than  dead. 

89.  keepers,  attendants. 

90.  A  lightning  before  death.  "A  proverbial  phrase,  partly 
deduced  from  observation  of  some  extraordinary  effort  of  nature, 
often  made  in  sick  persons  just  before  death  ;  and  partly  from  a 
superstitious  notion  of  an  ominous  and  preternatural  mirth, 
supposed  to  come  on  at  that  period,  without  any  ostensible 
reason."  So  in  Addison's  pathetic  description  of  Sir  Roger's 
death,  Spectator  'No.  115,  "Indeed  we  were  once  in  great  hope 


206  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

of  his  recovery,  upon  a  kind  message  that  was  sent  him  from  the 
widow  lady  whom  he  had  made  love  to  the  forty  last  years  of  his 
life ;  but  this  only  proved  a  lightning  before  death." 

90-2.  How  may  I ...  Death,  but  my  merry  mood  (sc.  as  exhibited 
in  1.  89)  has  none  of  the  brightness  which  lights  up  the  minds  of 
dying  men  :  the  honey  . . .  breath,  j'our  honeyed  breath  ;  cp. 
Haml.  iii.  1.  164,  "That  swk'd  the  honey  of  his  music  vows." 

93.  no  power  . . .  upon,  no  power  to  deface. 

94,  5.  beauty's  ensign  ...  cheeks,  beauty's  ensign,  the  roseate 
flush  of  youth  and  health,  still  flies  proudly  in  your  cheeks  ;  a 
metaphor  from  a  flag  flying  bravely  on  the  walls  of  a  fortress 
that  defies  its  besiegers. 

96.  is  not  advanced  there,  has  not  yet  been  able  to  displace  the 
ensign  of  your  beauty  ;  advanced,  a  technical  term  for  the  waving 
of  standards,  as  in  J/.  JV.  iii.  4.  85,  "I  must  adrance  the  colours 
of  my  love.  And  not  retire;"  K.  J.  ii.  1.  207,"  These  flags  of 
France,  that  are  advanced  here  Before  the  eye  and  prospect  of 
your  town." 

97.  sheet,  winding-sheet,  in  which  it  is  customary  to  wrap  a 
corpse,  as  in  iii.  H.  VI.  i.  1.  129,  ii.  5.  114. 

101.  Forgive  me,  cousin.  "  Inexpressibly  beautiful  and  moving 
is  this  gentleness  of  Romeo's  in  his  death  hour.  His  j'earning  to 
be  at  peace  with  his  foe,  his  beseeching  pardon  of  him  and  calling 
him  kinsman  in  token  of  final  atonement,  his  forbearance  and 
even  magnanimity  towards  Paris,  his  words  of  closing  considera- 
tion and  kindly  farewell  to  his  faithful  Balthasar,  all  combine  to 
crown  Romeo  as  the  prince  of  youthful  gentlemen  and  lovers  " 
(Clarke). 

103.  unsubstantial,  immaterial,  incorporeal ;  cp.  Lear.  iv.  1.  7, 
"  Thou  unsubstantial  air  that  I  embrace." 

107.  this  palace  of  dim  night,  the  darkness  of  the  tomb. 

109.  thy  chamber-maids,  your  attendants  ;  in  Hamlet  the 
imagery  regarding  worms  is  of  a  very  difi'erent  type  ;  see  iv.  2. 
20  et  seqq. 

110.  Will  I  set  up  ...  rest,  I  am  determined  to  find  my  last  long 
home.  The  origin  of  the  phrase  '  to  set  up  one's  rest '  has  been 
much  debated.  According  to  Steevens,  it  is  taken  fi'om  the 
manner  of  firing  the  harquebuses,  which  was  so  hea^'y  that  a 
supporter,  called  a  rest,  was  fixed  in  the  ground  before  the  piece 
was  levelled  to  take  aim.  Others  derive  it  from  a  term  used  in 
games  at  cards,  more  particularly  primero,  in  which  the  rest  was 
the  stake  laid  down,  and  '  to  set  up  one's  rest '  was  to  announce 
the  highest  stake  that  the  player  was  prepared  to  make  on  the 


SCENE  III.]  NOTES.  207 

cards  he  held  in  his  hand.     Probably  the  two  ideas  were  com- 
bined to  express  a  settled  resolution. 

Ill,  2.  And  shake  ...  flesh,  and,  weary  as  I  am  of  life,  no  longer 
submit  to  be  driven  hither  and  thither  as  my  ill-starred  fate  may 
choose. 

115.  A  dateless  ...  death,  an  eternal  bargain  with  death  that 
sooner  or  later  seizes  on  everything  ;  dateless  is  here  used  in  a 
legal  sense  ;  and  in  JR.  II.  i.  2.  151,  "The  sly  slow  hours  shall 
not  determinate  The  dateless  limit  of  thy  dear  exile,"  both  "date- 
less "  and  "determinate"  are  allusive  to  the  same  phraseology  : 
so  too  engrossing  in  the  sense  of  purchasing  or  seizing  in  the 
gross. 

116.  conduct,  conductor  ;  as  above,  iii.  1.  120  ;  here  the  drug 
he  is  about  to  swallow.  Possibly,  from  the  combination  of  con- 
duct, pilot,  and  bark,  Shakespeare,  as  in  R.  III.  i.  4.  46,  was 
thinking  of  Charon,  the  ferryman  of  souls  over  the  river  Styx, 
called  by  the  Greeks  veKpoTroiiircJs,  or  »j/v\OTro[Ji.irds,  conductor  of 
the  dead. 

118.  sea-sick,  life  being  commonly  compared  to  an  ocean. 

119.  true,  sc.  in  having  said  that  the  effect  of  the  drug  would 
be  instantaneous,  and  perhaps  with  the  sense  of  his  being  a  true 
physician  of  his  (Romeo's)  evils. 

121.  be  my  speed,  guide  and  help  me. 

122.  stumbled.  In  those  days  of  omens  considered  an  unlucky 
accident  ;  so  in  R.  III.  iii.  4.  86,  Hastings,  when  on  his  way  to 
death,  after  speaking  of  an  ill  dream  of  Stanley's,  continues, 
"  Three  times  to-day  my  foot-cloth  horse  did  stumble.  And 
startled,  when  he  look'd  upon  the  Tower,  As  loath  to  bear  me  to 
the  slaughter-house  "  ;  on  which  Tawney  quotes  Melton's  A  xtrolo- 
gaster,  "  That  if  a  man  stumbles  in  the  morning,  as  soon  as  he 
comes  out  of  doores,  it  is  a  sign  of  ill  lucke." 

125.  yond,  that  which  I  see  yonder. 

126.  grubs,  insects,  worms,  etc.  :  as  I  discern,  as  well  as  I  can 
judge. 

132.  My  master  ...  hence,  my  master  fancies  I  have  gone  home. 

135.  Fear,  not  the  physical  fear  of  some  danger  to  himself,  but 
a  presentiment  of  some  evil  befallen  Romeo. 

1.37-9.  As  I  did  sleep  ...  him.  Balthasar  believes  that  what  he 
had  actually  seen  was  nothing  but  a  dream,  or  possibly  he  may 
not  like  to  confess  that  he  really  witnessed  the  combat. 

142.  masterless.  that  no  longer  own  a  master  ;  again  applied 
to  swords  in  Cymh.  ii.  4.  60. 


208  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

143.  To  lie  discolourd,  by  lying  stained  with  blood  ;  the  in- 
finitive used  indefinitely  ;  see  Abb,  §  356  :  this  place  of  peace, 
this  place  which  should  be  sacred  from  all  quarrels. 

145.  wliat  an  unkind  hour,  what  a  cruel  hour  is  this  which 
is,  etc. 

148.  comfortable.  In  speaking  of  "  certain  words  dealing  with 
the  agent,"  Walker,  Crit.  Exarn.  etc.,  pp.  99,  100,  says  "com- 
fortable— and  in  like  manner  tincomfoi-table  and  discomfortahh — 
are  unifoi'mly  applied  to  a  person,  or  to  a  thing  pei'sonified,  the 
idea  of  will  and  purpose  being  always  implied  in  them."  Among 
other  passages  which  he  quotes  in  illustration  are  Tim.  iv.  3.  497, 
A.  W.i.  \.  86,  Lear,  i.  4.  327,  R.  II-  iii.  2.  36,  and  that  in  the 
text. 

151.  that  nest,  as  we  should  say,  '  that  den,'  though  nest  gives 
a  fuller  idea  of  abundance.  In  "a  nest  of  traitors,"  W.  T.  ii. 
3.  81,  there  is  the  same  idea  of  fulness. 

152.  unnatural.  Steevens  says  that  the  sleep  of  Juliet  was  un- 
natural as  being  brought  on  by  drugs,  and  this  has  always  seemed 
to  me  to  be  the  sense.  Delius  and  Schmidt  interpret  "  where  it 
is  unnatural  to  sleep." 

153.  contradict,  contend  against. 

155.  Thy  husband  ...  dead,  your  husband  lying  there  in  your 
arms  is  dead. 

156.  dispose  of  thee,  make  arrangements  for  your  living. 
158.  to  question,  to  talk,  to  discixss  what  is  best. 

162.  timeless,  untimely,  premature. 

163.  0  churl,  said  in  loving  reproach. 

164.  To  help  me  after,  to  enable  me  to  follow  you. 

166.  a  restorative,  a  medicine  which  will  restore  me  to  the 
truest  life,  a  life  of  union  with  you  in  death. 

169.  there  rust,  not  in  your  own  natural  sheath,  but  in  the 
sheath  of  my  breast  ;  the  first  quarto  gives  rest,  which  many 
editors  prefer,  and  possibly  this  is  supported  by  the  antithesis 
with  Let  me  die,  though  to  me  rust  seems  the  more  expressive 
word. 

172.  whoe'er.  For  neglect  of  the  inflection  of  who,  see  Abb. 
§  274  :  attach,  apprehend  ;  a  legal  term. 

175.  this  two  days,  see  note  on  iv.  3.  40. 

177.  some  others  search,  let  some  seek  out  others. 

178.  these  woes,  tliese  miserable  ones. 

179.  ground,  with  a  wretched  pun. 


SCENE  HI.]  NOTES.  209 

180.  circumstance,  further  detail,  particulars,  or  perhaps  in- 
quiry into  such  detail  ;  cp.  above,  ii.  5.  36. 

186.  A  great  suspicion.     Said  with  true  Dogberry  solemnity. 

187.  is  so  early  up.  As  if  the  misadventure,  like  himself,  had 
rLsen  early  from  bed,  was  stirring  early  ;  cp.,  for  the  quasi- 
personification,  A'.  J.  v.  5.  21,  "  The  day  shall  not  be  up  so  soon 
as  I.' 

189.  should  it  be,  can  it  possibly  be. 

192.  With  open  outcry,  like  dogs  in  full  cry  after  game. 

19.3.  startles,  suddenly  bursts  forth  ;  this  intransitive  use  is 
now  obsolete,  to  '  start '  being  used  in  its  stead. 

195.  dead  before,  as  she  had  been  supposed  to  be. 

197.  know,  ascertain  by  inquiry. 

202.  hath  mistaen,  has  mistaken  its  proper  abode  :  his  house, 
its  sheath. 

203.  on  the  back,  daggers  being  worn  behind  the  back. 

204.  And  it  mis-sheathed,  for  it,  the  reading  of  the  second 
quarto,  most  editors  prefer  ?«,  which  the  other  copies  give.  In 
this  case  the  words  "  for,  lo,  ...  Montague  "  are  parenthetical. 

205.  6.  is  as  a  bell . . .  sepulchre,  is  like  a  bell  summoning  me 
to  my  death  :  cp.  A'.  /.  ii.  1.  201,  "  Who  is  it  that  hath  imtmed 
us  to  the  walls?"  and  Mach.  ii.  1.  62-4.  "the  bell  invites  me. 
Hear  it  not,  Duncan,  for  it  is  a  knell  That  summons  thee  to 
heaven  or  to  hell." 

20S.  down,  struck  down  in  death  ;  -nith  a  play  on  the  words 
up  and  down. 

211.  conspires  ..  age,  conspires  to  put  an  end  to  an  old  man 
like  me. 

213.  0  thou  untaught !  0  ill-disciplined  one  !  manners,  re- 
garded as  a  singular  in  thought  ;  see  Abb.  §  335. 

214.  To  press  . .  grave  ?  comparing  the  rudeness  to  that  of 
pressing  before  a  father  into  a  room,  etc. 

215.  the  mouth  of  outrage,  your  passionate  exclamations. 
Staunton  compares  i.  H.  VI.  iv.  1.  126,  "are  you  not  ashamed 
With  this  immodest  clamorous  outrage  To  trouble  and  disturb  the 
king  and  us  ?  ".  where  the  reference  is  to  the  "  audacious  prate" 
of  York,  Somerset,  etc. 

216.  ambiguities,  obscure  relation  of  events  ;  now  generally 
used  of  language  wliich  maj-  bear  two  meanings. 


210  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

217.  descent,  origin  ;  carrying  on  the  metaphor  of  a  stream 
that  flows  downward  from  its  source. 

218,  9.  will  I ...  death,  I  will  put  myself  at  the  head  of  your 
grievances  and  lead  you  on  to  vengeance,  even  if  that  vengeance 
be  the  death  of  those  to  whom  those  grievances  are  due. 

220.  And  let ...  patience,  and  let  calamity  submit  patiently  to 
calm  endurance  ;  patiently  control  your  sense  of  injury. 

221.  parties  of  suspicion,  those  suspected,  those  who  have  a 
part,  share,  in  the  suspicion  that  is  abi'oad. 

222.  I  am... least,  I,  though  least  capable  (physically)  of  such 
a  deed,  am  most  suspected  of  having  committed  it. 

224.  Doth  make  against  me,  tell  against  me,  as  witnesses 
against  me  ;  time  and  place  is  to  be  taken  as  a  single  idea. 

225,6.  both  to  impeach ...  excused,  to  accuse  myself  wliile 
pleading  my  excuse,  and  at  the  same  time  to  clear  myself  while 
decreeing  my  condemnation  ;  i.e.  to  accuse  myself  on  account  of 
my  actions,  to  excuse  myself  on  account  of  my  intentions.  For 
a  similar  collocation,  cp.  A.  C.  iv.  12,  8,  9,  "  His  fretted  fortunes 
give  him  hope,  and  fear,  Of  what  he  has,  and  has  not " ;  W.  T. 
iii.  6.  165,  "  though  I  with  death,  and  with  Reward,  did  tlireaten 
and  encourage  him  Not  doing  it,  and  being  done."  In  impeach 
the  original  idea  is  that  of  hindering,  F.  empecher,  to  hinder,  the 
first  step  in  an  accusation  being  to  hinder  the  accused  from 
evading  jurisdiction. 

227.  in  this,  in,  or  of,  this  matter. 

228,  0.  for  my  short  . .  tale,  for  the  short  time  I  have  to  live  is 
not  long  enough  for  a  tedious  tale  ;  my  short  date  of  breath  =  the 
short  date  of  my  breath  ;  cp.  for  the  transposition,  A.  C.  iv.  6. 
39,  "  My  latter  part  of  life,'  i.e.  the  latter  part  of  my  life  ; 
Haml.  iv.  5.  213,  "His  means  of  death,"  i.e.  the  means  of  his 
death  ;  and  see  Abb.  §  423. 

232.  their  stol'n  marriage -day,  the  day  of  their  stolen  marriage, 
of  their  marriage  stealthily  celebrated. 

234.  Banish'd,  caused  to  be  banished. 

236.  siege,  attack,  assault;  cp.  above,  i.  1.  218.  and  K.  J. 
V.  7.  16,  "  his  [hc.  death's)  s{e(je  is  now  Against  the  mind."  So 
Lamb  talks  of  "an  obsession  of  grief." 

239.  bid,  past  tense. 

240.  rid  her  from,  enable  her  to  escape  from. 

245.  form,  appearance. 

246.  as  this  dire  night.     Allen  on  Temp.  i.  2.  70,  "as  at  this 


SCENE  iii.J  ^      NOTES.  211 

time,''  considers  as  in  such  exi^ressions  to  mark  a  greater  or  less 
precision  or  emphasis  ;  Abbott,  §  114,  though  regarding  as  in 
definitions  of  time  as  apparently  redundant,  thinks  that  here  it 
may  mean  'as  (he  did  come),'  Avhich  seems  to  me  to  be  a  great 
forcing  of  language. 

247.  borrowed  grave,  grave  not  properly  her  owti. 

248.  Being  the  time.  "This  belongs  to  'as  this  dire  night'" 
(Delius). 

250.  stay'd,  prevented. 

252.  hour,  metrically  a  dissyllable  ;  see  Abb.  §  480. 

254.  closely,  in  secrecy. 

256.  some  minute,  a  minute  or  so. 

258.  true,  faithful  in  his  love. 

260.  this  work  of  heaven,  i.e.  Romeo's  death. 

262.  too  desperate,  sc.  to  care  for  life  without  Romeo :  would 
not  go,  refused  to  go. 

263.  as  it  seems.  The  Friar  having  left  her  was  not  actual 
witness  of  her  suicide. 

267.  some  hour,  some  short  time.  i.e.  for  it  cannot  be  long 
before  I  shall  die  in  the  course  of  nature. 

269.  still,  ever  :  for,  as  being. 

270.  what  can  ...  this?  what  evidence  can  he  give  as  to  this 
matter  ? 

272.  in  post,  see  note  on  v.  i.  21. 

275.  going  in  the  vault,  as  he  entered  the  vault. 

278.  raised,  summoned,  called  up. 

279.  what  made  your  master,  what  was  your  master  doing 
here  ?  what  business  or  object  had  he  in  coming  here. 

282.  Anon,  suddenly  ;  see  note  on  ii.  '2.  137. 

283.  by  and  by,  presently,  after  a  short  interval. 
285.  make  good,  confirm,  substantiate. 

291.  See,  what  ...  hate,  see  how  your  hatred  is  punished. 

292.  That  heaven  ...  love  !  in  the  fact  that  heaven  employs  the 
love  that  was  exchanged  between  Romeo  and  Juliet  (and  which 
should  have  been  a  bond  of  union  to  the  two  families)  as  a 
means  to  crush  all  happiness  out  of  your  lives. 

293.  winking  at,  partially  closing  my  eyes  to,  not  taking  that 
^^gorous  notice  which,  as  the  head  of  the  state,  I  was  bound  to 
take. 

296.  This   is  ...  jointure,   the  only  dowry  you  can  make  my 


212  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  [act  v. 

daughter  ;  jointure,  properly  the  property  estated  on  the  wife  by 
the  husband  when  they  are  joined  in  marriage. 

299.  by  that  name,  as  '  Verona. ' 

300,  at  such  rate  be  set,  be  valued  at  so  high  a  price. 

302.  As  rich,  in  equal  splendour. 

303.  Poor  ...  enmity,  an  inadequate  atonement  for  our  hatred. 

304.  glooming,  gloomy  ;  which  the  fourth  folio  gives.  The 
participle  seems  more  forcible  from  its  notion  of  activity. 

305.  for  sorrow,  on  account  of  sorrow. 

306.  Go  hence,  to  have,  accompanying  me  hence,  in  order  that 
we  may  have. 

307.  Some  ...  punished.  In  the  novel  from  which  the  plot  is 
taken,  says  Steevens,  we  find  that  the  Nurse  was  banished  for 
concealing  the  marriage,  IJalthasar  set  at  liberty  as  having  onl}' 
acted  in  obedience  to  Romeo's  orders,  the  Apothecary  tortured 
and  hanged,  and  the  Friar  allowed  to  retire  to  a  hermitage  near 
Verona. 


INDEX  TO  NOTES. 


Abroach,  i.  1.  91. 
Adam  Cupid,  ii.  1.  13. 
Addle,  iii.  1.  22. 
Ado,  iii.  4.  23. 
Agate-stone,  i.  4.  55. 
Alack,  ii.  2.  71. 
Alike,  Pr.  i.  1. 
Alligator,  v.  1.  43. 
Aloof,  V.  3.  1. 
Amerce,  iii.  1.  186. 
Anatomy,  iii.  3.  107. 
Anon,  i.  5.  141. 
Answer,  ii.  4.  11. 
Antic,  i.  5.  54. 
Apace,  ii.  4.  182. 
Aspired,  iii.  1.  113. 
Atomies,  i.  4.  57. 

B 

Bandy,  ii.  5.  14. 
Banquet,  i.  5.  120. 
Bauble,  ii.  4.  82. 
Bear  a  brain,  i.  3.  28. 
Beetle-brows,  i.  4.  32. 
Beshrew,  ii.  5.  51. 
Bite  by  the  ear,  ii.  4.  69. 
Bite  my  thumb,  i.  1.  13. 
Blaze,  iii.  3.  151. 
Blazon,  ii.  6.  26. 
Blubbering,  iii.  3.  87. 
Bons,  ii.  4.  .32. 
Bout,  i.  5.  15. 


Bow  of  lath,  i.  4.  5. 
Butt-shaft,  ii.  4.  16 

C 

Caitiff,  V.  1.  52. 
Cancelled,  iii.  3.  98. 
Canker'd,  i.  1 .  82. 
Canopy,  v.  3.  13. 
Carries  it  away,  iii.  1.71. 
Chequering,  ii.  3.  2. 
Cheveril.  ii.  4.  74. 
Chop-logic,  iii.  5.  149. 
Clubs,  i.  1.  60. 
Coals,  to  carry,  i.  1.  1. 
Cock-a-hoop,  i.  5.  79. 
Cockatrice,  iii.  2.  38. 
Coil,  ii.  5.  65. 
Colliers,  i.  1.  2. 
Comfortable,  v.  3.  148. 
Compare  (sb. ),   ii.   5.   42;    iii. 

5.  237. 
Conceit,  ii.  6.  30. 
Conduct,  iii.  1.  120  ;  v.  3.  116. 
County,  i.  2.  64. 
Courtship,  iii.  3.  34. 
Crow-keeper,  i.  4.  6. 
Curfew-bell,  iv.  4.  4. 
Curtains,  iv.  3.  59. 

D 

Dateless,  v.  3.  1 15. 
Defy,  V.  1.  24. 
Dirges,  iv.  5.  84. 


213 


214 


ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 


Discord,  iii.  5.  28. 
Division,  iii.  5.  29. 
Distemperatiire,  ii.  3.  40. 
Doctrine,  i.  1.  224. 
Dooms-day,  iii.  3.  9. 
Doves,  ii.  4.  7. 
Dram,  iii.  5.  90. 
Dry-beat,  iii.  1.  76. 
Ducats,  V.  1.  59. 
Dun,  i.  4.  40,  1. 

E 

Earth,  lady  of  my,  i.  2.  15. 
Earthquake,  i.  3.  22. 
Echo,  ii.  2.  162. 
Elf-locks,  i.  4.  90. 
Endart,  i.  3.  77. 
Errand,  iii.  3.  79. 
Ethiope,  i.  5.  44. 
Evening  mass,  iv.    1 .  38. 
Exhales,  iii.  5.  13. 


Fa,  iv.  5.  111. 
Fee-simple,  iii.  1.  30. 
Festival  (adj.),  iv.  5.  80. 
Fettle,  iii.  5.  153. 
Fiddlestick,  iii.  1.  45. 
Flattering  truth,  v.  1.    1. 
Flirt-gills,  ii.  4.  123. 
Flowered ,  ii.  4.  55. 
Forehead,  high,  ii.  1.  18. 
Franciscan,  v.  2.  1. 

G 

Gear,  ii.  4.  89. 
Give  leave,  i.  3.  6. 
Gleek,  iv.  5.  107. 
God-den,  i.  2._  56^ 
Goodman,  i.  5.  75. 
Gore-blood,  iii.  2.  47. 
Gossamer,  ii.  6.  18. 
Gossips,  ii.  1.  11. 
Gracious,  ii.  2.  113. 
Green  sickness,  iii.  5.  156. 
Grievance,  i.  1.  143. 


H 

Hair,  against  the,  ii.  4.  84. 
Hall,  a,  i.  5.  24. 
Hasty,  V.  1.  64. 
Have  at,  i.  1.  59. 
Hildings,  ii.  4.  38. 
Hoodwink'd,  i.  4.  4. 
Hunts-up,  a,  iii.  5.  34. 


Impeach,  v.  3.  225. 
Inherit,  i.  2.  30. 
Injuries,  iii.  1.  63. 


Jacks,  ii.  t.  121. 
Jaunce,  ii.  5.  26. 
Jealous-hood,  iv.  4.  13. 
Joint-stools,  i.  5.  5. 
Jointure,  v.  3.  296. 


Label,  iv.  1.  57. 
Lantern,  v.  3.  84. 
Lammas-tide,  i.  3.  14. 
Like  of,  1.  3.  75. 
Living  (sb.),  iv.  5.  36. 
Logger-head,  iv.  4.  20. 
Long-spinners,  i.  4.  59. 
Long  sword,  i.  1-  62. 
Lour,  ii.  5.  6. 

M 

Mab,  i.  4   53. 
Mammet,  iii.  5.  185. 
Manage  (vb.),  i.  1.  56. 
Mandrakes,  iv.  3.  47. 
Margent,  i.  3.  66. 
Married,  i.  3.  63. 
Marry,  i.  1.  27. 
Marchpane,  i.  5.  7- 
Maskers,  i.  4.  1. 
Measure  =  dance,  i.  4.  10. 
Mew'd,  iii.  4.  11. 


IXDEX  TO  XOTES. 


215 


Minim,  ii.  4.  20. 
Misteniper'd,  i.  1.  74, 
Modern,  iii.  2.  111. 
Monument,  v.  1.  IS. 
Muffle,  V.  3.  21. 
Mutiny,  Pr.  i.  3. 


N 

Natural,  a,  ii.  4.  81. 
Needy,  iii.  .5.  105. 
Neighbour  (adj.),  ii.  6   27. 
Nice,  iii.  1.  150. 
Nick -name,  ii.  1.  12. 
Nothing  (adv.),  i.  1.  99. 


O 

Obsequies,  v.  2,  16. 
Orchard,  ii.  1.  5. 
Orisons,  iv.  3.  3. 
Owes,  ii.  4.  46. 


Palmer,  i.  5.  98. 
Paly,  iv.  1.  100. 
Passado,  ii.  4.  24. 
Passing,  i.  1.  220. 
Pastry,  iv.  4.  2. 
Peer  (vb.),  i.  1    106. 
Pentecost,  i.  5.  34. 
Pilcher,  iii.  1.  77. 
Pin,  ii.  4.  15 
Pitch,  i.  4.  21 
Plantain -leaf,  i.  2.  51. 
Poised,  i.  2.  94. 
Pomegranate-tree,  iii.  5.  4. 
Post,  v.  1.  21. 
Presence,  v.  3.  86. 
Preserving,  i.  1.  ISO. 
Prick-song,  ii.  4.  20. 
Princox,  i.  5.  84. 
Proof,  i.  1.  196. 
Puling,  iii.  5.  184. 


Q 


Quoth,  i.  3.  32. 

R 

R,  ii.  4.  175. 
Re,  iv.  5,  111. 
Rearward,  a,  iii.  2.  112. 
Rebeck,  iv.  5.  125. 
Region,  ii.  2.  21. 
Respective,  iii.  1.  119. 
Ropery,  ii.  4.  116. 
Rosemary,  ii.  4.  173. 
Runagate,  iii.  5.  89. 
Runaways,  iii.  2.  6. 

S 

Save  the  mark,  iii.  2.  44. 
Scales,  i.  2.  95. 
Sharps,  iii.  5.  28. 
Shield,  iv.  1.  41. 
Shrift,  i.  1.  145. 
Siege,  V.  3.  236. 
Single-soled,  ii.  4.  59. 
Skains-mates,  ii.  4.  123. 
Slip,  ii.  4.  44. 
Slop,  ii.  4.  41. 
Slug-abed,  iv.  5.  2. 
Solemnity,  i.  5.  55. 
Sorted,  iii.  5.  109. 
Spanisli  blades,  i.  4.  84. 
Sped,  iii.  1.  87. 
Spheres,  ii.  '2.  17. 
Stoccata,  iii.  1.  71- 
Stuffd.  iii.  5.  182. 
Surcease,  iv.  1.  97- 
Swashing  blow,  i.  1.  49. 
Sweeting,  ii.  4.  71- 
Swounded,  iii.  2.  47. 

T 

Tackled-stair,  ii.  4.  156. 
Tall,  ii.  4.  28. 
Tassel-gentle,  ii.  2.  160 


216 


ROMEO  AND  JULIET. 


Teen,  i.  3.  12. 
Tithe-pig,  i.  4.  79. 
Tibalt,  ii.  4.  18. 
Titan,  ii.  3.  4 
Top-gallant,  ii.  4.  157. 
Trencher,  i.  5.  2. 
Truckle-bed,  ii.  1.  28. 
Trudge,  i.  2.  34. 

U 

Unbound  lover,  i.  3.  67. 
Unbruised,  ii.  3.  37. 
Untangled,  i.  4.  91. 


Validity,  iii.  3.  33. 
Verona,  Pr.  i.  2. 


Vestal,  ii.  2.  8. 
Visor,  i.  4.  30. 

W 

Wax,  man  of,  i.  3   56. 
Wayward,  iv.  2.  47. 
Wean'd,  i.  3.  23. 
Weeds,  v.  1.  39. 
Well-a-day,  iii.  2.  28. 
^^'here  =with  whom,  i.  1.  154. 
Wild-goose  chase,  ii.  4.  63. 
Wits,  the  five,  i.  4.  47. 
Wormwood,  i.  3.  25. 
Wreak,  iii.  5.  101. 


'Zounds,  iii.  1.  46. 


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