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'll warrant you, when I say so, she looks as pale as any clout in the varsal world. Doth not rosemary and Romeo begin both with a letter? ROм. Ay, nurse; What of that? both with an R. NURSE. Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. R(9) is for the dog.* No; I know it begins with some other letter: and she hath the prettiest sententious of it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good to hear it. ROM. Commend me to thy lady. PETER. Anon. NURSE. Before, and apace. SCENE V-Capulet's Garden. Enter JULIET, [Exit. [Exeunt. Fie, how my bones ache! what a jaunt have I had! JUL. I would, thou hadst my bones, and I thy news: Nay, come, I pray thee, speak ;-good, good nurse, speak. Do NURSE. Jesu, what haste? can you not stay awhile? you not see that I am out of breath? JUL. How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath To say to me- -that thou art out of breath? 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 talk'd on, yet they are past compare: he is not the flower of courtesy, but, I'll warrant him, as JUL. The clock struck nine, when I did send gentle as a lamb.-Go thy ways, wench; serve the nurse: In half an hour she promis'd to return. Perchance, she cannot meet him :—that's not so.-— Of this day's journey; and from nine till twelve My words would bandy her to my sweet love, But old folks, many feign as they were dead; Enter Nurse and PETER. O God, she comes !-O honey nurse, what news? Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily; NURSE. I am aweary, give me leave awhile; 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. 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 reply'st: Your love says like an honest gentleman,Where is your mother? NURSE. O, God's lady dear! Are you so hot? marry come up, I trow; Is this the poultice for my aching bones? Henceforward do your messages yourself. JUL. Here's such a coil;-come, what says Romeo? NURSE. Have you got leave to go to shrift today? (*) First folio, so well. "And runne more swift, than hastie powder fierd, cell, cheeks, There stays a husband to make you a wife: SCENE VI.-Friar Laurence's Cell.(10) Enter Friar LAURENCE and ROMEO. FRI. So smile the heavens upon this holy act, That after-hours with sorrow chide us not! ROм. Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can, It cannot countervail the exchange of joy 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. These violent delights have violent ends, And in their triumph die; like fire and powder, Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey Is loathsome in his own deliciousness, And in the taste confounds the appetite: Therefore, love moderately; long love doth so; Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow. JUL. Good even to my ghostly confessor. FRI. Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both. JUL. As much to him, else is his thanks too much. Roм. Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy Be heap'd like mine, and that thy skill be more To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue, Unfold the imagin'd happiness that both (*) First folio, in. a Conceit,-] Conceit here means imagination. So, in "The Rape of Lucrece," "which the conceited painter drew so proud."-MALONE. b I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.] So the second Receive in either, by this dear encounter. a JUL. Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, Brags of his substance, not of ornament: They are but beggars that can count their worth; But my true love is grown to such excess, I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth." FRI. Come, come with me, and we will make short work; For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone, quarto, 1599; and so, also, the undated quarto, and the folio, 1623, except that they misspell the second "sum," "some." The meaning seems plain enough, "I cannot sum up the sum or total of half my wealth;" but the passage has been modernized into, "I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth." 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 these fellows, that, when he enters the confines of a tavern, claps me his sword upon the table, and says, God send me no need of thee! and, by the operation of the second cup, draws him on the drawer, when, indeed, there is no need. BEN. Am I like such a fellow? 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 too? 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 "And a And what too?] So the old copies, meaning, "And what else?" or, "What more?" The modern editions read, 185 what to?" out such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of quarrels, as an egg is full of meat; and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg, for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter? with another, for tying his new shoes with old riband? and yet thou wilt tutor me from quarrelling! BEN. An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter. MER. The fee-simple? O simple! BEN. By my head, here come the Capulets. Enter TYBALT and others. TYB. 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 with something; make it a word and a blow. TYB. You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, an you will give me occasion. MER. Could you not take some occasion without giving? TYB. Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo, MER. Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels? an thou make minstrels of us, look to hear 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, Or reason coldly of your grievances, Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us. MER. Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze; I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I. TYB. Well, peace be with you, sir! here comes my man. MER. But I'll be hang'd, sir, if he wear your livery: Marry, go before to field, he'll be your follower; Your worship, in that sense, may call him—man. (*) First folio, Come. a Consort!] See "Two Gentlemen of Verona," Act III. Sc. 2, note (b), p. 26 of the present Vol. b Or else depart;] Or else part. See "Love's Labour's Lost," Act. II. Sc. 1, note (a), p. 62 of the present Vol. e I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I.] The duplication of the pronoun is a construction of frequent use in the language of Shakespeare's time. So in the "Tempest," Act III. Sc. 3: "You are three men of sin, whom destiny d The love I bear thee,-] This is the reading of all the ancient Enter ROMEO. TYB. Romeo, the loved I bear thee, can afford Doth much excuse the appertaining rage [Draws. MER. O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! A la stoccata carries it away.Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk ? TYB. What would'st 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. TYB. I am for you. [Drawing. ROM. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up. MER. Come, sir, your passado. [They fight. 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. [Exeunt TYBALT and his partizans." MER. I am hurt. A plague o' both the houses!-I am sped :- : BEN. enough ; Where is my page ?-go, villain, fetch a surgeon. [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 copies, except the quarto, 1597, which has-"the hate I bear thee," &c. e A la stoccata-] Stoccato or stoccado is an Italian term for a thrust, or stab, in fencing. The folio, 1623, spells it stucatho. f Out of his pilcher-] A pilch was the name for some outer garment made of leather. Nash, in his "Pierce Penniless's Supplication to the Devil," 1592, speaks of "a carreman in a lether pilche:" and the word might be applied suitably enough for the leathern sheath of a rapier. Perhaps we should read, "out of his pilch, sir," &c. The quarto, 1597, has "come drawe your rapier out of your scabard," &c. g Exeunt, &c.] The first quarto has here a stage direction, running thus: "Tibalt under Romeo's arme thrusts Mercutio, in and flyes." |