THE MOST EXCELLENT AND LAMENTABLE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET
DRAMATIS PERSONA?
Escalus, Prince of Verona.
Mercutio, a young gentleman and kinsman to the Prince, friend of Romeo.
Paris, a noble young kinsman to the Prince. Page to Paris.
Montague, head of a Veronese family at feud with the Capulets. Lady Montague. Romeo, Montague's son.
Benvolio, Montague's nephew and friend of Romeo and Mercutio. Abram, a servant to Montague. Balthasar, Romeo's servant.
Cap u let, head of a Veronese family at feud with the Montagues. Lady Capulet. Juliet, Capuleťs daughter. Tybalt, Lady Capuleť s nephew. Capuleťs Cousin, an old gentleman. Nurse, a Capulet servant, Juliet's foster-mother. Peter, a Capulet servant attending on the Nurse. Sampson, Gregory, Anthony, Potpan, Servingmen,
y of the Capulet household.
iar Laurence, \ „    .      „ ,
T > of the Franciscan Order.
iar John, j j
Fr Fria
An Apothecary, of Mantua. Three Musicians (Simon Catling, Hugh Rebeck, James Soundpost). Members of the Watch, Citizens of Verona, Masquers, Torchbearers,
Pages, Servants. Chorus.
THE MOST EXCELLENT AND LAMENTABLE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET
THE PROLOGUE
[Enter Chorus.]
Chorus. Two households both alike in dignity (In fair Verona, where we lay our scene) From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes 5 _A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life, Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows vc Doth with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love And the continuance of their parents' rage, 1 o
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which, if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
-    - [Exit.]
Prologue
S.D.] Dyce; not in Qs-4,F,Qi. 1-14.] Q2-4; not in F; with variants as below, Qi. 1. households both] Q2-4; houshold Frends Qi. 3. ancient...
mutiny] Q2-4; ciuill brqyles broke into enmitie Qi. 4. Where . . . blood]
Q2-4; Whose .. . warn Qi. 6. take] Q2-4; tooke Qi. 7. misadventur'd] Q2-4; misadventures, Qi. 8-io.]Qa-# Through the continuing of their Fathers strife, j And death-markt passage of the Parents rage Qi. 11."\Qs-4; not in Qi.
14. shall. . . strive] Q3-4; we want wee'l studie Qi. mend] Qx-4; amend Qi. S.D.] Capell; not in Qg-4,F,Qi.
81
[ACT I] [SCENE I]
Enter Sampson and Gregory, with swords and bucklers, of the house of Capulet.
Samp. Gregory, on my word we'll not carry coals.
Greg. No, for then we should be colliers.
Samp. I mean, and we be in choler, we'll draw.
Greg. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of collar.
Samp. I strike quickly being moved. 5
Greg. But thou art not quickly moved to strike.
Samp. A dog of the house of Montague moves me.
Greg. To move is to stir, and to be valiant is to stand:
therefore if thou art moved thou runn'st away. Samp. A dog of that house shall move me to stand. I will 10
take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's.
ACT I Scene i
Act I Scene i] F {Actus Primus. Scoena Prima.); not in Qs~4,Qi. Location.'] The Street in Verona. Rowe; A public Place. Capell. i. on] Qs-4; A F; of Qi. 3. and] Qs-4; XF,Qi.      4. of] Qs,3; of the Q4,Qi; o'th F.
1. cany coals'] A current expression which meant 'to submit to insult or humiliation'; cf. Nashe, Have With You, Works, m, p. 53.
a. colliers] Proverbial not only for grime but for dishonesty.
3. choler] anger.
4. draw . . . collar] A proverbial expression meaning 'to avoid the hangman's noose' (Tilley C 513, N 169).
5. moved] aroused—Sampson seems deliberately to invite quibbles with this choice of word.
7. dog] A contemptuous reference to
82
the Montague servants. The talk of dogs, proverbially bad-tempered in hot weather (the dog days), recurs in the analogous situation in m. i. 24-6.
11. take the wall] keep to the preferred side of the path nearest the wall and least foul. Hence an assertion of superiority. Cf. Lyly, Endimion, v. ii. 1-4: 'Top. Epi, love hath iustled my libertie from the wall, and taken the vpper hand of my reason. Epi. Let mee then trippe vp the heeles of your affection, and thrust your goodwill into the gutter.'
sc. i] romeo and juliet 83
Greg. That shows thee a weak slave, for the weakest goes to the wall.
Samp. 'Tis true, and therefore women, being the weaker
vessels, are ever thrust to the wall; therefore I will 15 push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall.
Greg. The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.
Samp. 'Tis all one. I will show myself a tyrant: when I 20 have fought with the men I will be civil with the maids, I will cut off their heads.
Greg. The heads of the maids ?
Samp. Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads;
take it in what sense thou wilt. 25 Greg. They must take it in sense that feel it. Samp. Me they shall feel while I am able to stand, and
'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh. Greg. 'Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou
hadst been Poor John. Draw thy tool—here comes 30
of the house of Montagues.
Enter two other Servingmen [Abram and Balthasar].
14. 'Tis true] Qs-4; True F; Thats true Qi. weaker] Qs~4,F; weakest Qi. 21. civil] Qa,5,ii; cruel Q4; not in Qi. 22. I will cut] Qs-4; and cut F; not inQi. 26. in sense] Qi,Q4; sense Q2,3,F. 30-1. comes of] Qs~4,F; comes two of Qt. 31. house of] Qs-4; House of the F; not in Qi. S.D.] ed.; Enter two other seruing men. Qs~4,F; Enter two Seruing men of the Mountagues. Qi.
12-13. weakest... wall] the weakest succumb in a struggle; proverbial, cf. Tilley W 185.
14-15. weaker vessels] See 1 Peter iii. 7, which was the source of the proverbial expression (Tilley W 655).
16—17. thrust to the wall] i.e. in amorous assault. The emphasis on confined urban streets and animal reactions is strongly marked.
21. civil] An easy minim misreading is possible; but Q2 may be simply defended: there is the antithesis fought with the men, be civil with the maids, and the paradox that cutting off their heads is being civil; but since taking maidenheads is assumed to be giving pleasure, the jest is that the act is indeed literally civil.
26. in sense] Punning on 'meaning' and 'feeling'.
27. stand] With a quibble on the bawdy sense 'have an erection'.
28. pretty piece of flesh] Cf. Ado, xv. ii. 79, and Tw.N., 1. v. 27. Quibbling on the senses (i) pretty fellow, (ii) one sexually well endowed.
30. Poor John] dried salted hake, poor Lenten food, certainly not flesh that would stand; often ancient; cf. Temp., n. ii. 22.
30-1. comes of] Qi's reading has some support from the S.D. in Qa; Williams compares other instances of the partitive genitive in Ham., in. ii. 44-5, and the King James Bible, Numbers xiii. 20, 23, and elsewhere.
31. S.D.  Abram  and Balthasar]
84 romeo and juliet [act I
Samp. My naked weapon is out. Quarrel, I will back thee.
Greg. How, turn thy back and run ?
Samp. Fear me not. 35 Greg. No, marry! I fear thee!
Samp. Let us take the law of our sides: let them begin. Greg. I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it as they list.
Samp. Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them, 40
which is disgrace to them if they bear it. Abram. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir ? Samp. I do bite my thumb, sir. Abram. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Samp. Is the law of our side if I say ay ? 45 Greg. No.
Samp. No sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I
bite my thumb, sir. Greg. Do you quarrel, sir ?
Abram. Quarrel, sir ? No, sir. 50 Samp. But if you do, sir, I am for you. I serve as good a
man as you. Abram. No better. Samp. Well, sir.
Enter Benvolio.
Greg. Say 'better', here comes one of my master's 55
kinsmen. Samp. Yes, better, sir.
41. disgrace] Qs,Qi; a disgrace Q3,4,F. 45. of] Qs~4,F; on Qi. 51. But if] Qs-4; 1{F,Qi.        57. sir] Q3-4; not in F,Qi.
Romeo's servant in v. i and v. iii is called Balthasar; Abram is so called in speech prefixes but not named in the dialogue.
33. naked weapon] Peter quibbles in the same sense at a. iv. 155.
34. turn . . . run] Gregory takes (or pretends to take) / will back thee to mean 'I will turn my back*.
40. bite my thumb] 'to threaten or de-
ne by putting the thumbe naile into the mouth, and with a ierke (from the upper teeth) make it to knack' (Cot-grave).
57-78. Samp. Tes, better . . . seek a foe.] Qi substitutes the S.D.: They draw, to them enters Tybalt, they fight, to them the Prime, old Mountague, and his wife, old Capulet and his wife, and other Citizens and part them.
romeo and juliet
85
sc. i]
Abram. You lie.
Samp. Draw if you be men. Gregory, remember thy
washing blow. 77»? fight. 60
Ben. Part, fools, put up your swords, you know not what you do.
Enter Tybalt.
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, 65
Or manage it to part these men with me. Tyb. What, drawn, and talk of peace ? I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
Have at thee, coward. [ They] fight.
Enter three or four Citizens with clubs or partisans.
Citizens. Clubs, bills and partisans! Strike! Beat them 70 down! Down with the Capulets! Down with the Montagues!
Enter old Capulet in his gown, and Lady Capulet.
60. washing] Qs,3^; swashing Q4; not in Qi. 63-4.] As Pope; prose in
Qs~4,F; not in Qi.    67. drawn] Qs-4; draw F; not in Qi.     69. S.D. [They]
fight] F (Fight); not in Qs-4; var. Qi. not in Qi.
60. washing] Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. Golding (1567, ed. Nims, 1965), v. 252: 'Astyages . . . Did with a long sharpe arming sworde a washing blow him give'. Swashing has the same meaning in Stanyhurst's Aeneis, 1. 19: "This Queene wyld lighteninges from clowds of Iuppiter hurling Downe swasht theyre nauy' (1582), but there is no need of emendation to the Q.2 reading.
63. heartless hinds] A "quibble: (i) cowardly menials, (ii) female deer without a male hart to protect them. Tybalt accuses Benvolio of ignobility in drawing on servants rather than a worthy opponent of gende rank.
64. Benvolio] i.e. of good will (in Italian). The name is not in the sources, and is expressive of his peace-
69. S.D. Citizens] ed.; Offi. Qs-4, re-
making role; Tybalt may be glancing ironically at this.
69. S.D. partisans] broad-headed spears, about nine feet long.
70. bills] a long-handled weapon with a concave blade, or a kind of concave axe with a spike at the back and a spear-tipped shaft (OED).
72. S.D. gown] Capulet's entrance presents a vivid and simple image of violated domestic peace and dignity, and suggests the implications of the feud. Disturbed by the riot, he has thrown on a dressing-gown and dashed out with characteristic rashness. The opening scene of Othello, also presenting violation of domestic order, similarly has Brabantio 'in his gown'.
86 romeo and juliet [act i
Cap. What noise is this ? Give me my long sword, ho! Lady Cap. A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword ?
Enter old Montague and Lady Montague.
Cap. My sword I say! Old Montague is come, 75
And nourishes his blade in spite of me. Mont. Thou villain Capulet! Hold me not! Let me go! Lady Mont. Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.
Enter Prince Escalus with his Train.
Prince. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel— 80
Will they not hear? What ho! You men, you beasts!
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground 85
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls bred of an airy word
74. Lady Cap.] ed.; Wife. Qn-4,F; not in Qi. S.D.] As Spencer; after I.
77 in QS-4JF; var. Qi. 78. Lady Mont.] ed.; At. Wife s. Qs-4; 2 Wife. F; not in Qi.      one] Qs-4; a F; not in Qi.      87. brawls] Qg~4,Qi; Broyles F.
r
73. long sword] an old-fashioned weapon, useless against the rapier because so much heavier, even were Capulet still strong enough to wield it. His wife mockingly reminds him of his advanced age.
76. spite] scorn.
78. S.D. Escalus] The only occurrence of the name in the play; elsewhere Prince. Brooke calls him Escalus, Painter, Lord Bartholemew of Escala (della Scala, the ruling family of Verona). In fact Bartolommeo della Scala ruled Verona in the period in which Luigi da Porto and Bandello set the story of Romeo and Juliet.
83. fountains] Perhaps there is an ironic play on the fact that Verona (according to Brooke and Painter) is graced with many fountains and clear springs; or cf. Tit., n. iv. 22-4: 'Alas, a crimson river of warm blood, / Like to a bubbling fountain stirr'd with
wind, / Doth rise and fall between thy rosed lips'.
85. mistemper'd] The steel is tempered, made hard and resilient by beating, but put to wrong use as a result of the intemperate (violent) conduct of its owners. Sir John Smyth noted in 1590 that rapier blades are 'made of a verie hard temper to fight in priuat fraies* (OED sb I 5). Tempered also meant properly proportioned or constituted (of a state or city) and the keeping of correct pitch in music.
86. moved] offended and angry.
87. Three] Neither Brooke nor Painter specifies the number; Shakespeare's Prince, by reiterated emphasis on three, gives the events something of a ritualized formality, as in a fable, while insisting on the recurrent oppressiveness of the feud.
airy] Cf. Brooke, 1. 37: 'first hatchd of trifling stryfe'.
SC. i] ROMEO AND JULIET
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague, Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets And made Verona's ancient citizens Cast by their grave-beseeming ornaments To wield old partisans, in hands as old, Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate. • If ever you disturb our streets again
87
90
95
100
jYour lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. For this time all the rest depart away; You, Capulet, shall go along with me, And Montague, come you this afternoon, To know our farther pleasure in this case, To old Freetown, our common judgement-place. Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
Exeunt [all but Montague, Lady Montague and Benvolio] Mont. Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach ?
Speak, nephew, were you by 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 prepar'd, Which, as he breath'd 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 Came more and more, and fought on part and part,
99. farther] Qn,4,Qz; Fathers Q3,F.       101. S.D.] Hudson; Exeunt. Q2~4,F,Qi.
105
no
90. ancient] long-established and advanced in age; accustomed to peace for so long that their weapons are rusty with disuse (Canker'd with peace).
91. grave-beseeming] suitably sober: but probably there is a quibble on grave, anticipating that of Mercutio in his final speech (and of Claudius in Ham., iv. vii. 78-81).
100. Freetown] The name of Capu-let's castle, in Painter, is Villafranca, and in Brooke, Freetown. Shakespeare visualizes Capulet as living in a merchant's house rather than a castle. This dignity he transfers to Escalus.
102. set. . . abroach] The phrase was used of a cask (of liquor or gunpowder) pierced and running. The image is taken up by Benvolio's description of the fiery Tybalt.
109-10. He . . . scorn] Benvolio's mockery is ingenious, and may owe something to Spenser, Faerie Queene, 1. vii. 12, or Marlowe, Tragedy of Dido, n. i. 548-9: 'he disdaining whiskt his sword about, / And with the wind thereof the king fell down'; and cf. Ham., n. ii. 466-8.
112. on part and part] on one side and the other.
88
romeo AND juliet
[ACT I
Till the Prince came, who parted either part. Lady Mont. O where is Romeo, saw you him today ?
Right glad I am he was not at this fray. 115 Ben. Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun
Peer'd forth the golden window of the east
A troubled mind drive me to walk abroad,
Where underneath the grove of sycamore
That westward rooteth from this city side 120
So early walking did I see your son.
Towards him I made, but he was ware of me,
And stole into the covert of the wood.
I, measuring his affections by my own,
Which then most sought, where most might not be found, 125
Being one too many by my weary self,
Pursu'd my humour, not pursuing his,
And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me. Mont. Many a morning hath he there been seen,
With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew,      130
Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs;
But all so soon as the all-cheering sun
114. Lady Mont.] ed.; Wife. Qs-4, F, Qi. 115. I am] Q2, Qi; am I Q3
4, F. 118. drive] Qs; draue Q3,4,F; drew Qi. iao. city] Q1-4JF; Citties Qi, Malone.     127. humour] Q.2,4; honour Q.3f,Qi.
116-31. an hour ... sighs] The atmosphere of heated brawling in the streets is banished with the introduction of Romeo's name, which is accompanied by associations of dawn, dew, silence and Nature.
118. drive] This form, as a past tense, occurs in Fletcher, Bonduca, 1. i. 114 (MSR) and Spenser, Faerie Queene, 1. ix. 38, 5; v. xi. 5, 8 (Crow, NCS).
119. sycamore] Cf. LLL, v. ii. 89-94: Boyet tells how he sought the cool shade of a sycamore, was interrupted by the approach of the lords and stole into a 'neighbour thicket' to escape their company. In Oth., rv. iii, the sycamore is associated with love-sickness;
probably there is a pun: sickamour.
120. city side] Malone follows Qi, but the non-possessive form is not uncommon in Shakespeare (cf. in. i. 88 and in. iii. 17, or John, n. i. 234).
123. covert] concealment.
125. then . . .found] then specially sought out places where I was least likely to be found.
126. Being . . . self] The pursuit of a conceit displays the artificiality of the pose to the point of absurdity.
127. Pursu'd . . . his] Indulged my own inclination for solitude by avoiding the opportunity of discovering Romeo's mood.
130-1. With . . . sighs] Cf. Tit., m. i. 212-30.
SC. l] romeo AND juliet 89
Should in the farthest east begin to draw
The shady curtains from Aurora's bed,
Away from light steals home my heavy son 135
And private in his chamber pens himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out
And makes himself an artificial night.
Black and portentous must this humour prove
Unless good counsel may the cause remove. 140 Ben. My noble uncle, do you know the cause ? Mont. I neither know it nor can learn of him. Ben. Have you importun'd him by any means ? Mont. Both by myself and many other friends.
But he, his own affections' counsellor, 145
Is to himself—I will not say how true—
But to himself so secret and so close, , i So far from sounding and discovery,
■As is the bud bit with an envious worm
I Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air 150
Or dedicate his beauty to the sun.
Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow,
We would as willingly give cure as know.
Enter Romeo.
144. other] Qt-4; others F; not in Qi. 145. his] Q3,4,F; is Qe; not in Qi.
151. sun] Pope, conj. Theobald; same Qs~4,F; not in Qi.
134. Aurora's] The goddess of the dawn, married to Tithonus, whose bed she supposedly left each morning.
135. heavy] Punning, as frequendy in the play, on the emotional and physical senses of the word (cf. 1. 176 below).
139. humour] In ancient and medieval physiology four chief fluids were supposed to determine, according to their relative proportions, bodily and mental qualities antf disposition. Black choler, or melancholy, was one of the four fluids, or humours, and Romeo's father fears it may be gaining dominance in Romeo.
140. counsel] advice.
'45. affections'] loving attachment, love-passion, as in Oth., 1. iii. 112. 148. sounding and discovery] Nautical
images, of gauging the depth, and sailing, in uncharted waters; the image of the unsounded self is an important and recurrent one in Shakespeare.
149. bud. . . worm] Cf. Sonnet 35: 'loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud'.
151. sun] Theobald's emendation is welcome for the stronger emphasis it gives to the metaphor; he writes 'there is some power else besides balmy air that brings forth and makes the tiny buds spread themselves'. Crow observes 'Theobald's emendation . . . is not strictly necessary . . . But the emender could encourage himself with clear evidence that the mistake could be made, and was made, in Shakespeare's time.'
gO ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT I
Ben. See where he comes. So please you step aside;
I'll know his grievance or be much denied. 155
Mont. I would thou wert so happy by thy stay
To hear true shrift. Come, madam, let's away.
Exeunt [Montague and Lady Montague]. Ben. Good morrow, cousin. Romeo. Is the day so young ?
Ben. But new struck nine.
Romeo. Ay me, sad hours seem long.
Was that my father that went hence so fast ? 160
Ben. It was. What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours ? Romeo. Not having that which, having, makes them short. Ben. In love? Romeo. Out.
Ben. Of love? 165 Romeo. Out of her favour where I am in love. Ben. Alas that love so gentle in his view
Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof. Romeo. Alas that love whose view is muffled still
Should without eyes see pathways to his will. 170
Where shall we dine ? O me! What fray was here ?
Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.
Here's much to do with hate, but more with love.
Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate,
SC. i] ROMEO AND JULIET
O anything of nothing first create!
91 175
157. S.D.] Capell; Exeunt. Q2~4,F; not in Qi.
155. grievance] source of sorrow.
158. Is . . .young?] Romeo has been up before dawn, so to him 9 a.m. seems late; and he is so preoccupied with melancholy musings that he has lost track of time. Shakespeare makes the strongest possible contrast between the heated and exciting atmosphere of the street brawl and the abstracted mood of the solitary Romeo. To judge from Romeo's question at 1. 171, he does not listen to Benvolio's remark that it is 9 a.m.
168. in proof] when experienced.
169. muffled] Alluding to Cupid's blindness. Sometimes, as in Botticelli's Primavera, Cupid is shown blindfolded; Benvolio burlesques the con-
vention at 1. iv. 4. E.K.'s gloss on Swaine in Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender, March, holds Cupid to be 'described of the Poetes to be a boye . . . blindfolded, because he maketh no difference of personages'; he cites as authorities Propertius and Mos-chus (in Politian's translation). Cf. Erwin Panofsky, Studies in Iconologf (1939)» ch. iv.
173. with hate... love] With hate, because of the feud and brawl, with love, because Rosaline is a Capulet. But if we read to-do, the meaning is that Romeo's inner turmoil, caused by love, seems to him greater than that apparent in the public brawl.
O heavy lightness, serious vanity, Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms! 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. 180 Dost thou not laugh ? Ben. No coz, I rather weep.
Romeo. Good heart, at what?
Ben. At thy good heart's oppression.
Romeo. Why such is love's transgression.
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,
Which thou wilt propagate to have it press'd 185
With more of thine. This love that thou hast shown
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs;
Being purg'd, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;
Being vex'd, a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears;        190
What is it else ? A madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.
Farewell, my coz. Ben. Soft, I will go along;
And if you leave me so, you do me wrong.
175. create] Qi; created Qs~4,F. 177. well-seeming] Q4; welseeing Qs,3JF; best seeming Qi. 184. mine] Qs,3,F; my Q4,Qz. igo. lovers'] Pope; louing Qs~4,F; a louers Qi.
175- °f nothing first create] A conceit upon the proverb 'nothing can come of nothing'.
create] Abbott (§ 342) notes of create in MND, v. i. 41a: 'Such words being directly derived from Latin participles ... may themselves be regarded as participial adjectives~without the addition of "d".'
176. serious vanity] weighty emptiness.
177. well-seeming] Qjz offers another instance of an omitted letter; cf. his,
1. 145-
181. coz] i.e. cousin.
185. propagate] The image is taken
from propagation by layering, where a branch of a vine or other trailing plant is bent down to the ground and a stone or other weight placed on it, causing it to put down roots and form a separate plant. Romeo says that Benvolio's concern adds a grief to the love-melancholy he has already.
190. lovers'] Possibly Q,2's compositor was distracted by the repetition of -ing endings to Being, sparkling, Being; but the balance with 1. 189, lovers' eyes, is essential.
191. discreet] showing discernment; also cautious, civil.
romeo and juliet
92
Romeo. 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 ?
Romeo. What, shall I groan and tell thee ?
Ben. Groan ? Why no, but sadly tell me who.
Romeo. Bid a sick man in sadness make his will ? A word ill-urg'd to one that is so ill. In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.
Ben. I aim'd so near when I suppos'd you lov'd.
Romeo. A right good markman; and she's fair I love.
Ben. A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.
Romeo. Well, in that hit you miss; she'll not be hit With Cupid's arrow, she hath Dian's wit, And in strong proof of chastity well arm'd From love's weak childish bow she lives uncharm'd
[act i 195
200
205
195. Tut] Q2-4J?i-z,Qi; But-Fy-^. lost] Qa-fftQi; left Daniel, conj. Allen. 200. Bid a] Qi,Q4; A Qs,3JP- make] Qt,Q4i makes Qs,3,F. 201. A] Qa-4JF; Ah Qi.     209. uncharm'd] Qg-4^; unharmd Qj.
195. Tut] The speech begins in Q2 on page B2r; the preceding page has the catchword But; the first word on B2r in Q.2 however is Rom. so that reliance on the catchword seems ill-advised. Williams suggests that the correct catchword 'Rom. Tut' had been accidentally omitted; the compositor looking for it at the top of the wrong page found, on B4r, the first word Bui.
lost myself] Cf. 1. 148 and n. above. Daniel's emendation would pick up Benvolio's leave; misreading 0 for e is easy. Cf. Brooke, 11. 419-20: 'And whilst I talkt with him, hym selfe he hath exylde, / Out of himself'; and 1. iv. 104.
197. in sadness] seriously.
198. groan] Quibbling on the other sense of sad: melancholy.
205. right . . . hit] Quibbling baw-dily on terms from archery, as in LLL, iv. i. 101-31; mark = target.
206. Ait] shot.
207. Dian's wit] Although Romeo is complaining that Rosaline is as skilful
as Diana in preserving her chastity, her effect on him suggests that she may be another instance of a favourite Renaissance motif, Venus in disguise, which had already been applied by Spenser in The Shepheardes Calender (gloss to April) to Queen Elizabeth, who is likened to Venus visiting Aeneas disguised as 'one of Dianaes damosells'. Clouet painted Diane de Poitiers as Venus in disguise, and Isaac Oliver did the same in a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I.
208. proof] well-tried armour, impenetrable by shot.
209. weak childish bow] Cupid's youth attracts, with paradoxical effect, these adjectives to his dangerous bow.
uncharm'd] The minim difference between Qi and Q2 makes either reading graphically plausible, and both ideas are indeed implicitly suggested by Cupid's bow; but uncharm'd better expresses the special power of Cupid while not obscuring his harmful potential.
sc
i]
romeo and juliet
93
215
She will not stay the siege of loving terms 210
Nor bide th'encounter of assailing eyes
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold;
O she is rich in beauty, only poor
That when she dies, with beauty dies her store. Ben. Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste ? Romeo. She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste
For beauty starv'd 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. 220
She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow
Do I live dead, that live to tell it now. Ben. Be rul'd by me, forget to think of her. Romeo. O teach me how I should forget to think. Ben. By giving liberty unto thine eyes: 225
Examine other beauties. Romeo. 'Tis the way
To call hers, exquisite, in question more.
These happy masks that kiss fair ladies' brows,
311. bide] Q3-4; bid F; not in Qi. 212. ope] Qs~4,Qi; open F. 213. rich in beauty,] Qi,Q3,4,F; rich, in bewtie Qg. 216. makes] Q4; make Qt,3,F; not in Qi.     225. Ben.] QsJF; Ro. Q3& not in Qi.
210. siege] A conventional military image for courtship; cf. Wiv., n. ii. 325-6.
212. ope her lap] Though locked in a tower of bronze, Danae was taken by Jove in a shower of gold. Romeo's phrasing contrives to suggest a commercial transaction and an erotic act. It is unlike Romeo to think of buying her favours, and we may suppose his immaturity has allowed the conceit to get out of hand. He had intended to stress her saint-like resolution; cf. Daniel, The Complaint of Rosamond (1592), 11. 232-5, 'Doost thou not see how that thy King thy Ioue, / Lightens foorth glory on thy darke estate: / And showres downe golde and treasure from aboue, / Whilst thou doost shutte thy lappe against thy fate*.
213-14. rich . . . store] The central idea of the first seventeen Sonnets. See also Daniel, Rosamond, 11. 239-52.
216. sparing , . . waste] her thrift is very wasteful. There is a quibble on waste and waist (as in 2H4, 1. ii. 139-142) which makes an impossible paradox: that chastity makes her heavily pregnant. By saving her virginity Rosaline wastes the chance of increasing her waist (by carrying a child). Cf. Sonnet I: 'makes huge waste'.
217. starv'd] brought to death. 219. wisely too fair] Quibbling on
fair (i) beautiful, and (ii) just.
227. call ... tn question] bring her beauty into my thoughts (but her beauty will be called into question in another sense when set beside Juliet's).
romeo AND juliet
Being black, puts us in mind they hide the fair. He that is Strücken blind cannot forget The precious treasure of his eyesight lost. Show me a mistress that is passing fair; What doth her beauty serve but as a note Where I may read who pass'd that passing fair? Farewell, thou canst not teach me to forget. Ben. I'll pay that doctrine or else die in debt.
[act i
230
235 Exeunt.
[SCENE II] Enter Capulet, Paris and a Servant.
Cap. But Montague is bound as well as I,
In penalty alike, and 'tis not hard I think For men so old as we to keep the peace.
Paris. Of honourable 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. » My child is yet a stranger in the world, She hath not seen the change of fourteen years. Let two more summers wither in their pride
10
Scene 11
Scene n] Capell; not in Qs~4,F,Qi. Location.'] A Street. Capell. S.D.] Rome; Enter Capulet, Countie Paris, and the Clowne. Qs~4,Fi Enter Cotmtie Paris, old Capulet. Qi.       1. But] Qs; And Q4; not in Q3,F,Qi.
236. I'll pay... debt] I'll keep trying to teach you that lesson: until my death, if necessary.
Scene n
1. bound] bound over to keep the peace. Capulet and Montague have now both been to see the Prince and been warned.
4. reckoning] There is a quibble, in the next line's at odds, on the senses of social esteem and manner of computing. Paris is made to reveal his interest in Capulet's wealth while ela-
borating a compliment to the long-established dignity of the family. In a parallel situation in Ado, Shakespeare invites directly ironic feeling towards the practical attitude to dowries shown by Claudio (cf. Ado, 1. ii. 256-7).
9. fourteen] Shakespeare has reduced her age from Painter, where it is eighteen, and Brooke, where it is sixteen. This emphasis on Juliet's youth is repeated, and the audience is evidently meant to think of her as young for marriage.
SC. n] ROMEO AND JULIET 95
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride. Paris. Younger than she are happy mothers made. Cap. And too soon marr'd are those so early made.
Earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she;
She is the hopeful lady of my earth. 15
But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart,
My will to her consent is but a part,
And she agreed, within her scope of choice
Lies my consent and fair according voice.
This night I hold an old accustom'd feast 20
Whereto I have invited many a guest
Such as I love, and you among the store:
One more, most welcome, makes my number more.
At my poor house look to behold this night
Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven light. 25
Such comfort as do lusty young men feel
When well-apparell'd April on the heel
14. Earth] Qs,3,F; The earth Q4; not in Qi. 15. She is] Q4; Shees Qs,3,F; not in Qi.      18. agreed] Q2; agree Q34.F; not in Qi.
13. marr'd] Puttenham in The Arte of English Poesie (1589) has 'The maide that soone married is, soone marred is'. Cf. All's W., n. iii. 294.
14-15. Earth ... earth] Some editors have suspected corruption here; Dr Johnson found 1. 15 'not very intelligible'; Williams supposes both lines to have been inadequately marked for deletion in the manuscript and printed in error. The absence of rhyme in a passage of otherwise regular couplet rhyme, metrical irregularity, and the repetition in 1. 15 of key words from 1. 14, are the evidence advanced by editors who omit the twojines; but the two lines do not repeat the one assertion; Capulet takes up Paris's remark which he answers with a proverb, then quibbles on earth as associated not only with the grave but with fertility; earth = body at in. ii. 59. Juliet is the fruit of his loins and she alone will inherit his property, his lands; he has planted her and hopes to
make her full of growing: she is to carry on his line. The simplest explanation for the broken rhyme is that the compositor misread a final word; error cannot be demonstrated, though it may be suspected.
20. old accustom'd] In Brooke and Painter the story begins near Christmas, which is the occasion for the feast, so that Romeo's misery is echoed in the chill and dreary weather, and the light and warmth of the banquet present a rich contrast; but Shakespeare fills the play with summer, warmth and light. See Intro., p. 38.
27. well-apparell'd April] The familiar allusion suggests a figure from a country festival procession or game, as in Sonnet g8's 'When proud-pied April dressed in all his trim / Hath put a spirit of youth in everything' and Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender, May, 11. 1-33.
96
romeo and juliet
[act
Ser,
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. Come go with me. [To servant.] Go sirrah, trudge about Through fair Verona, find those persons out 35 Whose names are written there, and to them say, My house and welcome on their pleasure stay.
Exeunt [Capulet and Paris]. Find them out whose names are written here. It is written that the shoemaker should meddle with his yard, and the tailor with his last, the fisher with his 40 pencil, and the painter with his nets, but I am sent to find those persons whose names are here writ, and can never find what names the writing person hath here writ. I must to the learned. In good time.
Enter Benvolio and Romeo.
99. female] Qi,Fs; fennell Q*-4,F.
37. S.D.] Rowe; Exit. Qz~4,F; Exeunt Qr.
Here it QS-4JF; var. Qi.
28. limping winter] Cf. Gelding's Ovid, xv. 233 f.: 'Then ugly winter last / Like age steales on with trembling steppes'.
29. female] A minim misreading is possible; support for Q,2's fennell comes from Lyly, Sapho and Phao, n. iv. 61: 'fancie is a worm, that feedeth first vpon fenell' (an emblem of flattery). Durham comments that fennel 'was thrown in the path of brides'; but the association of young men with well-appareW'd April suggests that the delight they will experience will be, appropriately, in female buds—cf. i. i. 149-51, where Romeo is described as a bud; cf. also 1. iii. 77-8, where Paris is called a flower.
30. Inherit] Receive. 32-3. Which... none] And when you
have had a more thorough view of many of the girls, my daughter, who
32. on] Q4; one Q2,3,F; not in Qi. 38. written here. It] Dyce; written.
will be one of those there, may be one of the number you will consider for first place—except, of course, for the old saying, that one isn't a number (Spencer). Cf. Tilley O 52.
34. trudge] Puttenham notes that the word is used properly only of rogues, lackeys, and such manner of people.
39-42. shoemaker... writ] Parodying Lyly, Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit (ed. Bond), p. 180: "The shomaker must not go aboue his latchet, nor the hedger meddle with anye thing but his bill. It is vnsemely for the Paynter to feather a shaft, or the Fletcher to handle the pensill. All which thinges make most against me, in that a foole hath intruded himselfe to discourse of wit.'
40. yard] With a bawdy quibble on yard = penis; cf. Partridge, s.v.yard, and LLL, v. ii. 661.
sc. n]
romeo and juliet
97
45
50
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. Romeo. Your plantain leaf is excellent for that. Ben. For what, I pray thee ? Romeo. For your broken shin.
Ben. Why, Romeo, art thou mad? Romeo. Not mad, but bound more than a madman is:
Shut up in prison, kept without my food,
Whipp'd and tormented and—good e'en, good fellow. Ser. God gi' good e'en; I pray, sir, can you read ? Romeo. Ay, mine own fortune in my misery. Ser. Perhaps you have learned it without book. But I pray
can you read anything you see ? 60 Romeo. Ay, if I know the letters and the language. Ser. Ye say honestly; rest you merry.
55
46. One] Qi,Q3,4,F; On Qz. 49. thy] Q2,Qi; the Q.34,F. 56. good e'en] Q*-4f, Qr (Godden). 57. God gi' good e'en] Qs-4,F,Qi (Godgigoden). 59-60.] As prose, Pope; as verse Qs-4,F,Qt.
45. one fire... burning] Cf. Brooke, 11. 207-8, and Gent., n. iv. 188-9, and Tilley F 277. Benvolio's speech is rhymed, appropriately urging love as a cure for love with a string of proverbial commonplaces.
51. plantain leaf] The leaf was used to bind wounds or cure bruises. Romeo mocks Benvolio's suggested remedies for a broken heart by giving the common remedy for a broken shin; he seeks to evade any discussion of his feelings while indicating that they are too deep for Benvolio to comprehend. Costard, in LLL, m. i. 69-70, enters with a broken shin, misunderstands Armado's call for some enigma and I'envoy as highfalutin foreign remedies, and cries instead for a plantain, the tried local salve.
52. Romeo. For...] From about this
point until 1. iii. 34 Qi served as the copy from which Q.2 was printed.
57-63. God . . . read] Shakespeare emphasizes the element of chance in the action. The servant Capulet has chosen happens to be illiterate, a fact which his master has forgotten in the heat of the moment. The meeting with Romeo is sheer accident and after the servant turns away, by chance Romeo regrets his off-hand answer and takes the list: Romeo's allusion to fortune at 1. 58 is ironically apt.
59. without book] Hence 'by heart' or 'by ear'. 'By heart' applies apdy to Romeo.
62. Te say . . . merry] The servant understands him to mean he knows neither letters nor language and cannot read, so bids him farewell.
98
ROMEO AND JULIET
[ACT I
Romeo. Stay, fellow, I can read. He reads the letter.
Signor Martino and his wife and daughters;
County Anselm and his beauteous sisters; 65
The lady widow of Utruvio;
Signor Placentio and his lovely nieces;
Mercutio and his brother Valentine;
Mine uncle Capulet, his wife and daughters;
My fair niece Rosaline and Livia ; 70
Signor Valentio and his cousin Tybalt;
Lucio and the lively Helena. A fair assembly. Whither should they come ? Ser. Up.
Romeo. Whither to supper ? 75 Ser. To our house. Romeo. Whose house? Ser. My master's.
Romeo. Indeed I should have asked you that before.
Ser. Now I'll tell you without asking. My master is the 80
great rich Capulet, and if you be not of the house of
Montagues I pray come and crush a cup of wine.
Rest you merry. Exit. Ben. At this same ancient feast of Capulet's
Sups the fair Rosaline, whom thou so loves, 85
With all the admired beauties of Verona.
64-72.] As verse, Dyce*, conj. Capell; as prose Qs-4,F,Qi. 64. daughters'] Qg-4,Qj; daughter F. 65. Anselm] Qi~4,F,Qi (Anselme); Anselmo Dyce2, conj.
Capell. 70. and] Qr; not in Qg~4,F. 72. lively] Qs-4,F,Qi; lovely Rome1. 75-6. Whither to supper? / Ser. To our house] Q2-4,F,Qt (subst.); Whither? / Ser. To supper; to our house Theobald, conj. Warburton; Whither? / Ser. To our house Capell.       79. you] Q*-4,F; thee Qi.        83. S.D.] F; not in Qx~4,Qi.
63. the letter] A stage-property 'letter', i.ei a folded paper; it is strictly speaking a list of names.
74. Up] Not to be outdone in witty quibbling the servant plays upon the phrase come up (cf. n. v. 63) expressing amused or indignant contempt.
75-6. Whither . . . house] Theobald and Warburton transfer To supper to the Servant, and receive the following rebuke from Dr Johnson: 'When a
man reads a list of guests, he knows that they are invited to something, and, without any extraordinary good fortune, may guess, to a supper.' Capell considers the phrase To supper redundant; Williams that it is a reporter's anticipation of Benvolio's Sups the fair Rosaline of 1. 85.
82. crush a cup] drink, quaff (OED crush v 7). Steevens notes 'We still say, in cant language, to crack a bottle'.
f
SC. Il]
ROMEO AND JULIET
99
Go thither and with unattainted eye Compare her face with some that I shall show And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.
Romeo. When the devout religion of mine eye 90 Maintains such falsehood, then turn tears to fire, And these who, often drown'd, could never die, Transparent heretics, be burnt for liars. One fairer than my love! The all-seeing sun Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun. 95
Ben. Tut, you saw her fair, none else being by: Herself pois'd 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, 100
And she shall scant show well that now seems best.
Romeo. I'll go along, no such sight to be shown,
But to rejoice in splendour of mine own. [Exeunt.]
91. fire] Q2~4,F,Qi; fires Pope. 101. she shall scant show well] Qz~4,Qi;
she shew scant shell, well F (some copies); she shall scant shell, well F {some copies),   seems] Qa,Qi; shewes Q3r4,F.      103. S.D.] Pope; not in Qa-4,F,Qi.
87. unattainted] not infected; cf. 1. 49 above.
gi.Jire] Pope prefers a plural form for the sake of the rhyme, but Q2 reads for: and the colon is definitely not a half-printed s.
92. often drown'd] i.e. with weeping for love of Rosaline; cf. in. v. 130-7 and Donne, A Valediction of Weeping, 1. 20.
93. Transparent] Quibbling on the senses 'self-evident' and 'seen through'. Spencer conjectures a reference to the
testing of those suspected of being in league with the devil, by seeing if they would start to drown: if they kept afloat they obviously had supernatural help and were evidently heretics, so suffered death by burning.
97-9. Herself . . . maid] 'Romeo's eyeballs are the two pans of a scale; both in 1. 97 holding an image of Rosaline, while in 11. 98-9 her image is balanced against that of another' (NCS).
ioo romeo and juliet [act i
[SCENE III]
Enter Lady Capulet and Nurse.
Lady Cap. Nurse, where's my daughter? Call her forth to me. Nurse. Now by my maidenhead at twelve year old,
I bade her come. What, lamb. What, ladybird.
God forbid. Where's this girl? What, Juliet!
Enter Juliet. Juliet. How now, who calls ?
Nurse. Your mother. 5
Juliet. Madam, I am here, what is your will ?
Lady 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 knowest my daughter's of a pretty age. 1 o
Nurse. Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.
Lady Cap. She's not fourteen.
Nurse. I'll lay fourteen of my teeth—
And yet, to my teen be it spoken, I have but four—
Scene m
Scene m] Capell; not in Qs-4,F,Qi. Location.] A room in Capulet's house.
Capell. 1. Lady Cap.] ed.; Wife. Qs-4JF,Qi.        2-4.] As verse, Johnson;
as prose Qs-4,F,Qi. 3. bade] Qs,3,F,Qt {bad); had Q4. 7. Lady Cap.) ed.; Wife. Qs~4,F; W: Qi. 7-1°.] As verse, Capell; as prose Qg-4^,Qi.
11. an] Qn-4,F; a Qi. 12. Lady Cap.] ed.; Wife. Qs-4,F,Qi. 13. teen] Q2-^,F,Q/; teethFs. 12-15.] As Steevens 1793; prose Qg-4,Qi; He... teeth, / ... spoken, /.. . fourteene, / . . . tide? / F.
1 ff.] Most editors since Capell print this scene as verse, though Hosley follows Q,2, which prints 11. 2-63, and the Nurse's part thereafter to 1. 78, as prose.
1-4. Nurse . . . Juliet] The parallel with rv. v. is insistent: Lady Capulet there tells the Nurse to fetch Juliet, and the Nurse goes to do so with almost identical words (evidently those she has used to Juliet all her life): lamb, lady, love, sweetheart, then a bawdy jest (11. 5-7) and the apology God forgive me! Then she finds Juliet apparently dead.
2. maidenhead . . . old] The joke is
that she could not swear safely by her maidenhead at thirteen; this is also a very direct return to emphasis on the earliest age when a girl might marry: the conversation stresses (to comic extremes) that Juliet will be fourteen in a few weeks.
3. ladybird] Possibly a word for light o' love as well as sweetheart (NCS); which explains the Nurse's apology God forbid, but she may also mean 'God forbid anything has happened to her'.
9. thou's] thou shalt. A colloquialism: Abbott (§ 461). 13. teen] sorrow.
iL
sc. m]
romeo and juliet
She's not fourteen. How long is it now To Lammas-tide ?
Lady Cap. A fortnight and odd days.
Nurse. Even or odd, of all days in the year,
Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen. 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. That shall she; marry, I remember it well. 'Tis since the earthquake now eleven years, And she was wean'd—I never shall forget it— Of all the days of the year upon that day. For I had then laid wormwood to my dug, Sitting in the sun under the dovehouse wall. My lord and you were then at Mantua— Nay I do bear a brain. But as I said, When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple Of my dug and felt it bitter, pretty fool, To see it tetchy and fall out with the dug.
101
15
20
25
30
15. Lady Cap.] ed.; Wife. Q2~4,F,Qi 16-48.] As verse, Capell; as prose
Qn-4,F,Qi.     22. That] Qs,3,F,Qi; then Q4.
15. Lammas-tide] 1 August, in the early English church a harvest festival for the first ripe corn, from which loaves were made and consecrated (OED). These associations with early ripening chime happily with Juliet's birth; the Nurse may also make the popular, fallacious assumption that Lammas derives from Lamb and Mass: hence her pet name for Juliet carries an added resonance. Hosley suggests that Shakespeare, inheriting a heroine named Juliet, gave Tier a birthday in July.
16. Even or odd] The Nurse misunderstands Lady Capulet, who means 'a few' by odd.
18. Susan and she] Evidently the Nurse's closeness to Lady Capulet partly derives from her having had a daughter of the same age, this child's
early death, and the compensation of nursing Juliet. Ironically Juliet too will prove to be too good for the Nurse, and the momentary shadow is ominous, like Romeo's images of cankered buds.
23. the earthquake] Attempts to identify an actual earthquake alluded to here have been numerous (see Intro., pp. 26-7).
26. wormwood] oil from the leaves of the plant Artemisia absinthium, proverbially bitter and medicinal.
29. Nay . . . brain] Brooke observes of the Nurse's tale of giving Juliet suck: 'when these Beldams sit at ease ... part they say is true, and part they do devise, / Yet boldly do they chat of both, when no man checkes theyr lyes' (11. 663, 665-6).
i02
ROMEO and JULIET
[act I
Shake! quoth the dovehouse. 'Twas no need, I trow, To bid me trudge.
And since that time it is eleven years. 35
For then she could stand high-lone, nay, by th'rood,
She could have run and waddled all about;
For even the day before she broke her brow,
And then my husband—God be with his soul,
A was a merry man—took up the child, 40
'Yea', quoth he, 'dost thou fall upon thy face ?
Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit,
Wilt thou not, Jule ?' And by my holidame,
The pretty wretch left crying and said 'Ay'.
To see now how a j est shall come about. 45
I warrant, and I should live a thousand years
I never should forget it. 'Wilt thou not, Jule ?' quoth he,
And, pretty fool, it stinted, and said 'Ay'.
Lady Cap. Enough of this, I pray thee, hold thy peace.
Nurse. Yes, madam., yet I cannot choose but laugh 50 To think it should leave crying and say 'Ay'; And yet I warrant it had upon it brow A bump as big as a young cockerel's stone, A perilous knock, and it cried bitterly. 'Yea', quoth my husband, 'fall'st upon thy face ? 55 Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest to age, Wilt thou not, Jule?' It stinted, and said 'Ay'.
35. eleven] Qg~4,Qi (a leuen); a eleuen F. 36. high-lone] Qg (hylone), Qi; a lone Q3; alone Q4,F. 43. Jule] Qg~4,F; Juliet Qi. 46. should] Qg,Qi; shall Q3,4,F. 47. Jule] Qg-4; Julet F; Juliet Qi. 49. Lady Cap.] ed.; Old La. Qa-4,F; not in Qi.      57. Jule] Qg-4^; Juliet Qi.
33. Shake . . . dovehouse] A picturesque way of saying the dovehouse shook.
33-4.' 'twas no need.. . trudge] i.e. I needed no second warning to take myself off. NCS compares Golding's Ovid, n. 502: 'It was no neede to bid him chaufe.'
36. high-lone] quite alone, without support (OED).
by th'rood] by Christ's cross.
38. broke her brow] fell and cut
her forehead.
43. holidame] A corrupt form of 'halidom', holiness, hence any holy relic; it was a common error to suppose its origin to be 'holy dame' or 'our Lady'.
48. stinted] ceased.
52. it1] Neuter possessive pronoun; Abbott (§ 228) says it is used especially when a child is mentioned; cf. Wint., m. ii. 98.
53. stone] testicle.
sc. Ill]
ROMEO and JULIET
IO3
Juliet. And stint thou too, I pray thee, Nurse, say I.
Nurse. Peace, I have done. God mark thee to his grace,
Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nurs'd. 60 And I might live to see thee married once, I have my wish.
Lady Cap. Marry, that marry is the very theme I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet, How stands your dispositions to be married ? 65
Juliet. It is an honour that I dream not of.
Nurse. An honour. Were not I thine only nurse
I would say thou hadst suck'd wisdom from thy teat.
Lady Cap. Well, think of marriage now. Younger than you Here in Verona, ladies of esteem, 70 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 75 As all the world—why, he's a man of wax.
Lady Cap. Verona's summer hath not such a flower.
Nurse. Nay, he's a flower, in faith a very flower.
59-62.] As verse, Pope; as prose Qs~4,F,Qi. 60. wast] Qg~4,F; wert Qi.
63. Lady Cap.] ed.; Old La. Qg~4,F; Wife: Qi. 65. dispositions] Qg-4;
disposition F; not in Qi. 66. honour] Qi; houre Qg~4,F. 67-8.] As verse, Pope; as prose Qg~4^,Qi. 67. honour] Qi; houre Qg~4,F. thine] Qg,3iF; thy Qi; not in Q4. 68. wisdom] Qz,3^,Qi; thy wisdom Q4. 69. Lady
Cap.] ed.; Old La. Qg~4,F; Wife: Qi. 71. mothers. By] F; mothers by Qg-4; not in Qi. 72. your] Qg-4^, Qi; a Knight. 75-6.] As verse, Pope; as prose Qg-4,F; not in Qi.      77. Lady Cap.] ed.; Old La. Qg~4,F; Wife: Qi.
61. once] ever, at any time.
66, 67. honour] Q,2's reading houre is a possible minim misreading of manuscript honor. L. 66's houre makes sense, but not when taken with 1. 67's houre. Dr Johnson prefers "hour as 'more seemly from a girl to her mother'.
72. your mother] There is every reason for assuming that Lady Capu-let is old, like Lady Montague and the heads of the two houses; but the Q,i, Q.2 your mother could make her, by strict computation, twenty-seven or twenty-eight; cf. m. v. 165. In v. iii.
206 Lady Capulet says that the sight of death is as a bell That warns my old age to a sepulchre. Lady Montague has just died of grief, and the parallel between the two mothers is emphatic. The speech prefixes designate her Old Lady six times in the present scene in
76. man of wax] faultless, as if modelled in wax; cf. Lyly, Euphues and his England (ed. Bond), p. 166: 'you make . . . your Louer ... so exquisite that for shape hee must be framed in wax'.
io4
romeo and juliet
[act i
Lady Cap. What say you, can you love the gentleman ?
This night you shall behold him at our feast; 80
Read o'er the volume of young Paris' face
And find delight writ there with beauty's pen.
Examine every married lineament
And see how one another lends content;
And what obscur'd in this fair volume lies, 85
Find written in the margent of his eyes.
This precious book of love, this unbound lover,
To beautify him only lacks a cover.
The fish fives in the sea; and 'tis much pride
For fair without the fair within to hide. 90
That book in many's eyes doth share the glory
That in gold clasps locks in the golden story.
So shall you share all that he doth possess,
By having him, making yourself no less. Nurse. No less, nay bigger. Women grow by men. 95 Lady Cap. Speak briefly, can you like of Paris' love ? Juliet. I'll look to like, if looking liking move,
But no more deep will I endart mine eye
79. Lady Cap.] ed.; Old La. Qs~4,F; not in Qi. 83. married] Qs; seuerall Q.3A>F: mt ,n Q'- 91- many's] Qs-4 J?; many Q5; not in Qi. 95. bigger. Women] F (bigger: women); bigger women Qs-4; not in Qi. 96. Lady
Cap.] ed.; Old La. Qs~4,F; Wife: Qi.
81-2. Read... pen] His face is like an open book in which beauty has written delight.
83. married lineament] harmoniously proportioned features; lineament could also mean outline (carrying on the idea of book and pen).
85-6. what. . . eyes] what cannot be found in his, face will appear in his eyes, the page-margins where subtler details are explained.
88. cover] Taking up unbound from 1. 87; he needs to be bound to you in love to be made complete, as is a book with a cover. The idea of embracing may also be present; it is, more clearly, in 1. 92's gold clasps.
89-90. fish . . . hide] a fish is in its
98. endart] Qs-4,F; engage Qi.
element in the sea, and a handsome man (the fair within) is finely suited with a beautiful wife (fair without) and her binding love.
92. gold clasps] Quibbling on the clasps by which a book can be locked shut: the joyful embraces of wedded love, symbolized by golden rings.
95. nay bigger] The sense is 'women grow bigger'.
Women grow] i.e. in pregnancy.
97. look to] expect.
98. endart] The conceit derives from conventional sonneteering: the lady's piercing eyes have the effect of Cupid's shafts. Ironically, Juliet does in the event act in opposition to parental wishes.
sc. iv] romeo and juliet 105
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly. Enter a Servingman.
Ser. Madam, the guests are come, supper served up, you 100 called, my young lady asked for, the Nurse cursed in the pantry, and everything in extremity. I must hence to wait, I beseech you follow straight. Exit.
Lady Cap. We follow thee; Juliet, the County stays.
Nurse. Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days. 105
Exeunt.
[SCENE IV]
Enter Romeo, Mercutto, Benvolio, with five or six other Masquers [and] Torchbearers.
Romeo. What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse ? Or shall we on without apology ?
99. it] Qi, Q4; not in Qs,3f. 103. S.D.] F; not in Qs~4,Qi. 104. Lady Cap.] ed.; Mo. Qs-4^'; not in Qi.
Scene rv
Scene iv] Steevens; not in Qs~4,F,Qi. Location.] A street before Capulet's house. Theobald. SX>.]Qs-4,F; Enter Maskers with Romeo and a Page Qi. 1. Romeo.] Qs-4,F,Qi; Ben. j Capell.
101. cursed] Probably because she has the keys; in rv. iv. she is given keys to fetch spices, and has been called for to get dates and quinces.
Scene rv
S.D. Enter . . . Torchbearers] The gentlemen are disguised in preparation for a masquerade—traditional disguising and dancing associated with Christmas and other festivals, a custom of Italian origin though influenced by English mummery; essentially social and impromptu in character, like that of the Lords in LLL, v. ii. 157 ff. The masquerade by Henry VIII in H8,1. iv. 65 ff., closely follows Holinshed's account, and both these examples have the regular form, the masquers being introduced by a Presenter whose speech greets the host or
compliments the ladies and apologizes for the intrusion; dancing and flirtation are expected to follow. The host normally regarded such an intrusion as a compliment. On masquerades see Welsford, The Court Masque, p. 102, Chambers, The Medieval Stage, i, ch. xvii, The Elizabethan Stage, 1, p. 152. Cf. also Ado, n. i. 71 ff., Tim., 1, ii. 124 ff.
1. Romeo.] Capell supposed this speech to be misattributed, like the next: certainly a persuasive suggestion, especially in view of the tangle at 1. 53 in Qi, where the prefix Mer. is omitted so that the Queen Mab speech is attributed to Benvolio. Q2 misat-tributes 1. 23 to Horatio. Since Q2 is dependent on Qi at this point error may be suspected though not proved.
this speech] The masquers have prepared a speech according to custom.
io6
romeo and juliet
[act i
Ben. The date is out of such prolixity.
We'll have no Cupid hoodwink'd with a scarf,
Bearing a Tartar's painted bow of lath,
Scaring the ladies like a crowkeeper,
Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spoke
After the prompter, for our entrance.
But let them measure us by what they will,
We'll measure them a measure and be gone.
Romeo. Give me a torch, I am not for this ambling. Being but heavy I will bear the light.
Mer. Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.
Romeo. Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes With nimble soles,! have a soul of lead So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.
Mer. You are a lover, borrow Cupid's wings
And soar with them above a common bound.
Romeo. I am too sore enpierced with his shaft To soar with his light feathers, and so bound
3. Ben.] Qs-4,F,Qi; Mer. / Capell. 7-8.] Qi, Pope; not in Q2-4F. 20. so bound] Q2-4; to bound F; not in Qi.
10
!5
20
3. the date . . . prolixity] 'such rigmaroles are out of date' (NCS).
4. hoodwink'd] blindfolded (cf. 1. i. 169) with subsidiary quibbles on the hood used to cover a hawk's eyes, so mastering it (Cupid is winged too), and on the game, blind-man's buff.
5. Tartar's . . . lath] Cupid is conventionally depicted with an oriental or Tartar's bow, which is lip-shaped and very powerful by comparison to the English bow which has the shape of a segment of a circle. The phrase mocks the. god of love with his toy weapon of flimsy cheap wood (painted lath) traditional for theatrical properties such as the Vice's dagger. The common paradox that Cupid is both a weak infant and an awesomely powerful divinity is invoked and seen as absurd.
6. crowkeeper] a scarecrow with a bow tucked under his arm (cf. Lr, rv.
vi. 88), or a boy employed to scare off birds; both ideas apply in a suitably derogatory way to Cupid. Cf. Intro., pp. 58-9, n. iv. 15-16 and n.
7-8. Nor no . . . entrance] The omission of these lines from Q2 must be ascribed to carelessness by the compositor.
7-8. prologue... prompter] Cf. Moth's performance in LLL, v. ii. 157 ff.
10. measure . . . measure] Quibbling on the senses 'standard', 'give', 'apportion', 'dance'.
11. torch] Torchbearers at masques always looked on, never taking part.
ambling] artificial, acquired way of walking or dancing; cf. Ham., in. i. «45-
18. common bound] Quibbling on the senses 'normal limit', 'unimpressive leap' and 'rogue in chains'.
20. soar] This quibble is made along with others in LLL, rv. ii. 56-60.
I
sc. rv]
romeo and juliet
IO7
25
30
I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe.
Under love's heavy burden do I sink. Mer. And, to sink in it, should you burden love—
Too great oppression for a tender thing. Romeo. Is love a tender thing ? It is too rough,
Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn. Mer. If love be rough with you, be rough with love;
Prick love for pricking and you beat love down.
Give me a case to put my visage in:
A visor for a visor. What care I
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. Romeo. 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'll be a candle-holder and look on.
The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done.
23. Mer.] Q4; Horatio. Q2,3,F; notinQi. 31. quote] Q3,4,F; cote Qs;
coate Qi. 34. betake] Qs,4,F; betakes Q3; not in Qi. 39. done] Qt,F; dum Qn; dun Q3,4.
35
21. pitch] height from which a hawk stoops to kill; cf. 2H6, n. i. 5-15.
23. it] In making love you would be a burden on the woman and her ten-derest part; with a bawdy quibble linked to tender thing.
28. Prick] There is an obvious bawdy quibble (cf. 11. iv. 112) but irony in Mercutio's delight in punning on prick = stab: the 'king of cats' scratches him to death. The sense of beat love down includes 'causing sexual de-tumescence'.
29. case] cover.
30. visor . . . visor] Mercutio considers his face as grotesque as a mask; NCS compare the proverb 'A well-favoured visor will hide an ill-favoured face' (Tilley V 92): or, more simply, his face is itself just a mask.
31. quote] observe.
32. beetle brows . . . blush] Evidently
the mask has heavy overhanging eyebrows and red cheeks.
34. betake . . . legs] Quibbling on 'dance' and 'run away'; cf. 1. i. 8-9.
36. Tickle . . . rushes] Rushes were strewn on the floors of rooms and also perhaps on the stage; cf. Shr., iv. i. 41-2. senseless = incapable of feeling; in modern slang a pianist may be said to 'tickle the ivories'.
37. proverb'd. . . phrase] i.e. 'A good candle-holder proves a good gamester' (Tilley C 51); hence 'a good old-fashioned proverb applies to me: the spectator sees the best of the game'.
grandsire] long lived, and, quibbling-ly, 'often used by grandfathers'.
39. The game . . .fair] The proverb recommended leaving the gambling table when the game was at its best.
done] Romeo is echoed by Mercutio (dun's the mouse) so Q2's reading here
108 romeo and juliet [act i
Mer. Tut, dun's the mouse, the constable's own word. 40 If thou art dun, we'll draw thee from the mire Of—save your reverence—love, wherein thou stickest Up to the ears. Come, we burn daylight, ho.
Romeo. Nay, that's not so.
Mer. I mean sir, in delay
We waste our lights in vain, light lights by day. 45 Take our good meaning, for our judgement sits
41-2. mire / Of] Qi; mire / Or Qz,3; mire. / Or F. 42. save your reverence] F; saue you reuerence Qs-4; this surreuerence Qi. 44. Nay] Qs^^Qi; not in Q4. in] Qs~4,Qi; I F. 45. lights in vain, light lights] Daniel, conj. Nicholson; lights in vaine, lights lights Qs-4; lights in vaine, lights, lights, F; lights by night, like Lampes Qi; lights in vain, like lights Dr Johnson; lights, in vain light lights Williams.
dum cannot be right. NCS thinks dum a minim misreading of done; Hosley and Williams follow Rowe in printing 0_3's dun, arguing that Romeo's verbal play is on dun (brown) and fair, and dun—done.
40. dun's the mouse] Mercutio quibbles on Romeo's done and answers proverb with proverb. Perhaps because a brown mouse would be invisible in the dark, and mice are proverbial for quiet movement (cf. 'not a mouse stirring', Ham. 1. i. 10), the phrase came to mean 'be still', a fitting watchword for the constable on night duty (cf. Ado, in. iii. 31-7). Mercutio seeks to encourage Romeo to be sociable, to enter into the spirit of the adventure which could well end up with a nocturnal brush with the Watch.
41. If thou art dun] Quibbling on 'dun-in-the-mire', a dull fellow^ a stick-in-ths mud (Dan was a common name for a horse, and horses often stuck in the mud of Elizabethan roads), and the Christmas game, in which a log representing Dun the horse is pulled by all the company's combined efforts out of imaginary mire. (GifTord says he has often played the game and seen 'much honest mirth at it'.) The gist of Mer-
cutio's reply is that Romeo is dull and heavy as if he were a bogged carthorse, that being in love is like being up to the ears in ordure (see next note), and he must be freed from the misery by dancing.
42. save your reverence] Mercutio makes a mock-apology for almost uttering an indecency, since sirreverence was a euphemism for human dung, but his apology itself (save your reverence) quibbles on this slang term.
45. waste ... day] Mercutio's we burn daylight (1. 43) quibbles on the proverbial sense (= waste time by delaying). Romeo chooses to be literal-minded (because it is actually night) so Mercutio has to explain they are wasting (= using up) their torches to no effect, as in broad daylight. The repeated emphasis on the darkness is important as scene-setting. Cf. LLL, 1. i. 77: 'Light, seeking light, doth light of light beguile'.
46-7. Take . . . wits] i.e. be good enough to take our intended (good) meaning, for-our good sense is to be found in that five times more often than in the words which refer to sense-experience through our five senses {wits); judgement = understanding, good sense.
1
IO9
5°
sc. iv] romeo and juliet
Five times in that ere once in our five wits. Romeo. And we mean well in going to this masque,
But 'tis no wit to go. Mer. Why, may one ask ?
Romeo. I dreamt a dream tonight. Mer. And so did I.
Romeo. Well what was yours?
Mer. That dreamers often he.
Romeo. In bed asleep, while they do dream things true. Mer. O then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone
On the forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomi
Over men's noses as they he asleep.
Her chariot is an empty hazelnut
47. five wits] Malone, conj. Wilbraham; fine wits Qs~4,F; right wits Qi. 53. Mer. O then . . . you. / She is] Qs~4,F; Mer: Ah then . . . you. / Ben: Queene Mab what's she? / She is Qi. 54-91.] As vers* Qi; as prose Q3-4J?. 55. an] Qs-4,Qi; not in F. 57. atomi] Qi; ottamie Qs; atomies Q3,4,F.
58. Over] Q2-4f; Athwart Qi, Pope. 58-70.] Lineation and order of lines
as Daniel, conj. Lettsom. Prose in Qs-4. See n. below.
55
47. Five] Malone refers to n. iv. 73-4-
50. / dreamt] Romeo's dream remains undisclosed, though 11. 106-13 suggest that it may be darkly ominous. The isolation of the hero is achieved by Shakespeare through a series of such moments where his mood, tone and thoughts contrast strikingly with those of his companions. There may be a deliberate anticipatory linking of hero and heroine when in 1. iii. 66 Juliet says of marriage: 'It is an honour that I dream not of. In dreams begin responsibilities.
52. while] sometimes ;cf. OED sv adv. Ai).
53. Queen Mab] The suggestion by W. J. Thorns that this is the Irish fairy, Mabh, might gain support from H. Ellis's report of a Warwickshire phrase Mab-led, meaning led astray by a will o' the wisp (see Brand, Popular
Antiquities, m, p. 218, ed. 1841). Queen may be quean, a slattern or low woman, though the line in Jacob and Esau, v. vi. (1568): 'Come out thou mother Mab, out olde rotten witche' might support Mat's connection with magic.
54. fairies' midwife] 'This does not mean the midwife to the fairies, but that she was the person among the fairies whose department it was to deliver the fancies of sleeping men of their dreams, those children of an idle brain' (Steevens).
55-6. agate . . .forefinger] Agate was commonly used for seal-rings; a figure would be cut in the stone, set in a ring; cf. Ado, m. i. 65, 2H4, 1. ii. 10-11.
57. atomi] atoms, tiny creatures.
59-6 j. Her chariot . . . coachmakers] Lettsom's rearrangement involves placing these three lines about the
no
romeo and juliet
[act i
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub, 60
Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers;
Her waggon-spokes made of long spinners' legs,
The cover of the wings of grasshoppers,
Her traces of the smallest spider web,
Her collars of the moonshine's watery beams, 65
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;
And in this state she gallops night by night 70
Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love;
O'er courtiers' knees, that dream on curtsies straight;
64. Her] Qs-4,F; The Qi.  spider] Q2-4; spiders F; not in Qi. 66. film]
Fa (filme); Philome Qe-4,F; filmes Qi. 69. Prick'd] Qz-4,F; Pickt Qi.
maid] Qi, Pope; man Qx~4,F. 72. O'er] Qi; On Qa~4,F. curtsies] Qa-4,F (Cursies), Qi.
chariot itself before the description of its parts. In Q_2 they follow 1. 69. NCS believes that Q.2 at this point was set up from a copy of Q.i corrected, and with additional material. The Q,2 compositor, 'baffled by the problem of lineation', set up the bulk of the speech as prose, wrongly placing the marginal addition of 11. 59-61. There is a likelihood of more general corruption: in Qi 11. 59-61 are omitted; so also 11. 64 (absorbed into 1.65), 73. See Appendix I for the Qi version of the Queen Mab speech.
60. joiner . . . grub] The squirrel has chisel-like teeth, the grub bores holes; both are necessary to fashion joints and secure them with dowels in this fantastic version of the trade of joinery.
62. spinners'] Probably craneflies'; this insect (the Daddy-long-legs) is still called a spinner in Scotland according to Andrew S. Cairncross (JVGfQ, ns 22, 1975, pp. 166-7). The long legs of the cranefly would be appropriate for wheelspokes, the thinner web of the spider for the traces. In
MND, 11. ii. 20-1: 'Weaving spiders, come not here: / Hence you long-legg'd spinners, hence', the reference seems to be clearly to spiders, however, so that though in this context in Rom. the sense craneflies is attractive, it may not be what Shakespeare meant.
65. watery] The moon was associated with dew and with the tides; cf. MND, n. i. 162. There is an obvious play on watery, 'weak, thin', and on collars—colours.
66. film] gossamer.
69. lazy . . . maid] Worms were humorously said to breed in the fingers of lazy maids; cf. All's W., i. i. 36, where Parolles adapts the idea perversely: 'Virginity breeds mites, much like a cheese'. Harry Keil, 'Scabies and the Queen Mab passage in Romeo and Juliet' {JHI, xvm, June '957> PP- 394_4IO)> offers to identify the condition.
maid] Hoppe suggests Q2's reading is evidence for the manuscript reading male (maiden).
72. curtsies] gestures of respect.
straight] immediately.
sc. rv]
romeo and juliet
O'er lawyers' fingers who straight dream on fees; O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream, Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are. Sometime she gallops o'er a courtier's nose And then dreams he of smelling out a suit; And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail, Tickling a parson's nose as a lies asleep; 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, ambuscados, Spanish blades, Of healths five fathom deep; and then anon 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 plaits the manes of horses in the night
73. dream] Qs-4; dreamt F; not in Qi. 74. on] Qi,Q3^JF; one Qi.
76. breaths] Qi (breathes); breath Q2-4J?. 78. dreams] Qs,4,F,Qi; dreame Q3- 79- a] Q*-4>Q'; not in F. 80. as a] Q*-4,F; that Qi. 81. dreams he] Qi, Pope; he dreams Qs-4^.       86. ear] Qt~4,Qi; eares F.
Ill
75
80
85
77. courtier's] The repetition of courtier's (after 1. 72) may indicate rewriting—Shakespeare's first version being printed by the confused compositor. NCS argues that smelling out a suit suggests a legal officer of some kind, noting that Collier proposes counsellor (i.e. barrister), and compare Meas., 1. ii. 103, in support.
78. smelling... suit] For a fat fee the courtier will undertake to gain the royal favour (NCS).
79. tithe-pig] The parson was en-tided to a tenth of every litter of pigs as part of his full tithe, or tenth of income of the parish.
81. benefice] ecclesiastical living.
84. breaches] i.e. in defensive walls during assaults.
ambuscados] ambushes; OED says this is an affected refashioning of am-
buscade after the Spanish, and cites this line.
Spanish blades] Spanish steel was famed for its excellence in swords, Toledo being proverbial for the quality of the weapons made there. There may be a quibble on blade = a young gallant, possibly repeated at n.
iv. 30 (OED sb 11).
85. healths . . . deep] Cf. SH4, v. iii. 52; Humphreys (Arden) cites 'One that will drink deep, though it be a mile to the bottom' from The Eighth Liberal Science: or a newfound Art and Order of Drinking.
89. plaits . . . night] Superstition attributed tangled and matted human or horse hair to the action of elves; cf. Lr, 11. iii. 10. Elves supposedly hated slatterns and punished them (cf. Wis.,
v. v. 42-3).
112
romeo and juliet
And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs, Which, once untangled, much misfortune bodes. This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs, That presses them and learns them first to bear, Making them women of good carriage. This is she—
Romeo. Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace.
Thou talk'st of nothing.
Mer. True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, Which is as thin of substance as the air And more inconstant than the wind, who woos Even now the frozen bosom of the north And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence Turning his side to the dew-dropping south.
Ben. This wind you talk of blows us from ourselves: Supper is done and we shall come too late.
Romeo. 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 clos'd in my breast By some vile forfeit of untimely death. But he that hath the steerage of my course
[act i 9»
95
100
105
no
90. elf-locks] Q1&4; Elklocks Qs,3,F. 112. steerage] Qz-4,F (stirrage), Qi.
92-3. maids ... bear] The nightmare (hag) is an incubus. The superstitions surrounding erotic dreams are ancient, but Mercutio pursues a flippant line of thought to a bawdy quibble.
94. carriage] Quibbling on 'deportment', 'bearing children', 'taking a lover's weight'.
96. nothing] Quibbling on the bawdy sense, vagina (cf. Partridge, sv 0).
107-11. Some . . . death] date is
103. side] Qs~4,F; face Qi.
linked with expire and term; cf. Daniel, Rosamond, 11. 241-2: 'But that those rayes which all these flames doe nourish, / Canceld with Time, will haue their date expyred'. Romeo has mortgaged his life from a date set as that evening, the mortgage will be forfeit because by the end of the period (term) agreed, he will not be able to pay and will lose his life. The repeated emphasis on darkly ominous feelings counterpoints the approaching feast.
sc. v] romeo and juliet
Direct my suit. On, lusty gentlemen. Ben. Strike, drum.
"3
[Scene V]   They march about the stage, and Servingmen come forth with napkins.
First Ser. Where's Potpan that he helps not to take away?
He shift a trencher! He scrape a trencher! Second Ser. When good manners shall lie all in one or two
113. suit] Qs-4^ (sute); saile Qi.
Scene v
Scene v] Steevens; not in Qs-4,F,Qi. Location.] A hall in Capulet's house. Theobald. S.D.] ed.; They ... napkins. Enter Romeo. Qs-4; They ... their napkins. Enter Seruant, F; not in Qi. 1. First Ser.] ed.; Ser. Qs~4,F; not in Qi. 3. Second Ser.] ed.; 1. Qs-4^; not in Qi.  all] Q3-4; not in F,Qi.
113. suit] Dr Johnson considers suit to refer to 'the sequel of the adventure'. Spenser, Faerie Queene, v. viii. 3, has 'Suite of his auowed quest' with the sense of 'pursuit of an object or quest'; the word is also used of hunting and courtship and, legally, of the prosecution of a cause, all appropriate subsidiary associations with the main idea of Romeo's quest, controlled by destiny. Qi's saile seems, as Steevens observes, 'more congruous to the metaphor in the preceding line', and, it might be added, to the wider association in the play of destiny with sea-voyaging; cf. n. ii. 82-4, m. v. 130-7, v. iii. 116-18: so also Oth., v. ii. 270-1. Yet it is highly characteristic of Shakespeare's style at this period to intensify the metaphoric richness of the language by joining together, unexpectedly, heterogeneous ideas: the variable senses of suit are more effective in this than the simpler sail.
114. Scene v] Scene rv ends here according to Steevens, who is followed in this division by many editors.
Scene v
there is no formal scene change here; the action of marching about and the entrance of servingmen establishes the new locality. Romeo has not left the stage, so Q.2's 'Enter Romeo' is an error.
1-10. Where's... Potpan.] Evidently these two are established household servants taking a share of the delicacies for the feast and having their own party later, to which Susan Grindstone and Nell are invited.
2. trencher] According to Harrison's Description of England (1587) wooden trenchers were giving way to plate in the houses of gentlemen, merchants, and other wealthy citizens in the early part of Elizabeth's reign, and as we learn in 1. 7 below Capulet has plate on display; perhaps the trenchers are necessary for the large numbers invited (Lincoln's Inn in 1827 was still using wooden trenchers in hall, according to Singer).
3. good manners] There is a quibble on hands in 1. 4, playing on the root in Latin, manuarius, 'belonging to the hand' (OED).
S.D. They march... napkins.] In Q.2
114
romeo and juliet
[act i
tis a foul
10
men's hands, and they unwashed too, thing.
First Ser. Away with the joint-stools, remove the court-cupboard, look to the plate. Good thou, save me a piece of marchpane, and as thou loves me, let the porter let in Susan Grindstone and Nell—Anthony, and Potpan!
Third Ser. Ay boy, ready.
First Ser. You are looked for and called for, asked for and
sought for, in the great chamber. Fourth Ser. We cannot be here and there too. Cheerly,
boys! Be brisk awhile, and the longer liver take all. 15
Exeunt [Servingmen],
Enter [Capulet, Lady Capulet, Juliet, Tybalt, Nurse and] all the Guests and Gentlewomen to the Masquers.
Cap. Welcome, gentlemen, ladies that have their toes
6. First Ser.] ed.; Ser. Qg~4,F; not in Qi. 8. loves] Q2-4; lovest F; not in Qi. 11. Third Ser.] ed.; g. Qg~4,F; not in Qi. 12. First Ser.) ed.; Ser. Qg~4,F; not in Qi. 14. Fourth Ser.] ed.,3. Qg~4,F; not in Qi. 15. S.D. (i)] ed.; Exeunt. Qs~4,F; not in Qi; They retire behind. Malone. S.D. (ii)] Furness; Enter all. . . Maskers. Q2-4.F; Enter old Capulet with the Ladies. Qi. 16. Cap.] ed.; 1. Capu. Qs-4,F; Capu: Qi.
6. joint-stools] common wooden stools (chairs were scarce even in important houses); in a large hall they were packed with their legs turned inwards under the long tables, resting on the stretchers, when the meal was over (Shakespeare'sEngland, 11, p. 121).
6-7. court-cupboard] Court-cupboards stood at the ends of the hall and contained wine, fruit, cordials, spoons and table linen; silver plate might be displayed on them (ibid., p. 123). The court-cupboard is to be removed to give more room and, possibly, because it is valuable. It would not normally be removed after meals.
8. marchpane] marzipan: for special occasions sometimes garnished 'with prettie conceipts, as birdes and beasts, being cast out of standing moldes',
sometimes gilded, or moulded in letters, knots and other devices (Delightes for Ladies, 1608, quoted by Nares).
11, 12, 14. S.P.] The assignment of these speeches is very vague in Q2; presumably the third and fourth servingmen are Anthony and Potpan.
13. great chamber] Presumably the servingmen are already in the hall, the obvious place for dancing; perhaps Capulet's mansion is imagined as having an ante-room adjoining the hall.
15. longer. . . all] Proverbial (Tilley L 395); the longer liver is Death, so the proverb encourages the enjoyment of life while it lasts.
16. Welcome] Addressed to Romeo and his masked companions.
sc. v]
romeo and juliet
"5
Unplagu'd with corns will walk a bout with you.
Ah my mistresses, which of you all
Will now deny to dance ? She that makes dainty,
She I'll swear hath corns. Am I come near ye now? 20
Welcome, gentlemen. I have seen the day
That I have worn a visor and could tell
A whispering tale in a fair lady's ear,
Such as would please. 'Tis gone, 'tis gone, 'tis gone,
You are welcome, gentlemen: come, musicians, play. 25
A hall, a hall, give room! And foot it girls!
Music plays and they dance. More light, you knaves, and turn the tables up. And quench the fire, the room is grown too hot. Ah sirrah, this unlook'd-for sport comes well. Nay sit, nay sit, good cousin Capulet, 30 For you and I are past our dancing days. How long is't now since last yourself and I Were in a masque ?
Cousin Cap. By'r Lady, thirty years.
Cap. What, man, 'tis not so much, 'tis not so much.
'Tis since the nuptial of Lucentio, 35
Come Pentecost as quickly as it will,
Some five and twenty years: and then we masqu'd.
17. walk a bout] Daniel; walke about Qg~4,F; haue about Qi. 20. ye] Qg, 3,F; you Q4,Qi. 26. A hall, a hall] Qg-4; A Hall, Hall F; not in Qi. 33. Cousin Cap.] ed.; 2. Capu. Qg-4,F; Cos: Qi. 34. Cap.] ed.; 1. Capu. Qg-4, F; Cap: Qi.      35. Lucentio] Qt,F; Lucientio Qg-4.
17. walk a bout] Qi supports the reading a bout (= some kind of round dance). The sense is 'dance a turn' (Sisson).
19. makes dainty] primly hesitates.
20. Am I. . . now?] Am I near the mark? Cf. 1H4, 1. ii. 12. -
26. A hall, a hall] Clear the floor!
27. turn the tables up] Trestle tables are dismantled by removing fixing-pegs, lifting off the tops, and stacking tops and trestles against the walls.
28. quench the fire] In Brooke the feast takes place near Christmas; possibly when writing these lines Shake-
speare forgot that he set the action in July (see 1. iii. 14-15); cf. 1. ii. 20 n., and Intro, p. 38.
29. Ah sirrah] Perhaps to his cousin, perhaps to himself, as Onions suggests; cf. 1. 125.
unlooked-for sport] Alluding to the unexpected arrival of the masked party of strangers.
30. cousin] Used as an affectionate form of address to any kinsman.
31. past our dancing days] Proverbial; cf. Tilley D 118.
36. Pentecost] Whit-Sunday.
ii6
romeo and juliet
[act i
Cousin Cap. 'Tis more, 'tis more, his son is elder, sir:
His son is thirty. Cap. Will you tell me that ?
His son was but a ward two years ago. 40 Romeo. What lady's that which doth enrich the hand
Of yonder knight? Set. I know not, sir.
.Romeo. O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
AsarichjewelinanEthiop'sear— 45
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
And touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. 50
Did my heart love till now ? Forswear it, sight.
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night. Tyb. This by his voice should be a Montague.
Fetch me my rapier, boy. [Exit Boy.] What, dares the slave
Come hither, cover'd with an antic face, 55 To fleer and scorn at our solemnity? Now by the stock and honour of my kin, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin. Cap. Why how now, kinsman, wherefore storm you so?
38. Cousin Cap.] ed.; 2. Capu. Q2-4; 2. Cap. F; Cos: Qi. 39. Cap.] ed.; 1. Capu. Q2-4; 3. Cap. F; Cap: Qz. 41. lady's] Qs (Ladies), Pope; Ladie is 0,3,4 f,Qi. 45. As] Q2-4& Like Qi. 47. snowy] 0.2,3^; snowe Q4; snow-white Qi. 52. For I ne'er] Q2-4; For I never F; I neuer Qi. 54. S.D.] Collier3; not in Qa-4f,Qi.     59- Cap.] ed.; Capu. Q2-4; Cap. F; Ca: Qi.
sc. v]
40. a ward] A minor, under the control of a guardian until he reached the age of twenty-one.
42.yonder knight] Cf. Brooke, 1. 246: 'With torche in hand a comly knight did fetch her foorth to daunce'.
44. It seems she] Absurdly, Knight defended the F2 reading, 'Her beauty' (which he admitted involves the rejection of'an undoubted ancient reading*), because it 'has passed into common use wherever our language
is spoken ... Here, it appears to us, is a higher law to be observed than that of adherence to the ancient copies.'
45. rich . .. ear] Cf. in. ii. 17; Marlowe, Hero and Leander, n. 240: 'Rich iewels in the darke are soonest spide'.
47. shows] appears.
55. antic face] Alluding to Romeo's mask.
cfi.JUer] grin contemptuously. solemnity] celebration.
I
romeo and juliet
Tyb. Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe: A villain that is hither come in spite To scorn at our solemnity this night.
Cap. Young Romeo is it ?
Tyb. 'Tis he, that villain Romeo.
Cap. Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone, A 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 this town Here in my house do him disparagement. Therefore be patient, take no note of him. It is my will, the which if thou respect, 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'll not endure him.
Cap. He shall be endur'd.
What, goodman boy! I say he shall! Go to, Am I the master here or you ? Go to. You'll not endure him! God shall mend my soul, You'll make a mutiny among my guests, You will set cock-a-hoop, you'll be the man!
Tyb. Why, uncle, 'tis a shame.
Cap. Go to, go to.
117 60
65
70
75
80
63. Cap.] ed.; Capu. 0.2-4; Cap. F; Ca: Qr (so also at 11. 75, 81, 120). 64. Cap.] Q2,F; Capu. Q.3,4; Ca: Qi. 68. this] Q2~4,Qi; the F. 79. my] Q2~4,Qi; the F.      80. set] Q2,3,F,Qi; sot a Q4.
65. portly] well-mannered, of good deportment.
66. brags] talks with just pride (OED records only the more usual sense, 'boast').
69. disparagement] impoliteness.
73. semblance] expression.
76. goodman boy] Capulet slights Tybalt's youth with boy and his ill-bred attitude with goodman, prefixed to the names of persons below the rank of gentleman, especially yeomen and farmers (OED 3 b). Cf. Lr, n. ii. 41.
Go to] Expressing protest and impatience.
80. set cock-a-hoop] abandon all restraint (with a subsidiary sense 'have things your own way'); OED calls it 'of doubtful origin', noting associations with the boastfulness of a fighting (or crowing) cock, and with unrestrained drinking, when the cock (spigot) is removed from the barrel and placed on its hoop on top.
be the man] play the man, give the orders.
ii8
romeo and juliet
[act i
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'll make you quiet. What, cheerly, my hearts!
Tyb. Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting
Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting. I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall Now seeming sweet, convert to bitt'rest gall.
Romeo. If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Juliet. Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
85
90 Exit.
95
91. bitt'rest] Qs; bitter Q3,4JF,Qi. 93. sin] Qg-4,F,Qi; fine Theobald, conj. Warburton; pain NCS.     94. two] Qs~4,Qi; to F.     ready] Qi; did ready
82. saucy boy] Both terms are stronger than in modern English: Capulet, having suddenly become angry, tells Tybalt he is insolent and childish.
83. scathe] injure.
/ know what] i.e. I know what I am doing, I mean what I say.
84. Marry, 'tis time] i.e. it is time I rebuked you for quarrelling (or, possibly, it is time you accepted my rebuke). There is irony as well as comedy in Old Capulet's sudden rage at the same family characteristic in Tybalt.
85. Well . . . hearts] Bravo, good friends! (to the dancers).
Tou .. . go] Addressed once more to Tybalt, who is called an impertinent youth. Gf. Nashe, Pierce Pennilesse, Works, 1, p. 23: 'A Caualier of the first feather, a princockes that was but a Page the other day in the Court'.
88. Patience . . . choler] Tybalt considers himself patient, and Capulet wilfully choleric.
89. different greeting] the meeting of opposed states (of patience and choler).
92-105. If. . . take] Romeo's first
words to Juliet begin a sonnet which Juliet shares and which ends in a kiss. The motifs of hands and pilgrimage are intertwined by the lovers in a series of conceits that advance courtship while exalting, purifying and intensifying feeling; the lovers are separated from the rest of the company in a special and quite new tone. Romeo may choose the pUgrimage motif in self-conscious play upon the meaning of romeo in Italian, which Florio records as roomer, wanderer or palmer. Even if the rather implausible suggestion that his masking costume is a pilgrim's is dismissed, there is a private meaning for him in the conceit, since he feels himself, unlike his companions, dedicated to love and its service; the pursuit of the ideal is a journey to a 'straunge stronde' and not without hazard.
93. gentle sin] Qi's sinne supports the Q.2 reading; cf. m. iii. 39. Harold Jenkins proposes gentler sin: if Romeo profanes her hand (by holding it) he could atone by a gentler sin, defined in the next two lines.
sc. v]
romeo and juliet
"9
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. Romeo. Have not saints hps, and holy palmers too ? 100 Juliet. Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. Romeo. O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do:
They pray: grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. Juliet. Saints do not move, though grant for prayer's sake. Romeo. Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. 105
[He kisses her.]
Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purg'd. Juliet. Then have my lips the sin that they have took. Romeo. Sin from my lips ? O trespass sweetly urg'd.
Give me my sin again. [He kisses her.]
Juliet. You kiss by th'book.
Nurse. Madam, your mother craves a word with you. no Romeo. What is her mother? Nurse. Marry bachelor,
Her mother is the lady of the house,
And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous.
I nurs'd her daughter that you talk'd withal.
I tell you, he that can lay hold of her 115
Shall have the chinks.
98. that] Qe-4,F; which Qi. 105. S.D.] Rowe (after I. to6); not in Qs-4^, Qi.      109. S.D.] Capell; not in Qz~4JP,Qi.
97. mannerly] decent, modest; with a quibble on 'belonging to the hand'; cf. 1. v. 3 n.
98. saints] i.e. stone statues or images of saints.
99. palm to palm] Pilgrims who had visited the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem originally bore a palm branch or leaf to signify the fact; Juliet quibbles on the sense ''palm of the hand'. Cf. Brooke, 1. 267: 'Then she with tender hand his tender palme hath prest'.
104. Saints . . . move] Juliet answers that a statue, as Romeo has called her, does not move, though the saint may grant a prayer.
106-9.        • • • book] A fresh son-
net begins, but is interrupted by the Nurse.
108. urg'd] put forward in argument.
109. by th'book] 'As if you had learned from a book of etiquette' and also 'by means of sonnet rhymes and conceits'. The playful criticism is not intended to discourage, though elsewhere Shakespeare's characters use the phrase with strong disparagement, as in ill. i. 103.
in. bachelor] young gentleman: perhaps the word was suggested by Brooke, 1. 163.
116. the chinks] plenty of money: probably with a bawdy innuendo as in MND, v. i. 157, 174.
i20
romeo and juliet
[act i
Romeo. Is she a Capulet ?
0 dear account. My life is my foe's debl. Ben. Away, be gone, the sport is at the best. Romeo. Ay, so I fear; the more is my unrest.
Cap. Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone, 120
We have a trifling foolish banquet towards.
They whisper in his ear. 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.
Ah sirrah, by my fay, it waxes late, 125
I'll to my rest.
[Exeunt Capulet, Lady Capulet, Guests, Gentlewomen and
Masquers.]
Juliet. Come hither Nurse. What is yond gentleman ?
Nurse. The son and heir of old Tiberio.
Juliet. What's he that now is going out of door ?
Nurse. Marry, that I think be young Petruchio. 130
Juliet. What's he that follows here, that would not dance ?
Nurse. I know not.
Juliet. 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, 135
The only son of your great enemy. Juliet. My only love sprung from my only hate.
Too early seen unknown, and known too late.
Prodigious birth of love it is to me
That I must love a loathed enemy. 140
Nurse. What's this ? What's this ?
S.D.] Qi; not in 126. S.D.] ed.; Exeunt. Qi; not in Ql~4,F;
Exeunt all but Juliet and Nurse. Malone. 129. of] Q2,3,F,Qi; of the Q4. 131. here] Qz~4,F; there Qi. 134. wedding] Qa-^.Qr; wedded F. 141. this? . . . this?] F? tis? . . . tis? Q2-4; this? . . . that? Qi. What's] Qs,3f,Qi; What Q4.
117. dear account] terrible reckoning.
118. sport... best] Proverbial; see 1. iv. 39 n.
121. banquet] light refreshment of fruit, wine and delicacies. 123. honest] honourable.
141. this . . . this] Qi's reading seems to be a typical memorial error; Williams (MLR, Jan. i960, p. 79) argues that tis is not a misprint but a common dialect or subliterary pro-nounciation of this.
sc- v] romeo and juliet i2i
Juliet- A rhyme I learn'd even now
Of one I danc'd withal. One calls within: 'Juliet'.
Nurse. Anon, anon!
Come let's away, the strangers all are gone. Exeunt.
141. learn'd] Qs~4,Qi (learnt); learne F. 143. all are] Qs,3f: are all O4 ■ notinQi. r
[ACT II]
[PROLOGUE]
[Enter'] Chorus.
Chorus. Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie And young affection gapes to be his heir; That fair for which love groan'd for and would die, With tender Juliet match'd, is now not fair. Now Romeo is belov'd and loves again, 5 Alike bewitched by the charm of looks, But to his foe suppos'd he must complain And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks. Being held a foe, he may not have access To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear; 1 o
And she as much in love, her means much less To meet her new beloved anywhere. But passion lends them power, time means, to meet, Tempering extremities with extreme sweet. [Exit.]
ACT II Prologue
Act II Prologue] Camb.; not in Qs-4,F,Qi. S.D.] Camb.; Chorus. Qs-4,F; not in Qi. 1. Chorus.] Camb.; not in Qa~4,F,Qi. i-i4-] Q2-^- Q1-4. match'd] Q3,4,F; match Qs.      14. S.D.] Theobald; not in Qn-4^,Qi.
Chorus.] The whole 14 lines (in form a sonnet) are omitted in Q,i. Dr Johnson observed: 'The use of this chorus is not easily discovered. It conduces nothing to the progress of the play, but relates what is already known, or what the next scenes will shew; and relates it without adding the improvement of any moral sentiment.'
2. gapes] Used of those eagerly awaiting a large inheritance; cf.
Jonson, Volpone, 1. ii. 95-7.
3. fair] i.e. Rosaline.
groan'dfor] Rowe conjectures a misreading of MS. sore. The duplication is compared by Hudson to ATL, n. vii. 139.
6. Alike] As she that loves him.
7. foe] Because Juliet is a Capulet. complain] make love-laments.
14. Tempering extremities] Mollifying hardships. Since the verb temper can mean the process of bringing steel to a
sc. i]
romeo and juliet
123
[SCENE I]
Enter Romeo alone. Romeo. Can I go forward when my heart is here ? Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out.
[Withdraws.]
Enter Benvolio with Mercutio.
Ben. Romeo! My cousin Romeo! Romeo!
Mer. He is wise,
And on my life hath stol'n him home to bed. Ben. He ran this way and leapt this orchard wall. 5
Scene 1
Scene i] Ulrici;notin Qa-4,F,Qi. Location.] The Street. Rowe; Wall of Capulet's Garden. Capell. 1-29.] As Qs-4,F; prose in Qi. 2. S.D.] ed.; not in Q2-4, F,Qi; Exit. Rowe; Leaps the Wall. Capell; He climbs the wall, and leaps down within it. Camb.     3. Romeo! Romeo!] Qs~4,F; Romeo. Qi.
suitable hardness and resilience by heating, or tuning a musical instrument, the idea of melting or softening is accompanied by the resulting greater hardness, tautness, or high pitch: all appropriate to the situation.
Scene 1
2. dull earth] Romeo thinks of himself as a dull and muddy-mettled rascal; he must find Juliet, the centre of his microcosm now (Brooke, 1. 829); cf. Troil., tv. ii. 102-4.
5. leapt.. . wait] Cf. 2H6, rv. x. 6-7, where Cade says he has climbed a brick wall into Iden's garden. The present scene can be staged with the utmost simplicity, Romeo entering through a door, concealing himself behind a stage post when Mercutio and Benvolio enter seeking him; the words alone create an intense sense of place, and control the mood; no support is actually needed from elaborate staging, and there is a danger, should it be used, of upsetting the pace and rhythm which are calculated with great care in this scene. The joke in MND, m. i, when Snout protests
'You can never bring in a wall' is probably connected—but as a joke— with the present scene in Rom. Although it has been suggested that a practicable wall was erected on stage for this scene, there are several objections to the proposal. The atmosphere of the scene must not be endangered by bathetic accidents or some obtrusive, or cumbrous, or unconvincing property; sight-lines must not be obstructed. A wall big enough to suggest a real orchard wall, and to make Romeo's leap impressive, could be cumbrous, must be dismanded after only one scene, and would obstruct sight lines. A token small wall would be as distractingly ridiculous as that impersonated by Snout in MND. J. W. Saunders, in Sh.S., 7 (1954), suggests that Romeo, followed by Benvolio and Mercutio, enters at yard level; Romeo vaults up on to the stage, which then becomes the orchard; his friends remain at yard level. This seems practicable, except that some groundling spectators would not be able to see what was going on, which is probably a decisive objection. Yet such speculations imply that Shake-
122
124 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT II
Call, good Mercutio. Mer. Nay, I'll conjure too:
Romeo! Humours! Madman! Passion! Lover! Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh, Speak but one rhyme and I am satisfied. Cry but 'Ay me!' Pronounce but 'love' and 'dove', 10 Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word, One nickname for her purblind son and heir, Young Abraham Cupid, he that shot so trim
6. Mer.] Qi,Q4; not in Q2,3,F. 7. Romeo!] Qi,Q4; Mer. Romeo Qe,3f. Madman] Q2,3,F,Qr; madam Q4. Lover] Q2-4JF; liver Qi. 9. one] Qi,Q3,4,F; on Q2. 10. Cry] Qz-4,Qi; Cry me F. Pronounce] Qi,Q4; prouaunt Q2,3,F; Couply Fs; couple Rowe. dove] Qi; day Q2,3,F; die Q4. 12. heir] Qi,Q4; her 0,2,3^- '3- Abraham] Q2-4,F,Qi (subst.); Adam Steevens 1778, conj. Upton; auburn conj. Warburton.      trim] Qi, Steeuens; true
speare here sought, quite uncharacteristically, a literal-minded kind of stage realism which is not sought anywhere else in the play's stagecraft, with its swift and simple shifts of imagined location, and I do not find these suggestions at all plausible.
6. Afer.] The placing of the speech prefix in Qi may be a genuine and correct memory; it makes much more sense than in Q.2, where Benvolio says Nay I'll conjure too only for the actual conjuring to be done by Mercutio; Q4 must be an intelligent guess.
conjure] Mercutio burlesques the ritual summoning of a spirit by calling its different names; when the right one is spoken the spirit, it is supposed, will appear and speak. The names are mocking synonyms for Romeo.
7. Lover] Qi reads liver for lover. Since the liverjs the seat of the disease of love, Greg (Aspects of Shakespeare, ed. J. W. MacKail, p. 147) considers this reading plausible.
10. Pronounce] QTs pronounce makes very good sense. The compositor of Q_2 obviously ignored Qi and followed the manuscript which must have been difficult to decipher. The word in the manuscript may have
appeared in Shakespeare's idiosyncratic spelling, without the final e. In hand D (the possibly Shakespearean part of the MS. of Sir Thomas More) appear the spellings obedyenc, insolent, offyc. The error of day for done must also be ascribed to misreading of manuscript. Provant as a verb = to provision (Nashe, 1599, cited in OED).
11. gossip] Originally a godmother, hence a woman invited to be present at a birth as a familiar friend, hence a merry or convivial old woman.
13. Abraham Cupid] Many emendations have been proposed for this reading. Upton supposed Abraham a misreading of Adam, an allusion to the proverbially skilful archer Adam Bell (cf. Ado, 1. i. 244), but this would be more graphically plausible if the text had the shortened form Abram, even though the short and long form are equal alternatives. Abraham-Abram (auburn) meaning blond is found e.g. in Cor., 11. iii. 20, and this is possible here. Knight proposed an allusion to the 'cheat—the "Abraham-man"—of our old statutes' and NCS has the note 'The sly rogue Cupid, with nothing but a scarf about his loins, is like the abraham men, who wandered
SC. i]
ROMEO AND JULIET
!25 r5
When King Cophetua lov'd the beggar maid.
He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not:
The ape is dead and I must conjure him.
I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes,
By her high forehead and her scarlet lip,
By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh,
And the demesnes that there adjacent lie, 20
That in thy likeness thou appear to us. Ben. And if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him. Mer. This cannot anger him. 'Twould anger him
To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle
Of some strange nature, letting it there stand 25
Till she had laid it and conjur'd it down:
That were some spite. My invocation
Is fair and honest; in his mistress' name
I conjure only but to raise up him.
15. stirreth] Q2,4,F; striueth Q3; not in Qi. 16. and] Q2-4; not in F,Qi. 17. thee] Q2,4,F,Qt; the Q3. 25. there stand] Q2-4; stand F; there to stand Qi-     28. in] Q2; and in Q3,4,F,Qi.
half-naked about the world begging and stealing'; cf. Lr, n. iii. 9-20. Hoppe sees an allusion to the proverbial phrase 'old as Abraham' which is the basis for the conceit on Cupid's eternal youth, as in LLL, v. ii. 11: 'he hath been five thousand year a boy'. These ideas of extreme old age yoked to extreme youth, of slyness, of blond hair, near nakedness (of beggar and god) all seem appropriate to the present context; the teeming al-lusiveness seems altogether characteristic of the young Shakespeare. An editor, lacking evidence of corruption, may not emend.
trim] Qi preserves the wording of the line in the ballad of King Cophetua and the Beggar* Maid: "The blinded boy that shoots so trim', alluded to in LLL, 1. ii. 106-7, >• 66-8, Rs, v. iii. 80, and 2H4, v. iii. 104. Shakespeare evidendy knew it well.
14. King . . . maid] In LLL, rv. i. 66-82, some detail is given; R. David (Arden ed.) believes from scattered allusions, which he cites, that it had
scurvy words and tune, not at all like the version in Percy's Reliques (1st series, n. 6), which is insufficiently old and too dainty. David thinks there had been a drama on the subject also.
16. ape is dead] Evidendy alluding to a fairground trick in which an ape lies feigning death until revived by his master with some fustian ceremony (Strunk, MLN, xxxn, pp. 215-21).
17. Rosaline's] Mercutio remains unaware of the change in Romeo's affections in the previous scene.
24. raise ... circle] Bawdy quibbling after I. 16's conjure, on spirit (i) demon, (ii) penis, and circle (i) conjuror's magic circle, (ii) vagina.
25. strange] belonging to a stranger, not to Romeo.
stand] With a bawdy quibble (on sexual erection).
26. laid . . . down] i.e. made it powerless and caused it to depart (with a bawdy quibble).
29. raise up him] With a bawdy quibble, as on stand in 1. 25 above.
126
romeo and juliet
[act n
30
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 cannot hit the mark.
Now will he sit under a medlar tree
And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit 35
As maids call medlars when they laugh alone.
O Romeo, that she were, O that she were
An open-arse and thou a poperin pear!
Romeo, good night. I'll to my truckle-bed.
This field-bed is too cold for me to sleep. 40
Come, shall we go ? Ben. Go then, for 'tis in vain
To seek him here that means not to be found.
Exeunt [Benvolio and Mercutio].
38. open-arse and] NCS; open-arse or Hosley; open, or 0,2,3J?; open Et cetera, Qi; open & catera, and Q4.      42. S.D.] ed.; Exit. 0,2,3; Exeunt. Q4,F; not in Qi.
31. consorted] associated.
humorous] damp, but also whimsical, full of fantastic notions (Kit-tredge).
33. mark] target (with a bawdy quibble; cf. Partridge, sv mark).
36. medlars] A fruit, proverbially 'never good till they be rotten' (Tilley M 863), thought to resemble the female genitalia, with an additional quibble on medlarjmeddler {meddle = to have sexual intercourse with: OED v 5).
38. open-arse] A dialect name for the medlar. Farmer and Henley, Slang and its Analogues (1902), suggested that Qa's open, or meant open-arse and Hosley was the first editor to adopt the reading. OED records Q,2's form as a variant spelling of open-arse, or openers (as in Chaucer, Reeve's Prol., 1. 17). Presumably Q,2's compositor misunderstood and Qi's reporter replaced the word by the euphemism etc.
poperin] Bawdy quibbles on (i) the
name of a kind of pear from Poper-inghe, near Ypres, and (ii) (poperin = pop her in) on its shape, resembling the male genitalia.
39. truckle-bed] A small bed on wheels which was pushed under a higher bed when not in use; normally a servant or child slept in it.
40. field-bed] Punning on the portable or camp bed, as used by soldiers during a campaign, and the literal sense 'bed on the ground'. No doubt Mercutio's jest lies in pretending he sleeps on a truckle-bed; the subsidiary puns and associations develop this; he imagines Romeo to be still listening, so the talk of beds has added point. Brooke, 11. 897-8, has: 'she shewd a fieldbed ready dight / Where you may, if you list, in armes, revenge yourself by fight'. The motif of love as war recurs, immediately before we hear Romeo and Juliet declare the perfect harmony of their feelings for each other.
127
sc. n] romeo and juliet
[Scene II]
[Romeo comes forward.] Romeo. He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
[Enter Juliet above.]
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks ? It is the east and Juliet is the sun! Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon Who is already sick and pale with grief 5 That thou her maid art far more fair than she. Be not her maid since she is envious, Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off. It is my lady, O it is my love!
0 that she knew she were! She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that? Her eye discourses, I will answer it.
1 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
Scene n
Scene n] Hanmer; not in Q2~4JF,Qt. Location.] Capulet's Garden. Theobald. S.D.] Spencer; not in Q2~4,F,Qi. 1. S.D.] Capell; not in Q2~4,F,Qi. 6. art] Q',3,F,Qi; at Q4. 8. sick] Q2~4,F; pale Qi, Singer3. 16. do] Qi,Q3^,F; to Q2.
io
!5
Scene it
S.D.] Romeo has not left the stage; he emerges from behind whatever concealment he has found, or takes the centre of the stage. It is traditional, and hence convenient for reference, to mark a new scene here, but the opening line rhymes with Benvolio's last line, revealing the actual continuity.
1. felt a wound] An ironic anticipation of later events which almost imperceptibly adds to the cumulative sense of fatefulness in the action.
S.D.] According to Q.i Juliet appears at a window in the tiring-house facade, not at a balcony.
2-3. But. .. sun] Cf. Marlowe, The
Jew of Malta, n, i. 680-1: 'But stay, what starre shines yonder in the East? / The Loadstarre of my life, if Abigail'.
8. vestal] virginally chaste and pure (originally, resembling a priestess at the Temple of Vesta in Rome); cf. Locrine (1595), v. iv. 54: 'the girle is wise, and well would seeme to make a vestall Nunne'.
sick and green] To prefer Q_i's pale to Q,2's sick is to obscure the reference to 'green-sickness', a disease incident to maids; cf. m. v. 156.
9. none but fools] White and green had been the royal livery in Henry VIII's reign; but the emphasis here is on motley: the court jester's coat of motley would include green.
128
romeo and juliet
[act n
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head ?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp. Her eyes in heaven 20
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See how she leans her cheek upon her hand.
O that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek. Juliet. Ay me.
Romeo. She speaks. 25
O speak again bright angel, for thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him 30
When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air. Juliet. O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo ?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
20. eyes] Qi, Pope; eye Qa~4,F. 23. how] Qs~4,F; now Qi. 31. lazy-puffing] Qz-4,F; lasie pacing Qi, Pope; lazy-passing Ulrici, conj. Collier.
17. spheres] Alluding to the concentric spheres of the Ptolemaic system, in which the planets were supposed to move, with the earth as centre.
28. winged messenger] angel.
29. white-upturned] turned up so far that the whites show clearly.
31. lazy-puffing] Defending Q.2, White observes 'the lazy-puffing clouds are the slow-moving cumuli that puff themselves out into swelling breasts of rosje-tinted white' but he notes the attraction of pacing in connection with bestrides and its anticipation of Mac., 1. vii. 21-3: 'pity like a naked new-born babe, / Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin hors'd / Upon the sightless couriers of the air'. One argument for passing is that the ssi and ffi ligatures are very similar and easily confused, lying in adjacent
sections of the compositor's box; a concurrent minim misreading of a for u must also be supposed. Qi's pacing may be a homophonic substitution for passing; but lazy-pacing or lazy-passing are much easier readings than lazy-puffing. On literary grounds any one of the three alternatives would be acceptable, since they are all successively produced in the quick forge and working house of thought: the messenger bestrides the clouds as he would a horse passing/pacing lazily; the puffed-out clouds suggest bosom, or the winged heads drawn in old maps puffing out the wind; puffed-out clouds are also like a ship's billowing sails, carrying the messenger on the bosom, not of the deep, but of the air. Since Q.2's more authoritative puffing is more conceitful, and on the principle of praestat diffi.-cilior lectio, I prefer it.
sc. n]
romeo and juliet
129
35
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I'll no longer be a Gapulet. Romeo. Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this ? Juliet. 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy:
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague ? It is nor hand nor foot 40
Nor arm nor face nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O be some other name.
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, 45
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for thy name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.
40-2. What's Montague .. . other name.] As Malone; Whats Mountague? it is nor hand nor foote, / nor arme nor face, 6 be some other name / Belonging to a man. Qs~4,F; Whats Mountague? It is nor hand nor foote, / Nor arme, nor face, nor any other part. Qi; O be some other name! What's Montague? / It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, / Nor any part belonging to a man. NCS. 41. nor any other part] Qi, Malone; not in Qx~4rF. 42.] So Malone; d be some other name / Belonging to a man. Qs-4,F; not in Qi. 43. What's in a name] Qs-4,Qr; What? in a names F.      44. word] Qs-4^; name Qi, Pope.
39. though . .. Montague] even if you name", "belonging to a man") . . . take some other name than Montague.
40-2. What's . . . name] Malone takes the phrase nor any other part from Q_i and inserts it in 1. 41, rearranging the subsequent phrases from Q2 so that O be some other name follows, rather than precedes, Belonging to a man. The presumption is that Shakespeare, revising the lines, accidentally marked the phrase nor any other part for deletion, or was so understood by the compositor. Malone's version involves the least violence to the text and includes all the material from Q,i and Q,2, and makes good sense; Q2 as it stands does not. NCS prints Alice Walker's arrangement which supposes that a corrected copy of Qi was used by the copyist/compositor here: 'The collator copied into the margin the three additions from the foul papers ("Thou art thyself, though not a Montague", "O, be some other
but did so in such a manner that the compositor took the shorter ones to be continuous and inserted them at the wrong point, though in the right order, not topsy-turvy as Malone supposed' ('The New Way', p. 91).
43. rose] The implicit comparison of Romeo to a rose is developed in the ambiguous syntax of 1. 45's So Romeo would following 1. 44's smell as sweet.
44. word] The passage is strewn with exchanges between name and word, down to 1. 58, which supports the view that Shakespeare calls a name, as a thing apart from a person, a word; cf. TwM., m. i. 16-24, where Feste asserts 'her name's a word'. Q2 makes sense and should stand, despite the irrational pressure of proverbial familiarity attaching to name as the choice in many earlier editions.
46. owes] owns.
130
romeo and juliet
[ACT n
Romeo, I take thee at thy word.
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptis'd: 50
Henceforth I never will be Romeo. Juliet. What man art thou that thus bescreen'd in night
So stumblest on my counsel ? Romeo. By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am:
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself 55
Because it is an enemy to thee.
Had I it written, I would tear the word. Juliet. My ears have yet not drunk a hundred words
Of thy tongue's uttering, yet I know the sound.
Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague ? 60 Romeo. Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike. Juliet. How cam'st thou hither, tell me, and wherefore ?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here. 65 Romeo. With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls,
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do, that dares love attempt:
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me. Juliet. If they do see thee, they will murder thee. 70 Romeo. Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet
And I am proof against their enmity. Juliet. I would not for the world they saw thee here. Romeo. I have night's cloak to hide me from their eyes, 75
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.
59. thy tongue's uttering] Qs~4,F; that tongues utterance Qi. 61. maid ... dislike] Qs~4,F; Saint . . . displease Qi. 62. cam'st] Qi,F; earnest Qs-4. 65. kinsmen] Qi,Q3,4,F; kismen Qg.
53. counsel] private talk. Night  the sober-suited matron is
66. o'erperch] fly over; cf. Brooke, II. asked to use her black mantle, and 829-30. Brooke, 1. 457; Daniel, Rosamond, 11.
67. stony limits] Unconsciously anti- 432-4.
cipating the tomb. 78. prorogued] postponed, deferred.
75. night's cloak] Cf. m. ii. 15, where
SC. Ii]
ROMEO AND JULIET
!3I
Juliet. By whose direction found'st thou out this place ?
Romeo. By love, that first did prompt me to enquire. 80 He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes. I am no pilot, yet wert thou as far As that vast shore wash'd with the farthest sea, I should adventure for such merchandise. *
Juliet. Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face, 85 Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek For that which thou hast heard me speak tonight. Fain would I dwell on form; fain, fain deny What I have spoke. But farewell, compliment. Dost thou love me ? I know thou wilt say 'Ay', 90 And I will take thy word. Yet, if thou swear'st, Thou mayst prove false. At lovers' perjuries, They say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo, If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully. Or, if thou think'st I am too quickly won, 95 I'll 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'll prove more true 100 Than those that have more cunning to be strange.
83. wash'd] Qi,Q4; washeth Qs; washet Qj,F. 89. compliment] Q2-4JF; complements Qr. 90. love me? I] Qs-4; Love? I F; love me? Nay I Qi. 93. laughs] Q2-4; laught F; smiles Qi. 99. haviour] Qi; behaviour Q2~4Jf. 101. more cunning] Qi; coying Qe,3^F; more coving Q4; more coyning F2; the coyning Williams.
82-4. pilot . . . merchandise] The appears in OED (v3c and v4) in the
image of Romeo as a merchant ven- sense to entice, to affect shyness
turer relates to the tragic motif of (associated with decoy). NCS prints
voyaging in the play (cf. 1. iv. 112, v. Qi on the assumption that coying is 'a
iii. 117-18); cf. Brooke, 11. 1361-78 or misreading of "conyng" badly writ-
799-808. ten';   Sisson  supposes Shakespeare
89. compliment] conventional rules of wrote coning which was misread as
polite speech; modest formality. coiing, hence coying. Williams, sup-
92-3. At . . . laughs] Cf. Ovid, Ars posing that the compositor missed the
Amatoria, 1. 633 (Hudson). manuscript tilde here as he does
98. fond] loving. elsewhere, proposes coyning, with the
101. more cunning] The line in Q2 is sense of'having ability to counterfeit', metrically deficient, and most editors The intransitive use of the verb, ex-adopt Qi which is regular and makes tremely unusual, does not elsewhere sense; Juliet is distinguishing between appear in Shakespeare. Spencer coin-real and pretended modesty. Coy pares Tp., m. i. 81: Miranda, de-
132
romeo and juliet
[act ii
I should have been more strange, I must confess,
But that thou overheard'st, ere I was ware,
My true-love passion; therefore pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love 105
Which the dark night hath so discovered.
Romeo. Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow,
That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops—
Juliet. O swear not by the moon, th'inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb, 110
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
Romeo. What shall I swear by ?
Juliet. Do not swear at all.
Or if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, Which is the god of my idolatry, And I'll believe thee.
Romeo. If my heart's dear love— 115
Juliet. Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract tonight: It is too rash, too unadvis'd, too sudden, Too like the Ughtning, which doth cease to be Ere one can say 'It lightens'. Sweet, good night.       120 This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. Good night, good night. As sweet repose and rest Come to thy heart as that within my breast.
Romeo. O wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied? 125
Juliet. What satisfaction canst thou have tonight ?
Romeo. Th'exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.
Juliet. I gave thee mine before thou didst request it, And yet I would it were to give again.
Romeo. Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?
Juliet. But to be frank and give it thee again; 131 And yet I wish but for the thing I have.
104. true-love] Q2-4; true loves F,Qi. 107. blessed] Qs-4,Qi; not in F. vow] Qz-4,F; swear Qr.      no. circled] Qi,Q3,4>F; circle Qs.
daring herself to Ferdinand, says 'Hence, bashful cunning'. The argument of Sisson, the analogy with Tp. and the rarity of the intransitive form of cqyning make cunning preferable.
102. strange] reserved, distant.
118-20. rash... lightens] Cf. Brooke, 11. 209-10, and MND, i. i. 145-9.
131. frank] (i) generous, cf. Lr, m. iv. 20; (ii) candidly open.
SC. n]
romeo and juliet
133
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep: the more I give to thee
The more I have, for both are infinite. 135
I hear some noise within. Dear love, adieu.
[Nurse calls within.] Anon, good Nurse—Sweet Montague be true. Stay but a little, I will come again. [Exit Juliet.]
Romeo. O blessed blessed night. I am afeard,
Being in night, all this is but a dream, 140
Too flattering sweet to be substantial.
[Enter Juliet above.]
Juliet. Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed. If that thy bent of love be honourable, Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow By one that I'll procure to come to thee, 145 Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite, And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay, And follow thee my lord throughout the world.
Nurse. [Within.] Madam.
Juliet. I come, anon—But if thou meanest not well 150
I do beseech thee— Nurse. [Within.] Madam. Juliet. By and by I come—
To cease thy strife and leave me to my grief.
136. S.O.] Rowe; Cats within. F; not in Qz-4,Qi. 138. S.D.] Rome; not in Q2-4f,Qi. 141. S.D.] Rowe (subst.); Enter. Fs; not in Qs-4,F,Qi. 146. rite] Q2,3,F,Qt (right); rights Q4.      148. lord] F,Qi; L. Q.2,3; Loue Q4. 149,
151. Nurse. [Within.]] Capell; Within: F; Madam. Q2-4 in margin; not in Qi.
152. strife] Qi,3^; sute Q4; not in Qr.
133-4. bounty___deep] Cf. AYL, rv.
i. 185-7: 'that thou didst know how many fathom deep I am in love! But it cannot be sounded; my affection hath an unknown bottom, like the Bay of Portugal.'
141. substantial] real not imaginary. The fear that it is all a dream suggests a link with MND while continuing the motif shared by these two lovers.
149, 151. Madam.] The repeated interruptions by the Nurse, here, are parallel to the pattern in in. iii,
where she knocks repeatedly for entry, in m. v, where she warns that Lady Capulet approaches, and iv. v, where she enters to try to wake, with repeated efforts, the seemingly dead Juliet. It is a kind of miniature conceit for the tragic action as a whole.
152. strife] striving, effort (of loving persuasion); cf. All's W., v. iii. Epilogue, 1. 4: 'With strife to please you'. NCS prefers 0.4's suit on the grounds that this is the word at this point in Brooke.
134 romeo and juliet [act h
Tomorrow will I send. Romeo. So thrive my soul—
Juliet. A thousand times good night. [Exit Juliet.]
Romeo. A thousand times the worse, to want thy light. 155 Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books, But love from love, toward school with heavy looks.
Enter Juliet [above] again.
Juliet. Hist! Romeo, hist! O for a falconer's voice
To lure this tassel-gentle back again.
Bondage is hoarse and may not speak aloud, 160
Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies
And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine
With repetition of my Romeo's name. Romeo. It is my soul that calls upon my name.
How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,      165
Like softest music to attending ears. Juliet. Romeo. Romeo. My nyas.
Juliet. What o'clock tomorrow
154. S.D.] F (Exit); not in Qs~4,Qi. 155. light] Qi,3,F; sight Q4; not in Qi. 157. toward] Qs-4,Qi; towards F. S.D.] Malone (subst.); Enter Juliet againe. Qz-4,F; not in Qi. 160. not] Qs,3f,Qi; not in Q4. 162-3. than mine / With] Q4; then / With Qe,3,F; as mine, / With Qi. 163. Romeo's name] Qi; Romeo Qs-4,F. 164. Romeo. It] Qs~4f (subst.); Romeo? / Ro. It Qi. soul] Qs,3,F,Qi; love Q4. 167. My nyas] NCS (My niess),- My Neece
Q*,3,F; My Deere Q4; Madame Qi.     What] Qs~4,F; At what Qi.
sc. Ii]
romeo and juliet
159. tassel-gentle] a male peregrine falcon; gentle because nobler than the goshawk. Cf. The Book of Hawking (i486): 'Ther is a Fawken gen till, and a Tercell gen till, and theys be for a prynce'. The bird could be lured back to the falconer after a hunting flight by a special call. NCS thinks hist is Juliet's soft call, as recommended e.g. in Simon Latham, Second Book of Faulcomy (1658), ch. xii, pp. 39-40, for its usefulness in teaching the hawk to keep close at hand and enabling one to go fowling secretly. Secrecy, they observe, is Juliet's need. The call could be a whistle, or chir-
rup; cf. Gervase Markham, Country Contentments (1675), i, ch. v, p. 30.
160. Bondage is hoarse] My being under my father's strict control stops me speaking loudly.
161. cave . . . lies] Cf. Golding's Ovid, m, for the story of Echo who, scorned by Narcissus, became reduced by grief to nothing but a voice and dwelt in lonely caves.
162-3.] The last word of each line is missing in Q2; Qi seems clearly right.
167. nyas] Dover Wilson's emendation seems clearly right: Q,2's Neece is a natural misinterpretation o£messe or
Shall I send to thee ? Romeo. By the hour of nine.
Juliet. I will not fail. 'Tis twenty year till then.
I have forgot why I did call thee back. Romeo. Let me stand here till thou remember it. Juliet. I shall forget, to have thee still stand there,
Remembering how I love thy company. Romeo. And I'll still stay to have thee still forget,
Forgetting any other home but this. Juliet. 'Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone,
And yet no farther than a wanton's bird,
That lets it hop a little from his hand
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silken thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty. Romeo. I would I were thy bird. Juliet. Sweet, so would I:
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
169. year] Qs (yeare); years Qs^F.Qi. 172- forget, to] Q3AF; forget to Qs,Qi. 177. farther] Q3-4; further F,Qi. 178. his] Qs-4>F; her Qi. 179. Like a] Qs,3,F,Qi; Like Q4.      180. silken] Qa~4,F; silke Qi, Pope.
135
170
180
nyas, which Jonson spells niaise in The Devil is an Ass, 1. vi. 18, and annotates marginally as 'a young Hawke tane crying out of the nest'. Dover Wilson says the term is apt 'both to young Juliet calling from her bedroom window; and as Romeo's reply to "falcon-gentle". But unlike a "tassel-gende" which, being wild-caught, had learnt to fly, a "niess" has never flown; and the falconer has only to climb to the aerie and [it] will be his.'
172. still] 'yet' and 'motionless'.
177-81. farther . . . liberty] Capell prefers Q,i, and many editors follow; but wanton can mean 'playful', 'capricious', and Shakespeare uses it of adults and children; wanton applies to boys as well as girls, and there is a
famous Bronzino in the Uffizi, 'Don Garzia de Medici', a portrait of a chubby smiling boy with a small bird proudly and possessively held in his hand. Juliet seems to visualize a young boy, Cupid-like, at play (the Cupid idea only half conscious). Cf. Tp., rv. i. 100-1: (Cupid swears) 'he will shoot no more, but play with sparrows, / And be a boy right out'. Here the ideas of caprice and childhood are combined with love. It is clear that wanton meaning 'courtesan' has the wrong tone here. The suggestion of Cupid is frequent in this part of the play (cf. n. i. 13 above and n.).
179. gyves] fetters.
181. his] Neuter form (see Abbott § 228).
136 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT n
Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow That I shall say good night till it be morrow. 185
[Exit Juliet.]
Romeo. Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast. Would I were sleep and peace so sweet to rest. The grey-ey'd morn smiles on the frowning night, Chequering the eastern clouds with streaks of light; And darkness fleckled like a drunkard reels 190
185. S.D.] Pope; not in Qg-4,F,Qr; after I. t86Fs.
184-7. Good ... sorrow / That... morrow. / Romeo. Sleep ... breast. / Would
... rest.] Qi {subst.); Good ... night. / Parting___sorrow, / That... morrow. /
Romeo. Sleep . . . bryst. / Would . . . rest. Q4; Good . . . night. / Parting . . . sorrow, / That. . . morrow. / Iu. Sleep . . . breast. / Ro. Would . . . rest. Qg; Good . . . night. / Ro. Parting . . . sorrow, / That . . . morrow. / Iu. Sleepe . . . breast. / Rom. Would . . . rest. Q3J?. 188-91.] As Qe,3,F; not in Q4,Qi, Pope, Camb., JSCS, Riv.      190. fleckled] Q3,F; fleckted Qs.
184-7. The printing of these lines, and of 11. 188-91, bears evident testimony to confusion in the manuscript; (i) Q.2 divides the couplet 11. 186-7 between Romeo and Juliet, though it is evidently in answer to the couplet of the preceding 11. 184-5, (") Q.2 gives two successive speech prefixes to Juliet (182b and 186), and (iii) the single 1. 184 is divided into two lines in Q,2. NCS is surely right in arguing 'each lover has a farewell couplet in parting, while lines 186-7 clearly belong to the same speaker' and so is Williams when he says 'the speaker who wishes to say goodnight till it be morrow is surely the speaker who has already said it many times in this scene ... and not the speaker who has never said it and has no desire to say it or to leave the scene'. Hosley argues ('The Good Night Good Night Sequence', St}, v, Jan. 1954, pp. 96-8) that the couplet at 11. 186-7 * Juliet's, and the compositor printed the speech prefix Ro. one line too high; and that I. 184 is divided in Q2 because Juliet speaks the first half line and Romeo the second {Parting . . . sorrow). As to (iii) the compositor's division need not imply two speakers of the single line.
188-91. The grey-eyed . . . wheels] These four lines (Version a) are repeated, with minor alterations, as the first lines of the next scene in Q_2 (Version b). In Qi they appear only once, at the beginning of the next scene, and combine elements from both versions, a is close to Golding's Ovid n. 172-5) which suggests the superiority of a. I further suppose that b, in Os and Qi ascribed to the Friar, was marked in the manuscript for deletion and mistakenly printed; so I omit it. The analogy with in. v is a strong argument for giving the lines to Romeo; Shakespeare wishes to emphasize the separation which dawn brings to the lovers who meet at night; he wishes also to effect a transition of mood rather than the inevitably abrupt jolt which the unprepared spectator receives in the Qi version. For a comparable instance, cf. Ham., 1. i. 165-7. Though they are not among Romeo's finest, the lines are characteristic of Romeo rather than the uninventive personifications of the Friar. The lines are half-recalled by Ado, v. iii. 25-7; and cf. Chaucer, Knight's Tale, II. 1491-1496.
190. fleckled] a misreading in Q2.
sc. m]
ROMEO AND JULIET
From forth day's pathway, made by Titan's wheels. Hence will I to my ghostly Sire's close cell, His help to crave and my dear hap to tell.
J37
Exit.
[SCENE III]
Enter Friar [Laurence] alone with a basket.
Friar L. Now, ere the sun advance his burning eye The day to cheer, and night's dank dew to dry, I must upfill this osier cage of ours With baleful weeds and precious-juiced flowers. The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb: 5 What is her burying grave, that is her womb; And from her womb children of divers kind We sucking on her natural bosom find. Many for many virtues excellent,
None but for some, and yet all different. 1 o
O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies
192. Sire's] NCS, conj. Delius; Friers Qg-4; Fries F; fathers Qi.
Scene m
Scene m] Hanmer; notinQs-4,F,Qi. Location.] A Monastery. Rowe; Fields near a Convent. Capell; Friar Laurence's cell. Malone. S.D.] Qa-4^; Enter Frier Francis. Qi. 1. Friar L. Now] Fa, Rowe1; Fri. The grey-eyed morne smiles on the frowning night, / Checkring the Easterne clowdes with streaks of light: / And fleckeld darknesse like a drunkard reeles, / From forth daies path, and Titans burning wheeles: / Now Qs-4^i,Qi {subst.).     5. is] Q2,3,F; in Q4; not in Qi.
192. ghostly Sore's] father confessor, spiritual guide. Delius's conjecture {Sire's) has support from Brooke, 1. 559: 'He is my gostly syre'; NCS thinks O2 'absurd', tautological, and possibly reporter's anticipation of n. iii. 41 {ghostly father). Some editors adopt Q.i, but this may well be reporter's anticipation of n. iii. 41 or accidental substitution.
193. hap] fortune.
Scene in
S.D. Enter Friar Laurence] The Friar is a Franciscan; his medical interests prepare us for his subsequent
offer of the potion which Juliet drinks, and relate him to an important series of roles in Shakespeare, beginning with Dr Pinch and ending with Prospero.
i. advance] show forth.
5. earth . . . tomb] Proverbial; cf. Tilley E 32; but Steevens also compares Lucretius, v. 259, 'Omniparens eadem rerum commune sepulcrum'.
g. virtues] strengthening or healing properties in plants, waters, etc.; cf. Ham., rv. vii. 141-6.
ii. mickle] great. The passage recalls Brooke, 11. 2109-11.
powerful grace] efficacious virtue (Dr Johnson).
138 romeo and juliet [act ii
In plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities.
For naught so vile that on the earth doth live
But to the earth some special good doth give;
Nor aught so good but, strain'd from that fair use,      15
Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse.
Virtue itself turns vice being misapplied,
And vice sometime's by action dignified.
Enter Romeo.
Within the infant rind of this weak flower
Poison hath residence, and medicine power: 20
For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part;
Being tasted, stays all senses with the heart.
Two such opposed kings encamp them still
In man as well as herbs: grace and rude will;
And where the worser is predominant 25
Full soon the canker death eats up that plant.
Romeo. Good morrow, father.
Friar 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. 30 Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye,
18. sometime's] Qi, Capell; sometime Qe~4,F. Qi.  senses] Qs,4,F,Qi; sence Q3.
82. stays] Qz; slayes Q3,4^,
15. strain'd] perverted.
18. And vice . . . dignified] A faulty characteristic may under certain circumstances acquire worth through a good action.
18. S.D.] Sampson notes Shakespeare's art in 'making the victim of poison enter when poison is the subject of discourse'. Pope and some later editors place the S.D. at 1. 26.
20. Poison . . . power] Poison has residence and healing has power.
21. with that part] with that quality, its odour.
22. stays] Mommsen defends Q_2 against the slays of Q,l because ' "To bring the heart to a stand-still, and with it all the senses", is certainly a
better expression than "to slay the heart and all the senses" '; stay in the sense of 'to be arrested, stop, or cease' of 'an action, activity, or process' is appropriate, and instances of the word in this sense are recorded in OED for this period; also cf. the modern phrase 'cardiac arrest'. Foul case or misreading of manuscript is possible: Williams instances iv. i. 72 slayjstay; but Q2 makes good sense.
24. rude will] fleshly desire.
26. canker] caterpillar; cf. Gent. 1. i. 45-6.
29. distemper'd] disturbed, supposedly by some imbalance of bodily humours.
sc. m]
romeo and juliet
And where care lodges sleep will never lie,
But where unbruised youth with unstuff'd brain
Doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign.
Therefore thy earliness doth me assure 35
Thou art uprous'd with some distemperature;
Or, if not so, then here I hit it right:
Our Romeo hath not been in bed tonight.
Romeo. That last is true. The sweeter rest was mine.
Friar L. God pardon sin. Wast thou with Rosaline? 40
Romeo. With Rosaline! My ghostly father, no.
I have forgot that name, and that name's woe.
Friar L. That's my good son. But where hast thou been then?
Romeo. I'll tell thee ere thou ask it me again.
I have been feasting with mine enemy, 45
Where on a sudden one hath wounded me
That's by me wounded. Both our remedies
Within thy help and holy physic lies.
I bear no hatred, blessed man, for lo,
My intercession likewise steads my foe. 50
Friar L. Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift; Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift.
Romeo. 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, 55 And all combin'd save what thou must combine By holy marriage. When, and where, and how We met, we woo'd, and made exchange of vow I'll tell thee as we pass; but this I pray, That thou consent to marry us today. 60
32. lodges] Qz~4,F; Iodgeth Qi.      51. and] Qs~4,Qi; rest F.
33. unbruised . . . brain] youth undamaged by the world, with a brain not yet clogged with troTibles.
34. golden sleep] Shakespeare frequently calls sleep golden; cf. R3, rv. i. 84.
36. distemperature] mental disturbance.
48. holy physic] healing power as a priest—with the sacrament of marriage.
50. steads my foe] benefits my foe (i.e. Juliet).
51. homely] synonymous with plain.
52. shrift] absolution. Romeo can expect clear advice only if he clearly explains.
56. all combin'd] everything harmoniously united.
140
romeo and juliet
[act n
Friar L. Holy Saint Francis! What a change is here! Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear, So soon forsaken ? Young men's love then lies Not truly in their hearts but in their eyes. Jesu Maria! What a deal of brine Hath wash'd thy sallow cheeks for Rosaline. How much salt water thrown away in waste To season love, that of it doth not taste. The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears, Thy old groans yet ring in mine ancient ears. Lo here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit Of an old tear that is not wash'd off yet. If ere thou wast thyself, and these woes thine, Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline. And art thou chang'd ? Pronounce this sentence then:
65
70
76
80
Women may fall when there's no strength in men Romeo. Thou chid'st me oft for loving Rosaline. Friar L. For doting, not for loving, pupil mine. Romeo. And bad'st me bury love. Friar L. Not in a grave
To lay one in, another out to have. Romeo. I pray thee chide me not, her I love now Doth grace for grace and love for love allow. The other did not so. Friar L. O, she knew well
Thy love did read by rote that could not spell. But come young waverer, come, go with me, In one respect I'll thy assistant be. For this alliance may so happy prove
70. yet ring] Q4; yet ringing Qs,3,F; ring yet Qi. mine] Qs; my 0.3,4^,0.1 84. not] Q2,3J?,Qi; no Q4.     85. go] Qs,3f,Qi; and goe Q4.
63-4. roung. . . eyes] Cf. MND, 1. i. 234-5, f°r the opposite sentiment. 68. season] preserve (as in pickle);
85
with a play on the sense 'to flavour'. Cf. All's W., 1. i. 41-3.
69. The sun ... clears] Cf. Tit., m. i. 212-14.
75. sentence] maxim.
78. doting . . . loving] Cf. Lyly, Endimion, m. iv. 62: 'You doted then, not loued'.
84. love... spell] you knew no more about love than a child who can recite words learned by heart without being able to read them with understanding.
86. In one respect] In consideration of one thing.
87-8. For . . . love] Cf. Brooke, 11. 427-«.
sc. iv] romeo and juliet 141
To turn your households' rancour to pure love. Romeo. O let us hence: I stand on sudden haste. Friar L. Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast. 90
Exeunt.
[SCENE IV] Enter Benvolio and Mercutio.
Mer. Where the devil should this Romeo be? Came he
not home tonight ? Ben. Not to his father's; I spoke with his man. Mer. Why, that same pale hard-hearted wench, that
Rosaline, torments him so that he will sure run mad. 5 Ben. Tybalt, the kinsman to old Capulet, hath sent a
letter to his father's house. Mer. A challenge, on my life. Ben. Romeo will answer it.
Mer. Any man that can write may answer a 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, run through the ear with a love song, the very pin of his heart cleft with the 15 blind bow-boy's butt-shaft. And is he a man to encounter Tybalt?
88. households] Qs-4,Qi; houshould F.
Scene rv
Scene iv] Hanmer; not in Qg-4,F,Qi. Location.] A Street. Capell. 1. devil] Qg-4,F (deule); not in Qi. 4-5.] As prose F; as verse Qg-4,Qi. 6-7.] As prose Qs~4,F; as verse Qi.      14. run] Qs~4,F; shot Qi.
90. Wisely and slow] Proverbial: an idea the Friar repeats in different guises; cf. n. vi. 9-10, in. iii. 129-33.
Scene rv
9. answer it] accept the challenge. Mercutio quibblingly pretends to misunderstand Benvolio.
15. pin] At the centre of an archery target was a small white circle, and in the centre of that a wooden peg, the pin; cf. LLL, rv. i. 129.
16. blind bow-boy's] Cupid's; in Tancred and Osmund Cupid begins the play with an angry speech against those who 'scorne and scoffe, and shame vs euerie houre, / A brat, a bastard, and an idle boy, / A rod, a staffe, a whip to beate him out, / And to be sicke of loue, a childish toy' (1. i. 59-62). Cf. Intro., p. 59, n. 1.
butt-shaft] The heavy arrow used in butt shooting. Butt shooting was for more accuracy than clout shooting
20
t42 romeo and juliet [act h
Ben. Why, what is Tybalt?
Mer. More than Prince of Cats. O, he's the courageous captain of compliments: he fights as you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance and proportion. He rests his minim rests, one, two, and the third in your bosom: the very butcher of a silk button—a duellist, a duellist, a gentleman of the very first
18. Ben.] Qi,F; Rom. (subst.) Qg-4. 19. Cats] Q2-4JF; cattes, I can td you Qi. 82. his minim rests] Q2-4 (subst.); me his iriinim rest Qi; his minum F.
and consequently at a shorter distance (100-140 yards against 160-240 yards).
19. Prince of Cats] Cf. Nashe, Have With r<m, Works, m, p. 51: 'Tibault ... Prince of Cattes'. Warburton notes that Tybert is the name of the prince of cats in Reynard the Fox. In the Italian sources Tybalt's name is Tebaldo.
20. captain of compliments] In duelling, 'a complete master of all the laws of ceremony' (Dr Johnson). Horace S. Craig (Univ. California Pub. in Eng., xi. i. 12) thinks this is an allusion to a method of the Spanish School for forming a complementary angle with one's own rapier to the angle of the opponent's, thus gaining advantage.
20-1. pricksong] printed music, sung carefully with attention to accuracy, in contrast to singing from memory or by ear, with more natural ease but less precision; pricksong also meant descant or counterpoint accompanying a simple melody (OED sv 2). Mercutio is punning on prick = stab, and prick-shafts, the arrows used in prick shooting.
21. proportjpn] rhythm; possibly with a quibble on the term referring to the ratios and angles between the lines and arcs formed by opposing fencers' motions and by their rapiers; see the illustration from Thibault's manual of 1628 reproduced in Shakespeare's England, n, p. 398.
22. minim rests] briefest possible rests; a minim was the basic short
note-value in Tudor music, and it also means a note half the value of a semi-breve. Mercutio continues the musical conceit, possibly not very accurately. The whole phrase means 'he will make two feints, with the briefest possible pause between each, and then he will strike' (NCS), and emphasizes the fencer's rhythmic timing.
23. butcher . .. button] Tybalt is ridiculed by the bathos of the phrase, which hints at effeteness. There is an allusion to an episode in the career of an Italian fencing master, Rocco Bonetti, who had a fencing school in Blackfriars and who was challenged by an Englishman, Austen Baggar, as 'thou that takest upon thee to hit anie Englishman with a thrust upon anie button'. With sword and buckler Baggar struck up Bonetti's heels, cut him over the breech, and trod upon him. See Shakespeare's England, 11, p. 396. Cf. Lyly, Sapho and Phao, n. iii. 9-13: 'beware of valour! hee that. .. can hit a button with a thrust, and will into the field man to man ... is a shrewd fellow, and shall be well followed'.
24-5. gentleman... house] of the first rank: with a subsidiary quibble on house as a modish name for a fencing school: Bonetti called his a college, as he thought it a disgrace to keep a fencing school. Mercutio mocks the fashionable foreign teachers, and may be implying also that Tybalt pretends to a higher social rank than he actually
sc. rv]
romeo and juliet
143 25
house, of the first and second cause. Ah, the immortal passado, the punto reverso, the hay! Ben. The what?
Mer. The pox of such antic lisping affecting phantasimes, these new tuners of accent. By Jesu, a very good blade, a very tall man, a very good whore! Why, is 30 not this a lamentable thing, grandsire, that we should be thus afflicted with these strange flies, these fashion-mongers, these 'pardon-me's', who
28. antic] Qs-4,F,Qi (antique). phantasimes] Williams, conj. Crow; phantacies Qs~4^> fantasticoes Qi. 29. accent] Qs~4,F; accents Qi. By Jesu] Q2-4, Qi; Jesu F. 33. pardon-me's] Qi,Q3,F (subst.); pardons mees Q2; pardona-mees Q4; perdona-mi's Camb.
holds: the only first house he belongs to being a fencing school.
25. fast . . . cause] Cf. LLL, 1. ii. 171-2, and The Book of Honour and Armes (1590) by ? Sir William Segar, who reduces the causes for taking up quarrels among gentlemen to two: the accusation of a crime punishable by death, and a question of honour. The allusion may be more generally to duelling punctilio in the manuals of Saviolo and Carranza which is mocked in ATL, v. iv. 65-97. Adolph Soens, SQ, xx (1969), 119-27, believes there is a specific allusion to the Spanish manuals, which proceed by identifying a thing by its cause when discussing fencing evolutions; however, it is not easy to pin Mercutio down to one meaning when he is in a quibbling mood, as here.
25-6. immortal passado] Cf. LLL, 1. ii. 172-3. Punning on immortal (i) famous, and (ii) fatal; Bobadil calls the passado 'a most desperate thrust' (Every Man In, 1. iii. 211). The passado (properly passada in Spanish, passata in Italian) was a forward thrust with the sword, one foot being advanced at the same time; in the Spanish system it was the main principle of the attack, three precisely measured foot movements being recommended: 'the pasada of twenty four inches, the Posada simple of about thirty inches,
and the pasada doble, formed of the first two, and performed by the two feet alternately' (Shakespeare's England, n, P- 398).
26. punto reverso] back-handed thrust. Cf. Saviolo's manual of 1595: 'in both these false thrusts, when he beateth them by with his rapier, you may with much sodainenesse make a passata with your left foote and your Dagger commanding his Rapier, you maie give him a punta either dritta or riversa' (K2).
hay] From Italian hai (= thou hast it), used when a thrust reaches the antagonist (Dr Johnson).
28. phantasimes] Crow's suggestion that the compositor failed to notice, or the writer failed to make clear, the tilde over i in manuscript phantacies, gains support from a similar omission in 1. 6 above (kinsman) and n. ii. 65. LLL, rv. i. 9a and v. i. 18, reads phan-tasime = one full of fancies (David).
29. tuners of accent] fellows who speak with new-fangled inflections of voice.
30. to//] valiant; cf. Tw.N., 1. iii. 18, where a similar response is given to the affected usage.
32. strange flies] parasites, gaudy ephemerae; cf. Hamlet of Osric, Ham., v. ii. 83.
33. 'pardon-me's'] Q.2's reading pardons could suggest to Q.4 a misreading of s for a which yields Stratford-atte-
144 romeo and juliet [act h
stand so much on the new form that they cannot
sit at ease on the old bench? O their bones, their 35
bones!
Enter Romeo.
Ben. Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo!
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, 40 was a kitchen wench—marry, she had a better love to berhyme her—Dido a dowdy, Cleopatra a gypsy, Helen and Hero hildings and harlots, Thisbe
41. was a] Qg-j,F; was but a Qi.
Bowe Italian. NCS despises translating 0,2: 'Shakespeare's fops are English'. Oa>s spelling may also yield phonetically pardonnee (et = s).
34. stand ... on] insist, with a quibble on the literal sense.
new form] Cf. LLL, 1. i. 201-6, quibbling on the senses fashion and bench; there is play on stand on.
35. sit... bench] NCS cites Sir John Harington, A Treatise of Playe (c. 1597), complaining that the wainscot stools and plank forms at Court are too hard now 'great breeches' are laid aside, and pleading for upholstered seats for lords and ladies at Court.
bones] Mercutio pronounces the French ban so as to bring out the pun on English bones (cf. LLL, v. i. 24-5). The fashionable courtiers are in ecstasies with every trifle, crying out good or well done incessantly; they have also the bone-ache, venereal disease: 'Neapolitan bone-ache' in Troil., n. iii. 16, 'malady of France' in H5, v. i. 76.
38. Without his roe] The name, reduced to meo or O me, becomes the cry of the lamenting lover. OED cites this passage in illustration of the sense of roe as the milt or sperm of male fish (sb 1 b); Mercutio still supposes Rosaline to be Romeo's beloved, so roe-(saline) is a further possible quibble. NCS suggests without his (roe) deer.
dried herring] In the process of curing (drying) the herring's roe may be removed.
3g. fishjfied] Quibbling on the senses 'turned into a herring', 'become obsessed with sex', 'gone pale and bloodless'; cf. i. i. 29-30.
40. numbers.. .flowed in] The verses so fluently composed by Petrarch in his sonnets to his chaste love Laura de Noves.
to] in comparison with.
42. Dido . . . dowdy] The Queen of Carthage and love of Aeneas in Virgil. Possibly there is some joke here like that in Tp., n. i. 71 ff., about 'widow Dido'.
43. gypsy] Cf. Ant., 1. i. 10, rv. xii. 28. Gypsies were supposed to be from Egypt and Cleopatra to be dark com-plexioned, though she was in fact of pure Macedonian blood; but Mercutio seems to be quibbling on the separate senses 'from Egypt' and 'low, sluttish woman' then in current use.
Helen and Hero] Helen's abduction by Paris was the cs.use of the Trojan war, sung by Homer in the Iliad; Hero of Sestos, celebrated in Marlowe's poem, was loved by Leander, who was drowned swimming the Hellespont.
hildings] good-for-nothings, virtually synonymous with harlots; a word
sc. rv]
romeo and juliet
a grey eye or so, but not to the purpose. Signor Romeo, bonjour. There's a French salutation to your French slop. You gave us the counterfeit fairly last night.
Romeo. Good morrow to you both. What counterfeit did I give you ?
Mer. The slip sir, the slip. Can you not conceive ? Romeo. Pardon, good Mercutio, my business was great,
and in such a case as mine a man may strain
courtesy.
Mer. That's as much as to say, such a case as yours
constrains a man to bow in the hams. Romeo. Meaning to curtsy. Mer. Thou hast most kindly hit it. Romeo. A most courteous exposition. Mer. Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy. Romeo. Pink for flower. Mer. Right.
Romeo. Why, then is my pump well flowered.
51. good] 0.2-4; not in F,Qi.
chosen partly for the comic assonance.
Thisbe] Beloved of Pyramus; their story (burlesqued by the Mechanicals in MND) is given in Golding's Ovid, iv; it is a tragic love story with affinities to Romeo and Juliet.
44. grey eye] Apparendy, as a sign of approval, applied to what are now called blue eyes; cf. m. v. 19-20, where the sunlit morning is called grey.
44. not to the purpose] not worth mentioning.
46. French slop] wide loose breeches; cf. Mer.V, n. ii. 66-7, where the baron of England is mocked for having bought his round hose in France.
counterfeit] Mercutio has to explain his pun, which turns upon slip, a term for a counterfeit coin; cf. Greene, A Disputation Betweene a Hee Conny-catcher and a Shee Conny-catcher (1592): 'Counterfeyt peeces of mony . . . which the common people call slips'. Cf. Troil., n. iii. 23-4.
50. conceive] understand.
45
50
55
60
52-3. strain courtesy] be unceremonious; cf. Lyly, Mother Bombie, m. iii. 34: 'I must straine cursie with you; I haue business, I cannot stay'.
55. bow . . . hams] The ham is the back of the thigh, bent in curtsying; but there is also the bawdy innuendo that Romeo's sexual exertions make him unable to stand up straight; the idea is repeated in the innuendo of I. 57, where hit it means 'got the joke' and 'attained the sexual target'; cf. LLL, rv. i. 111-33.
56. curtsy] pronounced like 'courtesy' and leading to the quibble on courteous.
57. kindly] Quibbling on the senses 'graciously* and 'naturally'.
59. pink] perfect example; quibbles develop on the senses 'flower', 'perforations decorating a leather shoe', 'rapier-thrust'.
62. pump] shoe; i.e. 'if pink means flower, then I may say that my pumps' are ornamented with flowers'.
146
romeo and juliet
[act n
Mer. Sure wit, follow me this jest now, till thou hast worn out thy pump, that when the single sole of it is worn, the jest may remain after the wearing solely 65 singular.
Romeo. O single-soled jest, solely singular for the singleness.
Mer. Come between us, good Benvolio, my wits faints. Romeo. Switch and spurs, switch and spurs, or I'll cry a 70 match!
Mer. Nay, if our wits run the wild-goose chase I am done. For thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits than I am sure I have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goose ? 75
Romeo. Thou wast never with me for anything, when thou wast not there for the goose.
Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jest.
Romeo. Nay, good goose, bite not.
63. Sure wit] Qa-4,F; Well said Qi. 65. solely] Qs~4,Qi (subst.); sole F. 69. wits faints] Qg-4,F; wits faile Qi; wits faint Q5; wit faints Fs. 72. our] Qs-4,F; thy Qi.      76. Thou wast] Qz-4,F; Thou wert Qi.
65-6. solely singular] The quibble is on singular meaning 'solitary' and also 'unique'; Mercutio's phrasing also anticipates the quibbling on single-soled in Romeo's reply
67. single-soled] poor, contemptible, thin; cf. Nashe, Have With Ton, Works, 1. 165, pp. 8-9: 'not in the pan tones of his prosperitie, as he was when he libeld against my Lord of Oxford, but in the single-soaled pumpes of his adversitie, with his gown cast off'.
68. singleness] silliness.
69. Come between us] Mercutio jestingly appeals for his second to intervene in the duel: a remarkable anticipation of the fatal event in the duel with Tybalt.
70. Switch and spurs] Urge your wits to full gallop.
70-1. cry a match] claim the victory. 72. wild-goose chase] a kind of horse race in which the leading rider chose
whatever course he liked and the rest were obliged to follow him (Holt White). Nicholas Cox in A Gentleman's Recreation (1674) says that this chase fell into disuse, being 'found by experience so inhumane and so destructive to Horses, especially when two good horses were matched'.
74-5. Was . . . goose] 'Did I keep even with you?' or perhaps 'Did I score a point by calling you goose?' (Kittredge).
77. goose] fool, nitwit.
78. bite . . . ear] Usually 'to caress fondly' (OED bite 16) deriving from the behaviour of one horse to another (Gifford).
79. good . . . not] Proverbial (Tilley G 349); used as a jocular cry for mercy from an unimpressive opponent (Kittredge); cf. Nashe, Strange Newes, Works, 1. 307, 1. 9: 'Good Beare, bite not'; McKerrow thinks it ironic in tone to soothe someone's anger.
sc. rv]
romeo and juliet
147 80
85
90
Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting, it is a most sharp sauce.
Romeo. And is it not then 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. Romeo. 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 Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature. For this drivelling love is like a great natural that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole.
Ben. Stop there, stop there.
Mer. Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair.
Ben. Thou wouldst else have made thy tale large.
Mer. O, thou art deceived; I would have made it short; for I was come to the whole depth of my tale and meant indeed to occupy the argument no longer.
Romeo. Here's goodly gear.
Enter Nurse and her man [Peter].
82. then well] Qs; well Q3^F,Qi. in to] Qs~4,Qi; iatoF. 98. for] Qg-4,Qt;orF. 100. S.D. Enter... man] Qg-4,0. i,•after 1.55 F. [Peter]] ed.; not in Qz-4^,Qi.
95
100
80. sweeting] a sweet apple; apple sauce is a traditional accompaniment to goose; Mercutio is of course talking about the sharpness of Romeo's wit in answering proverb with proverb.
83. cheveril] kid leather which stretches easily; cf. Tw.N., m. i. 11-12.
84. ell] forty-five inches. To paraphrase: 'you can make your little wit go a long way'.
85. broad] Quibbling on the senses 'wide', 'obvious' and 'indecent'.
91. natural] idiot, quibbling on nature.
92. lolling] i.e. with his tongue, or bauble, protrudingpendulously (hence 1. 91's drivelling).
92-3. hide . . . hole] The fool's
bauble was a stick fantastically carved at one end, or with an inflated bladder attached; there is also a bawdy connotation here, as in All's W., rv. v. 26-7.
95. tale . . . hair] Bawdy, quibbling on tale/tail (=penis), and the phrase 'against the hair' = against the grain.
96. large] Quibbling on the senses 'lengthy tale', 'large tail'.
98. whole ... tale] Bawdy quibbling on depth and tale.
99. occupy] Quibbling on the indecent Elizabethan usage; cf. 2H4,11. iv. 137-40.
too. goodly gear] Referring either to the jesting of Mercutio and Romeo ('this is good stuff') or to the appearance of the Nurse preceded by Peter
148
romeo and juliet
[act n
A sail! A sail! Mer. Two. Two. A shirt and a smock. Nurse. Peter. Peter. Anon.
Nurse. My fan, Peter. 105
Mer. Good Peter, to hide her face, for her fan's the fairer face.
Nurse. God ye good morrow, gentlemen.
Mer. God ye good e'en, fair gentlewoman.
Nurse. Is it good e'en ? no
Mer. 'Tis no less, I tell ye; for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon.
Nurse. Out upon you. What a man are you ?
Romeo. One, gentlewoman, that God hath made, himself to mar. 115
Nurse. By my troth it is well said; 'for himself to mar' quoth a? Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I may find the young Romeo ?
Romeo. I can tell you; but young Romeo will be older
when you have found him than he was when you 120 sought him. I am the youngest of that name, for fault of a worse.
101. A sail] Q2-4JF; Mer: A saile Qi.      102. Mer.] Ben: Qi.
106. Good] Qg~4,F; Preethee doo good Qi. 107. fairer face] Qs~4,F; fairer of the two Qi. iii. ye] Qs; you Q3,4,F,Qi. 114-15. himself] Q2-4J?; for himselfe Qi. 116. well said] Qs~4,Qi; said F. 118. the] Q2-4JF; not in Qi.
bearing the fan ('here's a subject for mockery'); spoken in a derisory tone.
100-1.] NCS follows F in placing the S.D. before 1. 100, supposing that goodly gear refers not to Mercutio's jests but the Nurse's 'voluminous garments and^ ship-like motion'. Some editors have preferred Qi here, which ascribes 1. 101 to Mercutio and 1. 102 to Benvolio. The placing of the S.D. on the same line as the dialogue of 1. 100 in Qs could, but need not necessarily, support the Qi assignment.
101. A sail! A sail!] A variant of the expression 'Sail ho!' used when a ship
is discerned. Evidently alluding to the Nurse's appearance.
102. shirt . . . smock] a man and a woman.
105.,/an] For the custom of carrying a fan cf. LLL, rv. i. 138.
112. prick of noon] i.e. the point of noon (and with a bawdy quibble). Cf. Lucr., 1. 781,3H6,1. iv. 34; the prick is the actual engraved mark on the dial.
113. What a man] What sort of man. 114-15. made . . . mar] Cf. 1. ii. 13.
God made man in his own image but man mars it.
122. fault.. . worse] Ironically altering the saying 'for want of a better';
sc,
rv]
romeo and juliet
Nurse. You say well.
Mer. Yea, is the worst well? Very well took i'faith.
Wisely, wisely. 125 Nurse. If you be he sir, I desire some confidence with you. Ben. She will endite him to some supper. Mer. A bawd! A bawd! A bawd! So ho. Romeo. What hast thou found ?
Mer. No hare, sir, unless a hare, sir, in a lenten pie, that 130 is something stale and hoar ere it be spent.
He walks by them and sings.
An old hare hoar,
And an old hare hoar,
Is very good meat in Lent.
But a hare that is hoar 135
Is too much for a score
When it hoars ere it be spent. Romeo, will you come to your father's? We'll to dinner thither.
Romeo. I will follow you. 140
126. If you] Q2,3f,Qi; If thou Q4. 127. endite] Q2-4JF; inuite Qi. some] Q2-4,F; not in Qi. 131. S.D.] Qi; not in Qs~4,F. 132-7.] As Capell; An . . . lent. / But. . . spent. Q2~4,F; And an . . . hore / is . . . Lent: / But. . . score, / if. . . spent. Qi.
the Nurse misses the jest and Mercutio mocks her for it.
126. confidence] Malapropism for 'conference'; cf. Ado, m. v. 2-3: 'I would have some confidence with you that decerns you nearly'.
127. endite] Jestingly Benvolio offers a malapropism for 'invite'; cf. 2H4, n. i. 28-9: 'he is indited to dinner to the Lubber's Head'.
128-9. So ho . . . found] Dowden cites Madden, Diary of Master William Silence, p. 173: '"As soon as he espieth her (the hare) he must cry So how." Thus writes the author of The Noble Arte [of Venerie] . . . And so when Mercutio cried So ho! Romeo... asks "what hast thou found".'
130. lenten pie] Properly, a pie with-
out meat to be eaten during Lent; but as NCS suggests, probably Mercutio means a hare pie eaten bit by bit surreptitiously during Lent and therefore mouldy before finished.
131. stale] Quibbling on the term for prostitute; cf. Err., n. i. 101.
hoar] Punning on 'whore'.
spent] used up. The quibbling sense is 'a woman who has worked so long as a whore that she is physically worn out and repellent before she finally ceases to be "used" in the trade*. This dialogue looks forward to that between Pistol and Doll in 2H4, n. iv.
132-7. An old. . . spent] An improvised song.
136. too much for a score] i.e. too mouldy to be worth paying for (NCS).
i50 romeo and juliet [act h
Mer. Farewell, ancient lady, farewell, lady, lady, lady.
Exeunt Mercutio and Benvolio. Nurse. I pray you, sir, what saucy merchant was this,
that was so full of his ropery ? Romeo. A gentleman, Nurse, that loves to hear himself
talk, and will speak more in a minute than he will 145
stand to in a month. Nurse. And a speak anything against me I'll take him
down, and a were lustier than he is, and twenty such
jacks. And if I cannot, I'll find those that shall.
Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirt-gills, I am none 150
of his skains-mates. She turns to Peter her man.
141. S.D.] Qi; Exeunt. Q2-4; Exit. Mercutio, Benuolio. F. 142.1 pray] Qs~4,F; Marry farewell. Pray Qi. 143. ropery] Qs~4,F (roperie); roperipe Qi; Roguery F4. 147. a speak] Qi~4,F; hee stand to Qi. 150. flirt-gills] Qs,3,F>Q'; Gil-flirts Q4.      15j. S.D.] Qi; not in Qs-4^.
141. lady, lady, lady] Mercutio mocks the Nurse with this scrap of a ballad; she is no lady. T. Warton identifies the source as the Ballad of Constant Susanna, also quoted in Tw.N., 11. iii. 75-6: 'There dwelt a man in Babylon, of reputation great by fame; / He tooke to wife a faire woman, Susanna she was called by name; / A woman faire and vertuous: / Lady, lady, / Why should we not of her learne thus / to liue godly?' (Roxburghe Ballads, ed. Chappell, 1, 11. 190-3)-
142. saucy merchant] impudent fellow {merchant as opposed to 'gentleman' was a term of disrespect used in this way).
143. ropery] lewd jesting. The term is related to rope-ripe, which occurs in R. Wilson, Three Lad\es of London (1584), bi : 'Thou art very pleasant and ful of thy roperipe (I would say Retor-ick)', where the sense is 'talk deserving of death by hanging', and to rope-tricks, as in Shr., 1. ii. 111: 'he'll rail in his rope-tricks', where, as Anne Lancashire suggests (JEGP, 1969, pp. 237-44), there is a quibble on rope = penis, also present in 1H6, 1. iii. 53, Err., TV. iv. 39-40, Lyly, Midas, 1. ii. 45, Butler, Hudibras, 1. i. 549-52. The
Nurse's word malapropizes roguery under the influence, perhaps, of Mercutio's insistently graphic phallic jokes.
146. stand to] abide by (and with a bawdy quibble, as in All's W., in. ii. 40).
147. speak] Q,i's reading makes unambiguous the bawdy connotation of take him down, humble him (with a bawdy quibble on the senses 'reduce his sexual appetite', 'cause detumes-cence'); but the joke is that the Nurse unintentionally expresses indecencies through unfortunate choice of words, as in O2'8 version. I therefore reject Qi, which weakens the joke by making it explicit.
150. flirt-gills] loose women; Kit-tredge cites Gabriel Harvey, Pierces Supererogation, 1593 (ed. Grosart, 11. 229): 'Yet was she not. . . such a dissolute gillian-flurtes, as this wainscot-faced Tomboy'. Nares notes Gill as a current and familiar term for a woman.
151. skains-mates] cut-throat companions; a skain was a long Irish knife; cf. Dekker, Lanthome and Candlelight (1609), ch. 8: "The bloudy tragedies of al these, are only acted by the
sc. iv] romeo and juliet 151
And thou must stand by too and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure!
Peter. I saw no man use you at his pleasure; if I had, my
weapon should quickly have been out. I warrant 155 you, I dare draw as soon as another man, if I see occasion in a good quarrel, and the law on my side.
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 bid me 160 enquire you out. What she bid me say, I will keep to myself. But first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her in a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behaviour, as they say; for the gentlewoman is young. And therefore, if you should 165 deal double with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing.
Romeo. Nurse, commend me to thy lady and mistress. I protest unto thee—
Nurse. Good heart, and i'faith I will tell her as much. 170 Lord, Lord, she will be a joyful woman.
Romeo. What wilt thou tell her, Nurse? Thou dost not mark me.
Nurse. I will tell her, sir, that you do protest—which, as
I take it, is a gentlemanlike offer. 175
Romeo. Bid her devise
Some means to come to shrift this afternoon,
163. in a] Qz-4,F; into a Qi. 168. Romeo.] Qs~4,Qi; Nut. F. 176-7.] As Delius; one line Qg~4,F; oar. Qi.
Women, who carrying long kniues or Skeanes vnder their mantles, do thus play their parts'; so Doll Tearsheet in 2H4 threatens to knife Pistol, and cf. Middleton, The Roaring Girl, Prologue: 'Another roars, i'th'daytime, swears, stabs, gives braves'.
152-3. use . . . pleasure] Peter picks up the bawdy innuendo; the Nurse means 'treat me as rudely as he likes' but use could mean 'copulate with' as in Tit., rv. ii. 40.
155. weapon] sword (with a bawdy quibble); cf. 1. i. 32.
163. in] into.
fool's paradise] Cf. Marston, The Malcontent, v. vi. 97-9: 'Promise of matrimony by a young gallant to bring a virgin lady into a fool's paradise, make her a great woman, and then cast her off'.
167. weak] contemptible.
174. protest] NCS compares Win., ni. iv. 67, for the use of protest to mean 'declare love'.
177-9. means . . . married] Cf. Brooke, 11. 633-4.
152
romeo and juliet
[act ii
And there she shall at Friar Laurence' cell Be shriv'd and married. Here is for thy pains.
Nurse. No truly, sir; not a penny. 180
Romeo. Go to, I say you shall.
Nurse. This afternoon, sir? Well, she shall be there.
Romeo. 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, 185
Which to the high topgallant of my joy Must be my convoy in the secret night. Farewell, be trusty, and I'll quit thy pains; Farewell. Commend me to thy mistress.
Nurse. Now God in heaven bless thee. Hark you, sir. 190
Romeo. What say'st thou, my dear Nurse ?
Nurse. Is your man secret? Did you ne'er hear say, Two may keep counsel, putting one away?
Romeo. I warrant thee my man's as true as steel.
Nurse. Well, sir, my mistress is the sweetest lady. Lord, 195 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 lief see a toad, a very toad, as see him. I anger her sometimes and tell her that Paris is the properer man, 200 but I'll warrant you, when I say so she looks as pale as any clout in the versal world. Doth not rosemary
183. stay, good] Q2-4; stay thou good F; stay thou Qi. 188. quit] Q2; quite Q3>4yP>QI- 193-3O As Rowe; prose in Q8-4J?; not in Qi. 194. I warrant] Fs; Warrant Q.2-4J?; not in Qi. man's] Q2-4; man F; not in Qi. 198. lief] Q2-4JF (leeue); not in Qi.      198-9. see a] Qs-4; a see F; not in Qi.
185. tackled stair] Brooke calls it 'a corden ladder'; Dr Johnson explains: 'like stairs of rope in the tackle of a ship'; the nautical word leads to the next line's high topgallant, the platform on the mast from which the topgallant sail was handled, reached by a rope-ladder from the deck. Cf. Gent., 11. vi. 33-4-
187. convoy] means of conveyance.
188. quit thy pains] reward your effort.
193. Two . . . away] Proverbial, Tilley T 257; cf. Tit., rv. ii. 144.
198. lay . . . aboard] establish his claim. Quibbles (i) on the action of the guest who, in Elizabethan times, brought his own knife, using it to mark his place at table and secure his helping, and (ii) on the term 'lay aboard' for nautical attack, as in sH6, rv. i. 25.
199-200. sometimes] Spencer notes 'the Nurse could only have heard about Romeo a few hours ago, but she talks as if the affair had been going on for some time'; cf. m. v. 239.
202. clout. . . world] piece of cloth
romeo and juliet
J53
sc. v]
and Romeo begin both with a letter ? Romeo. Ay, Nurse, what of that? Both with an 'R\ Nurse. Ah, mocker! That's the dog's name, 'R' is for the 205 —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. Romeo. Commend me to thy lady. [Exit Romeo.]
Nurse. Ay, a thousand times. Peter! 210 Peter. Anon.
Nurse. Before, and apace. Exeunt.
[SCENE V] Enter Juliet.
Juliet. The clock struck nine when I did send the Nurse, In half an hour she promis'd to return.
205. dog's] Q3,4,F; dog, Qs; not in Qi. 205-6. for the—No,] Delius, conj.
Ritson; for the no, Qs~4,F; for thee? No; Theobald; not for thee, Hanmer; for the nonce; Steevens 1773, conj. Dr Johnson; for the dog. No; Steevens 1778, conj. Tyrwhitt; not in Qi. 209. S.D.] Rowe; not in Qs-4JF,Qi. 212.] As Qg-4^; Peter, take my fanne, and goe before. Qi.
Scene v
Scene v] Hanmer; not in Qz~4J!',Qi. Garden. Capell.
in the whole (versal — universal) world; cf. the modern expression 'as white as a sheet'.
205-6. dog's name . . . Mo] Though some editors print dog-name, Williams argues persuasively that the Q2 comma is a misreading of final s. I follow Ri tson's punctuation. The sense is then clear: the Nurse thinks of 'R' as the dog's growl, 'ar' (see Jdnson, English Grammar: 'R is the Dogs Letter and hirreth in the sound', Persius, Sat., 1. 109, and instances under 'arr' in OED). Phillip Williams in N&Q, Apr. 1950, suggests the Nurse just stops herself from saying the word arse—'with a somewhat unlooked-for show of modesty'.
Location.] Capulet''sHouse. Rowe; Capulet's
207. sententious] The Nurse probably means sentence, pithy saying.
you] The possible quibble is on U and R, yew and rosemary. Kittredge suggests she is eager to repay his tip with invented compliments. In Brooke the Nurse in retailing the message to Juliet left nothing untold except 'onely one, that she forgot the taking of the golde' (1. 692).
212. Before, and apace] Go before me, and get a move on.
Scene v
1. struck nine] It was noon when the Nurse met Romeo, but we do not learn how she spent the three intervening hours.
154 romeo and juliet [act ii
Perchance she cannot meet him. That's not so.
O, she is lame. Love's heralds should be thoughts
Which ten times faster glides than the sun's beams 5
Driving back shadows over lowering hills.
Therefore do nimble-pinion'd doves draw Love,
And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings.
Now is the sun upon the highmost hill
Of this day's journey, and from nine till twelve 10
Is three long hours, yet she is not come.
Had she affections and warm youthful blood
She would be as swift in motion as a ball:
My words would bandy her to my sweet love,
And his to me. 15
But old folks, many feign as they were dead—
Unwieldy, slow, heavy, and pale as lead.
Enter Nurse [and Peter].
O God she comes. O honey Nurse, what news ?
Hast thou met with him ? Send thy man away. Nurse. Peter, stay at the gate. [Exit Peter.] 20
Juliet. Now good sweet Nurse—O Lord why look'st thou sad ?
Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily,
If good, thou sham'st the music of sweet news
By playing it to me with so sour a face. Nurse. I am aweary, give me leave awhile. 25
Fie, how my bones ache. What a jaunce have I!
4. heralds] Qz-4,Qi; Herauld F. ii. Is three] 0,3,4; Is there Q2; I three F; not in Qi. 15-16.] As Rowe; M. And his . . . dead Qi,3; And his . . . dead Q4; And his . . . folkes, / Many . . . dead F; not in Qi. 17. S.D.] Theobald; Enter Nurse. Q2~4,F,Qi. 20. S.D.] Theobald; not in Q2~4,F,Qi. 23. sham'st] Q4,F; shamest Q2,3; notinQi. 25. aweary] Q2-4J?; weary Qi. 26. jaunce] Q2,3; iaunt Q4,F,Qi.     I] Qs; I had Q3,4f,Q'-
7. doves draw Love] Doves were 16. feign] make themselves appear
sacred to Venus and were depicted (OED sv v. n. 9).
drawing her chariot; cf. Ven., 11. 153, 25. give me leave] let me alone.
1190. 26. jaunce] A noun from the verb
9. Now . . . hill] Cf. Golding's Ovid, jaunse or jaunce (cf. R2, v. v. 94). OED
11. 84-7: 'the morning way Lyes offers no other instance of jaunce from
steepe vpright, so that the steedes . . . the period, and suggests that Q,2's
haue much adoe to climb against the spelling here may be a misreading of
Hyll'. manuscriptjaanfe. Hosley suggests it is
14. bandy] strike (as in tennis, follow- a colloquial development from the
ing the previous line's 4a//). plural form jaunts ( — trudge about).
sc. v] romeo and juliet 155
Juliet. I would thou hadst my bones and I thy news.
Nay come, I pray thee, speak: good, good Nurse, speak. Nurse. Jesu, what haste. Can you not stay awhile ?
Do you not see that I am out of breath? 30 Juliet. How art thou out of breath when thou hast breath
To say to me that thou art out of breath ?
The excuse that thou dost make in this delay
Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse.
Is thy news good or bad ? Answer to that, 35
Say either, and I'll stay the circumstance.
Let me be satisfied: is't good or bad ? Nurse. Well, you have made a simple choice. You know
not how to choose a man. Romeo? No, not he.
Though his face be better than any man's, yet his 40
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'll warrant him as gentle as a lamb. Go thy
ways, wench, serve God. What, have you dined at 45
home?
Juliet. 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. 50 My back o' t'other side—ah, my back, my back! Beshrew your heart for sending me about To catch my death with jauncing up and down.
Juliet. I'faith I am sorry that thou art not well.
Sweet, sweet, sweet Nurse, tell me, what says my love? 55
Nurse. Your love says like an honest gentleman,
41. leg excels] Q2-4; legs_excels F; not in Qi. 41-2. a body] Q2,3^; body Q4; a baudie Qi. 44. as a] Q2-4; a F; not in Qi. 47. this] Q2-4; this this F; not in Qi. 51. ah] Q2-4 (a); O F; not in Qi. 53. jauncing] Q2,3; iaunt-ing Q4^; not in Qi.     54. not well] Q2-4; so well F; not in Qi.
29. stay] wait. niscent of Juliet's speech at n. ii. 40-7.
36. stay the circumstance] wait for the 42. not . . . talked on] not worth
details. talking about.
38. simple] foolish. 44~5- Go thy ways] Well, off you
40-2. face... body] Ironically remi- go.
156
rome o and juliet
[act ii
And a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome,
And I warrant a virtuous—Where is your mother ? Juliet. Where is my mother ? Why, she is within.
Where should she be ? How oddly thou repliest. 60
'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. 65 Juliet. Here's such a coil. Come, what says Romeo ? Nurse. Have you got leave to go to shrift today ? Juliet. I have.
Nurse. Then hie you hence to Friar Laurence' cell.
There stays a husband to make you a wife. 70
Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks.
They'll 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. 75
I am the drudge, and toil in your delight,
But you shall bear the burden soon at night.
Go. I'll to dinner. Hie you to the cell. Juliet. Hie to high fortune! Honest Nurse, farewell. Exeunt.
59-60.] As Rowe; Where ... be? / How . . . repliest: Q2-4; Where . . . Mother? / Why ... be? / How . . . repli'st: F; var. Qi. 75. climb] 0,2,4, Qi; climde Q3,F.
63. Marry, come up, I trow] Expressions of impatience; cf. i. ii. 74. 66. coil] fuss.
72. They'll . . . news] Any sudden news always makes your cheeks scarlet. 75. bird's nest] Juliet's bedroom; the
imagery of birds is associated widi her in n. ii. passim, in m. ii. 14, and m. v. 1-35-
77. bear the burden] Quibbling on 'do the work' and 'bear the weight of your lover'; cf. Ant., 1. v. 21.
SC. Vl]
romeo and juliet
157
[SCENE VI] Enter Friar [Laurence] and Romeo.
Friar L. So smile the heavens upon this holy act That after-hours with sorrow chide us not.
Romeo. Amen, amen, but come what sorrow can, It cannot countervail the exchange of joy That one short minute gives me in her sight. 5 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.
Friar L. These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, 1 o
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. 15
Enter Juliet somewhatfast and embraces Romeo.
Here comes the lady. O, so light a foot
Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint.
A lover may bestride the gossamers
That idles in the wanton summer air
And yet not fall; so light is vanity. 20
Scene vi
Scene vi] Hanmer; not in Qz~4,F,Qi. Location.] The Monastery. Rowe; Friar Laurence's cell. Capell. 12. loathsome] Qirff; lothsomnesse Q4; not in Qi.
15. S.D.] As Qi; Enter Iuliet Qe-4,F.
3. come .. . can] let whatever sorrow come that conceivably may.
4. It . . . joy] It cannot counterbalance the joy I receiver (The emphasis on dark omens is marked.)
9. These . . . ends] Proverbial; cf. Tilley B 262, N 321, and n. ii. 118-20.
10. triumph] high-point of spectacular elation, flash point of an explosive.
powder] gunpowder.
11-13. honey . . . appetite] Cf. Tilley
H560.
14. long love doth so] Cf. Tilley L 559.
17. ne'er.. .flint] Cf. 2H6, n. iv. 8-9, 34-6.
18. gossamers] threads of spider's web. The idea is reminiscent of 1. iv. 99-103, n. ii. 28-32.
19. wanton] playful.
20. light] (i) trivial, worthless, (ii) the opposite of heavy.
vanity] the pleasures of this world; cf. Ecclesiastes i. 2, ii. 1.
158 romeo and juliet [act h
Juliet. Good even to my ghostly confessor. Friar L. Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both. Juliet. As much to him, else is his thanks too much. Romeo. Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy
Be heap'd like mine, and that thy skill be more 25
To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath
This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue
Unfold the imagin'd happiness that both
Receive in either by this dear encounter. Juliet. Conceit more rich in matter than in words 30
Brags of his substance, not of ornament.
They are but beggars that can count their worth,
But my true love is grown to such excess
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth. Friar L. Come, come with me and we will make short
work, 35
For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone
Till holy church incorporate two in one. [Exeunt.]
23. else is] Qs,3; else in Q4,F; not in Qi. 24. Romeo.] Q2-4; Fri. F; not in Qi. 27. music's] Q4,F; musicke Qs,3; not in Qi. 33. such] Q2-4; such such F; not in Qi. 34. sum of] Qs,3; some of Q4,F; not in Qi. 37. S.D.] Qi (subst.); not in QS-4JF.
21. ghostly] spiritual; cf. 11. ii. 192, n. iii. 41.
22. Romeo ... both] Romeo shall return Juliet's greeting with a kiss on behalf of the Friar.
23. As . . . much] Juliet considers that Romeo exceeded his brief and included a kiss from himself; she restores the balance by giving him one back.
26. blazon] Literally, to describe a coat of arms in proper heraldic terms;
hence, describe the rich hues of joy.
breath] i.e. in speech.
30-1. Conceit... ornament] Imagination, when richer in substance than words, is proud of meaning, not verbal ornamentation.
32. They ... worth] Cf. Ant., 1. i. 15.
34. /. . . wealth] I cannot compute the total of even half my wealth: cf. Sidney, Astrophil and Stella, Sonnet 85, 1. 10: 'See Beauties totall summe summ'd in her face'.
[ACT III]
[SCENE I] Enter Mercutio, Benvolio and Men.
Ben. I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire; The day is hot, the Capels are 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 5 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 ? 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, and there were two such, we should have none   15 shordy, for one would kill the other. Thou? Why,
ACT III
Scene i
Act III Scene i] Rows; not in Q2-4,F,Qi. Location.] The street. Route. 2. Capels are] Q i; Capels Q2,3; Capulets Q4,F. 3-4.] As Route; prose in Qs-4f; not in Qi.      5. these] Q2-4JF; those Qi.      9. him] Qs-4,F; it Qi.
2. The day is hot] 'It irobserved, that Capels] Capels for Capulets appears in
in Italy almost all assassinations are Brooke and at v. i. 18 below,
committed during the heat of sum- 8. operation] intoxicating effect,
mer' (Dr Johnson). Reed cites Sir 9. drawer] waiter who draws and
Thomas Smith, The Common-welth of serves wine or ale.
England (1583): 'in the warme time 12. mooed] provoked,
people for the most part be more un- moody] irascible,
ruly'. 15. two] Punning on Benvolio's to in
1. .4.
'59
i6o
romeo and juliet
[act iii
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 20 eye but such an eye would spy out such a quarrel ? Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat, and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath 25 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! 30 And 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.
The fee simple! O simple!
Enter Tybalt, Petruchio and Others.
Ben. By my head, here comes the Capulets. 35
Mer. By my heel, I care not.
Tyb. Follow me close, for I will speak to them.
Gentlemen, good e'en: a word with one of you. Mer. And but one word with one of us ? Couple it with
Ben.
Mer,
30. from] Qs-4,F; of Qi.
21. eye] Punning on Benvolio's / of 1. 10; but what he accuses Benvolio of is more applicable to himself; it will be confirmed by his reaction to Tybalt's consortest at 1. 44.
22-3. as full . . . meat] Proverbial; cf. Tilley K 149; meat = food.
23. addle] rotten.
26. dog] Cf. 1. i. 7 and n.
27-8. wearing . . . Easter] The penitential period of Lent, before Easter, yields the adjective lenten = dismal (of clothing); new fashions came out at Easter.
31-3. any . . . quarter] my life would
not be worth an hour and a quarter's purchase.
34. fee simple] Literally, an estate belonging absolutely to its owner; hence, absolute possession.
simple] feeble.
S.D. Petruchio] Also named as Capulet's guest in 1. v. 130; but Shakespeare gives him no speaking part. See Intro., p. 14.
36. By my heel] A scornful oath (cf. Ado, in. iv. 44); i.e. he will not take to his heels; cf. the exchange between Sampson and Gregory at 1. i. 30-5-
SC. i]
romeo and juliet
something, make it a word and a blow. Tyb. You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, and you
will give me occasion. Mer. Could you not take some occasion without giving ? Tyb. Mercutio, thou consortest with Romeo. Mer. Consort? What, dost thou make us minstrels?
And 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 unto 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.
Enter Romeo.
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'. Tyb. Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford
No better term than this: thou art a villain. Romeo. Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee
Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
To such a greeting: villain am I none,
Therefore farewell. I see thou knowest me not.
48. Zounds] Q3-4; Come F; var. Qi.      59. love] Qs~4,F; hate Qi.
l6l 40
45
50
55
60
40. word . . . blow] Proverbial; cf. Tilley W 763.
44. consortest with] art a close companion of.
45. minstrels] Mercutio finds an insulting quibble: consort was the collective noun for a group of hired musicians, classed as menials.
47. fiddlestick] For similar puns on fencing and music cf. 11. iv. 20-3, where Mercutio is talking about Tybalt.
55- my man] i.e. the man I am after.
56. wear your livery] (i) as if by man Tybalt means 'manservant', (ii) be of your sort: a coward—a quibble on liveryjlioer leads towards 'lily-livered'.
57. he'll . . .follower] (i) quibbling on man as personal attendant, (ii) he'll eagerly follow to fight the duel. Cf. Lyly, Sapho and Phao, n. iii. 9-13, as cited in n. to n. iv. 23.
60. villain] imputing menial birth and base conduct.
62. Doth ... rage] Goes far to excuse me from reacting with the degree of anger appropriate.
162
ROMEO AND JULIET
[act m
65
Tyb. Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries
That thou hast done me, therefore turn and draw.
Romeo. I do protest I never injuried 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 70
As dearly as mine own, be satisfied.
Mer. O calm, dishonourable, vile submission:
Alia stoccata carries it away! [He draws.]
Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk ?
Tyb. What wouldst thou have with me ? 75
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 80 it be out.
Tyb. I am for you. [He draws.]
Romeo. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up. Mer. Come sir, your passado. [They fight.]
Romeo. Draw, Benvolio, beat down their weapons. 85
Gentlemen, for shame, forbear this outrage.
Tybalt, Mercutio! The Prince expressly hath
67. injuried] Qa; injured Q3,4^,Qi (subst.), Pope. 68. love] 0.3-4,0.1; lou'd F. 71. mine] Qa; my Q3,4JF; not in Qi. 73. stoccata] Knight; stucatho Qa-4,F; stockado Qt. S.D.] Capell; not in Qs-4,F,Qi.       8a. S.D.] Rome
(Drawing); not in Qa~4,F,Qt.     84. S.D.] Capell; not in Qa~4,F,Qi.
67. injuried] Mommsen defends this Q.2 reading, and Crow notes it to be a 'good Elizabethan verb', as OED examples show.
68. devise] imagine. 70. tender] value.
73. Alia stoccata] A technical term for a thrust, in the Italian fencing manuals.
carries it away] wins the day.
74. rat-catcher] Cf. n. iv. 19 n. walk] withdraw (to fight a duel).
75. What . . . me?] Tybalt's reluctance to react to Mercutio's insults persists.
76-7. nine lives] A proverbial superstition; cf. Tilley C 154.
77-8. That . . . eight] 'One of them I mean to take; and then, according as you treat me well or ill, I'll spare your eight other lives or thrash you until you have lost them all' (Kit-tredge).
79. pilcher] an outer garment of leather (OED sb 1), hence, a scabbard.
79-80. by the ears] 'suggests a reluctant sword' (NCS); presumably ears = hilt.
84. Come . . . passado] Come sir, show the thrust you make such a fuss about. Cf. 11. iv. 25-6 and n.
SC. i] ROMEO AND JULIET 163
Forbid this bandying in Verona streets.
Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!
Tybalt under Romeo's arm thrusts Mercutio in. A Follower. Away Tybalt. Exit Tybalt [with his followers]. Mer. I am hurt. 91
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. Marry, 'tis enough.
Where is my page ? Go villain, fetch a surgeon. 95
[Exit Page]
Romeo. 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 tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague 100 o' both your houses. Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death. A braggart, a
88. Forbid this] Qa; Forbid Q3,4; Forbidden F; not in Qi. 89. S.D.] ed.; Tybalt ... in and files. Qi; not in Qa~4,F. 90. A Follower. Away Tybalt.] Spencer; Petruchio. Away Tybalt. Williams, conj. Greg; Away Tybalt. Qa-4; Exit Tybalt. F (as S.D.); not in Qt. 92. o' both your] Dyce; a both Qa-4; a both the F; of both the Fa; on your Qi. 95. S.D.] Capell; not in Qa~4,F,Qi. 101. Zounds] Qj; sounds Qa-4; What F; not in Qt.
88. bandying] Cf. n. v. 14 and n.
89. S.D. thrusts Mercutio in.] Cf. Tw.N., in. iv. 261-2: 'he gives me the stuck in'.
90. S.D.] O2 prints Away Tybalt in the centre of the page with a line space before and after it, as if a S.D. (on the next page, F4", 'Enter Ben-uolio' is set out in identical manner). Editors either substitute the detailed, interesting S.D. from Qi or normalize Away to Exit or assume"with Greg that a speech prefix is missing. Possibly this is a Shakespearean imperative S.D. like that in v. iii. 17: Whistle boy.
92. both your houses] your is supplied by analogy with 11. 100-1, 108 and no; corruption in Qz at 1. 90 shows that the compositor found the manuscript difficult to decipher. The repe-
tition of your houses stresses the thematic importance of the event, and Mercutio's perception of the irony of his death for someone else's cause. sped] done for.
94. scratch] Quibbling again on Tybalt as a cat, cf. 1. 102 below.
97- 8. wide . . . door] Cf. Tilley B 93, 'as broad as a barn door'. Mercutio's variant may be because he is thinking of his own funeral.
98- 9. Ask . . . man] Cf. Bishop's Bible, Job vii. 21: 'Behold, nowe must I sleepe in the dust, and if thou sekest me to morowe in the morning, I shal not be' (J. G. McManaway, N&Q, ns 3, 1956, p. 57). The quibble on grave is especially apt from Mercutio, who cannot be grave even about his own death.
164 romeo and juliet [act m
rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetic—why the devil came you between us ? I was hurt under your arm. 105
Romeo. I thought all for the best.
Met. Help me into some house, Benvolio,
Or I shall faint. A plague o' both your houses, They have made worms' meat of me. I have it, and soundly too. Your houses! no
Exit [Mercutio with Benvolio].
Romeo. This gentleman, the Prince's near ally, My very friend, hath got this mortal hurt In my behalf—my reputation stain'd With Tybalt's slander—Tybalt that an hour Hath been my cousin. O sweet Juliet, 115 Thy beauty hath made me effeminate And in my temper soften'd valour's steel.
Enter Benvolio.
Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead, That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds Which too untimely here did scorn the earth. 120
Romeo. This day's black fate on mo days doth depend: This but begins the woe others must end.
Enter Tybalt.
Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.
109-10.] As Qs~4,F; They ... it, / And . . . houses! Dyce; var. Qi. 110. S.D.] Rowe; Exit. Qz~4,F; Exeunt. Qi. 112. got this] Qs; gott his Q3; got his Q4JF; tane this Qi. 115. cousin] Qs~4,F; kinsman Qi. 118. Mercutio is] Qs~4,Qi; Mercutio's is F. 121. mo] Qs-4^; more Qi. 122. S.D.] Qt,F; not in Q3-4.
103-4. book °f arithmetic] fencing manual; cf. n. iv. 21 and n.
109. worms' meat] Cf. Tilley M 253, 'A man is nothing but worm's meat', and 1H4, v. iv. 85-6.
110.1 have it] Cf. 11. iv. 26 and n. on hai.
in. ally] relative.
114-15. Tybalt that. .. cousin] i.e. as a result of the marriage which has just taken place; cousin = kinsman.
117. temper] (i) disposition, (ii) process by which steel is hardened; cf. 1. i. 85 n.
119. aspir'd] risen up to. The Marlo-vian style of this speech is evident; Malone compares Tamburlaine, pt. I, 432: 'And both our soules aspire celestiall thrones'.
121. depend] impend; cf. Trail., n. iii. 17.
sc. i] ROMEO and JULIET 165
Romeo. Again, in triumph, and Mercutio slain.
Away to heaven respective lenity, 125
And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now!
Now, Tybalt, take the 'villain' back again
That late thou gav'st me, for Mercutio's soul
Is but a little way above our heads,
Staying for thine to keep him company. 130
Either thou, or I, or both must go with him. Tyb. Thou wretched boy, that didst consort him here,
Shalt with him hence. Romeo. This shall determine that.
They fight. Tybalt falls.
Ben. Romeo, away, be gone,
The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain! 135
Stand not amaz'd. The Prince will doom thee death If thou art taken. Hence, be gone, away!
Romeo. O, I am fortune's fool.
Ben. Why dost thou stay?
Exit Romeo.
Enter Citizens.
Citizen. Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio ?
Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he ? 140 Ben. There lies that Tybalt. Citizen. Up, sir, go with me.
I charge thee in the Prince's name obey.
Enter Prince, Montague, Capulet, their Wives and All. Prince. Where are the vile beginners of this fray ?
124. Again] Capell; He gan Qs; He gon Q3,4,F; A liue Qi; He gay Hoppe; He yare Williams. 126. fire-ey'd] Qi (fier eyed); fier end Qs; fier and Q3; fire and Q4,F. 128. gav'st] F,Qi; gavest Q3-4. 131. Either] Qs~4,F; Or Qi. 142. name] Qs-4; names, F; not in Qi.
124. Again] Capell's emendation is       125. respective lenity] considerations
attractive because the misreading of of mildness, manuscript A as He is, plausible, and       126. conduct] guide. Again (taking up Benvolio's last word)       138. fortune's fool] the helpless vic-
makes good sense. I note that in F, tim of fortune's mockery and abuse;
m. v. 219, occurs the misprint Hlack cf. Lr, rv. vi. 191-2:'what, a prisoner? I
for Alack. am even / The natural fool of fortune'.
l66 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT m
Ben. O noble Prince, I can discover all
The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl. 145
There lies the man, slain by young Romeo, That slew thy kinsman brave Mercutio.
Lady Cap. Tybalt, my cousin, O my brother's child! O Prince, O husband, O, the blood is spill'd Of my dear kinsman. Prince, as thou art true, 150
For blood of ours shed blood of Montague. O cousin, cousin.
Prince. Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?
Ben. Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay.
Romeo, that spoke him fair, bid him bethink 155 How nice the quarrel was, and urg'd withal Your high displeasure. All this uttered With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd, Could not take truce with the unruly spleen Of Tybalt, deaf to peace, but that he tilts 160 With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast, 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 165
Retorts it. Romeo, he cries aloud 'Hold, friends! Friends part!' and swifter than his tongue
His agile arm beats down their fatal points
148. Lady Cap.] ed.; Capu. Wi. Qa-4& M: Qi. 149. O Prince, O husband] Capell; O Prince, O Cozen, husband Qs-4,F (subst.); Vnhappie sight? Ah Qi. 153. bloody] Qa-4; not in F,Qi. 160. Tybalt] Qt-4; Tybalts F; not in Qi. 168. agile] Qi,Q4 (agill); aged Qa,3f.
144. discover] reveal.
149. 0 husband] Dyce suggests the redundan( unmetrical cousin was caught from the line before; on the other hand Shakespeare's first and second thoughts may have both been printed here.
153. who.. .fray] The parallel with 1. i is insistent; once again Benvolio is required to give an account of an affray between Capulets and Montagues.
156. nice] trivial.
160-1. Tybalt . . . breast] Benvolio suppresses the fact that Mercutio provoked Tybalt; in Brooke two bands from the opposed families meet (11. 961-1036), Tybalt urges his men on to fight; Romeo, walking with his friends, hears the riot, runs to it, and cries 'part frendes, helpe frendes to part the fray' whereupon Tybalt attacks him ferociously. Mercutio is not present in Brooke's version, and Benvolio is not named.
SC. l] ROMEO AND JULIET 167
And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm
An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life 170
Of stout Mercutio; and then Tybalt fled,
But by and by comes back to Romeo,
Who had but newly entertain'd revenge,
And to't they go like lightning: for, ere I
Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain,      175
And as he fell did Romeo turn and fly.
This is the truth, or let Benvolio die. Lady Cap. He is a kinsman to the Montague.
Affection makes him false. He speaks not true.
Some twenty of them fought in this black strife 180
And all those twenty could but kill one life.
I beg for justice, which thou, Prince, must give.
Romeo slew Tybalt. Romeo must not live. Prince. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio.
Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe ? 185 Mont. Not Romeo, Prince, he was Mercutio's friend;
His fault concludes but what the law should end,
The life of Tybalt. Prince. And for that offence
Immediately we do exile him hence.
I have an interest in your hearts' proceeding; 190
My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding.
But I'll amerce 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.       195
Therefore use none. Let Romeo hence in haste,
178. Lady Cap.] ed.; Ca. Wi. Qz~4; Cap. Wi. F; Mo: Qi. 186. Mont.] Q4; Capu. Qz,3,F; La. Cap. Rome; La. Mont. Theobald; not in Qi. 190. hearts'] Qi~4,F; hates Qi; heats' Hanmer. 194. I] Qi,Q4; It Qz,3,F. 195. out] Q2-4; our F; for Qi.
170. envious] full of enmity.
174. like lightning] Cf. Brooke, 1. 1031: 'Even as two thunderboltes'.
186. Mont.] Q,2's Capu. is an obvious error.
190. hearts'] NCS compares in. ii. 73» where Q2 reads heart and Qi
wrongly hate.
191. My blood] Mercutio is his blood-relative.
192. amerce] penalize.
193. loss of mine] my loss.
195. purchase out] buy off the penalty for.
l68 romeo and juliet [act m
Else, when he is found, that hour is his last.
Bear hence this body, and attend our will.
Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill. Exeunt.
[SCENE II]
Enter Juliet alone.
Juliet. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus' lodging. Such a waggoner As Phaeton would whip you to the west And bring in cloudy night immediately. Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night, That runaway's eyes may wink, and Romeo Leap to these arms untalk'd-of and unseen.
199. but] Q2-4; not F; var. Qi.
Scene n
Scene n] Rowe; not in Qz-4,F,Qi. Location.] An Apartment in Capulet's House. Rome; Capulet's Garden. Capell.      2. Towards] Qs-4,F; To Qi.
198. Bear . . . body] Although Mer-cutio is carried off stage to die, Tybalt's corpse remains as a strong focus of attention until the scene ends; the action of bearing him off gives visual emphasis to the turning point of the action: the dark second half of the play begins. At the same time, the action does not pause: Juliet's soliloquy of longing for Romeo, in m. ii, uttered while his sentence of banishment still rings in our ears, is an astonishingly powerful dramatic juxtaposition.
Scene n
1. Gallop apace] Cf. Marlowe, Edward //,' 1. 1738: 'Gallop a pace bright Phoebus through the skie'. See the discussion of the speech, Intro., pp. 58-60 above.
fiery-footed] Cf. Golding's Ovid, n. 491, where the chariot-horses of Phoebus are called 'firiefooted'.
2. lodging] night's resting place (OED sb 3).
waggoner] Golding's word for Phaeton.
3-4. Phaeton . . . immediately] Cf. 3H6,1. iv. 34, n. vi. 11-13. The irony implicit in Juliet's invocation of the Phaeton story is notable.
5. love-performing] i.e. for the enacting of love. Cf. Daniel, Rosamond, 11. 432-4: 'night . . . / Who with her sable mantle friendly couers / The sweet-stolne sports, of ioyfull meeting Louers'.
6. runaway's] Editors, in Johnson's phrase, have frolicked in conjecturing emendations, but this famous crux still resists solution. Warburton explains that runaway's refers to the sun which has at last turned and run before the irresistible onset of night, and compares Mer.V., u. vi. 47: 'For the close night doth play the runaway'. Among suggestions which may claim graphical plausibility is cunningest (Dover Wilson) = most scandal-mongering and curious. Some interpret runaway's as referring to Night
sc. ii]
romeo and juliet
169
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night. Come, civil night, 10
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match
Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods.
Hood my unmann'd blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle, till strange love grow bold,     15
Think true love acted simple modesty.
Come night, come Romeo, come thou day in night,
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow upon a raven's back.
9- By] Q4; And by Qs,3,F; not in Qi. if love be] Qs,3,F; of love to Q4; not in Qi. 13. maidenhoods] Qs,3,F; maiden-heads Q4; not in Qi.
15. grow] Qa~4,F; grown Rowe; not in Qi. 19. new snow upon] Qs,3^; snow upon Q4; new snow on Fg; not in Qi.
whose eyes are stars, or to Romeo; Delius thinks it plural, meaning 'vagabonds at night'. Phaeton in the chariot of the sun is a runaway, and Cupid is called a runaway often (cf. Lyly, Sapho and Phao, v. ii. 72-4, Gallathea, n. ii. 9-11, Spenser, Faerie Queene, m. vi. 11-26) and this is an acceptable interpretation here: cf. Cym., n. iv. 87-91: 'The roof o'th'chamber / With golden cherubins is fretted; her andirons— /1 had forgot them—were two winking Cupids / Of silver, each on one foot standing, nicely / Depending on their brands.' Dowden's suggested punctuation makes That a demonstrative pronoun (= yonder) and the whole phrase an interjection '—That runaway's eyes may wink—'.
7. Leap] Cf. Marlowe, Tragedy of Dido, v. i. 1587-8: 'if thou wilt stay, / Leap in mine armes, mine amies are open wide'.
8- 9. Lovers . . . beauties] Cf. Marlowe, Hero and Leander, 1. igi: 'darke night is Cupid's day'.
8. amorous rites] Cf. ibid., n. 64.
9- if... blind] Cf. 1. i. 169 and n. 10. civil] grave, decently solemn
(Johnson).
12. lose a winning match] i.e. win her beloved by surrendering to him; cf. Marlowe, Hero and Leander, n. 293-4: 'Treason was in her thought, / And cunningly to yeeld herself she sought*.
14. Hood . . . bating] Terms from falconry. An untrained (unmanned) hawk would flutter its wings (bate) when taken out of doors unless a hood was drawn over its head: so night will cover Juliet's blushing cheeks; cf. Shr., rv. i. 177-80: 'Another way I have to man my haggard, / To make her come, and know her keeper's call, / That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites / That bate and beat, and will not be obedient'.
unmann'd] (i) untrained, as above, (ii) as yet without her husband.
15. strange] unfamiliar, shy.
16. acted] A past participle, not a preterite.
17. day in night] Cf. v. iii. 85-6, and Sonnet 27; or Marlowe, Hero and Leander, n. 240: 'Rich iewels in the darke are soonest spide'.
19. Whiter . . . back] Cf. 1. v. 47.
new snow] NCS prefers O.4, believing new to be a first shot which Shakespeare marked (or should have marked) for deletion: 'One cannot
170
romeo and juliet
[act ni
Come gentle night, come loving black-brow'd night, 20
Give me my Romeo; and when I shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun. 25
O, I have bought the mansion of a love
But not possess'd it, and though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy'd. So tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes 30
And may not wear them. O, here comes my Nurse.
Enter Nurse with cords, wringing her hands.
And she brings news, and every tongue that speaks
But Romeo's name speaks heavenly eloquence.
Now, Nurse, what news ? What hast thou there ?
The cords that Romeo bid thee fetch ? Nurse. Ay, ay, the cords.
Juliet. Ay me, what news ? Why dost thou wring thy hands ? Nurse. Ah weraday, he's dead, he's dead, he's dead! 37
We are undone, lady, we are undone.
Alack the day, he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead. Juliet. Can heaven be so envious ?
a 1. I] Qs,sJ?; hee Q4; not in Qi. 31. S.D.] As Williams; Enter Nurse with cords. Qz~4,F; Enter Nurse wringing her hands with the ladder of cordes in her lap. Qi. 37. weraday] Qs; welady Q3d,F; not in Qi. he's dead, he's dead, he's dead] Q2-4; he's dead, he's dead F; var. Qi.
yet she seems to think of herself as mortally ephemeral—if she thinks of herself at all—in this moment of intense adoration of her lover. Q_4's he lacks the element of tragic premonition of their shared fate expressed in Q.2. 22-5. Take . . . sun] Cf. n. ii. 20-2. 30-1. an impatient. . . wear them] Cf. Lyly, Euphues and his England (ed. Bond), p. 158: 'To love women & neuer enioy them, is as much as to .. be delighted with faire apparel, &
have old snow on a raven's back'; but the function of new here is to emphasize the brilliant whiteness of the snow; F2 corrects the metre.
21. /] Juliet quibbles on death as also meaning sexual ecstasy: she prays that Romeo may share the experience with her, in death like a rocket soaring up into the night sky and exploding into innumerable stars, outgoing the final climax in Ovid's Metamorphoses, the apotheosis of Caesar into a 'goodly shyning starre' (xv. 955). Romeo will experience a metamorphosis into shining immortality,
neuer wear it'.
31. S.D. with cords , Intro., p. 8.
SC. n]
romeo and juliet
Nurse. Romeo can,
Though heaven cannot. O Romeo, Romeo, Who ever would have thought it ? Romeo!
Juliet. What devil art thou that dost torment me thus ? This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell. Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but 'Ay' 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 makes thee answer 'Ay'. If he be slain say 'Ay', or if not, 'No'. Brief sounds determine of my weal or woe.
Nurse. I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes
—God save the mark—here on his manly breast. A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse, Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood, All in gore-blood. I swounded at the sight.
Juliet. 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, And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier.
Nurse. O Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had. O courteous Tybalt, honest gentleman. That ever I should live to see thee dead.
Juliet. What storm is this that blows so contrary? Is Romeo slaughters and is Tybalt dead? My dearest cousin and my dearer lord ?
171 40
45
50
55
60
65
49. shut] Capell; shot Q*-4,F; not in Qi. Qi.     60. one] Q4; on Qa,3,F; not in Qi. not in Qi.
51. of my] F,Q5; my Qa-4; not in bier] Q4,F (beere); beare Qa,3;
. hands] See
40. envious] full of enmity.
Romeo can] i.e. by killing Tybalt.
47. the . . . cockatrice] a fabulous serpent (also called a basilisk) proverbial for slaying by sight (Tilley C 495); cf. Tw.N, m. iv. 185-6: 'they will kill one another by the look, like cockatrices'.
48-50.1 am . . . 'No'] Cf. Rs, rv. i. aoi: 'Ay, no, no, ay; for I must nothing be'.
53. God... mark] A proverbial apologetic phrase used when something unlucky, improper or disagreeable has been mentioned. The Nurse dwells in detail on the scene, all the same.
56. gore] clotted.
59. Vile earth . . . resign] Cf. Ecclesi-astes xii. 7: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was'.
62. honest] honourable.
172 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT HI
Then dreadful trumpet sound the general doom,
For who is living if those two are gone ? Nurse. Tybalt is gone and Romeo banished.
Romeo that kill'd him, he is banished. 70 Juliet. O God! Did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood ? Nurse. It did, it did, alas the day, it did. Juliet. O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face.
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave ?
Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical, 75
Dove-feather'd raven, wolvish-ravening lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st!
A damned saint, an honourable villain!
O nature what hadst thou to do in hell 80
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh ?
Was ever book containing such vile matter
So fairly bound ? O, that deceit should dwell
In such a gorgeous palace. Nurse. There's no trust, 85
72. Nurse.] Qi; not in Qs-4,F. 73. Juliet. O] Qi; Nur. O Qa-4^. heart] Qs-4,F; hate Qi. 74. Did] Fz; Iu. Did Q2~4,F; not in Qi. 76. Dove-feather'd raven] Theobald (subst.); Rauenous douefeatherd raue Qz,3,F (subst.); Ravenous doue, feathred Rauen Q4; not in Qi. 79. damned] Q4; dimme 0,2,3; dimne F; not in Qi. 81. bower] Qz,3,F; power Q4; not in Qi. 85-7.] As Capell; Theres ... men, / All... dissemblers, Qg-4^; There's no trust, / No faith, no honesty in men; all naught, / All perjured, all dissemblers, all forsworn Daniel, conj. Fleay; var. Qi.
67. dreadful trumpet] 'the last trump' (1 Corinthians xv. 52).
72. Nurse] In Q_2 the prefixes for Nurse and Juliet appear one line low so that it did is continued to Juliet, and the questioner answers herself. Qi is correct.^
73. serpent . . . face] Proverbial; Whitney, A Choice of Emblemes (1586), illustrates and quotes Virgil, Eel., iii. 93 ('latet anguis in herba'); cf. gH6, m. i. 228-30, Mac., 1. v. 62-3.
75. tyrant] ruffian (OED sb 4 b).
76. Dove-feather'd] The emendation removes Shakespeare's first draft version.
wolvish-ravening] Cf. Matthew vii. 15: 'Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves'.
77. Despised . . . show] Despicable reality masked as divine. y8. justly] exactly. 79. damned] The shortened form damnd in the manuscript would have made the misreading easier. 83. book] Cf. 1. iii. 87-8. 85. palace] Cf. v. iii. 107. 85-7.   There's  .   .   . dissemblers] Capell's arrangement is closest to Qa; Hosley supposes that the phrase all naught is Shakespeare's first thought
SC. n] ROMEO AND JULIET 173
No faith, no honesty in men. All perjur'd,
All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.
Ah, where's my man ? Give me some aqua vitae.
These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old.
Shame come to Romeo. Juliet. Blister'd be thy tongue 90
For such a wish. He was not born to shame.
Upon his brow shame is asham'd to sit,
For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd
Sole monarch of the universal earth.
O, what a beast was I to chide at him. 95 Nurse. Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin ? Juliet. Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband ?
Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name
When I thy three-hours wife have mangled it?
But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin ?      100
That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband.
Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring,
Your tributary drops belong to woe
Which you mistaking offer up to joy.
My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain,      105
And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my 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,
But O, it presses to my memory no
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds.
Tybalt is dead and Romeo—banished.
That 'banished', that one word 'banished',
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts: Tybalt's death
95. at him] Q2-4; him F; not in Qi. 106. Tybalt's] Q2-4; Tybalt F; not
in Qi. 108. word there was] Q2; words there was Q3,4,F; not in Qi.
which he had neglected fo delete from his foul papers.
87. naught] wicked.
88. aqua vitae] brandy. The Nurse calls again for aqua vitae at iv. v. 16; there is a hint of comedy in her prompt seizure of legitimate, 'medicinal' excuses for strong drink. In Tw.N., n. v. 176, Sir Toby regards a liking for aqua
vitae as proverbial among midwives.
89. griefs ...old] d. Falstaff's protestations in 1H4,11. iv. 223-5.
90-1. Blister'd... wish] Cf. Brooke, 11. 1145-6.
98. smooth] speak well of (and 'stroke soothingly', contrasting with 1. 99's mangled).
103. tributary] in tribute.
174
romeo and juliet
[act in
Was woe enough, if it had ended there. 115
Or if sour woe delights in fellowship
And needly will be rank'd with other griefs,
Why follow'd not, when she said 'Tybalt's dead',
Thy father or thy mother, nay or both,
Which modern lamentation might have mov'd ?      120
But with a rearward following Tybalt's death,
'Romeo is banished': to speak that word
Is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet,
All slain, all dead. Romeo is banished,
There is no end, no limit, measure, bound, 125
In that word's death. No words can that woe sound.
Where is my father and my mother, Nurse ? Nurse. Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse.
Will you go to them ? I will bring you thither. Juliet. Wash they his wounds with tears ? Mine shall be
spent 13°
When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment.
Take up those cords. Poor ropes, you are beguil'd,
Both you and I, for Romeo is exil'd.
He made you for a highway to my bed,
But I, a maid, die maiden-widowed. 135
Come, cords, come, Nurse, I'll to my wedding bed,
And death, not Romeo take my maidenhead. Nurse. Hie to your chamber. I'll find Romeo
To comfort you. I wot well where he is.
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night. 140
I'll to him. He is hid at Laurence' cell.
i3i. with] Q2-4; which F; not in Qi. ia8. corse] Qs,3 (course), Q4;
coarse F,Qi. 130. tears?] Qa; teares: Q3,4,F; not in Qi. 136. cords] Qa; cord Q3,4,F; not in Qi.
117. needly ... griefs] Proverbial; cf. Tilley C 571. Kittredge compares Chaucer, Troilus, 1. 708-9.
120. modern] commonplace.
121. rearward] Literally, the rearguard of a formation of soldiers, hence, a further source of pain after the bad news of Tybalt.
126. word's death] i.e. the death involved in the word banished.
sound] (i) plumb the depths of, (ii) utter, express.
130. Wash . . . tears?] As interrogative, these words are consistent with Juliet's feelings earlier in the scene, as at 1. 90 or 126. As non-interrogative on the other hand, Juliet must be understood as saying 'let them weep over Tybalt'.
sc. m] romeo and juliet 175
Juliet. O find him, give this ring to my true knight
And bid him come to take his last farewell. Exeunt.
[SCENE III]
Enter Friar [Laurence].
Friar L. Romeo, come forth, come forth, thou fearful man. Affliction is enamour'd of thy parts And thou art wedded to calamity.
Enter Romeo.
Romeo. Father, what news ? What is the Prince's doom ?
What sorrow craves acquaintance at my hand 5
That I yet know not? Friar L. Too familiar
Is my dear son with such sour company.
I bring thee tidings of the Prince's doom. Romeo. What less than doomsday is the Prince's doom ? Friar L. Agentlerjudgementvanish'dfromhislips: 10
Not body's death but body's banishment. Romeo. Ha! Banishment! Be merciful, say 'death'.
For exile hath more terror in his look,
Much more than death. Do not say 'banishment'. Friar L. Hence from Verona art thou banished. 15
Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.
Scene m
Scene m] Rowe; not in Qa~4Jf,Qi. Location.] The Monastery. Rowe; Friar
Laurence's cell. Capell. S.D.] Qi; Enter Frier and Romeo. Qa~4,F. 3. S.D.] Qi; not in Qa-4,F. 15. Hence] Qi; Here Qa-4^.
2-3. Affliction . . . calamity] The Friar's affectionate quibbles on enamoured and wedded unintentionally reinforce the idea of fate having marked Romeo; there is also anticipation of v. iii. 102-5 where Romeo thinks of death as amorous of Juliet, seeking her as his paramour. These ironically unconscious echoes and an-
ticipations intensify in the second half of the play.
2. parts] attractive qualities.
4. doom] judgement.
16. Be . . . wide] From Brooke, 11. 1443-4; cf- ^*« 275~6> where
Gaunt similarly comforts banished Bolingbroke.
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romeo and juliet
[act m
Romeo. 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, misterm'd. Galling death 'banished' Thou cut'st my head off with a golden axe And smilest upon the stroke that murders me.
Friar L. O deadly sin, O rude unthankfulness.
Thy fault our law calls death, but the kind Prince, 25 Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law And turn'd that black word 'death' to banishment. This is dear mercy and thou seest it not.
Romeo. 'Tis torture and not mercy. Heaven is here
Where Juliet lives, and every cat and dog 30
And little mouse, every unworthy thing,
Live here in heaven and may look on her,
But Romeo may not. More validity,
More honourable state, more courtship lives
In carrion flies than Romeo. They may seize 35
On the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand
And steal immortal blessing from her lips,
Who, even in pure and vestal modesty
Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin.
But Romeo may not, he is banished. 40
37. blessing] Qa-4^; kisses Qi.
26. rush'd] Qs-4f,Qi; brush'd Collier*. 40-3.] See note below.
17. There . . . walls] Cf. Troil., 1. i. 2-3: 'Why should I war without the walls of Troy / That find such cruel batde here within?'
19. banished] Romeo's agonized repetitions of this word are parallel to Juliet's in m. ii. 112-31.
20. world's exile] i.e. exile from the world.
26. rush'd] thrust violendy. A possible compositorial error for thrust. Other possibilities include pushed and brushed.
30-2. cat... look on her] Proverbial; cf. Tilley C 141: 'A cat may look at a king*.
33. validity] value.
34. state] rank.
courtship] the state befitting a courtier (OED sv b 2).
35. flies] A similar intensity of focus on a fly occurs in Tit., m. ii. 53-60.
39. Still] Ever.
their own] i.e. the kisses one lip gives the other when they are closed.
40-3. But Romeo ... death?] Q.2 reads This may flies do, when I from this must flic, I And sayest thou yet, that exile is not death? J But Romeo may not, he is banished, j Flies may do this, but I from this must flie: / They are freemen, but I am banished. Capell was the first to propose that Shakespeare's first version, meant for deletion, had been acci-
sc ra]
romeo and juliet
177
Flies may do this, but I from this must fly.
They are free men but I am banished.
And say'st thou yet that exile is not death ?
Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife,
No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean, 45
But 'banished' to kill me ? 'Banished' ?
O Friar, the damned use that word in hell.
Howling attends it. How hast thou the heart,
Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,
A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd, 50
To mangle me with that word 'banished' ? Friar L. Thou fond mad man, hear me a little speak. Romeo. O, thou wilt speak again of banishment. Friar L. I'll give thee armour to keep off that word,
Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy, 55
To comfort thee though thou art banished. Romeo. 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 Friar L. O, then I see that mad men have no ears. Romeo. How should they when that wise men have no eyes ? Friar L. Let me dispute with thee of thy estate. Romeo. Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel.
43. say'st] Q3~4^; sayest Qa; not in Qi. 48. Howling attends] Qg~4,Qi;
Howlmgs attends F. 52. Thou] Qi,Q4; Then Qs,3,F. a litde] Q2-4; not in F,Qi. 61. mad men] Qt,Q3^F; mad man Qs. 62. that]
Qs,Qi; not in 0.3,4^.        63. dispute] Qg-4,0.1; dispaire F.
dentally printed; he omitted the first three lines of Q.2. I suppose that, having already written And sayest. . . death?, Shakespeare revised This may • . . flie by expanding irinto the last three lines of the passage; he did not clearly delete This may . . .flie and he did not clearly indicate where his three-line revision was to be placed; it was mistakenly placed after, not before, And sayest . . . death? NCS supposes that the last three lines were Shakespeare's first shot. Other editors
suppose the line Flies . . .flie to be a second version of This may flies.. .flie and so must be preferred, and the line They . . . banished a version of But Romeo . . . banished.
45. mean] Quibbling on (i) method, (ii) sordid, base.
59. Displant] Transplant.
62. wise . . . eyes] The proverb was 'Discreet women have neither eyes nor ears'; cf. Tilley W 683.
63. dispute . . . estate] discuss your situation with you.
178
romeo and juliet
[act m
65
sc. in]
romeo and juliet
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,
Taking the measure of an unmade grave.      Knock. 70 Friar L. Arise, one knocks. Good Romeo, hide thyself. Romeo. Not I, unless the breath of heartsick groans
Mist-like infold me from the search of eyes. Knock. Friar L. Hark how they knock.—Who's there ?—Romeo, arise,
Thou wilt be taken.—Stay awhile.—Stand up. 75
Knock.
Run to my study.—By and by.—God's will, What simpleness is this ?—I come, I come. Knock. Who knocks so hard ? Whence come you, what's your will?
Nurse. [Within.] Let me come in and you shall know my errand. I come from Lady Juliet. Friar L. Welcome then. 80
Enter Nurse.
Nurse. O holy Friar, O, tell me, holy Friar,
Where is my lady's lord, where's Romeo ? Friar L. There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk. Nurse. O, he is even in my mistress' case,
65. I] Qg-4,Qi; not in F.       thy] Qs~4,Qt; my F. 70. S.D.] Rowe
(subst.); Enter Nurse, and knocke. Qs,3,F; Nurse knocks. Q4,Qi. 73. S.D.]
Q4,F; They knocke. 0.9,3; «w. Qi. 75. S.D.] F; Slud knock. Q.2,3 (subst.);
Knocke againe. Q4; not in Qi. 77. S.D.] Q2~4,F; not in Qi. 82. Where is] Qi; Wheres Qs~4,F.
70. Taking . . . grave] i.e. as Romeo lies stretched on the ground in despair.
74-7. Hark . . . come] The Friar addresses Romeo, and the unseen person knocking, alternately.
75. S.D.] Gericke conjectures that
Q2's Slud may be a misreading oiSlye, the actor who evidently played under his own name in Shr. Harold Jenkins suggests Still, which is attractive.
76. By and by] in a moment.
77. simpleness] foolishness.
Just in her case. O woeful sympathy, Piteous predicament. Even so lies she, Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering. Stand up, stand up. Stand, and you be a man. For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand. Why should you fall into so deep an O ?     He rises. Romeo. Nurse.
Nurse. Ah sir, ah sir, death's the end of all.
Romeo. Spak'st thou of Juliet ? How is it with her ? Doth not she think me an old murderer Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy With blood remov'd 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, And Tybalt calls, and then on Romeo cries, And then down falls again.
Romeo. As if that name,
Shot from the deadly level of a gun, Did murder her, as that name's cursed hand Murder'd her kinsman. O, tell me, Friar, tell me, In what vile part of this anatomy Doth my name lodge? Tell me that I may sack
179 85
90
95
100
105
85-6. O woeful . . . predicament.] Qg-4,F,Qi; Friar. Oh woeful. . . predicament! Steevens 1778, conj. Farmer. 90. S.D.] Qi; not in Qs-4,F. 92. Spak'st] 0.2-4,0,1; Speak'st F. 93. not she] Qa-4,F; she not Qi. 97. cancell'd] Q2-4,Qi; conceal'd F. 101-2. As if... gun] Rowe; one line in Qi-4^,Qi. J02. deadly] Q.2-4,0,1; deadF.
85-6. 0 . .. predicament] Any emendation would be against all available textual evidence. Steevens accepts Farmer's conjecture that 'such language must necessarily belong to the Friar'. Ulrici disagrees, finding it characteristic that the Nurse should use a 'few grand, high-sounding phrases', even if for once they are correctly employed.
88-90. Stand... 0] The Nurse un-
wittingly makes a series of bawdy quibbles on Stand and 0 (cf. Wiv., rv. i. 46-9).
93. old] (i) hardened (OED sb 5), (ii) great (OED sb 6).
97. cancell'd] a legal term: 'made null and void'; cf. Lucr., 1. 26.
102. level] line of aim.
105-6. In... lodge] Cf. n. ii. 38-51: the parallel with Juliet's meditation is acutely ironic; cf. also Lr, m. vi. 75-8.
i8o
romeo and juliet
[act m
sc. m]
romeo and juliet
181
The hateful mansion. Friar L. Hold thy desperate hand.
Art thou a man ? Thy form cries out thou art. Thy tears are womanish, thy wild acts denote The unreasonable fury of a beast. Unseemly woman in a seeming man, And ill-beseeming beast in seeming both! Thou hast amaz'd me. By my holy order, I thought thy disposition better temper'd. Hast thou slain Tybalt? Wilt thou slay thyself? And slay thy lady that in thy life lives, By doing damned hate upon thyself? Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven and earth ? Since birth, and heaven, and earth all three do meet In thee at once; which thou at once wouldst lose. Fie, fie, thou sham'st thy shape, thy love, thy wit, 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 Digressing from the valour of a man;
no
"5
120
125
109. denote] Qi,Q4,F; deuote Q.3,3. 116. that. . . lives,] F4; that. . . lies, Q2-4,F; too, that hues in thee? Qi. 118. rail'st] raylest Q2-4; not in Qt. 131. sham'st] F; shamest Q2-4; notinQi.
107. mansion] Cf. ni. ii. 36, an ironic echo.
Here Qi has the S.D. He offers to stab himselfe, and Nurse snatches the dagger away. There is nothing in the dialogue (or the characterization of the Nurse generally) to prepare for or to support this intervention by the Nurse; indeed this piece of business looks like a gratuitous and distracting bid on the part of the actor in the unauthorized version to claim extra attention to himself when the audience should be concentrating on Romeo and the Friar. To retain this S.D. in the text seems neither necessary or defensible, so I omit it.
108-12. Art . . . both] Cf. Brooke,
11. 1353-8-
us. ill-beseeming] unnatural and inappropriate.
118. Why . . . birth] Cf. Brooke, 1. 1327: 'The time and place of byrth, he fiersly did reprove'. Shakespeare, recalling Brooke, did not notice that his own Romeo has not railed against his birth, though he has (in 11. 101-7) railed against his name. Cf. Intro., p. 38.
122. like a usurer] because he does j not put talents to their proper use. Quibbling on use = interest on money j (OED sb 4).
125-6. form . . . man] waxwork) figure, if it deviates from what makes j a man a man—valour.
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,
Misshapen in the conduct of them both, 130
Like powder in a skilless soldier's flask
Is set afire by thine own ignorance,
And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.
What, rouse thee, man. Thy Juliet is alive,
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead.        135
There art thou happy. Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew'st Tybalt. There art thou happy.
The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend
And turns it to exile. There art thou happy.
A pack of blessings light upon thy back; 140
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But like a mishav'd and a sullen wench
Thou pouts upon thy fortune and thy love.
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.
137. slew'st] Q/,F; slewest Qs-4. happy] Qs-4,F; happy too Qi.
138. becomes] 0.2-4; became F; not in Qi. 139. turns] Q.2,4; turne Q3; turn'd F; not in Qi. 140. of] Q2~4,Qi; or F. blessings] Q2,4,Qi; blessing Q3f, ught] QS)3jr; lights Q4,Qi. 142. mishav'd] Q.2,3; misbehau'd Q4,Qi; mishaped F. a sullen] F2; sullen Q2~4,F,Qr. 143. pouts upon] Q4; puts up Q.2,3; poutst upon Q5; puttest up F; frownst upon Qi.
130. Misshapen . . . conduct] Going awry in the guidance.
131-2. powder . . . ignorance] Alluding to the danger in loading a matchlock gun. The soldier carried a flask of ordinary 'corned' gunpowder at the waist and, looped on the third finger of the left hand, a yard of match (lighted at both ends). Powder was poured into the barrel, primed with touchpowder, and the bullet rammed down. A spark" from the burning residue of the previous shot wight run back through the live powder and set off the flask in the soldier's hand; or the weapon would overheat after seven or eight shots so that the barrel itself might ignite the Powder on contact; or the lighted match on the left hand (with which he
steadied the gun barrel during loading) might ignite carelessly poured powder. (See C. G. Cruikshank, Elizabeth's Army, 1946, p. 106, T. R. Henn, The Living Image, 1972, pp. 91-2.) Cf. gunpowder images at n. vi. 9-11 and v. i. 63-5.
142. mishav'd] Crow (pp. 15-16) argues from Shakespeare's use of Haviour that mishav'd has the right to stand here; it is recorded in OED as in use in the sixteenth century in the sense of 'misbehaved'. F2 has a sullen which corrects the metre.
143. pouts] A common second person singular in Shakespeare (Abbott § 340). Sisson notes 'The copy clearly read pouts up which the compositor misread as the familiar phrase puts up (bears patiently). Had the copy read
182
romeo and juliet
[act m
HS
155
160
Go, get thee to thy love as was decreed, Ascend her chamber—hence, and comfort her. But look thou stay not till the Watch be set, For then thou canst not pass to Mantua, Where thou shalt live till we can find a time To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,       150 Beg pardon of the Prince and call thee back, With twenty hundred thousand times more joy Than thou wentst 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. My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come. Romeo. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide.
Nurse offers to go in and turns again. Nurse. Here sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir.
Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late. Exit. Romeo. How well my comfort is reviv'd by this. Friar L. Go hence, good night, and here stands all your
state: 165 Either be gone before the Watch be set, Or by the break of day disguis'd from hence. Sojourn in Mantua. I'll find out your man, And he shall signify from time to time Every good hap to you that chances here. 170
Give me thy hand. 'Tis late. Farewell. Good night. Romeo. But that a joy past joy calls out on me, It were a grief so brief to part with thee. Farewell. Exeunt.
151. the] Q2,4; thy QsJFi not in Qt. 158. the] Q2-4; this Qt; not in F.
161. S.D.] Qt; not in Qa-4,F. 16a. bid] Qx,3,F; bids Q4; bad Qt.
163. S.D.] Qi; not in Qs-4,F.     167. disguis'd] Q3A?; disguise Q2; not in Q/.j
poutst the error would hardly have been possible.'
150. blaze] proclaim in public.
sc. iv] romeo and juliet 183
[SCENE IV]
Enter Capulet, Lady Capulet and Paris.
Cap. Things have fallen out, sir, so unluckily
That we have had no time to move our daughter. Look you, she lov'd her kinsman Tybalt dearly, And so did I. Well, we were born to die. 'Tis very late. She'll not come down tonight. 5 I promise you, but for your company, I would have been abed an hour ago. Paris. These times of woe afford no times to woo.
Madam, good night. Commend me to your daughter. Lady Cap. I will, and know her mind early tomorrow. 10 Tonight she's mew'd up to her heaviness.
Paris offers to go in and Capulet calls him again. Cap. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender Of my child's love. I think she will be rul'd In all respects by me; nay, more, I doubt it not. Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed, 15 Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love, And bid her—mark you me ?—on Wednesday next— But soft—what day is this ? Paris. Monday, my lord.
Cap. Monday! Ha ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon.
A Thursday let it be, a Thursday, tell her, 20 She shall be married to this noble earl. Will you be ready ? Do you like this haste ?
Scene rv
Scene rv] Rowe; not in Q2-4,F,Qi. Location.] A room in Capulet's house.
Capell. S.D.] As Rowe; Enter old Capulet, his wife and Paris. Qs~4,F,Qi (subst.). 8. woo] Qz,3,F,Qi (wooe); woe Q4. 10. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Q2-4; Lady.
F; not in Qi. 11. she-'s] Qs; she is Q3,4J?; not in Qi.     S.D.] Qi; not in
Q2-4,F- 13- be] Qi,Q3,4,F; me Qs. 16. here of] Qz,4,F; hereof
Q3; with Qi; ear of JVC?.
a. move] persuade. literally hopeless in the circumstances
U. mew'd up] The mews were the we know but  Capulet does not;
hawk-houses in which hawks were Shakespeare stresses the arbitrary and
kept at night; cf. Shr., 1. i. 87. sudden change of Capulet's mind,
is. desperate tender] The tender is emphasized in the Qi S.D.
184
ROMEO and JULIET
[act hi
We'll 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'll have some half a dozen friends
And there an end. But what say you to Thursday? Paris. My lord, I would that Thursday were tomorrow. Cap. Well, get you gone. A Thursday be it then.
Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed,
Prepare her, wife, against this wedding day.
Farewell, my lord.—Light to my chamber, ho!
Afore me, it is so very late that we
May call it early by and by. Good night. Exeunt.
[SCENE V]
Enter Romeo and Juliet aloft at the window.
Juliet. Wilt thou be gone ? It is not yet near day. It was the nightingale and not the lark That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear. Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree. Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.
25
30
35
23. We'll] Qi,Q3,4& Well Qi?, Mommsen. not in F.
34. very] Qs-4; very very Qi;
Scene v
Scene v] Rowe; not in Qs-4,F,Qi. Location.] The Garden. Rowe; Juliet's Chamber looking to the Garden. Theobald. S.D.] Comb.; Enter Romeo and Iuliet aloft. Qs~4,F; Enter Romeo and Juliet at the window Qr.
27. half a dozen friends] Shakespeare is not following Brooke here; cf. rv. ii. 2 n., where he seems to be remembering Brooke again.
34. Afore me] Indeed (a light oath).
34-5. very . . . by] Proverbial; cf. Tw.N., n. iii. 1-10, especially 'Not to be abed after midnight is to be up betimes' (1-2).
Scene v
1-7. Wilt . . . nightingale] J. W.
Lever (Sh.S., 6, pp. 82-3) compares Eliot, Ortho-Epia, p. 149, where, after quoting lines on the lark (cf. 1. 22 n. below), Eliot has: 'Harke, harke, tis some other bird that sings now. / Tis a blacke-bird or a Nightingale. / The Nightingale sings not but evening and morning. / Where is she I pray thee? / Tis a Nightingale I heard her record. / Seest thou not her sitting on a sprig?'
3. fearful] timorous.
sc. v]
ROMEO and JULIET
185
Romeo. It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east. Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die.
Juliet. Yond light is not daylight, I know it, I. It is some meteor that the sun exhales To be to thee this night a torchbearer And light thee on thy way to Mantua. Therefore stay yet: thou need'st not to be gone.
Romeo. Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death, I am content, so thou wilt have it so. I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye, 'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow. 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.
Juliet. It is, it is. Hie hence, begone, away.
10
15
20
25
10. mountain] Qs,Qi; Mountaines Q3^. 13. exhales] Qi,Q3&F;
exhale Qs; exhaled Hosley. 19. yon] Qs,3,F,Qi; you Q4. the] Qi,Q3^; the the Qs.        20. brow] Qs~4,F,Qi; bow Collier*. 21. the] Qg-4; not
in F; oar. Qi.
7. envious] malicious.
9- Night's candles] The stars; cf. Mac., n. i. 4-5: 'There's husbandry in heaven; / Their candles are all out'.
13. meteor . . . exhales] Meteors were thought to be the product of corruption in the sublunary world (cf. Middleton, The Changeling, v. iii. '54-5: 'Beneath the stars, upon yon meteor / Ever hung my fate, 'mongst things corruptible'); they were contrasted to the pure and fixed stars and were of ill omen, as in Caes., n. i. 44: The exhalations, whizzing in the air'.
19. grey] Cf. 11. ii. 188: 'the grey-ey'd morn'.
20. reflex] reflection.
brow] forehead; cf. sH6, m. i. 155,
'cloudy brow', Cor., n. i. 50, 'the forehead of the morning', and Lr, n. ii. 103, 'Phoebus' front'. Collier's conjecture bow supposes a misprint in Q.2 because 'a brow would not occasion a pale reflex'; the crescent moon/bow image appeals to nineteenth-century taste.
22. vaulty heaven] J. W. Lever, Sh.S., 6, p. 82, compares Eliot's quotation from Du Bartas in Ortho-Epia, p. 147: 'La gentile Alouette auec son tyre-lire / Tire l'yre a l'ir6, & tiri-lyrant vire / Vers la voute du Ciel, puis son vol vers ce lieu / Vire, & desire dire, adieu Dieu, adieu Dieu.' Cf. also Sonnet 29.
23. care] desire.
l86 romeo and juliet [act hi
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps.
Some say the lark makes sweet division.
This doth not so, for she divideth us. 30
Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes.
O, now I would they had chang'd voices too,
Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,
Hunting thee hence with hunt's-up to the day.
0 now be gone, more light and light it grows. 35 Romeo. More light and light: more dark and dark our woes.
Enter Nurse hastily.
Nurse. Madam. Juliet. Nurse?
Nurse. Your lady mother is coming to your chamber.
The day is broke, be wary, look about. [Exit.] 40
Juliet. Then, window, let day in and let life out. Romeo. Farewell, farewell, one kiss and I'll descend.
He goes down.
Juliet. Art thou gone so ? Love, lord, ay husband, friend,
1 must hear from thee every day in the hour,
For in a minute there are many days. 45
35. light it] Qs-4,Qi; it light F. 36. S.D.] Qi (after I.jo); Enter Madame
and Nurse. Qs~4,F. 40. S.D.] Theobald; not in Qs~4JF,Qi.        4a. S.D.]
Qi (subst.); not in QS-4J?. 43. Love,. . . friend,] Qs~4,F; my Lord, my
Loue, my Frend? Qi; Love, Lord ah Husband, Friend Fs, Rowe.
29. division] execution of a rapid melodic passage in music (OED sb 7); with a quibble on the sense 'to separate'.
31. Some . . . eyes] Warburton notes that the toad has very fine eyes and the lark very ugly ones, and supposes this to be the source of the 'common saying among the people'.
33. affray] frighten.
34. hunt's-up] The morning song to awaken a newly married wife (Cot-grave) derived from the song originally used to wake huntsmen, and the name of a ballad for that occasion.
36. S.D.] The Q,2 reading probably
stands for 'Enter Nurse, calling Madame' in the MS. (Greg, First Folio, p. 230).
42. S.D. He goes down] Romeo uses the rope ladder; Juliet must then quickly pull it up again and conceal it.
43. ay] As it stands Q2 makes sense; friend means 'lover, paramour' as in Meas., 1. iv. 29: 'He hath got his friend with child'. Juliet uses ay as an intensifier. Elsewhere the affirmative is spelt / in Q,2; some editors choose F2's ah, some O1'8 mJ>> some suppose Qa's ay to mean 'ever', some print 'love-lord, aye husband-friend'.
sc. v] romeo and juliet 187
O, by this count I shall be much in years Ere I again behold my Romeo. Romeo. Farewell.
I will omit no opportunity
That may convey my greetings, love, to thee. 50 Juliet. O think'st thou we shall ever meet again ? Romeo. I doubt it not, and all these woes shall serve
For sweet discourses in our times to come. Juliet. O God, I have an ill-divining soul!
Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, 55
As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.
Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale. Romeo. And trust me, love, in my eye so do you.
Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu.
Exit.
Juliet. 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.
Enter Lady Capulet.
Lady Cap. Ho, daughter, are you up ?
Juliet. Who is't that calls ? It is my lady mother. 65 Is she not down so late, or up so early ? What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither?
She goeth down from the window.
51. think'st] Qs,Qi; thinkest Q34JF. 53- times] Qs; time Q3,4,F,Qi.
54- Juliet.] Qi,Q4f;Ro.Qs,3. 57. look'st] Qif; lookest Qs-4. 64. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Qs-4; Lad. F; Moth: Qi. 65. It is] Qs~4,Qi; Is it F.
67. hither] Qs,4f; either Q3; not in Qi.     S.D.] Qi; not in Qs-4^.
46. count] method of calculation. life and breath, / And drie with griefe
52-3. all . . . come] Proverbial; cf. was turnd into a stone'. Every sigh
Tifiey R 73. was supposed to draw away a drop of
54. Juliet] The catchword in Qa sig blood from the heart.
H3 is '/a. O' which supports Qi. 67. S.D. She . . . window] Juliet
59. Dry . . . blood] Cf. MND, ni. ii. withdraws at the upper level and de-
97: 'sighs of love that costs the fresh scends unseen, reappearing on the
blood dear'; and Marlowe, Tragedy of stage to answer her mother's repeated
Dido, n. i. 298-300: 'Theban Niobe, / call. The ensuing action is obviously
Who for her sonnes death wept out too important and powerful to be per-
l88 romeo and juliet [act m
Lady Cap. Why, how now Juliet ?
[Enter Juliet.]
Juliet. Madam, I am not well.
Lady Cap. Evermore weeping for your cousin's death ?
What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears ? 70
And 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. Juliet. Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss. Lady Cap. So shall you feel the loss but not the friend 75
Which you weep for. Juliet. Feeling so the loss,
I cannot choose but ever weep the friend. Lady Cap. Well, girl, thou weepst not so much for his death
As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him. Juliet. What villain, madam ?
Lady Cap. That same villain Romeo. 80
Juliet. Villain and he be many miles asunder. God pardon him. I do with all my heart. And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart.
Lady Cap. That is because the traitor murderer lives.
Juliet. Ay madam, from the reach of these my hands. 85 Would none but I might venge my cousin's death.
Lady Cap. We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not. Then weep no more. I'll send to one in Mantua, Where that same banish'd runagate doth live, Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dram go
68. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Qs-4; Lad. F; Moth: Qi. S.D.] William; not in Qe-4,F,Qi. 69. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Qs-4; Lad. F; Moth: Qi. 75. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Qs-4; Lad. F; not in Qi. 78. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Qs~4,F;
Moth: Qi. 80. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Qs-4; Lad. F; Moth: Qi. 8a. him] Q4; not in Qs,3JF,Qi. 84. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Qs-4; Lad. F; not in Qi.
murderer} Qs; not in Q3,4,F,Qi. 87. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Qs-4; Lad. F;
Moth: Qi.        90. unaccustom'd] Qs,3,F; accustom'd Q4; not in Qi.
formed at the upper level; the transition simply makes the main stage now Juliet's bedroom seen from the inside. 70-1. What. . . live] Cf. Brooke, 1.
1797-
74. feeling] heartfelt.
75. feel.. .friend] you will feel your
loss but not feel him, warm and alive.
77. friend] A quibble (i) cousin, (ii) lover.
88. Mantua] Lady Capulet cannot, naturalistically speaking, yet know Romeo's destination, for which he has set off only moments earlier.
sc. v]
romeo and juliet
189
That he shall soon keep Tybalt company;
And then I hope thou wilt be satisfied. Juliet. Indeed I never shall be satisfied
With Romeo, till I behold him—dead—
Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vex'd. 95
Madam, if you could find out but a man
To bear a poison, I would temper it—
That Romeo should upon receipt thereof
Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhors
To hear him nam'd, and cannot come to him 100
To wreak the love I bore my cousin
Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him. Lady Cap. Find thou the means and I'll find such a man.
But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl. Juliet. And joy comes well in such a needy time. 105
What are they, I beseech your ladyship ? Lady Cap. Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child;
One who to put thee from thy heaviness
Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy,
That thou expects not, nor I look'd not for. no Juliet. Madam, in happy time. What day is that ? Lady Cap. Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn
The gallant, young, and noble gentleman,
94. him—dead—] Pope; him. Dead Qs~4,F; him, dead Qi. 103. Lady Cap.] ed.; Mo. Qs-4 J?; var. Qi. 104. tidings] Qs,3f; tiding Q4; newes Qi.
106. I beseech] Q4; beseech Qs,3j*; not in Qi. 107. Lady Cap.] ed.; M.
Qs,3; Mo. Q4f; Moth: Qi. in. that] Qs-4,Qi; this F. 112. Lady
Cap.] ed.; M. Qs,3; Mo. Q4,F; Moth: Qi.
94. With . . . dead] Juliet intends to deceive her mother, as in other exchanges in this episode, but there is a further irony of which she is unaware: the next time she sees Romeo he is dead. Lady Capulet understands Juliet to mean 'I never shall be satisfied with Romeo till I behold him dead; dead is my poor heart so for a kinsman vexed,' but Juliet quibbles on be satisfied: (i) have enough of, (ii) be at peace over, and on kinsman: (i) husband, (ii) cousin. Her private meaning is: (1) "I never shall have enough of Romeo', (a) 'I never shall
be satisfied with Romeo till I behold him', (3) 'till I behold him, dead is my poor heart so for a kinsman vexed'.
97. temper] (i) mix, (ii) modify, reduce effect of.
106.1 beseech] Q4 perfects the metre.
107. careful] solicitous.
108. heaviness] grief.
no. expects] The second person singular can commonly be in this form; cf. 1. v. 8, or Ham., 1. iv. 53 ('Revisits').
in. in . . . time] how fortunate!
igO romeo and juliet [act hi
The County Paris, at Saint Peter's Church,
Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride. 115
Juliet. Now by Saint Peter's Church, and Peter too, He shall not make me there a joyful bride. I wonder at this haste, that I must wed Ere he that should be husband comes to woo. I pray you tell my lord and father, madam, 120
I will not marry yet. And when I do, I swear It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, Rather than Paris. These are news indeed.
Lady Cap. Here comes your father, tell him so yourself,
And see how he will take it at your hands. 125
Enter Capulet and Nurse.
Cap. When the sun sets the earth 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 litde body 130
Thou counterfeits 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,        135
115. happily] Qg,F; happly 0,3,4; mt Q'- there] Qg~4,Qi; not in F. n 9. woo] Q2-4; woe F; not in Qi. 124. Lady Cap.] ed.; M. Q.1,3; Mer. Q4; Mo. F; Moth: Qi. 126. earth] 0.2,3^; Ayre Q4; not in Qi. 128-9. It . . . downright. / How . . . tears] Q4,F; one line Qs,3; not in Qi. 131. counterfeits] Q2 (countefaits); counterfaits Q3,4,F; not in Qi. 135. thy] Q2-4; the F;
vat. Qi.
126. earth] Cf. Lucr., 1. 1226: 'But as the earth doth weep, the sun being set'; Spenser in The Shepheardes Calender, January, 1. 41, has 'And from mine eyes the ckizling teares descend', and Golding's Ovid, x, 5: 'His torch with drizling smoke / Was dim'. It is not plausible that MS. ayre could have been misread as earth.
129. conduit] Cf. Brooke, 11. 1805-6: 'So that my payned hart by conduites of the eyne / No more henceforth, as wont it was, shall gush forth dropping bryne'. City fountains were often
made in the form of a human figure, and there were several in Shakespeare's London; cf. 1. i. 83 and n.; also Tit., 11. iv. 29-30: 'And notwithstanding all this loss of blood— / As from a conduit with three issuing spouts', and Caes., n. ii. 76-9.
130-7. In . . . body] Cf. Tit., in. i. 222-30.
131. counterfeits] presentst a likeness of; cf. 1. 110 n.
bark] A generic term for any small sailing vessel; cf. v. iii. 118; Romeo's final image is ominously prepared for.
SC. V] ROMEO AND JULIET igj
Without a sudden calm will overset
Thy tempest-tossed body. How now, wife?
Have you deliver'd to her our decree ?
Lady 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. How? Will she none? Doth she not give us thanks? Is she not proud ? Doth she not count her blest, Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought So worthy a gentleman to be her bride ? 145
Juliet. Not proud you have, but thankful that you have. Proud can I never be of what I hate, But thankful even for hate that is meant love.
Cap. How, how, how, how ? Chopp'd logic ? What is this ? 'Proud' and 'I thank you' and 'I thank you not'       150 And yet 'not proud' ? Mistress minion you, Thank me no thankings nor proud me no prouds, But fetde your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next To go with Paris to Saint Peter's Church, Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither. 155 Out, you green-sickness carrion! Out, you baggage!
137. wife] Qs,3f,Qi; wise Q4. 139. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Q2-4; Lady. F;
Moth: Qi.   gives] giue Qg; not in Qi.      145. bride] Qg; Bridegroome
Qj^fF; not in Qi. 147. hate] Qg~4,Qi; have F. 149. How, how, how, how?] Qg (subst.); How now, how now Q3,4,F; not in Qi. Chopp'd] Qg~4,F (chopt); chop Qi.        151. And ... you] Qg~4; not in F; uar. Qi.
140. married . . . grave] Kittredge Sh. Soc. Reprint: 'Choplogyke is he thinks the phrase conventional, and that when his mayster rebuketh him compares Sidney, Arcadia (1590), sig. of hys fault he wyll geve him xx words 20T: 'Shee... assured her mother, she for one'. A chop-logic is a contentious, would first be bedded in her graue, sophistical arguer.
then wedded to Demagoras'. 151. minion] spoiled minx, hussy.
141. Take . . .you] Let me under- 153.fettle . . .joints]fettle - groom stand you. (of horses) (OED v 1); hence 'get
145. bride] In Shakespeare's time yourself ready'. bride could be used of a man. 156. green-sickness] Adjectival, from
149. Chopp'd logic] OED records the the noun denoting chlorosis, anaemia
verbal form of chop in such instances as in young women, hence, immature
Ye logyke chopped' and 'chopping and foolish. Polonius makes the same
logick'. Dowden cites Awdelay, Frater- criticism of his daughter in Ham., 1.
nitye of Vacabondes (1561), p. 15, New iii. 101.
192
romeo and juliet
[act in
sc. v]
romeo and juliet
193
165
You tallow-face! Lady Cap. Fie, fie. What, are you mad ?
Juliet. Good father, I beseech you on my knees.
She kneels down.
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 a 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. Nurse. God in heaven bless her.
You 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 'i' good e'en!
Nurse. May not one speak?
Cap. Peace, you mumbling fool!
Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl,
For here we need it not. Lady Cap. You are too hot. 175
157. You] Qs-4,F; out you Qi.    Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Qs-4; Lady. F; not in Qi.
158. S.D.] Qi; not in Qs~4,F. 160. Cap.] ed.; Fa. Qs~4,F; var. Qi. 170. Cap.] Qi; Fa. Qs-4^. 17»- gossips] Qs~4,Qi; gossip F. 172. Cap. O] Qi; Father, 6 Qs,3? {subst.); Fa. O Q4. 173. Nurse.] Q4; not in Qs,3f,Qi. Cap.] ed.; Fa. Qs~4,F; not in Qi. 174 bowl] Qs-4,Qi; bowles F. 175. Lady Cap.] ed.; Wi. Qs-4; La. F; Mo: Qi.
157. tallow-face] Juliet's pallor results from shock and weeping.
165. only child] Cf. 1. ii. 14-15,1. iii. 72 n.
168. hilding] jade.
169. rate] berate, upbraid.
171. Smatter] Pratde, chatter.
172. Cap.] Q.2 failed to recognize that in the MS. Father was a speech
prefix, hence on the next line Nurse seemed redundant as a speech prefix and was omitted. Evidendy Qi was not consulted. Cf. m. ii. 72 n., m. i. 90 n.
174. gravity] wise advice. gossip's bowl] i.e. when visiting your cronies.
Cap. God's bread, it makes me mad! Day, night, work, play, Alone, in company, still my care hath been To have her match'd. And having now provided A gentleman of noble parentage,
Of fair demesnes, youthful and nobly lign'd, 180
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,
To answer 'I'll not wed, I cannot love, 185
I am too young, I pray you pardon me!'
But, and you will not wed, I'll pardon you!
Graze where you will, you shall not house with me.
Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jest.
Thursday is near. Lay hand on heart. Advise. 190
And you be mine I'll give you to my friend;
176. Cap.] Qi; Fa. Qs-4 J?. 176-7. work, play, / Alone,] Hoppe; houre,
tide, time, worke, play, / Alone Qs~4,F; early, late, at home, abroad, / Alone, Qi; late, early, / At home, abroad, alone, Pope. 180. lign'd] This
ed., conj. Jenkins; liand Qs; allied Q3,4J?; trainde Qi; Iimb'd Hosley; lianc'd conj. Capell.
176. Cod's bread] i.e. bread consecrated in the Communion service.
176- 7. Day . . . company] Hoppe's emendation produces metrical regularity and is defended by Dover Wilson: 'the hand of Shakespeare, it seems, having written "Day, night", doodled with "houre, tide, time"; rejected each in turn; but omitted to score the rejects out, because the mind then flowed on without further difficulty' ('The New Way', p. 82). Cf. sH6, 1. i. 26-7: 'By day, by night, waking and in my dreams, / In courtly company or at my beads', which supports a decision to amend here in Rom.
177- 8. still . . . match'd] Cf. Lyly, Euphues, The Anatomy of Wit (ed. Bond), p. 227, 11. 17-18: 'Mine onely care hath bene hetherto to match thee'.
180. lign'd] Sisson comments: 'The liand of Q2 was easily misread by an unintelligent compositor for traind in
his copy', but Crow argues 'Shakespeare meant that the County was well connected, had noble "liens de famille", was nobly lien'd'. Jenkins doubts whether this is possible in English at this date, and supposes Shakespeare wrote lind or lignd (OED sb* iv b) past participle (adjective) from the noun line, often spelt ligne, in this sense. It goes with nobly. Hosley supposes a misreading of limd, finding the spelling Urns in Q2 at v. iii. 36.1 find Jenkins's suggestion a refinement of Crow's and so I adopt it. The fact that Paris is a highly suitable match in terms of family and social position is consistently stressed in the play.
181. Stuff'd] Cf. Ado, 1. i. 48. 184. mammet] puppet. fortune's tender] when good fortune is offered her.
190. Advise] Consider.
194 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT HI
And you be not, hang! Beg! Starve! Die in the streets! For by my soul I'll ne'er acknowledge thee, Nor what is mine shall never do thee good. Trust to't, bethink you. I'll not be forsworn.     Exit. 195 Juliet. Is there no pity sitting in the clouds That sees into the bottom of my grief?
0 sweet my mother, cast me not away, Delay this marriage for a month, a week,
Or if you do not, make the bridal bed 200 In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.
Lady Cap. Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word.
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee. Exit.
Juliet. O God, O Nurse, how shall this be prevented ?
My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven. 205
How shall that faith return again to earth
Unless that husband send it me from heaven
By leaving earth ? Comfort me, counsel me.
Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems
Upon so soft a subj ect as myself. 21 o
What sayst 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. Or if he do, it needs must be by stealth. 215 Then, since the case so stands as now it doth,
1 think it best you married with the County. O, he's a lovely gentleman.
Romeo's a dishclout to him. An eagle, madam,
Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye 220
As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart,
I think you are happy in this second match,
194. never] Q2,3,F; ever Q4,Qi. 202. Lady Cap.] ed.; Mo. Qs~4,F; Moth: Qi. 212-13. Faith ... is. / Romeo . . . nothing] F; one line in Q2-4; var. Qi. 215- by] Q.2,3yF; my Q4; not in Qi.
205. faith in heaven] i.e. my marriage vows are registered in heaven (faith — plighted faithfulness to Romeo).
206-8. How . . . earth] How can my
vows be revoked unless by Romeo's death?
209. stratagems] tricks, plots. 213. all . . . nothing] the odds are a million to one.
SC. V] ROMEO AND JULIET I95
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. 225
Juliet. Speakest thou from thy heart ?
Nurse. And from my soul too, else beshrew them both.
Juliet. Amen.
Nurse. What?
Juliet. Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much. 230 Go in, and tell my lady I am gone, Having displeas'd my father, to Laurence' cell, To make confession and to be absolv'd.
Nurse. Marry, I will; and this is wisely done. Exit.
Juliet. Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend, 235 Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn, Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue Which she hath prais'd him with above compare So many thousand times? Go, counsellor. Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain. 240 I'll to the Friar to know his remedy. If all else fail, myself have power to die. Exit.
225. here] Q2~4,F; hence Hanmer; not in Qi. 226. Speakest] Q.3,4J?;
Speakst Qs,Qi. 227. else] Q2; or else Q3,4,F,Qi.        234. S.D.] Q4; not
in Q2,3,F; She lookes after Nurse. Qi. 235. wicked] Qs-4^; cursed Qi. 236. Is it] Q2-4,Qi; It is F.
227. them both] i.e. my heart and 235. Ancient damnation] Wicked old soul. woman.
240. twain] separated.
[ACT IV] [SCENE I]
Enter Friar [Laurence] and Paris.
Friar L. On Thursday, sir ? The time is very short. Paris. My father Capulet will have it so,
And I am nothing slow to slack his haste. Friar L. You say you do not know the lady's mind.
Uneven is the course. I like it not. 5 Paris. Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt's death,
And therefore have I little talk'd of love,
For Venus smiles not in a house of tears.
Now sir, her father counts it dangerous
That she do give her sorrow so much sway, 10
And in his wisdom hastes our marriage
To stop the inundation of her tears
Which, too much minded by herself alone,
May be put from her by society.
Now do you know the reason of this haste. 15
Friar L. I would I knew not why it should be slow'd— Look sir, here comes the lady toward my cell.
Enter Juliet, act IV Scene 1
Scene i] Rowe; not in Q2~4,F,Qi. Location.] The Monastery. Rowe; Friar
Laurence's cell. Capell. S.D.] Qs~4,F,Qi (subst.) (Enter Frier and Countie Paris.). 7. talk'd] Qi; talke Qe-4f. 10. do] Qi; doth Q3,4,F,Qi- 17. toward] Qs; towards 0,3,4^; to Qi.
sheds no beneficent influence; house is the term for the twelve parts into which the heavens were divided, each with a sign of the zodiac identifying it.
13-14. too . . . society] Cf. the concern at Romeo's melancholy in 1. i. 135-4°-
2. father] i.e. prospective father-in-law.
3. nothing . . . haste] I am by no means reluctant, lest I check his haste.
8. Venus . . . tears] Quibbling on astrological terms: the planet Venus
196
SC. i]
romeo and juliet
20
25
30
Paris. Happily met, my lady and my wife. Juliet. That may be, sir, when I may be a wife. Paris. That may be, must be, love, on Thursday next. Juliet. What must be, shall be. Friar L. That's a certain text.
Paris. Come you to make confession to this father ? Juliet. To answer that, I should confess to you. Paris. Do not deny to him that you love me. Juliet. I will confess to you that I love him. Paris. So will ye, I am sure, that you love me. Juliet. If I do so, it will be of more price
Being spoke behind your back than to your face. Paris. Poor soul, thy face is much abus'd with tears. Juliet. The tears have got small victory by that,
For it was bad enough before their spite. Paris. Thou wrong'st it more than tears with that report. Juliet. That is no slander, sir, which is a truth,
And what I spake, I spake it to my face. Paris. Thy face is mine, and thou hast slander'd it. 35 Juliet. 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 ? Friar L. My leisure serves me, pensive daughter, now.—
My lord, we must entreat the time alone. 40 Paris. God shield I should disturb devotion.
Juliet, on Thursday early will I rouse ye;
Till then, adieu, and keep this holy kiss. Exit. Juliet. O shut the door, and when thou hast done so,
Come weep with me, past hope, past cure, past help! 45
33. no] Q2,3,F,Qi; not in Q4. 34. my] Qz-4,Qi; thy F. 40. we]
Q2-4,Qi; you F. 45. cure] Qi; care Qs-4,F.
21. What . . . be] Proverbial; cf. Tilley M 1331.
36. not . . . own] Juliet privately means that it belongs to Romeo.
38. evening mass] Possibly a literal rendering otmissa vespertina (NCS), or meant generally for divine service (rather than the mass, which is not normally celebrated in the evening).
40. entreat . . . alone] ask to be allowed privacy.
45. cure] Q.2's care in the less common sense 'oversight with a view to protection' (OED sb 4) might be acceptable, and a range of senses of care is played upon in Rs, rv. i. 194-9; still, cure, 'treatment directed towards recovery' (OED sb n 5 b) seems pre-
ig8 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT IV
Friar L. O 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.
Juliet. Tell me not, Friar, that thou hearest of this, 50 Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it. If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help, Do thou but call my resolution wise, And with this knife I'll help it presently. God join'd my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands; 55 And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo's seal'd, Shall be the label to another deed, Or my true heart with treacherous revolt Turn to another, this shall slay them both. Therefore, out of thy long-experienc'd time 60 Give me some present counsel, or behold: 'Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that Which the commission of thy years and art Could to no issue of true honour bring. 65 Be not so long to speak. I long to die If what thou speak'st speak not of remedy.
Friar L. Hold, daughter. I do spy a kind of hope Which craves as desperate an execution As that is desperate which we would prevent. 70 If, rather than to marry County Paris, Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, Then is it likely thou wilt undertake A thing like death to chide away this shame,
47. strains] Q2-4; streames F; not in Qi. 54. with this] Q3-4; with'his F; not in Qi. 56. Romeo's] Q2-4; Romeo F; not in Qi. 72. slay] Qi,Q4; stay Qs,3,F.
ferable, especially when taken with 1.      57. label] Literally, a supplementary 51's tell me how I may prevent it and rv.    codicil to a legal document (OED sb v. 65 below. There is a proverb, 'past   2), hence a deed cancelling the first cure past care', which is reversed in marriage. LLL, v. ii. 28 (Q_,F) indicating the      59. both] i.e. hand and heart, close association of the two words. 62. extremes] intense difficulties.
48. prorogue] postpone. 64. commission] authority deriving
54. presently] instantly. from.
SC. i] ROMEO AND JULIET 199
That cop'st with death himself to scape from it. 75
And if thou dar'st, I'll give thee remedy. Juliet. O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of any tower,
Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk
Where serpents are. Chain me with roaring bears, 80
Or hide me nightly in a charnel-house
O'ercover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones,
With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls.
Or bid me go into a new-made grave,
And hide me with a dead man in his shroud— 85
Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble—
And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love. Friar L. Hold then. Go home, be merry, give consent
To marry Paris. Wednesday is tomorrow; 90
Tomorrow night look that thou lie alone.
Let not the Nurse lie with thee in thy chamber.
Take thou this vial, being then in bed,
And this distilling liquor drink thou off;
When presently through all thy veins shall run 95
76. dar'st] F; darest Q2-4; doost Qi. 78. off] Qi; of Qa-4,F. any] Qs-4,F; yonder Qi. 81. hide] Qs~4,F; shut Qi. 83. chapless] Qr (chaples), Q4; chapels 0,2,3^. 85. shroud] Q4; graue F; not in Qs,3; var. Qi; tomb Williams, conj. Malone. 92.. the] Q2; thy Q,3,4,F,Qi. 94. distilling]
Qs-4,F; distilled Qi.
75. cop'st] associatest, facest. 79. thievish ways] paths infested with robbers.
81. charnel-house] a small building attached to a church in which were deposited skulls and bones found when digging new graves in the churchyard.
83. chapless] without the lower jaw.
85. shroud] Q.2 omits the final word of this line. Malone's conjecture tomb is repetitious, though distinguishing grave, the individual burial spot, from tomb, a structure above ground or a vault (v. ii. 29 has 'Poor living corse, clos'd in a dead man's tomb.'). Q_4's shroud is supported by rv. iii. 42-3: 'bloody Tybalt . . . festering in his
shroud' and v. iii. 97: 'Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?' The idea of sharing a shroud with a festering corpse is extremely gruesome and Italianate, certainly, but this is not therefore an objection, since the previous 11. 81-3 are also gruesome. In addition, shroud develops a new idea in the sequence beginning at 1. 77, whereas tomb or grave does not. The subterranean link of shroud with sheet suggests that Juliet will dare such a bed with such a partner rather than commit adultery and inwardly be 'stained'. The conceit is typical of character and author.
94. distilling] permeating the body (OED v 3).
200 romeo and juliet [act iv
A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse
Shall keep his native progress, but surcease:
No warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest,
The roses in thy hps and cheeks shall fade
To wanny ashes, thy eyes' windows fall 100
Like death when he shuts up the day of life.
Each part depriv'd of supple government
Shall stiff and stark and cold appear, like death,
And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death
Thou shalt continue two and forty hours 105
And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.
Now when the bridegroom in the morning comes
To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou, dead.
Then as the manner of our country is,
In thy best robes, uncover'd on the bier no
Thou shall be borne to that same ancient vault
Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie.
In the meantime, against thou shalt awake,
Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift
98. breath] Qi,Q3,4?; breast Q2. too. wanny] Hoppe, conj. Kellner; many 0.2,3?; paly Q4; not in Qi.     thy] Q2; the Q3,4,F; not in Qz. 101. shuts]
Q2-4; shut F; not in Qi. 110. In] Q3,4,F; Is Q2; not in Qi.
no-11. bier / Thou] Hanmer; Beere, Be borne to buriall in thy kindreds graue: / Thou Q2~4,F; var. Qi. 111. shall] Q2; shalt Q3,4,F; not in Qi.
96. humour] fluid.
97. native] natural.
99. roses . . .fade] When Romeo in v. iii. 95 sees crimson in Juliet's lips and cheeks, it is returning, not, as he thinks, about to fade.
100. wanny] I assume that the compositor was deceived by the spelling Too (= to) into misreading the first letter of the manuscript adjective. If the error is graphic, then the graphic outline of Q,2's many makes wany in Shakespeare's MS. plausible: wany is a variant of the Elizabethan adjective wanny = 'pale, pallid' (OED). Yet Q.4's reading is a very shrewd guess (as at 1. 85 above), and may well be right. Cf. Brooke, 1. 957, 'rak'd up, in ashes pale and ded'.
102. supple government] power of movement.
105. two and forty] McGinn (Fur-ness, p. 428) and Marsh (cited by Dowden) argue from calculations of the time scheme of the action that the figure should be two and fifty or two and thirty, respectively. It is possible that Shakespeare or the compositor made a slip for four and twenty. See Intro., p. 54.
109- 10. manner . . . bier] Cf. Brooke, 11. 2523-5.
110- ii. bier . . . vault] Qs's additional words are a first version accidentally printed.
113. against] in anticipation of the time when.
SC. Ii]
romeo and juliet
And hither shall he come, and he and I Will watch thy waking, and that very night Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua, And this shall free thee from this present shame, If no inconstant toy nor womanish fear Abate thy valour in the acting it.
Juliet. Give me, give me! O tell not me of fear.
Friar L. Hold. Get you gone. Be strong and prosperous In this resolve. I'll send a friar with speed To Mantua with my letters to thy lord.
Juliet. Love give me strength, and strength shall help afford. P'arewell, dear father.
201
"5
120
125 Exeunt.
[SCENE II]
Enter Capulet, Lady Capulet, Nurse and two or three Servingmen.
Cap. So many guests invite as here are writ.
[Exit Servingman.]
Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks. Ser. You shall have none ill, sir, for I'll try if they can
lick their fingers. Cap. How! Canst thou try them so ? 5 Ser. Marry sir, 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own
115-16. and he . . . waking,] Q2-4; not in F,Qi. 115. and he] Q.3,4; an
he Q2. 116. waking] §3,4; walking Q2. 119. toy] Q2,3,F; joy Q4;
not in Qi. 121. not me] Q2,3f; me not Q4; not in Qi.      fear] Q2-4;
care F; not in Qi.
Scene n
Scene n] Rowe; not in Q2~4,F,Qi. Location.] Hall in Capulet's house. Capell.
1. S.D.] Capell (subst.);-not in Q2~4,F,Qi.
119. inconstant toy] whim that inter- Shakespeare may be remembering
feres with your firmness; cf. Brooke, 1. Brooke, 11. 2281-7, or be emphasizing
2190. Capulet's impulsiveness; cunning =
skilled.
Scene n 6-7. 'tis . . . fingers] Proverbial (cf.
2. twenty cunning cooks] But in m. iv. Tilley C 636), for one who has no
Capulet planned a very small event, faith in his work. Kittredge notes a
202 romeo and juliet [act iv
fingers; therefore he that cannot lick his fingers goes not with me.
Cap. Go, be gone. Exit Servingman.
We shall be much unfurnish'd for this time. 10 What, is my daughter gone to Friar Laurence?
Nurse. Ay, forsooth.
Cap. Well, he may chance to do some good on her. A peevish self-will'd harlotry it is.
Enter Juldst.
Nurse. See where she comes from shrift with merry look.    15 Cap. How now, my headstrong: where have you been gadding?
Juliet. Where I have learnt me to repent the sin Of disobedient opposition To you and your behests, and am enjoin'd By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here, 20 To beg your pardon. Pardon, I beseech you. Henceforward I am ever ruPd by you.
She kneels down.
Cap. Send for the County, go tell him of this.
I'll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning. Juliet. I met the youthful lord at Laurence' cell, 25
And gave him what becomed love I might,
Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty. Cap. Why, I am glad on't. This is well. Stand up.
This is as't should be. Let me see the County.
Ay, marry. Go, I say, and fetch him hither. 30
9. S.D.] Qi; not in Qs~4,F. 17. me] Qs,3,F; not in Q4,Qi.
subsidiary meaning 'to lick one's fingers' =, sly and crooked profit-making.
10. unfurnish'd] unprepared in arrangements and provisions.
14. self-will'd] Q,2's spelling self-wield is eccentric but unambiguous; cf. 1H4, m. i. 198-9: 'a peevish / self will'd harlotry, one that no persuasion can do good upon'.
harlotry] good-for-nothing.
14. self-will'd] Qs-4,Qt; selfe-wild F. 22. S.D.] Qi; not in Qs~4,F.
24. tomorrow morning] Juliet's act of humility, on the Friar's instructions, has the unforeseen and disastrous effect of prompting Capulet to this impetuous advance of the day of marriage.
26. becomed] An adjective meaning 'befitting, becoming': the only example cited by OED is the present one. Perhaps a coinage.
sc. n]
romeo and juliet
203
Now afore God, this reverend holy Friar,
All our whole city is much bound to him. Juliet. Nurse, will you go with me into my closet,
To help me sort such needful ornaments
As you think fit to furnish me tomorrow ? 35 Lady Cap. No, not till Thursday. There is time enough. Cap. Go, Nurse, go with her. We'll to church tomorrow.
Exeunt Juliet and Nurse. Lady Cap. We shall be short in our provision,
'Tis now near night. Cap. Tush I will stir about,
And all things shall be well, I warrant thee, wife. 40
Go thou to Juliet, help to deck up her.
I'll not to bed tonight, let me alone.
I'll play the housewife for this once.—What ho!—
They are all forth. Well, I will walk myself
To County Paris, to prepare up him 45
Against tomorrow. My heart is wondrous light
Since this same wayward girl is so reclaim'd. Exeunt.
31. reverend holy] Qs-4,F; holy reuerent Qi. 36. Lady Cap.] ed.; Mo.
Qz-4,F; Moth: Qi. 37. Cap.] ed.; Fa. Qs~4,F; Capo: Qi. S.D.] Qi [subst.), F; Exeunt. Qg-4. 38. Lady Cap.] ed.; Mo. Qx~4,F; Moth: Qi. 39. Cap.] ed.; Fa. Qs~4,F; Capo: Qi. 45. up him] Qs-4; him up F; not in Qi.
31-2. Now . . . Aim] Cf. Brooke, 11. 2249-50.
33. closet] private room.
33-4. will... ornaments] Cf. Brooke, 11. 2234-5.
39.' Tis... night] Malone notes that in in. v Romeo parted at daybreak; Juliet went immediately afterwards to the Friar, where he supposes she could have stayed no longer than two hours; she is now just returned, yet it is near night. Clarke suggests that the mention of evening mass, the Friar's directions
for action tomorrow night, and Capu-let's talk of preparations for the wedding which has been advanced to tomorrow, all prepare the mind for the accelerated passing of time which underscores the accelerating action; cf. iv. i. 105 n.
45. up him] Some editors find the F reading preferable since the pronoun is not emphatic. NCS compares Tp., nr. iii. 56: 'to belch up you', and 1. 41 above, and cites Franz 444.
204 romeo and juliet [act iv
[SCENE III]
Enter Juliet and Nurse.
Juliet. Ay, those attires are best. But, gentle Nurse, I pray thee leave me to myself tonight, For I have need of many orisons To move the heavens to smile upon my state, Which, well thou know'st, is cross and full of sin. 5
Enter Lady Capulet.
Lady Cap. What, are you busy, ho ? Need you my help ? Juliet. No madam, we have cull'd such necessaries
As are behoveful for our state tomorrow.
So please you, let me now be left alone
And let the Nurse this night sit up with you, 1 o
For I am sure you have your hands full all
In this so sudden business. Lady Cap. Good night.
Get thee to bed and rest, for thou hast need.
Exeunt [Lady Capulet and Nurse]. Juliet. Farewell. God knows when we shall meet again.
I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins 15
That almost freezes up the heat of life.
I'll call them back again to comfort me.
—Nurse!—What should she do here ?
My dismal scene I needs must act alone.
Come, vial. 20
What if this mixture do not work at all ?
Scene m
Scene hi] Rowe; not in Qs-4,F,Qi. Location.] Juliet's chamber. Rome.
5. know'st] F; knowest Q2-4; not in Qi. S.D.] Rouie; Enter Mother.
Qs-4,F,Q~i. 6. Lady Cap.] ed.; Mo. Qa-4,F; Moth: Qi. 12. Lady Cap.] ed.; Mo. Qs~4,F; Moth: Qi. 13. S.D.] Capell; Exeunt. Qs~4,F; Exit. Qi.
16. life] Q2-4; fire F; not in Qi. 20-1.] As Hanmer; one line in Qx-4,F;
var. Qi.
1-5. But... sin] A close imitation of   and coldness. Brooke, 11. 2325-33. 21. What . . . all] Gf. Brooke, 11.
3. orisons] prayers. 2361-2. 15. faint cold] causing faintness
sc. Hi]       f ROMEO AND JULIET 205
Shall I be married then tomorrow morning? No! No! This shall forbid it. Lie thou there.
[She lays down a knife.] What if it be a poison which the Friar Subtly hath minister'd to have me dead, 25 Lest in this marriage he should be dishonour'd, Because he married me before to Romeo? I fear it is. And yet methinks it should not, For he hath still been tried a holy man. How if, when I am laid into the tomb, 30 I wake before the time that Romeo Come to redeem me ? There's a fearful point! Shall I not then be stifled in the vault, To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in, And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes ? 35 Or, if I live, is it not very like, The horrible conceit of death and night Together with the terror of the place, As in a vault, an ancient receptacle Where for this many hundred years the bones 40 Of all my buried ancestors are pack'd, Where bloody Tybalt yet but green in earth Lies festering in his shroud; where, as they say, At some hours in the night spirits resort— Alack, alack! Is it not like that I 45 So early waking, what with loathsome smells, And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth,
22. Shall. . . morning?] Qg~4,F; Must I of force be married to the Countie? Qi. 23. S.D.] Johnson (subst.); not in Qs-4,F,Qi. 40. this] Q2; these Q34JP; not in Qi.
33-5- Shall... comes] A close imitation of Brooke, 11. 2370-6.
37. conceit of] fantastic thought aroused by.
39-41. vault. . . pack'd] Cf. Brooke, U. 2371-4.
42. green in earth] freshly buried. Possibly quibbling on the colour.
44. spirits] Cf. Brooke, 11. 2392-3.
47. mandrakes] The mysterious properties attributed to the mandrake plant are many and ancient, among
the most prominent being the belief that when dug up it shrieked. By some accounts this was fatal to whoever heard it (cf. 2H6, nr. ii. 310: 'Would curses kill as doth the mandrake's groan'), by others it induced madness (cf. Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, n, v. 1-2). Sir Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errors, n. 6, remarks that the notion that mandrakes shriek is ridiculous, 'arising perhaps from a small and stridulous
2o6
romeo and juliet
[act rv
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad—
O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught,
Environed with all these hideous fears, 50
And madly play with my forefathers'joints,
And pluck the mangled Tybalt from his shroud,
And, in this rage, with some great kinsman's bone
As with a club dash out my desperate brains ?
O look, methinks I see my cousin's ghost 55
Seeking out Romeo that did spit his body
Upon a rapier's point! Stay, Tybalt, stay!
Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, here's drink! I drink to thee!
She falls upon her bed within the curtains.
49. O . . . wake] Hammer; O . . . walke 0,2,3^; Or . . . wake Q4; var. Qi. 51. joints] Q2,3,F; joynes Q4; bones Qi. 57. a] Q2-4; my F; not in Qi.
58. Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, here's drink!] 0,2-4^ (subst.); Romeo I come, this doe Qi; Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, Knight2, conj. Dyce; Romeo, Romeo, heeres drinke, Williams, conj. Nicholson. S.D.] Qi; not in Q2~4,F.
noise, which being firmly rooted, it maketh upon divulsion of parts'. He notes, and dismisses, the belief that they grow under gallows and places of execution. J. J. Munro, op. cit., p. xvii, cites Sir B. W. Richardson's opinion (after experimentation) that a certain kind of Greek mandrake, called death-wine by the ancient Greeks, could have served as the source of the potion used by Juliet. The Greeks used it for surgical operations as we use chloroform, 'a dose having the effect of causing apparent death'.
49. wake] 0_2's error walke is paralleled by iv. i. 116.
58. Romeo . . . thee] Qi is attractive as an anticipation of Antony's 'Eros! I come, my queen.—Eros! Stay for me' (Ant., rv. ii. 50). Dyce suggests that a marginal S.D. here drinke was fitted in-
to the dialogue. A minimal emendation to secure metrical regularity is often adopted, but I would argue that the extra-long line is deliberate, expressive of frenzied emotion.
58. S.D. bed . . . curtains] The Qi directions do not indicate whether the bed is brought on for the scene (the simplest solution) or whether the curtains are those of an opening in the tiring-house facade, or whether a projecting, curtained structure was used. The tomb will occupy the same area of the stage in Act v: but it must be large enough to accommodate several bodies which must be visible to the audience. It will probably need to be larger than the bed, and could be erected after v. i: it does not need to be dismantled before the play ends.
sc. iv] ROMfEO and juliet 207
[SCENE IV]
Enter Lady Capulet and Nurse.
Lady 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 bak'd meats, good Angelica: 5
Spare not for cost. Nurse. Go, you cot-quean, go,
Get you to bed. Faith, you'll be sick tomorrow
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. 1 o
Lady Cap. Ay, you have been a mouse-hunt in your time;
Scene rv
Scene rv] Rowe; not in Q2~4,F,Qi. Location.] A Hall. Rowe. S.D.] Q.2-4,F (Enter Lady of the house, and Nurse.); Enter Nurse with hearbs, Mother. Qi. 1. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Q2-4; Lady. F; Moth: Qr. 6. Nurse.] Q2~4,F,Qi; La. Cap. I Singer, conj. Jackson. 10. lesser] Q2; lesse 0,3,4 J?; mtQ'- 1 1. Lady Cap.] ed.; La. Q2~4,F; Moth: Qi.
2. pastry] place where pastry is made.
3. second cock] 3 a.m. Tusser, Husbandry (1573), says cocks crow 'At midnight, at three, and an hower ere day'.
4. curfew bell] The same bell that rings the curfew rings at morning light.
6. Nurse.] Ascription of this speech to the Nurse has been disputed by Z. Jackson on the grounds that she would not dare to call her master a cot-quean, a man who meddles with domestic affairs. Yet the touch of vulgarity suggests the Nurse, and it is wholly consistent with the presentation of the domestic affairs and manners of the Capulet household that he
should involve himself and that she should banter with her master. There is doubt about which of the women is called Angelica. Spencer suggests that if Capulet is addressing the Nurse, the effect might be comic, 'for Angelica was the pagan princess of exquisite beauty and heartless coquetry who came to sow dissension among the Christian princes in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso'.
8. watching] lack of sleep.
11. a . . . time] a prowler in your rakish youth (like a cat at night). Mouse was an amorous term for woman, as in Ham., in. iv. 183: 'Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse'.
208 romeo and juliet [act iv
But I will watch you from such watching now.
Exeunt Lady Capulet and Nurse. Cap. A jealous-hood, a jealous-hood!
Enter three or four Servingmen with spits and logs and baskets.
Now fellow, what is there? / Ser. Things for the cook, sir, but I know not what. Cap. Make haste, make haste! [Exit i Servingman.]
—Sirrah, fetch drier logs!   15 Call Peter, he will show thee where they are. 2 Ser. I have a head, sir, that will find out logs
And never trouble Peter for the matter. Cap. Mass and well said! A merry whoreson, ha.
Thou shalt be loggerhead! [Exit 2 Servingman.]
—Good faith! 'Tis day! 20 Play music.
The County will be here with music straight, For so he said he would. I hear him near. Nurse! Wife! What ho! What, Nurse I say!
Enter Nurse.
Go waken Juliet, go, and trim her up.
I'll go and chat with Paris. Hie, make haste,
25
13. hood! . . . there?] As Capell; one line prose Q3-4; hood, / Now . . . there? F; var. Qi.     what is] Q3-4; what F; var. Qi. 14. j Ser.] ed.; Fel. Qs~4,F;
Ser: Qi. 15. S.D.] Capell; not in Qs~4,F,Qi. 17. 3 Ser.] ed.; Fel.
Q*-4>F; Ser: Qi. ao. S.D. [Exit 3 Servingman.]] Camb.; not in Q3-4JF.Q1.
faith] Q4; father Qg,3f; not in Qi. V  *' 'W
13. jealous-hood] OED suggests either hood as the type of the female head, or alluding to the use of a hood as a disguise for a jealous spy; cf. madcap, sly-boots. Capulet is chording at his wife's quick response to his boasts of youthful amorous escapades; perhaps the -hood suffix means simply 'your quality (as a jealous wife)', as in ladyhood, knighthood, as Harold Brooks suggests, privately.
17./... logs] He means 'I am good at finding logs'; the other sense is 'I am a blockhead'.
20. loggerhead] blockhead. Capulet makes the obvious punning jest.
faith] NCS suppose faith in the MS. was misread as fath. The oath good father does not occur elsewhere in Shakespeare. Cf. m. v. 172 n.
21. straight] immediately.
sc. v] romeo and juliet 209
Make haste! The bridegroom he is come already. Make haste I say.        [Exeunt Capulet and Servingmen.]
[Scene V]
[Nurse goes to curtains.] Nurse. Mistress! What, mistress! Juliet! Fast, I warrant her, she.
Why, lamb, why, lady, fie! You slug-abed!
Why, love I say! Madam! Sweetheart! Why, bride!
What, not a word ? You take your pennyworths now.
Sleep for a week; for the next night, I warrant, 5
The County Paris hath set up his rest
That you shall rest but little! God forgive me!
Marry and amen. How sound is she asleep!
I needs must wake her. Madam, madam, madam!
Ay, let the County take you in your bed, 1 o
He'll fright you up, i'faith. Will it not be?
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!
26-7.] As F; one line in Q3-4; not in Qi.       27. S.D.] Rowe; not in Qg-4,F,Qi.
Scene v
Scene v] Pope; not in Qa-4^,Qi. Location.] Scene draws and discovers Juliet on a bed. Rowe; Juliet's chamber; the curtains closed about the bed. NCS. S.D.] Spencer; Undraws the curtains. Camb. (I. 11); Enter Nurse. Hanmer; not in Qs-4f,Qt. 9. needs must] Qs; must needs Q3^; must Qi.
5. D.] It is convenient to mark a new scene for ease of reference, but the Nurse has not in fact left the stage; cf. 1. v. 1 and n., n. ii. 1 and n.
1. Fast] fast asleep. 2-3. lamb . . . sweetheart] Cf. 1. iii. 3-4 and n. 4. pennyworths] small allowances.
6. set . . . rest] determined; with quibbles on (i) the phrase from card-play meaning 'to stake everything'; (ii) take a rest, relax; (iii) take up one's abode, as in Lodge, Rosalynde (1590, ed. Greg, 1907, p. 51): 'Aliena resolved there to set up her rest . . . and so became mistress of the farm'; (iv) the term for preparing to fire the musket, where a support was fixed in
the ground, on which the heavy barrel was rested before taking aim— this yields bawdy applications like those on 'shooting' in LLL, rv. i. 101-32; (v) Partridge, sv set up, supposes an allusion to couching a lance for the charge in tilting, but he concurs in finding a bawdy innuendo. The jest on setting up rest to prevent rest also occurs in Nashe, Terrors of the Night, Works, 1. 384, 1. 34; and cf. Mer.V., 11. ii. 95: 'I have set up my rest to run away'.
7. God forgive me] The Nurse apologizes for her lewd jest; cf. 1. iii. 2-4; there are further bawdy quibbles on takeyou (1. 10) andfrightyouup (1. n).
2io romeo and juliet [act iv
O weraday that ever I was born. 15
Some aqua vitae, ho! My lord! My lady!
Enter Lady Capulet.
Lady Cap. What noise is here ?
Nurse. O lamentable day!
Lady Cap. What is the matter ?
Nurse. Look, look.' O heavy day!
Lady Cap. O me, O me! My child, my only life.
Revive, look up, or I will die with thee. 20
Help, help! Call help!
Enter Capulet.
Cap. For shame, bring Juliet forth, her lord is come. Nurse. She's dead, deceas'd! She's dead! Alack the day! Lady Cap. Alack the day! She's dead, she's dead, she's dead! Cap. Ha! Let me see her. Out alas. She's cold, 25
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 the field. Nurse. O lamentable day!
Lady Cap. O woeful time! 30
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 and Musicians.
Friar L. Come, is the bride ready to go to church ? Cap. Ready to go, but never to return.
15. weraday] Qs; weleaday Q3; weladay Q4,F; alack the day Qi. 16. S.D]
Camb.; Enter Mother. F,Qi; not in Qs-4. 17. Lady Cap.] ed.; Mo. Qs~4,F;
notinQi.        18. Lady Cap.] ed.; Mo. Q2-4J?; Moth: Qi. 19. Lady Cap.]
ed.; Mo. Qs~4,F; not in Qi. 22. Cap.] Qi; Fa. Qs~4,F. 24. Lady Cap.] ed.; M. Qs,3,F; Mo. Q4; Nut: Qi. 25. Cap.] Qi; Fa. Qs~4,F. 30. Lady Cap.] ed.; Mo. Qs-4,F; not in Qi. 31. Cap.] ed.; Fa. Qs~4,F; not in Qi.
32. S.D.] Q4 (subst.); Enter Frier and the Countie. Qs,3,F,Qi (subst.). 34. Cap.] Qi; Fa. Qs~4,F.
15. weraday] alas.
16. aqua vitae] brandy; cf. in. ii. 88. 28-9. Death . . .field] Cf. Marlowe,
Jew of Malta, 1. 621-3: 'A faire young
maid scarce 14 yeares of age, / The sweetest flower in Citherea's field, / Cropt from the pleasures of the fruitful earth'.
sc. v]
romeo and juliet
O son, the night before thy wedding day
Hath Death lain with thy wife. There she lies,
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. Paris. Have I thought long to see this morning's face,
And doth it give me such a sight as this ? Lady Cap. Accurs'd, unhappy, wretched, hateful day.
Most miserable hour that e'er time saw
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 catch'd it from my sight. Nurse. O woe! O woeful, woeful, woeful day.
Most lamentable day. Most woeful day
That ever, ever I did yet behold.
O day, O day, O day, O hateful day.
Never was seen so black a day as this.
O woeful day, O woeful day. Paris. BeguiPd, divorced, wronged, spited, slain.
Most detestable Death, by thee beguil'd,
By cruel, cruel thee quite overthrown.
O love! O life! Not life, but love in death! Cap. Despis'd, distressed, hated, martyr'd, kill'd.
Uncomfortable time, why cam'st thou now
To murder, murder our solemnity ?
211 35
40
45
50
55
60
36. There] Q_s-4Jf; see, where Oj. 41. long] Qj,Q_3,4JF; loue 0_s.
43. Lady Cap.] ed.; Mo. Q.3-4J?; var. Qj. 46. loving] Qs-jf; living
Johnson 1771; not in Qi. 49-50.] All at once cry out and wring their hands\A& cry: And all our joy, and all our hope is dead,/Dead, lost, undone, absented, wholy fled, Qi. 59. Cap.] ed.; Fat. Q2-4JF; var. 0_i.
36. Death ... wife] Cf. v. iii. 102-5.
41. long] This is in Brooke (1. 2274) and in Q,i, and develops the impression of emotional impatience felt by Paris, though of course in the play the period of waiting for the wedding day has been short; cf. rv. ii. 39 n.
45. lasting labour] unceasing toil.
49-64, O woe... buried] Probably, as White suggests, a parody of Jasper Heywood's translation of Seneca's
tragedies (1581); cf. MND, v. i. 168-79. Q.1 dialogue differs, divided between Paris (8), Cap. (2), All cry (2), Cap. (5), Cap. (5), Moth. (5). Thus only two lines are spoken in chorus.
55. Begut7V]Disappointed, cheated, of a hoped-for future.
60. Uncomfortable] Devoid of consolation.
61. solemnity] ceremony (of marriage), festal occasion.
212
romeo and juliet
[act iv
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.
Friar L. Peace, ho, for shame. Confusion's cure lives not 65 In these confusions. Heaven and yourself Had part in this fair maid, now heaven hath all, And all the better is it for the maid. Your part in her you could not keep from death, But heaven keeps his part in eternal life. 70 The most you sought was her promotion, For 'twas your heaven she should be advanc'd, And weep ye now, seeing she is advanc'd Above the clouds, as high as heaven itself? O, in this love you love your child so ill 75 That you run mad, seeing that she is well. She's not well married that lives married long, But she's best married that dies married young. Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary On this fair corse, and, as the custom is, 80 All in her best array bear her to church. For though fond nature bids us all lament, Yet nature's tears are reason's merriment.
Cap. All things that we ordained festival
65. cure] Theobald; care Q2-4J?; not in Qi. 72. should] Q2-4; shouldst
F; not in Qi. 81. All in] Rowt; And in Qs-if; In all Qi. 82. fond] F2; some Qs-4^; not in Qi. us all] Q2-4; all us F; not in Qi. 84. Cap.] id.; Fa. Q2-4JF; var. Qz.
65. Confusion's] Calamity's.
66. confusions] uncontrolled outbursts.
67. maid] The Friar coolly preserves the secret of the marriage.
69. Tour part] i.e. her mortal body.
71. promotion] advancement to the happiest state possible.
72. For... advanc'd] For it was your idea of bliss she should be advanced in rank (i.e. by marrying Paris).
76. well] A proverbial saying (Tilley H 347); cf. Ant., 11. v. 31-2: 'we use / To say the dead are well', Mac., rv. iii. 177, 179-
79. rosemary] The herb was a symbol of remembrance (cf. Ham., rv. v.
172-3) and was used at funerals, as well as weddings (the Nurse associates rosemary with Romeo in n. iv. 202-3).
80-1. custom ... church] Cf. rv. i. 109 and n.
82. fond] weak and foolish, indulgent. The Q.2-4, F reading some makes nonsense but might be a misreading of a manuscript fond.
nature] natural affection.
83. Yet . . . merriment] Natural affection prompts us all to lament, yet reason bids us rejoice; cf. Tw.N., 1. v. 61-6.
84. festival] i.e. for festal purposes (adjectival form).
sc. v]
romeo and juliet
213 85
Turn from their office to black funeral:
Our instruments to melancholy bells,
Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast;
Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change,
Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse,
And all things change them to the contrary. 90 Friar 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;
Move them no more by crossing their high will. 95 Exeunt all but the Nurse and Musicians, casting rosemary on Juliet and shutting the curtains. 1 Mus. Faith, we may put up our pipes and be gone. Nurse. Honest good fellows, ah put up, put up,
For well you know this is a pitiful case. / Mus. Ay, by my troth, the case may be amended.
Exit Nurse.
Enter Peter.
95. S.D.] ed.; Exeunt manet. Qs,3; Exeunt manent Musici. Q4; Exeunt. F; They all but the Nurse goe foorth, casting Rosemary on her and shutting the Curtens. Qi.
96. / Mus.] ed.; Musi. Q.2-4; Mu. F; not in Qi. 99. / Mus.] ed.; Fid. Q2-4; Mu. F; 1. Qi. by my] Qi,Q3,4,F; my my Q2. S.D. Exit Nurse.] Qi; Exit omnes Qa; Exeunt omnes. Q3& not in F. S.D. Peter] Q4,F; Will Kemp. Qa,3; Seruingman Qi.
86-9. Our . . . corse] Cf. Brooke, 11. 2507-14.
87. cheer] banquet.
88. solemn] fitting to the ceremony (here, a wedding). Cf. Malory, Arthur, vn. xxxvi. 270: 'The Bisshop of Caunterbury made the weddyng . . . with grete sollempnytee' (OED).
94. ill] sin (which you have committed).
95. S.D.] The Qi version of this scene is very garbled, preserving only fragments of the Q.2 dialogue and an outline of the action; this S.D. may record a detail of an original and authentic production, however.
96. put . . . pipes] The use of the phrase does not imply that the musicians are pipers: it was proverbial
(Tilley P 345) for 'desist', 'pack up'; the jest occurs in Nashe, Summer's Last Will, Works, m. 263, where Harvest leads out his chorus of reapers and says 'We were as good euen put vp our pipes, and sing Merry, merry, for we shall get no money'. The Musicians are identified (11. 127 ff.) by generic names, as strings: possibly one of them doubles as a singer (see 1. 134).
98. case] state of affairs.
99. case . . . amended] Quibbling on (i) case in 1. 98, (ii) the fiddler's instrument case which needs repair, (iii) the proverb (Tilley Cm) 'The case is altered'.
S.D.] Dover Wilson speculates that Q2's Exit omnes indicates that what follows is a later addition, possibly by
214 ROMEO and JULIET [aOT IV
Peter. Musicians, O musicians, 'Heart's ease', 'Heart's 100 ease'! O, and you will have me live, play 'Heart's ease'.
i Mus. Why'Heart's ease'?
Peter. O musicians, because my heart itself plays 'My
heart is full'. O play me some merry dump to 105 comfort me.
1 Mus. Not a dump we! 'Tis no time to play now. Peter. You will not then? 1 Mus. No.
Peter. I will then give it you soundly. no 1 Mus. What will you give us?
Peter. No money, on my faith, but the gleek! I will give
you the minstrel. 1 Mus. Then will I give you the serving-creature. Peter. Then will I lay the serving-creature's dagger on 115
100. Peter.'] Qs~4,F; Ser: Qz (to end of scene). 103. z Mus.] ed.; Fidler. Q2-4; Mu. F; not in Qz. 105. full] Qs,3,F; full of woe Q4; not in Qz. 105-6. O play ... me] Qg-4; not in F; var. Qz. 107. 1 Mus.] ed.; Minstrels. Q2-4;
Mu. F; z. Qz. 109. / Mus.] ed.; Minst. Qs; Min. Q34; Mu. F; 1. Qz.
in. / Mus.] ed.; Minst. Qs; Min. Q3,4; Mu. F; z. Qz. 114-1 Mus.] ed.;
Minstrel. Qs; Min. Q34; Mu. F; not in Qz. 115. lay] Qs,3,F; say Q4; not
in Qz.
Nashe. Spencer notes that 1. 99 sounds like an exit line. The parallels with Nashe are strong, but not peculiar to this passage. The Q2 reading Enter Will Kemp might indicate that if this was an addition it was designed for Kemp's benefit. Will Kemp played Peter and was famous in comic parts; he was a sharer in the company; see Intro., p. 14.
100. Heart's ease] A popular song of the time; the words are lost, the tune is preserved in Playford, The English Dancing Master (1651), and is reprinted in E. W. Naylor, Shakespeare and Music (1896), p. 193.
104-5. 'My . . .full'] Q4 offers to complete a song-tide; Steevens identifies it with 'A Pleasant New Ballad of
Two Lovers' which has a line 'Hey hoe! my heart is full of woe!' The date of the song is not demonstrably early enough to make the conjecture certain; NCS notes (in defence of preferring Q4) 'probably the foul papers gave enough to remind the prompter, or Kemp, what should be quoted'.
105. dump] A dismal tune; Peter makes a contradiction in terms.
no. soundly] thoroughly (with a quibble on sound, as they are musicians).
112. gleek] gesture of contempt.
113. minstrel] A contemptuous term, many minstrels being vagabonds; cf. in. i. 45.
SC. v]
ROMEO and JULIET
215
your pate. I will carry no crotchets. I'll re you, I'll fa you. Do you note me ? / Mus. And you re us and fa us, you note us. 2 Mus. Pray you put up your dagger and put out your wit. Peter. Then have at you with my wit. I will dry-beat you 120 with an iron wit, and put up my iron dagger. Answer me like men.
'When griping griefs the heart doth wound, And doleful dumps the mind oppress, Then music with her silver sound'— 125
Why 'silver sound' ? Why 'music with her silver sound' ? Wrhat say you, Simon Catling? / Mus. Marry, sir, because silver hath a sweet sound. Peter. Prates. What say you, Hugh Rebeck? 2 Mus. I say 'silver sound' because musicians sound for    130 silver.
118. z Mus.] ed.; Minst. Qs; Min. Q3,4; Mu. F; z. Qz. 119. s Mus.] ed.; s. M. Qs-4,F; not in Qz. 120. Peter. Then ... I] Q4; Then . . . wit. Peter. I Qs,3,F; var. Qz. 123-5. When . . . sound] As verse Qz; as prose Qs-4^.
124. And . . . oppress] Qz; not in Qs-4^. 128. / Mus.] ed.; Minst. Qs;
Min. Q3,4; Mu. F; z. Qz. 129. Prates] Qs; Pratest Q3,F; Pratee Q4;
Pretie Qz. 130. s Mus.] ed.; s. M. Qs~4,F; s. Qz.
116. carry . . . crotchets] endure none of your quirks (with a quibble on the term in music for a quarter-note).
116-17. n • • - ft] Names of notes in the musical scale used comically as verbs.
117. note] pay attention and understand (with an obvious quibble).
n8.jioa note us] NCS explains 'Tou and us are emphatic'.
119. put out] display, put forth.
120. dry-beat] thrash; cf. in. i. 78; possibly quibbling on dry = stupid as in AYL, 11. vii. 38-40.
121. iron wit] Cf. Nashe, Unfortunate Traveller, Works, n. 261, 1. 24; Peter presumably means 'strong'.
123-5. 'When . . . sound1] The opening of a poem 'In commendation of Musick' by Richard Edwardes (1523-66) which appears in The Paradyse of Dqynty   Deuises   (1576). Keyboard
music for 'When griping griefs' is included in Denis Stevens, The Mulliner Book (1951). Greg supports Qi: Shakespeare 'did not trouble to write more than the first and last lines of this popular stanza' (The Editorial Problem, p. 62).
125. silver sound] Cf. Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller, Works, n. 222, 1. 6: 'This siluer-sounding tale made such sugred harmonie in his eares that ... he could haue found in his hart to haue packt vp hys pipes and to haue gone to heauen without a bait'.
127. Catling] 'A small lute-string' (Steevens).
129, 132. Prates] Q_2 makes good sense. [He] prates serves the purpose better than the supposedly ironic Pretty, which is from Qi, and an easier reading.
129. Rebeck] An early kind of fiddle.
2l6
romeo and juliet
[ACT TV
Peter. Prates too. What say you, James Soundpost ?
3 Mus. Faith, I know not what to say.
Peter. O, I cry you mercy, you are the singer. I will say
for you. It is 'music with her silver sound' because 135 musicians have no gold for sounding.
'Then music with her silver sound
With speedy help doth lend redress.' Exit.
1 Mus. What a pestilent knave is this same.
2 Mus. Hang him, Jack. Come, we'll in here, tarry for 140
the mourners, and stay dinner. Exeunt.
132. Prates] Qg; Pratest Q3,F; Pratee Q4; Prettie Qi. 133.3 Mu*-] ed-;
3. M. Q2-4; 3. Ma. F; 3. Qr. 139. 1 Mus.] ed.; Min. Q2-4; Mu. F; var. Qi. 140. 3 Mus.] ed.; M. 2. Q2~4,F; 1. Qi.
132. Soundpost] 'A small peg of wood fixed beneath the bridge of a violin or similar instrument' (OED).
134. singer] Hence, unable to say
anything: Peter displays his iron wit.
136. sounding] making music (with a quibble on jingling in their purses).
[ACT V]
[SCENE I]
Enter Romeo.
Romeo. 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. 5 I dreamt my lady came and found me dead— Strange dream that gives a dead man leave to think!— And breath'd such life with kisses in my lips That I reviv'd and was an emperor. Ah me, how sweet is love itself possess'd i o
When but love's shadows are so rich in joy.
Enter Balthasar, Romeo's man, booted.
News from Verona! How, now Balthasar, Dost thou not bring me letters from the Friar ?
ACT V
Scene 1
Act V Scene i] Route; not in Q2~4J?,Qi. Location.] Mantua. Rome; A street. Capell. 1. truth] Q2-4J?; Eye Qi. 4. this day] Q2-4; thisan day F; not in Qr. unaccustom'd] Q2-4; uccustom'd F; not in Qi. 7. dream that gives] Q2,3#; dreames that giues Q4; dreames that giue Qi. n. S.D.] Qi (subst.); Enter Romeos man. Q2,3Jf (subst.); Enter Romeos man Balthazer. Q4.
1-Q.If... emperor] J. W. Hales compares Chaucer, Troilur, v. 1164-9, where Troilus has an intuition of good fortune which is tragically disappointed.
1. flattering... sleep] encouraging reports that truth manifests itself to us in sleep. OED (sv v 7) records flatter, to inspire with hope, usually on insufficient grounds'; cf. Sonnet 87.
3. bosom's lord] love.
sits... throne] Cf. TieJV., 1. i. 37-8: 'liver, brain, and heart, / These sovereign thrones', alluding to the belief that the seat of passion was the liver, of thought the brain, of love the heart.
8. breath'd . . . lips] Cf. Marlowe, Hero and Leander, 11. 3: 'He kist her, and breath'd life into her lips'.
217
218
ROMEO AND JULIET
[ACT V
How doth my lady ? Is my father well ?
How doth my Juliet ? That I ask again, 15
For nothing can be ill if she be well. Bal. Then she is well and nothing can be ill.
Her body sleeps in Capels' monument,
And her immortal part with angels lives.
I saw her laid low in her kindred's vault 20
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. Romeo. Is it e'en so ? Then I defy you, stars!
Thou know'st my lodging. Get me ink and paper, 25
And hire posthorses. I will hence tonight. Bal. I do beseech you sir, have patience.
Your looks are pale and wild and do import
Some misadventure. Romeo. Tush, thou art deceiv'd.
Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do. 30
Hast thou no letters to me from the Friar ?
15. doth my Juliet] Pope; doth my Lady Juliet Qs-4, F; fares my Juliet Qi. 19. lives] Qs-4; liue F; var. Qi. 24. defy] Qi; denie Qs-4?. you]
Qs-4,F; my Qi.       25. know'st] F; knowest Qs-4; not in Qi.
15. my Juliet] The compositor accidentally duplicated lady from 1. 14; there is no justification for adopting Q,i's whole phrase, however, with Steevens.
17. well] Cf. rv. v. 76 and n.
21. presently] immediately.
23. for my office] as my duty.
24. defy] Every argument except an appeal to,graphic similarity between the manuscript forms of deny and defy shows defy to be preferable. Evidently, Romeo admits the influence of the stars (Is it e'en so?). His hysterical reactions to news of his banishment in in. iii (tearing his hair and falling on the ground, despite the Friar's counsel of 'patience') might be a precedent for supposing him here equally hys-
terical, rather than the resolved, furious and defiant hero of m. i. 125-6: 'Away to heaven respective lenity, / And fire-eyM fury be my conduct now'. Yet by this late stage of the play Romeo has clear awareness of the powerful influence of the stars; the parallel with in. i. 125-6 is striking: on receiving the news Romeo is death-defying. In Brooke Romeo's reaction to news of the banishment is 'He cryed out (with open mouth) against the starres above' and 'He blamed all the world, and all he did defye'. Cf. Ham., v. ii. 211: 'we defy augury'.
25-6. Get.. . posthorses] Cf. Brooke, II. 2604, 2612.
27. have patience] show fortitude.
SC. 1]
ROMEO AND JULIET
219
35
40
Bal. No, my good lord.
Romeo. No matter. Get thee gone.
And hire those horses. I'll be with thee straight.
Exit Balthasar.
Well, Juliet, I will he with thee tonight. Let's see for means. O mischief thou art swift To enter in the thoughts of desperate men. I do remember an apothecary— And hereabouts a dwells—which late I noted In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows, Culling of simples. Meagre were his looks, Sharp misery had worn him to the bones, And in his needy shop a tortoise hung, An alligator stuff'd, and other skins Of ill-shap'd fishes; and about his shelves A beggarly account of empty boxes, 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, 'And if a man did need a poison now, Whose sale is present death in Mantua, Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him'. O, this same thought did but forerun my need, And this same needy man must sell it me. As I remember, this should be the house. 55
45
50
33. S.D.] As Qi; after lord in Qs-4?.
38. a] Qs-4; not in F,Qi.
39. weeds] clothes.
overwhelming] overhanging, beetling.
40. Culling of simples] Gathering medicinal herbs.
42-4. tortoise . . .fishes] Cf. Nashe, Have With You, Works, m. 67: 'The next rat he seazd on hee made an Anatomic of,... and after hanged her ouer his head in his studie, in stead of an Apothecaries Crocodile, or dride Alligatur'. Steevens refers to plate iii in Hogarth's Marriage i la Mode, and says 'I have met with the alligator,
tortoise, &c, hanging up in the shop of an ancient apothecary at Lime-house'. These curiosities were regularly displayed in apothecaries' shops.
45. beggarly account] wretchedly small number.
47. packthread] twine used for securing parcels or bundles.
cakes of roses] rose-petals compressed into cake-form and used as perfume.
51. Whose . . . death] Of which the sale is punishable by instant death.
52. caitiff] miserable, pitiable.
220
romeo and juliet
[act v
Being holiday, the beggar's shop is shut. What ho! Apothecary!
Enter Apothecary.
Apoth. Who calls so loud ?
Romeo. 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 60 As will disperse itself through all the veins, That the life-weary taker may fall dead, And that the trunk may be discharg'd of breath As violently as hasty powder fir'd
Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb. 65 Apoth. Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantua's law
Is death to any he that utters them. Romeo. Art thou so bare and full of wretchedness,
And fear'st to die ? Famine is in thy cheeks,
Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes, 70
Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back.
The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law;
The world affords no law to make thee rich;
Then be not poor, but break it, and take this. Apoth. My poverty, but not my will consents. 75 Romeo. I pay thy poverty and not thy will. Apoth. Put this in any liquid thing you will
And drink it off and if you had the strength
57. S.D.] Qif; not in Qs-4. 69. fear'st] F; fearest Q2-4; var. Qi. 70. starveth in] Qs~4,F; stareth in Rowe; var. Qi. 76. pay] Qi,Q4; Pray
Q*,3,F.
59. forty ducats'] a considerable sum (which the Courtesan in Err., iv. iii. 78,91, says is the value of her diamond ring, and 'forty ducats is too much to lose'). Ia Brooke the sum is fifty crowns, in Boaistuau fifty ducats. EvidenUy Shakespeare preferred to remember Err., where die line can have memorable effect. The ducat was a gold coin, so called in several European countries though originally Venetian.
60. soon-speeding gear] quick-working stuff; cf. Brooke, 1. 2585.
61. disperse . . . veins] Cf. Daniel, Rosamond, 1. 603 (cited in n. to v. iii. 92)-
64-5. violently . . . womb] Cf. n. vi. 9-10, m. iii. 131-2.
67. he] man; cf. Abbott (§ 224) and Shr., m. a. 230-1.
utters] sells, dispenses.
70. starveth] are hungry (Dowden).
71. Contempt and beggary] Contemptible beggary.
74. it] i.e. the law. 77-9. Put... straight] Cf. Brooke, 11. 2587-8. Steevens compares Chaucer,
sc
n]
romeo and juliet
Of twenty men it would dispatch you straight. Romeo. There is thy gold—worse poison to men's souls, Doing more murder in this loathsome world Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell I sell thee poison, thou hast sold me none. Farewell, buy food, and get thyself in flesh. Come, cordial, and not poison, go with me To Juliet's grave, for there must I use thee.
221
80
85 Exeunt.
[SCENE II] Enter Friar John. Friar J. Holy Franciscan Friar, Brother, ho!
Enter Friar Laurence.
Friar 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. Friar J. Going to find a barefoot brother out, 5
One of our order, to associate me,
Here in this city visiting the sick,
And finding him, the searchers of the town,
Suspecting that we both were in a house
Where the infectious pestilence did reign, 1 o
81. murder] Qs,3,F (murther); murthers Q4; not in Qi.
Scene 11
Scene n] Pope; not in Qs~4,F,Qi. Location.]The monastery near Verona. Rowe; Friar Laurence's cell. Capell. S.D. Enter Friar John.] Qi; Enter Frier John
to Frier Lawrence Qs-4^.      1. S.D. Enter Friar Laurence.] Q2-4J?; not in Qi.
Pardoner's Tale, 859-67, where the pothecary similarly dispenses a strong and violent poison, of which an amount the size of'a corn of whete' is fatal.
84. get.. .flesh] grow plump (OED).
Scene n 4. mind] message.
5-12. Going . . . sta/d] Cf. Brooke,
11. 2488-99.
5. barefoot brother] Franciscan.
6. associate] accompany; the rule of the order forbade him to travel without the company of another friar; cf. Brooke, 1. 2490.
8. searchers] persons appointed to view dead bodies and report on the cause of death (OED sb 1 e).
222 romeo and juliet [act v
Seal'd up the doors and would not let us forth,
So that my speed to Mantua there was stay'd. Friar L. Who bare my letter then to Romeo ? Friar J. I could not send it—here it is again—
Nor get a messenger to bring it thee, 15
So fearful were they of infection. Friar L. Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood,
The letter was not nice but full of charge,
Of dear import, and the neglecting it
May do much danger. Friar John, go hence, 20
Get me an iron crow and bring it straight
Unto my cell.
Friar J. Brother, I'll go and bring it thee. Exit.
Friar L. Now must I to the monument alone.
Within this three hours will fair Juliet wake.
She will beshrew me much that Romeo 25
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, clos'd in a dead man's tomb. Exit.
[SCENE III]
Enter Paris and his Page, with flowers and sweet water.
Paris. Give me thy torch, boy. Hence and stand aloof. Yet put it out, for I would not be seen.
12. my] Qs,3,F; may Q4; not in Qi.      14. could] Qs,3^; cold Q4; not in Qi.
Scene m
Scene hi] Rowe; not in Ql~4,F,Qi. Location.] A Churchyard, in it, a noble
Monument belonging to the Capulets. Rowe. S.D.] Qi; Enter Paris and his Page. Qz~4,F. „      1. aloof] Qs-4; aloft F; not in Qi.
12. speed . . . was stay'd] successful tells his servant to get him a crow to progress was prevented. break down the locked door of his
18. nice] trivial. house. charge] importance.
19. dear import] momentous conse- Scene m quence.
21. crow] short crowbar; cf. Err.,       S.D. sweet] perfumed, ra. i. 80, where Antipholus of Ephesus       1. stand aloof] keep at a distance.
sc. m] romeo and juliet 223
Under yond yew trees lay thee all along,
Holding thy ear close to the hollow ground;
So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread, 5
Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves,
But thou shalt hear it. Whistle then to me
As signal that thou hear'st something approach.
Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee. Go.
Page. I am almost afraid to stand alone 10 Here in the churchyard. Yet I will adventure. [Retires.']
Paris strews the tomb with flowers.
Paris. Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew. O woe, thy canopy is dust and stones Which with sweet water nightly I will dew, Or wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans. 15
The obsequies that I for thee will keep Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep.
Page whistles. The boy gives warning something doth approach. What cursed foot wanders this way tonight, To cross my obsequies and true love's rite ? 20 What, with a torch? Muffle me, night, awhile.
[Paris retires.]
Enter Romeo and Balthasar with a torch, a mattock and a crow of iron.
3. yond yew trees] Pope; yond young Trees Qs~4,F; this Ew-tree Qi; yond yeug Trees Williams.        4. Holding] Qg~4,F; keeping Qi. 8. hear'st]
Rowe2; hearest Qs-4 J''; not in Qi. 11. S.D. [Retires.]] Capell; not in
Q2-4f,Qi.       Paris . . .flowers.] Qi; not in Qs~4,F. 17. S.D.] Qs~4,F
{Whistle Boy.); Boy whistles and calls. My Lord. Qi. 19. way] Qs-4; wayes F; was Qi. 20. rite] Qs~4,F (right); rites Qi. 21. S.D. [Paris retires.]] Capell; not in Qs~4,F,Qi. Balthasar . . . iron.] Qi; Peter Qs,3,F; Balthazer his man. Q4.
3. yew] The sixteenth-century spelling yeugh or yeug could h"ave been misread as young; Qi and the context make the emendation certain.
all along] at full length.
12. Sweet . . . strew] Cf. Ham., v. i. 237, where Gertrude scatters flowers in Ophelia's grave.
14. sweet] perfumed.
20. cross] thwart, interrupt.
21. S.D. Paris retires] The ironic parallel with n. ii is strong: there Romeo, concealed by darkness, observes and overhears Juliet; here Paris, from much the same position, observes and overhears Romeo at her tomb.
S.D. Balthasar] Q,2's Peter may indicate that Kemp doubled the parts: the actor who took Peter was still
224
romeo and juliet
[act v
Romeo. Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron. Hold, take this letter. Early in the morning See thou deliver it to my lord and father. Give me the light. Upon thy life I charge thee, 25 Whate'er thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof And do not interrupt me in my course. Why I descend into this bed of death Is partly to behold my lady's face
But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger 30
A precious ring, a ring that I must use
In dear employment. Therefore hence, be gone.
But if thou jealous dost return to pry
In what I farther shall intend to do,
By heaven I will tear thee joint by joint, 35
And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs.
The time and my intents are savage-wild,
More fierce and more inexorable far
Than empty tigers or the roaring sea. Bal. I will be gone, sir, and not trouble ye. 40 Romeo. So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that.
Live, and be prosperous, and farewell, good fellow. Bal. For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout.
His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt.
[Balthasar retires.]
Romeo. Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death 45 Gorg'd with the dearest morsel of the earth, Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open, And in despite I'll cram thee with more food.
Romeo opens the tomb.
22. that] Q2; the Q3^,F; this Qi. 26. hear'st] F; hearest Q2-4; not in Qi. 34. farther] Q2-4; further F; var. Qi. 40, 43. Bal.] Qi,Q4; Pet. Qe,3,F.
40. ye] Q>; you Q3,4,F,Qi. 44. S.D.] Hanmer; not in Q2-4,F,Qz. 48. S.D.] Qi (I. 4f)f not in Q2~4,F.
thought of as Peter even though now taking the different role of Balthasar.
26. all aloof] The parallel with Paris and his Page (1. 1) is emphasized.
32. dear] personally important.
33. jealous] suspicious.
38-g. More . . . sea] Cf. John, in. i. 260: (hold) 'a fasting tiger safer by
the tooth' and 11. i. 451: 'The sea enraged is not half so deaf' (as we).
45. maw] gullet.
womb] belly.
48. in despite] to spite thee (because already gorged with food). more food] i.e. his own body. S.D. Romeo . . . tomb] Romeo has
sc. m]
romeo and juliet
Paris. This is that banish'd haughty Montague
That murder'd my love's cousin—with which grief It is supposed the fair creature died— And here is come to do some villainous shame To the dead bodies. I will apprehend him. Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague. Can vengeance be pursu'd further than death ? Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee. Obey, and go with me, for thou must die.
Romeo. 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. Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth, Put not another sin upon my head By urging me to fury. O be gone. By heaven I love thee better than myself, For I come hither arm'd against myself. Stay not, be gone, live, and hereafter say A mad man's mercy bid thee run away.
Paris. I do defy thy conjuration
And apprehend thee for a felon here.
Romeo. Wilt thou provoke me ? Then have at thee, boy!
225
50
55
60
65
Page. O Lord, they fight! I will go call the Watch.
Paris. O, I am slain! If thou be merciful, Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.
70
Theyfight. [Exit Page.] [Paris dies.]
60. these] Q2-4; those F; not in Qi. 68. conjuration] Capell; coniurations Qi; commiration Q2; commisseration Q3dJP; commination Williams, conj. Mommsen. 70. S.D.] Qi; not in Qe-4,F. 71. Page.] Q4; Pet. F; Boy:
Qi; not in Qi,3. O ... Watch] Qi,Q4,F; 0 ... Watch Qs,3 (as S.D.). S.D.] Capell; not in Qg-4,F,Qi. 73. S.D.] Theobald; not in Q2-4,F,Qi.
tools and speaks of enforcing the tomb's rotten jaws, which suggests that the tomb has solid doors or gates. The scene requires that the bodies are visible once the tomb is open; Romeo will then place the body of Paris beside Tybalt and Juliet, and when he dies the tableau is complete.
52-3. come to do . . . bodies] Cf. Brooke, 11. 2793-98.
56. apprehend] arrest.
65. arm'd . . . myself] i.e. with the poison for suicide.
68. conjuration] Q_2's reading is nonsense, and emendations attempt to reconstruct the MS.  word which
226
ROMEO AND JULIET
Romeo. In faith I will. Let me peruse this face. Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris! What said my man, when my betossed soul Did not attend him, as we rode ? I think He told me Paris should have married Juliet. Said he not so ? Or did I dream it so ? Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet, To think it was so ? O, give me thy hand, One writ with me in sour misfortune's book. I'll 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. How oft when men are at the point of death Have they been merry! Which their keepers call A lightning before death. O how may I Call this a lightning ? O my love, my wife, Death that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. Thou art not conquer'd. Beauty's ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
[act v
75
80
85
90
95
94. art] Q2-4; are F; not in Qi.
might yield it. Sisson calls it a 'mere matter of minims', which leaves little to choose between coniuration and commination; but meanings are also important, and commination, 'a threatening', seems less appropriate, as a response to Romeo's speech, than coniuration, 'solemn entreaty'. Cf. H5, 1. ii. 23-9: 'We charge you in the name of God, take heed . .. Under this con-juration-ipeak, my lord'.
84. lantern] 'a spacious . . . turret full of windows' (Steevens); to Romeo the dark tomb is turned by Juliet's presence into a great hall in a palace, brilliantly lit for a feast; the source of light is Juliet herself.
86. presence'] presence chamber.
89. keepers] jailors, or sick-nurses at death-beds.
90. lightning] 'That exhilaration or revival of the spirits . . . supposed to occur . . . before death' (OED vbl sb 2 b); proverbial (Tilley L 277).
92-6. Death . . . there] Cf. Daniel, Rosamond, 11. 603-7: 'The poyson soone disperc'd through all my vaines, / Had dispossess'd my liuing senses quite: / When naught respecting death, the last of paines, / Plac'd his pale collours, th'ensigne of his might, / Vpon hys new-got spoyle before his right'; and 11. 673-9: 'Ah how me thinks I see death dallying seekes, / To entertaine itselfe in loues sweet place: / Decayed Roses of discoloured cheekes, / Doe yet retaine deere notes of former grace: / And ougly death sits faire within her face; / Sweet remnants resting of vermilion red, / That
SC. m] ROMEO AND JULIET 227
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
That unsubstantial Death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour ? 105
For fear of that I still will stay with thee,
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again. Here, here, will I remain
With worms that are thy chambermaids. O here
Will I set up my everlasting rest 11 o
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last.
Arms, take your last embrace! And hps, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
100. thine] Qs-4; thy F; not in Qi. 102. Shall I believe] Theobald; I
will beleeue, / Shall I beleeue Qs~4,F; O I beleeue Qi; I will believe Pope. 107. palace] Q3,4>F; pallat Q2; not in Qi. 107-8. night / Depart] Q4,
Camb.; night. / Depart againe, come lye thou in my arme, / Heer's to thy health, where ere thou tumblest in. / O true Appothecarie! / Thy drugs are quicke. Thus with a kisse I die. / Depart Q,2,3J?; not in Qi.
death it selfe, doubts whether she be dead.' Cf. also Lucr., 11. 402-6.
97. Tybalt... sheet] Cf. iv. iii. 42-3; Juliet lies beside Tybalt in the tomb.
102. Why . . . believe] In Qa / will believe is Shakespeare's first shot, accidentally included by copyist or compositor.
106. still] always.
107. palace] Presumably pallac was misread from the MS. as pallat, a simple error; also cf. fii. ii. 85, and v. iii. 84 n. Hosley defends pallat as 'an image which supports the theme that Juliet's wedding is indeed her grave'. R. Smallwood, SQ, xxvi (1975), 298, would agree and compares John, m. iv. 26: 'the couch of lasting night'.
108. Depart again] The lines printed in Qa after 1.107 and omitted here are
a first version incorporated in the fuller version of 11. 108-20; possibly tumblest in is the germ of the shipwreck metaphor developed in 11. 117-18.
109. worms . . . chambermaids] Cf. Ham., iv. iii. 20-2.
110. set up ... rest] resolve to remain here for ever (with a quibble as at rv. v. 6).
112-15. Eyes . . . Death] Cf. Daniel, Rosamond, 11. 659-72; Sidney, Astro-phil and Stella, Sonnet 85, 11. 9-14.
114-15. seal . . . Death] make an everlasting bargain with all-devouring death; engrossing = (i) purchasing in gross, in large quantities, (ii) writing a legal document, (iii) illegally monopolizing or amassing.
228
romeo and juliet
[ACT V "5
A dateless bargain to engrossing Death. Come, bitter conduct, come unsavoury guide, Thou desperate pilot now at once run on The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark. Here's to my love! [He drinks.] O true apothecary, Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. 120
[He]falls.
Enter Friar [Laurence] with lantern, crow and spade.
Friar L. Saint Francis be my speed. How oft tonight
Have my old feet stumbled at graves. Who's there? Bal. Here's one, a friend, and one that knows you well. Friar L. Bliss be upon you. Tell me, good my friend,
What torch is yond that vainly lends his light 125
To grubs and eyeless skulls ? As I discern,
It burneth in the Capels' monument. Bal. It doth so, holy sir, and there's my master,
One that you love. Friar L. Who is it ?
Bal. Romeo. Friar L. How long hath he been there ? Bal. Full half an hour. 130
Friar 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. Friar L. Stay then, I'll go alone. Fear comes upon me.     135
O, much I fear some ill unthrifty thing.
119. S.D.] Theobald; not in Qz-4,F,Qi. 120. S.D.] Qi (Falls.); not in Q2-4JF.
S.D. Enter . . . spade.] Q2-4J?; Enter Fryer with a Lanthome. Qi. 135. Fear
comes] O.2-4; feares comes F; var. Qi. 136. unthrifty] Q2; unluckie Q3,4,F; not in Qi.
116. bitter conduct] The vial of poison 120. quick] Quibbling on (i) swift,
will be his guide to death, the pilot of (ii) live.
1. 117 guiding his bark (body). 122. stumbled] An evil omen; cf. R3,
117-18. Thou . . . bark] Cf. Sidney, m. iv. 86.
Astrophil and Stella, Sonnet 85,11. 1-4; 125. What torch] In Brooke, 11.
Brooke, U. 799-808, especially 1. 808's 2695-6.
'sea beaten barke'; and Oth., v. ii. 126. grubs] worms.
270-1:'Here is my journey's end, here 136.   unthrifty]   unfortunate; cf.
is my butt, / And very sea-mark of my Spenser, Faerie Queene, 1. iv. 35. utmost sail'.
sc. m]
romeo and juliet
229
Bal. As I did sleep under this yew tree here
I dreamt my master and another fought,
And that my master slew him. Friar L. Romeo!
Friar stoops and looks on the blood and weapons.
Alack, alack, what blood is this which stains 140
The stony entrance of this sepulchre ?
What mean these masterless and gory swords
To lie discolour'd by this place of peace ?
Romeo! O, pale! Who else ? What, Paris too ?
And steep'd in blood ? Ah what an unkind hour       145
Is guilty of this lamentable chance ?
The lady stirs.
Juliet rises.
Juliet. O comfortable Friar, where is my lord ?
I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am. Where is my Romeo ? 150
Friar 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, 155
And Paris too. Come, I'll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns.
Stay not to question, for the Watch is coming.
Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay. Juliet. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away. 160
Exit Friar Laurence.
What's here ? A cup clos'd in my true love's hand ?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.
O churl. Drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after ? I will kiss thy lips.
Haply some poison yet doth hang on them 165
137. yew] Pope; yong Q2~4,F; not in Qi; yeug Williams. 139. S.D.] Qi; not in Q2-4,F. 147. S.D.] Qi; not in Q.2-4J?. 160. S.D.] Dyce (after I.
160); after I. 159 Q.2-4.F; not in Qi. 163. Drunk] Q2; drinke Q.3>4f,Q'-
left] Q2-4.F; leaue Qi.
145. unkind] unnatural.
23O romeo and juliet [act v
To make me die with a restorative.        [She kisses him.]
Thy lips are warm! Watchman. [Within.]      Lead, boy. Which way? Juliet. Yea, noise ? Then I'll be brief. O happy dagger.
This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.
She stabs herself and falls.
Enter Page and Watchmen.
Page. This is the place. There, where the torch doth
burn. 170
J Watchman. The ground is bloody. Search about the churchyard. Go, some of you: whoe'er you find, attach.
[Exeunt some Watchmen.] Pitiful sight! Here lies the County slain And Juliet bleeding, warm, and newly dead, Who here hath lain this two days buried. 175
Go tell the Prince. Run to the Capulets. Raise up the Montagues. Some others search.
[Exeunt some Watchmen.] We see the ground whereon these woes do lie, But the true ground of all these piteous woes We cannot without circumstance descry. 180
Enter [several Watchmen with] Balthasar.
s Watchman. Here's Romeo's man. We found him in the churchyard.
166. S.D.] Capell; not in Q2~4,F,Qi. 169. This is] Qs,4; Tis is Q3; 'Tis in
F; var. Qi. rust] Q2-4?; Rest Qi. S.D. She . . .falls.] Qi; Kils herselfe. F; not in Q2-4. 171. / Watchman.] ed.; Watch. Q2~4,F,Qi. 172. S.D.]
Hanmer; not in Q2~4,F,Qi. 175. this] Q2; these 0.3,4?; lot in Qi.
177. S.D. Capell; not in Q2~4,F,Qi. 180. S.D.] Qi (Enter one with Romeos
Man.), Rowe; Enter Romeos man. Q2-4?. 181. 2 Watchman.] ed.; Watch.
Q2-4?; irQi.
169. rust] Dover Wilson thinks rust 'hideously unpoetical'; but I find it vivid, fierce, bearing traces of Juliet's earlier attentiveness to the factual details of physical decay in death: it also completes the motif of Death as rival to Romeo; Death lies with Juliet, as
her passionate This is thy sheath acknowledges. The Q.i reading has of course inferior authority.
179. ground] Quibbling on (i) cause, (ii) earth, as in 1. 178.
180. circumstance] detailed information.
sc. m] romeo and juliet 23I
/ Watchman. Hold him in safety till the Prince come hither. Enter another Watchman with Friar Laurence.
3 Watchman. Here is a friar that trembles, sighs and weeps. We took this mattock and this spade from him As he was coming from this churchyard's side. 185
/ Watchman. A great suspicion. Stay the friar too.
Enter the Prince [and Attendants].
Prince. What misadventure is so early up,
That calls our person from our morning rest?
Enter Capulet and Lady Capulet [and Servants].
Cap. What should it be that is so shriek'd abroad ?
Lady Cap. O, the people in the street cry 'Romeo', 190
Some 'Juliet', and some 'Paris', and all run
With open outcry toward our monument. Prince. What fear is this which startles in our ears ? / Watchman. Sovereign, here lies the County Paris slain,
And Romeo dead, and Juliet, dead before, 195
Warm, and new kill'd. Prince. Search, seek, and know how this foul murder comes. 1 Watchman. Here is a friar, and slaughter'd Romeo's man,
With instruments upon them fit to open
These dead men's tombs. 200
182. / Watchman.] ed.; Chief watch. Q2-4?; Capt: Qi. 183. 3 Watchman.]
Q2-4?; 1. Qi. 185. churchyard's] Q2; Church-yard Q3,4,F; not in Qi.
186. / Watchman.] ed.; Chief watch. Q2-4; Con. F; Cap: Qi. too] F; too too
Q2-4; not in Qi. 188. morning] Q2,3; mornings Q4?; var. Qi. S.D.] Capell; Enter Capels Q2,3; Enter Capulet and his Wife Q4,F,Qi (subst.). 189. is so
shriek'd] Daniel, conj. Comb.; is so shrike Q2; they so shrike Q3,4,F; var. Qi. 190. Lady Cap.] ed.; Wife. Q2-4?; Moth: Qi. 192. our] Q2-4; outF; not
in Qi. 193. our] Capell; your Q2-4?; not in Qi. 194, 198. 7 Watchman.] ed.; Watch. Q2-4? (subst.); Capt: Qi (subst.). 198. slaughter'd] Q4,F;
Slaughter Q2,3; not in Qi. 200.] As Q4?; Q2,3 add S.D. Enter Capulet and
his wife.
185. this churchyard's side] this side of shrieks is spelt shrikes at iv. iii. 47. the churchyard. 193. startles] sounds startlingly.
189. shriek'd] Q.2 probably repre- 198. slaughter'd] The Q.2 compositor sents a misreading of shrikd as shrike, took Slaughter to be the name of Adoption   of Q3  is   indefensible;    Romeo's servant.
232 romeo and juliet [act v
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. Lady Cap. OmelThissightofdeathisasabell 205
That warns my old age to a sepulchre.
Enter Montague [and Servants].
Prince. Come, Montague, for thou art early up
To see thy son and heir now early down. Mont. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead tonight.
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. Mont. O thou untaught! What manners is in this,
To press before thy father to a grave ? Prince. Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while 215
Till we can clear these ambiguities
And know their spring, their head, their true descent,
And then will I be general of your woes
And lead you, even to death. Meantime forbear,
And let mischance be slave to patience. 220
Bring forth the parties of suspicion. Friar 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.
And here I stand, both to impeach and purge 225
Myself condemned and myself excus'd. Prince. Then say at once what thou dost know in this. Friar 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
aoi. heavens] Qs; heaven Q3,4,F; not in Qi. 204. it] Qs; is Q3,4,F; it is Qi. 205. Lady Cap.] ed.; Wife. Qs,F; Wi. Q.3,4; not in Qi. 206. S.D.] Capell;
Enter Mountague. Qs~4,F,Qi (subst.). 208. now early] 0,3,4 J?; now earling Qs; more early Qi. 211. mine] Qs; my Q3,4,F; var. Qi.        213. is in]
Qg-4,Qi; in is F.        215. mouth] Qs,3,F; moneth Q4; var. Qi.
215. outrage] passionate outcry; cf.       220. let. . . patience] submit to mis-1H6, rv. i. 126: 'this immodest clamor-   fortune with patience, ous outrage'.
sc. m]
romeo and juliet
233
And she, there dead, that Romeo's faithful wife.
I married them, and their stol'n marriage day
Was Tybalt's doomsday, whose untimely death
Banish'd the new-made bridegroom from this city;
For whom, and not for Tybalt, Juliet pin'd. 235
You, to remove that siege of grief from her,
Betroth'd and would have married her perforce
To County Paris. Then comes she to me
And with wild looks bid me devise some mean
To rid her from this second marriage, 240
Or in my cell there would she kill herself.
Then gave I her—so tutor'd by my art—
A sleeping potion, which so took effect
As I intended, for it wrought on her
The form of death. Meantime I writ to Romeo 245
That he should hither come as this dire night
To help to take her from her borrow'd grave,
Being the time the potion's force should cease.
But he which bore my letter, Friar John,
Was stay'd by accident, and yesternight 250
Return'd my letter back. Then all alone
At the prefixed hour of her waking
Came I to take her from her kindred's vault,
Meaning to keep her closely at my cell
Till I conveniently could send to Romeo. 255
But when I came, some minute ere the time
Of her awakening, here untimely lay
The noble Paris and true Romeo dead.
She wakes; and I entreated her come forth
And bear this work of heaven with patience, 260
But then a noise did scare me from the tomb
And she, too desperate, would not go with me
But, as it seems, did violence on herself.
231. that] Q4; thats Qs,3f; var. Qi. 239. mean] Qs; meanes Q34>F,Qi. 257. awakening] Qs; awaking Q3^,F; not in Qi. 261. scare] Qs-4; scarre F; not in Qi.
246. as] Cf. Caes., v. i. 71-2: 'This    to be used redundandy with defini-is my birthday; as this very day / Was    tions of time. Cassius born'; Abbott (§ 114) notes as
234 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT V
All this I know; and to the marriage
Her Nurse is privy; and if aught in this 265
Miscarried by my fault, let my old life
Be sacrific'd some hour before his time
Unto the rigour of severest law. Prince. We still have known thee for a holy man.
Where's Romeo's man ? What can he say to this ? 270 Bal. I brought my master news of Juliet's death,
And then in post he came from Mantua
To this same place, to this same monument.
This letter he early bid me give his father
And threaten'd me with death, going in the vault, 275
If I departed not and left him there. Prince. Give me the letter, I will look on it.
Where is the County's Page that rais'd the Watch ?
Sirrah, what made your master in this place ? Page. He came with flowers to strew his lady's grave 280
And bid me stand aloof, and so I did.
Anon comes one with light to ope the tomb
And by and by my master drew on him,
And then I ran away to call the Watch. Prince. This letter doth make good the Friar's words: 285
Their course of love, the tidings of her death,
And here he writes that he did buy a poison
Of a poor pothecary, and therewithal
Came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet.
Where be these enemies ? Capulet, Montague, 290
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love;
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punish'd. Cap. O brother Montague, give me thy hand. 295
This is my daughter's jointure, for no more
Can I demand.
264-7.] As Pope; All . . . priuie: / And . . . fault, / Let . . . time, Qs~4,F; not in Qi. 267. his] Qs,Qi; the Q3,4,F.
269. still] always. groom brings the bride; the hand-
293. winking at] shutting my eyes to. clasp of friendship and reconciliation 296. jointure] the portion the bride-    is all Capulet asks.
SC. m] ROMEO AND JULIET 235
Mont. But I can give thee more,
For I will raise her statue in pure gold,
That whiles Verona by that name is known,
There shall no figure at such rate be set 300
As that of true and faithful Juliet. Cap. As rich shall Romeo'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. 305
Go hence to have more talk of these sad things.
Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished,
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. Exeunt.
298. raise] Q4,F; raie Qs,3; erect Qi. 300. such] Qs.Qi; that Q3>4,F.
302. Cap.] Q3,4^,Qi; Capel. Qs. Romeo's . . . lady's] Qs-4; Romeo . . . Lady F,Qi.     304. glooming] Qs~4,F; gloomie Qi.     309. S.D.] F; not in Qs-4,Qi.
298. raise] cause to be made. Brooke has raise but Hosley prefers raie (= array) and thinks the effigies are to be high-relief figures on sarcophagi.
300. at. . . set] be so highly valued and esteemed.
302. As rich] Capulet will provide a golden figure of Romeo; cf. Brooke, 11. 3013-14.
304. glooming] Cf. Spenser, Faerie Queene, 1. i. 14, where the Redcross Knight approaches the dark cave and his armour 'made / A litle glooming light, much like a shade, / By which he saw the vgly monster plaine'. The associations of this cave and the tomb
in the play, of the lovers' victory over the monster death and the knight's victory over Error ('For light she hated as the deadly bale') may have subconsciously prompted Shakespeare to use 'glooming'.
305. sun . . . head] Cf. R3, v. iii. 277-8; Golding's Ovid, n. 419: to mark the fall of Phaeton 'A day did pass without the Sunne'.
307. Some . . . punished] In Brooke the Nurse is banished (for concealing the marriage), Peter allowed to go free, the apothecary hanged, the Friar released; he becomes a hermit and dies five years later.