So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, Did my Tyb. This, by his voice, should be a Montague:Fetch me my rapier, boy:-What! dares the slave Come hither, cover'd with an antick face, To fleer and scorn at our solemnity? Now, by the stock and honour of my kin, 1 Cap. Why, how now, kinsman? wherefore storm you so? Tyb. Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe; A villain, that is hither come in spite, To scorn at our solemnity this night. 1 Cap. Young Romeo is't? Tyb. 'Tis he, that villain Romeo. 1 Cap. Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone, He bears him like a portly gentleman; And, to say truth, Verona brags of him, To be a virtuous and well govern'd youth: I would not for the wealth of all 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. 1 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 soulYou'll make a mutiny among my guests! You will set cock-a-hoop! you'll be the man! Tyb. Why, uncle, 'tis a shame. 1 Cap. Go to, go to. You are a saucy boy:-Is't so, indeed? This trick may chance to scath 10 you;-I know what. You must contráry me! marry, 'tis time Well said, my hearts:-You are a princox 11; go:- Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting. [To JULIET. This holy shrine, the gentle fine is thisMy lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. Jul. Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. Rom. Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? Jul. Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. Rom. O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do13; They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. 10 i. e. do you an injury. The word has still this meaning in Scotland. See vol. vi. p. 175, note 8. 11 A pert forward youth. The word is apparently a corruption of the Latin præcox. 12 There is an old adage-' Patience perforce is a medicine for a mad dog.' To which this is an allusion. 13 Juliet had said before, that 'palm to palm was holy palmer's kiss.' She afterwards says, that palmers have lips that they must use in prayer.' Romeo replies, That the prayer of his lips was, that they might do what hands do; that is, that they might kiss. Jul. Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake. Rom. Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purg'd. Jul. You kiss by the book. Nurse. Madam, your mother craves a word with you. Rom. 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, Shall have the chinks. Rom. Is she a Capulet? O dear account! my life is my foe's debt. Ben. Away, begone; the sport is at the best. Rom. Ay, so I fear; the more is my unrest. 1 Cap. Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone; We have a trifling foolish banquet towards 15. Is it e'en so? Why, then I thank you all; I thank you, honest gentlemen 16; good night: 14 The poet here, without doubt, copied from the mode of his own time; and kissing a lady in a public assembly, we may conclude, was not then thought indecorous. In King Henry VIII. Lord Sands is represented as kissing Anne Boleyn, next whom he sits at supper. 15 Towards is ready, at hand. A banquet, or rere-supper, as it was sometimes called, was similar to our dessert. See vol. iii. p. 438, note 2. 16 Here the quarto of 1597 adds: I promise you, but for your company, More torches here!-Come on, then let's to bed. Ah, sirrah [To 2 Cap.], by my fay, it waxes late; I'll to my rest. [Exeunt all but JULIET and Nurse. Jul. Come hither, nurse: What is yon gentleman? Nurse. The son and heir of old Tiberio. Jul. What's he, that now is going out of door? Nurse. Marry, that, I think, be young Petruchio. Jul. What's he, that follows there, that would not dance? Nurse. I know not. Jul. Go, ask his name:—if he be married, My grave is like to be my wedding bed. Nurse. His name is Romeo, and a Montague; The only son of your great enemy. Jul. My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, That I must love a loathed enemy. Jul. Of one I danc'd withal. Nurse. A rhyme I learn'd even now [One calls within, Juliet. Anon, anon:— Come, let's away; the strangers all are gone. Enter CHORUS 17. [Exeunt. Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie, And young affection gapes to be his heir; That fair 18, which love groan'd for, and would die, With tender Juliet match'd is now not fair. 17 This chorus is not in the first edition, quarto, 1597. Its use is not easily discovered; it conduces nothing to the progress of the play; but relates what is already known, or what the next scene will show; and relates it without adding the improvement of any moral sentiment.'-Johnson. 18 Fair, it has been already observed, was formerly used as a VOL. X. F Now Romeo is belov'd, and loves again, 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; And she as much in love, her means much less To meet her new-beloved any where: But passion lends them power, time means to meet, Temp'ring extremities with extreme sweet. [Exit. Y ACT II. SCENE I. An open Place, adjoining Capulet's Rom. Can I Garden. Enter ROMEO. go forward, when my heart is here? Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out. [He climbs the Wall, and leaps down within it. Enter BENVOLIO, and MERcutio. Ben. Romeo! my cousin Romeo! Mer. He is wise; And, on my life, hath stolen him home to bed. Ben. He ran this way, and leap'd this orchard1 wall: Call, good Mercutio. substantive, and was synonymous with beauty. See vol. i. p. 228. The old copies read :- That fair for which love groan'd for,' &c. This reading Malone defends. Steevens treats it as a corruption; and says, that fair, in the present instance, is used as a dissyllable. See vol. iii. p. 148, note 20. 1 See note on Julius Cæsar, vol. viii. p. 295. |