How much salt water thrown away in waste,
To season love, that of it doth not taste!
The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears,
Thy old groans ring yet in my ancient ears;
Lo, here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit
Of an old tear, that is not wash'd off yet:
If e'er thou wast thyself, and these woes thine,
Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline;
And art thou chang'd? Pronounce this sentence
then-
[men.
Women may fall, when there's no strength in
Rom. Thou chidd'st me oft for loving Rosaline.
Fri. For doating, not for loving, pupil mine.
Rom. And bad'st me bury love.
Fri. Not in a grave,

10

To lay one in, another out to have.
Rom. I pray thee, chide not: she, whom I love

now,

Doth grace for grace, and love for love allow;
The other did not so.

Fri. O, she knew well,

Mer. More than prince of cats, I can tell you. O, he is the courageous captain of compliments: he fights as you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance, and proportion; he rests his minim, one, 5 two, and the third in your bosom: the very butcher of a silk button, a dueliist, a duellist; a gentleman of the very first house;-of the first and second cause:-Ah, the immortal passado! the punto reverso! the hay 3!

Ben. The what?

Mer. The pox of such antick, lisping, affecting fantasticoes; these new tuners of accent!By-a very good blade!—a very tall man!— a very good whore!- -Why, is not this a lamen15 table thing, grandsire, that we should be thus afflicted with these strange flies, these fashion-mongers, these Pardonnez-moy's, who stand so much on the new form, that they cannot sit at ease on the old bench? O, their bon's, their bon's*!

20

Enter Romeo.

Thy love did read by rote, and 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,
To turn your households' rancour to pure love.
Rom. Ŏ, let us hence; I stand on sudden haste.
Fri. Wisely, and slow; They stumble, that run
fast.
[Exeunt.

Torments him so, that he will sure run mad.
Ben. Tybalt, the kinsman of old Capulet,
Hath sent a letter to his father's house.

Ben. Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo. Mer. Without his roe, like a dried herring:-0 flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified!-Now is he for 25 the numbers that Petrarch flowed in: Laura, to his lady, was but a kitchen-wench;-marry, she had a better love to be-rhyme her: Dido,a dowdy; Cleopatra, a gypsey; Helen and Hero, hildings and harlots; Thisbe, a grey eye or so, but not to 30 the purpose.Signior Romeo, bon jour! there's Ja French salutation to your French slop". You gave us the counterfeit fairly last night.

SCENE IV.
The STREET.

Enter Benvolio, and Mercutio.

Mer. Where the devil should this Romeo be?Came he not home to-night?

35

Ben. Not to his father's; I spoke with his man. Mer. Why, that same pale hard-hearted wench,| that Rosaline,

Rom. Good-morrow to you both. What counterfeit did I give you? [ceive? Mer. The slip, sir, the slip; Can you not conRom. 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 40 yours constrains a man to bow in the hams. Rom. Meaning-to curt'sy.

Mer. Thou hast most kindly hit it.

Rom. A most courteous exposition.

Mer. Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy.
Rom. Pink for flower.
Mer. Right.

Rom. Why, then is my pump well flower'd'. Mer. Well said: follow me this jest now, 'till thou hast worn out thy pump; that, when the single sole of it is worn, the jest may remain, after the wearing, solely singular.

Rom. O single-sol'd jest, solely singular for the singleness!

Mer. A challenge, on my life.

Ben. Romeo will answer it.

Mer. Any man, that can write, may answer a letter.

1451

Ben. Nay, he will answer the letter's master, how he dares, being dar'd.

Mer. Alas, poor Romeo, he is already dead!! stabb'd with a white wench's black eye, shot thorough the ear with a love-song; the very pin of his 50 heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's but-shaft; And is he a man to encounter Tybalt ?

Ben. Why, what is Tybalt?

1 Tybert, the name given to the Cat, in the story-book of Reynard the Fox. 2 That is, a gentleman of the first rank, of the first eminence among these duellists; and one who understands the whole science of quarrelling, and will tell you of the first cause, and the second cause, for which a man is to fight. 3 'The hay is the word hai, you have it, used when a thrust reaches the antagonist. * i. e. How ridiculous they make themselves in crying out good, and being in ecstacies with every trifle.

6

6

Stops are large loose breeches or trowsers, worn at present only by sailors. To understand this play upon the words counterfeit and slip, it should be observed, that in our author's time there was a counterfeit piece of money distinguished by the name of a slip. ' Dr. Johnson says, Here is a vein of wit too thin to be easily found. The fundamental idea is, that Romeo wore pinked pumps, that is, punched with holes in figures.

Mer.

Mer. Come between us, good Benvolio; my wit faints.

Rom. Switch and spurs, switch and spurs; or I'll cry a inatch.

Mer. Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chase, 5 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?

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

Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jest.
Rom. Nay, good goose, bite not.

Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting'; it is a most sharp sauce.

Rom. And is it not well serv'd in to a sweet goose? 15 Mer. O, here's a wit of cheverel2, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad!

Rom. One, gentlewoman, that God hath made himself to mar.

Rom. I stretch it out for that word-broad, which, added to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose.

Mer. Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now thou art sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature: for this driveling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to 25 hide his bauble in a hole 3.

Rom. Here's goodly geer!
Enter Nurse, and Peter.
Mer. A sail, a sail, a sail!

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

Nurse. Peter!

Peter. Anon?

Nurse. My fans, Peter.

Mer. Do, good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan's the fairer of the two.

Nurse. God ye good-morrow, gentlemen.
Mer. God ye good den', fair gentlewoman.
Nurse. Is it good den?

Mer. 'Tis no less, I tell you; for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon. Nurse. Out upon you! what a man are you!

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?

Rom. I can tell you; but young Romeo will be older when you have found him, than he was when you sought him: I am the youngest of that name, for fault of a worse.

10

Nurse. You say well.

Mer. Yea, is the worst well? very well took, ' faith; wisely, wisely.

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

Ben. She will indite him to some supper.

Mer. A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! So ho!

Rom. What hast thou found?

Mer. No hare, sir; unless a hare, sir, in a lenten pye, that is something stale and hoar ere 20t be spent.

Ben. Stop there, stop there.

Mer. Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair". [large. Ben. Thou would'st else have made thy tale|30| Mer. O, thou art deceiv'd, 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.

An old hare hoar',
And an old hare hoar,
Is very good meat in lent:
But a hare that is hoar,
Is too much for a score,
When it hours ere it be spent.-

Romeo, will you come to your father's? we'll to
dinner thither.

Rom. I will follow you.

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 10?

35

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

Nurse. An 'a speak any thing against me, I'll take him down an 'a were lustier than he is, and 40 twenty such Jacks; and if I cannot, I'll find those that shall. Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirtgills; I am none of his skains-mates":——And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure?

45

Pet. I saw no man use you at his pleasure; if [ had, my weapon should quickly have been out, I warrant you: I dare draw as soon as another man, if I see occasion in a good quarrel, and the law lon my side.

A bitter sweeting is an apple of that name. 2 Cheverel is soft leather for gloves; from cherreau, a kid, Fr. It has been already observed, in a note on All's Well, &c., that a bauble was one of the accoutrements of a licensed fool or jester. * An expression equivalent to one which we now use"against the grain." "The business of Peter carrying the Nurse's fan seems ridiculous according to modern manners; but such was formerly the practice. i. e. God give you a good even. Hoar, or hoary, is often used for mouldy, as things grow white from moulding. The burthen of an old song. Mr. Steevens observes, that the term merchant, which was, and even now is, frequently applied to the lowest sort of dealers, seems anciently to have been used on these familiar occasions in contradistinction to gentleman; signifying that the person shewed by his behaviour he was a low fellow.-The term chap, i. e. chapman, a word of the same import with merchant in its less respectable sense, is still in common use among the vulgar, as a general denomination for any person of whom they mean to speak with freedom or disrespect. 10 i. e. roguery. "A skein or skin was either a knife or a short dagger. By skains-mates the nurse means, none of his loose companions who frequent the fencing-school with him, where we may suppose the exercise of this weapon was taught.

3 R 2

Nurse.

Nurse. Now, afore God, I am so vext, that every part about me quivers. Scurvy knave!-Pray you, sir, a word: and, as I told you, my young lady bade me enquire you out; what she bade me say, I will keep to myself: but first let 5 me tell ye, if ye should lead her into a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behaviour, as they say: the gentlewoman is young; and, therefore, if you should deal double with her, truly, it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing.

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

Nurse. Good heart! and, i' faith, I will tell her as much: Lord, lord, she will be a joyful 15

SCENE V.
Capulet's Garden.
Enter Juliet.

Jul. The clock struck nine, when I did send
the nurse;

10

In half an hour she promis'd to return. [$0.-
Perchance, she cannot meet him :-that's not
O, she is lame! love's heralds should be thoughts,
Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams,
Driving back shadows over lowring 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
Is three long hours,-yet she is not come.
20 Had she affections, and warm youthful blood,
She'd be as swift in motion as a ball;

woman.

Rom. 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 gentleman-like offer.

Rom. Bid her devise some means to come to shrift

This afternoon;

And there she shall at friar Lawrence' cell

But old folks, many feign as they were dead:

Be shriv'd, and marry'd. Here is for thy pains. 25 Unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead.
Nurse. No, truly, sir; not a penny.
Enter Nurse, with Peter.
Rom. Go to; I say you shall.

Nurse. This afternoon, sir? well, she shall be
[wall:

there.

Rom. And stay, good nurse, behind the abbey 30
Within this hour my man shall be with thee;
And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair',
Which to the high top-gallant of my joy
Must be my convoy in the secret night.
Farewell! Be trusty, and I'll quit thy pains.
Farewell!-Commend me to thy mistress.

2

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

Rom. What say'st thou, my dear nurse?
Nurse. Is your man secret? Did you ne'er 40
hear say-

Pet. Anon?

Nurse. Peter, take my fan, and go before.
[Exeunt.

Two may keep counsel, putting one away?
Rom. I warrant thee; my man's as true as steel.
Nurse. Well, sir; my mistress is the sweetest
lady-Lord, lord!-when 'twas a little prating 45
thing,-0,-there's a nobleman in town, one
Paris, that would fain lay knife aboard; but she,
good soul, had as lieve see a toad, a very toad, as
see him. I anger her sometimes, and tell her that
Paris is the properer man; but, I'll warrant you, 50
when I say so, she looks as pale as any clout in
the varsal world. Doth not rosemary and Romeo
begin both with a letter?
[an R.

'Like stairs of rope in the tackle of a ship. mast of a ship.

Rom. Ay, nurse; What of that? both with
Nurse. Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. 55
R is for the dog. No; I know it begins with
some other letter: and she hath the prettiest sen-
tentious of it, of you and rosemary, that it would
do you good to hear it.

Rom. Commend me to thy lady.
Nurse. Ay, a thousand times.-Peter!

[Exit. 60

My words would bandy her to my sweet love,
And his to me:

35

Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily;
If good, thou sham'st the musick of sweet news
By playing it to me with so sour a face.
Nurse. I am aweary, give me leave a while;—
Fie, how my bones ache! What a jaunt have I
had!
[news:
Jul. I would, thou hadst my bones, and I thy
Nay, come, I pray thee, speak ;-good, good
nurse, speak.

Nurse. What haste? can you not stay a while?
Do you not see, that I am out of breath?
Jul. How art thou out of breath, when thou
hast breath

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.
Jul. Now, good sweet nurse,-Olord! why

look'st thou sad?

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;
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 leg excels all men's; and for a hand, and a foot, and a body,-though they be not to be talk'd on, yet they are past compare: He is not the flower of courtesy, but, I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb.-Go thy ways, wench; serve God:What, have you din'd at home?

Jul. No, no: But all this I did know before; What says he of our marriage? what of that?

2 The top-gallant is the highest extremity of the

Nurse.

Act 3. Scene 1.]

Nurse. Lord, how my head akes! what a head
have I!

ROMEO AND JULIET.

It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.
My back o' the other side,-O, my back, my
back!

Beshrew your heart, for sending me about,
To catch my death with jaunting up and down!
Jul. I' faith, I am sorry that thou art not well:
Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me what says my
love?

Nurse. Your love says like an honest gentleman,
And a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome, and
I warrant, a virtuous:-Where is your mother?
Jul. Where is my mother?-why, she is within;
Where should she be? How oddly thou reply'st?
Your love says like an honest gentleman,-
Where is your mother?

Nurse. O, God's lady dear!

Are you so hot? Marry, come up, I trow;
Is this the poultice for my aking bones?
Henceforward do your messages yourself.
Jul. Here's such a coil;-Come, what says
Romeo?

Nurse. Then hie you hence to friar Lawrence'
There stays a husband to make you a wife:
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:
I am the drudge, and toil in your delight;
But you shall bear the burthen soon at night.
Go, I'll to dinner; hie you to the cell.
Jul. Hie to high fortune!--honest nurse, fare-
[Exeunt.

well.

SCENE VI.
Friar Lawrence's Cell.

Enter Friar Lawrence, and Romeo.
Friar. So smile the heavens upon this holy act,

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

[cell, 25

That after-hours with sorrow chide us not!

Rom. 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. These violent delights have violent ends, And in their triumph die; like fire, and powder, 10Which, as they kiss, consume: The sweetest honey

I.

Is loathsome in his own deliciousness,
And in the taste confounds the appetite:
Therefore, love moderately; long love doth so;
15 Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow;
Enter Juliet.

Here comes the lady:-O, so light a foot
Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint;
A lover may bestride the gossamour'
20 That idles in the wanton summer air,
And yet not fall; so light is vanity.
Jul. Good even to my ghostly confessor.
Friar. Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for
us both.
[much.
Jul. As much to him, else are his thanks too
Rom. Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy
Be heap'd like mine, and that thy skill be more
To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath
This neighbour air, and let rich musick's tongue
30 Unfold the imagin'd happiness that both
Receive in either by this dear encounter.

Jul. Conceit,more rich in matter than in words,
Brags of his substance, not of ornament:
They are but beggars that can count their worth;
35 But my true love is grown to such excess,
I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth.

Friar. Come, come with me, and we will
make short work;

For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone, 40 Till holy church incorporate two in one,

[Exeunt.

ACT

SCENE

A Street.

Enter Mercutio, Benvolio, Page, and Servants.
Ben. PRAY thee, good Mercutio, let's retire;
The day is
Capulets abroad,
And, if we meet, we shall not 'scape a brawl;
For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.
Mer. Thou art like one of those fellows, that,
when he enters the confines of a tavern, claps me
his sword upon the table, and says, God send me no 60
need of thee! and, by the operation of the second
cup, draws it on the drawer, when, indeed, there

is no need.

981

150

III.

Ben. Am I like such a fellow?

Mer. Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy; and as soon mov'd to be moody, and as soon moody to be mov'd. Ben. And what to?

55

Mer. Nay, an there were two such, we should have none shortly, for one would kill the other. Thou! why thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes; what eye, but such an eye, would spy out such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of quarrels, as an egg is full of meat;

your nine lives; that I mean to make bold withal,
and, as you shall use me hereafter, dry-beat the
rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out
of his pilcher by the ears? make haste, lest mine
be about your ears ere it be out.
Tyb. I am for you.

[Drawing.

Rom. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up.
Mer. Come, sir, your passado. [They fight.
Rom. Draw, Benvolio;

and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg, for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrell'd with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath waken'd thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a taylor for wearing 5 his new doublet before Easter? with another, for tying his new shoes with old ribband? and yet thou wilt tutor me for quarrelling!

Ben. An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the fee-simple of my life 10 Bear down their weapons:-Gentlemen, for shame for an hour and a quarter. Forbear this outrage;-Tybalt-MercutioThe prince expressly hath forbid this bandying In Verona streets :-hold, Tybalt;-good Mercutio. [Exit Tybalt. Mer. I am hurt ;

Mer. The fee-simple? O simple!
Enter Tybalt, and others.

Ben. By my head, here come the Capulets.
Mer. By my heel, I care not.
[them.-15
Tyb. Follow me close, for I will speak to
Gentlemen, good den: a word with one of you.

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

20

A plague o' both the houses!-I am sped :—
Is he gone, and hath nothing?
Ben. What, art thou hurt?

[enough.Mer. Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis Where is my page?—-go, villain, fetch a surgeon. [Exit Page. Rom. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. Mer. No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 'tis enough; 'twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I am pepper'd, I warrant, for this world.-A plague o' both your houses! What! a dog, a rat,a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetick!-Why, the devil, came you between us? I was hurt under your arm. Rom. I thought all for the best.

Mer. Help me into some house, Benvolio,
Or I shall faint.-A plague o' both your houses!
35 They have made worm's meat of me:

I have it, and soundly too:-Your houses!
[Exeunt Mercutio, and Benvolio.
Rom. This gentleman, the prince's near ally,
My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt
In my behalf; my reputation stain'd
With Tybalt's slander, Tybalt, that an hour
Hath been my kinsman:-O sweet Juliet,
Thy beauty hath made me effeminate,
And in my temper soften'd valour's steel.
Re-enter Benvolio.

Tyb. You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, if you will give me occasion.

Mer. Could you not take some occasion without giving?

Tyb. Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo,-25 Mer. Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels? an thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords: here's my fiddlestick; here's that shall make you dance. 'Zounds, consort!

Ben. We talk here in the public haunt of men: 30
Either withdraw into some private place,
Or reason coldly of your grievances,
Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.
Mer. Men's eyes were made to look, and let
them gaze;

I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I.
Enter Romeo.

Tyb. Well, peace be with you, sir! here comes my man. [livery: Mer. But I'll be hang'd, sir, if he wear your 40 Marry, go first to field, he 'll be your follower; Your worship, in that sense, may call him-man.

Tyb. Romeo, the hate I bear thee, can afford No better term than this-Thou art a villain.

Rom.Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee 45
Doth much excuse the appertaining rage
To such a greeting :-Villain I am none;
Therefore farewell; I see thou know'st me not.

Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead;
That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds,
Which too untimely here did scorn the earth.
Rom. This day's black fate on more days doth
depend3;
This but begins the woe, others must end.
Re-enter Tybalt.

Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again. Rom. Alive! in triumph! and Mercutio slain! 55 Away to heaven, respective lenity,

Tyb. Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries
That thou hast done me; therefore turn and 50
Rom. I do protest, I never injur'd thee; [draw
But love thee better than thou canst devise,
"Till thou shalt know the reason of my love:
And so, good Capulet,—which name I tender
As dearly as my own, be satisfied.

Mer. O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!
A la stoccata carries it away.-

1

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,

Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?

Tyb. What would'st thou have with me?
Mer. Good king of cats, nothing but one of 60 Staying for thine to keep him company;

2

Stoccata is the Italian term for a thrust or stab with a rapier. Dr. Warburton says, we should read pitche, which signifies a cloke or coat of skins, meaning the scabbard. 'i. e. This day's unhappy destiny hangs over the days yet to come. There will yet be more mischief.

Or