And yet no further than a wanton's bird; So loving-jealous of his liberty. Rom. I would, I were thy bird. Sweet, so would I: Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. sorrow, That I shall say-good night, till it be morrow. [Exit. Rom. Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast! 'Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest! Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell; His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell. (Exit. SCENE III. Friar Laurence's Cell. Enter Friar LAURENCE, with a Basket. Fri. The grey-ey'd morn smiles on the frowning night, Checkering the eastern clouds with streaks of light; And flecked darkness1 like a drunkard reels From forth day's path-way, made by Titan's wheels: Now ere the sun advance his burning eye, The day to cheer, and night's dank dew to dry, I must up-fill this osier cage of ours, With baleful weeds, and precious-juiced flowers. The earth, that's nature's mother, is her tomb; What is her burying grave, that is her womb: 1 And flecked darkness-] Flecked is spotted, dappled, streaked, or variegated. 3 And from her womb children of divers kind part; Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart. Enter ROMEO. Rom. Good morrow, father! Benedicite! Fri. What early tongue so sweet saluteth me?Young son, it argues a distemper'd head, So soon to bid good morrow to thy bed: Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye, 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: 2 3 4 powerful grace,] Efficacious virtue. to the earth-] i. e. to the inhabitants of the earth. with that part-] i. e. with the part which smells; with the olfactory nerves. Therefore thy earliness doth me assure, Rom. That last is true, the sweeter rest was mine. Fri. God pardon sin! wast thou with Rosaline? Rom. With Rosaline, my ghostly father? no; I have forgot that name, and that name's woe. Fri. That's my good son: But where hast thou been then? Rom. I'll tell thee, ere thou ask it me again. Fri. Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift; Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift. Rom. Then plainly know, my heart's dear love is set On the fair daughter of rich Capulet : Fri. Holy Saint Francis! what a change is here! The sun not yet thy sighs from heaven clears, then Women may fall, when there's no strength in men. Rom. Thou chidd'st me oft for loving Rosaline. Fri. For doting, not for loving, pupil mine. Rom. And bad'st me bury love. Fri. To lay one in, another out to have. Not in a grave, Rom. I pray thee, chide not: she, whom I love now, Doth grace for grace, and love for love allow; Fri. O, she knew well, Thy love did read by rote, and could not spell. To turn your households' rancour to pure love. fast. SCENE IV. Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO. [Exeunt. Mer. Where the devil should this Romeo be?Came he not home to-night? 5 I stand on sudden haste.] i. e. it is of the utmost con sequence for me to be hasty. Ben. Not to his father's; I spoke with his man. Mer. Ah, that same pale hard-hearted wench, that Rosaline, Torments him so, that he will sure run mad. Ben. Tybalt, the kinsman of old Capulet, Hath sent a letter to his father's house. Mer. A challenge, on my life. Mer. Any man, that can write, may answer a letter. he dares, being dared. Mer. Alas, poor Romeo, he is already dead ! stabbed with a white wench's black eye; shot thorough the ear with a love-song; the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's butt-shaft;" And is he a man to encounter Tybalt? Ben. Why, what is Tybalt? 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; rests me his minim rest, one, two, and the third in your bosom: the very butcher of a silk button, a duellist, a duellist; a gentleman of the very first house,-of the first and second cause: Ah, the immortal passado! the punto reverso! the hay! 6 the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's butt-shuft;] The allusion is to archery. The clout or white mark at which the arrows are directed, was fastened by a black pin placed in the center of it. To hit this was the highest ambition of every marksman. More than prince of cats,] Tybert, the name given to the cat, in the story-book of Reynard the Fox. 8 a gentleman of the very first house, of the first and second cause:] i. e. 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. 9 - the hay! All the terms of the modern fencing-school * |