the preacher was paid six shillings and twopence for his labour; the
minstrel, twelve shillings; and the cook, fifteen shillings. But, as Ben
Jonson tells us, a master cook is--
"a man of men
For a professor; he designs, he draws,
He paints, he carves, he builds, he fortifies,
Makes citadels of curious fowl and fish.
* * * * *
He is an architect, an engineer,
A soldier, a physician, a philosopher,
A general mathematician."
6. _'Tis an ill cook_, etc. Cf. Puttenham, _Arte of English Poesie_,
1589:--
"As the old cocke crowes so doeth the chick:
A bad cooke that cannot his owne fingers lick."
14. _Harlotry._ S. uses the noun only in this concrete sense: literally
in _Oth._ iv. 2. 239; and in a loose contemptuous way, as here (= silly
wench), in 1 _Hen. IV._ iii. 1. 198: "a peevish, self-willed harlotry,
one that no persuasion can do good upon." For _peevish_ = foolish,
childish, cf. _A.Y.L._ iii. 5. 110, _M.W._ i. 4. 14, etc.
17. _Learn'd me._ Taught myself, learned; not elsewhere used reflexively
by S. Cf. iii. 2. 12 above.
18. _In disobedient opposition._ This line has but two regular accents,
the others being metrical. See p. 159 above. _Opposition_ has five
syllables.
26. _Becomed._ Becoming. Cf. "lean-look'd" = lean-looking in _Rich. II._
ii. 4. 11, "well-spoken" in _Rich. III._ i. 3. 348, etc. We still say
"well-behaved."
33. _Closet._ Chamber; as in _Ham._ ii. 1. 77, iii. 2. 344, iii. 3. 27,
etc. Cf. _Matthew_, vi. 6.
34. _Sort._ Select. Cf. iii. 5. 108 above.
38. _Short in our provision._ Very feminine and housewifely! Cf. _Lear_,
ii. 4. 208:--
"I am now from home, and out of that provision
Which shall be needful for your entertainment."
41. _Deck up her._ Such transpositions are not rare in S. The 1st quarto
has "prepare up him" in 45 just below.
SCENE III.--5. _Cross._ Perverse. Cf. _Hen. VIII._ iii. 2. 214:--
"what cross devil
Made me put this main secret in the packet
I sent the king?"
8. _Behoveful._ Befitting; used by S. nowhere else.
15. _Thrills._ The ellipsis is somewhat peculiar from the fact that the
relative is expressed in the next line. We should expect "thrilling" or
"And almost."
23. _Lie thou there._ See on iv. 1. 54 above. Moreover, as Steevens
notes, _knives_, or daggers, were part of the accoutrements of a bride.
Cf. Dekker, _Match me in London_: "See at my girdle hang my wedding
knives!" and _King Edward III._, 1599: "Here by my side do hang my
wedding knives," etc. Dyce remarks that the omission of the word _knife_
"is peculiarly awkward, as Juliet has been addressing the vial just
before;" but S. wrote for the stage, where the action would make the
reference perfectly clear.
27. _Because he married me_, etc. A "female" line with two extra
syllables; like v. 3. 256 below. See p. 158 above.
29. _Tried._ Proved; as in _J.C._ iv. 1. 28, _Ham._ i. 3. 62, etc.
34. _Healthsome._ Wholesome; used by S. only here.
36. _Like._ Likely; as often.
39. _As in a vault_, etc. _As_ is here = to wit, namely. Cf. _Ham._ i.
4. 25, etc.
Steevens thinks that this passage may have been suggested to S. by the
ancient charnel-house (now removed) adjoining the chancel of Stratford
church; but that was merely a receptacle for bones from old graves and
disused tombs, while the reference here is to a family tomb still in
regular use, where the body of Tybalt has just been deposited, and as
Juliet knows that she also will be when supposed to be dead. S. was of
course familiar with such tombs or _vaults_.
_Receptacle._ For the accent on the first syllable, cf. _T.A._ i. 1. 92:
"O sacred receptacle of my joys!" So also in _Per._ iv. 6. 186; the only
other instance of the word in S.
42. _Green._ Fresh, recent; as in _Ham._ i. 2. 2, etc.
43. _Festering._ Corrupting; as in _Hen. V._ iv. 3. 88 and _Sonn._ 94.
14.
47. _Mandrakes'._ The plant _Atropa mandragora_ (cf. _Oth._ iii. 3. 130
and _A. and C._ i. 5. 4, where it is called "mandragora"), the root of
which was thought to resemble the human figure, and when torn from the
earth to utter shrieks which drove those mad who heard them. Cf. 2 _Hen.
VI._ iii. 2. 310: "Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groans,"
etc. Coles, in his _Art of Simpling_, says that witches "take likewise
the roots of mandrake, ... and make thereof an ugly image, by which they
represent the person on whom they intend to exercise their witchcraft."
The plant was of repute also in medicine, as a soporific (see the
passages noted above in which it is called _mandragora_) and for sundry
other purposes. Sir Thomas More observes that "Mandragora is an herbe,
as phisycions saye, that causeth folke to slepe, and therein to have
many mad fantastical dreames." How the root could be got without danger
is explained by Bullein, in his _Bulwark of Defence against Sicknesse_,
1575: "Therefore they did tye some dogge or other lyving beast unto the
roote thereof wythe a corde, and digged the earth in compasse round
about, and in the meane tyme stopped their own eares for feare of the
terreble shriek and cry of this Mandrack. In whych cry it doth not only
dye it selfe, but the feare thereof kylleth the dogge or beast which
pulleth it out of the earth."
49. _Distraught._ Distracted. S. uses the word again in _Rich. III._
iii. 5. 4: "distraught and mad with terror." Elsewhere he has
_distracted_ (as in _Temp._ v. i. 12, _Macb._ ii. 3. 110, etc.) or
_distract_ (as in _J.C._ iv. 3. 155, _Ham._ iv. 5. 2, etc.). Spenser has
_distraught_ often; as in _F.Q._ iv. 3. 48: "Thus whilest their minds
were doubtfully distraught;" _Id._ iv. 7. 31: "His greedy throte,
therewith in two distraught" (where it is = drawn apart, its original
sense), etc.
58. _Romeo, I come_, etc. The 1st quarto has here the stage-direction,
"_She fals vpon her bed within the Curtaines_." The ancient stage was
divided by curtains, called _traverses_, which were a substitute for
sliding scenes. Juliet's bed was behind these curtains, and when they
were closed in front of the bed the stage was supposed to represent the
hall in Capulet's house for the next scene. When he summons the Nurse to
call forth Juliet, she opens the curtains and the scene again becomes
Juliet's chamber, where she is discovered apparently dead. After the
lamentations over her, the 1st quarto gives the direction, "_They all
but the Nurse goe foorth, casting Rosemary on her and shutting the
Curtens_;" and then follows the scene with Peter and the Musicians. The
stage had no movable painted scenery.
* * * * *
SCENE IV.--2. _Pastry._ That is, the room where pastry was made. Cf.
_pantry_ (Fr. _paneterie_, from _pain_), the place where bread is kept,
etc. Staunton quotes _A Floorish upon Fancie_, 1582:--
"Now having seene all this, then shall you see hard by
The pastrie, mealehouse, and the roome whereas the coales do ly."
S. uses _pastry_ only here. For the double meaning of the word, cf.
_spicery_ (Fr. _épicerie_), which was used both for the material (_Rich.
III._ iv. 4. 424) and the place where it was kept.
4. _Curfew-bell._ As the curfew was rung in the evening, the only way to
explain this is to assume that it means "the bell ordinarily used for
that purpose" (Schmidt). In the three other instances in which S. has
the word (_Temp._ v. 1. 40, _M. for M._ iv. 2. 78, _Lear_, iii. 4. 121),
it is used correctly.
5. _Bak'd meats._ Pastry. S. uses the term only here and in _Ham._ i. 2.
180. Nares says that it formerly meant "a meat pie, or perhaps any other
pie." He cites Cotgrave, who defines _pastisserie_ as "all kind of pies
or bak'd meats;" and Sherwood (English supplement to Cotgrave), who
renders "bak'd meats" by _pastisserie_. Cf. _The White Devil:_--
"You speak as if a man
Should know what fowl is coffin'd in a bak'd meat
Afore it is cut up;"
that is, what fowl is under the crust of the pie. _Good Angelica_
perhaps means Lady Capulet, not the Nurse; and, as Dowden suggests,
_Spare not the cost_ seems more appropriate to the former. It may,
however, be the Nurse, who here seems to be treated as a kitchen
servant--perhaps to avoid the introduction of another character.
6. _Go, you cot-quean_, etc. Several editors give this speech to Lady
Capulet; on the ground that the Nurse is not present, having been sent
for spices. It has also been suggested that a servant would not venture
to be so impudent to her master; but, as we have seen, the Nurse is an
old and petted servant who is allowed a good deal of liberty. For the
same reason she may not have gone for the spices at once, but may have
lingered, gossip-like, to hear what Capulet had to say. A _cot-quean_ is
a man who meddles with female affairs; used by S. only here.
11. _Mouse-hunt._ A woman-hunter. For _mouse_ as a term of endearment,
see _Ham._ iii. 4. 183, _L. L. L._ v. 2. 19, and _T.N._ i. 5. 69.
13. _Jealous-hood._ Jealousy; the abstract for the concrete; used by S.
only here.
16. _Drier logs._ For the kitchen; not a slip like that in i. 5. 30.
21. _Logger-head._ Blockhead. Cf. _L. L. L._ iv. 3. 204: "Ah, you whoreson
loggerhead!" So _logger-headed_; as in _T. of S._ iv. 1. 128: "You
logger-headed and unpolish'd grooms!"
* * * * *
SCENE V.--3. _Sweet-heart._ Accented on the last syllable; as regularly
in S. (cf. _Hen. VIII._ i. 4. 94, etc.) except in _W. T._ iv. 4. 664:
"take your sweet-heart's hat." Schmidt would print it as two words (as
is common in the old eds.) except in this latter passage.
28. _Will not let me speak._ Malone remarks: "S. has here followed the
poem closely, without recollecting that he had made Capulet, in this
scene, clamorous in his grief. In _Romeus and Juliet_, Juliet's mother
makes a long speech, but the old man utters not a word:--
"'But more then all the rest the fathers hart was so
Smit with the heauy newes, and so shut vp with sodain woe,
That he ne had the powre his daughter to bewepe,
Ne yet to speake, but long is forsd his teares and plaint to kepe.'"
The poem may have suggested Capulet's speech; but S. is not at fault in
making him afterwards find his tongue and become "clamorous in his
grief." That was perfectly natural.
36. _Life, living._ There is no necessity for emendation, as some have
supposed. _Living is_ = means of living, possessions; as in _M. of V._
v. 1. 286: "you have given me life and living," etc.
37. _Thought._ Expected, hoped; as in _Much Ado_, ii. 3. 236, etc.
41. _Labour._ Referring to the toilsome progress of time, as in _T. of
A._ iii. 4. 8 (Delius).
44. _Catch'd._ Also used for the participle in _L. L. L._ v. 2. 69 and
_A. W._ i. 3. 176; and for the past tense in _Cor._ i. 3. 68. Elsewhere
S. has _caught_.
45. _O woe!_ White thinks that in "this speech of mock heroic woe" S.
ridicules the translation of Seneca's _Tragedies_ (1581); but it is in
keeping with the character. Probably this and the next two speeches
belong to the early draft of the play, with much that precedes and
follows.
52. _Detestable._ For the accent on the first syllable (as always in
S.), cf. _K. John_, iii. 4. 29, _T. of A._ iv. 1. 33, and v. 3. 45
below.
55. _Despis'd, distressed_, etc. In this line, as in 51, note the
mixture of contracted and uncontracted participles.
56. _Uncomfortable._ Cheerless, joyless; the one instance of the word in
S.
60. _Buried._ A trisyllable here; as in v. 3. 176 below.
61. _Confusion's._ Here, the word is = ruin, death; but in the next line
it is = confused lamentations. Cf. _R. of L._ 445: "fright her with
confusion of their cries."
66. _His._ Its. _Heaven_ is not personified here.
67. _Promotion._ A quadrisyllable here.
72. _Well._ Often thus used of the dead. Cf. _W.T._ v. 1. 30, 2 _Hen.
IV._ v. 2. 3, _Macb._ iv. 3. 179, _A. and C._ ii. 5. 33, etc. See also
v. 1. 17 below.
75. _Rosemary._ That is, the rosemary that had been brought for the
wedding; for it was used at both weddings and funerals. Cf. Herrick,
_The Rosemarie Branch:_--
"Grow for two ends, it matters not at all,
Be 't for my bridall or my buriall;"
and Dekker, _Wonderful Year_: "The rosemary that was washed in sweet
water to set out the bridal, is now wet in tears to furnish her burial."
Cf. ii. 4. 198 above.
76. _As the custom is._ See on iv. 1. 110 above.
78. _Fond._ Foolish (cf. iii. 3. 52 above), as opposed to _reason_.
80. _All things_, etc. Cf. Brooke's poem:--
"Now is the parentes myrth quite chaunged into mone,
And now to sorrow is retornde the ioy of euery one;
And now the wedding weedes for mourning weedes they chaunge,
And Hymene into a Dyrge; alas! it seemeth straunge:
In steade of mariage gloues, now funerall gloues they haue,
And whom they should see maried, they follow to the graue.
The feast that should haue been of pleasure and of ioy
Hath euery dish and cup fild full of sorow and annoye."
95. _Case._ There is a play upon the other sense of the word (a case for
a musical instrument); as in _W.T._ iv. 4. 844: "but though my case be a
pitiful one, I hope I shall not be flayed out of it" (that is, out of my
skin).
96. _Enter Peter._ From the quartos we learn that William Kempe played
the part of Peter, as he did that of Dogberry in _Much Ado_.
In explanation of the introduction of this part of the scene, Knight
remarks: "It was the custom of our ancient theatre to introduce, in the
irregular pauses of a play that stood in place of a division into acts,
some short diversions, such as a song, a dance, or the extempore
buffoonery of a clown. At this point of _R. and J._ there is a natural
pause in the action, and at this point such an interlude would probably
have been presented, whether S. had written one or not.... Will Kempe
was the Liston of his day, and was as great a popular favourite as
Tarleton had been before him. It was wise, therefore, in S. to find some
business for Will Kempe that should not be entirely out of harmony with
the great business of his play. The scene of the musicians is very
short, and, regarded as a necessary part of the routine of the ancient
stage, is excellently managed. Nothing can be more naturally exhibited
than the indifference of hirelings, without attachment, to a family
scene of grief. Peter and the musicians bandy jokes; and though the
musicians think Peter a 'pestilent knave,' perhaps for his inopportune
sallies, they are ready enough to look after their own gratification,
even amidst the sorrow which they see around them. A wedding or a burial
is the same to them. 'Come, we'll in here; tarry for the mourners, and
stay dinner.' So S. read the course of the world--and it is not much
changed."
"To our minds," says Clarke, "the intention was to show how grief and
gayety, pathos and absurdity, sorrow and jesting, elbow each other in
life's crowd; how the calamities of existence fall heavily upon the
souls of some, while others, standing close beside the grievers, feel no
jot of suffering or sympathy. Far from the want of harmony that has been
found here, we feel it to be one of those passing discords that produce
richest and fullest effect of harmonious contrivance."
Furness states that in Edwin Booth's acting copy this scene of Peter and
the musicians is transposed to i. 5. 17 above.
99. _Heart's ease._ A popular tune of the time, mentioned in
_Misogonus_, a play by Thomas Rychardes, written before 1570.
101. _My heart is full of woe._ The burden of the first stanza of _A
Pleasant new Ballad of Two Lovers_: "Hey hoe! my heart is full of woe"
(Steevens).
102. _Dump._ A mournful or plaintive song or melody. Calling it _merry_
is a joke of Peter's. Cf. _T.G. of V._ iii. 2. 85: "A deploring dump."
See also _R. of L._ 1127.
109. _Gleek._ Scoff. Cf. 1 _Hen. VI._ iii. 2. 123: "Now where's the
Bastard's braves, and Charles his gleeks?" _To give the gleek_ was "to
pass a jest upon, to make a person ridiculous." It is impossible to say
what is the joke in _give you the minstrel_. Some suppose that _gleek_
suggests _gleeman_, one form of which in Anglo-Saxon was _gligman_, but
no such form is found in English, if we may trust the _New Eng. Dict._
The reply of the musician may perhaps mean "that he will retort by
calling Peter the servant to the minstrel" (White).
114. _I will carry no crotchets._ I will bear none of your whims; with a
play on _crotchets_, as in _Much Ado_, ii. 3. 58. Cf. _carry coals_ in
i. 1. 1 above. The play on _note_ is obvious.
120. _Drybeat._ See on iii. 1. 81 above. For _have at you_, cf. i. 1. 64
above.
122. _When griping grief_, etc. From a poem by Richard Edwards, in the
_Paradise of Daintie Devises_. See also Percy's _Reliques_.
126. _Catling._ A small string of _catgut_. Cf. _T. and C._ iii. 3. 306:
"unless the fiddler Apollo get his sinews to make catlings on."
132. _Pretty._ Some of the German critics are troubled by _pretty_,
because Peter does not intend to praise; and irony, they say, would be
out of place. It is simply a jocose patronizing expression = That's not
bad in its way, but you haven't hit it. The _rebeck_ was a kind of
three-stringed fiddle. Cf. Milton, _L'All._ 94: "And the jocund rebecks
sound," etc.
141. _Pestilent._ Often used in an opprobrious sense; as in _Lear_, i.
4. 127: "A pestilent gall to me!" _Oth._ ii. 1. 252: "A pestilent
complete knave," etc.
142. _Jack._ See on iii. 1. 12 above; and for _stay_ = wait for, on ii.
5. 36.
ACT V
SCENE. I.--1. _The flattering truth._ This is apparently = that which
bears the flattering semblance of truth. It has perplexed some of the
critics, but their emendations do not better it. For _flattering_ in the
sense of illusive, cf. ii. 2. 141. Some have wondered that S. here makes
the presentiment a hopeful one; but as a writer in the _Cornhill
Magazine_ (October, 1866) remarks, the presentiment was true, but Romeo
did not trust it. Had he done so, his fate would not have been so
tragic.
3. _My bosom's lord._ That is, my heart; not Love, or Cupid, as some
would make it. Lines 3-5 seem to me only a highly poetical description
of the strange new cheerfulness and hopefulness he feels--a reaction
from his former depression which is like his dream of rising from the
dead an emperor.
10. _Ah me!_ See on _Ay me!_ ii. 1. 10 above. It may be a misprint for
"Ay me!" here.
12. _Balthasar._ Always accented by S. on the first syllable. The name
occurs in _C. of E._, _Much Ado_, and _M. of V._
17. _She is well._ See on iv. 5. 72 above.
18. _Capel's._ The early eds. have "_Capels_"; the modern ones generally
"Capels'." The singular seems better here, on account of the omission of
the article; but the plural in v. 3. 127: "the Capels' monument." S.
uses this abbreviation only twice. Brooke uses _Capel_ and _Capulet_
indiscriminately. See quotation in note on i. 1. 28 above.
21. _Presently._ Immediately; the usual meaning in S. Cf. iv. 1. 54 and
95 above.
27. _Patience._ A trisyllable, as in v. 3. 221 and 261 below.
29. _Misadventure._ Mischance, misfortune; used by S. only here and in
v. 3. 188 below. _Misadventured_ occurs only in prol. 7 above.
36. _In._ Into; as often. Cf. v. 3. 34 below.
37. _I do remember_, etc. Joseph Warton objects to the detailed
description here as "improperly put into the mouth of a person agitated
with such passion." "But," as Knight remarks, "the mind once made up, it
took a perverse pleasure in going over every circumstance that had
suggested the means of mischief. All other thoughts had passed out of
Romeo's mind. He had nothing left but to die; and everything connected
with the means of death was seized upon by his imagination with an
energy that could only find relief in words. S. has exhibited the same
knowledge of nature in his sad and solemn poem of _R. of L._, where the
injured wife, having resolved to wipe out her stain by death,
"'calls to mind where hangs a piece
Of skilful painting, made for Priam's Troy.'
She sees in that painting some fancied resemblance to her own position,
and spends the heavy hours till her husband arrives in its
contemplation." See _R. of L._ 1366 fol. and 1496 fol.
39. _Overwhelming._ Overhanging. Cf. _V. and A._ 183: "His lowering
brows o'erwhelming his fair sight." See also _Hen. V._ iii. 1. 11. For
_weeds_ = garments, see _M.N.D._ ii. 2. 71, etc.
40. _Simples._ Medicinal herbs. Cf. _R. of L._ 530, _Ham._ iv. 7. 145,
etc.
43. _An alligator stuff'd._ This was a regular part of the furniture of
an apothecary's shop in the time of S. Nash, in his _Have With You_,
etc., 1596, refers to "an apothecary's crocodile or dried alligator."
Steevens says that he has met with the alligator, tortoise, etc.,
hanging up in the shop of an ancient apothecary at Limehouse, as well as
in places more remote from the metropolis. In Dutch art, as Fairholt
remarks, these marine monsters often appear in representations of
apothecaries' shops.
45. _A beggarly account_, etc. Cf. Brooke's poem:--
"And seeking long (alac too soone) the thing he sought, he founde.
An Apothecary sate vnbusied at his doore,
Whom by his heauy countenaunce he gessed to be poore.
And in his shop he saw his boxes were but fewe,
And in his window (of his wares) there was so small a shew,
Wherfore our Romeus assuredly hath thought,
What by no frendship could be got, with money should be bought;
For nedy lacke is lyke the poore man to compell
To sell that which the cities lawe forbiddeth him to sell.
Then by the hand he drew the nedy man apart,
And with the sight of glittring gold inflamed hath his hart:
Take fiftie crownes of gold (quoth he) I geue them thee.
* * * * *
Fayre syr (quoth he) be sure this is the speeding gere,
And more there is then you shall nede for halfe of that is there
Will serue, I vnder take, in lesse than halfe an howre
To kill the strongest man aliue; such is the poysons power."
51. _Present._ Immediate; as in iv. 1. 61 above. Cf. _presently_ in 21
above. Secret poisoning became so common in Europe in the 16th century
that laws against the sale of poisons were made in Spain, Portugal,
Italy, and other countries. Knight says: "There is no such law in our
own statute-book; and the circumstance is a remarkable exemplification
of the difference between English and Continental manners." But that
this practice of poisoning prevailed to a considerable extent in England
in the olden time is evident from the fact that in the 21st year of the
reign of Henry VIII. an act was passed declaring the employment of
secret poisons to be high-treason, and sentencing those who were found
guilty of it to be boiled to death.
60. _Soon-speeding gear._ Quick-despatching stuff. Cf. the extract from
Brooke just above. For _gear_, see ii. 4. 97 above.
64. _As violently_, etc. See on ii. 6. 9 above.
67. _Any he._ Cf. _A.Y.L._ iii. 2. 414: "that unfortunate he;" 3 _Hen.
VI._ i. 1. 46: "The proudest he;" _Id._ ii. 2. 97: "Or any he the
proudest of thy sort," etc. _Utters them_ = literally, sends them _out_,
or lets them go from his possession; hence, sells them. Cf. _L. L. L._ ii.
1. 16 and _W.T._ iv. 4. 330.
70. _Starveth._ That is, look out hungrily; a bold but not
un-Shakespearian expression, for which Otway's "stareth" (adopted by
some editors) is a poor substitution. See on i. 1. 216 above; and for
the inflection, on prol. 8.
SCENE II.--4. _A barefoot brother._ Friars Laurence and John are
evidently Franciscans. "In his kindness, his learning, and his
inclination to mix with and, perhaps, control the affairs of the world,
he [Laurence] is no unapt representative of this distinguished order in
their best days" (Knight). Warton says that the Franciscans "managed the
machines of every important operation and event, both in the religious
and political world."
Cf. Brooke's poem:--
"Apace our frier Iohn to Mantua him hyes;
And, for because in Italy it is a wonted gyse
That friers in the towne should seeldome walke alone,
But of theyr couent ay should be accompanide with one
Of his profession, straight a house he fyndeth out,
In mynde to take some frier with him, to walke the towne about."
Each friar has a companion assigned him by the superior when he asks
leave to go out; and thus they are a check upon each other (Steevens).
6. _Associate me._ Accompany me. For the transitive use, cf. _T.A._ v.
3. 169: "Friends should associate friends in grief and woe."
9. _A house._ According to both the poem and the novel, this was the
convent to which the "barefoot brother" belonged.
16. _Infection._ A quadrisyllable. Cf, iv. 1. 41 above.
18. _Nice._ Trifling, unimportant. See on iii. 1. 157 above. For
_charge_, cf. _W.T._ iv. 4. 261: "I have about me many parcels of
charge."
19. _Dear._ Cf. v. 3. 32 below: "dear employment."
20. _Do much danger._ See on iii. 3. 118 above.
25. _This three hours._ The singular _this_ is often thus used; but cf.
iv. 3. 40 above: "these many hundred years;" and v. 3. 176 below: "these
two days."
26. _Beshrew._ See on ii. 5. 52 above.
SCENE III.--_A Churchyard_, etc. Hunter says: "It is clear that S., or
some writer whom he followed, had in mind the churchyard of Saint Mary
the Old in Verona, and the monument of the Scaligers which stood in it."
See the cut on p. 136, and cf. Brooke, who refers to the Italian custom
of building large family tombs:--
"For euery houshold, if it be of any fame;
Doth bylde a tombe, or digge a vault, that beares the housholdes name:
Wherein (if any of that kindred hap to dye)
They are bestowde; els in the same no other corps may lye.
The Capilets her corps in such a one dyd lay
Where Tybalt slaine of Romeus was layde the other day."
At the close of the poem we are told that--
"The bodies dead, remoued from vaulte where they did dye,
In stately tombe, on pillers great of marble, rayse they hye.
On euery syde aboue were set, and eke beneath,
Great store of cunning Epitaphes, in honor of theyr death.
And euen at this day the tombe is to be seene;
So that among the monumentes that in Verona been,
There is no monument more worthy of the sight,
Then is the tombe of Iuliet and Romeus her knight."
See also the quotation in note on iv. 1. 93 above. Brooke's reference to
the "stately tombe, on pillers great," etc., was doubtless suggested by
the Tomb of the Scaligers.
3. _Lay thee all along._ That is, at full length. Cf. _A.Y.L._ ii. 1.
30: "As he lay along Under an oak;" _J.C._ iii. 1. 115: "That now on
Pompey's basis lies along," etc.
6. _Unfirm._ Cf. _J.C._ i. 3. 4, _T.N._ ii. 4. 34, etc. S. also uses
_infirm_, as in _Macb._ ii. 2. 52, etc.
8. _Something._ The accent is on the last syllable, as Walker notes; and
Marshall prints "some thing," as in the folio.
11. _Adventure._ Cf. ii. 2. 84 above.
14. _Sweet water._ Perfumed water. Cf. _T.A._ ii. 4. 6: "call for sweet
water;" and see quotation in note on iv. 5. 75 above.
20. _Cross._ Thwart, interfere with. Cf. iv. 5. 91 above.
21. _Muffle._ Cover, hide. Cf. i. 1. 168 above; and see _J.C._ iii. 2.
191, etc. Steevens intimates that it was "a low word" in his day; but,
if so, it has since regained its poetical character. Tennyson uses it
repeatedly; as in _The Talking Oak_: "O, muffle round thy knees with
fern;" _The Princess_: "A full sea glazed with muffled moonlight;" _In
Memoriam_: "muffled round with woe," etc. Milton has _unmuffle_ in
_Comus_, 321: "Unmuffle, ye faint stars."
32. _Dear._ See on v. 2. 19 above.
33. _Jealous._ Suspicious; as in _Lear_, v. 1. 56, _J.C._ i. 2. 71, etc.
34. _In._ Into. See on v. 1. 36 above.
37. _Savage-wild._ Cf. ii. 2. 141 above.
39. _Empty._ Hungry. Cf. _V. and A._ 55: "Even as an empty eagle, sharp
by fast" (see also 2 _Hen. VI._ iii. 1. 248 and 3 _Hen. VI._ i. 1. 268);
and _T. of S._ iv. 1. 193: "My falcon now is sharp and passing empty."
44. _Doubt._ Distrust; as in _J.C._ ii. 1. 132, iv. 2. 13, etc.
45. _Detestable._ See on iv. 5. 52 above.
47. _Enforce._ Force; as often. Cf. _Temp._ v. 1. 100: "Enforce them to
this place," etc.
50. _With._ Often used to express the relation of cause.
59. _Good gentle youth_, etc. "The gentleness of Romeo was shown before
[iii. 1. 64 fol.] as softened by love, and now it is doubled by love and
sorrow, and awe of the place where he is" (Coleridge).
68. _Conjurations._ Solemn entreaties; as in _Rich. II._ iii. 2. 23,
_Ham._ v. 2. 38, etc. Some have taken it to mean incantations. _Defy_ =
refuse; as in _K. John_, iii. 4. 23: "I defy all counsel," etc.
74. _Peruse._ Scan, examine. Cf. _Ham._ iv. 7. 137: "peruse the foils,"
etc.
76. _Betossed._ Agitated; used by S. nowhere else.
82. _Sour._ See on iii. 3. 7 above.
84. _Lantern._ Used in the architectural sense of "a turret full of
windows" (Steevens). Cf. Parker, _Glossary of Architecture_: "In Gothic
architecture the term is sometimes applied to _louvres_ on the roofs of
halls, etc., but it usually signifies a tower which has the whole
height, or a considerable portion of the interior, open to the ground,
and is lighted by an upper tier of windows; lantern-towers of this kind
are common over the centre of cross churches, as at York Minster, Ely
Cathedral, etc. The same name is also given to the light open erections
often placed on the top of towers, as at Boston, Lincolnshire," etc. The
one at Boston was used as a lighthouse _lantern_ in the olden time.
86. _Presence._ Presence-chamber, state apartment; as in _Rich. II._ i.
3. 289 and _Hen. VIII._ iii. 1. 17.
87. _Death._ The abstract for the concrete. The _dead man_ is Romeo, who
is so possessed with his suicidal purpose that he speaks of himself as
dead. Steevens perversely calls it one of "those miserable conceits with
which our author too frequently counteracts his own pathos."
88-120. _How oft when men_, etc. "Here, here, is the master example how
beauty can at once increase and modify passion" (Coleridge).
90. _A lightning before death._ "A last blazing-up of the flame of
life;" a proverbial expression. Steevens quotes _The Downfall of Robert
Earl of Huntington_, 1601:--
"I thought it was a lightning before death,
Too sudden to be certain."
Clarke notes "the mingling here of words and images full of light and
colour with the murky grey of the sepulchral vault and the darkness of
the midnight churchyard, the blending of these images of beauty and
tenderness with the deep gloom of the speaker's inmost heart."
92. _Suck'd the honey_, etc. Cf. _Ham._ iii. 1. 164: "That suck'd the
honey of his music vows." Steevens quotes Sidney, _Arcadia_: "Death
being able to divide the soule, but not the beauty from her body."
96. _Death's pale flag._ Steevens compares Daniel, _Complaint of
Rosamond_:--
"And nought-respecting death (the last of paines)
Plac'd his pale colours (th' ensign of his might)
Upon his new-got spoil."
97. _Tybalt_, etc. Cf. Brooke's poem:--
"Ah cosin dere, Tybalt, where so thy restles sprite now be,
With stretched handes to thee for mercy now I crye,
For that before thy kindly howre I forced thee to dye.
But if with quenched lyfe not quenched be thine yre,
But with revengeing lust as yet thy hart be set on fyre,
What more amendes, or cruell wreke desyrest thou
To see on me, then this which here is shewd forth to thee now?
Who reft by force of armies from thee thy living breath,
The same with his owne hand (thou seest) doth poyson himselfe to death."
106. _Still._ Constantly, always; as very often. Cf. 270 below.
110. _Set up my everlasting rest._ That is, remain forever. To _set up
one's rest_ was a phrase taken from gaming, the _rest_ being the highest
stake the parties were disposed to venture; hence it came to mean to
have fully made up one's mind, to be resolved. Here the form of
expression seems to be suggested by the gaming phrase rather than to be
a figurative example of it.
112-118. _Eyes ... bark._ Whiter points out a coincidence between this
last speech of Romeo's and a former one (i. 4. 103 fol.) in which he
anticipates his misfortunes. "The ideas drawn from the _stars_, the
_law_, and the _sea_ succeed each other in both speeches, in the same
order, though with a different application."
115. _Dateless._ Limitless, eternal. Cf. _Sonn._ 30. 6: "death's
dateless night;" _Rich. III._ i. 3. 151: "The dateless limit of thy dear
exile," etc.
_Engrossing._ Malone says that the word "seems here to be used in its
clerical sense." There seems to be at least a hint of that sense,
suggested by _seal_ and _bargain_; but the leading meaning is that of
all-seizing, or "taking the whole," as Schmidt explains it.
116. _Conduct._ See on iii. 1. 127 above. For _unsavoury_, cf. _V. and
A._ 1138: "sweet beginning, but unsavoury end." Schmidt, who rarely
makes such a slip, treats both of these examples as literal rather than
metaphorical. The only example of the former sense in S. (not really
his) is _Per._ ii. 3. 31: "All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury."
118. _Thy._ Pope substituted "my," but _thy_ may be defended on the
nautical principle that the pilot is the master of the ship after he
takes her in charge. That seems to be Romeo's thought here; he gives up
the helm to the "desperate pilot," and says, "The ship is yours, run her
upon the rocks if you will."
121. _Be my speed._ Cf. _Hen. V._ v. 2. 194: "Saint Denis be my speed!"
_A.Y.L._ i. 2. 222: "Hercules be thy speed!" etc.
122. _Stumbled at graves._ The idea that to stumble is a bad omen is
very ancient. Cicero mentions it in his _De Divinatione_. Melton, in his
_Astrologaster_, 1620, says that "if a man stumbles in a morning as soon
as he comes out of dores, it is a signe of ill lucke." Bishop Hall, in
his _Characters_, says of the "Superstitious Man" that "if he stumbled
at the threshold, he feares a mischief." Stumbling at graves is alluded
to in _Whimzies, or a New Cast of Characters_, 1631: "His
earth-reverting body (according to his mind) is to be buried in some
cell, roach, or vault, and in no open space, lest passengers (belike)
might stumble on his grave." Steevens cites 3 _Hen. VI._ iv. 7. 11 and
_Rich. III._ iii. 4. 86.
127. _Capels'._ See on v. 1. 18 above.
138. _I dreamt_, etc. Steevens considers this a touch or nature: "What
happens to a person under the manifest influence of fear will seem to
him, when he is recovered from it, like a dream." It seems to me more
likely that the man confuses what he saw while half asleep with what he
might have dreamt.
145. _Unkind._ Usually accented on the first syllable before a noun, but
otherwise on the second. This often occurs with dis-syllabic adjectives
and participles. _Unkind_ and its derivatives are often used by S. in a
much stronger sense than at present. In some cases, the etymological
sense of _unnatural_ (cf. _kind_ and _kindly_ = natural) seems to cling
to them. Cf. _J.C._ iii. 2. 187, _Lear_, i. 1. 263, iii. 4. 73, etc.
148. _Comfortable._ Used in an active sense = ready to comfort or help;
as in _A.W._ i. 1. 86, _Lear_, i. 4. 328, etc.
158. _The watch._ It has been asserted by some of the critics that there
was no watch in the old Italian cities; but, however that may have been,
S. follows Brooke's poem:--
"The watchemen of the towne the whilst are passed by,
And through the gates the candel light within the tombe they spye."
162. _Timeless._ Untimely. Cf. _T.G. of V._ iii. 1. 21: "your timeless
grave;" _Rich. II._ iv. 1. 5: "his timeless end," etc.
163. _Drunk all, and left._ The reading of 2nd quarto. The 1st has
"drink ... leave," and the folio "drink ... left."
170. _There rest._ From 1st quarto; the other early eds. have "rust,"
which some editors prefer. To me _rest_ seems both more poetical and
more natural. That at this time Juliet should think of "Romeo's dagger,
which would otherwise rust in its sheath, as rusting in her heart," is
quite inconceivable. It is a "conceit" of the worst Elizabethan type.
The tragedy here ends in Booth's Acting Copy (Furness).
173. _Attach._ Arrest; as in _C. of E._ iv. 1. 6, 73, iv. 4. 6, _Rich.
II._ ii. 3. 156, _Hen. VIII._ i. 1. 217, i. 2. 210, etc.
176. _These two days._ See on iv. 1. 105 above.
181. _Without circumstance._ Without further particulars. Cf. ii. 5. 36
above.
203. _His house._ Its sheath. See on ii, 6. 12 above.
204. _On the back._ The dagger was commonly turned behind and worn at
the back, as Steevens shows by sundry quotations.
207. _Old age._ A slip which, strangely enough, no editor or
commentator has noticed. Furness notes no reference to it, and I find
none in more recent editions. See on i. 3. 51 above.
211. _Grief of my son's exile._ Cf. _Much Ado_, iv. 2. 65: "and upon the
grief of this suddenly died." For the accent of _exile_, cf. iii. 1. 190
and iii. 3. 20 above.
After this line the 1st quarto has the following: "And yong _Benuolio_
is deceased too;" but, as Ulrici remarks, "the pacific, considerate
Benvolio, the constant counseller of moderation, ought not to be
involved in the fate which had overtaken the extremes of hate and
passion."
214. _Manners._ S. makes the word either singular or plural, like
_news_, _tidings_ (see on iii. 5. 105 above), etc. Cf. _A.W._ ii. 2. 9,
_W.T._ iv. 4. 244, etc. with _T.N._ iv. 1. 53, _Rich. III._ iii. 7. 191,
etc.
216. _Outrage._ Cf. 1 _Hen. VI._ iv. 1. 126:--
"Are you not asham'd
With this immodest clamorous outrage
To trouble and disturb the king and us?"
There, as here, it means a mad outcry. Dyce quotes Settle, _Female
Prelate_: "Silence his outrage in a jayl, away with him!"
221. _Patience._ A trisyllable. See on v. 1. 27 above. In the next line
_suspicion_ is a quadrisyllable.
229. _I will be brief_, etc. Johnson and Malone criticise S. for
following Brooke in the introduction of this long narrative. Ulrici well
defends it as preparing the way for the reconciliation of the Capulets
and Montagues over the dead bodies of their children, the victims of
their hate. For _date_, see on i. 4. 105 above.
237. _Siege._ Cf. the same image in i. 1. 209.
238. _Perforce._ By force, against her will; as in _C. of E._ iv. 3. 95,
_Rich. II._ ii. 3. 121, etc.
241. _Marriage._ A trisyllable. See on iv. 1. 11 above, and cf. 265
below.
247. _As this dire night._ This redundant use of _as_ in statements of
time is not uncommon. Cf. _J.C._ v. 1. 72: "as this very day was Cassius
born," etc.
253. _Hour._ A dissyllable; as in iii. 1. 198 above.
257. _Some minute._ We should now say "some minutes," which is Hanmer's
reading. Cf. "some hour" in 268 below.
258. _Untimely._ For the adverbial use, see on iii. 1. 121 above.
270. _Still._ Always. See on 106 above.
273. _In post._ In haste, or "post-haste." Cf. v. 1. 21 above. We find
"in all post" in _Rich. III._ iii. 5. 73, and "all in post" in _R. of
L._ 1.
276. _Going in._ See on v. 1. 36 above.
280. _What made your master?_ What was your master doing? Cf. _A.Y.L._
i. 1. 3, ii. 3. 4, etc.
284. _By and by._ Presently. See on ii. 2. 151 above.
289. _Pothecary._ Generally printed "'pothecary" in the modern eds., but
not in the early ones. It was a common form of the word. Cf. Chaucer,
_Pardoneres Tale_:--
"And forth he goth, no longer wold he tary,
Into the toun unto a potecary."
_Therewithal._ Therewith, with it. Cf. _T.G. of V._ iv. 4. 90:--
"Well, give her that ring and therewithal
This letter," etc.
291. _Be._ Cf. _Ham._ iii. 2. 111, v. 1. 107, etc.
295. _A brace of kinsmen._ Mercutio and Paris. For the former, see iii.
1. 112; and for the latter, iii. 5. 179 and v. 3. 75. Steevens remarks
that _brace_ as applied to men is generally contemptuous; as in _Temp._
v. 1. 126: "But you, my brace of lords," etc. As a parallel to the
present passage, cf. _T. and C._ iv. 5. 175: "You brace of warlike
brothers, welcome hither!"
305. _Glooming._ Used by S. only here. Steevens cites _Tom Tyler and his
Wife_, 1578: "If either he gaspeth or gloometh." Cf. Spenser, _F.Q._ i.
14: "A little glooming light, much like a shade." Young uses the verb
in his _Night Thoughts_, ii.: "A night that glooms us in the noontide
ray."
308. _Some shall be pardoned_, etc. In the novel, Juliet's attendant is
banished for concealing the marriage; Romeo's servant set at liberty
because he had acted under his master's orders; the apothecary tortured
and hanged; and Friar Laurence permitted to retire to a hermitage, where
he dies five years later.
APPENDIX
CONCERNING ARTHUR BROOKE
Little is known of the life of Arthur Broke, or Brooke, except that he
wrote _Romeus and Juliet_ (1562) and the next year published a book
entitled _Agreement of Sundry Places of Scripture, seeming in shew to
jarre, serving in stead of Commentaryes not only for these, but others
lyke_; a translation from the French. He died that same year (1563), and
an _Epitaph_ by George Turbervile (printed in a volume of his poems,
1567) "on the death of maister Arthur Brooke" informs us that he was
"drowned in passing to Newhaven."
So far as I am aware, no editor or commentator has referred to the
singular prose introduction to the 1562 edition of _Romeus and Juliet_.
It is clear from internal evidence that it was written by Brooke, and it
is signed "Ar. Br."--the form in which his name also appears on the
title-page; but its tone and spirit are strangely unlike those of the
poem. We have seen (p. 25 above) that he refers to the perpetuation of
"the memory of so perfect, sound, and so approved love" by the "stately
tomb" of Romeo and Juliet, with "great store of cunning epitaphs in
honour of their death;" but in the introduction he expresses a very
different opinion of the lovers and finds a very different lesson in
their fate. He says: "To this end (good Reader) is this tragical matter
written, to describe unto thee a couple of unfortunate lovers, thralling
themselves to unhonest desire, neglecting the authority and advice of
parents and friends, conferring their principal counsels with drunken
gossips and superstitious friars (the naturally fit instruments of
unchastity), attempting all adventures of peril for the attaining of
their wicked lusts, using auricular confession (the key of whoredom and
treason) for furtherance of their purpose, abusing the honourable name
of lawful marriage to cloak the shame of stolen contracts; finally, by
all means of unhonest life, hasting to most unhappy death." The
suggestion is added that parents may do well to show the poem to their
children with "the intent to raise in them an hateful loathing of so
filthy beastliness."
It is curious that there is not the slightest hint of all this anywhere
in the poem; not a suggestion that the love of Romeo and Juliet is not
natural and pure and honest; not a word of reproach for the course of
Friar Laurence. Even the picture of the Nurse, with her vulgarity and
unscrupulousness, is drawn with a kind of humour.
I have quoted above (note on ii. 2. 142) what Brooke makes Juliet say to
her lover in the balcony scene. In their first interview, she says:--
"You are no more your owne (deare frend) then I am yours
(My honor saved) prest tobay [to obey] your will while life endures.
Lo here the lucky lot that sild [seldom] true lovers finde:
Eche takes away the others hart, and leaves the owne behinde.
A happy life is love if God graunt from above
That hart with hart by even waight doo make exchaunge of love."
And Romeo has just said:--
"For I of God woulde crave, as pryse of paynes forpast,
To serve, obey, and honor you so long as lyfe shall last."
Of the Friar the poet says:--
"This barefoote fryer gyrt with cord his grayish weede, For he of
Frauncis order was, a fryer as I reede. Not as the most was he, a grosse
unlearned foole: But doctor of divinitie proceeded he in schoole.
* * * * *
The bounty of the fryer and wisdom hath so woune
The townes folks harts that welnigh all to fryer Lawrence ronne.
To shrive them selfe the olde, the yong, the great and small:
Of all he is beloved well and honord much of all.
And for he did the rest in wisdome farre exceede
The prince by him (his counsell cravde) was holpe at time of neede.
Betwixt the Capilets and him great frendship grew:
A secret and assured frend unto the Montegue."
At the end of the tragic story the poet asks:--
"But now what shall betyde of this gray-bearded syre?
Of fryer Lawrence thus araynde, that good barefooted fryre?
Because that many times he woorthely did serve
The commen welth, and in his lyfe was never found to swerve,
He was discharged quyte, and no marke of defame
Did seeme to blot or touch at all the honor of his name.
But of him selfe he went into an Hermitage,
Two myles from Veron towne, where he in prayers past forth his age;
Till that from earth to heaven his heavenly sprite dyd flye:
Fyve yeres he lived an Hermite, and an Hermite dyd he dye."
The puzzling prose preface to the poem is followed, in the original
edition, by another in verse, similarly headed "To the Reader," from
which we learn that Brooke had written other poems, which with this he
compares to unlicked whelps--"nought els but lumpes of fleshe withouten
heare" (hair)--but _this_ poem, he says, is "the eldest of them" and his
"youthfull woorke." He has decided to publish it, but "The rest (unlickt
as yet) a whyle shall lurke" (that is, in manuscript)--
"Till tyme give strength to meete and match in fight
With slaunders whelpes."
I suspect that after this poem was written he had become a Puritan,--or
more rigid in his Puritanism,--but nevertheless lusted after literary
fame and could not resist the temptation to publish the "youthfull
woorke." But after writing the verse prologue it occurred to him--or
some of his godly friends may have admonished him--that the character of
the story and the manner in which he had treated it, needed further
apology or justification; and the prose preface was written to serve as
a kind of "moral" to the production. After the suggestion to parents
quoted above he adds: "Hereunto if you applye it, ye shall _deliver my
dooing from offence_, and profit your selves. Though I saw the same
argument lately set foorth on stage with more commendation then I can
looke for (being there much better set forth then I have or can dooe)
yet the same matter penned as it is, may serve to lyke good effect, if
the readers do brynge with them lyke good myndes, to consider it, which
hath the more incouraged me to publishe it, such as it is."
The reader may be surprised that Brooke refers to having seen the story
"on stage;" but the Puritans did not altogether disapprove of plays that
had a moral purpose. It will be remembered that Stephen Gosson, in his
_Schoole of Abuse_ (1579), excepts a few plays from the sweeping
condemnation of his "plesaunt invective against Poets, Pipers, Plaiers,
Jesters, and such like caterpillers of a Commonwelth"--among them being
"_The Jew_,... representing the greedinesse of worldly chusers, and the
bloody minds of usurers," which may have anticipated Shakespeare in
combining the stories of the caskets and the pound of flesh in _The
Merchant of Venice_.
That Brooke was a Puritan we may infer from the religious character of
the only other book (mentioned above) which he is known to have
published. His death the same year probably prevented his carrying out
the intention of licking the rest of his poetical progeny into shape for
print.
COMMENTS ON SOME OF THE CHARACTERS
JULIET.--Juliet is not fortunate in her parents. Her father is sixty or
more years old (as we may infer from what he says in i. 5. 29 fol.),
while her mother is about twenty-eight (see i. 3. 50), and must have
been married when she was half that age. Her assertion that Juliet was
born when she herself was "much upon these years" of her daughter (who
will be fourteen in about a fortnight, as the Nurse informs us in the
same scene) is somewhat indefinite, but must be within a year or two of
the exact figure. Her marriage was evidently a worldly one, arranged by
her parents with little or no regard for her own feelings, much as she
and her husband propose to marry Juliet to Paris.
We may infer that Capulet had not been married before, though, as he
himself intimates and the lady declares (iv. 4. 11 fol.), he had been a
"mouse-hunt" (given to flirtation and intrigue) in his bachelor days;
and she thinks that he needs "watching" even now, lest he give her
occasion for jealousy.
Neither father nor mother seems to have any marked affection for Juliet,
or any interest in her welfare except to get her off their hands by
what, from their point of view, is a desirable marriage. Capulet says
(iii. 5. 175):--
"God's bread! it makes me mad! Day, night, late, early,
At home, abroad, alone, in company,
Waking, or sleeping, 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 train'd,
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,
I am too young; I pray you, pardon me.'"
It is more than he can endure; and his wife, when Juliet begs her to
interpose and "delay the marriage for a month, a week," refuses to
"speak a word" in opposition to his determination to let her "die in the
streets" if she does not marry Paris that very week. "Do as thou wilt,
for I have done with thee," the Lady adds, and leaves the hapless girl
to her despair. A moment before she had said, "I would the fool were
married to her grave!"
Earlier in the play (i. 2. 16) Capulet has said to Paris:--
"But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart,
My will to her consent is but a part;
An she agree, within her scope of choice,
Lies my consent and fair according voice;"--
but from the context we see that this is merely a plausible excuse for
not giving the count a definite answer just then. The girl, he says, is
"yet a stranger in the world" (has not yet "come out," in modern
parlance), and it is best to wait a year or two:--
"Let two more summers wither in their pride
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride."
He sees no reason for haste; but later, influenced by the noble wooer's
importunities and the persuasions of his wife, who has favoured an early
marriage from the first (i. 3), he takes a different tone (iii. 4.
12):--
"_Capulet._ 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;
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.
_Capulet._ Monday! ha, ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon.
O' Thursday let it be; o' Thursday, tell her,
She shall be married to this noble earl."
"She _shall_ be married," and the day is fixed. Already he calls Paris
"my son." No question now of delay, and getting her "consent" as a
condition of securing his own!
At the supposed sudden death of their daughter the parents naturally
feel some genuine grief; but their conventional wailing (iv. 5) belongs
to the earlier version of the play, and it is significant that
Shakespeare let it stand when revising his work some years afterwards.
As Tieck remarks, it "had not the true tragic ring"--and why should it?
Most of the critics have assumed that Shakespeare makes Juliet only
fourteen, because of her Italian birth; but in the original Italian
versions of the story she is eighteen, and Brooke makes her sixteen. All
of Shakespeare's other youthful heroines whose ages are definitely
stated or indicated are very young. Miranda, in _The Tempest_, is barely
fifteen, as she has been "twelve year" on the enchanted island and was
"not out [full] three years old" when her father was driven from Milan.
Marina, in _Pericles_, is only fifteen at the end of the play; and
Perdita only sixteen, as we learn from the prologue to act iv. of _The
Winter's Tale_.
In Juliet's case, I believe that the youthfulness was an essential
element in Shakespeare's conception of the character. With the parents
and the Nurse he has given her, she could only have been, at the opening
of the play, the mere girl he makes her. She must be too young to have
discovered the real character of her father and mother, and to have been
chilled and hardened by learning how unlike they were to the ideals of
her childhood. She must not have come to comprehend fully the low coarse
nature of the Nurse, her foster-mother. The poet would not have dared to
leave the maiden under the influence of that gross creature till she was
eighteen, or even sixteen. As it is, she has not been harmed by the
prurient vulgarity of the garrulous dame. She never shows any interest
in it, or seems even to notice it. When her mother first refers to the
suit of Paris (i. 3) we see that no thought of love or marriage has ever
occurred to her, and the glowing description of a noble and wealthy
young wooer does not excite her imagination in the least. Her only
response to all that the Lady and the Nurse have urged in praise of
Paris is coldly acquiescent:--
"I'll look to like, if looking liking move;
But no more deep will I endart mine eye
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly."
The playful manner in which Juliet receives the advances of Romeo (i. 5.
95-109) is thoroughly girlish, though we must note that his first
speech, as given in the play ("If I profane," etc.), is not the
beginning of their conversation, which has been going on while Capulet
and Tybalt were talking. This is the first and the last glimpse that we
get of her bright young sportiveness. With the kiss that ends the pretty
quibbling the girl learns what love means, and the larger life of
womanhood begins.
The "balcony scene" (ii. 2)--the most exquisite love scene ever
written--is in perfect keeping with the poet's conception of Juliet as
little more than a child--still childlike in the expression of the new
love that is making her a woman. Hence the absolute frankness in her
avowal of that love--an ideal love in which passion and purity are
perfectly interfused. There is not a suggestion of sensuality on Romeo's
part any more than on hers. When he asks, "O, wilt thou leave me so
unsatisfied?" it is only the half-involuntary utterance of the man's
impatience--so natural to the man--that the full fruition of his love
must be delayed. Juliet knows that it involves no base suggestion, and a
touch of tender sympathy and pity is mingled with the maiden wisdom of
the innocent response, "What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?"
Lady Martin (Helena Faucit), who has played the part of Juliet with rare
power and grace, and has written about it no less admirably, remarks on
this scene: "Women are deeply in debt to Shakespeare for all the lovely
and noble things he has put into his women's hearts and mouths, but
surely for nothing more than for the words in which Juliet's reply [to
Romeo, when he has overheard her soliloquy in the balcony] is couched.
Only one who knew of what a true woman is capable, in frankness, in
courage, and self-surrender when her heart is possessed by a noble love,
could have touched with such delicacy, such infinite charm of mingled
reserve and artless frankness, the avowal of so fervent, yet so modest a
love, the secret of which had been so strangely stolen from her. As the
whole scene is the noblest pæan to Love ever written, so is what Juliet
says supreme in subtlety of feeling and expression, where all is
beautiful. Watch all the fluctuations of emotion which pervade it, ...
the generous frankness of the giving, the timid drawing back, fearful of
having given too much unsought; the perplexity of the whole, all summed
up in that sweet entreaty for pardon with which it closes."
Juliet's soliloquy in iii. 3 is no less remarkable for its chaste and
reverent dealing with a situation even more perilous for the dramatist.
We must not forget that it _is_ a soliloquy, "breathed out in the
silence and solitude of her chamber," as Mrs. Jameson reminds us; or, we
may say, not so much as breathed out, but only thought and felt,
unuttered even when no one could have heard it. As spoken to a
theatrical audience, it is only to a sympathetic listener who
appreciates the situation that it can have its true effect, and one
feels almost guilty and ashamed at having intruded upon the sacred
privacy of the maiden meditation. Even to comment upon it seems like
profanity.
Here, as in the balcony scene, Juliet is simply the "impatient child" to
whom she compares herself, looking forward with mingled innocence and
eagerness to the fruition of the "tender wishes blossoming at night"
that inspire the soliloquy.
In one of Romeo's speeches in the interview with Friar Laurence after
the death of Tybalt (iii. 3), there is a delicate tribute to the girlish
purity and timidity of Juliet, though it occurs in a connection so
repellent to our taste that we may fail to note it. This is the
passage:--
"heaven is here,
Where Juliet lives, and every cat and dog
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
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.
This may flies do, when I from this must fly;
They are free men, but I am banished."
This is unquestionably from the earliest draft of the play, and is a
specimen of the most intolerable class of Elizabethan conceits. As
another has said, "Perhaps the worst line that Shakespeare or any other
poet ever wrote, is the dreadful one where Romeo, in the very height of
his passionate despair, says, 'This may _flies_ do, but I from this must
_fly_.'" It comes in "with an obtrusive incongruity which absolutely
makes one shudder." The allusion to the "carrion flies" is bad enough,
but the added pun on _fly_, which makes the allusion appear deliberate
and elaborate rather than an unfortunate lapse due to the excitement of
the moment, forbids any attempt to excuse or palliate it. But we must
not overlook the exquisite reference to Juliet's lips, that--
"even in pure and vestal modesty
Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin."
There we have the true Juliet--the Juliet whose maiden modesty and
innocence certain critics (in their comments upon the soliloquy in iii.
3) have been too gross to comprehend. It is to Romeo's honour that he
can understand and feel it even when recalling the passionate exchange
of conjugal kisses.
The scene (iv. 3) in which Juliet drinks the potion has been
misinterpreted by some of the best critics. Coleridge says that she
"swallows the draught in a fit of fright," for it would have been "too
bold a thing" for a girl of fourteen to have done it otherwise. Mrs.
Jameson says that, "gradually and most naturally, in such a mind once
_thrown off its poise_, the horror rises to _frenzy_,--her imagination
realizes its own hideous creations,"--that is, after picturing all the
possible horrors of the tomb, she _sees_, or believes she sees, the
ghost of Tybalt, and drinks the potion in the frenzied apprehension the
vision excites. On the contrary, as George Fletcher remarks, "the very
clearness and completeness with which her mind embraces her present
position make her pass in lucid review, and in the most natural and
logical sequence, the several dismal contingencies that await her"--thus
leading up, "step by step, to this climax of the accumulated horrors,
not which she _may_, but which she _must_ encounter, if she wake before
the calculated moment. This pressure on her brain, crowned by the vivid
apprehension of _anticipated_ frenzy, does, indeed, amid her dim and
silent loneliness, produce a momentary hallucination [of Tybalt's
ghost], but she instantly recovers herself, recognizes the illusion, ...
embraces the one chance of earthly reunion with her lord--'Romeo, I
come! this do I drink to thee!'"
This is substantially Lady Martin's interpretation of the scene, and
that which she carried out in action on the stage. She says: "For the
moment the great fear gets the better of her great love, and all seems
madness. Then in her frenzy of excitement she seems to see Tybalt's
figure 'seeking out Romeo.' At the mention of Romeo's name I used to
feel all my resolution return. Romeo! She goes to meet him, and what
terror shall hold her back? She will pass through the horror of hell
itself to reach what lies beyond; and she swallows the potion with his
name upon her lips." The lady adds: "What it is to act it I need not
tell. What power it demands! and yet what restraint!"
ROMEO.--Some critics have expressed surprise that Shakespeare should
have preluded the main story of the drama with the "superfluous
complication" of Romeo's love for Rosaline. On the other hand, Coleridge
considers it "a strong instance of the fineness of his insight into the
nature of the passions." He adds: "The necessity of loving creates an
object for itself in man and woman; and yet there is a difference in
this respect between the sexes, though only to be known by a perception
of it. It would have displeased us if Juliet had been represented as
already in love, or as fancying herself so; but no one, I believe, ever
experiences any shock at Romeo's forgetting his Rosaline, who had been a
mere name for the yearning of his youthful imagination, and rushing into
his passion for Juliet." Mrs. Jameson says: "Our impression of Juliet's
loveliness and sensibility is enhanced when we find it overcoming in the
bosom of Romeo a previous love for another. His visionary passion for
the cold, inaccessible Rosaline forms but the prologue, the threshold,
to the true, the real sentiment which succeeds to it. This incident,
which is found in the original story, has been retained by Shakspeare
with equal feeling and judgment; and, far from being a fault in taste
and sentiment, far from prejudicing us against Romeo by casting on him,
at the outset of the piece, the stigma of inconstancy, it becomes, if
properly considered, a beauty in the drama, and adds a fresh stroke of
truth to the portrait of the lover. Why, after all, should we be
offended at what does not offend Juliet herself? for in the original
story we find that her attention is first attracted towards Romeo by
seeing him 'fancy-sick and pale of cheer,' for love of a cold beauty."
The German critic Kreyssig aptly remarks: "We make the acquaintance of
Romeo at the critical period of that not dangerous sickness to which
youth is liable. It is that 'love lying in the eyes' of early and just
blossoming manhood, that humorsome, whimsical 'love in idleness,' that
first bewildered, stammering interview of the heart with the scarcely
awakened nature. Strangely enough, objections have been made to this
'superfluous complication,' as if, down to this day, every Romeo had not
to sigh for some Junonian Rosaline, nay, for half a dozen Rosalines,
more or less, before his eyes open upon his Juliet."
Young men of ardent and sentimental nature, as Kreyssig intimates,
imagine themselves in love--sometimes again and again--before a genuine
passion takes possession of them. As Rosalind expresses it, Cupid may
have "clapped them on the shoulder," but, they are really "heart-whole."
Such love is like that of the song in _The Merchant of Venice_:--
"It is engender'd in the eyes,
By gazing fed, and fancy dies
In the cradle where it lies."
It lives only until it is displaced by a healthier, more vigorous love,
capable of outgrowing the precarious period of infancy.[8] This is not
the only instance of the kind in Shakespeare. Orsino's experience in
_Twelfth Night_ is similar to Romeo's. At the beginning of the play he
is suffering from unrequited love for Olivia, but later finds his Juliet
in Viola.
Romeo is a very young man--if indeed we may call him a man when we first
meet him. We may suppose him to be twenty, but hardly older. He has seen
very little of society, as we infer from Benvolio's advising him to go
to the masquerade at Capulet's, in order to compare "the admired
beauties of Verona" with Rosaline. He had thought her "fair, none else
being by." He is hardly less "a stranger in the world" than Juliet
himself. Love develops him as it does her, but more slowly.
Contrast the strength of Juliet's new-born heroism in her budding
womanhood, when she drinks the potion that is to consign her to the
horrors of the charnel-house, with the weakness of Romeo who is ready to
kill himself when he learns that he is to be banished from Verona,--an
insignificant fate compared with that which threatens her--banishment
from home, a beggar in the streets,--the only alternative a criminal
marriage that would forever separate her from her lawful husband, or
death to escape that guilt and wretchedness. No wonder that the Friar
cannot control his contempt and indignation when Romeo draws his
sword:--
"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!
Or 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 too that lives in thee,
By doing damned hate upon thyself?
* * * * *
What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive,
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
There art thou happy. Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew'st Tybalt; there art thou happy too.
The law that threaten'd death becomes thy friend
And turns it to exile; there art thou happy.
A pack of blessings lights upon thy back,
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a misbehav'd and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love.
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable."
He has the form of a man, but talks and acts like a weak girl, while the
girl of fourteen whom he loves--a child three days before, we might
say--now shows a self-control and fortitude worthy of a man.
Romeo does not attain to true manhood until he receives the tidings of
Juliet's supposed death. "Now, for the first time," as Dowden says, "he
is completely delivered from the life of dream, completely adult, and
able to act with an initiative in his own will, and with manly
determination. Accordingly, he now speaks with masculine directness and
energy: 'Is it even so? Then I defy you, stars!' Yes; he is now master
of events; the stars cannot alter his course. 'Nothing,' as Maginn has
observed, 'can be more quiet than his final determination, "Well,
Juliet, I will lie with thee to night." ... It is plain Juliet. His mind
is made up; the whole course of the short remainder of his life so
unalterably fixed that it is perfectly useless to think more about it.'
These words, because they are the simplest, are amongst the most
memorable that Romeo utters. Now passion, imagination, and will are
fused together, and Romeo who was weak has at length become strong."
[Footnote 8: Praed alludes to this affection of the "salad days" of
youth in _The Belle of the Ball-room_:--
"Through sunny May, through sultry June,
I loved her with a love eternal."
That is about the average span of its "eternity." In Romeo's case it did
not last even two months, as we may infer from the fact (i. 1. 136) that
his parents have not found out the cause of it, and from what his
friends say about it.]
MERCUTIO.--Dryden quotes a traditional saying concerning Mercutio, that
if Shakespeare had not killed him, he would have killed Shakespeare. But
Shakespeare was never driven to disposing of a personage in that way,
because he was unequal to the effort of maintaining the full vigour or
brilliancy of the characterization. He did not have to kill off
Falstaff, for instance, until he had carried him through three complete
plays, and then only because his "occupation," dramatically speaking,
"was gone." There was the same reason for killing Mercutio. The
dramatist had no further use for him after the quarrel with Tybalt which
leads to his death. In both the novel and the poem, Romeo kills Tybalt
in a street brawl between the partisans of the rival houses. The
dramatic effect of the scene in the play where Romeo avoids being drawn
into a conflict with Tybalt until driven to incontrollable grief and
wrath by the death of his friend is far more impressive. The
self-control and self-restraint of Romeo, in spite of the insults of
Tybalt and the disgust of Mercutio at what seems to him "calm,
dishonourable, vile submission," show how reluctant the lover of Juliet
is to fight with her kinsman. He does his best to restrain his friend
from the duel: "Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up--" but to no purpose;
nor is his appeal to Benvolio to "beat down their weapons" more
successful. He then attempts to do this himself, but the only result is
to bring about the death of Mercutio, who exclaims: "Why the devil came
you between us? I was hurt under your arm." Poor Romeo can only plead,
"I thought all for the best."
But at this point in the play, when the tragic complication really
begins, the dramatist must dismiss Mercutio from the stage, as he does
with Falstaff after Prince Hal has become King. Mercutio must not come
in contact with Juliet, nor will Romeo himself care to meet him. He is
the most foul-mouthed of Shakespeare's characters, the clowns and
profligates not excepted. The only instance in Shakespeare's works in
which the original editions omit a word from the text is in a speech of
Mercutio's; and Pope, who could on occasion be as coarse as any author
of that licentious age, felt obliged to drop two of Mercutio's lines
from his edition of the dramatist. Fortunately, the majority of the
knight's gross allusions are so obscure that they would not be
understood nowadays, even by readers quite familiar with the language of
the time.
And yet Mercutio is a fellow of excellent fancy--poetical fancy--as the
familiar description of Queen Mab amply proves. Critics have picked it
to pieces and found fault with some of the details; but there was never
a finer mingling of exquisite poetry with keen and sparkling wit. Its
imperfections and inconsistencies, if such they be, are in keeping with
the character and the situation. It was meant to be a brilliant
improvisation, not a carefully elaborated composition. Shakespeare may,
indeed, have written the speech as rapidly and carelessly as he makes
Mercutio speak it.
THE TIME-ANALYSIS OF THE PLAY
This is summed up by Mr. P.A. Daniel in his valuable paper "On the Times
or Durations of the Actions of Shakspere's Plays" (_Trans. of New Shaks.
Soc._ 1877-79, p. 194) as follows:--
"Time of this Tragedy, six consecutive days, commencing on the morning
of the first, and ending early in the morning of the sixth.
Day 1. (Sunday) Act I. and Act II. sc. i. and ii.
" 2. (Monday) Act II. sc. iii.-vi., Act III. sc. i.-iv.
Day 3. (Tuesday) Act III. sc. v., Act IV. sc. i.-iv.
" 4. (Wednesday) Act IV. sc. v.
" 5. (Thursday) Act V.
" 6. (Friday) End of Act V. sc. iii."
After the above was printed, Dr. Furnivall called Mr. Daniel's attention
to my note on page 249 fol. in which I show that the drama may close on
Thursday morning instead of Friday. Mr. Daniel was at first disinclined
to accept this view, but on second thought was compelled to admit that I
was right.
LIST OF CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
The numbers in parentheses indicate the lines the characters have in
each scene.
_Escalus_: i. 1(23); iii. 1(16); v. 3(36). Whole no. 75.
_Paris_: i. 2(4); iii. 4(4); iv. 1(23), 5(6); v. 3(32). Whole no. 69.
_Montague_: i. 1(28); iii. 1(3); v. 3(10). Whole no. 41.
_Capulet_: i. 1(3), 2(33), 5(56); iii. 4(31), 5(63); iv. 2(26), 4(19),
5(28); v. 3(10). Whole no. 269.
_2d Capulet_: i. 5(3). Whole no. 3.
_Romeo_: i. 1(65), 2(29), 4(34), 5(27); ii. 1(2), 2(86), 3(25), 4(54),
6(12); iii. 1(36), 3(71), 5(24); v. 1(71), 3(82). Whole no. 618.
_Mercutio_: i. 4(73); ii. 1(34), 4(95); iii. 1(71). Whole no. 273.
_Benvolio_: i. 1(51), 2(20), 4(13). 5(1); ii. 1(9). 4(14); iii. 1(53).
Whole no. 161.
_Tybalt_: i. 1(5), 5(17); iii. 1(14). Whole no. 36.
_Friar Laurence_: ii. 3(72), 6(18); iii. 3(87); iv. 1(56), 5(25); v.
2(17), 3(75). Whole no. 350.
_Friar John_: v. 2(13). Whole no. 13.
_Balthasar_: v. 1(11), 3(21). Whole no. 32.
_Sampson_: i. 1(41). Whole no. 41.
_Gregory_: i. 1(24). Whole no. 24.
_Peter_: iii. 4(7); iv. 5(30). Whole no. 37
_Abram_: i. 1(5). Whole no. 5.
_Apothecary_: v. 1(7). Whole no. 7.
_1st Musician_: iv. 5(16). Whole no. 16.
_2d Musician_: iv. 5(6). Whole no. 6.
_3d Musician_: iv. 5(1). Whole no. 1.
_1st Servant_: i. 2(21), 3(5), 5(11); iv. 4(1). Whole no. 38.
_2d Servant_: i. 5(7); iv. 2(5), 4(2). Whole no. 14.
_1st Watchman_: v. 3(19). Whole no. 19.
_2d Watchman_: v. 3(1). Whole no. 1.
_3d Watchman_: v. 3(3). Whole no. 3.
_1st Citizen_: i. 1(2); iii. 1(4). Whole no. 6.
_Page_: v. 3(9). Whole no. 9.
_Lady Montague_: i. 1(3). Whole no. 3.
_Lady Capulet_: i. 1(1), 3(36), 5(1); iii. 1(11), 4(2), 5(37); iv. 2(3),
3(3), 4(3), 5(13); v. 3(5). Whole no. 115.
_Juliet_: i. 3(8), 5(19); ii. 2(114), 5(43), 6(7); iii. 2(116), 5(105);
iv. 1(48), 2(12), 3(56); v. 3(13). Whole no. 541.
_Nurse_: i. 3(61), 5(15); ii. 2(114), 6(43), 7(7); iii. 2(116), 5(105);
iv. 1(48), 2(12), 3(56); v. 3(13). Whole no. 290.
"_Prologue_": (14). Whole no. 14.
"_Chorus_": end of act i. (14). Whole no. 14.
In the above enumeration, parts of lines are counted as whole lines,
making the total in the play greater than it is. The actual number in
each scene is as follows: Prologue (14); i. 1(244), 2(106), 3(106),
4(114), 5(147); Chorus (14); ii. 1(42), 2(190), 3(94), 4(233), 5(80),
6(37); iii. 1(202), 2(143), 3(175), 4(36), 5(241); iv. 1(126), 2(47),
3(58), 4(28), 5(150); v. 1(86), 2(30), 3(310). Whole number in the play,
3053. The line-numbering is that of the Globe ed.
INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED
a (= one), 215
a hall, a hall! 190
a la stoccata, 221
Abraham Cupid, 197
abused (= marred), 247
ache, 216
adventure (verb), 200, 266
advise (= consider), 244
afeard, 202
affections, 169
affray (verb), 238
afore, 214
afore me, 236
against (of time), 236
agate, 186
airy tongue, 203
all (intensive), 170
alligator, 263
amazed, 224
ambling, 183
ambuscadoes, 187
amerce, 225
anatomy, 234
ancient, 168, 206
and there an end, 236
antic, 191
apace, 215
ape, 198
apt to, 219, 235
as (= as if), 216
as (= namely), 254
as (omitted), 170
as (redundant), 272
associate me, 265
aspire (transitive), 223
atomies, 186
attach (= arrest), 271
attending (= attentive), 203
ay, 229
ay me! 197, 262
baked meats, 256
Balthasar (accent), 262
bandying, 216, 222
bankrupt (spelling), 229
banquet (= dessert), 195
bate (in falconry), 227
bear a brain, to, 179
beetle-brows, 183
behoveful, 253
bent (= inclination), 202
be-rhyme, 209
bescreened, 199
beshrew, 216, 244, 265
betossed, 267
better tempered, 234
bills (weapons), 167
bite by the ear, to, 211
bite the thumb, to, 167
blaze, 235
blazon, 218
bons, 209
bosom's lord, my, 262
both our remedies, 206
bound (play upon) 174, 183
bow of lath, 182
boy (contemptuous), 221
brace, 273
bride (masculine), 243
broad (goose), 212
broken music, 220
burn daylight, to, 185
button, 208
butt-shaft, 207
by and by (= presently), 224, 236, 273
candles (night's), 237
canker (= worm), 205
cankered, 168
Capel's, 262, 270
captain of compliments, 207
carries it away, 221
carry coals, to, 166
carry no crotchets, 261
case (play upon), 183, 259
cat, nine lives of, 221
catched, 258
catling, 261
charge, 265
cheerly, 190
cheveril, 212
chinks, 194
choler (play upon), 166
chop-logic, 243
Chorus, 165
circle (magician's), 198
circumstance, 216, 271
civil (= grave), 227
closed (= enclosed), 188
closet (= chamber), 253
clout, 207
clubs, 167
cock-a-hoop, 192
coil (= ado), 216
colliers, 166
come near, 190
comfortable (active), 271
commission, 248
compare (noun), 216, 246
compliment, 200
concealed, 234
conceit, 218
conclude (transitive), 225
conduct (= conductor), 223, 270
conduit, 242
confessor (accent), 218, 233
confidence (= conference), 212
confound (= destroy), 217
confusions, 258
conjurations, 267
conjure (accent), 197
consort (noun), 219
consort (transitive), 223
consort with, 219
content thee, 192
contract (accent), 201
contrary (accent), 229
contrary (verb), 193
convert (intransitive), 193
cot-quean, 257
county(= count), 181, 241
court-cupboard, 189
courtship, 233
cousin (= kinsman), 223
cousin (= uncle), 190
cover (play upon), 180
cross (= perverse), 253
cross (= thwart), 267
crow-keeper, 182
crush a cup, 176
crystal scales, 176
cure (intransitive), 174
curfew-bell, 256
Cynthia, 238
damnation (concrete), 245
dare (play upon), 207
dark heaven, 173
date (= duration), 188
dateless, 269
dear, 232, 265, 267
dear hap, 204
dear mercy, 232
death (concrete), 268
death-darting eye, 229
defy (= refuse), 267
deny (= refuse), 190
depart (= part), 220
depend (impend), 223
desperate, 236
determine of, 229
detestable (accent), 258
devotion (quadrisyllable), 248
Dian's wit, 171
digressing, 235
discover (= reveal), 201, 224
dislike (= displease), 200
displant, 233
dispute (= reason), 233
dissemblers (metre), 230
distemperature, 206
distraught, 255
division (in music), 238
do danger, 265
do disparagement, 192
do hate, 234
doctrine (= instruction), 172
doom thee death, 223
doth (plural), 165
doubt (= distrust), 267
drawn, 167
drift (= scheme), 252
dry-beat, 222, 261
dump, 260
Dun in the mire, 184
dun's the mouse, 184
earth, 173, 196
elf-locks, 187
empty (= hungry), 267
encamp them, 205
encounter, 218
endart, 181
enforce (= force), 267
engrossing, 269
enpierced, 183
entrance (trisyllable), 182
envious (= malicious), 224, 228
Ethiope, 191
evening mass, 247
exile (accent), 225, 232
expire (transitive), 188
extremes, 248
extremities, 196
faintly, 182
fairies' midwife, 186
familiar (metre), 232
fantasticoes, 208
fashion-mongers, 209
fay (= faith), 195
fearful (= afraid), 232
feeling (= heartfelt), 240
festering, 254
fettle, 243
fine (= penance), 193
fire drives out fire, 174
five wits, 185, 211
flattering (= illusive), 261
flecked, 204
fleer, 191
flirt-gills, 213
flowered (pump), 211
fond (= foolish), 233, 259
fool, 179
foolish, 195
fool's paradise, 214
for (repeated), 196
form (play upon), 209
forth, 169
fortune's fool, 224
frank (= bountiful), 201
Freetown, 169
fret, 237
friend (= lover), 239
from forth, 204
gapes, 196
garish, 228
gear (= matter), 212, 264
ghostly, 204
give leave awhile, 178
give me, 252
give me leave, 216
gleek, 260
glooming, 273
God save the mark! 229
God shall mend my soul! 192
God shield, 248
God ye good morrow! 212
good-den (or god-den), 170, 175, 219, 243
good goose, bite not, 211
good hap, 235
good morrow, 170, 205
good thou, 189
gore-blood, 229
gossamer, 217
grandsire, 209
grave (play upon), 223
grave beseeming, 168
green (eyes), 245
green (= fresh), 254
grey-eyed, 204, 209
haggard (noun), 203
hap, 204
harlotry, 253
have at thee, 167, 261
haviour, 200
hay (in fencing), 208
he (= him), 240
he (= man), 264
healthsome, 254
heartless (= cowardly), 167
Heart's-ease, 260
heavy (play upon), 170
held him carelessly, 236
highmost, 216
high-top-gallant, 214
hilding, 209, 243
his (= its), 259, 270
hoar (= mouldy), 213
hold the candle, to, 184
holp, 174
homely in thy drift, 206
honey (adjective), 216
hood, 227
hour (dissyllable), 216, 225
house (= sheath), 270
humorous, 198
humours, 197
hunts-up, 238
I (repeated), 220
idle worms, 186
ill-beseeming, 234
importuned (accent), 170
in (= into), 262, 267
in extremity, 181
in happy time, 241
in his view, 170
in post, 273
in spite, 168, 192
inconstant, 252
indite (= invite), 213
infection (quadrisyllable), 265
inherit (= possess), 173
it fits, 192
Jack, 213, 219, 261
jealous (= suspicious), 267
jealous-hood, 257
joint-stools, 188
keep ado, 236
kindly, 211, 271
king of cats, 221
knife (worn by ladies), 248, 254
label, 248
labour (of time), 258
lace, 210, 237
Lady, lady, lady, 213
lady-bird, 177
lamentation (metre), 235
Lammas-tide, 178
languish (noun), 174
lantern, 267
lay (= wager), 178
lay along, 266
learn (= teach), 227, 253
leaves, 218
let (noun), 200
level (= aim), 234
lieve, 215
light (play upon), 183
lightning before death, 268
like (= likely), 254
like of, 181
living (noun), 258
loggerhead, 257
long sword, 168
love (= Venus), 215
loving-jealous, 204
Mab, 185
made (= did), 273
maidenhead, 177
make and mar, 172
makes dainty, 190
mammet, 244
man of wax, 179
manage (noun), 224
mandrake, 254
manners (number), 272
many's, 181
marchpane, 189
margent, 180
mark (= appoint), 179
mark-man, 171
marriage (trisyllable), 196, 247, 272
married (figurative), 180
married and marred, 172
masks (ladies'), 172
me (ethical dative), 208, 219
mean (noun), 233
measure (= dance), 182
merchant (contemptuous), 213
mewed up, 236
mickle, 205
minion, 243
misadventure, 262
mistempered, 168
mistress (trisyllable), 214
modern (= trite), 231
moody (= angry), 219
mouse-hunt, 257
moved, 168
much upon these years, 179
muffle, 267
natural (= fool), 212
naught, 230
needly, 231
needy, 241
neighbour-stained, 168
new (adverbial), 170
news (number), 216, 242
nice (= petty, trifling), 224, 265
nightgown, 168
nor ... not, 238, 241
nothing (adverb), 169
nuptial, 191
O (= grief), 233
o'er-perch, 200
of (= on), 167, 216
of the very first house, 208
old (= practised), 234
one is no number, 173
operation (= effect), 219
opposition (metre), 253
orchard (= garden), 197
osier cage, 204
outrage (= outcry), 272
outrage (trisyllable), 222
overwhelming, 263
owe (= possess), 199
pale as a clout, 215
paly, 249
pardonnez-mois, 209
partisan, 167
parts (= gifts), 232, 244
passado, 208, 222
passing (adverbial), 172
pastry, 256
patience (trisyllable), 262, 272
patience perforce, 193
pay that doctrine, 172
peace (metre), 243
perforce (= by force), 272
peruse (= scan), 267
pestilent, 261
Phaethon, 225
pilcher, 222
pin (in archery), 207
pinked, 211
plantain, 174
pluck, 204
portly, 192
poor my lord, 230
pothecary, 273
pout'st upon, 235
powerful grace, 205
predominant, 205
presence, 268
present(= immediate), 264
presently, 262
pretty, 261
prevails (= avails), 233
prick of noon, 212
prick-song, 208
prince of cats, 207
princox, 193
procure, 239
prodigious, 196
proof (= experience), 171
proof (of armour), 171
properer, 215
prorogued, 200, 248
proverbed, 184
pump (= shoe), 211
punto reverso, 208
purchase out, 225
question (= conversation), 172
quit (= requite), 214
quote (= note), 183
quoth, 179
R, the dog's letter, 215
rearward, 231
reason coldly, 220
rebeck, 261
receipt, 241
receptacle (accent), 254
reckoning, 172
reeky, 249
remember (reflexive), 178
respective, 223
rest you merry! 175
retort (= throw back), 224
riddling, 206
roe (play upon), 209
rood (= cross), 179
ropery, 213
rosemary, 259
round (= whisper), 195
runaways' eyes, 225
rushed aside the law, 232
rushes, 183
sadly (= seriously), 171
sadness, 171
savage wild, 267
scales (singular), 176
scant, 176
scape, 219
scathe, 192
scorn at, 192
season, 206
set abroach, 169
set up my rest, 269
sick and green, 199
siege (figurative), 171, 272
silver-sweet, 203
simpleness, 216, 233
simples (= herbs), 216, 263
single-soled, 211
sir-reverence, 185
skains-mates, 213
slip (= counterfeit), 210
slops, 210
slow (verb), 247
smooth (verb), 231
so (omitted), 241
so brief to part, 235
so ho! 213
solemnity, 192
some minute, 273
some other where, 171
something (adverb), 266
sometime, 187
soon-speeding, 264
sorrow drinks our blood, 239
sort (= select), 253
sorted out, 241
soul (play upon), 183, 211
sound (= utter), 231
sour, 232, 267
sped, 222
speed, be my, 270
spinners, 186
spite, 198, 247
spleen, 224
spoke him fair, 224
stand on sudden haste, 206
star-crossed, 165
starved, 171
starveth, 264
stay (= wait for), 261
stay the circumstance, 216
steads, 206
still (= always), 269, 273
strained, 205
strange, 200, 227
strucken, 172
stumbling at graves, 270
substantial (quadrisyllable), 202
surcease, 249
swashing blow, 167
sweet my mother, 244
sweet water, 266
sweet-heart (accent), 257
sweeting, 211
sweetmeats, 187
swounded, 229
sycamore, 169
tables (turned up), 190
tackled stair, 214
take me with you, 242
take the wall, 166
take truce, 224
tassel-gentle, 203
teen, 178
temper (= mix), 241
tender (noun), 244
tender (= regard), 221
tetchy, 179
thank me no thankings, 243
that (affix), 233
therewithal, 273
this three hours, 265
thorough (= through), 207
thought(= hoped), 258
thou's, 178
thumb, rings for, 186
tidings (number), 241
timeless, 271
't is an ill cook, etc., 252
Titan, 204
toes, 190
to-night (= last night), 185, 207
torch-bearer, 182, 237
towards (= ready), 195
toy (= caprice), 252
trencher, 188
tried (= proved), 254
truckle-bed, 198
tutor me from, 219
two and forty hours, 249
two hours (of a play), 166
two may keep counsel, 214
Tybalt, 207
unattainted, 176
uncomfortable, 259
uneven (= indirect), 247
unfirm, 266
unkind (accent, etc.), 270
unmanned, 227
unsavoury, 270
unstuffed, 205
untimely (adverb), 223, 273
up (transposed), 253
use (tense), 196
utters (= sells), 264
validity, 233
vanished, 232
vanity, 218
vaulty (heaven), 238
Verona, 165
versal, 215
very (adjective), 222
view (= appearance), 170
volume (figurative), 180
wanton (masculine), 203
ware (= aware), 169, 200
was I with you? 211
weeds (= garments), 263
well (of the dead), 258, 262
well said (= well done), 193
what (= how, why), 191
what (= who), 194
wherefore (accent), 200
who (= which), 169, 188, 233, 242
wild-goose chase, 211
will none, 242
wit, 235, 240
with (= by), 170, 267
withal, 169
wits, five, 185
worm (in fingers), 186
wormwood, 178
worser, 205, 221
worshipped sun, 169
worth (= wealth), 218
wot, 232
wrought (= effected), 242
yet not, 199
zounds, 220
ROLFE'S ENGLISH CLASSICS
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+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Transcriber's notes: |
| |
| Fixed various punctuation. |
| P.73. 'thorough the ear' is in another volume, keeping. |
| P.143. 'Some villanous shame' is in another volume, keeping. |
| P.191. 'iustly' means 'justly' but not changed as other words |
| in this poem are the same, 'i' for 'j'. |
| P.199. 'Gf.' changed to 'Cf.'. |
| P.255. v. 'i.' 12, changed to v. '1.' 12,. |
| P.236. 'ii. i. 102:' changed to 'ii. 1. 102:'. |
| P.288. 'happpy' changed to 'happy'. |
| Both words 'loggerhead' and 'logger-head' are present, leaving. |
| Both words 'a-bed' and 'abed' are present, leaving. |
| Note: underscores to surround _italic text_. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+