It is my lady; O! it is my love;
O, that she knew we were!]
This line and half I have replaced.
II.ii.39 (47,7) Thou art thyself, though not a Montague] I think the
true reading is,
Thou art thyself, _then_ not a Montague.
Thou art a being of peculiar excellence, and hast none of the malignity
of the family, from which thou hast thy name.--Hanmer reads,
Thour't not _thyself_ so, _though_ a Montague.
II.iii.15 (53,6) the powerful grace, that lies/In plants] Efficacious
virtue.
II.iii.27 (53,7) Two such opposed foes encamp them still] [W: opposed
kin] _Foes_ may be the right reading, or _kings_, but I think _kin_ can
hardly be admitted. Two _kings_ are two opposite _powers_, two
contending _potentates_, in both the natural and moral world. The word
_encamp_ is proper to _commanders_. (see 1765, VIII, 46, 2)
II.iv.20 (57,3) courageous captain of compliments] A complete master of
all the laws of ceremony, the principal man in the doctrine of
punctilio.
"A man of compliments, whom right and wrong
"Have chose as umpire;"
says our author of Don _Armado_, the Spaniard, in _Love's Labour Lost_.
II.iv.27 (57,6) the hay!] All the terms of the modern fencing-school
were originally Italian; the rapier, or small thrusting sword, being
first used in Italy. The _hay_ is the word _hai_, you _have_ it, used
when a thrust reaches the antagonist, from which our fencers, on the
same occasion, without knowing, I suppose, any reason for it, cry out,
_ha_!
II.iv.35 (58,9) these pardonnez-moy's] _Pardonnez-moi_ became the
language of doubt or hesitation among men of the sword, when the point
of honour was grown so delicate, that no other mode of contradiction
would be endured.
II.iv.64 (59,3) then is my pump wall flower'd] Here is a vein of wit too
thin to be easily found. The fundamental idea is, that Romeo wore
_pinked_ pumps, that is, pumps punched with holes in figures.
II.iv.87 (60,7) a wit of cheverel] _Cheverel_ is soft-leather for
gloves.
II.iv.138 (62,8) No hare, Sir] Mercutio having roared out, _So ho_! the
cry of the sportsmen when they start a hare; Romeo asks _what he has
found_. And Mercutio answers, _No hare_, &c. The rest is a series of
quibbles unworthy of explanation, which he who does not understand,
needs not lament his ignorance.
II.iv.162 (63,1) none of his skains-mates] The word _skains-mate_, I do
not understand, but suppose that _skains_ was some low play, and
_skains-mate_, a companion at such play.
II.iv.200 (64,2) like a tackled stair] Like stairs of rope in the tackle
of a ship.
II.iv.222 (65,4) Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. R is for the nonce;
I know it begins with another letter] This passage is thus in the old
folio. _A mocker, that's the dog's name. R is for the_ no, _I know it
begins with some other letter._ In this copy the error is but small. I
read, _Ah, mocker. that's the dog's name. R is for the_ nonce, _I know
it begins with another letter._ For the _nonce_, is for some _design,
for a sly trick_.
II.vi.15 (70,2) Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow] He that travels
too fast is as long before he comes to the end of his journey, as he
that travels slow. Precipitation produces mishap.
III.i.2 (71,1) The day is hot] It is observed, that in Italy almost all
assassinations are committed during the heat of summer.
III.i.124 (75,6) This day's black fate on more days does depend] This
day's unhappy destiny _hangs over_ the days yet to come. There will yet
be more mischief.
III.i.141 (78,7) Oh! I am fortune's fool] I am always running in the way
of evil fortune, _like_ the fool in the play. _Thou art death's fool_,
in _Measure for Measure_. See Dr. Warburton's note.
III.i.153 (77,8) as thou art true] As thou art _just_ and _upright_.
III.i.159 (77,9) How nice the quarrel] How _slight_, how _unimportant_,
how _petty_. So in the last act,
The letter was not _nice_, but full of charge
Of dear import.
III.i.182 (78,2) Affection makes him false] The charge of falshood on
Bonvolio, though produced at hazard, is very just. The author, who seems
to intend the character of Bonvolio as good, meant perhaps to shew, how
the best minds, in a state of faction and discord, are detorted to
criminal partiality.
III.i.193 (78,3) I have an interest in your hate's proceeding: Sir
Thomas Hanmer saw that this line gave no sense, and therefore put, by a
very easy change,