Fri. Come, come with me, and we will make short work; For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone, Till holy church incorporate two in one. [Exeunt. ACT III.....SCENE I. A publick Place. Enter MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, Page, and Servants. Ben. I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire; And, if we meet, we shall not 'scape a brawl; Mer. Thou art like one of those fellows, that, when he enters the confines of a tavern, claps me his sword upon the table, and says, God send me no need of thee! and, by the operation of the second cup, draws it on the drawer, when, indeed, there is no need. Ben. Am I like such a fellow? Mer. Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy; and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved. Ben. And what to? Mer. Nay, an there were two such, we should have none shortly, for one would kill the other. Thou! why thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth. The undated quarto and the folio: I cannot sum up some of half my wealth. The emendation was made by Mr. Steevens. Malone. 6 The day is hot,] It is observed, that, in Italy, almost all assassinations are committed during the heat of summer. Johnson. In Sir Thomas Smith's Commonwealth of England, 1583, B. II, c. xix, p. 70, it is said-" And commonly every yeere or each second yeere in the beginning of sommer or afterwards (for in the warme time the people for the most part be more unruly) even in the calm time of peace, the prince with his counsell chooseth out," &c. Reed. because thou hast hazel eyes; What eye, but such an eye, would spy out such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of quarrels, as an egg is full of meat; and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg, for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter? with another, for tying his new shoes with old ribband? and yet thou wilt tutor me from quarrelling!" Ben. An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter. Mer. The fee-simple? O simple! Enter TYBALT, and Others. Ben. By my head, here come the Capulets. Tyb. Follow me close, for I will speak to them.o— Gentlemen, good den: a word with one of you. Mer. And but one word with one of us? Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow. Tyb. You will find me apt enough to that, sir, if you will give me occasion. thou wilt tutor me from quarrelling !] Thou wilt endeavour to restrain me, by prudential advice, from quarrelling. Thus the quarto, 1599, and the folio. The quarto, 1597, reads -thou wilt forbid me of quarrelling. The modern editions, after Mr. Pope, read-Thou wilt tutor me for quarrelling. Malone. 8 An I were so apt &c.] These two speeches have been added since the first quarto, together with some few circumstances in the rest of the scene, as well as in the ensuing one. Steevens. 9 Follow me close, for I will speak to them.] In the original copy this line is not found, Tybalt entering alone. In that of 1599 we find this stage-direction: "Enter Tybalt, Petruchio, and others;" and the above line is inserted; but I strongly suspect it to be an interpolation; for would Tybalt's partizans suffer him to be killed without taking part in the affray? That they do not join in it, appears from the account given by Benvolio. In the original copy Benvolio says, on the entrance of Tybalt, "By my head, here comes a Capulet." Instead of the two latter words, we have in the quarto, 1599, the Capulets. Malone. Mr. Malone forgets that, even in his own edition of this play, Tybalt is not killed while his partisans are on the stage. They go out with him after he has wounded Mercutio; and he himself re-enters, unattended, when he fights with Romeo. Steevens. Mer. Could you not take some occasion without giving? Tyb. Mercutio, thou consort'st with Romeo, Mer. Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels? an thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords: here's my fiddlestick; here's that shall make you dance. 'Zounds, consort! Ben. We talk here in the publick haunt of men: Either withdraw into some private place, Or reason coldly of your grievances, Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us. Mer. Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze; I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I. Enter ROMEO. Tyb. Well, peace be with you, sir! here comes my man. Mer. But I'll be hang'd, sir, if he wear your livery : Rom. Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee But love thee better than thou canst devise, Mer. O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! [Draws. 2 the hate I bear thee,] So the quarto, 1597. The subsequent ancient copies have-the love, &c. Malone. 3 A la stoccata-] Stoccata is the Italian term for a thrust or stab with a rapier. So, in The Devil's Charter, 1607: "He makes a thrust; I with a swift passado "Make quick avoidance, and with this stoccata," &c. Steevens Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk? Tyb. What would'st thou have with me? Mer. Good king of cats, nothing, but one of your nine lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and, as you shall use me hereafter, dry-beat the rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears?5 make haste, lest mine be about your ears ere it be out. Tyb. I am for you. Rom. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up. Rom. Draw, Benvolio; [Drawing. [They fight. Beat down their weapons:-Gentlemen, for shame The prince expressly hath forbid this bandying Mer. I am hurt; A plague o' both the houses!—I am sped:— Ben. What, art thou hurt? Mer. Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough.— Where is my page?-go, villain, fetch a surgeon. [Exit Page. Rom. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. Mer. No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve: ask for me 4 Good king of cats,] Alluding to his name. See p. 271, n. 5. Malone. 5 Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears?] We should read pilche, which signifies a cloke or coat of skins, meaning the scabbard. Warburton. The old quarto reads scabbard. Dr. Warburton's explanation is, I believe, just. Nash, in Pierce Pennyless his Supplication, 1595, speaks of a carman in a leather pilche. Again, in Decker's Satiromastix, 1602: "I'll beat five pounds out of his leather pilch." Again, "Thou hast forgot how thou ambled'st in a leather pilch, by a play-waggon in the highway, and took'st mad Jeronimo's part, to get service among the mimicks." It appears from this passage, that Ben Jonson acted the part of Hieronimo in the Spanish tragedy, the speech being addressed to Horace, under which character old Ben is ridiculed. Steevens. to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man.6 I am peppered, I warrant, for this world:-A plague o' both your houses!-'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetick!-Why, the devil, came you between us? I was hurt under your arm. Rom. I thought all for the best. Mer. Help me into some house, Benvolio, Or I shall faint.-A plague o' both your houses! I have it, and soundly too:-Your houses! [Exeunt MER. and BEN. Re-enter BENVOLIO. 6 a grave man.] After this, the quarto, 1597, continues Mercutio's speech as follows: -"A pox o' both your houses! I shall be fairly mounted upon four men's shoulders for your house of the Montagues and the Capulets: and then some peasantly rogue, some sexton, some base slave, shall write my epitaph, that Tybalt came and broke the prince's laws, and Mercutio was slain for the first and second cause. Where's the surgeon? "Boy. He 's come, sir. "Mer. Now he 'll keep a mumbling in my guts on the other side.-Come, Benvolio, lend me thy hand: A pox o' both your houses!" Steevens. "You shall find me a grave man." This jest was better in old language, than it is at present. Lydgate says, in his elegy upon Chaucer: "My master Chaucer now is grave." Farmer. Steevens. We meet with the same quibble in The Revenger's Tragedy, 1608, where Vindici dresses up a lady's scull, and observes: she has a somewhat grave look with her." Again, in Sir Thomas Overbury's Description of a Sexton, CHARACTERS, 1616: "At every church-style commonly there's an ale-house; where let him bee found never so idle-pated, hee is still a grave drunkard." Malone. |