Rom. Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can, 8 Fri. These violent delights have violent ends, And in their triumph die; like fire and powder, Which, as they kiss, consume: The sweetest honey Is loathsome in his own deliciousness, And in the taste confounds the appetite: Therefore, love moderately; long love doth so; Enter JULIET. Here comes the lady:1-O, so light a foot "Jul. Romeo! 66 "Rom. My Juliet, welcome! As do waking eyes "And thou art come, "Ful. I am (if I be day) "Come to my sun; shine forth, and make me fair. "Rom. All beauteous fairness dwelleth in thine eyes. Jul. Romeo, from thine all brightness doth arise. "Friar. Come, wantons, come, the stealing hours do pass; "Part for a time, 'you shall not be alone, "Rom. Lead, holy father, all delay seems long. Jul. Make haste, make haste, this ling'ring doth us wrong. "Friar. O, soft and fair makes sweetest work they say; "Haste is a common hind'rer in cross-way." [Exeunt. Steevens. 8 These violent delights have violent ends,] So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece : "These violent vanities can never last." Malone. 9 Too swift arrives -] 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. Johnson. 1 Here comes the lady: &c.] However the poet might think the alteration of this scene on the whole to be necessary, I am afraid, in respect of the passage before us, he has not been very successful. The violent hyperbole of never wearing out the everlasting flint appears to me not only more reprehensible, but even less beautiful than the lines as they were originally written, where the light Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint: Jul. Good even to my ghostly confessor. Fri. Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both. Be heap'd like mine, and that thy skill be more Jul. Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, 3 I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth.5 4 ness of Juliet's motion is accounted for from the cheerful effects the passion of love produced in her mind. Steevens. 2 A lover may bestride the gossomers-] The gossomer is the long white filament which flies in the air in summer. So, in Hannibal and Scipio, 1637, by Nabbes: "Fine as Arachne's web, or gossamer "Whose curls when garnish'd by their dressing, shew "Like that spun vapour when 'tis pearl'd with dew?" See King Lear, Act IV, sc. vi, Vol. XIV. Steevens. See Bullokar's English Expositor, 1616: "Gossomor. Things that flye like cobwebs in the ayre." Malone. 3 Conceit, more rich &c.] Conceit here means imagination. So, in The Rape of Lucrece: 66 - which the conceited painter drew so proud,” &c. See Vol. XI, p, 101, n. 6. Malone. Thus, in the title-page to the first quarto edition of The Merry Wives of Windsor: "A most pleasant and excellent conceited comedy" &c. Again, in the title, &c. to King Henry IV, P. I, quarto, 1599: "- with the humorous conceits of Sir John Falstaffe —.” Steevens. 4 They are but beggars that can count their worth ;] So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd." See Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, sc. i, Vol. XIII. Steevens. So, in Much Ado about Nothing: "I were but little happy, if I could say how much." Malone. 5 I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth.] The quarto, 1599, reads: 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, wh 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. 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 se cond 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!7 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.9— 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. 7 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: 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 |