Murder'd her kinsman.-O tell me, friar, tell me, Doth my name lodge? tell me, that I may sack Fri. [Drawing his Sword. Hold thy desperate hand: Art thou a man? thy form cries out, thou art; Unseemly woman, in a seeming man! Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth?3 9 Unseemly woman, &c.] Thou art a beast of ill qualities, under the appearance both of a woman and a man. Johnson. A person who seemed both man and woman, would be a monster, and of course an ill-beseeming beast. This is all the Friar meant to express. M. Mason. 1 And slay thy lady too that lives in thee,] The quarto, 1599, and the folio, have And slay thy lady, that in thy life lives. My copy of the first folio reads: Thus the first copy. Malone. And slay thy lady that in thy life lies. Steevens. 2 Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth?] Romeo has not here railed on his birth, &c. though in his interview with the Friar as described in the poem, he is made to do so: "First Nature did he blame, the author of his life, "In which his joys had been so scant, and sorrows aye so rife; "The time and place of birth he fiercely did reprove; "He cryed out with open mouth against the stars above. "On fortune eke he rail'd." Shakspeare copied the remonstrance of the Friar, without reviewing the former part of his scene. He has in other places fallen into a similar inaccuracy, by sometimes following and sometimes deserting his original. The lines, Why rail'st thou, &c. to-thy own defence, are not in the first copy. They are formed on a passage in the poem: "Why cry'st thou out on love? why dost thou blame thy fate? "Why dost thou so cry after death? thy life why dost thou hate?" &c. Malone. Fy, fy! thou sham'st thy shape, thy love, thy wit; And usest none in that true use indeed Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit. And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.5 3 Digressing from the valour of a man:] So, in the 24th Book of Homer's Odyssey, as translated by Chapman: 66 my deservings shail in nought digress "From best fame of our race's foremost merit." Steevens. ▲ Like powder in a skill-less soldier's flask, &c.] To understand the force of this allusion, it should be remembered that the ancient English soldiers, using match-locks, instead of locks with flints as at present, were obliged to carry a lighted match hanging at their belts, very near to the wooden flask in which they kept their powder. The same allusion occurs in Humour's Ordinary, an old collection of English epigrams: "When she his flask and touch-box set on fire, "And till this hour the burning is not out." Steevens. 5 And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.] And thou torn to pieces with thine own weapons. Johnson. 6 there art thou happy too:] Thus the first quarto. In the subsequent quartos and the folio too is omitted. Malone. It should not be concealed, that the reading of the second folio corresponds with that of the first quarto: there art thou happy too. Steevens. The word is omitted in all the intermediate editions; a sufficient proof that the emendations of that folio are not always the result of ignorance or caprice. Ritson. Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love:? Nurse. O Lord, I could have staid here all the night, To hear good counsel: O, what learning is!— My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come. Rom. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide. Nurse. Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir: Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late. [Exit Nurse. Rom. How well my comfort is reviv'd by this! 9 Fri. Go hence: Good night; and here stands all your state; 1 7 Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love:] The quarto, 1599, and 1609, read: Thou puts up thy fortune and thy love. The editor of the folio endeavoured to correct this by reading: Thou puttest up thy fortune and thy love. The undated quarto has powts, which, with the aid of the original copy in 1597, pointed out the true reading. There the line stands: Thou frown'st upon thy fate, that smiles on thee. Malone. The reading in the text is confirmed by the following passage in Coriolanus, Act V, sc. i: 8 Romeo is coming] Much of this speech has likewise been added since the first edition. Steevens. 9 Go hence: Good night; &c.] These three lines are omitted in all the modern editions. Johnson. They were first omitted, with many others, by Mr. Pope. Malone. 1- here stands all your state;] The whole of your fortune depends on this. Johnson. Either be gone before the watch be set, SCENE IV. A Room in Capulet's House. [Exeunt. Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, and PARIS. I would have been a-bed an hour ago. Par. These times of woe afford no time to woo: Madam, good night: commend me to your daughter. La. Cap. I will, and know her mind early to-morrow; To-night she 's mew'd up3 to her heaviness. Cap. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender Of my child's love: I think, she will be rul'd 2 SCENE IV] Some few unnecessary verses are omitted in this scene according to the oldest editions. Pope. Mr. Pope means, as appears from his edition, that he has followed the oldest copy, and omitted some unnecessary verses which are not found there, but inserted in the enlarged copy of this play. But he has expressed himself so loosely, as to have been misunderstood by Mr. Steevens. In the text these unnecessary verses, as Mr. Pope calls them, are preserved, conformably to the enlarged copy of 1599. Malone. 3 mew'd up-] This is a phrase from falconry. A mew was a place of confinement for hawks. So, in Albumazar, 1614: fully mew'd 66 "From brown soar feathers -" Again, in our author's King Richard III: "And, for his meed, poor lord he is mew'd up." Steevens. 4 Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender my child's love:] Desperate means only bold, adventurous, as In all respects by me; nay more, I doubt it not. And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday next- Par. Monday, my lord. Therefore we 'll have some half a dozen friends, Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day.- SCENE V. Juliet's Chamber.5 Enter ROMEO and JULIET. [Exeunt.. Jul. Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: if he had said in the vulgar phrase, I will speak a bold word, and venture to promise you my daughter. Johnson. So, in The Weakest goes to the Wall, 1600: "Witness this desperate tender of mine honour." Steevens. 5 SCENE V. Juliet's Chamber.] The stage-direction in the first edition is "Enter Romeo and Juliet, at a window." In the second quarto," Enter Romeo and Juliet aloft." They appeared probably in the balcony which was erected on the old English stage. Malone. • Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree:] This is not merely a poetical supposition. It is observed of the nightingale, that, VOL. XII. Ff |