Lies fest'ring in his shroud; where, as they say, So early waking,—what with loathsome smells; And madly play with my forefather's joints? [She throws herself on the Bed. 4 Lies fest'ring-] To fester is to corrupt. So, in King Edward III, 1599: "Lillies that fester smell far worse than weeds." This line likewise occurs in the 94th Sonnet of Shakspeare. The play of Edward III, has been ascribed to him. 5 Steevens. is it not like, that I,] This speech is confused, and inconsequential, according to the disorder of Juliet's mind. Johnson. 6 run mad;] So, in Webster's Dutchess of Malfy, 1623: "I have this night digg'd up a mandrake, "And am grown mad with 't." Again, in The Atheist's Tragedy, 1611: "The cries of mandrakes never touch'd the ear "With more sad horror, than that voice does mine." The mandrake (says Thomas Newton, in his Herball to the Bible, 8vo. 1587,) has been idly represented as "a creature having life and engendered under the earth of the seed of some dead person that hath beene convicted and put to death for some felonie or murther; and that they had the same in such dampish and funerall places where the saide convicted persons were buried," &c. Steevens. See Vol. IX, p. 108, n. 7; and Vol. X, p. 207, n. 7. Malone. be distraught,] Distraught is distracted. So, in Drayton's Polyolbion, Song 10: 7 66 "Is, for that river's sake, near of his wits distraught." Again, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. I, c. ix: "What frantick fit, quoth he, hath thus distraught," &c. Steevens. SCENE IV. Capulet's Hall. Enter Lady CAPULET and Nurse. La. Cap. Hold, take these keys, and fetch more spices, nurse. Nurse. They call for dates and quinces in the pastry. Enter CAPULET. Cap. Come, stir, stir, stir! the second cock hath crow'd, The curfeu beil' hath rung, 'tis three o'clock :— Look to the bak'd meats, good Angelica:1 Spare not for cost. Nurse. Go, go, you cot-quean, go, Get you to bed; 'faith, you'll be sick to-morrow For this night's watching. Cap. No, not a whit; What! I have watch'd ere now All night for lesser cause, and ne'er been sick. La. Cap. Ay, you have been a mouse-hunt in your time; 8 They call for dates and quinces in the pastry.] i. e. in the room where paste was made. So laundry, spicery, &c. Malone. The curfeu bell-] I know not that the morning-bell is called the curfeu in any other place. Johnson. The curfew bell was rung at nine in the evening, as appears from a passage in The Merry Devil of Edmonton, 1608: well 'tis nine o'clock, 'tis time to ring curfew." Steevens. The curfew bell is universally rung at eight or nine o'clock at night; generally according to the season. The term is here used with peculiar impropriety, as it is not believed that any bell was ever rung so early as three in the morning. The derivation of curfeu is well known, but it is a mere vulgar error that the institution was a badge of slavery imposed by the Norman Conqueror. To put out the fire became necessary only because it was time to go to bed: And if the curfeu commanded all fires to be extinguished, the morning bell ordered them to be lighted again. In short, the ringing of those two bells was a manifest and essential service to people who had scarcely any other means of measuring their time. Ritson. 1 Look to the bak'd meats, good Angelica:] Shakspeare has here imputed to an Italian nobleman and his lady all the petty solicitudes of a private house concerning a provincial entertainment. To such a bustle our author might have been witness at home; but the like anxities could not well have occurred in the family of Capulet, whose wife, if Angelica be her name, is here directed to perform the office of a housekeeper. Steevens. But I will watch you from such watching now. [Exeunt La. CAP. and Nurse. Cap. A jealous-hood, a jealous-hood!-Now, fellow, What's there? Enter Servants, with Spits, Logs, and Baskets. 1 Serv. Things for the cook, sir; but I know not what. Cap. Make haste, make haste. [Exit 1 Serv.]—Sirrah, fetch drier logs; Call Peter, he will show thee where they are. 2 Serv. I have a head, sir, that will find out logs, And never trouble Peter for the matter. [Exit. Cap. 'Mass, and well said; A merry whoreson! ha, Thou shalt be logger-head.-Good faith, 'tis day: The county will be here with musick straight, [Musick within. For so he said he would. I hear him near:Nurse! Wife!-what, ho!-what, nurse, I say! Enter Nurse. Go, waken Juliet, go, and trim her up; I'll go and chat with Paris:-Hie, make haste, SCENE V. Juliet's Chamber; JULIET on the Bed. Enter Nurse. [Exeunt. Nurse. Mistress!-what, mistress!-Juliet!-fast, I warrant her, she: Why, lamb!-why, lady!-fy, you slug-a-bed!- 2 -a mouse-hunt in your time;] In my original attempt to explain this passage, I was completely wrong, for want of knowing that in Norfolk, and many other parts of England, the cant term for a weasel is-a mouse-hunt. The intrigues of this animal, like those of the cat kind, are usually carried on during the night. This circumstance will account for the appellation which Lady Capulet allows her husband to have formerly deserved. Steevens. The animal called the mouse-hunt, is the martin. Henley. Cat after kinde, good mouse hunt, is a proverb in Heywood's Dialogue, 1598, 1st. pt. c. 2. H. White. The county Paris hath set up his rest,3 That you shall rest but littie.-God forgive me, He'll fright you up, i' faith.-Will it not be? 3 set up his rest,] This expression, which is frequently employed by the old dramatick writers, is taken from the manner of tiring the harquebuss. This was so heavy a gun, that the soldiers were obliged to carry a supporter called a rest, which they fixed in the ground before they levelled to take aim. Decker uses it in his comedy of Old Fortunatus, 1600: " set your heart at rest, for I have set up my rest, that unless you can run swifter than a hart, home you go not." The same expression occurs in Beaumont and Fletcher's Elder Brother: See Montfaucon's Monarchie Françoise, Tom. V, plate 48. Steevens. The origin of this phrase has certainly been rightly explained, but the good Nurse was here thinking of other matters. T. C. The above expression may probably be sometimes used in the sense already explained; it is, however, oftener employed with a reference to the game at primero, in which it was one of the terms then in use. In the second instance above quoted it is certainly So. To avoid loading the page with examples, I shall refer to Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, Vol. X, p. 364, edit. 1780, where several are brought together. Reed. To set up one's rest, is, in fact, a gambling expression, and means that the gamester has determined what stake he should play for. In the passage quoted by Steevens from Fletcher's Elder Brother, when Eustace says: 66 My rest is up, and I will go no less." he means to say, my stake is laid, and I will not play for a smaller. The same phrase very frequently occurs in the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher. It is also used by Lord Clarendon, in his History, as well as in the old comedy of Supposes, published in the year 1587. M. Mason. why lady!-fy, you slug-a-bed! Ay, let the county take you in your bed;] So, in The Tragicall Hystory of Romeus and Juliet: "First softly did she call, then louder did she cry, Lady, you sleep too long, the earl will raise you by and by." Malone. I must needs wake you: Lady! lady! lady! La. Cap. What noise is here? La. Cap. What is the matter? O lamentable day! Look, look! O heavy day! La. Cap. O me, O me!-my child, my only life, Revive, look up, or I will die with thee! Help, help!-call help. Enter CAPULET. Cap. For shame, bring Juliet forth; her lord is come. Nurse. She's dead, deceas'd, she 's dead; alack the day! La. Cap. Alack the day! she's dead, she 's dead, she's dead. Cap. Ha! let me see her:-Out, alas ! she's cold; Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff; Life and these lips have long been separated: O woful time! Cap. Death, that hath ta'en her hence to make me wail, Ties up my tongue, and will not let me speak. Enter Friar LAURENCE and PARIS, with Musicians. O son, the night before thy wedding day Hath death lain with thy bride :—See, there she lies, Death is my son-in-law,5 death is my heir; 5 Death is my son-in-law, &c.] The remaining part of this speech, "death is my heir," &c. was omitted by Mr. Pope in his edition; and some of the subsequent editors, following his example, took the same unwarrantable licence. The lines were very properly restored by Mr. Steevens. Malone. |