Pet. No money, on my faith; but the gleek: I will give you the minstrel.* 1 Mus. Then will I give you the serving-creature. Pet. Then will I lay the serving-creature's dagger on your pate. I will carry no crotchets: I'll re you, I'll fa you; Do you note me? 1 Mus. An you re us, and fa us, you note us. 2 Mus. Pray you, put up your dagger, and put out your wit. Pet. Then have at you with my wit; I will dry-beat you with an iron wit, and put up my iron dagger :Answer me like men: When griping grief the heart doth wound, Then musick, with her silver sound; Why, silver sound? why, musick with her silver sound? What say you, Simon Catling?1 1 Mus. Marry, sir, because silver hath a sweet sound. Pet. Pretty! What say you, Hugh Rebeck ?m 2 Mus. I say-silver sound, because musicians sound for silver. Pet. Pretty too! What say you, James Soundpost? 3 Mus. 'Faith, I know not what to say. Pet. O, I cry you mercy! you are the singer: I will say for you. It is-musick with her silver sound, because such fellows as you have seldom gold for sounding : Then musick with her silver sound, [Exit, singing. 1 Mus. What a pestilent knave is this same? 2 Mus. Hang him, Jack! Come, we'll in here; tarry for the mourners, and stay dinner. [Exeunt. No money, on my faith; but the gleek: I will give you the minstrel.] To give the gleek meant to pass a jest upon a person, to make him appear ridiculous. -To give the minstrel only means, “ I will call you minstrel and so treat you," to which the musician replies, "Then I will give you the serving creature," as a personal retort in kind.-NAREs. Catling?] A catling was a small lute-string made of catgut.-STEEVENS. Hugh Rebeck?] The fiddler is so called from an instrument with three strings, which is mentioned by several of the old writers. Rebec, rebecquin.— STEEVENS. ACT V." SCENE I.-Mantua. A Street. Enter ROMEO. Rom. If I may trust the flattering eye of sleep," Ah me! how sweet is love itself possess'd, Enter BALTHASAR. News from Verona !-How now, Balthasar? Bal. Then she is well, and nothing can be ill; n Act V.] The acts are here properly enough divided, nor did any better distribution than the editors have already made, occur to me in the perusal of this play; yet it may not be improper to remark, that in the first folio, and I suppose the foregoing editions are in the same state, there is no division of the acts, and therefore some future editor may try, whether any improvement can be made, by reducing them to a length more equal, or interrupting the action at more proper intervals.-JOHNSON. If I may trust the flattering eye of sleep,] i. e. If I may trust to what I saw in my sleep. STEEVENS. P My bosom's lord-] i. e. Love. In King Arthur, a poem, by R. Chester, 1601, the same phrase is used; and the author in a marginal note declares, that by bosom's lord, he means Cupid. Romeo means to say that his passion, which has been much disquieted by the unfortunate events that have happened since his marriage, is, in consequence of his last night's dream, gay and cheerful.-STEEVENS und MALONE. The superstition, that a sudden and causeless gaiety of spirit often preceded he occurrence of a great affliction, was common in this country till very lately. One instance of it may be met with in Johnson's Life of Roscommon. I saw her laid low in her kindred's vault, 'Rom. Is it even so? then I defy you, stars!Thou know'st my lodging; get me ink and paper, And hire post horses; I will hence to-night. Bal. Pardon me, sir, I will not leave you thus: Rom. Tush, thou art deceiv'd; Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do: Rom. No matter: get thee gone, And hire those horses; I'll be with thee straight. [Exit BALTHASAR. Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night. And hereabouts he dwells,-whom late I noted A beggarly account of empty boxes, Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds, Noting this penury, to myself I said— An if a man' did need a poison now, ¶ An alligator stuff'd,] I was many years ago assured, that formerly, when an apothecary first engaged with his druggist, he was gratuitously furnished by him with these articles of show, which were then imported for that use only. STEEVENS. r An if a man, &c.] This phraseology, which means simply-If, was not unfrequent in Shakspeare's time and before.-REED. Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him. Being holiday, the beggar's shop is shut.- Ap. Enter Apothecary. Who calls so loud? Rom. Come hither, man.-I see, that thou art poor; Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have A dram of poison; such soon-speeding geer Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb. Ap. Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law Rom. Art thou so bare, and full of wretchedness, The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law; Rom. There is thy gold; worse poison to men's souls, geer-] i. e. Stuff.-JOHNSON. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Friar Laurence's Cell. Enter Friar JOHN. John. Holy Franciscan friar! brother, ho! Enter Friar LAURENCE. Lau. This same should be the voice of friar John.- And finding him, the searchers of the town, Lau. Unhappy fortune! by my brotherhood, John. Brother, I'll go and bring it thee. And keep her at my cell till Romeo come; [Exit. Poor living corse, clos'd in a dead man's tomb! [Exit. One of our order, to associate me,] Each friar has always a companion assigned him by the superior when he asks leave to go out; and thus, says Baretti, they are a check upon each other.-STEEVENS. MALONE. was not nice,] i. e. Was not written on a trivial or idle subject. |