Nurse. Is it good den?

Mer. 'Tis no less, I tell you; for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon.

Nurse. Out upon you! what a man are you? Rom. One, gentlewoman, that God hath made himself to mar.

Nurse. By my troth, it is well said.-For himself to mar, quoth 'a?-Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I may find the find the young Romeo?

Rom. I can tell you; but young Romeo will be older when you have found him, than he was when you sought him. I am the youngest of that name, for "fault of a worse.

Nurse. You say well.

Mer. Yea, is the worst well? Very well took, i' faith; wisely, wisely.

Nurse. If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with you.

Ben. She will indite him to some supper.

Mer. A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! So ho!

Rom. What hast thou found?

Mer. No hare, sir; unless a hare, sir, in a lenten pie, that is something stale and hoar ere it be spent.

Romeo, will you come to your father's? We'll to dinner thither.

Rom. I will follow you.

Mer. Farewell, ancient lady; farewell, lady, lady, [Exeunt MERCUTIO and BENVOLIO.

lady.2

1 Hoar or hoary is often used for mouldy, as things grow white from moulding. These lines seem to have been part of an old song. In the quarto, 1597, we have this stage direction: "He walks by them [i. e. the nurse and Peter], and sings."

2 The burden of an old song.

See Twelfth Night, Act ii. Sc. 3.

Nurse. Marry, farewell!--I pray you, sir, what saucy merchant was this, that was so full of his ropery ?1

Rom. A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk; and will speak more in a minute, than he will stand to in a month.

Nurse. An 'a speak any thing against me, I'll take him down an 'a were stier than he is, and twenty such Jacks; and if I cannot, I'll find those that shall. Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirt-gills; I am none of his skains-mates.-And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure?

Pet. I saw no man use you at his pleasure; if I had, my weapon should quickly have been out, I warrant you. I dare draw as soon as another man, if I see occasion in a good quarrel, and the law on my side.

Nurse. Now, afore God, I am so vexed, that every part about me quivers. Scurvy knave!-'Pray you, sir, a word; and, as I told you, my young lady bade me inquire you out; what she bade me say, I will keep to myself; but first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behavior, as they say; for the gentlewoman is young; and, therefore, if you should deal double with her, truly, it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing.

Rom. Nurse, commend me to thy lady and mistress. I protest unto thee,

Nurse. Good heart! and i' faith, I will tell her as much. Lord, Lord, she will be a joyful woman.

Rom. What wilt thou tell her, nurse? thou dost not mark me.

Nurse. I will tell her, sir,-that you do protest; which, as I take it, is a gentlemanlike offer.

Rom. Bid her devise some means to come to shrift This afternoon;

1 Ropery was anciently used in the same sense as roguery is now. 2 By skains-mates the old lady probably means swaggering companions A skain, or skein, was an Irish knife or dagger, a weapon suitable to the purpose of ruffling fellows.

And there she shall, at friar Laurence' cell,
Be shrived, and married. Here is for thy pains.
Nurse. No, truly, sir; not a penny.

Rom. Go to; I say you shall.

Nurse. This afternoon, sir? well, she shall be there.
Rom. And stay, good nurse, behind the abbey wall:
Within this hour my man shall be with thee;
And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair,1
Which to the high top-gallant of my joy
Must be my convoy in the secret night.
Farewell!-Be trusty, and I'll quit thy pains.
Farewell!-Commend me to thy mistress.

Nurse. Now God in heaven bless thee!-Hark

sir.

Rom. What say'st thou, my dear nurse?

you,

Nurse. Is your man secret? Did you ne'er hear

say

Two may keep counsel, putting one away?

Rom. I warrant thee; my man's as true as steel.
Nurse. Well, sir; my mistress is the sweetest la-
dy,-Lord, Lord!--when 'twas a little prating thing,
0,-there's a nobleman in town, one Paris, that would
fain lay knife aboard; but she, good soul, had as lieve
see a toad, a very toad, as see him. I anger her
sometimes, and tell her that Paris is the properer man ;
but, I'll warrant you, when I say so, she looks as pale
as any clout in the varsal world. Doth not rosemary
and Romeo begin both with a letter ?2

Rom. Ay, nurse; what of that? both with an R.
Nurse. Ali, mocker! that's the dog's name. R is
for the dog. No; I know it begins with some other

1 i. e. like stairs of rope in the tackle of a ship. A stair, for a flight of stairs, is still the language of Scotland, and was once common to both kingdoms.

2 The nurse is represented as a prating, silly creature; she says that she will tell Romeo a good joke about his mistress, and asks him whether rosemary and Romeo do not both begin with a letter: he says yes, an R. She, who, we must suppose, could not read, thought he mocked her, and says, No, sure I know better, R is the dog's name; yours begins with some other letter. This is natural enough, and in character. Ben Jonson, in his English Grammar, says "R is the dog's letter, and hirreth in the

sound."

letter; and she hath the prettiest sententious of it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good to hear it. Rom. Commend me to thy lady.

Nurse. Ay, a thousand times.-Peter!

Pet. Anon!

Nurse. Peter, take my fan, and go before.

SCENE V. Capulet's Garden.

Enter JULIET.

[Exit.

[Exeunt.

Jul. The clock struck nine, when I did send the

nurse;

In half an hour she promised to return.

Perchance, she cannot meet him: that's not so.-
O, she is lame! Love's heralds should be thoughts,'
Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams,
Driving back shadows over lowering hills;
Therefore do nimble-pinioned doves draw love,
And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings.
Now is the sun upon the highmost hill

Of this day's journey; and from nine till twelve
Is three long hours,—yet she is not come.
Had she affections, and warm, youthful blood,
She'd be as swift in motion as a ball;

My words would bandy her to my sweet love,
And his to me.

But old folks, many feign as they were dead;
Unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead.

1 The speech is thus continued in the quarto, 1597 :-

And run more swift than hasty powder fired
Doth hurry from the fearful cannon's mouth.
Oh, now she comes! Tell me, gentle nurse,
What says my love?"

The greatest part of this scene is likewise added since that edition.
Shakspeare, however, seems to have thought one of the ideas comprised
in the foregoing quotation, from the earliest quarto, too valuable to be
lost. He has, therefore, inserted it in Romeo's first speech to the apoth-
ecary, in Act v. :-

Enter Nurse and PETER.

O God, she comes!-O honey nurse, what news?
Hast thou met with him? Send thy man away.
Nurse. Peter, stay at the gate.

[Exit PETER.

Jul. Now, good sweet nurse,-O Lord! why
look'st thou sad?

Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily;
If good, thou sham'st the music of sweet news
By playing it to me with so sour a face.

Nurse. I am weary; give me leave awhile ;—
Fie, how my bones ache! What a jaunt have I had!
Jul. I would thou had'st my bones, and I thy news.
Nay, come, I pray thee, speak ;-good, good nurse, speak.
Nurse. Jesu, what haste? Can you not stay
awhile?

Do you not see that I am out of breath ?

Jul. How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath

To say to me-that thou art out of breath?

The excuse, that thou dost make in this delay,

Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse.
Is thy news good, or bad? answer to that;
Say either, and I'll stay the circumstance.
Let me be satisfied. Is't good or bad?

Nurse. Well, you have made a simple choice; you know not how to choose a man. Romeo! no, not he; though his face be better than any man's, yet his leg excels all men's; and for a hand, and a foot, and a body,--though they be not to be talked on, yet they are past compare. He is not the flower of courtesy,but, I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb.-Go thy ways, wench; serve God.-What, have you dined at home?

Jul. No, no. But all this I did know before;
What says he of our marriage? what of that?
Nurse. Lord, how my head aches! what a head
have I!

It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces.

My back o' t' other side,-O, my back, my back!