Away to heaven, respective lenity 2, And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now!- Staying for thine to keep him † company; Shalt with him hence. ROM. This shall determine that. () [They fight; TYBALT falls. BEN. Romeo, away, be gone! The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain :— Stand not amaz'd*:-the prince will doom thee death, If thou art taken :-hence !-be gone!-away! * Quarto A, above the clouds. ‡ Quarto A, † Quarto A, bear him. Or thou, or I, or both, shall follow him. "He gan in triumph." This, in the subsequent ancient copies, was made-He gone, &c. 2 MALONE. Re RESPECTIVE lenity,] Cool, considerate gentleness. spect formerly signified consideration, prudential caution. So, in The Rape of Lucrece : 66 Respect and reason well beseem the sage." MALOne. 3 And fire-ey'd fury be my CONDUCT now!] Conduct for conductor. So, in a former scene of this play, quarto 1597: "Which to the high-top gallant of my joy Thus the first quarto. In that of 1599, end being corruptly printed instead of ey'd, the editor of the folio, according to the usual process of corruption, exhibited the line thus: "And fire and fury be my conduct now." 66 MALONE. 4 Stand not AMAZ'D:] i. e. confounded, in a state of confusion. So, in Cymbeline: I am amaz'd with matter." STEEVENS. 5 O! I am fortune's fool!] I am always running in the way of evil fortune, like the Fool in the play. Thou art death's fool, in Measure for Measure. See Dr. Warburton's note. JOHNSON. See Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Act III. Sc. II. STEEVENS. BEN. Why dost thou stay? [Exit ROMEO. Enter Citizens, &c. 1 CIT. Which way ran he, that kill'd Mercutio ? Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he? BEN. There lies that Tybalt. 1 CIT. Up, sir, go with me; I charge thee in the prince's name, obey. Enter Prince, attended; MONTague, Capulet, their Wives, and Others. PRIN. Where are the vile beginners of this fray? BEN. O noble prince, I can discover all The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl: There lies the man, slain by young Romeo, That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio. LA. CAP. Tybalt, my cousin!-O my brother's child! Unhappy sight! ah me, the blood is spill'd" In the first copy-O! I am fortune's slave. STEEVENS. 5 - Which way ran he?] Instead of these four speeches, it is thus in quarto 1597: "Ben. Romeo, away! thou seest that Tybalt's slain. "The citizens approach; away! begone! "Thou wilt be taken. "Rom. Ah! I am fortune's slave. "Enter Citizens. "Watch. Where's he that slew Mercutio? Tybalt, that vil lain?" Boswell. "Unhappy sight! ah ME, the blood is spill'd-] The pronoun -me, has been inserted by the recommendation of the following note. STEEVENS. The quarto 1597 reads: "Unhappy sight! ah, the blood is spill'd-." The quarto 1599, and the subsequent ancient copies, have: "O prince! O cousin! husband! O, the blood is spill'd," &c. The modern editors have followed neither copy-the word me was probably inadvertently omitted in the first quarto. 66 Unhappy sight! ah me, the blood is spill'd," &c. MALONE. Of my dear kinsman !-Prince, as thou art true', For blood of ours, shed blood of Montague.(I) O cousin, cousin! () PRIN. Benvolio*, who began this bloody fray? BEN. Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay; Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd, Could not take truce with the unruly spleen * Quarto A, Speake, Benvolio. 7 — as thou art TRUE,] As thou art just and upright. So, in King Richard III.: JOHNSON. "And if King Edward be as true and just, -." STEEVENS. 8 How NICE the quarrel was-] How slight, how unimportant, how petty. So, in the last Act: The letter was not nice, but full of charge, "Of dear import." JOHNSON. From these words, this speech thus proceeds in quarto 1597 : "But Tibalt still persisting in his wrong, "The stout Mercutio drew to calm the storm; "As fast as tongue cried peace, sought peace to make. "That rid the life of stout Mercutio. 9 and urg'd withal ] The rest of this speech was new written by the poet, as well as a part of what follows in the same scene. STEEVENS. With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast; Retorts it: Romeo he cries aloud, Hold, friends! friends, part! and, swifter than his tongue, His agile arm beats down their fatal points, LA. CAP. He is a kinsman to the Montague, ; () PRIN. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe? Moy. Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend; His fault concludes but, what the law should end, The life of Tybalt. () * Quarto A has but one line-He is a Montague, and speaks partiall. Affection makes him FALSE,] The charge of falsehood on Benvolio, though produced at hazard, is very just. The author, who seems to intend the character of Benvolio as good, meant perhaps to show, how the best minds, in a state of faction and discord, are detorted to criminal partiality. JOHNSON. PRIN. And for that offence, Immediately we do exíle him hence: I have an interest in your hates' proceeding 2, I will be deaf to pleading and excuses; Nor tears, nor prayers, shall purchase out abuses * 3, (I) Therefore use none: let Romeo hence in haste, Else, when he's found, that hour is his last. () Bear hence this body, and attend our will Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill. [Exeunt. * Quarto A, for abuses. 2- in your HATES' proceeding,] This, as Mr. Steevens has observed, is the reading of the original quarto 1597. From that copy, in almost every speech of this play, readings have been drawn by the modern editors, much preferable to those of the succeeding ancient copies. The quarto of 1599 reads-hearts proceeding; and the corruption was adopted in the folio. MALONE. 3 Nor tears, nor prayers, shall PURCHASE OUT abuses,] This was probably designed as a covert stroke at the church of Rome, by which the different prices of murder, incest, and all other crimes, were minutely settled, and as shamelessly received. See Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, edit. 1632, p. 701. STEEVENS. 4 Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.] So, in Hale's Memorials: "When I find myself swayed to mercy, let me remember likewise that there is a mercy due to the country.” So, in Stubbes's Anatomie of Abuses, 2d part: "And yet let the Prince be sure of this, to answere at the day of judgment before the tribunall seate of God for all the offences that the partie pardoned shall commit any time of his life after. For if the Prince had cutte him off when the lawe had passed on him, that evill had not been committed. To this purpose I remember I have heard a certeine pretie apothegue [apothegme] uttered by a jester to a king. The king had pardoned one of his subjectes that had committed murther, who, being pardoned, committed the like offence againe, and by meanes was pardoned the second time also, and yet filling up the measure of his iniquitie, killed the third, and being brought before the king, the king being very sorie, asked him why he had killed three men, to |