Rom.

For your broken shin.4

41

Ben. Why, Romeo, art thou mad?

Rom. Not mad, but bound more than a madman is:
Shut up in prison, kept without my food,

Whipp'd, and tormented, and
Serv. God gi' good e'en.

Good e'en, good fellow.

I pray, sir, can you read?

Rom. Ay, mine own fortune in my misery.
Serv. Perhaps you have learn'd it without book:
But, I pray, can you read anything you see?
Rom. Ay, if I know the letters, and the language.
Ye say honestly; Rest you merry!

Serv.

Rom. Stay, fellow: I can read.

42

[Reads.

"Signor Martino, and his wife and daughter; County Anselme, and his beauteous sisters; the lady widow of Vitruvio; Signor Placentio, and his lovely nieces: Mercutio, and his brother Valentine; Mine uncle Capulet, his wife, and daughters; My fair niece Rosaline; Livia; Signor Valentio, and his cousin Tybalt; Lucio, and the lively Helena."

A fair assembly [gives back the note]. Whither should they come? Serv. Up.

Rom.

Indeed, I should have ask'd you that before.

Serv. Now I'll tell you without asking: My master is the great rich Capulet; and if you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray, come and crush a cup of wine. Rest you merry.

Ben.

At this same ancient feast of Capulet's
Sups the fair Rosaline, whom thou so lov'st;
With all the admired beauties of Verona:
Go thither; and, with unattainted eye,"

43

[Exit.

41. Sollte wohl der Dichter folgende Stelle aus Albumazar im Auge gehabt haben?

Help, Armellina, help! I'm fallen i'the cellar; Bring a fresh plantain - leaf, I've broke my shin. 42. Without book, nämlich, sein Geschick im Elend zu lesen braucht er kein Buch.

43. Unattainted von to attaint, dieses vom franz. atteinte, atteindre, lat. attingere; Grundbedeutung ist daher: eine Person oder Sache berühren oder treffen,

Compare her face with some that I shall show,
And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.
Rom. When the devout religion of mine eye
Maintains such falsehood, then turn tears to fires!
And these, who, often drown'd, could never die,
Transparent heretics, be burnt for liars!
One fairer than my love! the all-seeing sun
Ne'er saw her match, since first the world begun.
Ben. Tut! you saw her fair, none else being by,
Herself pois'd with herself in either eye:
But in those crystal scales, let there be weigh'd
Your lady's love against some other maid

That I will show you, shining at this feast,

And she shall scant show well, that now shows best.
Rom. I'll go along, no such sight to be shown,
But to rejoice in splendour of mine own.

Lad. Cap.

A Room in Capulet's House.

Enter LADY CAPULET and NURSE.

[Exeunt.

Nurse, where's my daughter? call her forth to me.

Nurse. Now by my maidenhead,

at twelve year old,

44

what, Juliet!

What, lamb! what, ladybird!

I bade her come.
God forbid! where's this girl?

Nurse, give leave awhile,

La. Cap. This is the matter:

We must talk in secret. Nurse, come back again;
I have remember'd me, thou shalt hear our counsel.
Thou know'st, my daughter's of a pretty age.

Nurse. 'Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.

erreichen oder Einfluss darauf haben, jedoch so, dass sie dadurch verschlechtert wird. With unattainted eye, mit einem Auge, auf welches kein nachtheiliger Einfluss ausgeübt wird, hier natürlich mit Bezug auf die kritische Lage Romeo's im Hause seines Feindes, mit unbefangenem Auge.

44. Now by my maidenhead, meinem zwölften Jahre war.

at twelve years old,

wie sie nämlich in

La. Cap. She's not fourteen.

Nurse.

I'll lay fourteen of my teeth,

And yet, to my teen 45 bet spoken, I have but four,

Nurse. Even or odd, of all days in the year, Come Lammas-eve46 at night, shall she be fourteen. Susan and she, God rest all christian souls!

Were of an age.

Well, Susan is with God;

She was too good for me: But, as I said,
On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen;
That shall she, marry; I remember it well.
'Tis since the earthquake47 now eleven years;
And she was wean'd, I never shall forget it,
Of all the days of the year, upon that day:
For I had then laid wormwood to my dug,
Sitting in the sun under the dove-house wall,
My lord and you were then at Mantua:
Nay, I do bear a brain: but, as I said,
When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple
Of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretty fool!
To see it tetchy, and fall out with the dug.

Shake, quoth the dove-house: 'twas no need, I trow,
To bid me trudge.

And since that time it is eleven years:

For then she could stand alone; nay, by the rood,

She could have run and waddled all about.

For even the day before, she broke her brow:

And then my husband

'A was a merry man!

Yea, quoth he, dost thou fall upon thy face?

Thou wilt fall backward, when thou hast more wit;
Wilt thou not, Jule? and, by my holy dam,

45. Teen heisst hier Sorge, Kummer.

46. Lammas - eve. Lammas - tide ist der 1. August, Petri Kettenfeier, vom Angelsächs. hlafmaes, d. h. loafmass, das Fest der Brode, weil die Sachsen an diesem Tage Brode aus dem frisch geernteten Korn opferten; es war also eine Art Ernte - Dankfest.

47. Earthquake bezieht sich auf das grosse Erdbeben, welches am 6. April 1580 in London und dem grössten Theile von England sich ereignete.

ACT I. SCENE III.

The pretty wretch left crying, and said

To see now, how a jest shall come about!

-Ay:

I warrant, an I should live a thousand years,

I never should forget it; Wilt thou not, Jule? quoth he:
And, pretty fool, it stinted, and said — Ay.

-Ay:

La. Cap. Enough of this; I pray thee, hold thy peace.
Nurse. Yes, madam; yet I cannot choose but laugh,
To think it should leave crying, and say
And yet, I warrant, it had upon its brow
A bump as big as a young cockrel's stone;
A parlous 48 knock; and it cried bitterly.
Yea, quoth my husband, fall'st upon thy face?
Thou will fall backward, when thou com'st to age;
Wilt thou not, Jule? it stinted, and said- Ay.

Jul.

And stint thou too, I pray thee, nurse, say I. Nurse. Peace, I have done. God mark thee to his grace! Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nurs'd:

An I might live to see thee married once,

I have my wish.

La. Cap. Marry,

I came to talk of:

that marry is the very theme

Tell me, daughter Juliet,

How stands your disposition to be married?

Jul. It is an honour that I dream not of.

Nurse. An honour! were not I thine only nurse,

I'd say, thou hadst suck'd wisdom from thy teat.

La. Cap. Well, think of marriage now; younger than you,

Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,

Are made already mothers: by my count,

I was a mother much upon these years

That you are now a maid. Thus, then, in brief;

The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.

Nurse. A man, young lady! lady, such a man, As all the world

La. Cap.

Why, he's a man of wax.
Verona's summer hath not such a flower.
Nurse. Nay, he 's a flower; in faith, a very flower.

La. Cap. What say you? can you love the gentleman ?
This night you shall behold him at our feast:

Read o'er the volume of young Paris' face,

And find delight writ there with beauty's pen;

48. Parlous für perilous.

37

Examine every several lineament, 49

And see how one another lends content; 50
And what obscur'd in this fair volume lies,
Find written in the margin of his eyes.

This precious book of love, this unbound 51 lover,
To beautify him, only lacks a cover:

The fish lives in the sea; 52 and 'tis much pride,
For fair without the fair within to hide: 53

That book in many's eyes doth share the glory,
That in gold clasps locks in the golden story;
So shall you share all that he doth possess,
By having him, making yourself no less.

Nurse. No less? nay, bigger; women grow by men.
La. Cap. Speak briefly, can you like of Paris' love?
Jul. I'll look to like, if looking liking move: 54
But no more deep will I endart mine eye,5

55

Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.

Enter a Servant.

Serv. Madam, the guests are come, supper served up, you called, my young lady asked for, the nurse cursed in the pantry, and every thing in extremity.

you, follow straight.

I must hence to wait; I beseech

49. Several lineament. Dies die Lesart der Folio und der Quart von 1609; die zweite Quart hat married lineament. Beide lassen sich recht wohl verstehen; jenes heisst alle verschiedenen Züge, dieses: alle wohlgepaarten Züge.

50. Content, Inhalt, von contineo, contentum; hier Inbegriff dessen, wovon eben die Rede ist, d. h. der Schönheit.

51. Unbound, ungebunden, doppelsinnig zu nehmen: 1) frei, noch nicht verheirathet; 2) im Sinne des eben gebrauchten Bildes eines Buches, nicht eingebunden, nämlich, nicht mit einer Frau versehen, was also zuletzt mit dem ersten auf Eins herauskommt.

52. The fish lives in the sea: das Meer bildet die Umgebung des Fisches, seine Hülle, also gewissermassen seinen Schmuck; jedes Ding hat seine äussere Zierde, denn der concrete Gedanke steht hier für einen allgemeineren.

53. For fair without the fair within to hide, dass äussere Schönheit innere Schönheit berge, dass die innere Schönheit eine ihrer würdige Hülle habe.

54. I'll look to like, if looking liking move, wenn das Sehen Neigung erregt, will ich sehen, dass ich (ihn) liebe. In dem Verb to look liegt zugleich ein leises Versprechen, etwa: ich will möglichst dafür sorgen.

55. But no more deep will I endart mine eye &c., doch will ich (bei diesem Sehen) mein Auge nicht tiefer einsenken (meinen Blick nicht weiter wagen), als euere Einwilligung seinem Fluge Kraft verleiht, d. h. nicht weiter als ihr selbst es wünschet oder gut heisset.