Jul. No, no: But all this did I 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!
Beshrew your heart, for sending me about,

To catch my death with jaunting up and down!

Jul. I'faith, I am sorry that thou art not well: Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my love? Nurse. Your love says like an honest gentleman, And a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome,

Jul. Where is my mother?

Where should she be?

How oddly thou repliest:

"Your love says like an honest gentleman,

Where is your mother!"

Nurse.

O, God's lady dear!"

Are you so hot? Marry, come up, I trow;
Is this the poultice for my aching bones?
Henceforward do your messages yourself.
Jul. Here's such a coil,68 Come, what says Romeo?
Nurse. Have you got leave to go to shrift to-day?
Jul. I have.

Nurse.

Then hie you hence to friar Laurence' cell,
There stays a husband to make you a wife:
Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks,
They'll be in scarlet straightway at my news.
Hie you to church; I must another way,

69

To fetch a ladder, by the which your love
Must climb a bird's nest soon, when it is dark:
I am the drudge and toil in your delight;
But you shall bear the burthen soon at night.
Go, I'll to dinner; hie you to the cell.
Jul. Hie to high fortune!

honest nurse,

farewell.

[Exeunt.

68. Coil vom Verb. to coil, provenç. colher, ital. cogliere, franz. cueillir, lat. colligere, sammeln, ein Seil in einen Ring aufwickeln. Das Subst. heisst daher ein zu einem Ring aufgewickeltes Seil; hier: Verwickelung, Schwierigkeit

69. Straightway at my news. Die gewöhnliche Lesart war bisher straight at any news und ist durch die handschriftliche Verbesserung in der Folio von 1632 in die des Textes umgewandelt.

SCENE VI. Friar Laurence's Cell.

Enter FRIAR LAURENCE and ROMEO.

Fri. So smile the Heavens upon this holy act,
That after-hours with sorrow chide us not!

Rom. Amen, amen! but come what sorrow can,
It cannot countervail the exchange of joy
That one short minute gives me in her sight:
Do thou but close our hands with holy words,
Then love-devouring death do what he dare,
It is enough I may but call her mine.

Fri. These violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die; like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume: The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness,
And in the taste confounds the appetite:

Therefore, love moderately; long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.

Here comes the lady;

Enter JULIET.

O, so light a foot

Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint:
A lover may bestride the gossamers
That idle in the wanton summer air,
And yet not fall; so light is vanity.

Jul.

Fri.

Good even to my ghostly confessor.

Romeo shall thank thee, daughter, for us both. Jul. As much to him, else are his thanks too much. Rom. Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy Be heap'd like mine, and that thy skill be more To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue Unfold the imagin'd happiness that both Receive in either by this dear encounter.

Jul. Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,

Brags of his substance, not of ornament:

They are but beggars that can count their worth;
But my true love is grown to such excess,

I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth.

Fri. Come, come, with me, and we will make 'short work;

For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone,

Till holy church incorporate two in one.

ACT III.

SCENE I. A public Place.

[Exeunt.

Enter MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, Page, and Servants.

Ben. I pray thee, good Mercutio, let's retire; The day is hot, the Capulets abroad,

And, if we meet, we shall not 'scape a brawl;

For now,

these hot days, is the mad blood stirring. Mer. Thou art like one of those fellows, that, when he enters the confines of a tavern, claps me his sword upon the table, and says, "God send me no need of thee!" and, by the operation of the second cup, draws it on the drawer,1 when, indeed, there is no need.

Ben. Am I like such a fellow?

Mer. Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy; and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.2

Mer. Nay, an there were two such, we should have none shortly, for one would kill the other.

Thou! why thou wilt quar

rel with a man that hath a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes.3 What eye, but such an eye, would spy out such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of quarrels, as an egg is full of meat; and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle1 as an egg, for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath

1. Drawer ist hier der Kellner.

2. As soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved, eben so bald zum Zorn gereizt, und eben so bald zornig darüber, dass man dich anreizt. Und wozu? (anreizt, nämlich) frägt Benvolio, erhält aber keine Antwort, da Mercutio wieder eben so, wie im vorigen Acte, der Witzader freien Lauf zu lassen geneigt ist.

3. Hazel eyes, nussbraune Augen.

4. Addle (angelsächs. adl, morbus), leer, unfruchtbar. Ursprünglich auf Eier angewendet: addle eggs, Windeier.

wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter? with another, for tying his new shoes with old riband? and yet thou wilt tutor me from quarrelling! 5

Ben. An I were so apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter. Mer. The fee-simple? O simple!

Ben.

Mer.

Enter TYBALT and others.

By my head, here come the Capulets.
By my heel, I care not.

Tyb. Follow me close, for I will speak to them.

Gentlemen, good den: a word with one of you.

Mer. And but one word with one of us? Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow.

Tyb. You shall find me apt enough to that, sir, an you will give me occasion.

Mer.
Tyb.
Mer.

Could you not take some occasion without giving?
Mercutio, thou consortests with Romeo,

Consort! what, dost thou make us minstrels! an thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords: here's my fiddlestick; here's that shall make you dance. 'Zounds,

consort!

5. Thou wilt tutor me from quarrelling, du willst mir vom Zanken abrathen. 6. Fee- simple. Fee ist ein Lehen oder Lehngut; ein unbedingtes Lehngut, das nicht auf die Leibeserben beschränkt ist, heisst a fee - absolute oder feesimple; ein bedingtes, fee - conditional oder fee - tail. Benvolios Rede heisst nun: wäre ich so zanksüchtig wie du, so könnte Jeder das Lehngut meines Lebens auf die Zeitfrist von fünf Viertelstunden kaufen, d. h. durch meine Zanksucht würde ich dann gewiss schon binnen fünf Viertelstunden umkommen und so der Käufer in den Besitz gelangen.

7. By my heel. Die Betheurung durch die Ferse ist wohl blos als Gegensatz zu Benvolios Betheurung auf den Kopf gewählt; der Eine nimmt den obersten Körpertheil, der Andere den untersten, ganz im Sinne der zwischen beiden geführten Witzeleien.

8. Consortest. To consort with one, Umgang mit Jemand pflegen. A consort hiess nun u. A. auch eine Truppe Musikanten; das Verbum erweckt in Mercutio den Gedanken an diese letzte Bedeutung des Substantivs. Herumziehende Musikbanden standen nun aber in so üblem Rufe, dass die Königin Elisabeth im Jahr 1597 befahl, alle umherziehenden Musikanten als Landstreicher aufzugreifen und zu bestrafen. Dadurch wird es erklärlich, wie Mercutio sich über Tybalt's Beschuldigung, er und seine Freunde gehörten einer Musikbande an (wie er es auffasst), beleidigt stellen konnte.

9. Look to hear, erwarte zu hören, ich will dir zu hören geben.

Ben. We talk here in the public haunt of men: Either withdraw unto some private place,

Or reason coldly of your grievances,

Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.

Mer.

Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze;

I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I.

Enter ROMEO.

Tyb. Well, peace be with you, sir! here comes my man.
Mer. But I'll be hang'd, sir, if he wear your livery:
Marry, go before to field, he'll be your follower;
Your worship, in that sense, may call him

man.

Tyb. Romeo, the love 11 I bear thee can afford

No better term than this

Thou art a villain.

Rom. Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee12 Doth much excuse 13 the appertaining rage

To such a greeting:

Villain am I none;

Therefore, farewell; I see thou know'st me not.

Tyb. Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries That thou hast done me; therefore turn, and draw. Rom. I do protest, I never injur'd thee;

But love thee better than thou canst devise,

10

10. My man im Sinne Tybalts: der Mann, mit dem ich Streit anfangen will; aber man heisst auch Diener; so nimmt es Mercutio und bezieht das livery darauf, so wie die weiter folgenden Worte, indem der Diener seinem Herrn, wenn dieser zu Felde zog, stets nachfolgte. Allein der von Witz strotzende Mercutio richtet ́auch diese Rede wieder doppelsinnig ein: go before to field, he'll be your follower ist nämlich eine Aufforderung für Tybalt, den Streit anzufangen, Romeo werde schon nachfolgen, d. h. den Streit aufnehmen; in diesem Sinne könne Romeo ein Mann genannt werden. Dass die Anrede your worship nur satyrisch zu nehmen ist, im Gegensatze dazu, dass Tybalt den Romeo seinen man, Diener, nennt, versteht sich von selbst.

man

11. Statt love hat die Quart von 1597 hate; man sieht, dass love ironisch zu nehmen und sich dann besser ausnimmt als hate, was denn ganz ernsthaft gemeint wäre und zu dem übrigen an dieser Stelle nicht recht passt. Ueberdies hat die Quart von 1599 ebenfalls love.

12. Romeo deutet darauf hin, dass er, wegen seines Liebesverhältnisses zu Julien, auch den Tybalt, ihren Verwandten, gewissermassen lieben müsse. Dasselbe geschieht nachher in seiner nächstfolgenden Rede wieder.

13. Excuse, wird hier gewöhnlich durch die Bedeutung: vermindern erklärt; dies ist nicht richtig, vielmehr hat to excuse seine gewöhnliche Bedeutung: entschuldigen; aber der Satz enthält eine Ellipse: statt the appertaining rage to such a greeting muss verstanden werden: the want of the rage appertaining to such a greeting.