I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet, Nurfe. An honour? were not I thine only nurse, La. Cap. Well, think of marriage now; younger: Here in Verona, ladies of efteem, [than you Are made already mothers. By my count, Nurse. A man, young lady, lady, fuch a man This night you fhall behold him at our feaft; And fee, how one another lends content :- The fish lives in the fea, and 'tis much pride, Nurfe. No lefs? Nay, bigger; women grow by men. (8) What fay you? Can you like the gentleman ?] This fpeech of lady Capulet, tho' I cannot readily commend it, yet I could not conceive I had any authority to leave it out. I have reftor'd many ~ other paffages in this play, not of the beft ftamp, but for the fame reason.. But But no more deep will I indart mine eye, Than your confent gives strength to make it fly. Seru. Madam, the guests are come, fupper ferv'd up, you call'd, my young lady afk'd for, the nurfe curft in the pantry, and every thing in extremity. I must hence to wait; I beseech you, follow ftrait. La. Cap. We follow thee. Juliet, the County ftays. Nurfe. Go, girl, feek happy nights to happy days. [Exeunt. SCENE, a Street before Capulet's Houfe. Enter Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, with five or fix other mafkers, torch-bearers, and drums. Rom. W 7HAT, fhall this fpeech be fpoke for our Or fhall we on without apology? [excufe.? Ben. The date is out of fuch prolixity. We'll have no Cupid hood-wink'd with a scarf, But let them measure us by what they will, Rom. Give me a torch, I am not for this ambling. Mer. Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance. Rom. Not 1, believe me; you have dancing shoes With nimble foles; I have a foul of lead, So ftakes me to the ground I cannot move. Mer. You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings, And foar with them above a common bound. (9) Scaring the ladies like a cowkeeper.] I led Mr. Pope into this mistaken reading, which I once thought the true one, before I fully understood the paffage. But I have prov'd, that crow-keeper, which poffeffes all the old copies, is the genuine reading of the Poet, in my .49th note on King Lear, Rom. Rom. I am too fore enpearced with his fhaft, Mer. And to fink in it, fhould you burden love: Rom. Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boift'rous; and it pricks like thorn. Mer. If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down. Give me a cafe to put my visage in; [Pulling off his mask. A vifor for a vifor! -what care I, What curious eye doth quote deformities? Here are the beetle brows fhall blush for me. Ben. Come, knock and enter; and no fooner in, But ev'ry man betake him to his legs. Rom. A torch for me. Let wantons, light of heart, Tickle the fenfeless rushes with their heels; For I am proverb'd with a grandfire-phrase ; I'll be a candle-holder, and look on. The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done. Mer. Tut! dun's the moufe, the conftable's own word; If thou art dun, we'll draw thee from the mire; Or, fave your reverence, love, wherein thou ftick'ft Up to thine ears: come, we burn day-light, ho. Rom. Nay, that's not fo. Mer. I mean, Sir, in delay We burn our lights by light, and lamps by day. Rom. And we mean well in going to this mask; Mer, Why, may one ask? Rom. I dreamt a dream to-night. Mer. And fo did I. Rom. Well; what was yours? Mer. That dreamers often lie. Rom.-In bed asleep; while they do dream things true. Mer "Mer. O, then I fee, Queen Mab hath been with you. (10) Her waggon-fpokes made of long spinners' legs; (10) 0, then I fee, Queen Mab bath been with you: She is the fairies midwife.] Thus begins that admirable fpeech upon the effects of the imagination in dreams. But, Queen Mab the fairies midwife? What is the then Queen of? Why, the fairies. What! and their midwife too? Sure, this is a wonderful condescenfion in her Royal Highness. But this is not the greatest of the abfurdities. The fairies' midwife? But let us fee upon what occafion She is introduced, and under what quality. Why, as a Being that has great power over human imaginations. But then according to the laws of common fenfe, if the has any title given her, must not that title have reference to the employment she is put upon? First, then, fhe is called Queen: which is very pertinent; for that defigns her-power: then she is called the fairies midwife; but what has that to do with the point in hand? If we would think that Shakepeare wrote fenfe, we muft fay, he wrote the Fancy's midwife: and this is a title the most à propos in the world, as it introduces all that is faid afterwards of her vagaries. Befides, it exactly quadrates with these lines: -I talk of dreams; Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantafie. These dreams are begot upon fantafie, and Mab is the midwife to bring them forth. And Fancy's midwife is a phrase altogether in the manner of our Author. Mr. Warburton. On On courtiers' knees, that dream on curtfies ftrait : Then dreams he of another benefice. Rom. Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace; Mer. True, I talk of dreams; Which are the children of an idle brain, (11) Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, Of healths five fathom deep;] As the generality of the terms, coupled here, have a reference to the wars, fome ingenious perfons have conjectured that our Poet wrote; Of delves five fathoms deep;· i.e. Trenches; places delv'd, or dug down. But, with fubmiffion, I conceive the text to be fincere as it is; and alludes to drinking deep to a mistress's health. I find the like expreffion in Weftward-boe, a comedy wrote in our Author's time. Troth, Sir, my mafter and Sir Goflin are guzzling; they are dabbling together fathom deep. The knight has drunk fo much bealth to the gentleman yonder on his knees, that he hath almoft loft the ufe of his legs. Begot |