Fri. O, then 1 fee that madmen have no ears. Rom. How fhould they, when that wise men have no eyes? Fri. Let me difpute with thee of thy estate. Rom. Thou canst not speak of what thou dost not feel: Wert thou as young as 1, Juliet thy love+, An hour but marry'd, Tybalt murdered, Doating like me, and like me banished, Then might'ft thou speak, then might'ft thou tear thy hairs, And fall upon the ground, as I do now, Taking the measure of an unmade grave. Fri. Arife; one knocks; good Romeo, hide thyfelf. [Knocking within. Rom. Not I; unless the breath of heart-fick groans, Mift-like, infold me from the fearch of eyes. [Knocking. Fri. Hark, how they knock!-Who's there ?— Romeo, arile; Thou wilt be taken :-Stay a while :-stand up; [Knocking. Run to my study: - By and by :- God's will! Nurfe. [within.] Let me come in, and you fhall know my errand; I come from lady Juliet. Fri. Welcome then, 4 Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love,] Thus the original copy; for which in the folio we have Wert thou as young as Juliet my love. I only mention this to thew the very high value of the early quarte editions. MALONE. 5-then might'ft thou tear thy bair,] So, in the poem: "Thefe heavy tidings heard, his golden locks he tare, "And like a frantick man hath torn the garments that he ware. "He rifeth oft, and strikes his head against the walls; MALONE. • What wilfulness-] Thus the quarto 1597. That of 1599, and the folio, have-What fimpleness. MALONE. Enter Enter Nurfe. Nurfe. O holy friar, O, tell me, holy friar, Where is my lady's lord, where's Romeo? Fri. There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk. Nurfe. O, he is even in my mistress' cafe, Juft in her cafe! Fri. O woeful fympathy! Piteous predicament?! Nurfe. Even fo lies fhe, Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering:Stand up, ftand up; ftand, an you be a man: For Juliet's fake, for her fake, rise and stand; Why fhould you fall into so deep an O? Rom. Nurfe! Nurfe. Ah fir! ah fir!-Well, death's the end of all. Rom. Spak'ft thou of Juliet ? how is it with her? Doth the not think me an old murderer, Now I have ftain'd the childhood of our joy With blood remov'd but little from her own? Where is she? and how doth she? and what says My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love3 ? Nurfe. O, the fays nothing, fir, but weeps and weeps; And now falls on her bed; and then starts up, And Tybalt calls; and then on Romeo cries, And then down falls again. Rom. As if that name, Shot from the deadly level of a gun, Did murder her; as that name's curfed hand Murder'd her kinfman.-O tell me, friar, tell me, In what vile part of this anatomy Doth my name lodge ? tell me, that I may fack 70 woeful fympatby! Piteous predicament !] Thefe words, which in the old copies make part of the nurse's fpeech, have been affigned to the friar on the fuggeftion of Dr. Farmer. MALONE. 8-cancell'd love] The folio reads-conceal'd love. JOHNSON. The quarto, cancell'd love. STEEVENS. The epithet concealed is to be understood, not of the perfon, but of the condition of the lady. So that the fenfe is, my lady whofe being Lo, together with our marriage which made her fo, is concealed from the world, HEATH, The The hateful manfion. Fri. Hold thy desperate hand: [drawing his fword. Art thou a man? thy form cries out, thou art ; Unfeemly woman, in a seeming man'! Why rail'ft thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth 3 ? 9 Art thou a man? thy form cries out, thou art; Thy tears are womanish; thy wild aЯs denote The unreasonable fury of a beaft:] Shakspeare has here closely followed his original: "Art thou, quoth he, a man? thy shape faith, fo thou art; Tragicall Hyfory of Romeus and Juliet, 1562. MALONE. Unfeemly woman, &c.] Thou art a beaft of ill qualities, under the appearance both of a woman and a man. JOHNSON. 2 And flay thy lady too that lives in thee,] Thus the first copy. The quarto 1599, and the folio, have And flay thy lady, that in thy life lives. MALONE. 3 Why rail't thou en thy birth, the heaven, and earth ?] Romeo has not here railed on his birth, &c. though in his interview with the friar as defcribed in the poem, he is made to do so: "First Nature did he blame, the author of his life, "In which his joys had been fo fcant, and forrows aye fo rife; "He cryed out with open mouth against the stars above.— Shakspeare copied the remonstrance of the friar, without reviewing the former part of his scene. He has in other places fallen into a fimilar inaccuracy, by fometimes following and fometimes deserting his original. The lines, Why rail'ft thou, &c. to―thy own defence, are not in the first copy. They are formed on a paffage in the poem: "Why cry'st thou out on love? why doft thou blame thy fate? "Why dost thou so cry after death?' thy life why doft thou hate?" &c. MALONE. Since birth, and heaven, and earth, all three do meet And useft none in that true ufe indeed Which fhould bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit. Thy dear love, fworn, but hollow perjury,. And thou difmember'd with thine own defences. Take 4 Like powder in a skill-lefs foldier's flafk, &c.] To understand the force of this allufion, it should be remembered that the ancient English soldiers, using match-locks, inftead of locks with flints as at prefent, were obliged to carry a lighted match hanging at their belts, very near to the wooden flask in which they kept their powder. The fame allufion occurs in Humor's Ordinary, an old collection of English epigrams: "When the his flask and touch-box fet on fire, "And till this hour the burning is not out." STEEVÉNS. 5 And thou difmember'd with thine own defence.] And thou torn to pieces with thy own weapons. JOHNSON. 6 —there art thou happy too:] Thus the first quarto. In the subfequent quartos and the folio foo is omitted. MALONE. 7 Thou pout'ft upon thy fortune and thy love :] The quarto 1599, and 1609, read: Thou puts up thy fortune and thy love. VOL. IX. The a; Take heed, take heed, for fuch die miferable. Nurfe. O Lord, I could have ftaid here all the night, Rom. Do fo, and bid my fweet prepare to chide. Nurfe. Here, fir, a ring the bid me give you, fir: Hie you, make hafte, for it grows very late. [Exit Nurse. Rom. How well my comfort is reviv'd by this! Fri. Go hence: Good night; and here stands all your ftate'; Either be gone before the watch be fet, Or by the break of day disguis'd from hence: The editor of the folio endeavoured to correct this by reading: The undated quarto has ports, which, with the aid of the original copy in 1597, pointed out the true reading. There the line ftands: Thou frown'ft upon thy fate, that fmiles or thee. MALONE. 8 Romeo is coming.] Much of this fpeech has likewife been added fince the first edition. STEEVENS. 9 Go bence: Good night; &c.] Thefe three lines are omitted in all the modern editions. JOHNSON. They were first omitted, with many others, by Mr. Pope. MALONE. 1-bere ftands all your fate;] The whole of your fortune depends on this. JOHNSON. |