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Sam. Yes, better, fir.

Abr. You lie.

Sam. Draw, if you be men.-Gregory, remember thy fwashing blow.

[They fight. Ben. Part, fools; put up your fwords; you know not what you do. [beats down their fwords.

Enter TYBALT.

Tyb. What, art thou drawn among these heartless

hinds?

Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.

Ben. 1 do but keep the peace; put up thy fword,

Or manage it to part thefe men with me.

Tyb. What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the

word,

As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:

Have at thee, coward.

[They fight.

Enter feveral Partizans of both houses, who join the fray; then enter Citizens, with Clubs.

1. Cit. Clubs, bills, and partizans! ftrike! beat them down!

Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues!

pened in this place: Gregory is a fervant of the Capulets; and Benvolio was of the Montague faction. FARMER.

Perhaps there is no mistake. Gregory may mean Tybalt, who enters immediately after Benvolio, but on a different part of the ftage. The eyes of the fervant may be directed the way he fees Tybalt coming, and in the mean time, Benvolio enters on the oppofite fide. STEEV.

9 by wathing blow.] Ben Jonfon ufes this expreffion in his Staple of News: "I do confefs a fwashing blow." Again, in As you like it

"I'll have a martial and afwashing outfide."

To fwafn feems to have meant to be a bully, to be noifily valiant. So, Greene, in his Card of Fancy, 168: "in 1pending and spoiling, in fwearing and fwashing." Barrett, in his Alvearie, 1580, fays, that

to fwab is to make a noife with fwordes against tergats." STEEV. See Vol. V. p. 323, n. 6. MALONE.

1 Clubs, bills, &c.] When an affray arofe in the streets, clubs was the ufual exclamation. See Vol. III, p. 219, n. 6, and Vol. VI. P. 22, n. 1. MALONE.

Enter

Enter CAPULET, in his gown; and Lady CAPULET. Cap. What noife is this?-Give me my long sword2, ho!

La. Cap. A crutch, a crutch!-Why call you for a fword?

Cap. My fword, I fay!-Old Montague is come, And flourishes his blade in fpight of me.

Enter MONTAGUE, and Lady MONTAGUE.

Mon. Thou villain, Capulet,-Hold me not, let me go.

La. Mon. Thou shalt not ftir one foot to feek a foe.
Enter Prince, with Attendants.

Prin. Rebellious fubjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-ftained steel,—
Will they not hear?-what ho! you men, you beafts,—
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains iffuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from thole bloody hands
Throw your mid-temper'd weapons to the ground,
And hear the fentence of your moved prince.-
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,

3

Have thrice difturb'd the quiet of our streets;
And made Verona's ancient citizens

2 Give me my long fword,] The long fword was the fword used in war, which was fometimes wielded with both hands. JOHNSON. See Vol. I. p. 228, n. 8. MALONE.

This long fword is mentioned in The Coxcomb, a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher, where the justice says:

"Take their confeflions, and my long fword;

I cannot tell what danger we may meet with." It appears that it was once the fashion to wear two fwords of different fizes at the fame time. So in Decker's Satiromaftix:

"Peter Salamander, tie up your great and your little fword."

STEEVENS.

The little fword was probably nothing more than a dagger.

MALONE.

mis-temper'd weapons] are angry weapons. So in K. Jobn:
"This inundation of mis-temper'd humour," &c. STEEVENS.

Caft

Caft by their grave befeeming ornaments,
To wield old partizans, in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate:
If ever you disturb our ftreets again,
Your lives fhall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time, all the reft depart away:
You, Capulet, fhall go along with me ;
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our further pleasure in this cafe,
To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.

[Exeunt Prince, and Attendants; CAPULET, Lady
CAPULET, TYBALT, Citizens, and Servants.
Mon. Who fet this ancient quarrel new abroach ?—
Speak, nephew, were you by, when it began?
Ben. Here were the fervants of your adverfary,
And yours, clofe fighting ere I did approach:
I drew to part them; in the instant came
The firy Tybalt, with his fword prepar'd;
Which, as he breath'd defiance to my ears,
He fwung about his head, and cut the winds,
Who, nothing hurt withal, hifs'd him in fcorn:
While we were interchanging thrufts and blows,
Came more and more, and fought on part and part,
Till the prince came, who parted either part.

La. Mon. O, where is Romeo!-faw you him to-day? Right glad I am, he was not at this fray.

Ben. Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd fun Peer'd forth the golden window of the eaft 5,

A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;

4 To old Freetown, our common judgment-place.] This name the poet found in The Tragicall Hyftory of Romeus and Juliet, 1562. It is there faid to be the cattle of the Capulets. MALONE.

5 Peer'd forth the golden window of the eaft,] The fame thought occurs in Spenfer's Faery Queen, B. 2. C. 10.

"Early before the morn with cremofin ray
"The windows of bright heaven opened had,
"Through which into the world the dawning day
"Might looke," &c. STEEVENS.

Where,

Where,-underneath the grove of fycamour,
That weftward rooteth from the city's fide,-
So early walking did I fee your fon :

Towards him I made; but he was 'ware of me,
And ftole into the covert of the wood:
I, measuring his affections by my own,-
That most are bufied when they are most alone,—
Purfu'd my humour, not purfuing his,

And gladly fhunn'd who gladly fled from me 7.
Man. Many a morning hath he there been feen,
With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew,
Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep fighs:
But all fo foon as the all-cheering fun

Should in the furtheft eaft begin to draw
The fhady curtains from Aurora's bed,
Away from light steals home my heavy fon,
And private in his chamber pens himself;
Shuts up his windows, locks fair day-light out,
And makes himself an artificial night;
Black and portentous must this humour prove,
Unless good counsel may the caufe remove.

Ben. My noble uncle, do you know the cause?
Mon. I neither know it, nor can learn of him.
Ben. Have you impórtun'd him by any means?
Mon. Both by myfelf, and many other friends:
But he, his own affections' counfellor,
Is to himself-I will not fay, how true-
But to himself fo fecret and so close,
So far from founding and discovery,
As is the bud bit with an envious worm,

That most are bufied, &c.] Edition 1597. Instead of which it is in the other editions thus:

by my own,

Which then moft fought, where moft might not be found,
Being one too many by my weary self,

Purfu'd my humour, &c.

POPE.

↑ And gladly bunn'd, &c.] The ten lines following, not in the edition 1597, but in the next of 1599. POPE.

Ben. Have you impórtun'd, &c.] Thefe two fpeeches alfo omitted n edition 1597, but inferted in 1599. Porz.

Ere he can fpread his fweet leaves to the air,

Or dedicate his beauty to the fame.

Could we but learn from whence his forrows grow,
We would as willingly give cure, as know.

Enter ROMEO, at a distance.

Ben. See, where he comes: So please you, ftep afide; I'll know his grievance, or be much deny'd.

Mcn. I would, thou wert fo happy by thy stay, To hear true fhrift.-Come, madam, let's away.

[Exeunt MONTAGUE, and Lady.

Ben. Good morrow, cousin.

Or dedicate bis beauty to the same.] I cannot but fufpect that fome lines are loft, which connected this fimile more closely with the foregoing fpeech: thefe lines, if fuch there were, lamented the danger that Romeo will die of his melancholy, before his virtues or abilities were known to the world. JoHNSON.

I suspect no loss of connecting lines. The fame expreffion occurs in Timon, A&t 4. Sc. 2.

"A dedicated beggar to the air." STEEVENS.

Dr. Johnfon's conjecture is, I think unfounded; the fimile relates/ folely to Romeo's concealing the caufe of his melancholy, and is again ufed by Shakspeare in Twelfth Night:

"She never told her love,

"But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,

"Feed on her damask cheek."

Mr. Theobald reads-to the fun. In the old fpelling funne and fame were eafily confounded. In the laft act of this play our poet has evidently imitated the Rofamond of Daniel; and in the prefent paffage might have remembered the following lines in one of the Sonnets of the fame writer, who was then extremely popular. The lines, whether remembered by our authour or not, add fuch fupport to Mr. Theobald's emendation, that I should have given it a place in the text, but that the other mode of phrafeology was not uncommon in Shak speare's time:

"And whilst thou spread' unto the rising funne,
"The fairest flower that ever faw the light,

"Now joy thy time, before thy sweet be done."

Daniel's Sonnets, 1594.

The line quoted by Mr. Steevens does not appear to me to be adverfe to this emendation. The bud could not dedicate its beauty to the fun, without at the fame time dedicating it to the air.

A fimilar phrafeology, however, to that of the text may be found in Daniel's 14th, 32d, 44th, and 53d Sonnets. MALONE,

Rom.

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