Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

I dreamt my mafter and another fought,
And that my mafter flew him.

Fri. Romeo?

Alack, alack, what blood is this, which ftains
The ftony entrance of this fepulcher ?—
What mean these masterlefs and gory swords
To lie difcolour'd by this place of peace?

[advances.

[enters the monument, Romeo! O, pale! - Who elfe? what, Paris too? And steep'd in blood?-Ah, what an unkind hour Is guilty of this lamentable chance! The lady ftirs,

[Juliet wakes, and ftirs. Jul. O, comfortable friar! where is my lord?

I do remember well where I fhould be,

And there I am :- Where is my Romeo? [Noife within. Fri. I hear fome noife.-Lady, come from that nest Of death, contagion, and unnatural fleep';

A greater Power than we can contradict

8 I dreamt my mafter and another fought,] This is one of the touches of nature that would have efcaped the hand of any painter lefs attentive to it than Shakspeare. What happens to a perfon while he is under the manifeft influence of fear, will feem to him, when he is recovered from it, like a dream. Homer, Book 8th, represents Rhefus dying faft afleep, and as it were beholding his enemy in a dream plunging a fword into his bofom. Euftathius and Dacier both applaud this image as very natural; for a man in fuch a condition, fays Pope, awakes no further than to fee confufedly what environs him, and to think it not a reality, but a vifion. STEEVENS.

9 The lady firs.] In the alteration of this play now exhibited on the ftage, Mr. Garrick appears to have been indebted to Otway, who, perhaps without any knowledge of the story as told by Da Porto and Bandello, does not permit his hero to die before his wife awakes: Mar. Jun. She breathes, and firs.

Lav. in the tomb.] Where am I? blefs me! Heaven!

'Tis very cold, and yet here's fomething warm.

Mar. Jun. She lives, and we shall bob be made immortal.
Speak, my Lavinia, fpeak fome heavenly news,
And tell me how the gods delign to treat us.

Lav. O, I have flept a long ten thousand years.

What have they done with me? I'll not be us'd thus:
I'll not wed Sylla; Marius is my bufband." MALONE.

3 —and unnatural fleep;] Shakspeare alludes to the fleep of Juliet, which was unnatural, being brought on by drugs. STEEVENS.

Hath

Hath thwarted our intents; come, come away;
Thy husband in thy bofom there lies dead2;
And Paris too; come, I'll difpofe of thee
Among a fisterhood of holy nuns :

Stay not to queftion, for the watch is coming 3;

Come, go, good Juliet,—[Noise again.] I dare no longer ftay.

[Exit,
Jul. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.-
What's here? a cup, clos'd in my true love's hand?
Poifon, I fee, hath been his timeless end:-

O churl! drink all; and leave no friendly drop +,
To help me after I will kifs thy lips ;
Haply, fome poifon yet doth hang on them,
To make me die with a restorative.
Thy lips are warm!

[kides him.

1.Watch. [within.] Lead, boy:-Which way?

2 Thy busband in thy bofom there lies dead;] Shakspeare has been arraigned for departing from the Italian novel, in making Romeo die before Juliet awakes from her trance; and thus lofing a happy oppor tunity of introducing an affecting scene between thefe unfortunate lovers. But he undoubtedly had never read the Italian novel, or any literal tranflation of it, and was mifled by the poem of Remeus and Juliet, the authour of which departed from the Italian ftory, making the poifon take effect on Romeo before Juliet awakes. See a tranflation of the original pathetick narrative in Vol. X. in a note on the poem near the end. MALONE.

3 Stay not to question, for the watch is coming;] It has been objected that there is no fuch establishment in any of the cities of Italy. Shakfpeare leidom fcrupled to give the manners and ufages of his own country to others. In this particular inftance the old poem was his guide:

"The weary watch discharg'd did hie them home to fleep." Again:

"The watchmen of the town the whilft are paffed by,
"And through the gates the candlelight within the tomb they

ípy." MALONE.

40 charl! drink all; and leave no friendly drop,] made out from the quarto of 1597 and that of 1599. Ab churl! drink all, and leave no drop for me! The other:

O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop,
To help me after? MALONE.

The text is here
The first has-

Jul. Yea, noife?-then I'll be brief.-O happy dagger! [fnatching Romeo's daggers. This is thy fheath; [ftabs herself.] there ruft, and let me die ". [falls on Romeo's body, and dies.

Enter Watch, with the Page of Paris.

Page. This is the place; there, where the torch doth

burn.

1. Watch. The ground is bloody; Search about the church-yard;

Go, fome of you, who e'er you find, attach. [Exeunt fome.
Pitiful fight! here lies the county flain ;-
And Juliet bleeding; warm, and newly dead,
Who here hath lain these two days buried.-
Go, tell the prince,-run to the Capulets,-
Raife up the Montagues,-fome others fearch7;-

[Exeunt other watchmen.

5 Snatching Romeo's dagger.] So, in Painter's tranflation of Pierre Boifteau, tom. ii. p. 244.-Drawing out the dagger which Romeo ware by his fide, the pricked herself with many blows against the heart." STEEVENS.

It is clear that in this and most other places Shakspeare followed the poem, and not Painter, for Painter defcribes Romeo's dagger as hanging at bis fide; whereas the poem is filent as to the place where it hung, and our authour, governed by the fashion of his own time, fuppofes it to have bung at Romeo's back:

"And then paft deadly fear, (for life ne had the care,)

"With hafty hand she did draw out the dagger that he ware."

MALONE.

6-there ruft, and let me die.] is the reading of the quarto, 1599. That of 1597 gives the paffage thus:

"I, noife? then must I be refolute.

"Oh, happy dagger! thou shalt end my fear;

"Reft in my bofom: thus I come to thee."

The alteration was probably made by the poet, when he introduced the words,

"This is thy fpeath." STEEVENS.

7 Raife up the Montagues,-fome others fearch;-] Here feems to be a rhyme intended, which may be eafily reftored;

"Raife up the Montagues. Some others, go.
"We fee the ground whereon thefe woes do lie,
"But the true ground of all this piteous woe

"We cannot without circumftance defcry." JOHNSON.

It was often thought fufficient, in the time of Shakspeare, for the fecond and fourth lines in a stanza, to rhime with each other. STEEV.

We

We fee the ground whereon these woes do lie;
But the true ground of all these piteous woes,
We cannot without circumstance descry.

Enter fome of the Watch, with Balthafar.

2. Watch. Here's Romeo's man, we found him in the church-yard.

1. Watch. Hold him in safety, till the prince come hi

ther.

Enter another Watchman, with Friar Lawrence. 3. Watch. Here is a friar, that trembles, fighs, and

weeps:

We took this mattock and this fpade from him,
As he was coming from this church-yard fide.
1. Watch. A great fufpicion; Stay the friar too.
Enter the Prince, and Attendants.

Prince. What mifadventure is fo early up,
That calls our perfon from our morning's reft?
Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, and Others.
Cap. What should it be, that they so shriek abroad?
La. Cap. The people in the street cry-Romeo,
Some-Juliet, and fome-Paris; and all run,
With open out-cry, toward our monument.

Prince. What fear is this, which startles in our ears?? 1. Watch. Sovereign, here lies the county Paris flain; And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before,

Warm and new kill'd.

Prince. Search, feek, and know how this foul murder

comes.

1. Watch. Here is a friar, and flaughter'd Romeo's man; With inftruments upon them, fit to open

Thefe dead men's tombs.

Cap. O, heavens!-O, wife! look how our daughter bleeds!

This dagger hath mifta'en,-for, lo! his house

3 that they fo fbriek abroad?] Thus the folio and the undated quarto. The quarto of 1599 has-that is fo fhriek abroad. MALONE. 9 What fear is this, which fartles in our ears?] The old copies read -in your ears. The emendation was made by Dr. Johnfon.

MALONE.

Is empty on the back of Montague,—

And is mif-fheathed in my daughter's bofom'.
La. Cap. O me! this fight of death is as a bell,
That warns my old age to a fepulcher.

Enter MONTAGUE, and Others.

Prince. Come, Montague; for thou art early up2, To fee thy fon and heir more early down.

Mon. Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night 3; Grief of my fon's exile hath topp'd her breath: What further woe confpires against mine age? Prince. Look, and thou fhalt fee.

Mon. O thou untaught! what manners is in this 4,

This dagger bath mifta'en, for lo ! bis boufe

Is empty on the back of Montague,

Το

And is mifbeatbed in my daughter's bofom.] The words, "for, lo! bis boufe is empty on the back of Montague," are to be confidered as parenthetical. In p. 163, 1. 7, we have a fimilar conftruction.

The reading of the text is that of the undated quarto, that of 1609, and the folio. The quarto of 1599 reads-And it mitheathed. În the original copy of 1597 the line ftands thus:

This dagger has mistook,

For lo! the backe is empty of yong Montague,

And it is heathed in our daughter's breaft. MALONE.

It appears that the dagger was anciently worn behind the back. So, in The longer thou liveft the more foool thou art, 1570:

"Thou must weare thy fworde by thy fide,
"And thy dagger handfumly at thy backe."

Again, in Humor's Ordinarie, &c. an ancient collection of fatires, no date: "See you the huge bum dagger at bis backe ?" STEEVENS. 2-for thou art early up, &c.] This fpeech (as appears from the following poflage in The Second Part of the Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, 1601) has fomething proverbial in it:

"In you i'faith the proverb's verified,

"You are early up, and yet are ne'er the near." STEEVENS. 3 Alas, my liege, my wife is dead to-night;] After this line the quarto 1597 adds,

"And young Benvolio is deceased too."

But this I fuppofe the poet rejected on his revifion of the play, as unneceffary flaughter. STEEVENS.

40 thou untaught ! &c.] So, in The Tragedy of Darius, 1603:
Ah me! malicious fates have done me wrong:

"Who came firit to the world, fhould firft depart.
"It not becomes the old t'o'er-live the young;

"This dealing is prepost'rous and o’er-thwart." STERVENS.

« AnteriorContinua »