He heareth not, he ftirreth not, he moveth not; Ben. An if he hear thee, thou wilt anger him. Of fome ftrange nature, letting it there ftand Is fair and honeft, and, in his mistress' name, I conjure only but to raise up him. Ben. Come, he hath hid himself among thofe trees, To be conforted with the humorous nights: Blind and Mr. Pope, Mr. Theobald, and Dr. Warburton, adopted this are bitrary change. The ballad here alluded to, is King Copbetua and the Beggar-maid, or, as it is called in fome old copies, The fong of a beggar and a king. The following ftanza, which Shakspeare had particularly in view, "The blinded boy that foots fo trim, "From heaven down did hie, "He drew a dart and shot at him, "In place where he did lie;" fupports (as Dr. Percy has observed,) the reading trim, which is found in the first quarto 1597, and which in the fubfequent copies was changed to true. The change was certainly not accidental; and this is one of a great many inftances in which I have obferved changes to have been made by the printer or editor, in the later quartos, and even in the first folio, for the fake of fome imaginary improvement, and without authority. MALONE. 6 The ape is dead,-] This phrafe appears to have been frequently applied to young men, in our authour's time, without any reference to the mimickry of that animal. It was an expreffion of tenderness, like poor fool. Naihe, in one of his pamphlets, mentions his having read Lily's Euphues, when he was a little ape at Cambridge. MALONE. By ber high forehead,] It has already been obferved that a high forehead was in Shakspeare's time thought eminently beautiful. See Vol. 1. p. 85, n. 7; and Vol. VII. p. 505, n. 7. MALONE. -the humorous night :] I fuppofe Shakspeare means humid, the moift dewy night. Chapman ufes the word in that fenfe in the tranflation of Homer, book 11. edit. 1598: E 4 4 "The Blind is his love, and beft befits the dark. Mer. If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark. And with his miftrefs were that kind of fruit, Romeo, "The other gods and knights at arms flept all the bumoroas night.' STEEVENS. In Measure for Measure we have " the vaporous night approaches;" which fhews that Mr. Steevens has rightly interpreted the word in the text. MALONE. 9 Ab, Romeo, &c.] Thefe two lines, which are found in the quartos of 1597, 1599, and in the folio, were rejected by Mr. Pope, who in like manner has rejected whole scenes of our authour; but what is more ftrange, his example has in this inftance been followed by the succeeding editors. However improper any lines may be for recitation on the ftage, an editor in my apprehenfion has no right to omit any paffage that is found in all the authentick copies of his authour's works. I know not on what authority it has been faid, that these lines are a proof that either the poet or his friends knew fometimes how to biot." They appear not only in the editions adready mentioned, hut alfo in that copy which has no date, and in the edition of 1637. I have adhered to the original copy. The two fubfequent quartos and the folio read, with a flight variation, An open-or thou a poperin pear. Our Shakspeare followed the fashion of his own time, which was, when fomething indecent was meant to be fupprefied, to print etcætera, inftead of the word. See Minfheu's Dictionary, p. 112, col. 2. poet did not confider, that however fuch a practice might be admitted in a printed book, it is abfurd where words are intended to be recited. When thefe lines were fpoken, as undoubtedly they were to our ancestors, who do not appear to have been extremely delicate, the actor must have evaded the difficulty by an abrupt fentence. The unfeemly name of the apple here alluded to, is well known. Poperingue is a town in French Flanders, two leagues diftant from Ypres. From hence the Poperin pear was brought into England. What were the peculiar qualities of a Poperin pear, I am unable to afcertain. The word was chofen, I believe, merely for the fake of a quibble, which it is not neceffary to explain. Probably for the fame feafon the Popering tree was preferred to any other by the authour of the mock poem of Here and Leander, fmall 8vo. 1653: She thought it ftrange to fee a man "In privy walk, and then anan Romeo, good night;-I'Il to my truckle-bed; Come, shall we go? Ben. Go, then; for 'tis in vain To feek him here, that means not to be found. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Capulet's Garden. Rom. He jefts at fears', that never felt a wound.- But, foft! what light through yonder window breaks! Arife, fair fun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already fick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than fhe: Be not her maid, fince she is envious; Her veftal livery is but fick and green, And none but fools do wear it; caft it off.- O, that the knew she were 3! She speaks, yet the fays nothing; What of that? "She stepp'd behind a Popering tree, MALONE. Hejefts at fears,] That is, Mercutio jefts, whom he overheard. JOHNSON. 2 Be not ber maid,] Be not a votary to the moon, to Diana. 3 It is my lady ; &c.] This line and half I have replaced. JOHNSON. JOHNSON. O, that O, that I were a glove upon that hand, Rom. She fpeaks: O, fpeak again, bright angel! for thou art Unto the white-upturned wond'ring eyes And fails upon the bofom of the air. Jul. O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father, and refuse thy name: Or, if thou wilt not, be but fworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet, Rom. Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this ? [Afide. Jul. 'Tis but thy name, that is my enemy ;Thou art thyself though, not a Montague*. What's 40, that I were a glove upon that band,] This paffage appears to have been ridiculed by Shirley in The School of Compliments, a comedy, 1637: "Oh that I were a flea upon that lip," &c. STEEVENS, 5-touch that check !] The quarto 1597, reads-kifs that cheek. STEEVENS. 60, fpeak again, bright angel! for thou art As glorious to this night, &c.] The fenfe is, that Juliet ap peared as fplendid an object in the vault of heaven obfcured by darknefs, as an angel could feem to the eyes of mortals, who were falling back to gaze upon him. As glorious to this night, means as glorious an appearance in this dark night, &c. STEEVENS. 7-the lazy-pacing clouds,] Thus corrected from the first edition: in the others lazy-puffing. POPE. 8Thou art thyself though, not a Montague.] For the present punctuation I am accountable. It appears to me to afford a clear fenfe, which the line as printed in the old copies, where we have a comma after tbyfelf, and no point after though, does not in my apprehenfion afford. Thou art, bowever, fays Juliet, a being fui generis, amiable and perfect, not tainted by the enmity which your family bears to mine. According to the common punctuation, the adverfative particle is ufed without any propriety, or rather makes the paffage nonfenfe, "Although What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, "Although thou art not a Montague, not actuated by any of those unjustifiable prejudices that actuate your family, you are most amiable and virtuous." The lady might with as much propriety have obferved, that though it was fummer, it was hot; or, though it was night, the fun did not shine. According to Mr. Steevens, the meaning is" Thou art thyself, i. e, a being of diftinguished excellence, though thou art not (what thou appearest to others,) akin to thy family in malice." If he was NOT a Montague, or, as it is rightly explained, NOT akin to bis family in malice, whence is the wonder that he is a being of diftinguished excellence? or what the need of an adverfative particle in fuch a propofition? If indeed the lady had faid, that Romeo was a being of uncommon excellence, though be was a Montague, fhe would have talked with precifion. Though is again ufed by Shakspeare in A Midfummer-Night's Dream, A&t III. fc. laft, in the fame fense: "My legs are longer though, to run away." Again, in The Taming of the Shrew: "Would Catharine had never feen him though." Again, in K. Henry VIII. "I would not be fo fick though, for his place." Other writers frequently ufe though for however. So, in The Fatal Dowry, a tragedy, by Maffinger, 1632: "Would you have him your husband that you love, "And may perform the office of a husband." Again, in Cupid's Revenge, by B. and Fletcher: 66 O diffembling woman, "Whom I muft reverence though. Again, in the laft fpeech of the Maid's Tragedy by B. and Fletcher, 1619: "Look to him though, and bear thofe bodies in." Again, in Otway's Venice Preferved: "You "I thank thee for thy labour though, and him too." Dr. Warburton's interpretation is wholly inadmiffible. swould be just what you are, [i. e. not more excellent,] although you were not of the houfe of Montague."-Juliet is not here fpeculating whether, if Romeo were not, or ceafed to be, of the hoftile faction, his excellence was or was not capable of increafe; nor does the fay, "thou would't be thyfelf," (as Dr. Warburton makes her fay,) but "thou art thyfelf." This, I fay, is not the fubject of her fpeculation. She is fimply endeavouring to account for Romeo's being amiable and excellent, though he is a Montague. And, to prove this, fhe afferts that he merely bears that name, but has none of the qualisica of that houfe. MALONE. What's |