I cannot fum up half my sum of wealth". Fri. Come, come with me, and we will make short work ; For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone, Till holy church incorporate two in one. [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. Enter MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, Page, and Servants. And, if we meet, we shall not 'scape a brawl; Mer. Thou art like one of those fellows, that, when he enters the confines of a tavern, claps me his fword upon the table, and fays, God fend me no need of thee! and, by the operation of the fecond cup, draws it on the drawer, when, indeed, there is no need. Ben. Am I like fuch a fellow? Mer. Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy; and as foon moved to be moody, and as foon moody to be moved. Ben. And what to? Mer. Nay, an there were two fuch, we should have none fhortly, for one would kill the other. Thou! why thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard, than thou haft. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reafon but because thou haft hazel eyes; What eye, but fuch an eye, would spy out fuch a quarrel? Thy head is as full of quarrels, as an egg is full of meat; and yet 5 I cannot fum up half my fum of wealth.] The quarto, 1599, reads s I cannot fum up fum of half my wealth. The undated quarto and the folio: I cannot fum up some of half my wealth. The emendation was made by Mr. Steevens. MALONE. The day is bot,] It is obferved, that in Italy almost all assassina tions are committed during the heat of fummer. JOHNSON. thy thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg, for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrell'd with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath waken'd thy dog that hath lain afleep in the fun. Didft thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter? with another, for tying his new fhoes with old ribband? and yet thou wilt tutor me from quarreling?! Ben. An I were fo apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the fee-fimple of my life for an hour and, a quarter. Mer. The fee-fimple? O fimple! Enter TYBALT, and Others. Ben. By my head, here come the Capulets. Tyb. Follow me clofe, for I will fpeak to them.- Mer. And but one word with one of us? Couple it with fomething; make it a word and a blow. Tyb. You fhall find me apt enough to that, fir, if you will give me occafion. Mer. Could you not take fome occafion without giving? Tyb. Mercutio, thou confort'ft with Romeo, Mer. Confort! what, doft thou make às minstrels? an thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but dif 7-thou wilt tutor me from quarreling !] Thou wilt endeavour to restrain me, by prudential advice, from quarreling. Thus the quarto 1599, and the folio. The quarto, 1597, reads— thou wilt forbid me of quarreling. The modern editions, after Mr. Pope, read-Thou wilt tutor me for quarreling. MALONE. An I were fo apt, &c.] Thefe two fpeeches have been added fince the first quarto, together with fome few circumftances in the reft of the fcene, as well as in the enfuing one. STEEVENS. 9 Follow me clofe, for I will speak to them.] In the original copy this line is not found, Tybalt entering alone. In that of 1599 we find this ftage-direction: "Enter Tybalt, Petruchio, and others;" and the above line is inferted; but I strongly fufpect it to be an interpolation; for would Tybalt's partizans fuffer him to be killed without taking any part in the affray? That they do not join in it, appears from the account given by Benvolio. In the original copy Benvolio fays, on the entrance of Tybalt, "By my head, here comes a Capulet." Instead of the two latter words, we have in the quarto 1599, the Capulets. MALONE. cords: cords: here's my fiddlestick; here's that fhall make you dance. 'Zounds, confort! Ben. We talk here in the publick haunt of men ; Either withdraw into fome private place, Or reafon coldly of your grievances, Or elfe depart; here all eyes gaze on us. Mer. Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze; I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I. Enter ROMEO, Tyb. Well, peace be with you, fir! here comes my man. Mer. But I'll be hang'd, fir, if he wear your livery; But love thee better than thou canst devife, Mer. O calm, difhonourable, vile fubmiffion! Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk? Tyb. What would't thou have with me? [draws, 1- the hate I bear thee,] So the quarto, 1597. The fubfequent ancient copies have the love, &c. MALONE. 2 Ala ftoccata-] Stoccata is the Italian term for a thruft or a stab with a rapier. So, in the Devil's Charter, 1607: "He makes a quick thruft; I with a swift paffado STEEVENS. Mer. Good king of cats 3, nothing, but one of your nine lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and, as you fhall ufe me hereafter, dry-beat the reft of the eight. Will you pluck your fword out of his pilcher by the ears make hafte, left mine be about your ears ere it be out. Tyb. I am for you. Rom. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up. Rom. Draw, Benvolio; [drawing. [They fight. Beat down their weapons:-Gentlemen, for fhame The prince exprefsly hath forbid this bandying Mer. I am hurt ; A plague o' both the houses!-I am sped : Is he gone, and hath nothing? Ben. What, art thou hurt? Mer. Ay, ay, a fcratch, a fcratch; marry, 'tis enough. Where is my page-go, villain, fetch a furgeon. [Exit Page. Rom. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. Mer. No, 'tis not fo deep as a well, nor fo wide as a church door; but 'tis enough, 'twill ferve: afk for me 3 Good king of cats,] Alluding to his name. See p. 72, n. 1. MALONE. 4 Will you pluck your fword out of bis pilcher by the ears ?] We should read pilche, which fignifies a cloke or coat of skins, meaning the scabbard. WARBURTON, The old quarto reads fcabbard. Dr. Warburton's explanation is, I believe, juft. Nah, in Pierce Pennylefs bis Supplication, 1595, fpeaks of a carman in a leather pilebe. Again, in Decker's Satiromaftix : "Thou haft forgot how thou ambled'it in a leather pilch, by a playwaggon on the highway, and took'ft mad Jeronimo's part, to get fervice among the mimics." . It appears from this paffage, that Ben Jonfon acted the part of Hieros nimo in the Spanish Tragedy, the fpeech being addreffed to Horace, un der which character old Ben is ridiculed. STEVENS. to to-morrow, and you fhall find me a grave man3. Í am pepper'd, I warrant, for this world:-A plague o' both your houfes!-'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to fcratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetick!-Why, the devil, came you between us? I was hurt under your arm. Rom. I thought all for the best. Mer. Help me into fome houfe, Benvolio, Or I fhall faint.-A plague o' both your houses! I have it, and foundly too:-Your houses! [Exeunt MERCUTIO, and BENVOLIO. Rom. This gentleman, the prince's near ally, 5 —a grave man.] After this, the quarto, 1597, continues Mercetio's speech as follows: -A pox o'both your houfes! I fhall be fairly mounted upon four men's fhoulders for your house of the Montagues and the Capulets: and then fome peafantly rogue, fome fexton, some base flave, fhall write my epitaph, that Tybalt came and broke the prince's laws, and Mercutio was flain for the first and second cause. Where's the furgeon? Boy. He's come, fir. Mer. Now he'll keep a mumbling in my guts on the other fide.Come, Benvolio, lend me thy hand: A pox o'both your houses! STEEVENS. -you shall find me a grave man.] This jeft was better in old language, than it is at prefent; Lidgate fays, in his elegy upon Chaucer: "My mafter Chaucer now is grave." FARMER. I meet with the fame quibble in the Revenger's Tragedy, 1608, where Vindici drefies up a lady's fcull, and obferves: " he has a fomewhat grave look with her." STEEVENS. Again, in fir Thomas Overbury's Defcription of a Sexton, CHARACTERS, 1616: "At every church-style commonly there's an ale houfe; where let him bee found never fo idle-pated, hee is ftill■ grave drunkard." MALONE. -foften'd valeur's steel.] So, in Coriolanus : When feel grows foft "As the parafite's Gilk-." MALONE. Re-enter |