Here in this city vifiting the fick,

And finding him, the fearchers of the town,
Sufpecting that we both were in a house
Where the infectious peftilence did reign,
Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth;
So that my speed to Mantua there was stay'd.
Law. Who bare my letter then to Romeo?
John. I could not fend it,-here it is again,-
Nor get a meffenger to bring it thee,
So fearful were they of infection.

Law. Unhappy fortune! by my brotherhood,
The letter was not nice, but full of charge,
Of dear import; and the neglecting it
May do much danger: Friar John, go hence;
Get me an iron crow, and bring it straight
Unto my cell.

John. Brother, I'll go and bring it thee.
Law. Now muft I to the monument alone;
Within this three hours will fair Juliet wake;
She will befhrew me much, that Romeo

Hath had no notice of these accidents :

But I will write again to Mantua,

[Exit.

the words therefore, to affeciate me, must be confidered as parenthetical, and Here in this city, &c. muft refer to the bare-foot brother.

I formerly conjectured that the paffage ought to be regulated thus: Going to find a bare-foot brother out,

One of our order, to affociate me,

And finding him, the fearchers of the town

Here in this city vifiting the fick, &c.

But the text is certainly right. The fearchers would have had no ground of fufpicion, if neither of the friars had been in an infected houfe. MALONE.

7-was not nice,-] i. e. was not written on a trivial or idle subject. Nice fignifies foolish in many parts of Gower, and Chaucer. The learned editor of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, 1775, obferves, that H. Stephens informs us, that nice was the old French word for niais, one of the fynonymes of fot. Apol. Herod 1. i. c. 4. STEEVENS. See Vol. VI. p. 552, n. 9, and Vol. VII. p. 386, n. 9. MALONE. 8 Within this three hours will fair Juliet wake;] inftead of this line, and the concluding part of the fpeech, the quarto, 1597, reads only: "Left that the lady should before I come

"Be wak'd from fleep, I will hye

"To free her from that tombe of miferie." STEEVENS.

And

And keep her at my cell till Romeo come;

Poor living corfe, clos'd in a dead man' tomb! [Exit. SCENE III.

A Church-yard; in it, a monument belonging to the Capu

lets.

Enter PARIS, and his Page, bearing flowers and a torch.

Par. Give me thy torch, boy: Hence, and stand aloof ;

Yet put it out, for I would not be feen.
Under yon yew-trees lay thee all along,
Holding thine ear clofe to the hollow ground;
So fhall no foot upon the church-yard tread,
(Being loofe, unfirm, with digging up of graves,)
But thou fhalt hear it: whiftle then to me,
As fignal that thou hear'ft fomething approach.
Give me thofe flowers. Do as I bid thee, go.
Page. I am almoft afraid to ftand alone

Here in the church-yard; yet I will adventure. [retires. Par. Sweet flower, with flowers I ftrew thy bridal bed:

Sweet tomb, that in thy circuit doft contain

The perfect model of eternity;

Fair Juliet, that with angels doft remain,
Accept this latest favour at my hands;
That living honour'd thee, and, being dead,
With funeral praises do adorn thy tomb!

[The boy whistles.

9 Fair Juliet, that with angels, &c.] Thefe four lines from the old edition.

POPE.

The folio bas thefe lines:

"Sweet flow'r, with flow'rs thy bridal bed I ftrew;
"O woe! thy canopy is duft and stones,

"Which with fweet water nightly I will dew,

"Or, wanting that, with tears diftill'd by moans.

"The obfequies that I for thee will keep,

Nightly fhall be, to ftrew thy grave, and weep." JOHNSON. Mr. Pope has followed no copy with exactness; but took the first and fourth lines from the elder quarto, omitting the two intermediate verfes, which I have reftored. STEEVENS.

The folio follows the quarto of 1599. In the text the feven lines are printed as they appear in the quarto, 1597. MALONE.

VOL. IX.

M

The

The boy gives warning, fomething doth approach.
What curled foot wanders this way to-night,

To cross my obfequies, and true love's rites?

What, with a torch !-muffle me, night, a while. [retires.

Exter ROMEO, and BALTHASAR with a torch, mattock, &c.

Rom. Give me that mattock, and the wrenching iron. Hold, take this letter; early in the morning

See thou deliver it to my lord and father.
Give me the light: Upon thy life I charge thee,
Whate'er thou hear'ft or feeft, ftand all aloof,
And do not interrupt me in my course.

Why I defcend into this bed of death,
Is, partly, to behold my lady's face:

But, chiefly, to take thence from her dead finger
A precious ring; a ring, that I must use

In dear employment: therefore hence, be gone :-
But if thou, jealous, doft return to pry

In what I further shall intend to do,

By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint,

And ftrew this hungry church-yard with thy limbs:
The time and my intents are favage-wild 2;
More fierce, and more inexorable far,

Than empty tygers, or the roaring fea.

Bal. I will be gone, fir, and not trouble you.

Rom. So fhalt thou fhew me friendship.-Take thou

that:

Live, and be profperous; and farewel, good fellow.
Bal. For all this fame, I'll hide me hereabout;
His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt.
Rom. Thou déteftable 3 maw, thou womb of death,

[retires.

Gorg'd

1-dear employment:] That is, action of importance. Gems were fuppofed to have great powers and virtues. JOHNSON. See Vol. VIII. p. 130, n. 6. MALONE.

2-farage wild;] Here the speech concludes in the old copy.

STEEVENS. 3-déteftable-] This word, which is now accented on the fecond fyllable, was once accented on the firft; therefore this line did not

originally

Gorg'd with the dearest morfel of the earth,
Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open,

[breaking up the monument. And, in defpight, I'll cram thee with more food!

Par. This is that banish'd haughty Montague,

That murder'd my love's coufin ;-with which grief,

It is fuppofed, the fair creature dy'd,—

And here is come to do fome villainous fhame

To the dead bodies: I will apprehend him.- [advances.
Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague;
Can vengeance be purfu'd further than death?
Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee:
Obey, and go with me; for thou must die.

Rom. I muft, indeed; and therefore came I hither.—
Good gentle youth, tempt not a defperate man,
Fly hence and leave me ;-think upon thefe gone;
Let them affright thee.-I beseech thee, youth,
Heap not another fin upon my head,

4

By urging me to fury:O, be gone!

By heaven, I love thee better than myself;
For I come hither arm'd against myself:

Stay not, be gone ;-live, and hereafter fay-
A madman's mercy bade thee run away.
Par. I do defy thy conjurations",

And

originally seem to be inharmonious. So, in the Tragedie of Cræfus, 1604:

"Court with vain words and déteftable lyes."

Again, in Shakspeare's K. John, A& III. Sc. ii:

"And I will kits thy déteftable bones." STEEVENS.)

Again, in Daniel's Civil Warres, 1595:

"Such détestable vile impiety."

MALONE.

4 Heap not another fin-] Thus the quarto 1597. So, in the poem

of Romeus and Juliet:

"With fighs and falted tears her fhriving doth begin,

"For the of beaped forrows hath to speak, and not of fin."

The quarto 1599 and folio have-Put not.

MALONE

5 I do defy thy conjurations,] So the quarto 1597. Instead of this, in that of 1599, we find-commiration. In the next quarto of 1609 this was altered to commiferation, and the folio from thence, the fame word is exhibited there.

M 2

being probably printed The obvious interpre

tation

And do attach thee as a felon here.

Rom. Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee, boy.

[They fight.

Page. O lord! they fight: I will go call the watch.

[Exit Page.

Par. O, I am flain! [falls.]—If thou be merciful, Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.

[dies.

Rom. In faith, I will:-Let me perufe this face ;-
Mercutio's kinfman, noble county Paris :-
What faid my man, when my betoffed foul
Did not attend him as we rode? I think,
He told me, Paris fhould have marry'd Juliet:
Said he not fo? or did I dream it fo?
Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,
To think it was fo?-O, give me thy hand,
One writ with me in four misfortune's book!
I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave,—
A grave? O, no; a lantern, flaughter'd youth,
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feafting prefence full of light.

Death,

tation of these words, "I refufe to deas thou conjureft me to do, i. e. to depart," is in my apprehenfion the true one. MALONE.

Paris conceived Romeo to have burst open the monument for no other purpose than to do fome villainous fhame on the dead bodies, such as witches are reported to have practifed; and therefore tells him he defies him, and the magic arts which he fufpects he is preparing to ufe. So, in Painter's tranflation of the novel, tom. ii. p. 244."-the watch of the city by chance paffed by, and feeing light within the grave, fufpected straight that they were necromancers which had opened the tombs to abufe the dead bodies for aide of their arte."

To defy, anciently meant to refufe or deny. So, in the Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, 1601:

"Or, as I faid, for ever I defy your company." Again, in the Miferies of Queen Margaret, by Drayton: "My liege, quoth he, all mercy now defy."

gain, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, b. ii. c. 8:

"Foole, (faid the Pagan) I thy gift defye."

Paris may, however, mean-1 refufe to do as thou conjureft me to do, 2. e. to depart. STEEVENS.

6

-prefence] A prefence means a publick room, which is at times the prefence chamber of the fovereign. So, in the Neble Gentleman, by Beaumont and Fletcher, Jacques fays, his master is a duke, "His chamber hung with nobles, like a prefence." MASON.