The pretty wretch left crying, and said—Ay. La. Cap. Enough of this; I pray thee, hold thy peace. Nurse. Yes, madam; yet I cannot choose but2 laugh, To think it should leave crying, and say-Ay. Yea, quoth my husband, fall'st upon thy face? Jul. And stint thou too, I pray thee, nurse, say I. Nurse. Peace, I have done. God mark thee to his grace! Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed; I have my wish. La. Cap. Marry, that marry is the very theme I'd Nurse. An honor! were not I thine only nurse, say thou hadst sucked wisdom from thy teat. La. Cap. Well, think of marriage now; younger than you, Here in Verona, ladies of esteem, Are made already mothers; by my count, I was your mother much upon these years That you are now a maid. Thus, then, in brief;— Nurse. A man, young lady! Lady, such a man, 1 To stint is to stop. 2 This tautologous speech is not in the first quarto of 1597. La. Cap. Verona's summer hath not such a flower. This night you shall behold him at our feast; And see how one another lends content; The fish lives in the sea; and 'tis much pride, That book in many's eyes doth share the glory, Nurse. No less? nay, bigger; women grow by men. La. Cap. Speak briefly, can you like of Paris' love? Jul. I'll look to like, if looking liking move; But no more deep will I endart 5 mine eye, Than your consent gives strength to make it fly. Enter a Servant. Serv. Madam, the guests are come, supper served up, you called, my young lady asked for, the nurse 1 After this speech of the nurse, lady Capulet, in the old quarto, says only: "Well, Juliet, how like you of Paris' love?" She answers, "I'll look to like," &c.; and so concludes the scene. 2 Thus the quarto of 1599. The quarto of 1609 and the folio read, several lineaments. 3 The comments on ancient books were generally printed in the margin. 4 Dr. Farmer explains this, "The fish is not yet caught.” Fish-skin covers to books anciently were not uncommon. 5 The quarto of 1597 reads engage mine eye. cursed in the pantry, and every thing in extremity. I must hence to wait; I beseech you, follow straight. La. Cap. We follow thee.-Juliet, the county stays. Nurse. Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. A Street. Enter ROMEO, MERCUTIO,' BENVOLIO, with five or six maskers, torch-bearers, and others. Rom. What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse? Or shall we on without apology? Ben. The date is out of such prolixity. But, let them measure us by what they will, Rom. Give me a torch.5-I am not for this ambling. Being but heavy, I will bear the light. Mer. Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance. Rom. Not I, believe me; you have dancing shoes, With nimble soles; I have a soul of lead, So stakes me to the ground, I cannot move. 1 Shakspeare appears to have formed this character on the following slight hint: "Another gentleman, called Mercutio, which was a courtlike gentleman, very well beloved of all men, and by reason of his pleasant and courteous behavior was in all companies well entertained.”— Painter's Palace of Pleasure, tom. ii. p. 221. 2 "Introductory speeches are out of date or fashion." 3 The Tartarian bows resemble, in their form, the old Roman or Cupid's bow, such as we see on medals and bass-relief. 4 See King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6. 5 A torch-bearer was a constant appendage to every troop of maskers. To hold a torch was anciently no degrading office. To soar with his light feathers; and so bound, Under love's heavy burden do I sink. Mer. And, to sink in it, should you burden love; Too great oppression for a tender thing. Rom. Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boisterous; and it pricks like thorn. Mer. If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.— Give me a case to put my visage in. A visor for a visor !-What care I, [Putting on a mask. What curious eye doth quote1 deformities? Ben. Come, knock, and enter; and no sooner in, But every man betake him to his legs. Rom. A torch for me. Let wantons, light of heart, Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels; For I am proverbed with a grandsire phrase,- The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done. Mer. Tut! dun's the mouse, the constable's own If thou art dun, we'll draw thee from the mire1 1 To quote is to note, to mark. 2 It has been before observed, that the apartments of our ancestors were strewed with rushes; and so, it seems, was the ancient stage. 3 To hold the candle is a common proverbial expression for being an idle spectator. There is another old prudential maxim subsequently alluded to, which advises to give over when the game is at the fairest. 4 Dun is the mouse, is a proverbial saying, to us of vague signification, alluding to the color of the mouse, but frequently employed with no other intent than that of quibbling on the word done. Why it is attrib.uted to a constable we know not. To draw dun out of the mire was a rural pastime, in which dun meant a dun horse, supposed to be stuck in the mire, and sometimes represented by one of the persons who played, at others, by a log of wood. Mr. Gifford has described the game at which he remembers often to have played, in a note to Ben Jonson's Masque of Christmas, vol. vii. p. 282. 5 This proverbial phrase was applied to superfluous actions in general. Mer. Rom. And we mean well, in going to this mask ; But 'tis no wit to go. Mer. And so did I. That dreamers often lie. Rom. Well, what was yours? Mer. Rom. In bed, asleep, while they do dream things true. Mer. O, then, I see, queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies' midwife; 2 and she comes In shape no bigger than an agate-stone On the fore-finger of an alderman,3 Drawn with a team of little atomies 1 Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep: Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners' legs; The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers; The traces, of the smallest spider's web; The collars, of the moonshine's watery beams: Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film: Her wagoner, a small, gray-coated gnat, Not half so big as a round little worm Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid: Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut, Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub, Time out of mind the fairies' coach-makers. And in this state she gallops night by night Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love : On courtiers' knees, that dream on court'sies straight: 1 The quarto of 1597 reads, "Three times a-day;" and right wits instead of five wits. 2 The fairies' midwife does not mean the midwife to the fairies, but that she was the person among the fairies whose department it was to deliver the fancies of sleeping men of their dreams, those children of an idle brain. Warburton reads, "the fancy's midwife." 3 The quarto of 1597 has "of a burgomaster." The citizens of Shakspeare's time appear to have worn this ornament on the thumb. 4 Atomies for atoms. |