Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Ben. No, coz, I rather weep.

Rom. Good heart, at what?

Ben. At thy good heart's oppreffion.

Rom. (2) Why, fuch is love's tranfgreffion.-
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breaft ;
Which thou wilt propagate, to have them preft
With more of thine; this love, that thou hast shown,
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a fmoke rais'd with the fume of fighs,
(3) Being purg'd, a fire fparkling in lovers' eyes;
(4) Being vext, a fea nourish'd with lovers' tears
What is it elfe? a madness most discreet,

[ocr errors]

A choaking gall, and a preferving fweet.
Farewel, my coufin.

Ben. Soft, I'll go along.

And if you leave me fo, you do me wrong.
Rom. Tut, I have loft myfelf, I am not here:
This is not Romeo, he's fome other where.
Ben. (5) Tell me in fadness who she is

[Going

you love?
Rom. What, fhall I groan and tell thee?
Ben, Groan? why, no; but fadly tell me, who.
Rom. Bid a fick man in fadness make his will?-
O word, ill urg'd to one that is fo ill!

In fadnefs, coufin, I do love a woman.

Ben. I aim'd fo near, when I fuppos'd you lov'd..
Rom. A right good marks-man ;-and fhe's fair, I
love.

Ben. A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.

(2) Why, fuch is love's trangreffion.-] Such is the confequence of unfkilful and mistaken kindne fs.

This line is probably mutilated, for being intended to rhyme to the line foregoing, it must have originally been complete in its measure.

(3) Being purg'd, a fire, sparkling in lovers' eyes;] The authour may mean being purg'd of fmuke, but it is perhaps a meaning never given to the word in any other place. I would rather read, Being urg'd, a fire fparkling. Being excited and inforced. urge the fire is the technical term.

Τα

(4) Being vex'd, &c.] As this line ftands fingle, it is likely that the foregoing or following line that rhym'd to it, is loft.

(5) Tell me in fadness-] That is tell me gravely, tell me in feriLoufness.

Rom

1

Rom. But, in that hit, you mifs; fhe'll not be hit With Cupid's arrow; fhe hath Dian's wit: And, (6) in ftrong proof of chastity well arm'd, From love's weak childish bow, the lives unharm'd. She will not stay the fiege of loving terms, Nor 'bide th' encounter of affailing eyes, Nor ope her lap to faint-feducing gold. O, the is rich in beauty; only poor,

That when the dies, (7) with Beauty dies her Store. Ben. Then he hath fworn, that he will still live chafte ?

(8) Rom. She hath, and in that Sparing makes huge

wafte

For beauty, ftarv'd with her feverity,
Cuts beauty off from all pofterity.

She is too fair, too wife, (9) too wifely fair,
To merit blifs by making me despair;

She hath forfworn to love, and in that vow
Do I live dead that live to tell it now.

Ben. Be rul'd by me, forget to think of her.
Rom. O, teach me how I fhould forget to think,
Ben. By giving liberty unto thine eyes;
Examine other Beauties.

Rom. 'Tis the way

To call hers exquifite in queftion more;
Those happy masks, that kifs fair ladies' brows,
Being black, puts us in mind they hide the fair;
He that is ftrucken blind, cannot forget
The precious treafure of his eye-fight loft.
Shew me a miftrefs, that is paffing fair,
What doth her beauty ferve, but as a note,

(6) in firong proof—] In chastity of proof, as we fay in armour of proof.

(7) with Beauty dies ber flore.] Mr. Theobald reads,

With her dies beauty's flore.] and is followed by the two fucceeding editors. I have replaced the old reading, becaufe I think it at least as plaufible as the correction. She s rick, fays he, in beauty, and only poor in being fubject to the lot of humanity, that ber flore, or riches, can be destroyed by death, who fhall, by the fame blow, put an end to beauty.

(8) Rom. She bath, and in that Sparing, &c.] None of the following fpeeches of this fcere are in the first edition of 1597. POPE. (9) too wifely fair,] Hanmer. For, wifely too fair.

Where

Where I may read, who pafs'd that paffing fair?
Farewel, thou canst not teach me to forget.
Ben. I'll pay that doctrine, or elfe die in debt.

SCENE III.

[Exeunt.

Enter Capulet, Paris, and Servant.
Cap. And Montague is bound as well as I,
In penalty alike, and 'tis not hard I think,
For men fo old as we to keep the peace.
Par. Of honourable reck'ning are you both,
And, pity 'tis, you liv'd at odds fo long.
But now, my Lord, what fay you to my Suit?
Cap. But faying o'er what I have faid before;
My child is yet a ftranger in the world,
She hath not seen the Change of fourteen years;
Let two more fummers wither in their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.

Par. Younger than the are happy mothers made.
Cap. And too foon marr'd are thofe fo early made.
The earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she;
(1) She is the hopeful lady of my earth,
But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart,
My will to her confent is but a part;
If fhe agree, within her scope of choice
Lies my confent, and fair according voice:
This night, I hold an old-accuftom'd Feast,
Whereto I have invited many a gueft,
Such as I love; and you, among the ftore,
One more, moft welcome, makes my number more.
At my poor houfe, look to behold this night

(2) Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven's light. Such

(1) She is the hopeful lady of my earth :] This line not in the first edition.

POPE.

The lady of bis earth is an expreffion not very intelligible, unless he means that he is heir to his eftate, and I fuppofe no man ever called his lands his earth. I will venture to propofe a bold change. She is the hope and stay of my full years.

(2) Earth-treading fars that make dark HEAVEN's light.] This nonfenfe should be reformed thus,

Earth treading fars that made dark EVEN light,

Such comfort as (3) do lufty young men feel,
When well apparel'd April on the heel
Of limping Winter treads, ev'n fuch delight
Among fresh female buds fhall you this night
Inherit at my houfe; hear all, all fee,

And like her moft, whose merit most shall be :
(4) Which on more view of many, mine, being one,
May ftand in number, tho' in reck'ning none.
Come, go with me. Go, firrah, trudge about,
Through fair Verona; find those perfons out,
Whofe names are written there; and to them fay,
My house and welcome on their pleasure stay.

[Exeunt Capulet and Paris. Serv. Find them out, whose names are written here? -It is written, that the Shoemaker fhould meddle with his Yard, and the Tailor with his Laft, the Fisher with his Pencil, and the Painter with his Nets. But I am fent to find thofe Perfons, whofe names are here writ; and can never find what names the writing perfon hath here writ. I muft to the Learned. good time,

In

i. e. When the evening is dark and without ftars, thefe earthly ftars fupply their place, and light it up. So again in this play Her beauty bangs upon the cheek of night,

Like a rich jewel in an Erbiop' ear.

WARBURTON.

But why nonfenfe? Is any thing more commonly faid, than that beauties eclipfe the fun? Has not Pepe the thought and the word? Sol through white curtains foot a tim'rous ray,

And ope'd thofe eyes that muft eclipfe the day.

Both the old and the new reading are philofophical nonfenfe, but they are both, and both equally, poetical fenfe.

(3) do lufty young men feel,] To fay, and to fay in pompouswords, that a young man fball feel as much in an affembly of beau ties, as young men feel in the month of April, is furely to waste found upon a very poor Tentiment. I read,

Such comfort as do lufty yeomen feel.

You fhall feel from the fight and converfation of thofe ladies, fuch hopes of happinefs and fuch pleasure, as the farmer receives from the fpring, when the plenty of the year begins, and the profpect of the harvest fills him with delight.

(4) Which on more view of many, mine, being one,

May ftand in number, tho' in reck'ning none.] The fift of thefe lines I do not understand. The old folio gives no help; the paffage is there, Which one more view. I can offer nothing better than this: Within your view of many, mine being one,

May ftand in number, &c.

Enter

Enter Benvolio and Romeo

Ben. Tut, man! one fire burns out another's burning,

One pain is leffen'd by another's Anguifh:

Turn giddy, and be help'd by backward turning, One defperare grief cure with another's Languish; Take thou fome new infection to the eye,

*

And the rank poifon of the old will die.

Rom. Your plantain leaf is excellent for that.
Ben. For what, I pray thee?

· Rom. For your broken fhin.

Ben. Why, Romeo, art thou mad?

Rom. Not mad, but bound more than a mad-man

is ;

is;

Shut up in prifon, kept without my food,

Whipt and tormented, and-Good-e'en, good fellow.

[To the Servant. Serv. God gi' good e'en.-I pray, Sir, can you read? Rom. Ay, mine own fortune in my mifery. Serv. Perhaps you have learn'd it without book. But, I pray,

Can you read any thing you fee?

Rom. Ay, if I know the letters and the language.
Serv. Ye fay honeftly. Reft you merry.-
Rom. Stay, fellow, I can read.

[He reads the lift.]

Signior Martino, and his wife and daughters; Count Anfelm, and his beauteous fifters; the lady widow of Vitruvio; Signior Placentio, and his lovely nieces; Mercutio and his brother Valentine: mine uncle Capulet, bis wife and Daughters; my fair niece Rofaline; Livia; Signior Valentio, and his coufin Tybalt; Lucio, and the lively Helena.

* Ben. Take thou fome new infection to the eye, And the rank poifon of the old will die.

Romeo. Your plantain leaf is excellent for that.] Tackius tells us, that a toad, before the engages with a fpider, will fortify herfelf with fome of that plant; and that if he comes off wounded, fhe cures herself afterwards with it. Dr. GRAY.

-A fair

« ZurückWeiter »