uncle Capulet, his wife, and daughters; My fair niece Rofaline; Livia; Signior Valentio, and his coufin Tybalt; Lucio, and the lively Helena.

A fair affembly; [Gives back the Note.] Whither fhould they come ?

SERV. Up.

ROM. Whither?

SERV. To fupper; to our house.

ROM. Whofe house?

SERV. My mafter's.

ROM. Indeed, I fhould have afked you that before. SERV. Now I'll tell you without afking: My master is the great rich Capulet; and if you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray, come and crush a cup of wine. Reft you merry. [Exit. BEN. At this fame ancient feast of Capulet's Sups the fair Rofaline, whom thou so lov'st; With all the admired beauties of Verona : Go thither; and, with unattainted eye, Compare her face with fome that I fhall fhow, And I will make thee think thy fwan a crow.

To fupper; to our houfe.] The words to fupper are in the old copies annexed to the preceding fpeech. They undoubtedly belong to the Servant, to whom they were transferred by Mr. Theobald. MALONE.

7 crush a cup of wine.] This cant expreffion feems to have been once common among low people. I have met with it often in the old plays. So, in The Two angry Women of Abington, 1599:

"Fill the pot, hoftefs &c. and we'll crush it." Again, in Hoffman's Tragedy, 1631:

we'll crush a cup of thine own country wine." Again, in The Pinder of Wakefield, 1599, the Cobler fays: Come, George, we'll crush a pot before we part." We still say, in cant language-to crack a bottle.

STEEVENS

ROM. When the devout religion of mine eye Maintains fuch falsehood, then turn tears to fires! And these,-who, often drown'd, could never die,Transparent hereticks, be burnt for liars!

One fairer than my love! the all-feeing fun Ne'er faw her match, fince first the world begun.

BEN. Tut! you faw her fair, none else being by, Herfelf pois'd with herself in either eye: But in thofe cryftal fcales, let there be weigh'd Your lady's love against fome other maid That I will fhow you, fhining at this feast, And the shall scant fhow well, that now fhows best. ROM. I'll go along, no fuch fight to be shown, But to rejoice in fplendour of mine own. [Exeunt.

8

SCENE III.

A Room in Capulet's House.

Enter Lady CAPULET and Nurse.

LA. CAP. Nurfe, where's my daughter? call her forth to me.

NURSE. Now, by my maiden-head,-at twelve year old,

in thofe cryftal fcales,] The old copies have-that cryftal, &c. The emendation was made by Mr. Rowe. I am not fure that it is neceffary. The poet might have ufed Scales for the entire machine. MALONE.

let there be weigh'd

Your lady's love againft fome other maid-] Your lady's love is the love you bear to your lady, which in our language is commonly used for the lady herself. HEATH.

I bade her come.-What, lamb! what, lady-bird!God forbid!-where's this girl?-what, Juliet!

LA. CAP. This is the matter:-Nurse, give leave

awhile,

We must talk in fecret.-Nurse, come back again; I have remember'd me, thou shalt hear our counsel. Thou know'ft, my daughter's of a pretty age.

NURSE. 'Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour. LA. CAP. She's not fourteen.

Nurse.

And yet, to my teen four,

I'll lay fourteen of my teeth,
be it fpoken, I have but

She is not fourteen: How long is it now
To Lammas-tide?

LA. CAP.

A fortnight, and odd days.

NURSE. Even or odd, of all days in the year, Come Lammas-eve at night, fhall the be fourteen. Sufan and fhe,- God reft all Chriftian fouls!Were of an age.-Well, Sufan is with God; She was too good for me: But, as I faid,

On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen;

to my teen-] To my forrow. JOHNSON,

So, in Spenfer's Fairy Queen, B. I. c. ix:

for dread and doleful teen."

This old word is introduced by Shakspeare for the sake of the jingle between teen, and four, and fourteen. STEEVENS.

That fhall fhe, marry; I remember it well.
"Tis fince the earthquake now eleven years;
And she was wean'd,—I never fhall forget it,-
Of all the days of the year, upon that day:
For I had then laid wormwood to my dug,
Sitting in the fun under the dove-house wall,
My lord and you were then at Mantua :-
Nay, I do bear a brain: 3-but, as I faid,
When it did tafte the wormwood on the nipple
Of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretty fool!
To fee it tetchy, and fall out with the dug.
Shake, quoth the dove-houfe: 'twas no need, I trow,
To bid me trudge.

And fince that time it is eleven years:

'Tis fince the earthquake now eleven years;] But how comes the Nurfe to talk of an earthquake upon this occafion? There is no fuch circumftance, I believe, mentioned in any of the novels from which Shakspeare may be supposed to have drawn his story; and therefore it feems probable, that he had in view the earthquake, which had really been felt in many parts of England, in his own time, viz. on the 6th of April, 1580. [See Stowe's Chronicle, and Gabriel Harvey's Letter in the Preface to Spenfer's Works, edit. 1679.] If fo, one may be permit ted to conjecture, that Romeo and Juliet, or this part of it at leaft, was written in 1591; after the 6th of April, when the eleven years fince the earthquake were completed; and not later than the middle of July, a fortnight and odd days before Lam mas-tide. TYRWHITT.

3 Nay, I do bear a brain:] That is, I have a perfect remem brance or recollection. So, in The Country Captain, by the Duke of Newcastle, 1649, p. 51: "When thefe wordes, of command are rotten, wee will fow fome other military feedes} you beare a braine and memory." REED.

So, in Ram-Alley, or Merry Tricks, 1611:

Dafh, we must bear fome brain.” Again, in Marston's Dutch Courtefan, 1604; nay an I bear not a brain,-"

Again, in Heywood's Golden Age, 1611:

"As I can bear a pack, fo I can bear a brain."

STEEVENS.

For then the could ftand alone; nay, by the rood,
She could have run and waddled all about.
For even the day before, the broke her brow:
And then my husband-God be with his foul!
'A was a merry man ;-took up the child:
Yea, quoth he, doft thou fall upon thy face?
Thou wilt fall backward, when thou haft more wit;
Wilt thou not, Jule? and, by my holy-dam,
The pretty wretch left crying, and faid—Ay :
To fee now, how a jeft fhall come about!

I warrant, an I fhould live a thousand

years, I never fhould forget it; Wilt thou not Jule? quoth

he:

And, pretty fool, it ftinted,5 and faid-Ay.

LA. CAP. Enough of this; I pray thee, hold thy

peace.

NURSE. Yes, madam; Yet I cannot choofe but laugh,"

could ftand alone;] The 4to. 1597, reads: "could ftand high lone," i. e. quite alone, completely alone. So, in another of our author's plays, high fantastical means entirely fantaftical. STEEVENS.

5-it fiinted,] i. e. it stopped, it forbore from weeping. So, Sir Thomas North, in his tranflation of Plutarch, speaking of the wound which Antony received, fays: " for the blood ftinted a little when he was laid."

Again, in Cynthia's Revels, by Ben Jonfon:
Stint thy babbling tongue."

Again, in What you will, by Marston, 1607:
"Pith for fhame, fiint thy idle chat."

Again, in The Misfortunes of King Arthur, an ancient drama, 1587:

<< Fame's but a blast that sounds a while, "And quickly flints, and then is quite forgot." Spenfer uses this word frequently in his Fairy Queen.

STEEVENS.

Nurfe. Yes, madam; Yet I cannot choose &c.] This speech and tautology is not in the first edition. POPE.