wood to my dug, fitting i' the fun under the Dovehoufe wall, my lord and you were then at Mantua. -Nay, I do bear a brain.-But, as I faid, when it did tafte the worm-wood on the nipple of my dug, and felt it bitter, pretty fool! to fee it teachy, and fall out with the dug. Shake, quoth the Dove-houfeit was no need, I trow, to bid me trudge: and fince that time it is eleven years: for then she could ftand alone; nay, by the rood, fhe could have run, and waddled all about; for even the day before, fhe 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, Juli? 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 should live a thoufand years, I never should not forget it: Wilt thou not, Juli, quoth he? and, pretty fool, 2 it ftinted, and said, ay. La. Cap. Enough of this, I pray thee, hold thy peace. 3 Nurfe. Yes, Madam; yet I cannot chufe but laugh, to think it fhould leave crying, and fay, ay; and yet, I warrant, it had upon its brow a bump as big as a young cockrel's ftone; a perilous knock, and it cried bitterly. Yea, quoth my husband, fall'st upon it finted,] i. e. it ftopped, it forbore from weeping. So Sir Thomas North, in his tranflation of Plutarch, fpeaking of the wound which Anthony received, fays," for the blood ftinted a little when he was laid."—So in Titus Andronicus, "He can at pleasure fint their melody." Again, in The Revenger's Tragedy, 1607: 46 a letter "New bleeding from their pens, fcarce ftinted yet." Again, in Cynthia's Revenge, by Ben Jonfon, "Stint thy babbling tongue.' STEEVENS. 3 Nurfe. Yes, Madam; yet I cannot chufe, &c.] This fpeech and tautology is not in the firft edition. POPE. thy face? thou wilt fall backward when thou comeft to age; wilt thou not, Juli? it ftinted, and faid, ay. Jul. And ftint thee too, I pray thee nurfe, fay I. Nurfe. Peace, I have done: God mark thee to his grace! Thou waft the prettiest babe, that e'er I nurst, La. Cap. Marry, that marry is the very theme Jul. 4 It is an honour that I dream not of. Nurfe. An honour? were not I thine only nurse, I'd fay, thou hadft fuck'd wisdom from thy teat. 5 La. Cap. Well, think of marriage now; younger than you Here in Verona, ladies of efteem, Are made already mothers. By my count, I was your mother much upon thefe years That you are now a maid. Thus, then, in brief, The valiant Paris feeks you for his love. Nurfe. A man, young lady! lady, fuch a man As all the world-Why, he's a man of wax. La. Cep. Verona's fummer hath not fuch a flower. Nurje. Nay, he's a flower; in faith, a very flower. 4 It is an honour] The modern editors allread, it is an honour. I have reftored the genuine word, which is more feemly from a girl to her mother. Your, fire, and fuch words as are vulgarly uttered in two fyllables, are used as diffyllables by Shakespeare. JOHNSON. The first quarto reads benour; the folio hour. I have chofen the reading of the quarto. STEEVENS. 5 Inftead of this fpeech, the quarte, 1597, has only one line; "Well, girl, the noble County Paris feeks thee for his wife." STEEVENS. After this fpeech of the Nurfe, Lady Capulet in the old quarto fays only, "Well, Juliet, how like you of Paris' love?" She answers, "I'll look to that, &c." and fo concludes the fcene, without the intervention of that ftuff to be found in the later quartos and the folio. STEEVENS. 2 • La. Cap. La. Cap. What fay you? can you like the gen tleman ? This night you fhall behold him at our feast : And fee, how one another lends content; This precious book of love, this unbound lover, The fish lives in the fea; and 'tis much pride, That book in many's eyes doth fhare the glory, Nurfe. No lefs? Nay, bigger; women grow by men. 7 La. Cap. What fay you, &c.] This ridiculous speech is entirely added fince the first edition. POPE. Examine ev'ry fev'ral lineament,] The quarto, 1599, reads, every married lineament.-Shakespeare meant by this laft phrase, Examine how nicely one feature depends upon another, or accords with another, in order to produce that harmony of the whole face which feems to be implied in content.—In Troilus and Creffida, he fpeaks of "the married calm of states." STEEVENS. That in gold clafps locks in the golden ftory] The golden flory is perhaps the golden legend, a book in the darker ages of popery much read, and doubtlefs often exquifitely embellifhed, but of which Canus, one of the popish doctors, proclaims the author to have been homo ferrei oris, plumbei cordis. JOHNSON. Enter Enter a Servant. 10 Serv. Madam, the guests are come, fupper ferv'd up, you call'd, my young lady afk'd for, the nurse curft in the pantry, and every thing in extremity. I muft hence to wait; I befeech you follow ftrait. La. Cap. We follow thee.-Juliet, the County stays. Nurfe. Go, girl, feek happy nights to happy days. [Exeunt. SCENE IV.. Enter Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, with five or fix Mafkers, Torch-bearers, and others. Rom. What, fhall this speech be spoke for our excufe? Or fhall we on without apology? Ben. The date is out of fuch prolixity. We'll 10 To this fpeech there are likewife additions fince the elder quarto, but they are not of fufficient confequence to be quoted. STEEVENS. The date is out of fuch prolixity.] i. e. Mafks are now out of fashion. That Shakespeare was an enemy to these fooleries, appears from his writing none; and that his plays difcredited fuch entertainments is more than probable. But in James's time, that reign of falfe tafte as well as falfe politics, they came again in fashion; and a deluge of this affected nonfenfe overflowed the court and country. WARBURTON. The diverfion going forward at prefent is not a masque but a mafquerade. In Henry VIII. where the king introduces himself to the entertainment given by Wolfey, he appears like Romeo and his companions in a mask, and fends a meffenger before, to make an apology for his intrufion. This was a custom obferved by those who came uninvited, with a defire to conceal themfelves for the fake of intrigue, or to enjoy the greater freedom of converfation. Their entry on thefe occafions was always prefaced by fome fpeech in praife of the beauty of the ladies, or the generosity of the entertainer; and to the prolixity of fuch introductions I believe 2 We'll have no Cupid, hood-wink'd with a scarf, Rom. Give me a torch, 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 fhoes With nimble foles; I have a foul of lead. So stakes me to the ground, I cannot move. believe Romeo is made to allude. In the accounts of many entertainments given in reigns antecedent to that of Elizabeth, I find this custom preferved. Of the fame kind of masquerading, fee a fpecimen in Timon, where Cupid precedes a troop of ladies with a speech. STEEVENS. 2-like a crow-keeper ;] The word crow-keeper is explained in Lear. JOHNSON. 3 Nor no without-book prologue, &c.] The two following lines are inferted from the first edition. POPE. 4 Give me a torch,] The character which Romeo declares his resolution to affume, will be beft explained by a paffage in Weftward Hoe, by Decker and Webster, 1607: "He is juft "like a torch-bearer to mafkers; he wears good cloaths, and "is ranked in good company, but he doth nothing." A torch-bearer seems to have been a conftant attendant on every perfon masked. So in the fecond part of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, 1601, 66 As on a mafque; but for our torch-bearers, Again, in the fame play, a gallant crew, "Of courtly makers landed at the stairs, Again, in the Merchant of Venice, "We have not spoke as yet of torch-bearers." STEEVENS, |