Rom. I do proteft, I never injur'd thee, Mer. O calm, dishonourable, vile fubmiffion! Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk ? Tyb. What wouldst thou have with me? Mer. Good King of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives, that I mean to make bold withal; and as you shall ufe me hereafter, dry-beat the rest of the eight. Will you pluck your fword out of his pilcher by the ears? Make hafte, left mine be about ears ere it be out. your [Drawing: Tyb. I am for you. [Mercutio and Tybalt fight. Rom. Draw, Benvolio,-beat down their weapons Gentlemen-for fhame, forbear this outrage Tybalt-Mercutio-the Prince expresly hath Forbidden bandying in Verona ftreets. Hold, Tybalt,good Mercutio. [Exit Tybalt. A plague on both the houses! I am sped. Is he gone, and hath nothing? Ben. What, art thou hurt? Mer. Ay, ay, a fcratch, a fcratch; marry, 'tis enough. Where is my page? go, villain, fetch a furgeon. The hurt cannot be much. Mer. No, 'tis not fo deep as a well, nor fo wide as a church-door, but 'tis enough, 'twill ferve. Afk for 9 Will you pluck your fword out of his PILCHER by the ears?] We should read PILCHE, which fignifies a cloke or coat of skins, meaning the fcabbard. WARBURTON. me me to-morrow, and you fhall find me a grave man. I am pepper'd, I warrant, for this world. A plague on both your houses! What? a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to fcratch a man to death? a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetick? Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm. Rom. I thought all for the best. Mer. Help me into fome houfe, Benvolio, I have it, and foundly too. Plague o' your houses! [Exeunt Mercutio and Benvolio. SCENE II. Rom. This Gentleman, the Prince's near allie, Enter Benvolio. Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead; That gallant fpirit hath afpir'd the clouds, Which too untimely here did fcorn the earth. Rom. This day's black fate on more days does depend; This but begins the woe, others must end. • This day's black fate on more days does depend;] This day's unhappy destiny bangs over the days yet to come. There will Enter Tybalt. Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again. Rom. Alive? in Triumph? and Mercutio nain? Away to heav'n, refpective lenity, And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now! Tyb. Thou, wretched boy, that didft confort him here, Shalt with him hence. Rom. This fhall determine that. [They fight, Tybalt falls. Ben. Romeo, away. Begone: The citizens are up, and Tybalt flainStand not amaz❜d. The Prince will doom thee death, If thou art taken. Hence. Begone. Away. Rom. Oh! I am fortune's fool. Ben. Why dost thou stay? SCENE III. Enter Citizens. [Exit Romeo. Cit. Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio? Ob! I am fortune's fool.] I am always running in the way of evil fortune, like the fool in a VOL. VIII. play. Thou art death's fool: in Meafure for Meafure. See Dr. Warburton's Note. F Cit. Cit. Up, Sir. Go with me. I charge thee in the Prince's name, obey. Enter Prince, Montague, Capulet, their Wives, &c. Prin. Where are the vile beginners of this fray? Ben. O noble Prince, I can discover all Th' unlucky manage of this fatal brawl. There lies the man, flain by young Romeo, That flew thy kinfman, brave Mercutio. La. Cap. Tybalt, my coufin! O my brother's child! Prince, O-coufin-husband-O-the blood is fpill'd Of my dear kinfman. Prince, as thou art true, For blood of ours, fhed blood of Montague. O! coufin, coufin. Prin. Benvolio, who began this fray? Ben. Tybalt, here flain, whom Romeo's hand did flay; Romeo, that spoke him fair, bid him bethink * How nice the quarrel was, and urg'd withal With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd, 3 as thou art true,] As thou art juft and upright. 4 How nice the quarrel-] How fight, how unimportant, how petty. So in the last Act, The letter was not nice, but full of charge Of dear import. Hold, Hold, friends! friends, part! and, fwifter than his tongue, His agile arm beats down their fatal points, This is the truth, or let Benvolio die. La. Cap. He is a kinfman to the Montagues, Prin. Romeo flew him, he flew Mercutio; His fault concludes but what the law should end, Prin. And for that offence, I have an interest in your hearts' proceeding, Affection makes him falfe. ] The charge of falfhood on Bentivolis, though produced at hazard, is very juft. The authour, who feems to intend the character of Bentivolio as good, meant perhaps to fhew, how the best minds, in a state of faction and difcord, are detorted to criminal partiality. But 6 I have an intereft in your hearts' proceeding,] Sir Th. Hanmer faw that this line gave no sense, and therefore put, by a very eafy change, I have an intereft in your heat's proceeding. Which is undoubtedly better than the old reading which Dr. Warburton has followed; but the F 2 fenfe |