I warrant, for this world.-A plague o' both your houses!— What, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I was hurt under your arm. Rom. I thought all for the best. Mer. Help me into some house, Benvolio, Or I shall faint.--A plague o' both your houses, I have it, and soundly too :-Your houses. [Exeunt MERCUTIO and BENVOLIO. Rom. This gentleman, the prince's near ally, Re-enter BENVOLIO. Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead; That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds, Which too untimely here did scorn the earth. Rom. This day's black fate on more days doth depend; This but begins the woe, others must end. Re-enter TYBALT. Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again. Rom. Alive! in triumph! and Mercutio slain! Away to heaven, respective lenity, с And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!— Now, Tybalt, take the "villain" back again, Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him. C b So (4); (C) and folio, he gone. Fire-eyed. So (4); the folio and (C) have fire and fury. Tyb. Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here, Shalt with him hence. Rom. This shall determine that. [They fight; TYBALT falls. Ben. Romeo, away, be gone! The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain:- Stand not amaz'd :—the prince will doom thee death, If thou art taken :-hence !-be gone!-away! Rom. Oh! I am fortune's fool! Ben. Why dost thou stay? [Exit ROMEO. Enter Citizens, &c. 1 Cit. Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio? Tybalt, that murtherer, which way ran he? Ben. There lies that Tybalt. 1 Cit. Up, sir, go with me; I charge thee in the prince's name, obey. Enter PRINCE, attended; MONTAGUE, CAPULET, their Wives, and others. Prin. Where are the vile beginners of this fray? That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio. La. Cap. Tybalt, my cousin! O my brother's child! O cousin, cousin! Prin. Benvolio, who began this fray? Ben. Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay; Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink "O cousin, a So (C) and folio; (D), " unhappy sight, ah me," and in that copy, cousin!" in the third line beyond, is omitted. All the modern editors, in this and in other passages, have adopted the arbitrary course of making up a text out of the first quarto and the quarto of 1599, without regard to the important circumstance that this later edition was "newly corrected, augmented, and amended,”—and that the folio, in nearly every essential particular, follows it. a How nice the quarrel was, and urg'd withal Your high displeasure :-All this—uttered With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd,— Of Tybalt, deaf to peace, but that he tilts Retorts it: Romeo he cries aloud, Hold, friends! friends, part! and swifter than his tongue, His agile arm beats down their fatal points, And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life La. Cap. He is a kinsman to the Montague, Prin. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio; Mon. Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend; His fault concludes but what the law should end, The life of Tybalt. Prin. And for that offence, Immediately we do exile him hence: b I have an interest in your hate's proceeding, My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a bleeding; But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine, Nor tears, nor prayers, shall purchase out abuses, SCENE II.-A Room in Capulet's House. Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, b Juliet's soliloquy ends here in the first quarto. The common reading, which is that of all the old copies, is "That runaways' eyes may weep." [Exeunt. This passage has been a perpetual source of contention to the commentators. Their difficulties are well represented by Warburton's question-" What runaways are these, whose eyes Juliet is wishing to have stopped?" Warburton says Phœbus is the runaway. Steevens proves that Night is the runaway. Douce thinks that Juliet is the runaway. It has been suggested to us that in several early poems Cupid is styled Runaway. Monck Mason is confident that the passage ought to be, “That Renomy's eyes may wink," Renomy being a new personage, created out of the French Renommée, and answering, we suppose, to the "Rumour" of Spenser. An unlearned compositor, Zachary Jackson, suggests that runaways is a misprint for The word unawares, in the old orthography, is unawayres (it is so spelt in 'The Third Part of Henry VI.'), and the r, having been misplaced, produced this word of puzzle, runawayes. We have not the least hesitation in adopting Jackson's reading; and we have the authority of a very clever article in Blackwood's Magazine' (July, 1819) for a general testimony to the value of Jackson's book; and the equally valuable authority of a most accomplished friend, who called our attention to this particular reading, as settled by the common sense of the printer. unawares. 6 Thou sober-suited matron, all in black, And learn me how to lose a winning match, Hood my unmann'd blood bating in my cheeks, Come, night!-Come, Romeo! come, thou day in night! Whiter than new snow upon a raven's back.— To an impatient child, that hath new robes And may not wear them. O, here comes my nurse, Enter Nurse, with cords. And she brings news; and every tongue, that speaks Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there? the cords That Romeo bade thee fetch? Nurse. Ay, ay, the cords. [Throws them down. Jul. Ah me! what news! why dost thou wring thy hands? Nurse. Ah well-a-day! he's dead, he's dead, he's dead! We are undone, lady, we are undone ! Alack the day!—he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead!— Jul. Can Heaven be so envious? Nurse. Romeo can, Though Heaven cannot :-O Romeo, Romeo! Whoever would have thought it?—Romeo! a Unmann'd-a term of falconry. To man a hawk is to accustom her to the falconer who trains her. VOL. VII. 2 A |