I have done; for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits, than, I am sure, I have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goose? Rom. Thou wast never with me for any thing, when thou wast not there for the goose. Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jest Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting; 15 most sharp sauce. it is a Rom. And is it not well serv'd in to a sweet goose? Mer. O here's a wit of cheverel,16 that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad. Rom. I stretch it out for that word-broad; which added to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose. Mer. Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature for this drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole." Ben. Stop there, stop there. 66 gether, and whichever rider could get the lead, the other rider was obliged to follow him wherever he chose to go. This explains the pleasantry kept up here. My wits fail," says Mercutio. Romeo exclaims briskly, Switch and spurs, switch and spurs." To which Mercutio rejoins, "Nay, if our wits run the wild goose chase," &c. 15 The allusion is to an apple of that name. 18 Soft stretching leather, kid-skin. See King Henry VIII., Act ii. sc. 3, note 2. 17 Natural was often used, as it still is, for a fool. The bauble was the professional fool's "staff of office." See All's Well that Ends Well Act iv. sc. 5, note 3; and Titus Andronicus, Act sc. 1, note 4. H. Mer. Thou desirest me stop in my tale against the hair.' 18 Ben. Thou would'st else have made thy tale large. Mer. O, thou art deceiv'd! I would have made it short; for I was come to the whole depth of my tale, and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer. Rom. Here's goodly gear Enter the Nurse and PETER. Mer. A sail, a sail! Ben. Two, two; a shirt, and a smock. Nurse. Peter, pr'ythee, give me my fan.19 Mer. 'Pr'ythee, do, good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan's the fairer of the two.20 Nurse. God ye good morrow, gentlemen. Mer. God ye good den,"1 fair gentlewoman. Mer. 'Tis no less, I tell you; for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon.' 22 18 This phrase, of French extraction, à contre poil, occurs again in Troilus and Cressida: "Merry against the hair." 19 In The Serving Man's Comfort, 1598, we are informed, “The mistresse must have one to carry her cloake and hood, another her fanne." So in Love's Labour's Lost: "To see him walk before a lady, and to bear her fan." 20 We here follow the quarto of 1597. In the other old copies we have the passage thus: "Nurse. Peter. - Peter. Anon. Nurse. My fan, Peter. - Mer. Good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan's the fairer face." Divers modern editions have compounded a third reading out of the two; which is hardly allowable anywhere, and something worse than useless here, even if it were allowable. H. 21 That is, "God give you a good even." The first of these contractions is common in our old dramas. 22 That is, the point of noon. So in Bright's Charactery, or Arte of Short Writing, 1588: "If the worde end in ed, as I loved, Nurse. Out upon you! what a man are you? Rom. One, gentlewoman, that God hath made for himself to mar. 23 Nurse. By my troth, it is well said: For himself to mar, quoth'a? — Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I may find the young Romeo? Rom. I can tell you; but young Romeo will be older when you have found him, than he was when you sought him. I am the youngest of that name, for 'fault of a worse. Nurse. You say well. Mer. Yea! is the worst well very well took, i'faith; wisely, wisely. Nurse. If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with you. Ben. She will indite him to some supper. Mer. A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! So ho! Rom. What hast thou found? Mer. No hare, sir; unless a hare, sir, in a lenten pie, that is something stale and hoar ere it be spent. An old hare hoar, and an old hare hoar,24 Is very good meat in lent: But a hare that is hoar, is too much for a score, Romeo, will you come to your father's? we'll to dinner thither. Rom. I will follow you. then make a pricke in the character of the word on the left side." See 3 Henry VI., Act i. sc. 4, note 3. 23 The preposition for is from the first quarto. The repetition of it by the Nurse shows that it was not rightly left out of the other old copies. H. 24 Hoar, or hoary, is often used for mouldy, as things grow white from moulding. These lines seem to have been part of an old song. In the quarto of 1597, we have this stage direction: "He walks by them and sings." Mer. Farewell, ancient lady; farewell, lady, lady, lady.25 [Exeunt MERCU. and BENVO. Nurse. Marry, farewell! I pray you, sir, what saucy merchant was this, that was so full of his ropery ? 26 Rom. A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk; and will speak more in a minute, than he will stand to in a month. Nurse. An 'a speak any thing against me, I'll take him down, an 'a were lustier than he is, and twenty such Jacks; and if I cannot, I'll find those that shall. Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirtgills; I am none of his skains-mates.2 And thou must stand by, too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure? Pet. I saw no man use you at his pleasure: if 1 had, my weapon should quickly have been out, 1 warrant you. I dare draw as soon as another man, if I see occasion in a good quarrel, and the law on my side. Nurse. Now, afore God, I am so vex'd, that 25 The burthen of an old song. See Twelth Night, Act ii. sc. 3. 26 Ropery appears to have been sometimes used in the sense of roguery; perhaps meaning tricks deserving the rope, that is, the gallows; as rope-tricks, in The Taming of the Shrew, Act i. sc. 2, note 10. So in The Three Ladies of London, 1584: “Thou art very pleasant, and full of thy roperye.” - Merchant was often used as a term of abuse. See 1 Henry VI., Act ii. sc. 3, note 4 - The words, Marry, farewell, are from the quarto of 1597. H. 27 By skains-mates the Nurse probably means swaggering companions. A skain, or skean, was an Irish knife or dagger, a weapon suitable to the purpose of ruffling fellows. Green, in his Quip for an Upstart Courtier, describes "an ill-favoured knave who wore by his side a skeine, like a brewer's bung knife." Mr Dyce thinks this explanation" cannot be right, because the Nurse is evidently speaking of Mercutio's female companions." We da not quite see how this should be decisive. H. every part about me quivers. -Scurvy knave ! — 'Pray you, sir, a word; and, as I told you, my young lady bade me inquire you out what she bade me say, I will keep to myself. But first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behaviour, as they say: for the gentlewoman is young; and therefore, you should deal double with her, truly, it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing. if Rom. Nurse, commend me to thy lady and mistress. I protest unto thee, Nurse. Good heart! and, i'faith, I will tell her as much. Lord, Lord! she will be a joyful woman. Rom. What wilt thou tell her, nurse? thou dost not mark me. Nurse. I will tell her, sir, that you do protest; which, as I take it, is a gentleman-like offer. Rom. Bid her devise some means to come to shrift This afternoon; And there she shall at friar Laurence' cell Be shriv'd, and married. Here is for thy pains. Nurse. No, truly, sir; not a penny. Rom. Go to; I say you shall. Nurse. This afternoon, sir? well, she shall be there. Rom. And stay, good nurse, behind the abbey wall: Within this hour my man shall be with thee, Must be my convoy in the secret night. 28 23 That is, like stairs of rope in the tackle of a ship. A stair for a flight of stairs was once common. |