Farewell! Be trusty, and I'll 'quite thy pains. Farewell! - Commend me to thy mistress. Nurse. Now, God in heaven bless thee! - Hark you, sir. Rom. What say'st thou, my dear nurse? Nurse. Is your man secret? Did you ne'er hear say, Two may keep counsel, putting one away? Rom. I warrant thee; my man's as true as steel. Nurse. Well, sir; my mistress is the sweetest lady-Lord, Lord! - when 'twas a little prating thing, -O! There's a nobleman in town, one Paris, that would fain lay knife aboard; but she, good soul, had as lieve see a toad, a very toad, as see him. I anger her sometimes, and tell her that Paris is the properer man; but, I'll warrant you, when I say so she looks as pale as any clout in the varsal world. Doth not rosemary and Romeo begin both with a letter? R Rom. Ay, nurse; what of that? both with an R. Nurse. Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. is for the dog. 29 No; I know it begins with some other letter; and she hath the prettiest sententious of it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good to hear it. 29 The old copies read, "R is for the no;" dog having probably dropped out of the text. Tyrwhitt suggested the correction. Ben Jonson, in his English Grammar, says "Ris the dog's let ter, and hirreth in the sound." And Nashe, in Summer's Last Will and Testament, 1600, speaking of dogs: "They arre and barke at night against the moone." And Barclay, in his Ship of Fooles, pleasantly exemplifies it: "This man malicious which troubled is with wrath, [Exit. -Peter! Rom. Commend me to thy lady. Nurse. Ay, a thousand times. Pet. Anon. Nurse. Peter, take my fan, and go before.3 30 [Exeunt. SCENE V. CAPULET'S Garden. Enter JULIET. Jul. The clock struck nine, when I did send the nurse; In half an hour she promis'd to return. Perchance, she cannot meet him: that's not so.— O, she is lame! love's heralds should be thoughts,' Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams, Driving back shadows over lowering hills: Therefore do nimble-pinion'd doves draw love, And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings. Now is the sun upon the highmost hill Of this day's journey; and from nine till twelve My words would bandy her to my sweet love, But old folks, many feign as they were dead; 3) So the first quarto; the later copies have merely, “Before and space," instead of "Peter, take my fan, and go before." The speech is thus continued in the quarto of 1597: "And run more swift than hasty powder fir'd H. Enter the Nurse and PETER. O God, she comes! —O, honey nurse! what news! Hast thou met with him? Send thy man away. Nurse. Peter, stay at the gate. [Exit PETER Jul. Now, good sweet nurse, O Lord! why look'st thou sad? Though no vs be sad, yet tell them merrily; Nurse. I am aweary, give me leave awhile. Fie, how my bones ache! What a jaunt have I had! Jul. I would thou hadst my bones, and I thy news: Nay, come, I pray thee, speak ;—good, good nurse, speak. Nurse. Jesu, what haste! can you not stay awhile? Do you not see, that I am out of breath? Jul. How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath To say to me, that thou art out of breath? The excuse that thou dost make in this delay Nurse. Well, you have made a simple choice; you know not how to choose a man: Romeo! no not he; though his face be better than any man's, yet his leg excels all men's; and for a hand, and a foot, and a body, though they be not to be talk'd on, yet they are past compare. He is not the flower of courtesy, — but I'll warrant him as gentle -- as a lamb. — Go thy ways, wench: serve God.-What! have you dined at home? Jul. No, no: But all this did I know before; What says he of our marriage? what of that? Nurse. Lord, how my head aches! what a head have I! It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces. My back! o' t'other side,- O, my back, my back Jul. I'faith, I am sorry that thou art not well: Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my Nurse. Your love says like an honest gentleman, And a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome, And, I warrant, a virtuous. Where is your mother? Jul. Where is my mother?- why, she is within, Where should she be? How oddly thou repli'st! "Your love says like an honest gentleman, Where is your mother?" Nurse. O, God's lady dear! Are you so hot? Marry, come up, I trow: Is this the poultice for my aching bones ? Henceforward do your messages yourself. Jul. Here's such a coil! Come, what says meo ? Ro Nurse. Have you got leave to go to shrift to-day? Jul. I have. Nurse. Then hie you hence to friar Laurence cell; There stays a husband to make you a wife Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks; Must climb a bird's nest soon, when it is dark: Jul. Hie to high fortune! — honest nurse, farewell. [Exeunt SCENE VI. Friar LAURENCE's Cell. Enter Friar LAURENCE and ROMEO. Fri. So smile the heavens upon this holy act, That after-hours with sorrow chide us not! Rom. Amen, amen! but, come what sorrow can, It cannot countervail the exchange of joy That one short minute gives me in her sight: Do thou but close our hands with holy words, Then love-devouring death do what he dare; It is enough I may but call her mine. Fri. These violent delights have violent ends, And in their triumph die; like fire and powder, Which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey Is loathsome in his own deliciousness, And in the taste confounds the appetite : Therefore, love moderately; long love doth so; Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow. Enter JULIET. Here comes the lady:-O! so light a foot This scene was entirely rewritten after the first quarto, and in this place not improved. The passage originally stood thus: Youth's love is quick, swifter than swiftest speed. See where she comes! So light a foot ne'er hurts the trodden flower: Of love and joy, see, see, the sovereign power" |