We must talk in secret--Nurse, come back again, Nurse. 'Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour. La. Cap. She's not fourteen. Nurse. I'll lay fourteen of my teeth, And yet, to my teen1 be it spoken, I have but four.- She is not fourteen. La. Cap. How long is it now A fortnight, and odd days. Nurse. Even or odd, of all days in the year, Susan and she-God rest all Christian souls! And since that time it is eleven years; 1 i. e. to my sorrow. The pretty wretch left crying, and said--Ay. La. Cap. Enough of this; I pray thee, hold thy peace. Nurse. Yes, madam; yet I cannot choose but laugh, To think it should leave crying, and say-Ay. Jul. And stint thou too, I pray thee, nurse, say I. grace! Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed; La. Cap. Marry, that marry is the very theme La. Cap. Well, think of marriage now; younger than you, Here in Verona, ladies of esteem, Are made already mothers; by my count, I was your mother much upon these years Nurse. A man, young lady! Lady, such a man, 1 To stint is to stop. 2 This tautologous speech is not in the first quarto of 1597. 3 i. e. as well made as if he had been modelled in wax. La. Cap. Verona's summer hath not such a flower. Nurse. Nay, he's a flower; in faith, a very flower.1 La. Cap. What say you? can you love the gen tleman ? This night you shall behold him at our feast; And see how one another lends content; That book in many's eyes doth share the glory, Nurse. No less? nay, bigger; women grow by men. La. Cap. Speak briefly, can you like of Paris' love? But no more deep will I endart 5 mine eye, Enter a Servant. Serv. Madam, the guests are come, supper served up, you called, my young lady asked for, the nurse cursed in the pantry, and every thing in extremity. I must hence to wait; I beseech you, follow straight. La. Cap. We follow thee. --Juliet, the county stays. Nurse. Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days. [Exeunt. 1 After this speech of the nurse, lady Capulet, in the old quarto, says only: "Well, Juliet, how like you of Paris' love?" She answers, "I'll look to like," &c.; and so concludes the scene. 2 Thus the quarto of 1599. The quarto of 1609 and the folio read, several lineaments. 3 The comments on ancient books were generally printed in the margin. 4 Dr. Farmer explains this, "The fish is not yet caught." Fish-skin covers to books anciently were not uncommon. 5 The quarto of 1597 reads engage mine eye. SCENE IV. A Street. Enter ROMEO, MERCUTIO, BENVOLIO, with five or six maskers, torch-bearers, and others. Rom. What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse ? Or shall we on without apology? Ben. The date is out of such prolixity.2 Rom. Give me a torch.5-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 shoes, With nimble soles; I have a soul of lead, So stakes me to the ground, I cannot move. Mer. You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings, And soar with them above a common bound. Rom. I am too sore enpierced with his shaft, 1 Shakspeare appears to have formed this character on the following slight hint:-"Another gentleman, called Mercutio, which was a courtlike gentleman, very well beloved of all men, and by reason of his pleasant and courteous behavior was in all companies well entertained."Painter's Palace of Pleasure, tom. ii. p. 221. 2 "Introductory speeches are out of date or fashion." 3 The Tartarian bows resemble, in their form, the old Roman or Cupid's bow, such as we see on medals and bass-relief. 4 See King Lear, Act iv. Sc. 6. 5 A torch-bearer was a constant appendage to every troop of maskers. To hold a torch was anciently no degrading office. To soar with his light feathers; and so bound, Under love's heavy burden do I sink. Mer. And, to sink in it, should you burden love; Too great oppression for a tender thing. Rom. Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boisterous; and it pricks like thorn. Mer. If love be rough with you, be rough with love, Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.--Give me a case to put my visage in. A visor for a visor! - What care I, [Putting on a mask. What curious eye doth quote1 deformities? Ben. Come, knock, and enter; and no sooner in, But every man betake him to his legs. Rom. A torch for me. Let wantons, light of heart, Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels; For I am proverbed with a grandsire phrase,I'll be a candle-holder, and look on, The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done. Mer. Tut! dun's the mouse, the constable's own word. If thou art dun, we'll draw thee from the mire 4 1 To quote is to note, to mark. 2 It has been before observed, that the apartments of our ancestors were strewed with rushes; and so, it seems, was the ancient stage. 3 To hold the candle is a common proverbial expression for being an idle spectator. There is another old prudential maxim subsequently alluded to, which advises to give over when the game is at the fairest. 4 Dun is the mouse, is a proverbial saying, to us of vague signification, alluding to the color of the mouse, but frequently employed with no other intent than that of quibbling on the word done. Why it is attributed to a constable we know not. To draw dun out of the mire was a rural pastime, in which dun meant a dun horse, supposed to be stuck in the mire, and sometimes represented by one of the persons who played, at others, by a log of wood. Mr. Gifford has described the game at which he remembers often to have played, in a note to Ben Jonson's Masque of Christmas, vol. vii. p. 282. 5 This proverbial phrase was applied to superfluous actions in general. |