S CE N E III. Capulets. aloof; Page. I am almost afraid to stand alone [Strewing flowers. Sweet tomb, that in thy circuit doft contain The perfect model of eternity, 9 Fair Juliet, that with angels dost remain, Accept this latest favour at my hand; That living honour'd thee, and, being dead, With funeral praises doth adorn thy tomb! [The boy whistles. s Fair Juliet, that with angels, &c.] These four lines from the old edition. Pope. The folio has these lines; “ Sweet flow'r, with Aow'rs thy bridal bed I ftrew; “ O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones, " Or wanting that, with tears distill’d by moans. JOHNSON. Mr. Pope has followed no copy at all; but took the first and fourth lines from the first quarto, omitting the two intermediate ones, which I have restored. STEEVENS. The -The boy gives warning ; something doth ap proach. Enter Romeo, and Balthafar with a light. iron. Balth. I will be gone, Sir, and not trouble you. thou that: Balth. For all this fame, I'll hide me hereabout. His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt. (Exit Balth. Rom. Thou detestable maw, thou womb of death, Gorg'd with the dearest morsel of the earth, - dear employment.] That is, aftion of importance. Gems were supposed to have great powers and virtues. Johnson. • Here the speech concludes in the old copy. ŠTEEVENS. Thus Thus I inforce thy rotten jaws to open, [Breaking up the monument. And, in despight, I'll cram thee with more food! Par. This is that banish'd haughty Montague, That murder'd my love's cousin ; with which grief, It is supposed, the fair creature dy'd, And here is come to do some villainous shame To the dead bodies: I will apprehend him.Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague, Can vengeance be pursu'd further than death? Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee : Obey, and go with me, for thou must die. Rom. I must, indeed; and therefore came I hitherGood gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man; Fly hence and leave me. --Think upon these gone, Let them affright thee.-I beseech thee, youth, Pull not another sin upon my head, By urging me to fury.-Oh be gone! By heaven, I love thee better than myself; For I come hither arm'd against myself. Stay not, be gone :-Live, and hereafter say, A madman's mercy bade thee run away. Par. 3 I do defy thy conjuration, And apprehend thee for a felon here. Rom. Wilt thou provoke me ? then have at thee, boy. [They fight, Paris falls . 3 The old quarto reads, I do defy thy conjuration,] Tho' I have rarely pronounced that any word I did not like was an interpolation of the players, yet I cannot help thinking that commiferation (the reading of the folio) was inserted by them in the room of conjurations, which they might not have understood. “ I do defy thy commiferation,” cannot be received as a verse, if harmony is at all essential; and to defy pity or commiseration is rather an uncommon expref-' fion. Paris conceived Romeo to have burst open the monument for no other purpose than to do some villainous shame on the dead bodies, such as witches are reported to have practised; and therefore tells Kim he defies him, and the magic arts which he suspects he is preparing to use. STEEVENS, Page. Page. Oh Lord, they fight! I will go call the watch. [Dies. [Laying Paris in the monument, - presence~] A presence is a public room. Johnson. This thought, extravagant as it is, is borrowed by Middleton in his comedy of Blurt Master Constable, 1602. “ The darke! dungeon which spite can devise STEEVENS. niay I I JOHNSON, “ I thought it was a lightning before ceath, STEEVENS. Hath -0, now may Vol. X. Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty, —Ah, dear Juliet, With 6 And never from this palace of dim night Depart again : (Come lic thou in my arms; Thy drugs are quick) ] Mr. Pope's, and some other of the worser editions acknowledge abfurdly the lines which I have put into parenthesis here ; and which I have expunged from ile text, for this reason : Romeo is made to confefs the effect of the poifon before ever he has tafed it. I suppose, it hardly was fo favoury that the patient should choofe to make two draughts of it. And, cight lines after these, we find him taking the poison in his hands, and making an apostrophe to it; inviting it to perform its office at once; and then, and not till then, does he clap it to his lips, or can with any probability speak of its initant force and effects. Besides, Shakespeare would hardly have made Romeo drink to the health of liis dead mistress. Though the first quarto in '599, and the two old folios, acknowledge this abfurd stuff, I find it left out in several later quarto impreffions. I ought to take notice, that though Mr. Pope has thought fit to stick to the old copies in this addition, yet he is no fair transcriber; for he has funk upon us an hemiftich of most profound absurdity, which pofsefies all thoie copies. Come, lie thou in my arms ; THEOBALD. |