Which is have hand is holy lips, and My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand much, too? Jul. Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use — in prayer. Rom. O then! dear saint, let lips do what hands do: They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. Jul. Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake. Rom. Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. [Kissing her." Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purg'd. Mercutious ysy hande had all to-frozen myne, H. 14 In Shakespeare's time, the kissing of a lady at a social gathering seems not to have been thought indecorous. So, in King Henry VIII., we have Lord Sands kissing Anne Boleyn, at the supper given by Wolsey: – Mr. R. G. White, in his Shakespeare's Scholar, has the following happy remarks on this bit of dialogue : “I have never seen a Juliet upon the stage, who appeared to appreciate the archness of the dialogue with Romeo in this scene. They go through it solemnly, or, at best, with staid propriety. They reply literally to all Romeo's speeches about saints and palmers. But it should be noticed that, though this is the first interview of the lovers, we do not hear them speak until the close of their dialogue, in which they have arrived at a pretty thorough understanding of their mutual feelings. Juliet makes a feint of parrying Romeo's advances; but does it archly, and knows that he is to have the kiss he sues for. He asks, - Have pot saints lips, and holy palmers, too?' The stage Juliet answers with literal solemnity. But it was not a conventicle at old Capulet's : Juliet was not holding forth. How demure was her Jul. Then, have my lips the sin that they have took. Rom. Sin from my lips ? O, trespass sweetly urg'd! Give me my sin again. Jul. You kiss by th’ book. you. Marry, bachelor, Is she a Capulet? 0, dear account ! my life is my foe's debt. Ben. Away, begone : the sport is at the best. 1 Cap. Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone; real answer : “Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use - in prayer.' And when Romeo fairly gets her into the corner, towards which she has been contriving to be driven ; and says, – Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purg'd,' and does put them to that purgation ; how slyly the pretty puss gives him an opportunity to repeat the penance, by replying, - Then have my lips the sin that they have took.'”. 15 Towards is ready, at hand. A banquet, or rere-supper, as it was sometimes called, was similar to our dessert. 16 Here the quarto of 1597 adds the following : " I promise you, but for your company, I would have been in bed an hour ago : H. Ah, sirrah! by my fay, it waxes late ; man ? dance ? Jul. Go, ask his name. — If he be married, Nurse. His name is Romeo, and a Montague; The only son of your great enemy. Jul. My only love sprung from my only hate ! Nurse. What's this? what's this? A rhyme I learn'd even now Of one I danc'd withal. [One calls within, JULIET! Anon, anon: - [Exeunt. die, Nurse. 17 This Chorus is not in the quarto of 1597, but is in all the other old copies. 18 This doubling of a preposition was common with the old writers, and occurs divers times in these plays. See As You Like It, Act ii. sc. 7, note 10. — Fair, in this line, is used as a substantive, and in the sense of beauty. The usage was common. H. VOL. X. With tender Juliet match'd is now not fair. ACT II. SCENE I. An open Place, adjoining CAPULET'S Garden. Enter Romeo. Rom. Can I go forward, when my heart is here? Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out. [He climbs the Wall, and leaps down within it. Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO. He is wise ; wall. Call, good Mercutio. i Orchard, from hort-yard, was formerly used for a garden. See Julius Cæsar, Act ii. sc. 1, note 1. Mer. Nay, I'll conjure too. Romeo! humours ! madman! passion! lover! Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh; o Cry but — Ah me! pronounce? but — love and dove; This is the reading of the quarto of 1597. Those of 1599 and 1609 and the folio read provant, an evident corruption. The folio of 1632 has couply, meaning couple, which has been the reading of many modern editions. . 3 The old copies have “ Abraham Cupid,” which Upton changed to “ Adam Cupid,” supposing it to refer to Adam Bell the famous archer of the old ballad. The change is adopted in all modern editions excepting Knight's, who retains Abraham, explaining it to mean “the cheat — the · Abraham man’ - of our old statutes." Auburn is proposed by Mr. Dyce, who shows that it was a common epithet of Cupid, and was often misprinted abraham and Abram. Thus, in Soliman and Perseda, we have “abrahamcolour'd Troion” for Trojan with auburn-colour'd hair ; and in Coriolanus, Act ii. sc. 3, "not that our heads are some brown, some black, some Abram," where Abram is changed to auburn in modern editions. - Trim is from the first quarto, the other old copies having true. That trim is the right word, is shown by the old ballad of “King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid," which the Poet bad in his mind. One stanza is as follows: 6. The blinded boy, that shoots so trim, From heaven down did hie; In place where he did lie." * This phrase in Shakespeare's time was used as an expression of tenderness, like poor fool. |