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;
And bring the cords made like a tackled stair,
Which to the high top-gallants of my joy
Must be my convoy in the secret night.
Farewell!

Be trusty, and I'll quit4 thy pains.
Farewell! Commend me to thy mistress.

NURSE. Now, 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: when 'twas a little prating thing, 0, there's a nobleman in town, one Paris, that would fain lay knife aboard;' but she, good soul, had as lieve 6 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?

à

1) Confession, made to a priest. 4) To requite, to recompense. The verb is to shrive, to hear or re 5) To endeavour to conquer, to ceive the confession of any man, as win her. priest.

6) Lieve or lief, gladly, willingly, 2) Like stairs of rope in the tackle used in familiar speech in the phrase, of a ship. Johnson. A stair, for a I had as lief go as not. It has been flight of stairs, is still in the lan- supposed that had, in this phrase, is guage of Scotland, and was probably a corruption of would. At any rate,

Rom. Ay, nurse; What of that? both with an R.

NURSE. Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name, R. is for the dog. No; I know it begins with some other letter;1 and she hath the prettiest sententious of it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good to hear it. Rom. Commend me to thy lady.

[Exit

.
NURSE. Ay, a thousand times. - Peter!
PET. Anon?
NURSE. Peter, take my fan, and go before. (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. Perchance2 she cannot meet him: that's not so. 0, she is lame! love's heralds should be thoughts, Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams, Driving back shadows over low'ring hills: Therefore do nimble-pinion'd 3 doves draw love, And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings. Now is the sun upon the highmost bill Of this day's journey; and from nine till twelve Is three long hours, yet she is not come. Had she affections, and warm youthful blood, She'd be as swift in motion as a ball; My words would bandy 4 her to my sweet love, And his to me:

of lovers, and for this reason was the dog's letter, and hirreth in the worn at weddings.

sound. “Irritata canis quod R. R. 1) The Nurse, says Warburton, is quam plurima dicat," as says Lucirepresented as a prating silly crea- lius, the Roman satirist. ture; she says, she will tell Romeo

2) By chance, perhaps. a good joke about his mistress, and asks him, whether Rosemary and Ro- i. e. wings. So, a deer is called nim

3) Furnished with nimble pinions, meo do not begin both with a letter: He says, Yes, an R. She, who,

ble-footed. Pinion originally means we must suppose, could not read,

the joint of a bird's wing, remotest

from the body. thought he had mocked her, and says, No, sure, I know better, it 4) To drive, to agitate. To bandy begins with another letter. R put her properly means, to toss or beat to in mind of that sound which is made and fro, as a ball in playing at bandy; by dogs when they snarl; and there- a bandy meaning a bat or baddledore, fore, I presume, she says, that is a club with a knob, or bent at the the dog's name, R in schools, being lower part for striking the ball when called The dog's letter. Ben Jonson, playing this game; and the play in his English Grammar, says, R is itself with such a club.

But old folks, many feign as they were dead;
Unwieldy, 2 slow, heavy and pale as lead.

Enter Nurse and PETER.
O here 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, why look'st thou sad?
Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily;
If good, thou sham’st the musick of sweet news
By playing it to me with so sour a face.

NURSE. I am weary, give me leave a while;
Fye, how my bones ake! What a jaunts have Í had!

JUL. I would, thou hadst my bones, and I thy news: Nay, come, I pray thee, speak; — good, good nurse, speak.

NURSE. What haste? can you not stay a while? 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, Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse. Is thy news good, or bad ? answer to that; Say either, and I'll stay the circumstance: Let me be satisfied, Is't good or bad ?

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, they are past compare: 4 He is not the flower of courtesy, - but, I'll warrant him as gentle as a lamb. 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. O, how my head akes! what a head have I! It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces. My back o' t'other side. - 0, my back, my back! – Beshrew your heart, for sending me about, To catch my death with jaunting up and down!

1) That is, many old people are 3) An excursion, a short journey. slow in their movements, as though The verb jaunting, used by the Nurse, they have no life in them.

a few lines lower down, means run2) Moved with difficulty, ponder- ning about in all directions.

4) Beyond comparison.

ous.

1

JUL. I' faith, I am sorry that thou art not well:
Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my love ? 1

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 reply'st;
Your love says like an honest gentleman,
Where is your mother?
NURSE.

Marry, come up, I trow:
Is this the poultice for my aking bones?
Henceforward do your messages yourself.
JUL. Here's such a coil, come,

what says Romeo ? NURSE. Have you got leave to go to shrift to-day? JUL. I have.

2

1

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 Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint: A lover may bestride the gossamers That idle in the wanton summer air, And yet not fall; so light is vanity.