as Malone has proved, and will be evident on comparing the play with the poem which is to be found in the Basil edition, printed by J. J. Tourneisen, in 1802, at the end of the twenty first volume, from which I have taken the original notes of some of the most famous English commentators of our poet. In forming the present edition, all passages offensive to delicacy, contrary to the principles of education, have been carefully omitted; at the same time all substitutional or additional phrases have been strictly avoided. I confidently rely on the support of my colleagues by their introduction of this work to their pupils, and respectfully submit it to parents and the heads of families for their approval and patronage. In conclusion: I have to acknowledge the valuable assistance of Mr. Wrankmore, a distinguished teacher of the English language in this city, in the revision of the proofsheets. Leipzig. Dr. Otto Fiebig. ROMEO AND JULIET. (1592.) PERSONS REPRESENTED. ESCALUS, Prince of Verona. MONTAGUE, Heads of two Houses at TYBALT, Nephew to Lady Capulet. GREGORY, Servants to Capulet. ABRAM, Servant to Montague. Boy, Page to Paris. LADY MONTAGUE, Wife to Montague. Citizens of Verona; several Men and SCENE, during the greater part of the Play, in Verona; once, in the fifth Act, at Mantua. PROLOGUE. Two households, both alike in dignity, 1) Secret enmity, hatred. 2) Insurrection and sedition civil society; now applied exclusive- teract, to embarrass. ly to soldiers and seamen. 3) The stars were supposed to ininfluence fortune. To cross, to coun ROMEO AND JULIET. 1 Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows1 Do, with their death, bury their parents' strife. 2 The which if you with patient ears attend, Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, armed with Swords and Bucklers.6 SAM. Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals. GRE. No, for then we should be colliers.9 SAM. I mean, an 10 we be in choler, we'll draw. GRE. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of the collar. SAM. I strike quickly, being moved. GRE. But thou art not quickly moved to strike. SAM. A dog of the house of Montague moves me. GRE. To move, isto stir; and to be valiant, is to stand to it: therefore, if thou art mov'd, thou runn'st away. SAM. A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will take the wall of any man of Montague's. GRE. That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the wall. The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men. 1) Ruin, destruction. mit to servile offices; and thence 2) Contention in enmity, discord, secondarily, we'll not endure injuquarrel. ries. 3) Which nothing could remove, but etc. 9) A digger of coal, one who works in a coal mine. Collier was a very ancient term of abuse. Any person, therefore, who would bear to be called collier, was said to carry coals. 10) An is old instead of if. 8) Originally, We will not sub-honourable place. To compete with. SAM. 'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant. GRE. Draw thy tool:1 here comes, two of the house of the Montagues. Enter ABRAM and BALTHAZAR. SAM. My naked weapon is out; quarrel, I will back thee. SAM. Fear me not. GRE. No, marry: 2 I fear thee! SAM. Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin. GRE. 1 will frown3 as I pass by; and let them take it as they list. 4 SAM. Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them;5 which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it. ABR. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? SAM. I do bite my thumb, sir. ABR. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? GRE. No. SAM. No, sir; I do not bite my thumb at you, sir: but I bite my thumb, sir. GRE. Do you quarrel, sir? ABR. Quarrel, sir? no, sir. SAM. If you do, sir, I am for you; I serve as good a man as you. ABR. No better. SAM. Well, sir. Enter BENVOLIO, at a distance. GRE. Say better; here comes one of my master's kinsmen.7 1) Tool, from the French outil, | gers, expressing a fig for you. Nares, any instrument of manual operation, in his Glossary, quotes the following familiarly for sword. passage from the Rules of Civility, 2) An obsolete term of assevera-transl. from the French 1678: 'Tis no tion, derived from the practice of swearing by the Virgin Mary. 3) To express displeasure by contracting the face to wrinkles; to make grimaces. 4) i. e. not only so; not this alone, intimating that something is to be added by way of amplification. less disrespectful to bite the nail of your thumb, by way of scorn and disdain, and drawing your nail from between your teeth, to tell them you value not this what they can do. 6) i. e. yes, yea, truly, certainly, a word expressing an affirmative answer to a question. This word is al5) This was an insult. The thumb ways written I, in the old editions in this action represented a fig, or of Shakspeare. Thence the negafico, an act of contempt by placing | tive nay, no. the thumb between two of the fin- 7) Kin, kind, genus, race, rela SAM. Yes, better, sir. ABR. You lie. SAM. Draw, if you be men. — Gregory, remember thy swashing blow. í [They fight BEN. Part, fools; put up your swords; you know not what you do. [Beats down their Swords. Enter TYBALT. TYB. What, art thou drawn2 among these heartless hinds? 3 Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death. BEN. Í do but keep the peace; put up thy sword, Or manage it to part these men with me. TYB. What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee; Have at thee, coward. [They fight. Enter several Partizans of both Houses, who join the Fray;5 then enter Citizens with Clubs. CIT. Clubs, bills, and partizans! strike! beat them down! Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues! Enter CAPULET, in his Gown; and LADY Capulet. CAP. What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho! tion; thence kinsman, kinswoman, one of the same family, one related by blood. The eyes of the servant may be directed the way he sees Tybalt coming, and in the mean time, Benvolio, nephew to Montague, enters on the opposite side. 1) To swash, to make a great or blustering noise. Steevens says, that to swash seems to have meant to be a bully, to be noisily valiant. Barrett says, that "to swash is to make a noise with swords against tergats." In the Southern States of America, swash or swosh (impulse of water flowing with violence) is a name given to a narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand-bank, or between that and the shore. Many such are found on the shores of the Carolinas. 2) i. e. have you unsheathed your sword etc. 3) Hind, obsolete instead of domestic, servant. 4) i. e. defend yourself. To have at (legitimate, but vulgar) means to assail, to enter into competition, make trial with. 5) Fray, combat, contest, quarrel, is used to express any fighting of two or more persons; but the word is now deemed inelegant for affray which the sense seems to refer to the French effrayer, whilst others derive it from fracas, a great crash. 6) In any public affray, the cry was Clubs! Clubs! by way of calling for persons with clubs (heavy sticks) to part the combatants, as they now call Police! 7) A kind of pike or halbert, formerly carried by the English infantry, and afterwards the usual weapon of watchmen. 8) The long sword was the sword |