2 Nay, fit, nay, fit 'good coufin Capulet; 2 Cap. By'r lady, thirty years. 1 Cap. What, man! 'tis not fo much, 'tis not fo much : 'Tis fince the nuptial of Lucentio, Come pentecoft as quickly as it will, 3 1 Cap. Will you tell me that? His fon was but a ward two years ago. 1 -good coufin Capulet,] This coufin Capulet is unkle in the paper of invitation; but as Capulet is defcribed as old, confin is probably the right word in both places. I know not how Capulet and his lady might agree, their ages were very difproportionate; he has been paft masking for thirty years, and her age, as the tells Juliet, is but eight-and-twenty. JoHNSON. Coufin was a common expreffion from one kinfman to another, out of the degree of parent and child, brother and fifter. Thus in Hamlet, the King his uncle and ftepfather addreffes him with "But now my coufin Hamlet and my for." And in this very play, act iii. lady Capulet fays: "Tybalt my coufin!-O my brother's child." "Duke. You coufin !” So, in As And Olivia, in Twelfth Night, constantly calls her uncle Toby coufin. REMARKS. 2our dancing days:] Thus the folio: the quarto reads, "our fanding days." STEEVENS. 3 will you tell me, &c.] This fpeech ftands thus in the first copy: Will you tell me that it cannot be fo? His fon was but a ward three years ago; Good youths i'faith!-Oh, youth's a jolly thing!" There are many triffing variations in almost every fpeech of this play; but when they are of little confequence I have foreborn to encumber the page by the infertion of them. The laft, however, of these three lines is natural, and worth preferving. STEEVENS. Rom. Rom. What lady's that, which doth enrich the hand Of yonder knight? Serv. I know not, fir. Rom. O, the doth teach the torches to burn bright! Beauty too rich for ufe, for earth too dear! Tyb. This, by his voice, fhould be a Montague :- 4 What lady's that, which doth enrich the hand Of yonder knight?] Here is another proof that our author had the poem, and not Painter's Novel, in his mind. In the latter we are told-" A certain lord of that troupe took Juliet by the hand to dance." In the poem of Romeus and Juliet, as in the play, her partner is a knight: With torch in hand a comely night did fetch her forth to dance." MALONE. 5 -cheek of night.] Shakspeare has the fame thought in his 27th fonnet: "Which, like a jewel hung in ghaftly night, "Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new." The quartos 1597, 1599, 1609, 1637, and the folio 1623, read: It feems he hangs upon the cheek of night. It is to the folio 1632, that we are indebted for the present read ing; but I know not that it is the true one. STEEVENS. 6 Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear:] So, in Lilly's Euphucs: "A fair pearl in a Morian's car." T. H. W. 7 For I ne'er faw true beauty till this night.] Thus K. Henry VIII. 66 ―o beauty, "Till now I never knew thee!" STEEVENS. 2 I Cap. 1 Cap. Why, how now, kinfiman? wherefore ftorm. you fo? Tyb. Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe; Tyb. 'Tis he, that villain Romeo. 1 Cap. Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone, He bears him like a portly gentleman; And, to fay truth, Verona brags of him, To be a virtuous and well-govern'd youth: I would not for the wealth of all this town, Here in my houfe, do him difparagement: Therefore be patient, take no note of him, It is my will; the which if thou refpect, Shew a fair prefence, and put off thefe frowns, An ill-befeeming femblance for a feast. Fyb. It fits, when fuch a villain is a guest; I'H not endure him. 1 Cap. He fhall be endur'd; What, goodman boy!-I fay, he fhall:-Go to;-Am I the mafter here, or you? go to. You'll not endure him!-God fhall mend my foulYou'll make a mutiny among my guests! You will fet cock-a-hoop! you'll be the man! 1 Cap. Go to, go to, You are a faucy boy :-Is't fo, indeed? This trick may chanee to feathe you3;-I know what. You must contrary me! marry, 'tis time To fcathe you,] i. e. to do you an injury. See vol. iv. p. 276. v. 26. vii. 37. STEEVENS. 9 You must contrary me.] The use of this verb is common to our old writers. So, in Tully's Love by Greene, 1616: “—rather wifhing to die than to contrary her refolution." Many inftances more might be felected from Sidney's Arcadia. Again, in Warner's Albions England, 1602. B. 10. Chap. 59. "his countermand fhould have contraried fo." The fame verb is ufed in Sir Tho. North's tranflation of Plutarch. STEEVENS, VOL. X. E Well JULIE T. Well faid, my hearts: You are a princox; go:Be quiet, or-More light, more light, for fhame!-I'll make you quiet; What !-Cheerly, my hearts. Tyb. Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting, Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting. I will withdraw: but this intrufion fhall, Now feeming fweet, convert to bitter gall. Ram. If I profane with my unworthy hand [To Juliet. [Exit. This holy fhrine, the gentle fine is this My lips, two blufhing pilgrims, ready ftand To finooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. Jul. Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion fhews in this; For faints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers' kifs. Rom. Have not faints lips, and holy palmers too? ful. Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. Rom. O then, dear faint, let lips do what'hands do; They pray, grant thou, left faith turn to defpair. You are a princox, go:-] A princox is a coxcomb, a conceited perfon. The word is ufed by Ben Jonfon in The Cafe is alter'd, 1609; by Chapman in his comedy of May-Day, 1610; in the Return from Parnaffus, 1606: "Your proud univerfity Princox;" again, in Fuimus Trocs, 1633: "That Princox proud ;" and indeed by moft of the old dramatick writers. Cotgrave renders un jeune efloudeau fuperbe a young princox boy. STEEVENS. 2 Patience perforce,] This expreffion is in part proverbial: the old adage is, "Patience perforce is a medicine for a mad dog " STEEVENS. 3 If I profane with my unworthy hand This holy fhrine, the gentle fin is this, My lips, to blushing pilgrims, &c.] All profanations are fuppofed to be expiated either by fome meritorious action, or by fome penance undergone, and punishment fubmitted to. So Romeo would here fay, If I have been profane in the rude touch of my hand, my lips ftand ready, as two blufhing pilgrims, to take off that offence, to atone for it by a sweet penance. Our poet therefore must have wrote, the gentle fine is this. WARBURTON. ROMEO AND JULIET. 51 Jul. Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' fake. Rom. Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. Thus from my lips, by yours, my fin is purg'd. Jul. 4 You kifs by the book. Nurfe. Madam, your mother craves a word with you. Rom. What is her mother? Nurfe. Marry, bachelor, Her mother is the lady of the house, And a good lady, and a wife, and virtuous: Rom. Is fhe a Capulet? O dear account! my life is my foe's debt. - Is 4 You kifs by the book.] In As you Like It, we find it was usual to quarrel by the book, and we are told in the note, that there were books extant for good manners. Juliet here appears to refer to a third kind, containing the art of courtship, an example from which it is probable that Rofalind hath adduced. HENLEY. 2 We have a foolish trifling banquet towards.] Towards is ready, at hand. So, in Hamlet: "What might be towards, that this sweaty hafte 60 Doth make the night joint labourer with the day?" Again, in the Phenix, by Middleton, 1607: - here's a voyage towards will make us all." STEEVENS. It appears from the former part of this fcene that Capulet's ompany had fupped. A banquet, it should be remembered, E 2 often - |
