his new fhoes with old ribband? and yet thou wilt tutor me for quarrelling! 5 Ben. An I were fo apt to quarrel as thou art, any man should buy the fee-fimple of my life for an hour and a quarter. Mer. The fee-fimple? O fimple! Enter Tybalt, and others. Ben. By my head, here come the Capulets. Tyb. Follow me clofe, for I will speak to them.Gentlemen, good den: a word with one of you. Mer. And but one word with one of us? Couple it with fomething; make it a word and a blow. Tyb. You fhall find me apt enough to that, fir, if you will give me occasion. Mer. Could you not take fome occafion without giving? Tyb. Mercutio, thou confort'ft with Romeo,Mer. Confort! what, doft thou make us minstrels? an thou make minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but difcords: here's my fiddleftick; here's that shall make you dance. 'Zounds, confort! Ben. We talk here in the publick haunt of men : Either withdraw into fome private place, Or reafon coldly of your grievances, Or elfe depart; here all eyes gaze on us. Mer. Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze; I will not budge for no man's pleasure, I. These two fpeeches have been added fince the first quarto, together with fome few circumstances in the reft of the fcene, as well as in the enfuing one. STEEVENS, Enter Enter Romeo. Tyb. Well, peace be with you, fir! here comes my man. Mer. But I'll be hang'd, fir, if he wear your livery: Marry, go first to field, he'll be your follower; Your worship, in that fenfe, may call him-man. Tyb. Romco, the hate I bear thee, can afford No better term than this-Thou art a villain. Rom. Tybalt, the reafon that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To fuch a greeting:-Villain I am none; Therefore farewel; I fee, thou know'ft me not. Tyb. Boy, this fhall not excufe the injuries That thou haft done me; therefore turn, and draw. Rom. I do proteft I never injur'd thee; But love thee better than thou canst devise, "Till thou fhalt know the reafon of my love: And fo, good Capulet,-which name I tender As dearly as my own,-be fatisfied. Mer. O calm, dishonourable, vile fubmiffion! A la ftoccata carries it away. Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk? Tyb. What wouldst thou have with me? Mer. Good king of cats, nothing, but one of your nine lives; that I mean to make bold withal, and, as you fhall ufe me hereafter, dry-beat the rest of the eight. 'Will you pluck your fword out of his pil cher 6 A la fioccata-] Stoccata is the Italian term for a thrust or ftab with a rapier. So, in the Devil's Charter, 1607: "He makes a thruft; I with a swift paffado "Make quick avoidance, and with this floccata, &c." STEEVENS. 7 Will you pluck your fword out of his pilcher by the ears?] We fhould read pilche, which fignifics a cloke or coat of fkins, meaning the fcabbard. WARBURTON. The old quarto reads fcabbard. Dr. Warburton's explanation is, I believe, juft, Nail, in Pierce Pennylefs his Supplication, 1595, fpeaks cher by the ears? make hafte, left mine be about your ears ere it be out. Tyb. I am for you. [Drawing. Rom. Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up, Mer. Come, fir, your paffado, [They fight. Beat down their weapons:-Gentlemen, for fhame Mer. I am hurt; A plague o'both the houfes!-I am fped;-.. Ben. What art thou hurt? Mer. Ay, ay, a fcratch, a fcratch; marry, 'tis --- enough.Where is my page?-go, villain, fetch a furgeon. [Exit Page Rom. Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. Mer. No, 'tis pot fo deep as a well, nor fo wide as a church door; but 'tis enough, 'twill ferve: afk for me to-morrow, and you fhail, find me a grave man. I am pepper'd, I warrant, for this world:-A plague o' both fpeaks of a carman in a leather pitche. Again, in Decker's Satiromaflix: "I'l beat five pounds out of his leather pilch." Again, "Thou haft forgot how thou ambled'st in a leather pilch, by a play-waggon in the highway, and took'it mad Jeronimo's part, to get fervice the mimics.' among It appears from this paffage, that Ben Jonfon acted the part of Hieronimo in the Spanish tragedy, the fpeech being addrefled to Horace, under which character old Ben is ridiculed. STEEVENS. 8 -a grave man.] After this, the quarto 1597, continues Mercutio's fpeech as follows: your Á o' both pox houfes! I fhall be fairly mounted upon four men's fhoulders for your houfe of the Montague's and the Capulets: and then fome peafantly rogue, fome fexton, fome bafe flave, fhall write my epi taph o' both your houses!-What! a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetick!-Why, thé devil, came you between us? I was hurt under your arm. Rom. I thought all for the best. Mer. Help me into fome houfe, Benvolio, I have it, and foundly too :-Your houfes! [Exeunt Mercutio, and Benvolio. Re-enter Benvolio. Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead; That gallant spirit hath aspir'd the clouds, Which taph, that Tybalt came and broke the prince's laws, and Boy. He's come. fir. Mer. Now he'll keep a mumbling in my guts on the other "You will find me a grave man This jeft was better in old language, than it is at prefent; Lidgate fays, in his elegy upon Chaucer : "My mafter Chaucer now is grave." FARMER. I meet with the fame quibble in the Revenger's Tragedy, 1608, where Vindici dreffes up a lady's full, and obferves -fhe has a fomewhat grave look with her." STEEVENS. 8 hath afpir'd the clouds.] "So, in Greene's Card of Fancy, 1608: "Her haughty mind is too lofty for me to afpire." 4 We Which too untimely here did scorn the earth. Rom This day's black fate on more days doth depend; This but begins the woe, others must end. Re-enter Tybalt. Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again. Rom. Alive! in triumph! and Mercutio flain! Away to heaven, refpective lenity, 'And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now !— Or thou, or I, or both, thall follow him, Tyb. Thou, wretched boy, that didst confort him here, Shalt with him hence. Rom. This fhall determine that. [They fight, Tybalt falls. Ben. Romeo, away, begone! The citizens are up, and Tybalt flain :— Stand not amaz❜d:-the prince will doom thee death, If thou art taken :-hence !-be gone!-away! We never use this verb at prefent without fome particle, as, to and after. STEEVENS. Middleton, in No Wit like a Woman's, a comedy, 1657, uses this word as our author has done : Why 'tis not poffible, madain, that man's happiness "Should take a greater height than mine afpires." So alío, Marlowe, in his Tamburlaine, 1591 : Until our bodies turn to elements, "And both our fouls afpire celestial thrones." MALONE. 9 This day's black fate on more days does depend ;] This day's unhappy deftiny hangs over the days yet to come. be more mifchief. JOHNSON. There will yet And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!] Conduct for conductor. See vol. i. p. 125. MALONE. |