Killing that love which thou hast vow'd to cherish:
Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love,
Mis-shapen in the conduct of them both,
Like powder in a skill-less soldier's flask 2,
Is set on fire by thine own ignorance,

And thou dismember'd with thine own defence 3.
What, rouse thee, man! thy Juliet is alive,
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead;
There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slew'st Tybalt; there art thou happy too 1:
() The law, that threaten'd death, becomes thy
friend,

4.

And turns it to exíle; there art thou happy too: (
A pack of blessings lights upon thy back;
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a mis-behav'd * and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love 5

* So quarto A; quarto B. mishaved; folio, mishaped.

2 Like powder in a skill-less soldier's flask, &c.] To understand the force of this allusion, it should be remembered that the ancient English soldiers, using match-locks, instead of locks with flints as at present, were obliged to carry a lighted match hanging at their belts, very near to the wooden flask in which they kept their powder. The same allusion occurs in Humours Ordinary, an old collection of English epigrams :

When she his flask and touch-box set on fire, "And till this hour the burning is not out."

STEEVENS.

3 And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.] And thou torn to pieces with thine own weapons. JOHNSON.

4

there art thou happy Too:] Thus the first quarto. In the subsequent quartos and the folio too is omitted. MALONE.

It should not be concealed, that the reading of the second folio corresponds with that of the first quarto:

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there art thou happy too." STEEVENS.

The word is omitted in all the intermediate editions; a sufficient proof that the emendations of that folio are not always the result of ignorance or caprice. RITSON.

5 Thou pout'st UPON thy fortune and thy love :] The quarto 1599, and 1609, read:

"Thou puts up thy fortune and thy love."

The editor of the folio endeavoured to correct this by reading:

Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.
Go, get thee to thy love, as was decreed,
Ascend her chamber, hence and comfort her;
But, look, thou stay not till the watch be set,
For then thou canst not pass to Mantua;
(II) Where thou shalt live, till we can find a time
To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,
Beg pardon of the prince, and call thee back.
With twenty hundred thousand times more joy
Than thou went'st forth in lamentation.- (
Go before, nurse: commend me to thy lady;
And bid her hasten all the house to bed,
Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto:
(I) Romeo is coming. (1)

NURSE. O Lord, I could have staid here all the night,

To hear good counsel: O, what learning is !—
My lord, I'll tell my lady you will come.

ROM. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide. NURSE. Here, sir, a ring she bid me give you, sir : Hie you, make haste, for it grows very late.

[Exit Nurse. ROM. How well my comfort is reviv'd by this!

"Thou puttest up thy fortune and thy love."

The undated quarto has powts, which, with the aid of the original copy in 1597, pointed out the true reading. There the line stands :

66

Thou frown'st upon thy fate, that smiles on thee."

MALONE. The reading in the text is confirmed by the following passage in Coriolanus:

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then

"We pout upon the morning." STEEVENS.

6 Romeo is coming.] Much of this speech has likewise been added since the first edition STEEVENS.

The first edition has it thus after the lines which I have marked as wholly omitted:

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Nurse, provide all things in readiness,

"Comfort thy mistress, haste the house to bed,

"Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto." BOSWELL.

FRI. () Go hence: Good night'; and here stands all your state ;—

8

Either be gone before the watch be set,

Or by the break of day disguis'd from hence : (II) Sojourn in Mantua; I'll find out your man, And he shall signify from time to time Every good hap to you, that chances here *: (Give me thy hand; 'tis late: () farewell; () good night; ()

ROM. But that a joy past joy calls out on me, It were a grief, so brief to part with thee: (II) Farewell. (I

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV o.

A Room in CAPULET'S House.

Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, and Paris. CAP. Things have fallen out, sir, so unluckily, That we have had no time to move our daughter:

* Quarto A, That doth befall thee here.

7 Go hence: Good night; &c.] These three lines are omitted in all the modern editions. JOHNSON.

They were first omitted, with many others, by Mr. Pope.

MALONE. This is a mistake: they are not in the first quarto. BOSWELL. here stands all your state;] The whole of your fortune depends on this. JOHNSON.

8

9 SCENE IV.] Some few unnecessary verses are omitted in this scene according to the oldest editions. POPE.

Mr. Pope means, as appears from his edition, that he has followed the oldest copy, and omitted some unnecessary verses which are not found there, but inserted in the enlarged copy of this play. But he has expressed himself so loosely, as to have been misunderstood by Mr. Steevens. In the text these unnecessary verses, as Mr. Pope calls them, are preserved, conformably to the enlarged copy of 1599. MALONE.

In the quarto 1597, after the words, "born to die," the speech concludes thus:

Look you, she lov'd her kinsman Tybalt dearly,
And so did I ;-Well, we were born to die.-
'Tis very late, she'll not come down to night:
I promise you, but for your company,

I would have been a-bed an hour ago.

PAR. These times of woe afford no time to woo : Madam, good night: commend me to your daugh

ter.

(1) LA. CAP. I will, and know her mind early to

morrow;

To-night she's mew'd up' to her heaviness. ()

CAP. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender Of my child's love 2: I think, she will be rul'd In all respects by me; nay more, I doubt it not. Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed; Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love;

And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday nextBut, soft; What day is this?

PAR.
Monday, my lord.
CAP. Monday? ha! ha! Well, Wednesday is too

soon,

O' Thursday let it be ;-o' Thursday, tell her,
She shall be married to this noble earl:-

"Wife, where's your daughter? is she in her chamber? "I think she means not to come down to night."

Again, in our author's King Richard III. :

66

BOSWELL.

MEW'D up-] This is a phrase from falconry. A mew was a place of confinement for hawks. So, in Albumazar, 1614 : fully mew'd

66

――――――

"From brown soar feathers —.”

And, for his meed, poor lord he is mew'd up.”

STEEVENS.

2 Sir Paris, I will make a DESPERATE tender

Of my child's love:] Desperate means only bold, adventurous, as if he had said in the vulgar phrase,-I will speak a bold word, and venture to promise you my daughter. JOHNSON. So, in the Weakest goes to the Wall, 1600:

"Witness this desperate tender of mine honour."

STEEVENS

Will you be ready? do you like this haste?
We'll keep no great ado:-a friend, or two:-
For hark you, Tybalt being slain so late,
It may be thought we held him carelessly,
Being our kinsman, if we revel much:
Therefore we'll have some half a dozen friends,
And there an end. But what say you to Thursday?
PAR. My lord, I would that Thursday were to-

morrow.

CAP. Well, get you gone :-O' Thursday be it then :

Go you to Juliet, ere you go to bed,

Prepare her, wife, against this wedding day.-
Farewell, my lord.—Light to my chamber, ho!
Afore me, it is so very late, that we
May call it early by and by:-Good night.

[Exeunt3.

3 Exeunt.] The latter part of this scene is a good deal varied from the first quarto, where it thus appears:

66

Cap. Sir Paris, I'll make a desperate tender of my child : "I think, she will be ruled in all respects by me; "But soft; what day is this?

"Par.

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Monday, my lord.
Cap. O, then Wednesday is too soon;
“On Thursday let it be, you shall be married;
"We'll make no great ado ;—a friend, or two, or so:
"For look you, sir, Tybalt being slain so lately,
"It will be thought we held him carelessly,

"If we should revel much: therefore we will have
"Some half a dozen friends, and make no more ado.
"But what say you to Thursday?

66

Par. My lord, I wish that Thursday were to-morrow. Cap. Wife, go you to your daughter, ere you go to bed, "Acquaint her with the County Paris' love.

66

Farewell, my lord, till Thursday next.

"Wife, get you to your daughter.-Light to my chamber, “Afore me, it is so very very late,

"That we may call it early by and bye.

[Exeunt." BOSWELL.