1 Cit. Which way ran he, that kill'd Mercutio? Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he? Bea. There lies that Tybalt. 1 Cit. Up, sir, go with me; I charge thee in the prince's name, obey. Enter PRINCE attended; MONTAGUE, CAPULET, their Wives, and others. Prin. Where are the vile beginners of this fray? Ben. O noble prince, I can discover all The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl: There lies the man slain by young Romeo, That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio. La. Cap. Tybalt, my cousin! O my brother's child! O prince, O cousin,-husband,"-the blood is spill'd Of my dear kinsman!-Prince, as thou art true, Prin. Benvolio, who began this fray? Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink Could not take truce with the unruly spleen a So (C) and folio. (D). “unhappy sight, ah me,” and in that copy, “O cousin, cousin!" in the third line beyond, is omitted. Some modern editors, in this and in other passages, have adopted the arbitrary course of making up a text out of the first quarto and the quarto of 1599, without regard to the important circumstance that this later edition was "newly corrected, augmented, and amended,"-and that the folio, in nearly every essential particular, follows it. b Slight. Of Tybalt, deaf to peace, but that he tilts Hold, friends! friends, part! and swifter than his tongue, His agile arm beats down their fatal points, La. Cap. He is a kinsman to the Montague, Prin. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio; Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe? Mon. Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend; His fault concludes but what the law should end, The life of Tybalt. Prin. And for that, offence, I have an interest in your hate's proceeding, SCENE II.-A Room in Capulet's House. Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, a (A), hates. (C), heart's. b (A). mansion. c Juliet's soliloquy ends here in the first quarto. a That, runaway's eyes may wink; and Romeo Think true love acted, simple modesty. For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night Give nie my Romeo: and, when he shall die, Enter NURSE, with cords. And she brings news; and every tongue, that speaks But Romeo's name, speaks heavenly eloquence. Now, nurse, what news? What hast thou there ? the cords a This reading is that of all the old copies. The passage has been a perpetual source of contention to the commentators. Their difficulties are well represented by Warburton's question-" What runaways are these, whose eyes Juliet is wishing to have stopped?" Warburton says Phoebus is the runaway. Steevens proves that Night is the runaway. Douce thinks that Juliet is the runaway. It has been suggested to us that in several early poems Cupid is styled Runaway. Monck Mason is confident that the passage ought to be "That Renomy's eyes may wink," Renomy being a new personage, created out of the French Renommée, and answering, we suppose, to the "Rumour" of Spenser. Zachary Jackson suggests that runaways is a misprint for unawares. The word unawares, in the old orthography, is unawayres (it is so spelt in the Third Part of Henry VI.), and the r, having been misplaced, produced this word of puzzle, runawayes. Mr. Collier adopts this reading. But Mr. Dyce objects: "That ways (the last syllable of run-aways) ought to be Day's, I feel next to certain; but what word originally preceded it I do not pretend to determine. This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell. Nurse. I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes, God save the mark !2-bere on his manly breast: To prison, eyes! ne'er look on liberty! O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman! Jul. What storm is this, that blows so contrary? Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished; Romeo, that kill'd him, he is banished. Jul. O God!-did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? Nurse. It did, it did; alas the day! it did. Jul. O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! Nurse. Shame come to Romeo! Jul. Blister'd be thy tongue, For such a wish! he was not born to shame : Upon his brow shame is aslam'd to sit; For 't is a throne where honour may be crown'd Sole monarch of the universal earth. O, what a beast was I to chide at him! Nurse. Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin? my Jul. Shall I speak ill of him that is husband? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, When I, thy three-hours' wife, have mangled it ? But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband: Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring; My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain; And Tybalt dead, that would have slain my husband: All this is comfort: Wherefore weep I then ? a Thus (D). (C), dimme. Thy father, or thy mother, nay, or both, Where is my father, and my mother, nurse? Nurse. Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's corse: Will you go to them? I will bring you thither. Jul. Wash they his wounds with tears mine shall be spent, When theirs are dry, for Romeo's banishment. Take up those cords :-Poor ropes, you are beguil'd, Both you and I; for Romeo is exil❜d: And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead! Nurse. Hie to your chamber: I'll find Romeo To comfort you :-I wot well where he is. Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night; I'll to him; he is hid at Laurence' cell. Jul. O find him! give this ring to my true knight, And bid him come to take his last farewell. Fri. Here from Verona art thou banished: Be patient, for the world is broad and wide. Rom. There is no world without Verona walls, But purgatory, torture, hell itself. Hence-banished is banish'd from the world, And world's exile is death:-then banished Is death mis-term'd. Calling death banishment, Thou cut'st my head off with a golden axe, And smil'st upon the stroke that murders me. Fri. O deadly sin! O rude unthankfulness! Thy fault our law calls death; but the kind prince, Taking thy part, hath rush'd aside the law, And turn'd that black word death to banishment. This is dear mercy, and thou seest it not. Rom. "T is torture, and not mercy heaven is here, Where Juliet lives; and every cat, and dog, Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife, No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean, Fri. Thou fond mad man, hear me a little speak. Rom. O, thou wilt speak again of banishment. Fri. I'll give thee armour to keep off that word; Adversity's sweet milk, philosophy, To comfort thee, though thou art banished. Rom. Yet banished?-Hang up philosophy! Unless philosophy can make a Juliet, a (A), Hence. b We have restored this passage to the reading of the folio. The lines were transposed by Steevens, without regard to any copy. In the first quarto the passage is altogether different. In that of 1609 it runs thus: "This may flies do, when I from this must fly ;- But Romeo may not, he is banished. Flies may do this, but I from this must fly, • Thus (D). Displant a town, reverse a prince's doom; Fri. Let me dispute with thee of thy estate. Rom. Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel: Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, And fall upon the ground, as I do now, thyself. Doth not she think me an old murderer, My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love ? And now falls on her bed; and then starts up, And Tybalt calls; and then on Romeo cries, And then down falls again. Rom. As if that name, Shot from the deadly level of a gun, Did murder her; as that name's cursed hand Murder'd her kinsman.-O tell me, friar, tell me, In what vile part of this anatomy Doth my name lodge? tell me, that I may sack The hateful mansion. [Draws his sword. Fri. Hold thy desperate hand: Art thou a man? thy form cries out thou art; Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote The unreasonable fury of a beast: Unseemly woman, in a seeming man! And ill-beseeming beast, in seeming both! Thou hast amaz'd me: by my holy order, I thought thy disposition better temper'd. Hast thou slain Tybalt ? wilt thou slay thyself? And slay thy lady that in thy life lives," By doing damned hate upon thyself? Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth ? Since birth, and heaven, and earth, all three do meet In thee at once; which thou at once wouldst lose. Fie, fie! thou sham'st thy shape, thy love, thy wit; Which, like an usurer, abound'st in all, wit. Thy noble shape is but a form of wax, cherish : Thy wit, that ornament to shape and love, And thou dismember'd with thine own defence. a (4) reads "And slay thy lady, too, that lives in thee." There art thou happy: Tybalt would kill thee, And turn'd it to exile; there art thou happy : Nurse. O Lord, I could have staid here all Rom. How well my comfort is reviv'd by this! Fri. Go hence: Good night; and here stands all your state; Either be gone before the watch be set, Rom. But that a joy past joy calls out on me, It were a grief so brief to part with thee: Farewell. [Exeunt. |