Or if not fo, then here I hit it right, Rom. That laft is true, the fweeter Reft was mine. Rom. I'll tell thee, ere thou afk it me again; Fri. Be plain, good fon, reft homely in thy drift; Riddling confeffion finds but riddling fhrift. Rom. Then plainly know, my heart's dear love is fet On the fair daughter of rich Capulet ; As mine on hers, fo hers is fet on mine; And all combin'd; fave what thou must combine Fri, Holy faint Francis, what a change is here! yet. If e'er thou waft thyfeif, and these woes thine, And art thou chang'd? pronounce this fentence then, Fri. Not in a Grave, To lay one in, another out to have. Rom. I pray thee, chide not: fhe, whom I love Thy love did read by rote, and could not fpell. For this alliance may fo happy prove, To turn your houfhold-rancour to pure love. Mer. SCENE IV. Changes to the STREET. Enter Benvolio and Mercutio. W [Exeunt. HERE the devil fhould this Romeo be? came he not home to-night? Ben. Not to his father's, I spoke with his man. Mer. Why, that fame pale, hard-hearted, wench, that Rofaline, Torments him fo, that he will, fure, run mad. Ben. Ben. Tybalt, the kinfman to old Capulet, Hath fent a letter to his father's houfe. Mer. A challenge, on my life. Ben. Romeo will answer it. Mer. Any man, that can write, may answer a letter. 1 Ben. Nay, he will answer the letter's mafter how hé dares, being dar'd. Mer. Alas, poor Romeo, he is already dead! stabb'd with a white wench's black eye, run through the ear with a love-fong; the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's but-fhaft; and is he a man to encounter Tybalt! Ben. Why, what is Tybalt? Mer. More than prince of cats?—Oh, he's the courageous captain of compliments; he fights as you fing prick'd fongs, keeps time, distance, and proportion; refts his minum, one, two, and the third in your bofom; the very butcher of a filk button, a duellift, a duellift; a gentleman of the very first houfe, of the firft and fecond caufe; ah, the immortal paffado, the punto reverfo, the, hay! Ben. The what? 6 3 More than frince of cats?—] i. e. one who pretends to be at Tybalt, the name given to the the head of his family, and quarCut, in the ftory-book of Rey-rels by the book. See Note on nold the Fox. WARBURTON. As you like it, A&t V. Scene 6. 4-courageous captain of compliments;] A complete mafter of all the laws of ceremony, the principal man in the doctrine of fun&ilio. A man of compliments, whom ri ht and wrong "Have chofe as umpire; Says our authour of Don Armado, the Spaniard, in Love's laboar loft. 5 gentleman of the very fit borf, of the firft and f.c.nd caufs;] VOL. VIII. WARBURTON. Mer. The pox of fuch antick, lifping, affected phantafies, these new tuners of accents:"A very "good blade!a very tall man!-a very good "whore!". - Why, is not this a lamentable thing, grandfire, that we fhould be thus afflicted with these ftrange flies, these fashion-mongers, these pardonnezmoy's, who ftand fo much on the new form that they cannot fit at ease on the old bench? O, their bon's their bon's! Enter Romeo. Ben. Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo. Mer. Without his roe, like a dried herring. O flesh, flesh, how art thou fifhified? Now is he for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in: Laura to his Lady was but a kitchen-wench; marry, fhe had a better love to berhyme her; Dido a dowdy, Cleopatra a gipfy, Helen and Hero hildings and harlots: Thibé a grey eye or fo, but not to the purpose. Signior Romeo, bonjour; there's a French falutation to your French Slop. You gave us the contrefait fairly laft night. Rom. Good-morrow to you both: What counterfeit did I give you? Mer. The flip, Sir, the flip: can you not conceive? Rom. Pardon, good Mercutio, my business was great; and, in fuch a cafe as mine, a man may strain courtefy. 7 Why, is not this a lamentable thing, grandfire!] Humouroufly apoftrophifing his ancellors, whofe fober times were unacquainted with the fopperies here complained of. WARBURTON. 8 These pardonnez-mois,] Pardonnez-moi became the language of doubt or hesitation among men of the fword, when the point of honour was grown fo delicate, that no other mode of contradiction would be endured. 9 O, their bones! their bones!] Mercutio is here ridiculing thofe frenchified fantaftical coxcombs whom he calls pardonnez-mey's and therefore, I fufpect here he meant to write French too. O, their bon's! their bon's! i. e. How ridiculous they make themselves in crying out good. and being in extafies with every trifle; as he has juft defcribed them before. - a very good blade! &c. THEOB. Mer. 2 Mer. That's as much as to fay, such a cafe as yours constrains a man to bow in the hams. Rom. Meaning, to curt'fy. Mer. Thou haft moft kindly hit it. Rom. A most courteous expofition. Mer. Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy. Mer. Right! Rom. Why, then is my pump well flower'd. Mer. Sure wit-follow me this jeft, now, till thou haft worn out thy pump, that when the fingle fole of it is worn, the jeft may remain, after the wearing, folely fingular. Rom. O fingle-fol'd jeft, Solely fingular, for the fingleness! Mer. Come between us, good Benvolio, my wit faints. Switch and fpurs, or I'll cry a match. Mer. Nay, if our wits run the wild-goofe chafe, I am done for thou haft more of the wild-goofe in one of thy wits, than, I am fure, I have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goofe? Rom. Thou waft never with me for any thing, when thou waft not there for the goofe. Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jeft, Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter fweeting, It is a moft sharp fauce. 2 Rom. And is it not well ferv'd in to a fweet goofe? Mer. O, here's a wit of cheverel, that ftretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad. Rom. Iftretch it out for that word broad, which added to the goofe, proves thee far and wide a broad goofe. 1 then is my pump well flowered.] Here is a vein of wit too thin to be eafily found. The fundamental idea is, that Romeo wore pinked pumps, that is, pumps punched with holes in figures. 2 a uit of cheverel,] Cheverel is foft leather for gloves. E 2 Mer. |