Binterd

Gre. Do you quarrel, sir?

Abr. Quarrel, sir! no, sir.

Sam. But if you do, sir, I am for

as good a man as you.

Abr. No better.

Sam. Well, sir.

Enter Benvolio.

Gre. [Aside to Sam.] Say 'better': here comes one of my master's kinsmen.

Sam. Yes, better, sir.

Abr. You lie.

60

Sam. Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remem- 70

ber thy swashing blow.

[They fight. Ben. Part, fools! [Beating down their weapons. Put up your swords; you know not what,

you do.

Tyb. What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?

Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death. Ben. I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword, Or manage it to part these men with me.

Tyb. What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the
word,

As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
Have at thee, coward!

80

[They fight.

66. "one of my master's kinsmen," i. e. Tybalt. Gregory may he supposed to be looking in the direction from which Tybalt comes, with his back to Benvolio. Mr. Daniel's stage direction, "Enter at opposite sides, Benvolio and Tibalt," relieves the otherwise awkward ambiguity.-C. H. H.

Enter several of both houses, who join the fray; then enter Citizens and Peace officers, with clubs.

First Off. Clubs, bills, and partisans! strike! beat them down!

Down with the Capulets! down with the

Montagues!

Enter old Capulet in his gown, and Lady Capulet.

Cap. What noise is this? Give me my long

sword, ho!

La. Cap. A crutch, a crutch! why call you for a sword?

Cap. My sword, I say! Old Montague is come, And flourishes his blade in spite of me.

Enter old Montague and Lady Montague. Mon. Thou villain Capulet!-Hold me not, let me go.

La. Mon. Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.

82. The old custom of crying out, Clubs, clubs! in case of any tumult occurring in the streets of London, has been made familiar to most readers by Scott in The Fortunes of Nigel. Bills and partizans were weapons used by watchmen and foresters. This transferring of London customs to an Italian city is thus justified by Knight: "The use by Shakespeare of home phrases, in the mouths of foreign characters, was a part of his art. It is the same thing as rendering Sancho's Spanish proverbs into the corresponding English proverbs, instead of literally translating them. The cry of clubs by the citizens of Verona expressed an idea of popular movement, which could not have been conveyed half so emphatically in a foreign phrase."-H. N. H.

84. The long sword was used in active warfare; a lighter, shorter, and less desperate weapon was worn for ornament.-H. N. H.

90

Prin. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbor-stained steel,—
Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you
beasts,

That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the
ground,

101

And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,
And made Verona's ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate:
If ever you disturb-our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time, all the rest depart away:
You, Capulet, shall go along with me;
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our farther pleasure in this case,
To old Free-town, our common judgment-
place.

110

110. "farther"; so Qq. 2, 4; Q. 5, “further"; Q. 3, Ff. 1, 2, 3, "Fathers"; F. 4, "Father's.”—I. G.

111. In Brooke's poem "Free-town" is the name of a castle belonging to Capulet.-Upon the foregoing part of this scene Coleridge. has the following: "With his accustomed judgment, Shakespeare has begun by placing before us a lively picture of all the impulses of the play; and, as nature ever presents two sides, one for Her

Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
[Exeunt all but Montague, Lady Mon-
tague, and Benvolio.

Mon. Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?
Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?
Ben. Here were the servants of your adversary
And yours close fighting ere I did approach:
I drew to part them: in the instant came
The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared;
Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears,
He swung about his head, and cut the winds, 120
Who, nothing hurt withal, hiss'd him in scorn:
While we were interchanging thrusts and
blows,

Came more and more, and fought on part and
part,

Till the prince came, who parted either part.
La. Mon. O, where is Romeo? saw you him to-day?
Right glad I am he was not at this fray.
Ben. Madam, an hour before the worship'd sun

Peer'd forth the golden window of the east,
A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;

aclitus, and one for Democritus, he has, by way of prelude, shown the laughable absurdity of the evil by the contagion of it reaching the servants, who have so little to do with it, but who are under the necessity of letting the superfluity of sensoreal power fly off through the escape-valve of wit-combats, and of quarrelling with weapons of sharper edge, all in humble imitation of their masters. Yet there is a sort of unhired fidelity, an ourishness about all this, that makes it rest pleasant on one's feelings. All the first scene, down to the conclusion of the Prince's speech, is a motley dance of all ranks and ages to one tune, as if the horn of Huon had been playing behind the scenes."-H. N. H.

129. "drave me to walk abroad"; Pope (from Q. 1), "drew me from company"; Theobald, "drew me to walk abroad.”—I. G.

Where, underneath the

grove of sycamore
That westward rooteth from the city's side,
So early walking did I see your son:

Towards him I made; but he was ware of me,
And stole into the covert of the wood:

130

I, measuring his affections by my own,
Which then most sought where most might not
be found,

Being one too many by my weary self,
Pursued my humor, not pursuing his,

And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me. Mon. Many a morning hath he there been seen, 140 With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew,

Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs:

But all so soon as the all-cheering sun Should in the farthest east begin to draw The shady curtains from Aurora's bed, Away from light steals home my heavy son, And private in his chamber pens himself, Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, And makes himself an artificial night: Black and portentous must this humor prove, Unless good counsel may the cause remove. Ben. My noble uncle, do you know the cause?

149

136. "Which then most sought where most might not be found"; Pope (from Q. 1), “That most are busied, when they're most alone"; Keightley, "Which there etc.; Herr conj. "Which then "; Allen conj. "which then most

most sought where many

sought where more

."-I. G.

137. The meaning evidently is, that his disposition was to be in solitude, as he could hardly endure even so much company as that of himself.-H. N. H.