And bakes the elf-locks in foul sluttish hairs,18 Rom. Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! Thou talk'st of nothing. Mer. True, I talk of dreams; Which are the children of an idle brain, Which is as thin of substance as the air; Ben. This wind, you talk of, blows us from ourselves: Supper is done, and we shall come too late. Rom. I fear, too early: for my mind misgives, With this night's revels; and expire the term [Exeunt. SCENE V. The Same. A Hall in CAPULET'S House. Musicians waiting. Enter Servants. 1 Serv. Where's Potpan, that he helps not to take away? he shift a trencher!1 he scrape a trencher! 2 Serv. When good manners shall lie all in one or two men's hands, and they unwash'd too, 'tis a foul thing. 1 Serv. Away with the joint-stools, remove the courtcupboard,2 look to the plate. Good thou, save me a piece 18 Alluding to a superstition which, as Warburton observed, may have originated from the plica Polonica, which was supposed to be the operation of the wicked elves; whence the clotted hair was called elf-locks or elf-knots. 19 Wit ever wakeful, fancy busy and procreative as an insect, courage, an easy mind that, without cares of its own, is at once disposed to laugh away those of others, and yet to be interested in them, these and all congenial qualities, melting into the common copula of them all, the man of rank and the gentleman, with all its excellences and all its weaknesses, constitute the character of Mercutio! COLERIDGE. 20 This way of using expire was not uncommon in the Poet's time. 1 To shift a trencher was technical. Trenchers were used in Shakespeare's time and long after by persons of good fashion and quality. 2 The court-cupboard was the ancient sideboard; a cumbrous piece of furniture, with shelves gradually receding to the top, whereon the plate was displayed at festivals. 3 of marchpane; and, as thou lovest me, let the porter let in Susan Grindstone, and Nell. Antony Potpan! 2 Serv. Ay, boy; ready. 1 Serv. You are look'd for and call'd for, ask'd for and sought for, in the great chamber. 2 Serv. We cannot be here and there too. Cheerly, boys! be brisk awhile, and the longer liver take all. [They retire behind. Enter CAPULET, &c., with the Guests and the Maskers. Cap. Welcome, gentlemen! ladies that have their toes Will now deny to dance? she that makes dainty, she, A whispering tale in a fair lady's ear, Such as would please: 'tis gone, 'tis gone, 'tis gone. 6 [Music plays, and they dance. More lights, you knaves; and turn the tables up, And quench the fire, the room is grown too hot. Ah, sirrah, this unlook'd-for sport comes well. Nay, sit, nay, sit, good cousin Capulet; 7 For you and I are past our dancing-days: How long is't now since last yourself and I Were in a mask? 2 Cap. By'r Lady, thirty years. Cap. What, man! 'tis not so much, 'tis not so much: "Tis since the nuptial of Lucentio, Come Pentecost as quickly as it will, Some five-and-twenty years; and then we mask'd. Cap. Will you tell me that? His son was but a ward two years ago. 8 Marchpane was a constant article in the desserts of our ancestors. It was a sweet cake, composed of filberts, almonds, pistachios, pine kernels,⚫ and sugar of roses, with a small portion of flour. 4 A bout was the same as a turn; or, as we now say, "dance a figure." 5 An exclamation to make room in a crowd for any particular purpose, as we now say a ring! a ring! 6 The ancient tables were flat leaves or boards joined by hinges and placed on trestles; when they were to be removed they were therefore turned up. 7 Cousin was a common expression for kinsman. Rom. [To a Servant.] What lady's that, which doth enrich the hand Of yonder knight? Serv. I know not, sir. 8 Rom. O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, Tyb. This, by his voice, should be a Montague:- To fleer and scorn at our solemnity? Now, by the stock and honour of my kin, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin. Cap. Why, how now, kinsman! wherefore storm you so A villain, that is hither come in spite, To scorn at our solemnity this night. Tyb. 'Tis he, that villain Romeo. Tyb. It fits, when such a villain is a guest: I'll not endure him. Cap. What, goodman boy! He shall be endur'd: I say, he shall; go to: Am I the master here, or you? go to. You'll not endure him! God shall mend my soul, You will set cock-a-hoop! you'll be the man! 8 All the old copies till the folio of 1632 have "It seems she hangs," &c. The present reading is so much better as to justify its retention. Neither the origin nor the meaning of cock-a-hoop has been explained in You are a saucy boy. Go to, go to; Is't so, indeed? This trick may chance to scathe you: 10 I know what. Well said, my hearts! You are a princox; 11 go: Rom. If I profane with my unworthiest hand [Exit. Jul. Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, - in prayer. Rom. Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?12 Jul. Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.18 Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purg'd. [Kissing her 14 Jul. Then have my lips the sin that they have took. a manner at all satisfactory. Perhaps it should be cock-a-whoop; in which case the word itself would suggest the sense of kindling or breeding a quarrel; like cocks whooping or crying each other into a fight. 10 To scathe is to hurt, damage, or do an injury. 11 Minsheu calls a princox a ripe-headed young boy," and derives the word from the Latin precox. The more probable derivation is from prime cock; that is, a cock of prime courage or spirit; hence applied to a pert, conceited, forward person. So in the Return from Parnassus: "Your proud university princox thinkes he is a man of such merit, the world cannot sufficiently endow him with preferment.' 12 There is a charming dash of humour in the respectful delicacy with which Romeo here moves towards his purpose. Still more so, perhaps, in the demure archness of Juliet's reply, Ay, lips that they must use-in prayer." It should be remarked that the Poet gives only the closing part of their private dialogue. They have come to a pretty good understanding with each other, before we hear from them; the issue of their talk being reported, and the preparation left to be inferred. 18 Prayers is here a dissyllable; in the next line, a monosyllable. There are a good many words which the Poet thus uses as of one or two syllables, indifferently, to suit the occasion of his verse. 14 In Shakespeare's time, the kissing of a lady at a social gathering seems not to have been thought indecorous. So, in King Henry VIII., we have Lord Sands kissing Anne Boleyn, at the supper given by Wolsey. Rom. Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg'd! Give me my sin again. Jul. You kiss by th' book. Nurse. Madam, your mother craves a word with you. Nurse. Marry, bachelor, Her mother is the lady of the house, And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous: Shall have the chinks. Rom. I'll to my rest. [Exeunt all but JULIET and Nurse. Jul. Čome hither, Nurse. What is yond gentleman? Nurse. The son and heir of old Tiberio. Jul. What's he that now is going out of door? Nurse. Marry, that, I think, be young Petruchio. Jul. What's he that follows there, that would not dance? Nurse. I know not. Jul. Go ask his name: if he be married, My grave is like to be my wedding-bed. Nurse. His name is Romeo, and a Montague; The only son of your great enemy. Jul. My only love sprung from my only hate! Nurse. What's this? what's this? 15 The meaning seems to be, that he has put his life in pledge to or at the mercy of his foe; or that what has just passed is likely to cost him his life. At the close of the preceding scene, Romeo's mind is haunted with a foreboding or presentiment of evil consequences from what he is going about. That presage is strengthened by what has just happened; and he naturally apprehends this new passion as in some way connected with the fulfilment of it. The whole thing is very finely conceived. 16 Towards is ready, at hand. - A banquet, or rere-supper, as it was sometimes called, was similar to our dessert. 17 Fay is a diminutive of faith; rather a small oath for such a fiery old man as the Capulet to swear. |