180. circumstance, further detail, particulars, or perhaps inquiry into such detail; cp. above, ii. 5. 36.

186. A great suspicion. Said with true Dogberry solemnity. 187. is so early up. As if the misadventure, like himself, had risen early from bed, was stirring early; cp., for the quasipersonification, K. J. v. 5. 21, "The day shall not be up so soon

as I.'

189. should it be, can it possibly be.

192. With open outcry, like dogs in full cry after game.

193. startles, suddenly bursts forth; this intransitive use is now obsolete, to 'start' being used in its stead.

195. dead before, as she had been supposed to be.

197. know, ascertain by inquiry.

202. hath mista'en, has mistaken its proper abode : his house, its sheath.

203. on the back, daggers being worn behind the back. 204. And it mis-sheathed, for it, the reading of the second quarto, most editors prefer is, which the other copies give. this case the words "for, lo, ... Montague" are parenthetical.

In

205, 6. is as a bell... sepulchre, is like a bell summoning me to my death; cp. K. J. ii. 1. 201, "Who is it that hath warned us to the walls?" and Macb. ii. 1. 62-4, "the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell."

208. down, struck down in death; with a play on the words up and down.

211. conspires... age, conspires to put an end to an old man like me.

213. O thou untaught! O ill-disciplined one! manners, regarded as a singular in thought; see Abb. § 335.

214. To press... grave? comparing the rudeness to that of pressing before a father into a room, etc.

215, the mouth of outrage, your passionate exclamations. Staunton compares i. H. VI. iv. 1. 126, “are you not ashamed With this immodest clamorous outrage To trouble and disturb the king and us?", where the reference is to the "audacious prate" of York, Somerset, etc.

216. ambiguities, obscure relation of events; now generally used of language which may bear two meanings.

217. descent, origin; carrying on the metaphor of a stream that flows downward from its source.

218, 9. will I... death, I will put myself at the head of your grievances and lead you on to vengeance, even if that vengeance be the death of those to whom those grievances are due.

220. And let ... patience, and let calamity submit patiently to calm endurance; patiently control your sense of injury.

221. parties of suspicion, those suspected, those who have a part, share, in the suspicion that is abroad.

222. I am...least, I, though least capable (physically) of such a deed, am most suspected of having committed it.

224. Doth make against me, tell against me, as witnesses against me; time and place is to be taken as a single idea.

225, 6. both to impeach... excused, to accuse myself while pleading my excuse, and at the same time to clear myself while decreeing my condemnation; i.e. to accuse myself on account of my actions, to excuse myself on account of my intentions. For a similar collocation, cp. A. C. iv. 12, 8, 9, "His fretted fortunes give him hope, and fear, Of what he has, and has not" ; W. T. iii. 6. 165, "though I with death, and with Reward, did threaten and encourage him Not doing it, and being done." In impeach the original idea is that of hindering, F. empêcher, to hinder, the first step in an accusation being to hinder the accused from evading jurisdiction.

227. in this, in, or of, this matter.

228, 9. for my short... tale, for the short time I have to live is not long enough for a tedious tale; my short date of breath = the short date of my breath; cp. for the transposition, A. C. iv. 6. 39, My latter part of life,' i.e. the latter part of my life; Haml. iv. 5. 213, "His means of death," i.e. the means of his death; and see Abb. § 423.

232. their stol'n marriage-day, the day of their stolen marriage, of their marriage stealthily celebrated.

234. Banish'd, caused to be banished.

236. siege, attack, assault; cp. above, i. 1. 218, and K. J. v. 7. 16, "his (sc. death's) siege is now Against the mind.” So Lamb talks of "an obsession of grief."

239. bid, past tense.

240. rid her from, enable her to escape from.

245. form, appearance.

246. as this dire night. Allen on Temp. i. 2. 70, "as at this

time," considers as in such expressions to mark a greater or less
precision or emphasis; Abbott, § 114, though regarding as in
definitions of time as apparently redundant, thinks that here it
may mean 'as (he did come),' which seems to me to be a great
forcing of language.

247. borrowed grave,
248. Being the time.

(Delius).

250. stay'd, prevented.

grave not properly her own.

"This belongs to 'as this dire night'"

252. hour, metrically a dissyllable; see Abb. § 480.

254. closely, in secrecy.

256. some minute, a minute or so.

258. true, faithful in his love.

260. this work of heaven, i.e. Romeo's death.

262. too desperate, sc. to care for life without Romeo: would
not go, refused to go.

263. as it seems. The Friar having left her was not actual
witness of her suicide.

267. some hour, some short time, i.e. for it cannot be long
before I shall die in the course of nature.

269. still, ever: for, as being.

270. what can ... this? what evidence can he give as to this
matter?

272. in post, see note on v. i. 21.

275. going in the vault, as he entered the vault.

278. raised, summoned, called up.

279. what made your master, what was your master doing
here? what business or object had he in coming here.

282. Anon, suddenly; see note on ii. 2. 137.

283. by and by, presently, after a short interval.

285. make good, confirm, substantiate.

291. See, what... hate, see how your hatred is punished.

292. That heaven love in the fact that heaven employs the
love that was exchanged between Romeo and Juliet (and which
should have been a bond of union to the two families) as a
means to crush all happiness out of your lives.

293. winking at, partially closing my eyes to, not taking that
vigorous notice which, as the head of the state, I was bound to
take.

296. This is ... jointure, the only dowry you can make my

daughter; jointure, properly the property estated on the wife by
the husband when they are joined in marriage.

299. by that name, as Verona.'

300. at such rate be set, be valued at so high a price.

302. As rich, in equal splendour.

The

303. Poor ... enmity, an inadequate atonement for our hatred.
304. glooming, gloomy; which the fourth folio gives.
participle seems more forcible from its notion of activity.
305. for sorrow, on account of sorrow.

306. Go hence, to have, accompanying me hence, in order that
we may have.

307. Some punished. In the novel from which the plot is
taken, says Steevens, we find that the Nurse was banished for
concealing the marriage, Balthasar set at liberty as having only
acted in obedience to Romeo's orders, the Apothecary tortured
and hanged, and the Friar allowed to retire to a hermitage near
Verona.

INDEX TO NOTES.