Displant a town, reverse a prince's doom; It helps not, it prevails not, talk no more. Fri. O, then I see that madmen have no ears. Rom. How should they, when that wise men have no eyes? Fri. Let me dispute with thee of thy estate.' Rom. Thou canst not speak of what thou dost not feel: Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, An hour but married, Tybalt murdered, Doting like me, and like me banished, Then might'st thou speak, then might'st thou tear thy hair, And fall upon the ground, as I do now, Taking the measure of an unmade grave. Fri. Arise; one knocks; good Romeo, hide thyself. [Knocking within. Rom. Not I; unless the breath of heart-sick groans, Mist-like, infold me from the search of eyes. [Knocking. Fri. Hark, how they knock !-Who's there?-Romeo, arise; Thou wilt be taken:-Stay a while :-stand up; [Knocking. Run to my study :-By and by :-God's will! Nurse. [within.] Let me come in, and you shall know my errand; I come from lady Juliet. Fri. Welcome then. Enter Nurse. Nurse. O holy friar, O, tell me, holy friar, Where is my lady's lord, where's Romeo? Fri. There on the ground, with his own tears made drunk. Nurse. O, he is even in my mistress' case, Just in her case! Let me dispute with thee of thy estate.] i. e. Talk over thy affairs.STEEVENS. Fri. O woeful sympathy! Piteous predicament! Nurse. Even so lies she, Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering :- Rom. Nurse! Nurse. Ah sir! ah sir!-Well, death's the end of all. Rom. Spak'st thou of Juliet? how is it with her? Doth she not think me an old murderer, Now I have stain'd the childhood of our joy With blood remov'd but little from her own? Where is she? and how doth she? and what says My conceal'd lady to our cancell'd love? Nurse. O, she says nothing, sir, but weeps and weeps; And now falls on her bed; and then starts up, And Tybalt calls; and then on Romeo cries, Rom. As if that name, Shot from the deadly level of a gun, Did murder her; as that name's cursed-hand Doth my name lodge? tell me, that I may sack Fri. [Drawing his Sword. Hold thy desperate hand: Art thou a man? thy form cries out, thou art; Unseemly woman, in a seeming man! Why rail'st thou on thy birth, the heaven, and earth? Fye, fye! thou sham'st thy shape, thy love, thy wit; And usest none in that true use indeed Which should bedeck thy shape, thy love, thy wit. And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.* u Like powder in a skill-less soldier's flask, &c.] To understand the force of this allusion, it should be remembered that the ancient English soldiers, using match-locks, instead of locks with flints as at present, were obliged to carry a lighted match hanging at their belts, very near to the wooden flask in which they kept their powder.-STEEVENS. And thou dismember'd with thine own defence.]. And thou torn to pieces with thine own weapons.---JOHNSON. And bid her hasten all the house to bed, Which heavy sorrow makes them apt unto : Nurse. O Lord, I could have staid here all the night, sir: Rom. Do so, and bid my sweet prepare to chide. [Exit Nurse. 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, Or by the break of day disguis'd from hence : Give me thy hand; 'tis late: farewell; good night. Farewell. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. A Room in Capulet's House. Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, and PARIS. I would have been a-bed an hour ago. Par. These times of woe afford no time to woo : Madam, good night: commend me to your daughter. у here stands all your state;] The whole of your fortune depends on this.-JOHNSON. La. Cap. I will, and know her mind early to-morrow; To-night she's mew'd up' to her heaviness. Cap. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender® Acquaint her here of my son Paris' love; Par. Monday, my lord. Therefore we'll have some half-a-dozen friends, Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day.— Afore me, it is so very late, that we May call it early by and by :-Good night. SCENE V. Juliet's Chamber. Enter ROMEO and JULIET. [Exeunt. Jul. Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear; mew'd up-] This is a phrase from falconry. A mew was a place of confinement for hawks.-STEEVENS. a Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender-] Desperate means only bold, adventurous, as if he had said in the vulgar phrase, I will speak a bold word, and venture to promise you my daughter.-JOHNSON. |