you fought him. I am the youngest of that name,

for fault of a worse.

Nurse. You fay well.

Mer. Yea, is the worft well?

Very well took, i'faith, wifely, wifely.

Nurse. If you be he, Sir,

I defire fome confidence with you.

Ben. She will indite him to fome fupper.

Mer. A bawd, a bawd, a bawd. So ho!

Rom. What haft thou found?

Mer. No hare, Sir, unless a hare, Sir, in a lenten pye, that is fomething ftale and hoar ere it be spent. An old hare hoar, and an old hare hoar, is very good meat in Lent,

But a hare, that is hoar, is too much for a score, when it hoars ere it be spent.

Romeo, will you come to your father's? we'll to dinner thither.

Rom. I will follow you.

Mer. Farewel, ancient lady: Farewel, lady, lady, lady.

[Exeunt Mercutio, Benvolio. Nurse. I pray you, Sir, what faucy merchant was this, that was fo full of his ropery?

Rom. A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himfelf talk, and will fpeak more in a minute, than he will ftand to in a month.

Nurse. An a speak any thing against me, I'll take him down an' he were luftier than he is, and twenty fuch Jacks and if I cannot, I'll find those that shall. Scurvy knave, I am none of his flirt-gills; I am

3 No hare, Sir,] Mercutio having roared out, Jo bo! the cry of the sportsmen when they start a hare; Romeo asks what he has found. And Mercutio anfwers,

No hare, &c. The rest is a feries of quibbles unworthy of explanation, which he who does not understand, needs not lament his ignorance. E 3

none

4 none of his skains mates. And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to ufe me at his pleasure? [To ber man.

Pet. I faw no man ufe you at his pleasure if I had, my weapon fhould quickly have been out, I warrant you. I dare draw as foon as another man, if I fee occafion in a good quarrel, and the law on my fide.

Nurfe. Now, afore God, I am fo vext, that every part about me quivers. Scurvy knave! Pray you, Sir, a word: and as I told you, my young lady bid me enquire you out; what fhe bid me fay, I will keep to myself. But firft let me tell ye, if ye fhould lead her into a fool's paradife, as they fay, it were a very grofs kind of behaviour, as they fay, for the gentlewoman is young; and therefore, if you fhould deal double with her, truly, it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing.

Rom. Commend me to thy lady and mistress, I proteft unto thee

Nurfe. Good heart, and, i'faith, I will tell her as much. Lord, Lord, fhe will be a joyful woman. Rom. What wilt thou tell her, nurfe? Thou doft not mark me.

Nurfe. I will tell her, Sir, that you do proteft; which, as I take it, is a gentleman-like offer.

Rom. Bid her devife fome means to come to shrift this afternoon :

And there the fhall at friar Laurence' Cell

Be fhriev'd and married. Here is for thy pains.
Nurfe. No, truly, Sir, not a penny.

Rom. Go to, I say, you fhall.

Nurfe. This afternoon, Sir? Well, fhe fhall be there. Rom. And ftay, good nurse, behind the abby-wall: Within this hour my man fhall be with thee,

4 None of his fkains-mates.] The word kins-mate, I do not underitand, but fuppofe that

skains was fome low play, and kains-mate, a companion at fuch play.

And

And bring thee cords, made like a tackled ftair,
Which to the high top-gallant of my joy
Must be my convoy in the fecret night.
Farewel, be trufty, and I'll quit thy pains.
Nurfe. Now, God in heav'n bless thee! hark
Sir.

Rom. What fayeft thou, my dear nurse?

you,

Nurfe. Is your man fecret? did you ne'er hear fay, Two may keep counfel, putting one away?

Rom. I warrant thee, my man's as true as steel. Nurfe. Well, Sir, my mistress is the fweeteft lady; Lord, Lord! when 'twas a little prating thingO, there is a noble man in town, one Paris, that would fain lay knife aboard; but fhe, good foul, had as lieve fee a toad, a very toad, as fee him. I anger her fometimes, and tell her, that Paris is the properer man; but I'll warrant you, when I fay fo, The looks as pale as any clout in the varfal World. Doth not Rosemary and Romeo begin both with a letter?

'Rom. Ay, nurfe, what of that? both with an R. Nurse. Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. R is for thee? No; I know, it begins with another letter; and

5-like a tackled fair,] Like ftairs of rope in the tackle of a fhip. Rom. Ay, nurse, what of

that? bith with an R.

Nurse, Ab, mocker! that's the dog's name. R is for the no, I know it begins with no other let ter;] I believe, I have rectified this odd ftuff; but it is a little mortifying, that the fenfe, when found, fhould not be worth the pains of retrieving it.

-Spiffis indigna Theatris
Scripta pudet recitare, & nugis
addere pondus.
The Nurse is represented as

a

prating filly creature; the fays, The will tell Romeo a good joke about his mistress, and asks him, whether Rosemary and Romeo do not begin both with a letter: He fays, yes, an R. She, who, we muft fuppofe, could not read, thought he had mock'd her, and fays, No, fure, I know better: our dog's name is R. yours begins with another letter. This is natural enough, and in character. R put her in mind of that found which is made by dogs when they fnarl: and therefore, I prefume, fhe fays, that is the dog's

E

and

and fhe hath the prettieft fententious of it, of you rosemary, that it would do you good to hear it. Rem. Commend me to thy lady-Exit Romeo. Nurfe. Ay, a thoufand times. Peter,

Pet. Anon?

Nurfe. Take my fan, and go before.

[Exeunt.

Jul. T

SCENE V.

Changes to Capulet's Houfe.

Enter Juliet.

HE clock ftruck nine, when I did fend the nurse :

In half an hour the promis'd to return.

Perchance, fhe cannot meet him-That's not fo-
Oh, fhe is lame love's heralds fhould be thoughts,
Which ten times fafter glide than the fun-beams,
Driving back fhadows over lowring hills.
Therefore do nimble-pinion'd doves draw love,
And therefore hath the wind-fwift Cupid wings.
Now is the Sun upon the highmoft hi!l

Of this day's journey; and from nine 'till twelve
Is three long hours-and yet fhe is not come.
Had fhe affections and warm youthful blood,

Ben

name. R. in the fchools, being
called the Dog's Letter.
Fonfon in his Engl fh grammar
fays, R. is the Dog's letter, and
birreth in the found.

Irritata canis qued R. R. quam
plurima dicat. Lucil.
WARBURTON.
This paffage is thus in the old

folio, A macker, that's the dog's name. R is for the no, I know it begins with fome other letter. In this copy the error is but fmail. I read, Ah, mocker, that's the dog's name. R is for the nonce, I knew it begins with another letter. For the nonce, is for fome defign, for a fly trick.

She'd

She'd be as fwift in' motion as a ball;

My words would bandy her to my sweet love,
And his to me;

But old folks, marry, feign as they were dead,
Unwieldy, flow, heavy, and pale, as lead.

Enter Nurfe, with Peter.

O good, fhe comes. O honey Nurse, what news?
Haft thou met with him? fend thy man away.
Nurse. Peter, ftay at the gate.
Jul. Now, good fweet Nurfe,

O Lord, why look'st thou fad?

Tho' news be fad, yet tell them merrily:

[Exit Peter.

If good, thou fham'ft the mufick of sweet news,
By playing 't to me with fo four a face.

Nurfe. I am a weary, let me reft a while;

Fy, how my bones ake, what a jaunt have I had? Jul. I would, thou hadst my bones, and I thy

news!

Nay, come, I pray thee, fpeak-Good, good nurse,

fpeak.

Nurse. What hafte? Can you not stay a while? Do you not fee, that I am out of breath?

Jul. How art thou out of breath, when thou haft breath

To fay to me, that thou art out of breath?
Th' Excufe, that thou doft make in this delay,
Is longer than the Tale thou doft excufe.
Is thy news good or bad? answer to that;
Say either, and I'll ftay the circumftance:
Let me be fatisfied. Is't good or bad?

Nurfe. Well, you have made a fimple choice; you know not how to chufe a man: Romeo, no, not he; though his face be better than any man's, yet his legs excel all men's; and for a hand, and a foot, and a body, tho' they be not to be talk'd on, yet they are

past