So thou wilt woo; but, else, not for the world. Rom. Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear, moon That monthly changes in her circled orb, Jul. Do not swear at all; Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, And I'll believe thee. Rom. If my heart's dear love Jul. Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract to-night: It is too rash, too unadvis'd, too sudden; 11 So the first quarto: the later editions have coying instead of more cunning. Also, in the first line of the next speech, all the old copies but the first have vow instead of swear. H. 12 With love, pure love, there is always an anxiety for the safety of the object, a disinterestedness, by which it is distinguished from the counterfeits of its name. Compare this scene with Act iii. sc. 1, of The Tempest. I do not know a more wonderful instance of Shakespeare's mastery in playing a distinctly rememberable variety on the same remembered air, than in the transporting love-confessions of Romeo and Juliet, and Ferdinand and This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, Jul. I gave thee mine before thou didst request it; And yet I would it were to give again. Rom. Would'st thou withdraw it? for what purpose, love? Jul. But to be frank, and give it thee again. [Nurse calls within. [Exit. Rom. O blessed, blessed night! I am afeard, Re-enter JULIET, above. Jul. Three words, dear Romeo, and good night, indeed. If that thy bent of love be honourable, Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow Miranda. There seems more passion in the one, and more dignity in the other; yet you feel that the sweet girlish lingering and busy movement of Juliet, and the calmer and more maidenly fondness of Miranda, might easily pass into each other.-COLE RIDGE. H. By one that I'll procure to come to thee, Where, and what time, thou wilt perform the rite; And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay, And follow thee my lord throughout the world.13 Nurse. [Within.] Madam. Jul. I come anon. But, if thou mean'st not well, I do beseech thee, Nurse. [Within.] Madam. Jul. By and by; I come. To cease thy suit,1 and leave me to my grief: Rom. So thrive my soul, [Exit. Jul. A thousand times good night! light. Love goes toward love, as school-boys from their books; But love from love, toward school with heavy looks. [Retiring slowly. 13 In Brooke's poem Juliet uses nearly the same expressions: "But if your thought be chaste, and have on vertue ground; If wedlocke be the marke, which your desire hath found; Obedience set aside, unto my parentes dewe, The quarrel eke that long agoe betweene our householdes grewe; Both me and myne I will all whole to you betake, And, following you whereso you goe, But if by wanton love and by unlawtu y fathers house forsake. sute You thinke to plucke my maydehood's dainty frute, To cease your sute, and suffer her to live emong her likes." 14 This passage is not in the first quarto, and the other old copies have strife instead of suit. Suit agrees much better with the context, is the word commonly given in modern editions, and is found in Mr. Collier's second folio. H. Re-enter JULIET, above. Jul. Hist! Romeo, hist!-O, for a falconer's voice, To lure this tercel-gentle back again! 15 Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud; Rom. It is my soul, that calls upon my name : How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night, Like softest music to attending ears! Rom. Jul. I will not fail: At what o'clock to-morrow At the hour of nine. 'tis twenty years till then. I have forgot why I did call thee back. Rom. Let me stand here till thou remember it. Jul. I shall forget, to have thee still stand there, Remembering how I love thy company. Rom. And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget, Forgetting any other home but this Jul. "Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone; 15 The tercel is the male of the gosshawk, and had the epithet gentle annexed to it, from the ease with which it was tamed, and its attachment to man. Tardif, in his book of Falconry, says that the tiercel has its name from being one of three birds usually found in the aerie of a falcon, two of which are females, and the third a male; hence called tiercelet, or the third. According to the old books of sport the falcon gentle and tiercel gentle are birds for a prince. For voice, third line after, all the old copies but the first quarto have tongue. H. 16 So the undated quarto. The quarto of 1597 has Madam; those of 1599 and 1609 and the first folio have niece instead of dear. The second folio changes niece to sweet, which is commonly adopted in modern editions. H. And yet no further than a wanton's bird; Rom. I would I were thy bird. Jul. Sweet, so would I ; Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sor row, That I shall say good night, till it be morrow. [Exit. Rom. Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast! 17 Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest! SCENE III. Friar LAURENCE'S Cell. Enter Friar LAURENCE, with a Basket. Fri. The gray-ey'd morn smiles on the frowning night,' Checkering the eastern clouds with streaks of light; And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels 17 So the quarto of 1597; the later copies, "my ghostly friars close cell."The quartos of 1599 and 1609 and the folio of 1623 assign the first line of this speech to Juliet. H. 1 The reverend character of the Friar, like all Shakespeare's representations of the great professions, is very delightful and tranquillizing, yet it is no digression, but immediately necessary to the carrying on of the plot. COLERIDGE. H. 2 Flecked is dappled, streaked, or variegated. Lord Surrey uses the word in his translation of the fourth Æneid: "Her quivering cheekes flecked with deadly stain." So in the old play of |