And that we have a curfe in having her:
Out on her, hilding!

Nurfe. God in heaven bless her!

You are to blame, my lord, to rate her fo.

Cap. And why, my lady wifdom? hold your tongue, Good prudence; fmatter with your goffips, go.

Nurfe. I fpeak no treason.

Cap. O, God ye good den!

Nurje. May not one speak?

Cap. Peace, you mumbling fool!

Utter your gravity o'er a goflip's bowl,

For here we need it not.

La. Cap. You are too hot.

Cap. God's bread +! it makes me mad: Day, night, early, late,

At home, abroad, alone, in company,
Waking, or fleeping, ftill my care hath been
To have her match'd: and having now provided
A gentleman of princely parentage,

Of fair demefnes, youthful, and nobly train'd,
Stuff'd (as they fay) with honourable parts,
Proportion'd as one's heart could with a man,—
And then to have a wretched puling fool,
A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender,
To answer—I'll not wed,—I cannot love,

I am

4 God's bread! &c.] The first three lines of this fpeech are formed from the first quarto, and that of 1599, with which the folio con

curs.

The first copy reads:

God's bleffed mother, wife, it makes me mad.

Day, night, early, late, at home, abroad,

Alone, in company, waking or fleeping,

Still my care hath been to fee her match'd.

The quarto 1599, and the folio, read:
God's bread, it makes me mad.

Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play,

Alone, in company, ftill my care hath been
To bave her match'd, &c.

5- and baving now provided

MALONE.

A gentleman of princely parentage,

Awbining mammet, in ber fortune's tender,

To answer-I'll not wed, I cannot love,] So, in Romeus and

Juliet, 1562:

"Such

I am too young, I pray you, pardon me ;—
But, an you will not wed, I'll pardon you:
Graze where you will, you shall not house with me;
Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jest.
Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise:
An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend;
An you be not, hang, beg, ftarve, die i' the streets,
For, by my foul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee,

"Such care thy mother had, fo dear thou wert to me,
"That I with long and earneft fuit provided have for thee
"One of the greatest lords that wons about this town,
"And for his many virtues' fake a man of great renown ;-
and yet thou playeft in this cafe

"The dainty fool and stubborn girl; for want of skill,
"Thou doft refuse thy offer'd weal, and difobey my will.
"Even by his ftrength I swear that first did give me life,

"And gave me in my youth the ftrength to get thee on my wife,
"Unless by Wednesday next thou bend as I am bent,
"And, at our caftle call'd Freetown, thou freely do affent

"To county Paris fuit,

"Not only will I give all that I have away,

"From thee to those that shall me love, me honour and obey;

"But alfo to fo close and to fo hard a gale

"I fhall thee wed for all thy life, that fure thou shalt not fail "A thousand times a day to with for fudden death:"Advife thee well, and fay that thou art warned now, "And think not that I fpeak in fport, or mind to break my vow! There is a paffage in an old play called Wily beguil'd, fo nearly refembling this, that one poet must have copied from the other. Wily beguil'd was on the stage before 1996, being mentioned by Nathe in his Have with you to Saffron Walden, printed in that year. In that play Gripe gives his daughter Lelia's hand to a fuitor, which the plucks back; on which her nurse says,

"She'll none, the thanks you, fir.

"Gripe. Will the none? why, how now, I say?

"What, you powring, peevish thing, you untoward baggage,

"Will you not be ruled by your father?

"Have I ta'en care to bring you up to this?

"And will you doe as you lift?

"Away, I fay; bang, farve, beg, be gone;

"Out of my fight! pack, I fay:

"Thou ne'er get'ft a pennyworth of my goods for this.

"Think on't; I do not use to jeft:

Be gone, I fay, I will not hear thee fpeake." MALONE.

Nor

Nor what is mine fhall never do thee good:
Truft to't, bethink you, I'll not be forfworn.

[Exit.

Jul. Is there no pity fitting in the clouds,
That fees into the bottom of my grief"?
O, fweet my mother, caft me not away!
Delay this marriage for a month, a week;
Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed
In that dim monument where Tybalt lies 7.
La. Cap. Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word;
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee. [Exit.
Jul. O God!-O nurfe! how shall this be prevented?
My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven;
How fhall that faith return again to earth,
Unless that hufband fend it me from heaven
By leaving earth ?-comfort me, counsel me.-
Alack, alack, that heaven fhould practife ftratagems
Upon fo foft a fubject as myself!—

What fay'ft thou? haft thou not a word of joy?
Some comfort, nurse.

Nurse. 'Faith, here 'tis: Romeo

Is banished; and all the world to nothing,
That he dares ne'er come back to challenge you;
Or, if he do, it needs must be by stealth.
Then, fince the cafe fo ftands as now it doth,
I think it beft you married with the county.

6 Is there no pity fitting in the clouds,

O, he's

That fees into the bottom of my grief?] So, in King John, in two parts, 1591:

Ah boy, thy yeeres, I fee, are far too greene, "To look into the bottom of thefe cares."

MALONE.

7 In that dim monument, &c.] The modern editors read dun monument. I have replaced dim from the old quarto 1597, and the folio.

8 'Faith, bere 'tis : Romeo

Is banished; and all the world to nothing,

That be dares ne'er come back to challenge you ;—
Then fince the caje fo ftands as now it dotb,

STEEVENS.

I think it beft you married with the county.] The character of the nurfe exhibits a juft picture of those whofe actions have no principles for their foundation. She has been unfaithful to the truft repofed in her by Capulet, and is ready to embrace any expedient that offers, to avert the confequences of her first infidelity. STEEVING.

O, he's a lovely gentleman!

Romeo's a difh-clout to him; an eagle, madam,
Hath not fo green', fo quick, fo fair an eye,
As Paris hath. Befhrew my very heart,
I think you are happy in this fecond match,
For it excels your firft: or if it did not,
Your first is dead; or 'twere as good he were,
As living here 2 and you no use of him.
Jul. Speak'ft thou from thy heart?
Nurfe. Ay, and from my foul;

This picture, however, is not an original. In The Tragicall Hyftory of Romeus and Juliet, 1562, the nurfe exhibits the fame readinefs to accommodate herself to the prefent conjuncture:

"The flattering nurfe did praife the friar for his fkill,

"And said that she had done right well, by wit to order will;
"She fetteth forth at large the father's furious rage,
"And eke she praifeth much to her the fecond marriage;
"And county Paris now she praiseth ten times more

"By wrong, than she herself by right bad Romeus prais'd befores
"Paris fhall dwell there ftill; Romeus fhall not return;

"What shall it boot her all her life to languish still and

mourn?" MALONE.

Sir John Vanbrugh, in the Relapfe, has copied in this respect the character of his nurfe from Shakspeare. BLACKSTONE.

I fo green an eye-] So the first editions. Hanmer reads-fo keen. JOHNSON. Perhaps Chaucer has given to Emetrius, in the Knight's Tale, eyes of the fame colour:

His nofe was high, his eyin bright citryn: i. e. of the hue of an unripe lemon or citron.

Again, in the Two Noble Kinfmen, by Fletcher and Shakspeare, A& V. fc. i.

"oh vouchfafe,

"With that thy rare green eye," &c. STEEVENS.

What Shakspeare meant by this epithet here, may be eafily collected from the following lines, which he has attributed to Thisbé in the last Act of A Midsummer Night's Dream:

Thefe lily lips,

"This cherry nofe,

"Thefe yellow cowflip cheeks,

"Are gone, are gone!

"His eyes were green as leeks." MALONE.

2 As living here-] Sir T. Hanmer reads, as living hence, that is, at a distance, in banishment; but bere may fignify, in this world.

JOHNSON.

Or

Or elfe befhrew them both.

Jul. Amen!
Nurfe. What?

Jul. Well, thou haft comforted me marvellous much.
Go in; and tell my lady I am gone,

Having difpleas'd my father, to Laurence' cell,
To make confeffion, and to be abfolv'd.

Nurfe. Marry, I will; and this is wifely done. [Exit.
Jul. Ancient damnation 3! O moft wicked fiend!
Is it more fin-to wifh me thus forfworn,
Or to difpraise my lord with that fame tongue
Which he hath prais'd him with above compare
So many thoufand times ?-Go, counsellor;
Thou and my bofom henceforth fhall be twain.-
I'll to the friar, to know his remedy;
If all elfe fail, myself have power to die.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

Friar Lawrence's Cell.

Enter Friar LAWRENCE, and PARIS.

Fri. On thursday, fir? the time is very short.
Par. My father Capulet will have it fo;
And I am nothing flow, to flack his hafte 4.

[Exit.

Fri.

3 Ancient damnation !] This term of reproach occurs in the Malcontent, 1604:

“—out, you ancient damnation!" STEEVENS,

And I am nothing flow, &c.] His baste shall not be abated by my Bowness. It might be read:

And I am nothing flow to back his haste :

that is, I am diligent to abet and enforce his hafte. JOHNSON. Stack was certainly the authour's word, for, in the first edition, the line ran

"And I am nothing slack to flow his haste.” Back could not have ftood there.

If this kind of phrafeology be juftifiable, it can be justified only by fuppofing the meaning to be, there is nothing of flowness in me, to induce me to flacken or abate bis bafte. The meaning of Paris is very clear; he does not with to reftrain Capulet, or to delay his own marVOL. IX. riage;

K