Muft I of force be married to the county 1?— No, no;-this shall forbid it :-lie thou there.— What "-to the end I may my name and confcience fave, "And other beafts and worms, that are of nature venomous, "And commonly, as I have heard, in dead men's tombs are found, "Of carcafes not yet confum'd, and bones that long before "Find me. if I awake before, y-ftifled in the tomb? MALONE. So, in Painter's Palace of Pleafure, tom. ii. p. 239."—but what know I, (fayd fhe) whether the operation of this pouder will be to foone or to late, or not correfpondent to the due time, and that my faulte being difcovered, I fhall remayne a jefting-stocke and fable to the people? what know I moreover, if the ferpents and other venomous and crauling wormes, which commonly frequent the graves and pittes of the earth, will hurt me thinkyng that I am dead? But how shall I indure the finche of fo many carions and bones of myne auncestors which reft in the grave, if by fortune I do awake before Romeo and frier Laurence doe come to help me? And as he was thus plunged in the deepe contemplation of things, fhe thought that the fawe a certaine vifion or fanfie of her coufin hibault, in the very fame fort as the fawe him wounded and imbrued with blood;" &c. STEEVENS. 1 Must I of force be married to the county?] Thus the quarto of 1597, and not, as the line has been exhibited in the late editions, Shall I of force be married to the count? The fubequent ancient copies read, as Mr. Steevens has obferved, Shall I be married then to-morrow morning? MALONE. 2 lie thou there. [laying down a dagger.] This stage-directin has been fupplied by the modern editors. The quarto, 1597, reads: “ – Knife, lie thou there." It appears from feveral paflages in our old plays, that knives were formerly part of the accoutrements of a bride; and every thing beboveful for Juliet's fate had just been left with her. So, in Decker's Match me in London, 1631: "See, at my girdle hang my wedding knives!" What if it be a poison, which the friar Come to redeem me? there's a fearful point! To whofe foul mouth no healthfome air breathes in, The horrible conceit of death and night, Again, in King Edward III. 1596: "Here by my fide do hang my wedding knives: "Take thou the one, and with it kill thy queen, "And with the other, I'll dispatch my love." STEEVENS. In order to account for Juliet's having a dagger, or, as it is called in old language, a knife, it is not neceffary to have recourfe to the ancient accoutrements of brides, how prevalent foever the custom mentioned by Mr. Steevens may have been; for Juliet appears to have furnished herself with this instrument immediately after her father and mother had threatened to force her to marry Paris: "If all fail elfe, myself have power to die." Accordingly, in the very next scene, when she is at the friar's cell, and before he could have been furnished with any of the apparatus of a bride, (not having then confented to marry the count,) the fays: Give me fome prefent counfel, or, behold, "Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife "Shall play the umpire." MALONE. 3 I will not entertain fo bad a thought.] This line I have restored from the quarto, 1597. STEEVENS. 4 As in a vault, &c.] This idea was probably fuggefted to our poet by his native place. The charnel houfe at Stratford upon Avon is a very large one, and perhaps contains a greater number of bones than are to be found in any other repofitory of the fame kind in England.-I was furnished with this obfervation by Mr. Murphy, whofe very elegant and fpirited defence of Shakspeare againft the criticisms of Voltaire, is one of the leaft confiderable out of many favours which he has conferred on the literary world. STEEVENS. Where, Where, for these many hundred years, the bones Where bloody Tybalt, yet but green in earth 5, So early waking,-what with loathfome fmells; s-green in earth,] i. e. fresh in earth, newly buried. So, in Hamlet s 66 of our dear brother's death, "The memory be green." Again, in the Opportunity, by Shirley -I am but "Green in my honours." STEEVENS. Lies feftring-] To fefter is to corrupt. So, in K. Edward III. 1596: "Lillies that fefter smell far worse than weeds." This line likewife occurs in the 94th Sonnet of Shakspeare. The play of Edward III. has been ascribed to him. STEEVENS. i-is it not like, that I,] This fpeech is confused, and inconfequential, according to the diforder of Juliet's mind. JOHNSON. -run mad-] So, in Webster's Dutchess of Malfy, 1623: "I have this night dig'd up a mandrake, "And am grown mad with't." So, in The Arbeift's Tragedy, 1611: "The cries of mandrakes never touch'd the ear "With more fad horror, than that voice does mine." "The mandrake," (fays Thomas Newton, in his Herball to the Bible, 8vo. 1587,) "has been fuppofed to be a creature having life and engendered under the earth, of the feed of fome dead perfon that hath been convicted and put to death for fome felonie or murther; and that they had the fame in fuch dampish and funeral places where the faid convicted perfons were buried," &c. STEEVENS. See Vol. V. p. 368, n. 5; and Vol. VI. p. 191, n. 4. MALONE. 9-he diffraught.] Diftraught is diftracted. So, in Drayton's Polyolbion, Song 10: "Is, for that river's fake, near of his wits diftraught," &c. STEEVENS. Seeking Seeking out Romeo, that did fpit his body [She throws berfelf on the bed. SCENE IV. Capulet's Hall. Enter Lady CAPULET, and Nurse. La. Cap. Hold, take these keys, and fetch more fpices, nurfe. Nurfe. They call for dates and quinces in the pastry". Enter CAPULET. Cap. Come, ftir, ftir, ftir! the fecond cock hath crow'd, The curfeu bell hath rung3, 'tis three o'clock :- Nurfe. Go, you cot-quean, go, Get you to bed; 'faith, you'll be fick to-morrow Cap. No, not a whit; What! I have watch'd ere now All night for leffer cause, and ne'er been fick. ■ Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee.] So the first quarto, 1597. The fubfequent ancient copies read: Romeo, Romeo, Romeo, here's drink, I drink to thee. MALONE. They call for dates and quinces in the paftry.] i. e. in the room where paste was made. So laundry, spicery, &c. MALONE. On the books of the Stationers' Company in the year 1560, are the Following entries: Item payd for iiii pound of dates iiii f. Item payd for xxiiii pounde of prunys iii s. viii d. STEEV. 3 The curfeu bell] I know not that the morning-bell is called the curfew in any other place. JOHNSON. The curfew bell was rung at nine in the evening, as appears from a paffage in the Merry Devil of Edmonton, 1626: "-well 'tis nine o'clock, 'tis time to ring curfew." STEEV. 4 La. Cap. La. Cap. Ay, you have been a moufe-hunt in your time; But I will watch you from fuch watching now. [Exeunt Lady Capulet, and Nurse. Cap. A jealous-hood, a jealous-hood!-Now, fellow, What's there? Enter Servants, with fpits, logs, and baskets. 1. Serv. Things for the cook, fir; but I know not what. Cap. Make hafte, make hafte. [Exit Serv.]-Sirrah, fetch drier logs; Call Peter, he will fhew thee where they are. 2. Serv. I have a head, fir, that will find out logs, And never trouble Peter for the matter. [Exit. Cap. 'Mafs, and well faid; A merry whorefon! ha, Thou shalt be logger-head.-Good faith, 'tis day: The county will be here with mufick straight, [Mufick within. For fo he faid he would. I hear him near:Nurfe!-Wife!-what, ho!-what, Nurfe, I fay! Enter Nurfe. Go, waken Juliet, go, and trim her up; I'll go and chat with Paris:Hie, make haste, [Exeunt. Nurfe. Miftrefs!-what, miftrefs!-Juliet !-faft, I warrant her, she : Why, lamb!-why, lady !-fie, you flug-a-bed!- bride! 4-a mouse-bunt-] It appears from a paffage in Hamlet, that mouse was once a term of endearment applied to a woman: "Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his moufe." STEEV. What, |