Re-enter BENVOLIO.

Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead;
That gallant fpirit hath afpir'd the clouds,
Which too untimely here did fcorn the earth.

Rom. This day's black fate on more days doth depend 7;

This but begins the woe, others must end.

Re-enter TY BALT.

Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.
Rom. Alive! in triumph! and Mercutio flain!
Away to heaven, refpective lenity,

And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now '!–
Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again,
That late thou gav'ft me; for Mercutio's foul
Is but a little way above our heads,

-bath afpir'd the clouds,] So, in Greene's Card of Fancy, 1608 : "Her haughty mind is too lofty for me to afpire."

We never use this verb at prefent without fome particle, as, to and after. STEEVENS,

So alfo Marlowe, in his Tamburlaine, 1590;

"Untill our bodies turn to elements,

"And both our fouls afpire celeftial thrones. MALONE.

7 This day's black fate on more days does depend ;] This day's unhappy deftiny bangs over the days yet to come. There will yet be more mif chief. JOHNSON.

s Alive! in triumph! &c.-] Thus the quarto, 1597: for which the quarto 1599 has:

He gan in triumph

This in the fubfequent ancient copies was made-He gone, &c.

MALONE. 9-refpective lenity-] Cool, confiderate gentleness. Respect formerly fignified confideration; prudential caution. So, in the Rape of Lucrece, Vol. X. p. 102:

"Refpect and reason well befeem the fage." MALONE. And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now!] Conduct for conductor. So, in a former fcene of this play, quarto, 1597:

"Which to the high top-gallant of my joy

"Must be my condu& in the secret night."

Thus the first quarto. In that of 1599 end being corruptly printed inftead of ey'd, the editor of the folio, according to the ufual process of corruption, exhibited the line thus:

And fire and fury be my conduct now, MALONE.

Staying

Staying for thine to keep him company;

Either thou, or I, or both, muft go with him.

Tyb. Thou, wretched boy, that didft confort him here, Shalt with him hence.

Rom. This fhall determine that.

[They fight; Tybalt falls.

Ben. Romeo, away, be gone!

The citizens are up, and Tybalt flain :

Stand not amaz'd:- the prince will doom thee death,
If thou art taken:-hence!-be gone!-away!

Ram. O! I am fortune's fool !

Ben. Why doft thou stay?

Enter Citizens, &c.

[Exit ROMEO.

1. Cit. Which way ran he, that kill'd Mercutio?

Tybalt, that murderer, which
Ben. There lies that Tybalt.

1. Cit. Up, fir, go with me;

way ran he?

I charge thee in the prince's name, obey.

Enter Prince, attended; MONTAGUE, CAPULET, their
Wives, and Others.

Prin. Where are the vile beginners of this fray ?
Ben. O noble prince, I can difcover all

The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl:

There lies the man, flain by young Romeo,

That flew thy kiniman, brave Mercutio.

La. Cap. Tybalt, my coufin !-O my brother's child! Unhappy fight! ah, the blood is fpill'd 3

Of my dear kinfman!-Prince, as thou art true 4,

For blood of ours, fhed blood of Montague.

20! I am fortune's fool!] I am always running in the way of evil fortune, like the fool in the play. Thou art death's fool, in Meajure for Measure. See Dr. Warburton's note. JOHNSON.

In the first copy, O! I am fortune's flave. STEEVENS.

3 Unhappy fight! ab, the blood is fpill'd-] Thus the quarto, 1597. The quarto 1599, and the fubiequent ancient copies, read:

O prince! O coufin! hutband! O, the blood is fpill'd, &c. The modern editors have followed neither copy. The word me was probably inadvertently omitted in the first quarto.

Unhappy fight! ah me, the blood is pill'd, &c. 4 —as thou art true,] As thou art juft and upright.

MALONE.
JOHNSON.

O coufin

O coufin, coufin!

Prin. Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?

Ben. Tybalt, here flain, whom Romeo's hand did flay;
Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink
How nice the quarrel was, and urg'd withal
Your high difpleasure all this-uttered

With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd,-
Could not take truce with the unruly spleen
Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts
With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breaft;
Who, all as hot, turns deadly point to point,
And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats
Cold death afide, and with the other fends
It back to Tybalt, whofe dexterity

Retorts it: Romeo he cries aloud,

Hold, friends! friends, part! and, fwifter than his tongue,
His agile arm beats down their fatal points,

And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whofe arm
An envious thruft from Tybalt hit the life
Of ftout Mercutio, and then Tybalt filed:
But by and by comes back to Romeo,
Who had but newly entertain'd revenge,
And to't they go like lightning; for, ere I
Could draw to part them, was ftout Tybalt flain;
And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly:
This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.

La. Cap. He is a kinfman to the Montague,
Affection makes him falfe 7, he speaks not true:

Some

3 How nice the quarrel-] How flight, how unimportant, how petty So, in the last Act:

"The letter was not nice, but full of charge,

"Of dear import." JOHNSON.

See alfo Vol. VII. p. 539, n. 2. MALONE.

6 —and urg’d witbal-] The rest of this speech was new written by the poet, as well as a part of what follows in the fame scene. STEEVENS

7 Affection makes bim falfe,] The charge of falfhood on Benvolio, though produced at hazard, is very juft. The authour, who seems to intend the character of Benvolio as good, meant perhaps to thew, how Vol. IX,

H

the

1

Some twenty of them fought in this black ftrife,
And all those twenty could but kill one life:
1 beg for juftice, which thou, prince, must give;
Romeo flew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.

Prin. Romeo flew him, he flew Mercutio;
Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?
Mon. Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend;
His fault concludes but, what the law should end,
The life of Tybalt.

Prin. And, for that offence,

Immediately we do exile him hence:

I have an intereft in your hates' proceeding,
My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a bleeding;
But I'll amerce you with fo ftrong a fine,
That you shall all repent the lofs of mine:
I will be deaf to pleading and excuses;

Nor tears, nor prayers, fhall purchase out abuses
'Therefore ufe none: let Romeo hence in haste,
Elfe, when he's found, that hour is his laft.
Bear hence this body, and attend our will:
Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill'.

[Exeunt

the best minds in a state of faction and difcord, are detorted to cri minal partiality. JOHNSON.

8-in your hates' proceeding;] This, as Mr. Steevens has obferv ed, is the reading of the original quarto, 1597. From that copy, in almost every speech of this play, readings have been drawn by the modern editors, much preferable to those of the fucceeding ancient copies. The quarto of 1599 reads-bearts proceeding; and the corrup tion was adopted in the folio. MALONE.

9 Nor tears, nor prayers, fhall purchase out abuses,] This was pro bably defigned as a ftroke at the church of Rome, by which the dif ferent prices of murder, inceft, and all other crimes, were minutely. fettled, and as fhamelessly received. STEZVENS.

▲ Mercy but murders, pardoning thofe that kill.] So, in Hale's Me morials: "When I find myself fwayed to mercy, let me remember likewife that there is a mercy due to the country.'

Thus the quarto 1599, and the folio. The fentiment here enforced is different from that found in the first edition, 1597. There the prince concludes his fpeech with these words:

Pity shall dwell, and govern with us still;

Mercy to all but murderers,-pardoning none that kill.

MALONE.

SCENE

SCENE II.

A Room in Capulet's house.
Enter JULIET.

Jul. Gallop apace, you firy-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus' manfion; such a waggoner
As Phaeton would whip you to the west,
And bring in cloudy night immediately 3.
Spread thy clofe curtain, love-performing night!
That run-away's eyes may wink 4; and Romeo

Gallop apace, you firy-footed feeds,

Leap

Towards Phoebus' manfion; &c.] Our authour probably remem bered Marlowe's King Edward II, which was performed before 1593: "Gallop apace, bright Phœbus, through the skie,

"And dufky night in rufty iron car;

"Between you both, fhorten the time, I pray,

"That I may fee that most desired day." MALONE.

The fecond quarto and folio read, Phæbus' lodging. STEEVENS. 3-immediately.] Here ends this speech in the eldest quarto, The reft of the scene has likewife received confiderable alterations and additions. STEEVENS.

4 Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night!.

That run-away's eyes may wink;] Dr. Warburton reads-That the runaway's eyes may wink, i. e. the fun's. Mr. Heath justly obferves on this emendation, that the fun is neceffarily absent as foon as night begins, and that it is very unlikely that Juliet, who has just com. plained of his tediousness, should call him a runaway. In the Mer chant of Venice, as Dr. Warburton has obferved, that term is applied to night:

"For the clofe night doth play the runaway." MALONE. The conftruction of this paffage, however elliptical or perverse, I

believe to be as follows:

May that run-away's eyes wink!

Or, That run-away's eyes, may (they) wink!

Thefe ellipfes are frequent in Spenfer; and that for ob! that, is not uncommon, as Dr. Farmer obferves in a note on the firft fcene of the Winter's Tale. So, in Antony and Cleopatra, A& III. fc. vi.

That ever I fhould call thee caft-away!

Juliet first wishes for the abfence of the fun, and then invokes the night to spread its curtain close around the world:

Spread thy clofe curtain, love-performing night!

next, recollecting that the night would feem fhort to her, the fpeaks of it as of a run-away, whofe flight fhe would wish to retard, and whofe eyes the would blind left they should make difcoveries. The eyes

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