Tyb. Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here, Shalt with him thence. Rom. This shall determine that, [They fight; TYBALT falls. Ben. Romeo, away, be gone! The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain : Stand not amaz'd the prince will doom thee death, If thou art taken :-hence !-be gone !-away! Rom. O! I am fortune's fool !4 Ben. Why dost thou stay? Enter Citizens, &c. [Exit ROMEO. 1 Cit. Which way ran he, that kill'd Mercutio ? Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he? Ben. There lies that Tybalt. 1 Cit. Up, sir, go with me ; I charge thee, in the prince's name, obey. Enter Prince, attended; Montague, CapuLET, their Wives, and others. Prince. Where are the vile beginners of this fray? Ben. O noble prince, I can discover all The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl: There lies the man, slain by young Romeo, That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio. La. Cap. Tybalt, my cousin!-O my brother's child! Unhappy sight! ah me, the blood is spill'd Of my dear kinsman-Prince, as thou art true, Prince. Benvolio, who began this bloody fray? With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'dy- (41 Fam always running in the way of evil fortune, like the fool in the play. JOHNSON [5] How nice-how slight, how unimportant, how petty, JOHNSON, Retorts' it: Romeo, he cries aloud, Hold, friends! friends,part! and,swifter than his tongue, And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm La. Cap. He is a kinsman to the Montague, Prince. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio; Prince. And, for that offence, I have an interest in your hates' proceeding, I will be deaf to pleading and excuses; Nor tears, nor prayers, shall purchase out abuses, SCENE II. A Room in CAPULET's House. Enter JULIET. Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus' mansion; such a waggoner As Phaeton would whip you to the west, [6] The charge of falsehood on Benvolio, though produced at hazard, is very just. The author, who seems to intend the character of Benvolio as good, meant perhaps to show, how the best minds, in a state of faction and discord, are detorted to criminal partiality. JOHNSON And bring in cloudy night immediately.— With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold, Think true love acted, simple modesty. Come, night!-Come, Romeo! come, thou day in night! Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.— To an impatient child, that hath new robes, And she brings news; and every tongue, that speaks Nurse. Ay, ay, the cords. [Throws them down. Jul. Ah me! what news! why dost thou wring thy hands? [8] Civil is grave, decently solemn. JOHNSON. [9] These are terms of falconry. An unmanned hawk is one that is not brought to endure company. Bating (not baiting, as it has hitherto been printed) is fluttering with the wings as striving to fly away. STEEV. [1] Milton had this speech in his thoughts when he wrote Il Penseroso : "Civil night, "Thou sober-suited matron." Milton. Shakspeare. JOHNSON Nur. Ah well-a-day! he's dead, he's dead, he's dead! We are undone, lady, we are undone ' Alack the day!-he's gone, he's kill'd, he's dead! Nurse. Romeo can, Though heaven cannot :-O Romeo! Romeo ! Who ever would have thought it ?-Romeo! Jul. What devil art thou, that dost torment me thus ? This torture should be roar'd in dismal hell. Hath Romeo slain himself say thou but I,2 And that bare vowel I shall poison more Or those eyes shut, that make thee answer, 1. Brief sounds determine of my weal, or woe. Nurse. I saw the wound, I saw it with mine eyes,— God save the mark !—here on his manly breast: A piteous corse, a bloody piteous corse; Pale, pale as ashes, all bedaub'd in blood, All in gore blood :—I swoonded at the sight. Jul. O break, my heart!-poor bankrupt, break at once ! To prison, eyes! ne'er look on liberty! Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here; O courteous Tybalt! honest gentleman ! That ever I should live to see thee dead! Jul. What storm is this, that blows so contrary? Nurse. Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished; Romeo, that kill'd him, he is banished. Jul. O God!-did Romeo's hand shed Tybalt's blood? Nurse. It did, it did; alas the day! it did. Jul. O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face ! Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave ? Beautiful tyrant fiend angelical ! Dove-feather'd raven ! wolvish-ravening lamb ! [2] In the author's time, the affirmative verb ay, was generally written I: and by this means it both becomes a vowel, and answers in the sound to eye upon which the conceit turns in the second line. THEOBALD. Despised substance of divinest show! Nurse. There's no trust, No faith, no honesty in men; all perjur'd, Ah, where's my man? give me some aqua vitæ :- Jul. Blister'd be thy tongue, For such a wish! he was not born to shame : For 'tis a throne where honour may be crown'd O, what a beast was I to chide at him! Nur.Will you speak well of him that kill'd your cousin? Jul. Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it ?— But, wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? That villain cousin would have kill'd my husband: Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring; Your tributary drops belong to woe, Which you, mistaking, offer up to joy. My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain ; All this is comfort; Wherefore weep I then? Some word there was, worser than Tybalt's death, That murder'd me: I would forget it fain ; But, O! it presses to my memory, Like damned guilty deeds to sinners' minds : That-banished, that one word-banished, Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts. Tybalt's death And needly will be rank'd with other griefs, [3] I am more affected by Romeo's banishment than I should be by the death of ten thousand such relations as Tybalt. RITSON |