Ben. Then she hath sworn, that she will still live chaste? Rom. She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste;9 For beauty, starv'd with her severity, Cuts beauty off from all posterity.1 her dies beauty's store," and is followed by the two succeeding editors. I have replaced the old reading, because I think it at least as plausible as the correction. She is rich, says he, in beauty, and only poor in being subject to the lot of humanity, that her store, or riches, can be destroyed by death, who shall, by the same blow, put an end to beauty. Johnson. Mr. Theobald's alteration may be countenanced by the following passage in Swetnam Arraign'd, a comedy, 1620: "Nature now shall boast no more "Of the riches of her store; "Since, in this her chiefest prize, "All the stock of beauty dies." Again, in the 14th Sonnet of Shakspeare: "Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date." Again, in Massinger's Virgin- Martyr : 66 with her dies "The abstract of all sweetness that 's in woman." Steevens. Yet perhaps the present reading may be right, and Romeo means to say, in his quaint jargon, That she is poor, because she leaves no part of her store behind her, as with her all beauty will die. M. Mason. Words are sometimes shuffled out of their places at the prsss; but that they should be at once transposed and corrupted, is highly improbable. I have no doubt that the old copies are right. She is rich in beauty; and poor in this circumstance alone, that with her, beauty will expire; her store of wealth [which the poet has already said was the fairness of her person] will not be transmitted to posterity, inasmuch as she will "lead her graces to the grave, and leave the world no copy." Malone. * The poet was, perhaps, indebted to this passage for the following epitaph: Underneath this stone doth lie As much virtue as could die, To as much beauty as could live. Am. Ed. 9 She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste;] So, in our author's first Sonnet: "And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding." Malone. 1 For beauty, staro'd with her severity, Cuts beauty off from all posterity.] So, in our author's third Sonnet: "Or who is he so fond will be the tomb She is too fair, too wise; wisely too fair,* Ben. Be rul'd by me, forget to think of her. Rom. 'Tis the way To call hers, exquisite, in question more: These happy masks,5 that kiss fair ladies' brows¿ Again, in his Venus and Adonis: 2 "What is thy boay but a swallowing grave, "Which by the rights of time thou need'st must have Malone wisely too fair, &c.] There is in her too much sanctimo-nious wisdom united with beauty, which induces her to continue chaste with the hopes of attaining heavenly bliss. Malone. None of the following speeches of this scene are in the first edition of 1597. Pope. 3 Do I live dead,] So, Richard the Third: "now they kill me with a living death." See Vol. XI, p. 25, n. 1. * So also, Vol, X, p. 201: with his soul, fled all my worldly solace; "For seeing him, I see my life in death." Am. Ed. 4 To call hers, exquisite, in question more:] That is, to call hers, which is exquisite, the more into my remembrance and contemplation. It is in this sense, and not in that of doubt, or dispute, that the word question is here used. Heath More into talk; to make her unparalleled beauty more the subject of thought and conversation. Malone. 5 These happy masks, &c.] i. e. the masks worn by female spectators of the play. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Beggar's Bush sc. ult: "We stand here for an Epilouge. "Ladies, your bounties first! the rest will follow; "If you be pleas'd, look cheerly, throw your eyes Former editors print those instead of these, but without autho ritv. Steevens. These happy masks, I believe, means no more than the happy masks. Such is Mr. Tyrwhitt's opinion. Malone. The precious treasure of his eyesight lost: Ben. I'll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt. [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Street. Enter CAPULET, PARIS, and Servant Cap. And Montague is bound as well as I, Par. Of honourable reckoning are you both; Cap. But saying o'er what I have said before: She hath not seen the change of fourteen years; Par. Younger than she are happy mothers made. • What doth her beauty serve,] i. e. what end does it answer? In modern language we say-" serve for." Steevens. thou canst not teach me to forget.] "Of all afflictions taught a lover yet, ""Tis sure the hardest science, to forget." Pope's Eloiza. Steevens. 8 And Montague is bound-] This speech is not in the first quarto. That of 1599 has-But Montague-In that of 1609, and the folio, But is omitted. The reading of the text is that of the undated quarto. Malone. 9 Let two more summers wither in their pride,] So, in our poet's 103d Sonnet: "Have from the forests shook their summer's pride, وو Malone And too soon marr'd are those so early made.] The quarto, 1597, reads:And too soon marr'd are those so early married. Puttenham, in his Art of Poesy, 1589, uses this expression which seems to be proverbial, as an instance of a figure which he calls the Rebound: The earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she, Such as I love; and you, among the store, "The maid that soon married is, soon marred is.” The jingle between marr'd and made is likewise frequent among the old writers. So, Sidney: "Oh! he is marr'd, that is for others made !” Spenser introduces it very often in his different poems. Steevens. Making and marring is enumerated among other unlawful games in the Stat. 2 and 3, Phi. and Ma c. 9. Great improvements have been made on this ancient game in the present century. Malone. 2 She is the hopeful lady of my earth:] This line is not in the first edition Pope. She is the hopeful lady of my earth:] This is a Gallicism: Fille de terre is the French phrase for an heiress. King Richard II calls his land, i. e. his kingdom, his earth: Again: 46 "So weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth." Steevens. The explanation of Mr. Steevens may be right; but there is a passage in The Maid's Tragedy, which leads to another, where Amintor says: "This earth of mine doth tremble, and I feel "A stark affrighted motion in my blood." Here earth means corporal part. M. Mason. Again, in this play: "Can I go forward, when my heart is here? Again, in our author's 146th Sonnet: "Poor soul, the center of my sinful earth, 99 Malone. 3 My will to her consent is but a part;] To, in this instance, signifies in comparison with, in proportion to. So, in King Henry VIII: "These are but switches to them." Steevens. 4 Earth-treading stars, that make dark heaven light:] This not sense should be reformed thus:, Such comfort, as do lusty young men feel Earth-treading stars that make dark even light: i. e. When the evening is dark, and without stars, these earthly stars supply their place, and light it up. So again, in this play: "Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night, "Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear." Warburton. But why nonsense? is any thing more commonly said, than that beauties eclipse the sun? Has not Pope the thought and the word? "Sol through white curtains shot a tim❜rous ray, Both the old and the new reading are philosophical nonsense; but they are both, and both equally, poetical sense. Johnson. I will not say that this passage, as it stands, is absolute nonsense; but I think it very absurd, and am certain that it is not capable of the meaning that Johnson attributes to it, without the alteration I mean to propose, which is, to read: Earth-treading stars that make dark, heaven's light. That is, earthly stars that outshine the stars of heaven, and make them appear dark by their own superior brightness. But according to the present reading, they are earthly stars thatenlighten the gloom of heaven. M Mason. The old reading is sufficiently supported by a parallel passage in Churchyard's Shore's Wife, 1593: "My beautie blasd like torch or twinckling starre, "A liuely lamp that lends darke world some light.” Mr. M Mason's explanation, however, may receive countenance from Sidney's Arcadia, Book III: “Did light those beamy stars which greater light did dark." Steevens. 5--- do lusty young men feel-] To say, and to say in pompous words, that a young man shall feel as much in an assembly of beauties, as young men feel in the month of April, is surely to waste sound upon a very poor sentiment. I read: Such comfort as do lusty yeomen feel. You shall feel from the sight and conversation of these ladies, such hopes of happiness and such pleasure, as the farmer receives from the spring, when the plenty of the year begins, and the prospect of the harvest fills him with delight. Johnson. Young men are certainly yeomen. So, in A lytell Geste of Robyn Hode, printed by Wynken de Worde: "Robyn commaunded his wight yong men, "Of lii. wyght yonge men. "Seuen score of wyght yonge men, "Buske you my mery yonge men." In all these instances Copland's edition, printed not many years after, reads-yeomen. So again, in the ancient legend of Adam Bel, printed by Copland: |