Fri. O, she knew well, For this alliance may so happy prove, fast. SCENE IV-A street. Enter Benvolio and Mercutio. Mer. Where the devit should this Romeo be?Came he not home to-night? Ben. Not to his father's; I spoke with his man. Mer. Ah, that same pale hard-hearted wench, that Rosaline, Torments him so, that he will sure run mad. Ben. Romeo will answer it. Mer. Any man, that can write, may answer a letter. Ben. Nay, he will answer the letter's master, how he dares, being dared. Mer. Alas, poor Romeo, he is already dead; stabbed with a white wench's black eye; shot thorough the ear with a love-song; the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy's butt-shaft ;2 And is he a man to encounter Tybalt? Ben. Why, what is Tybalt? Mer. More than prince of cats,3 I can tell you. O, he is the courageous captain of compliments. He fights as you sing prick-song,4 keeps time, dis (1) i. e. It is of the utmost consequence for me to be hasty. (2) Arrow. (3) See the story of Reynard the fox. (4) By notes pricked down. tance, and proportion; rests me his minim rest, one, two, and the third in your bosom: the very butcher of a silk button, a duellist, a duellist; a gentleman of the very first house,-of the first and second cause An, the immortal passado! the punto reverso! the hay !! Ben. The what? Mer. The pox of such antic, lisping, affecting fantasticoes; these new tuners of accents!-By Jesu, a very good blade!—a very tall man!—a very good whore !-Why, is not this a lamentable thing, grandsire, that we should be thus afflicted with these strange flies, these fashion-mongers, these pardonnez-moys, who stand so much on the new form, that they cannot sit at ease on the old bench? O, their bons, their bons !2 Enter Romeo. Ben. Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo. Mer. Without his roe, like a dried herring flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified!-Now is he for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in: Laura, to his lady, was but a kitchen-wench ;-Marry, she had a better love to be-rhyme her: Dido, a dowdy; Cleopatra, a gipsy; Helen and Hero, hildings and harlots; Thisbe, a grey eye or so, but not to the purpose. Signior Romeo, bon jour! there's a French salutation to your French slop.3 You gave us the counterfeit fairly last night. Rom. Good-morrow to you both. What counterfeit did I give you? Mer. The slip, sir, the slip ;4 Can you not conceive? Rom. Pardon, good Mercutio, my business was (1) Terms of the fencing-school. (2) In ridicule of Frenchified coxcombs. (3) Trowsers or pantaloons, a French fashion in Shakspeare's time. (4) A pun on counterfeit money, called slips. great; and, in such a case as mine, a man may strain courtesy. Mer. That's as much as to say--such a case as yours constrains a man to bow in the hams. Rom. Meaning--to court'sy. Mer. Thou hast most kindly hit it. Rom. A most courteous exposition. Mer. Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy. Mer. Right. Rom. Why, then is my pump well flowered. Mer. Well said: Follow me this jest now, till thou hast worn out thy pump; that, when the single sole of it is worn, the jest may remain, after the wearing, solely singular. Rom. O single-soled2 jest, solely singular for the singleness! Mer. Come between us, good Benvolio; my wits fail. Rom. Switch and spurs, switch and spurs; or I'll cry a match. Mer. Nay, if thy wits run the wild-goose chace,3 I have done; for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits, than, I am sure, I have in my whole five: Was I with you there for the goose? Rom. Thou wast never with me for any thing, when thou wast not there for the goose. Mer. I will bite thee by the ear for that jest. Rom. Nay, good goose, bite not. Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting;4 it is a most sharp sauce. Rom. And is it not well served in to a sweet goose? Mer. O, here's a wit of cheverel,5 that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad! Rom. I stretch it out for that word-broad: (1) Shoe. (2) Slight, thin. (3) A horse-race in any direction the leader chooses to take. (4) An apple. VOL. VIII. (5) Soft stretching leather. L which added to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose. Mer. Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature for this drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down, to hide his bauble in a hole. Ben. Stop there, stop there. Mer. Thou desirest me to stop in my tale against the hair. Ben. Thou would'st else have made thy tale large. Mer. O, thou art deceived, I would have made it short: for I was come to the whole depth of my tale; and meant, indeed, to occupy the argument no longer. Rom. Here's goodly geer! Enter Nurse and Peter. Mer. A sail, a sail, a sail! Ben. Two, two; a shirt, and a smock. Nurse. Peter! Peter. Anon? Nurse. My fan, Peter.1 Mer. Pr'ythee, do, good Peter, to hide her face; for her fan's the fairer of the two. Nurse. God ye good morrow, gentlemen. Mer. 'Tis no less, I tell you; for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick3 of noon. Nurse. Out upon you! what a man are you? Rom. One, gentlewoman, that God hath made himself to mar. Nurse. By my troth, it is well said;-For him (1) It was the custom for servants to carry the lady's fan. (2) Good even. (3) Point. self to mar, quoth'a?-Gentlemen, can any of you tell me where I may find the young Romeo? Rom. I can tell you; but young Romeo will be older when you have found him, than he was when you sought him: I am the youngest of that name, for 'fault of a worse. Nurse. You say well. Mer. Yea, is the worst well? very well took, i'faith; wisely, wisely. Nurse. If you be he, sir, I desire some confidence with you. Ben. She will indite him to some supper. Rom. What hast thou found? Mer. No hare, sir; unless a harc, sir, in a lenten pie, that is something stale and hoar ere it be spent. An old hare hoar, And an old hare hoar, Romeo, will you come to your father's? we'll to dinner thither. Rom. I will follow you. Mer. Farewell, ancient lady; farewell, lady, lady, lady.2 [Exe. Mer. and Ben. Nurse. Marry, farewell!-I pray you, what saucy merchants was this, that was so full of his ropery 24 Rom. A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk; and will speak more in a minute, than he will stand to in a month. Nurse. An 'a speak any thing against me, I'll (1) Hoary, mouldy. (2) The burden of an old song. (3) A term of disrespect in contradistinction to gentleman. (4) Roguery. |