SCENE II. Rom. This Gentleman, the Prince's near allie, Ben. O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio's dead: Rom. (1) This day's black fate on more days does. depend; This but begins the woe, others must end. Enter Tybalt. Bin. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again. Rom. Alive in Triumph? and Mercutio flain?. Away to heav'n, refpective lenity, And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now! Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again, Staying for thine to keep him company; Or 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. Ben. Romeo, away. Begone: [They fight, Tybalt falls The citizens are up, and Tybalt flain (1) This day's black fate on more days does depend :]. unhappy destiny bangs over the days yet to come. yet be more mifchief, Stand not amaz'd. The Prince will doom thee death, If thou art taken. Hence. Begone. Away. Rom. (2) Oh! I am fortune's fool. Ren. Why doft thou say?. SCENE III. [Exit Romeo. Enter Citizens. Cit. Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio? Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he? Ben. There lies that Tybalt. Cit. Up, Sir. Go with me. I charge thee in the Prince's name, obey. Enter Prince, Montague, Capulet, their Wives, &c. Prin. Where are the vile beginners of this fray? La Cap. Tybalt, my coufin ! O my brother's child !-Prince, O-coufinhufband fpill'd Of my dear kinfman. the blood is Prince, (3) as thou art true, For blood of ours, fhed blood of Montague. O! coufin, coufin. Prin, Benvolia, who began this fray? Ben. Tybalt, here flain, whom Romeo's hand did flay; Romeo, that fpoke him fair, bid him bethink (4) How nice the quarrel was, and urg'd withal Your high difpleafure, all this uttered With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd, (2) Qb! I am fortune's fool] I am always running in the way of evil fortune, like the fool in a play. Thou art death's fool: in Meafure for Meafure. See Dr. Warburton's Note (3) As thou art true,] As thou art juft and upright. (4) How nice the quarrel petty. So in the last Act. How flight, how unimportant, how The letter was not nice, but full of charge Of dear import. Could Could not take truce with the unruly fpleen Hold, friends! friends, part! and, fwifter than his tongue, lakod His agile arm beats down their fatal points, L. Cap. He is a kinfman to the Montagues, I beg for juftice, which thou, Prince, muft give; Prin. Romeo flew him, he flew Mercutio 300 His fault concludes but what the law fhould end, Prin. And for that offence, (5) Affe&ion makes bim falfe,] The charge of falfhood on Bentivalio, though produced at hazard, is very juft. The authour, who feems to intend the character of Bentivolio as good, meant perhaps to thew, how the best minds, in a state of faction and difcord, are defortéd to criminal partiality. (6) IS (6) I have an intereft in your heart's proceeding, Nor tears nor prayers fhall purchase out abuses; 175 SCENE IV. [Exeunt Changes to an Apartment in Capulet's Houfe. Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, (7) Spread thy clofe curtain, love-performing night, That Runaways eyes may wink, and Romeo ba A Leap (6) I bave an intereft in your beart's proceeding,] Sir Thomas Hanmer faw that this line gave no fenfe, and therefore put, by a very eafy change, Ibave an intereft in your heat's proceeding, Which is undoubtedly better than the old reading which Dr. Warburton. has followed; but the fenfe yet feems to be weak, and perhaps a more licentious correction is neceffary. Fread therefore, in I had no intereft in your heat's proceeding. This, fays the Prince, is no quarrel of mine, I had no intereft your former difcord; I fuffer merely by your private animo(7) Spread thy fity. clofe curtain, love-performing Night, That runaways eyes may wink] What runaways are these, whofe eyes Juliet is wishing to have ftopt? Macbeth, we may remember, makes an invocation to Night much in the fame ftrain, Come, feeling Night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day, &c. Leap to these arms, untalkt of and unfeen. And learn me how to lofe a winning match, Hood my (9) unmann'd blood baiting in my cheeks, With thy black mantle; 'till ftrange love, grown bold, Thinks true love acted, fimple modefty. Come, night come, Romeo! come, thou day in night! For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night, So Fuliet would have Night's darkness obfcure the great eye of the day, the Sun; whom confidering in a poetical light as Pbobus, drawn in his carr with fiery-footed steeds, and posting thro' the heavens, the very probably calls him, with regard to the fwiftnefs of his course, the Runaway. In the like manner our Poet fpeaks of the Night in the Merchant of Venice: For the clofe Night doth play the Runaway. WARBURTON. I am not fatisfied with this emendation, yet have nothing better to propofe, Spread thy clofe curtain love-performing night, That Run-aways eyes may wink ;-] I am no better fatisfied with Dr. Warburton's emendation than the prefent editor, but tho' I have none I have a good opinion of, to propofe in its room, will yet offer an explanation. Juliet wishes the night may be fo dark, that none of those who are obliged to run asbay in it, on fome account or other, may meet with Romeo, and know his perfon, but that be may Leap to ber arms untalk'd of and unfeen. The run-away in this place cannot be the fun, who must have been effectually gone before night could fpread its curtain, and fuch a wish must have taken place before the eyes of thefe runaways could be fuppofed to wink. The Revifal reads, That Rumour's eyes may quink, and he might have fupported his conjecture from the figure of Fame, . e. Rumour, as defcribed by Virgil. Tot vigiles oculi fubter, &c. And yet this is but a conjecture, though a very ingenious one. Mr. STEEVENS. (8) Come, civil night,] Civil is grave, decently folemn. (9) man, unmann'd blood. -] Blood yet unacquainted with Come, |