Rom. Thou chid'st me oft for loving Rosaline. Rom. And bad'st me bury love. To lay one in, another out to have. Not in a grave, Rom. I pray thee, chide not: she, whom I love now, Doth grace for grace, and love for love allow ; Fri. O, she knew well, Thy love did read by rote, and could not spell. But come, young waverer, come go with me, In one respect I'll thy assistant be; For this alliance may so happy prove, To turn your household's rancour to pure love. Rom. O, let us hence; I stand on sudden haste.9 Fri. Wisely, and slow; they stumble, that run [Exeunt. fast. SCENE IV. A Street. Enter BENVOLIO and MERCUTIO. Mer. Where the devil 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. 9 i. e. It is of the utmost consequence for me to be hasty. 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: 1 And is he a man to encounter Tybalt? Ben. Why, what is Tybalt? Mer. More than prince of cats, I can tell you. O, he is the courageous captain of compliments. He fights as you sing prick-songs, keeps time, distance, 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: Ah, the immortal passado ! the punto reverso! the hay! 4 Ben. The what? Mer. The pox of such antick, 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!5 1 Arrow. 2 See the story of Reynard the fox. 3 By notes pricked down. + Terms of the fencing school. 5 In ridicule of frenchified coxcombs. Enter ROMEO. Ben. Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo. Mer. Without his roe, like a dried herring : O, 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; Thisbé, a grey eye or so, but not to the purpose. - Signior Romeo, bon jour! there's a French salutation to your French slop. You gave us the counterfeit fairly last night. 6 Rom. Good-morrow to you both. What counterfeit did I give you ? Mer. The slip, sir, the slip7; Can you not conceive ? Rom. Pardon, good Mercutio, my business was 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 pumps well flowered. Mer. Well said: Follow me this jest now, till thou hast worn out thy pump; that, when the 6 Trowsers or pantaloons, a French fashion in Shak speare's time. 7 A pun on counterfeit money called slips. 8 Shoe. single sole of it is worn, the jest may remain, after the wearing, solely singular. Rom. O single-soled 9 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, 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. Mer. Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting; 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 cheverel3, that stretches from an inch narrow to an ell broad! Rom. I stretch it out for that word-broad: 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. 9 Slight, thin. 1 A horse race in any direction the leader chooses to take. 3 Soft stretching leather. • An apple. Mer. Thou desirest me 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. 4 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 prick 6 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 himself 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. 4 It was the custom for servants to carry the lady's fan. 5 Good even, 6 Point. |