ACT II

"The fairest hand I ever touch'd! O beauty,Till now I never knew thee!"

"The fairest hand I ever touch'd! O beauty,

Till now I never knew thee!"

57.What dares,etc. How dares, or why dares, etc. Cf.2 Hen. IV.i. 2. 129: "What tell you me of it? be it as it is;"A. and C.v. 2. 316: "What should I stay?" etc.

58.Antic face.Referring to Romeo's mask. Cf. ii. 4. 29 below.

59.Fleer.Sneer, mock; as inMuch Ado, v. 1. 58, etc. Forscorn at, cf.A.Y.L.iii. 5. 131,K. John, i. 1. 228, etc. We findscornwithout the preposition inL. L. L.iv. 3. 147: "How will he scorn!"Solemnityhere expresses only the idea of ceremony, or formal observance. Cf. the use ofsolemn= ceremonious, formal; as inMacb.iii. 1. 14: "To-night we hold a solemn supper, sir;"T. of S.iii. 2. 103: "our solemn festival," etc. Hunter quotes Harrington,Ariosto:—

"Nor never did young lady brave and brightLike dancing better on a solemn day."

"Nor never did young lady brave and bright

Like dancing better on a solemn day."

64.In spite.In malice; or, as Schmidt explains it, "only to defy and provoke us." Cf. i. 1. 75 above.

67.Content thee."Compose yourself, keep your temper" (Schmidt). Cf.Much Ado, v. 1. 87,T. of S.i. 1. 90, 203, ii. 1. 343, etc. Sobe contented; as inM.W.iii. 3. 177,Lear, iii, 4. 115, etc.

68.Portly.The word here seems to mean simply "well-behaved, well-bred," though elsewhere it has the modern sense; as inM.W.i. 3. 69: "my portly belly;"1 Hen. IV.ii. 4. 464: "A goodly portly man, i' faith, and a corpulent," etc.

72.Do him disparagement.Do him injury. Cf. "do danger" (J.C.ii. 1. 17), "do our country loss" (Hen. V.iv. 3. 21), "do him shame" (R. of L.597,Sonn.36. 10,L. L. L.iv. 3. 204), etc. See also iii. 3. 118 below.

77.It fits.Cf.A.W.ii. 1. 147: "where hope is coldest, and despair most fits," etc.

81.God shall mend my soul!Cf.A.Y.L.iv. 1. 193: "By my troth, and in good earnest, and so God mend me, and by all pretty oaths that are not dangerous," etc. See also1 Hen. IV.iii. 1. 255.

83.Cock-a-hoop."Of doubtful origin" (New. Eng. Dict.), though the meaning is clear.Set cock-a-hoop= play the bully. S. uses the word only here.

86.Scathe.Injure. S. uses the verb nowhere else; but cf. the noun inK. John, ii. 1. 75: "To do offence and scathe in Christendom;"Rich. III.i. 3. 317: "To pray for them that have done scathe to us," etc.

87.Contrary.Oppose, cross; the only instance of the verb in S. Steevens quotes Greene,Tully's Love: "to contrary her resolution;" Warner,Albion's England: "his countermand should have contraried so," etc. The accent in S. is variable. Cf. the adjective in iii. 2. 64 below.

88.Well said.Well done. Cf.Oth.ii. 1. 169, v. 1. 98, etc.Princox= a pert or impertinent boy; used by S. only here. Steevens quotesThe Return from Parnassus, 1606: "Your proud university princox." Cotgrave renders "un jeune estourdeau superbe" by "a young princox boy."

Coleridge remarks here: "How admirable is the old man's impetuosity, at once contrasting, yet harmonized with young Tybalt's quarrelsome violence! But it would be endless to repeat observations of this sort. Every leaf is different on an oak-tree; but still we can only say, our tongues defrauding our eyes, This is another oak leaf!"

91.Patience perforce.Compulsory submission; a proverbial expression. Nares quotes Ray'sProverbs: "Patience perforce is a medicine for a mad dog" (or "a mad horse," as Howell gives it). Cf. Spenser,F.Q.ii. 3. 3:—

"Patience perforce: helplesse what may it bootTo frett for anger, or for griefe to mone?"

"Patience perforce: helplesse what may it boot

To frett for anger, or for griefe to mone?"

94.Convert.For the intransitive use, cf.R. of L.592,Much Ado, i. 1. 123,Rich. II.v. 1. 66, v. 3. 64, etc. Some make it transitive, withnow seeming sweet(= "what now seems sweet") as its object; but this seems too forced a construction.

96.The gentle fine.The sweet penance for the offence; that is, for the rude touch of my hand. Forfinethe early eds. have "sin" or "sinne." The emendation is due to Warburton; but some editors retain "sin."

105.Let lips do,etc. Juliet has said that palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. She afterwards says that palmers have lips that they must use in prayer. Romeo replies that the prayer of his lips is that they may do what hands do, that is, that they may kiss.

109.As Malone remarks,kissing in a public assembly was not then thought indecorous. Cf.Hen. VIII.i. 4. 28.

White remarks: "I have never seen a Juliet on the stage who appeared to appreciate the archness of the dialogue with Romeo in this scene. They go through it solemnly, or at best with staid propriety. They reply literally to all Romeo's speeches about saints and palmers. But it should be noticed that though this is the first interview of the lovers, we do not hear them speak until the close of their dialogue, in which they have arrived at a pretty thorough understanding of their mutual feeling. Juliet makes a feint of parrying Romeo's advances, but does it archly, and knows that he is to have the kiss he sues for. He asks, 'Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?' The stage Juliet answers with literal solemnity. But it was not a conventicle at old Capulet's. Juliet was not holding forth. How demure is her real answer: 'Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use—in prayer!' And when Romeo fairly gets her into the corner, towards which she has been contriving to be driven, and he says, 'Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purg'd,' and does put them to that purgation, how slyly the pretty puss gives him the opportunity to repeat the penance by replying, 'Then have my lips the sin that they have took!'"

114.What.Who; as often. Cf. 130 below.

119.Shall have the chinks.This seems much like modern slang. S. uses it only here; but Tusser (Husbandry, 1573) has bothchinkandchinksin this sense, and the word is found also in Florio, Cotgrave, Holinshed, Stanihurst, and other old writers.

120.My life,etc. "He means that, as bereft of Juliet he should die, his existence is at the mercy of his enemy, Capulet" (Staunton). Cf. Brooke:—

"So hath he learnd her name, and knowth she is no geast.Her father was a Capilet, and master of the feast.Thus hath his foe in choyse to geue him lyfe or death:That scarsely can his wofull brest keepe in the liuely breath."

"So hath he learnd her name, and knowth she is no geast.

Her father was a Capilet, and master of the feast.

Thus hath his foe in choyse to geue him lyfe or death:

That scarsely can his wofull brest keepe in the liuely breath."

124.Foolish.A mere repetition of the apologetictrifling.Banquetsometimes meant a dessert, as here and inT. of S.v. 2. 9:—

"My banquet is to close our stomachs up,After our great good cheer."

"My banquet is to close our stomachs up,

After our great good cheer."

Nares quotes Massinger,Unnatural Combat:—

"We'll dine in the great room, but let the musicAnd banquet be prepared here;"

"We'll dine in the great room, but let the music

And banquet be prepared here;"

and Taylor,Pennilesse Pilgrim: "our first and second course being threescore dishes at one boord, and after that alwayes a banquet."Towards= ready, at hand (Steevens). Sotoward; as inM.N.D.iii. 1. 81: "What, a play toward!"

125.Is it e'en so?The 1st quarto has here the stage-direction: "They whisper in his eare;" that is, whisper the reason of their departure.

128.By my fay.That is, by my faith. Cf.Ham.ii. 2. 271, etc.

130.Come hither, nurse,etc. Cf. Brooke:—

"As carefull was the mayde what way were best deuiseTo learne his name, that intertaind her in so gentle wise.Of whome her hart receiued so deepe, so wyde a wound,An aucient dame she calde to her, and in her eare gan rounde.[5]This old dame in her youth, had nurst her with her mylke,With slender nedle taught her sow, and how to spin with silke.What twayne are those (quoth she) which prease vnto the doore,Whose pages in theyr hand doe beare, two toorches light before.And then as eche of them had of his household name,So she him namde yet once agayne the yong and wyly dame.And tell me who is he with vysor in his handThat yender doth in masking weede besyde the window stand.His name is Romeus (said shee) a Montegewe.Whose fathers pryde first styrd the strife which both your householdes rewe."

"As carefull was the mayde what way were best deuise

To learne his name, that intertaind her in so gentle wise.

Of whome her hart receiued so deepe, so wyde a wound,

An aucient dame she calde to her, and in her eare gan rounde.[5]

This old dame in her youth, had nurst her with her mylke,

With slender nedle taught her sow, and how to spin with silke.

What twayne are those (quoth she) which prease vnto the doore,

Whose pages in theyr hand doe beare, two toorches light before.

And then as eche of them had of his household name,

So she him namde yet once agayne the yong and wyly dame.

And tell me who is he with vysor in his hand

That yender doth in masking weede besyde the window stand.

His name is Romeus (said shee) a Montegewe.

Whose fathers pryde first styrd the strife which both your householdes rewe."

136.If he be married,etc. "Uttered to herself while the Nurse makes inquiry" (Dowden).Marriedis here a trisyllable.

142.Prodigious.Portentous. Cf.M.N.D.v. 1. 419,K. John, iii. 1. 46,Rich. III.i. 2. 23, etc.

Enter Chorus.This is generally put at the end of act i., but, as it refers to the future, rather than the past, it may be regarded as a prologue to act ii. There is no division of acts or scenes in the early eds.

2.Gapes.Rushton quotes Swinburn,Briefe Treatise of Testaments and Last Willes, 1590: "such personnes as do gape for greater bequests;" and again: "It is an impudent part still to gape and crie upon the testator."

3.On the repetition offor,cf.A.W.i. 2. 29: "But on us both did haggish age steal on;"Cor.ii. 1. 18: "In what enormity is Marcius poor in?" etc.Fair= fair one; as inM.N.D.i. 1. 182, etc.

10.Use.Are accustomed. We still use the past tense of the verb in this sense, but not the present. Cf.Temp.ii. 1. 175: "they always use to laugh at nothing;"T.N.ii. 5. 104: "with which she uses to seal;"A. and C.ii. 5. 32: "we use To say the dead are well," etc. See also Milton,Lycidas, 67: "Were it not better done, as others use," etc.

14.Extremities.That is, extreme difficulties or dangers.

2.Dull earth."Romeo's epithet for his small world of man, the earthlier portion of himself" (Clarke). Cf.Sonn.146. 1: "Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth."

5.Orchard.That is, garden; the only meaning in S.

6.Conjure.Accented by S. on either syllable, without regard to the meaning.

7.Humours!Fancies, caprices. Some read "Humour's madman! Passion-lover!" See on 29 below.

10.Ay me!Often changed here and elsewhere to "Ah me!" which occurs in the old eds. of S. only in v. 1. 10 below.Ay me!is found thirty or more times. Milton also uses it often.

11.My gossip Venus.Cf.M. of V.iii. 1. 7: "if my gossip Report be an honest woman of her word."

13.Young Abraham Cupid.The 2d and 3d quartos have "Abraham: Cupid;" the other early eds. "Abraham Cupid." Upton conjectured "Adam Cupid," with an allusion to the famous archer, Adam Bell, and was followed by Steevens and others. Theobald suggested "auborn," and it has since been shown thatabraham,abram,aborne,aborn,abron,aubrun, etc., were all forms of the word now writtenauburn. InCor.ii. 3. 21 the 1st, 2d, and 3d folios read: "our heads are some browne, some blacke, some Abram, some bald;" the 4th folio changes "Abram" to "auburn." InT.G. of V.iv. 4. 194, the folio has "Her haire isAburne, mine is perfectYellow." These are the only instances of the word in S. "Auburn" is adopted by a few editors, and is explained as = "auburn-haired," but that surely is nonickname. Schmidt understands "Young Abraham Cupid" to be used "in derision of the eternal boyhood of Cupid, though in fact he was at least as old as father Abraham." Cf.L. L. L.iii. 1. 182: "This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid;" andId.v. 2. 10: "For he hath been five thousand years a boy." Furness in his Variorum ed. gives "Adam," but he now prefers "Abraham" = the young counterfeit, with his sham make-up, pretending to bepurblindand yetshooting so trim. He thinks the allusion to thebeggar-maidalso favours this explanation.Abraham-man, originally applied to a mendicant lunatic from Bethlehem Hospital, London, came to be a cant term for an impostor wandering about and asking alms under pretenceof lunacy. Herford says that "Adam" is made almost certain byMuch Ado, i. 1. 260; but it is by no means certain that the allusion there is to Adam Bell, as he assumes.

Trim.The reading of 1st quarto; the other early eds. have "true." That the former is the right word is evident from the ballad ofKing Cophetua and the Beggar-Maid(see Percy'sReliques), in which we read:—

"The blinded boy that shoots so trimFrom heaven down did hie,He drew a dart and shot at him,In place where he did lie."

"The blinded boy that shoots so trim

From heaven down did hie,

He drew a dart and shot at him,

In place where he did lie."

For other allusions to the ballad, seeL. L. L.iv. 1. 66 and2 Hen. IV.v. 3. 106.

16.Ape.As Malone notes,ape, likefool(see on i. 3. 31 above), was sometimes used as a term of endearment or pity. Cf.2 Hen. IV.ii. 4. 234: "Alas, poor ape, how thou sweatest!"

22.Circle.Alluding to the ring drawn by magicians. Cf.A.Y.L.ii. 5. 62: "a Greek invocation, to call fools into a circle." See alsoHen. V.v. 2. 320.

25.Spite.Vexation. Cf. i. 5. 64 above.

29.Humorous.Humid. Delius (like Schmidt) sees a quibble in the word: "moistandcapricious, full of such humours as characterize lovers, and as whose personification Mercutio had just conjured Romeo under the collective namehumours."

32.Truckle-bed.Trundle-bed; one made to run under a "standing-bed," as it was called. Cf.M.W.iv. 5. 7: "his standing-bed and truckle-bed." The former was for the master, the latter for the servant. Mercutio uses the term in sport, and adds a quibble onfield-bed, which was a camp-bed, or a bed on the ground.

1.He jests,etc. Referring to Mercutio, whom he has overheard, as the rhyme infoundandwoundindicates. TheCambridge ed. suggests that in the old arrangement of the scene the wall may have been represented as dividing the stage, so that the audience could see Romeo on one side and Mercutio on the other. Mr. F.A. Marshall thinks that Romeo "merely stepped to the back of the stage at the beginning of the scene, and was supposed to be concealed from the others, not coming out till they had gone. Juliet would appear on the 'upper stage' [the balcony at the back of the Elizabethan stage], which did duty in the old plays for so many purposes."

7.Be not her maid.Be not a votary to the moon, or Diana (Johnson). Cf.M.N.D.i. 1. 73.

8.Sick.The 1st quarto has "pale," which is adopted by some editors. It has been objected thatsick and greenis a strange combination ofcoloursin a livery; but it is rather theeffectof the colours that is meant. Cf.T.N.ii. 4. 116: "with a green and yellow melancholy." Perhaps, as Dowden remarks, the wordgreen-sickness(see iii. 5. 155) suggested the epithets.

29.White-upturned.So Theobald and most of the editors. The early eds. have "white, upturned," which Marshall prefers as better expressing "the appearance of an upturned eye by moonlight."

39.Thou art thyself,etc. That is, you would be yourself, or what you now are, even if you were not a Montague; just "as a rose is a rose—has all its characteristic sweetness and beauty—though it be not called a rose" (White). The thought is repeated below inSo Romeo would ... that title. The passage would not call for explanation if critics had not been puzzled by it.

46.Owes.Possesses; as very often. Cf.M.N.D.ii. 2. 79,Macb.i. 3. 76, i. 4. 10, iii. 4. 113, etc.

52.Bescreen'd.Used by S. only here.

58.Yet not.A common transposition. Cf.Hen. V.iii. 3. 46: "his powers are yet not ready;"Hen. VIII.ii. 4. 204: "full sick, and yet not well;"Cor.i. 5. 18: "My work hath yet not warm'd me," etc.

61.Dislike.Displease. Cf.Oth.ii. 3. 49: "I'll do 't; but it dislikes me." Solike= please; as inHam.v. 2. 276: "This likes me well," etc.

62.Wherefore.For the accent on the last syllable, cf.M.N.D.iii. 2. 272: "Hate me! Wherefore? O me! what news, my love!"

66.O'er-perch.Used by S. nowhere else.

69.Let.Hindrance; as inR. of L.330, 646, andHen. V.v. 2. 65. Cf. the verb inHam.i. 4. 85, etc.

78.Prorogued.Delayed; as in iv. 1. 48 below. Onwanting of, cf. v. 1. 40 below: "Culling of simples."

83.As that vast shore,etc. Possibly suggested, as some have thought, by the voyages of Drake and other explorers to America about the time when S. was writing.

84.Adventure.Venture, try the chance. Cf.Cymb.iii. 4. 156:—

"O for such means!Though peril to my modesty, not death on 't,I would adventure."

"O for such means!

Though peril to my modesty, not death on 't,

I would adventure."

89.Farewell compliment!Away with formality! The early eds. have "complement" or "complements," as in ii. 4. 19 below and elsewhere.

93.At lovers' perjuries,etc. Douce remarks that S. found this in Ovid'sArt of Love—perhaps in Marlowe's translation:—

"For Jove himself sits in the azure skies,And laughs below at lovers' perjuries."

"For Jove himself sits in the azure skies,

And laughs below at lovers' perjuries."

Cf. Greene,Metamorphosis: "What! Eriphila, Jove laughs at the perjurie of lovers."

99.Haviour.Not "'haviour," as often printed. It is found in North'sPlutarchand other prose.

101.To be strange.To appear coy or shy. Cf. iii. 2. 15 below: "strange love" (that is, coy love).

103.Ware.See on i. 1. 121 above.

106.Discovered.Revealed, betrayed. Cf. iii. 1. 145 below, where it is = tell, explain.

109.The inconstant moon.Cf.M. for M.iii. 1. 25:—

"For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,After the moon."

"For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,

After the moon."

See alsoL. L. L.v. 2. 212,Lear, v. 3. 19, andOth.iii. 3. 178. Hunter quotes Wilson,Retorique, 1553: "as in speaking of constancy, to shew the sun who ever keepeth one course; in speaking of inconstancy, to shew the moon which keepeth no certain course."

116.Do not swear.Coleridge remarks here: "With love, pure love, there is always an anxiety for the safety of the object, a disinterestedness by which it is distinguished from the counterfeits of its name. Compare this scene with theTemp.iii. 1. I do not know a more wonderful instance of Shakespeare's mastery in playing a distinctly rememberable variation on the same remembered air than in the transporting love-confessions of Romeo and Juliet and Ferdinand and Miranda. There seems more passion in the one, and more dignity in the other; yet you feel that the sweet girlish lingering and busy movement of Juliet, and the calmer and more maidenly fondness of Miranda, might easily pass into each other."

117.Contract.Accented by S. on either syllable, as suits the measure. The verb is alwayscontráct. See also on i. 4. 103 above.

119.Like the lightning,etc. Cf.M.N.D.i. 1. 145:—

"Brief as the lightning in the collied night,That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'The jaws of darkness do devour it up;So quick bright things come to confusion."

"Brief as the lightning in the collied night,

That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,

And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'

The jaws of darkness do devour it up;

So quick bright things come to confusion."

124.As that,etc. As to that heart, etc.

131.Frank.Bountiful; repeated inbounty. Cf.Sonn.4. 4:—

"Nature's bequest gives nothing but doth lend,And being frank she lends to those are free;"

"Nature's bequest gives nothing but doth lend,

And being frank she lends to those are free;"

andLear, iii. 4. 20: "Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all."

139.Afeard.Used by S. interchangeably withafraid(v. 3. 10 below).

141.Substantial.Metrically a quadrisyllable.

142.Three words,etc. Cf. Brooke's poem:—

"In few vnfained woords your hidden mynd vnfolde,That as I see your pleasant face, your heart I may beholde.For if you doe intende my honor to defile:In error shall you wander still, as you haue done this whyle,But if your thought be chaste, and haue on vertue ground,If wedlocke be the ende and marke which your desire hath found:Obedience set aside, vnto my parentes dewe:The quarell eke that long agoe betwene our housholdes grewe:Both me and myne I will all whole to you betake:And following you where so you goe, my fathers house forsake."

"In few vnfained woords your hidden mynd vnfolde,

That as I see your pleasant face, your heart I may beholde.

For if you doe intende my honor to defile:

In error shall you wander still, as you haue done this whyle,

But if your thought be chaste, and haue on vertue ground,

If wedlocke be the ende and marke which your desire hath found:

Obedience set aside, vnto my parentes dewe:

The quarell eke that long agoe betwene our housholdes grewe:

Both me and myne I will all whole to you betake:

And following you where so you goe, my fathers house forsake."

143.Bent.Inclination; as inJ.C.ii. 1. 210: "I can give his humour the true bent," etc.

144.Send me word to-morrow,etc. This seems rather sudden at first glance, but her desire for immediate marriage is due, partially at least, to what she has just learned (i. 3) of the plan to marry her to Paris.

151.Madam!This forms no part of the verse, and might well enough be separated from it, like theJulietin i. 5. 145 above.By and by= presently; as in iii. 1. 173 and iii. 3. 76 below.

152.Suit.The reading of 4th ("sute") and 5th quartos; the other early eds. have "strife." The expression "To cease your sute" occurs in Brooke's poem, a few lines below the passage just quoted.

153.To-morrow."In the alternative which she places before her lover with such a charming mixture of conscious delicacy and girlish simplicity, there is that jealousy of female honour which precept and education have infused into her mind, without one real doubt of his truth, or the slightest hesitation in her self-abandonment;for she does not even wait to hear his asseverations" (Mrs. Jameson).

157.Toward school,etc. Cf.A.Y.L.ii. 7. 145:—

"And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchelAnd shining morning face, creeping like snailUnwillingly to school."

"And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school."

160.Tassel-gentle.Thetassel-gentleortercel-gentleis the male hawk. Dyce quotes Cotgrave,Fr. Dict.: "Tiercelet. The Tassell or male of any kind of Hawke, so tearmed, because he is, commonly, a third part less than the female;" and Holmes,Academy of Armory: "Tiercell,Tercell, orTassellis the general name for the Male of all large Hawks." Malone says that thetiercel-gentlewas the species of hawk appropriated to the prince, and thinks that on that account Juliet applies it to Romeo. We findtercelinT. and C.iii. 2. 56: "The falcon as the tercel." The hawk was trained to know and obeythe falconer's voice. Cf.T. of S.iv. 1. 196:—

"Another way I have to man my haggard,To make her come and know her keeper's call."

"Another way I have to man my haggard,

To make her come and know her keeper's call."

Forhaggard= wild hawk, seeMuch Ado, iii. 1 36,T.N.iii. 1. 71, etc.

163.Airy tongue.Cf. Milton,Comus, 208: "And airy tongues, that syllable men's names," etc.

166.Silver-sweet.Cf.Per.v. 1. 111: "As silver-voic'd." See also iv. 5. 124 below: "Then music with her silver sound," etc. The figure is a very common one.

167.Attending.Attentive. Cf.T.A.v. 3. 82: "To lovesick Dido's sad attending ear."

171.I have forgot why I did call thee back.We know, and she knew, that it wasonlyto call him back, parting was "such sweet sorrow."

178.A wanton's bird.Herewantonmeans simply a playful girl. It is often used in such innocent sense (cf. i. 4. 35 above),and is sometimes masculine, as inK. John, v. 1. 70 andRich. II.ii. 3. 164.

181.Plucks it back.Cf. Sonn. 126. 6: "As thou goest onwards, still will pluck thee back." See alsoW.T.iv. 4. 476, 762 andA. and C.i. 2. 131.Pluckis a favourite word with S.

182.Loving-jealous.Compound adjectives are much used by S. Cf. i. 1. 79, 176, 178, i. 2. 25, i. 4. 7, 100, etc., above.

189.Ghostly.Spiritual; as in ii. 3. 45, ii. 6. 21, and iii. 3. 49 below.

190.Dear hap.Good fortune. The 1st quarto has "good hap," which occurs in iii. 3. 171 below.

1.Grey-eyed.Delius says thatgreyhere and inMuch Ado, v. 3. 27 is = "bright blue," and Dyce defines it as "blue, azure"; but there is no reason why the word should not have its ordinary meaning. Thegrey, as inM.N.D.iii. 2. 419,J.C.ii. 1. 103, and iii. 5. 19 below, is the familiar poetic grey of the early morning before sunrise. Whether ascribed, as here, to the eyes of the Morn, or, as in Milton'sLycidas, to her sandals, does not matter. See also on iii. 5. 8 below.

3.Flecked.Spotted, dappled; used by S. nowhere else.

4.From forth.Cf.M.W.iv. 4. 53: "Let them from forth a sawpit rush at once," etc. ForTitanas the sun-god, cf.V. and A.177,T. and C.v. 10. 25,Cymb.iii. 4. 166, etc.

7.Osier cage.Basket. Dowden suggests thatof oursis "possibly not merely for the rhyme's sake, but because the Franciscan had no personal property."

8.Precious-juiced flowers.S. here prepares us for the part which the Friar is afterwards to sustain. Having thus early found him to be a chemist, we are not surprised at his furnishing the sleeping-draught for Juliet. Cf. Brooke's poem:—

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