Scene III.—

"look like the innocent flower,But be the serpent under it."

"look like the innocent flower,

But be the serpent under it."

Mrs. Jameson remarks on this passage: "This highly figurative and antithetical exuberance of language is defended by Schlegel on strong and just grounds; and to me also it appears natural, however critics may argue against its taste or propriety. The warmth and vivacity of Juliet's fancy, which plays like a light over every part of her character—which animates every line she utters—which kindles every thought into a picture, and clothes her emotions in visible images, would naturally, under strong and unusual excitement, and in the conflict of opposing sentiments, run into some extravagance of diction." Cf. i. 1. 168 fol. above.

83.Was ever book,etc. Cf. i. 3. 66 above.

84.O, that deceit,etc. Cf.Temp.i. 2. 468: "If the ill spirit have so fair a house," etc.

86, 87.Mr. Fleay improves the metre by a slight transposition, which Marshall adopts:—

"No faith, no honesty in men; all naught,All perjur'd, all dissemblers, all forsworn;"

"No faith, no honesty in men; all naught,

All perjur'd, all dissemblers, all forsworn;"

which may be what S. wrote.

Naught= worthless, bad. Cf.Much Ado, $1. $2. 157,Hen. V.i. 2. 73, etc. The word in this sense is usually speltnaughtin the early eds., butnoughtwhen = nothing.Dissemblersis here a quadrisyllable. See p. 159 above.

90.Blister'd,etc. "Note the Nurse's mistake of the mind's audible struggle with itself for its decisions intoto" (Coleridge).

92.Upon his brow,etc. Steevens quotes Paynter: "Is it possible that under such beautie and rare comelinesse, disloyaltie and treason may have their siedge and lodging?" The image of shamesittingon the brow is not in Brooke's poem.

98.Poor my lord.Cf. "sweet my mother," iii. 5. 198 below.The figurative meaning ofsmoothis sufficiently explained by the followingmangle. Cf. i. 5. 98 above, and see Brooke's poem:—

"Ah cruell murthering tong, murthrer of others fame:How durst thou once attempt to tooch the honor of his name?* * * * * * * *Whether shall he (alas) poore banishd man, now flye?What place of succor shall he seeke beneth the starry skye?Synce she pursueth him, and him defames by wrong:That in distres should be his fort, and onely rampier strong."

"Ah cruell murthering tong, murthrer of others fame:How durst thou once attempt to tooch the honor of his name?

"Ah cruell murthering tong, murthrer of others fame:

How durst thou once attempt to tooch the honor of his name?

* * * * * * * *

Whether shall he (alas) poore banishd man, now flye?What place of succor shall he seeke beneth the starry skye?Synce she pursueth him, and him defames by wrong:That in distres should be his fort, and onely rampier strong."

Whether shall he (alas) poore banishd man, now flye?

What place of succor shall he seeke beneth the starry skye?

Synce she pursueth him, and him defames by wrong:

That in distres should be his fort, and onely rampier strong."

108.Worser.Cf. ii. 3. 29 above. S. uses it often, both as adjective and adverb.

112.Banished.Note how the trisyllabic pronunciation is emphatically repeated in this speech; as in Romeo's in the next scene (19-50).

116.Sour woe delights,etc. That is, "misfortunes never come single." Cf.Ham.iv. 5. 78:—

"When sorrows come, they come not single spies,But in battalions."

"When sorrows come, they come not single spies,

But in battalions."

117.Needly will.Needs must.Needlywas not coined by S., as some have supposed, being found inPiers Plowmanand other early English. He uses it only here.

120.Modern.Trite, commonplace; the only meaning of the word in S. SeeA.Y.L.ii. 7. 156,Macb.iv. 3. 170, etc.

121.Rearward.Cf. Sonn. 90. 6:—

"Ah! do not, when my heart hath scap'd this sorrow,Come in the rearward of a conquer'd woe"—

"Ah! do not, when my heart hath scap'd this sorrow,

Come in the rearward of a conquer'd woe"—

(that is, to attack me anew); andMuch Ado, iv. 1. 128:—

"Myself would, on the rearward of reproaches,Strike at thy life."

"Myself would, on the rearward of reproaches,

Strike at thy life."

The metaphor is a military one, referring to a rear-guard or reserve which follows up the attack of the vanguard or of the main army.

126.Sound.Utter, express; or "'to sound as with a plummet'is possible" (Dowden).That word's death= the death implied in that word.

130.Wash they,etc. That is, let them wash, etc. Some eds. put an interrogation mark aftertears, as the 2d quarto does.

137.Wot.Know; used only in the present tense and the participlewotting.

1.Fearful.Full of fear, afraid; Cf.M.N.D.v. 1. 101, 165, etc.

2.Parts.Gifts, endowments. Cf. iii. 5. 181 below: "honourable parts."

6.Familiar.A quadrisyllable here.

7.Sour company.Cf. "sour woe" in iii. 2. 116 above, "sour misfortune" in v. 3. 82 below, etc. The figurative sense is a favourite one with S.

10.Vanish'd.A singular expression, which Massinger has imitated inThe Renegado, v. 5: "Upon those lips from which those sweet words vanish'd." InR. of L.1041 the word is used of the breath.

20.Exile.For the variable accent (cf. 13 above and 43 below), see on iii. 1. 190.

26.Rush'd aside the law.Promptly eluded or contravened the law. The expression is peculiar, and may be corrupt. "Push'd" and "brush'd" have been suggested as emendations.

28.Dear mercy.True mercy. Cf.Much Ado, i. 1. 129: "A dear happiness to women," etc.

29.Heaven is here,etc. "All deep passions are a sort of atheists, that believe no future" (Coleridge).

33.Validity.Value, worth. Cf.A.W.v. 3. 192:—

"O, behold this ring,Whose high respect and rich validityDid lack a parallel."

"O, behold this ring,

Whose high respect and rich validity

Did lack a parallel."

See also v. 3. 240 below.

48.Howling.For the association withhell, cf.2 Hen. IV.ii. 4. 374 andHam.v. 1. 265.

49.Confessor.For the accent, see on ii. 6. 21 above.

52.Fond= foolish; as often in S. Cf. iv. 5. 78 below.

55.Adversity's sweet milk.Cf.Macb.iv. 3. 98: "the sweet milk of concord," etc.

59.Displant.Transplant. S. uses the word only here and inOth.ii. 1. 283: "the displanting of Cassio."

60.Prevails.Avails. Cf.unprevailinginHam.i. 2. 107.

62.When that.This use ofthatas a "conjunctional affix" is common. Cf. ii. 6. 25 above.

63.Dispute.That is, reason. The verb is used transitively in a similar sense inW.T.iv. 4. 411 andMacb.iv. 3. 220.

70.Taking the measure,etc. Cf.A.Y.L.ii. 6. 2: "Here lie I down, and measure out my grave."

77.Simpleness.Folly. Elsewhere = simplicity, innocence; as inMuch Ado, iii. 1. 70,M.N.D.v. 1. 83, etc. Cf.simplein ii. 5. 38 and iii. 1. 35.

85.O woful sympathy,etc. The early eds. give this speech to the Nurse. Farmer transferred it to the Friar, and is followed by most of the modern eds.

90.O.Grief, affliction. InLear, i. 4. 212, it means a cipher.It is also used for anything circular; as marks of small-pox (L. L. L.v. 2. 45), stars (M.N.D.iii. 2. 188), a theatre (Hen. V.prol. 13), and the earth (A. and C.v. 2. 81).

94.Old.Practised, experienced. Cf.L. L. L.ii. 1. 254, v. 2. 552,T. and C.i. 2. 128, ii. 2. 75, etc.

98.My conceal'd lady.Not known to the world as my wife.Conceal'dis accented on the first syllable because before the noun.

103.Level.Aim; as inSonn.117. 11: "the level of your frown;"Hen. VIII.i. 2. 2: "the level Of a full-charg'd confederacy," etc. Cf. the use of the verb inMuch Ado, ii. 1. 239,Rich. III.iv. 4. 202, etc.

106.Anatomy.Contemptuous for body; as inT.N.iii. 2. 67.

108.Hold thy desperate hand!etc. Up to this point, as Marshall remarks, the Friar "treats Romeo's utter want of self-control with a good-humoured tolerance.... It is only when the young man's passion threatens to go to the point of violating the law of God and man that he speaks with the authority of a priest, and in the tone of stern rebuke. This speech is a most admirable composition, full of striking good sense, eloquent reasoning, and noble piety."

109.Art thou,etc. Cf. Brooke's poem:—

"Art thou quoth he a man? thy shape saith, so thou art:Thy crying and thy weping eyes, denote a womans hart.For manly reason is quite from of [off] thy mynd outchased,And in her stead affections lewd, and fancies highly placed.So that I stoode in doute this howre (at the least)If thou a man, or woman wert, or els a brutish beast."

"Art thou quoth he a man? thy shape saith, so thou art:

Thy crying and thy weping eyes, denote a womans hart.

For manly reason is quite from of [off] thy mynd outchased,

And in her stead affections lewd, and fancies highly placed.

So that I stoode in doute this howre (at the least)

If thou a man, or woman wert, or els a brutish beast."

113.Ill-beseeming.Cf. i. 5. 76 above.

115.Better temper'd.Of better temper or quality. Cf.2 Hen. IV.i. 1. 115: "the best temper'd courage in his troops."

118.Doing damned hate.Cf. v. 2. 20 below: "do much danger," etc.

119.Why rail'st thou,etc. Malone remarks that Romeo hasnot here railed on his birth, etc., though in Brooke's poem he does:—

"And then, our Romeus, with tender handes ywrong:With voyce, with plaint made horce, wͭ sobs, and with a foltring tong,Renewd with nouel mone the dolours of his hart,His outward dreery cheere bewrayde, his store of inward smart,Fyrst nature did he blame, the author of his lyfe,In which his ioyes had been so scant, and sorrowes aye so ryfe:The time and place of byrth, he fiersly did reproue,He cryed out (with open mouth) against the starres aboue," etc.

"And then, our Romeus, with tender handes ywrong:

With voyce, with plaint made horce, wͭ sobs, and with a foltring tong,

Renewd with nouel mone the dolours of his hart,

His outward dreery cheere bewrayde, his store of inward smart,

Fyrst nature did he blame, the author of his lyfe,

In which his ioyes had been so scant, and sorrowes aye so ryfe:

The time and place of byrth, he fiersly did reproue,

He cryed out (with open mouth) against the starres aboue," etc.

In his reply the Friar asks:—

"Why cryest thou out on loue? why doest thou blame thy fate?Why dost thou so crye after death? thy life why dost thou hate?"

"Why cryest thou out on loue? why doest thou blame thy fate?

Why dost thou so crye after death? thy life why dost thou hate?"

122.Wit.See on i. 4. 47 above.

127.Digressing.Deviating, departing. It is = transgressing inRich. II.v. 3. 66: "thy digressing son."

132.Like powder,etc. See on ii. 6. 10 above. Steevens remarks: "The ancient English soldiers, using match-locks instead of flints, were obliged to carry a lightedmatchhanging at their belts, very near to the woodenflaskin which they kept their powder."

134.And thou,etc. And thou torn to pieces with thine own means of defence.

144.Pout'st upon.Cf.Cor.v. 1. 52: "We pout upon the morning."

151.Blaze.Make public. Cf.blazonin ii. 6. 26 above, andemblazein2 Hen. VI.iv. 10. 76.

154.Lamentation.Metrically five syllables.

157.Apt unto.Inclined to, ready for. Cf. iii. 1. 32 above.

166.Here stands,etc. "The whole of your fortune depends on this" (Johnson). Cf. ii. 3. 93 and ii. 4. 34 above.

171.Good hap.Piece of good luck. Cf. ii. 2. 190 above.

174.So brief to part.To part so soon.

11.Mew'd up.Shut up. Cf.T of S.i. 1. 87, 188, etc.Meworiginally meant to moult, or shed the feathers; and as hawks were then shut up, it got the secondary sense it has here.

12.Desperate.Overbold, venturesome.

23.Keep no great ado.Elsewhere in S. the phrase is, as now,make ado.Cf.T.G. of V.iv. 4. 31,1 Hen. IV.ii. 4. 223,Hen. VIII.v. 3. 159, etc.

25.Held him carelessly.Cf.3 Hen. VI.ii. 2. 109: "I hold thee reverently;"Id.ii. 1. 102: "held thee dearly," etc.

28.And there an end.Cf.T.G. of V.i. 3. 65, ii. 1. 168,Rich. II.v. 1. 69, etc.

32.Against.Cf. iv. 1. 113 below: "against thou shalt awake."

34.Afore me."By my life, by my soul" (Schmidt). Cf.Per.ii. 1. 84: "Now, afore me, a handsome fellow!" Sobefore me, as inT.N.ii. 3. 194,Oth.iv. 1. 149, etc.

35.By and by.Presently. See on ii. 2. 151 above.

Juliet's Chamber.The scene is variously given by the editors as "The Garden," "Anti-room of Juliet's Chamber," "Loggia to Juliet's Chamber," "An open Gallery to Juliet's Chamber overlooking the Orchard," "Juliet's Bedchamber; a Window open upon the Balcony," "Capulet's Orchard," etc. As Malone remarks, Romeo and Juliet probably appeared in the balcony at the rear of the old English stage. "The scene in the poet's eye was doubtless the large and massy projecting balcony before one or more windows, common in Italian palaces and not unfrequent in Gothic civil architecture. Theloggia, an open gallery, or high terrace [see cut on p. 85], communicating with the upper apartments of a palace, is a common feature in Palladian architecture, and would also be well adapted to such a scene" (Verplanck).

4.Nightly.It is said that the nightingale, if undisturbed, sits and sings upon the same tree for many weeks together (Steevens). This is because the male bird sings near where the female is sitting. "The preference of the nightingale for thepomegranateis unquestionable.'The nightingale sings from the pomegranate groves in the daytime,' says Russel in his account of Aleppo. A friend ... informs us that throughout his journeys in the East he never heard such a choir of nightingales as in a row of pomegranate-trees that skirt the road from Smyrna to Boudjia" (Knight).

8.Lace.Cf.Macb.ii. 3. 118: "His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood;"Cymb.ii. 2. 22:—

"white and azure lac'dWith blue of heaven's own tinct," etc.

"white and azure lac'd

With blue of heaven's own tinct," etc.

See on ii. 4. 44 above. We have the word used literally inMuch Ado, iii. 4. 20: "laced with silver." Onthe severing clouds, cf.J.C.ii. 1. 103:—

"yon grey linesThat fret the clouds are messengers of day;"[6]

"yon grey lines

That fret the clouds are messengers of day;"[6]

andMuch Ado, v. 3. 25: "Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey."

9.Night's candles,etc. Cf.Macb.ii. 1. 5.: "Their candles are all out." See alsoM. of V.v. 1. 220 andSonn.21. 12.

13.Some meteor,etc. Cf.1 Hen. IV.ii. 4. 351: "My lord, do you see these meteors? do you behold these exhalations?" andId.v. 1. 19: "an exhal'd meteor."

14.Torch-bearer.See on i. 4. 11 above.

19.Yon grey.See on ii. 4. 44 above.

20.The pale reflex of Cynthia's brow.That is, the pale light of the moon shining through or reflected from the breaking cloudsBrowis put for face, as inM.N.D.v. 1. 11: "Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt," etc. Some critics have thought that a setting moon was meant; but only a rising moon could light up "the severing clouds" in the way described. Thereflection(if we takereflexin that literal sense) is from theiredges, as the light from behind falls upon them. Have these critics never seen—

"a sable cloudTurn forth her silver lining on the night"

"a sable cloud

Turn forth her silver lining on the night"

when the moon was behind it?

21.Nor that is not.Double negatives are common in S.

22.The vaulty heaven.Cf.K. John, v. 2. 52: "the vaulty top of heaven;" andR. of L.119: "her vaulty prison" (that is, Night's).

29.Division."The breaking of a melody, or its descant, into small notes. The modern musician would call it variation" (Elson). Cf.1 Hen. IV.iii. 1. 210:—

"Sung by a fair queen in a summer's bower,With ravishing division, to her lute."

"Sung by a fair queen in a summer's bower,

With ravishing division, to her lute."

The word is a quadrisyllable here.

31.The lark,etc. The toad having beautiful eyes, and the lark very ugly ones, it was a popular tradition that they had changed eyes. (Warburton).

33.Affray.Startle from sleep; as Chaucer inBlaunche the Duchess(296) isaffrayedout of his sleep by "smale foules" (Dowden).

34.Hunt's-up.The tune played to wake and collect the hunters (Steevens). Cf. Drayton,Polyolbion: "But hunts-up to the morn the feather'd sylvans sing;" and again inThird Eclogue: "Time plays the hunts-up to thy sleepy head." We have the full form inT.A.ii. 2. 1: "The hunt is up, the morn is bright and grey." The term was also applied to any morning song, and especially one to a new-married woman. Cotgrave (ed. 1632) definesresveilas "a Hunts-up, or morning song, for a new-maried wife, the day after the mariage."

43.My lord,etc. From 1st quarto; the other quartos and 1st folio have "love, Lord, ay husband, friend," for which Dowden reads: "love-lord, ay, husband-friend."Friendwas sometimes = lover; as inMuch Ado, v. 2. 72,Oth.iv. 1. 3,A. and C.iii. 12. 22,Cymb.i. 4. 74, etc. Cf. Brooke's poem, where Juliet referring to Romeo, says:—

"For whom I am becomme vnto my selfe a foe,Disdayneth me, his steadfast frend, and scornes my frendship so;"

"For whom I am becomme vnto my selfe a foe,

Disdayneth me, his steadfast frend, and scornes my frendship so;"

and of their parting the poet says:—

"With solemne othe they both theyr sorowfull leaue do take;They sweare no stormy troubles shall theyr steady friendship shake."

"With solemne othe they both theyr sorowfull leaue do take;

They sweare no stormy troubles shall theyr steady friendship shake."

44.Day in the hour.The hyperbole is explained by what follows.

53.I have an ill-divining soul."This miserable prescience of futurity I have always regarded as a circumstance particularly beautiful. The same kind of warning from the mind Romeo seems to have been conscious of, on his going to the entertainment at the house of Capulet" (Steevens). See i. 4. 48 and 103 fol. above.

54.Below.From 1st quarto; the other early eds. have "so lowe," which is preferred by some of the modern editors.

58.Dry sorrow drinks our blood.An allusion to the old notion that sorrow and sighing exhaust the blood. Cf.M.N.D.iii. 2. 97,Ham.iv. 7. 123,Much Ado, iii. 1. 78, etc.

65.Down.Lying down, abed (Dowden).

66.Procures her.Leads her to come. Cf. ii. 2. 145 above. See alsoM.W.iv. 6. 48: "procure the vicar To stay for me," etc.

67.Why, how now, Juliet!Mrs. Jameson remarks: "In the dialogue between Juliet and her parents, and in the scenes withthe Nurse, we seem to have before us the whole of her previous education and habits: we see her, on the one hand, kept in severe subjection by her austere parents; and, on the other, fondled and spoiled by a foolish old nurse—a situation perfectly accordant with the manners of the time. Then Lady Capulet comes sweeping by with her train of velvet, her black hood, her fan, and rosary—the very beau-ideal of a proud Italian matron of the fifteenth century, whose offer to poison Romeo, in revenge for the death of Tybalt, stamps her with one very characteristic trait of the age and the country. Yet she loves her daughter, and there is a touch of remorseful tenderness in her lamentations over her, which adds to our impression of the timid softness of Juliet and the harsh subjection in which she has been kept."

69.Wash him from his grave,etc. The hyperbole may remind us of the one inRich. II.iii. 3. 166 fol.

72.Wit.See on iii. 3. 122 above.

73.Feeling.Heartfelt. Cf. "feeling sorrows" inW.T.iv. 2. 8 andLear, iv. 6. 226.

82.Like he.The inflections of pronouns are often confounded by S.

84.Ay, madam, etc. Johnson remarks that "Juliet's equivocations are rather too artful for a mind disturbed by the loss of a new lover." To this Clarke well replies: "It appears to us that, on the contrary, the evasions of speech here used by the young girl-wife are precisely those that a mind, suddenly and sharply awakened from previous inactivity, by desperate love and grief, into self-conscious strength, would instinctively use. Especially are they exactly the sort of shifts and quibbles that a nature rendered timid by stinted intercourse with her kind, and by communion limited to the innocent confidences made by one of her age in the confessional, is prone to resort to, when first left to itself in difficulties of situation and abrupt encounter with life's perplexities."

87.In Mantua,etc. No critic, so far as I am aware, has noted the slip of which S. is guilty here. Romeo is said to belivinginMantua, but an hour has hardly elapsed since he started for that city; and how can the lady know of the plan for his going there which was secretly suggested by the friar the afternoon before?

89.Shall give.The ellipsis of the relative is not uncommon.

92.I never shall be satisfied, etc. Daniel remarks: "The several interpretations of which this ambiguous speech is capable are, I suppose: 1. I never shall be satisfied with Romeo; 2. I never shall be satisfied with Romeo till I behold him; 3. I never shall be satisfied with Romeo till I behold him dead; 4. Till I behold him, dead is my poor heart; 5. Dead is my poor heart, so for a kinsman vext."

96.Temper.Compound, mix. Cf.Ham.v. 2. 339: "It is a poison temper'd by himself;"Cymb.v. 250: "To temper poisons for her," etc.

97.That.So that; as often.Receiptis not elsewhere applied by S. to thereceivingof food or drink, though it is used ofwhat is receivedinR. of L.703 andCor.i. 1. 116.

100.Cousin.Some editors add "Tybalt" (from 2d folio) to fill out the measure.

104.Needy.Joyless. The word is = needful inPer.i. 4. 95: "needy bread."

105.They.S. makestidings, likenews(cf. ii. 5. 22 with ii. 5. 35), either singular or plural. Cf.J.C.iv. 3. 155: "That tidings;"Id.v. 3. 54: "These tidings," etc.

108.Sorted out.Cf.1. Hen. VI.ii. 3. 27: "I'll sort some other time to visit you," etc.

109.Nor I look'd not.See on iii. 5. 21 above.

110.In happy time.Schmidt explains this as here = "à propos, pray tell me." Elsewhere it is = just in time; as inA.W.v. 1. 6,Ham.v. 2. 214,Oth.iii. 1. 32, etc.

113.County.See on i. 3. 83 above.

120.I swear.Collier thinks these words "hardly consistent with Juliet's character;" but, as Ulrici remarks, "they seem necessary in order to show her violent excitement, and thereby explain herconduct." They appear to crowd the measure, but possibly "I will not marry yet" ("I'll not marry yet") may count only as two feet.

122.These are news.See on 105 above.

125.The air.The reading of the 4th and 5th quartos; the other early eds. have "the earth," which is adopted by many editors. Hudson remarks: "This is scientifically true; poetically, it would seem better to readairinstead ofearth." It happens, however, that science and poetry agree here; for it is the watery vapour in theairthat is condensed into dew. Malone, who also says that the readingearthis "philosophically true," citesR. of L.1226: "But as the earth doth weep, the sun being set;" but this only means that the earth is wet with dew. To speak of the earth asdrizzlingdew is nonsense; we might as well say that it "drizzles rain" (Much Ado, iii. 3. 111). Elsewhere S. refers to the "falling" dew; as inK. John, ii. 1. 285,Hen. VIII.i. 3. 57,Cymb.v. 5. 351, etc.

128.Conduit.Probably alluding to the human figures that spouted water in fountains. Cf.R. of L.1234:—

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