And never trouble Peter for the matter. [Exit.
Cap. Mass, and well said; a merry whoreson, ha! 20
Thou shalt be logger-head. Good faith, 'tis day :
The county will be here with music straight,
For so he said he would. [Music within.
I hear him near.
Nurse ! Wife ! What, ho ! What, nurse, I say !
13. jealous-hood] hyphen 4. 14. Jl-'/iat's] F 2, What is O, 1 1' hat F.
15. First Serv.J Capell ; Fel. [ = Fellow] n, F. 16. haste. [Exit . . .]]
Capell, haste O, haste, F. 18. Second Serv.] Capell ; Fel. Q, F. 19.
Fxit] Capell. 21. faith} Oq 4, 5, F 2; father O, F. 23. Music
within] Capell (line 22), as here Cambridge ; Play Musicke (after line 21)
Q, r-
hunt would, accordingly, mean pur- propen:-itics. Cassio (Dyce notes), in
suer of women. "Hunt," meaning Othello, calls Bianca a " fitchew "-
hunter, is not uncommon ; thus that is, a polecat.
Turbervile, Book of Vencrie (1575): 13. jealous-hood^ What are called
" Then the chiefe htin/c : shall take his 0;^-formations (made for an occa-
knife, and cut off the deares ryght sion) are common with -hood. Here
foote." Dyce and others, however, the abstract, equivalent to jealousy, is
explain mouse-hunt as the stoat, and put for the concrete,
attribute to the animal strong sexual
sc. v.J ROMEO AND JULIET 149
Re-enter Nurse.
Go waken Juliet, go, and trim her up; 25
I '11 go and chat with Paris : hie, make haste,
Make haste; the bridegroom he is come already :
Make haste, I say. {Exeunt.
SCENE V. The Same. Juliefs chamber.
Enter Nurse.
Nurse. Mistress! what, mistress ! Juliet! fast, I warrant
her, she :
Why, lamb ! why, lady ! fie, you slug-a-bed !
Why, love, I say ! madam ! sweet-heart ! why,
bride !
What, not a word ? you take your pennyworths
now;
Sleep for a week ; for the next night, I warrant, 5
The County Paris hath set up his rest
28. Exeunt] Capell.
Juliet's chamber] Theobald (who adds "Juliet on a bed "). I. she] omitted
F 2.
I. mistress I Juttef\ Daniel reads plains the Italian restart, " to set up
" what, mistress Juliet !" . one's rest, to make a rest, or play
6. set a/> /u's rcsf\ A metaphor from upon one's rest at primero. r> Cotgrave
primero, a game at cards ; as I under- has under I\en-<ier : " 11 y reniioit de
stand it, the stake was a smaller sum, .w re<tc, He set his whole rest, he
the rest a larger sum, which, if a adventured all his estate upon it.''
player were confident (or desperate) 1 lence to set up one's rest came to
might all be set, or set up, that is, be mean to be resolved, or determined,
wagered. In the game of primero For many examples, see Nares' Gi'os-
played in dialogue, in the Dialogues sarv. The phrase occurs in several
(p. 26) appended to Minsheu's Spanish passages of Shakespeare, e. '. J/<.r-
Dict., " two shillings form the stake, chant of Venice, II. it. no.
eight shillings the rest.'' Florio ex-
150 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT iv.
That you shall rest but little. God forgive me,
Marry, and amen, how sound is she asleep !
I needs must wake her. Madam, madam, madam !
Ay, let the county take you in your bed ; ro
He '11 fright you up, i' faith. Will it not be ?
What, dress'd ! and in your clothes ! and down
again !
I must needs wake you. Lady ! lady ! lady !
Alas, alas ! Help, help ! my lady 's dead !
O, well-a-day, that ever I was born ! I 5
Some aqua-vitae, ho ! My lord, my lady !
Enter Lady CAPULET.
Lady Cap. What noise is here ?
Nurse. O lamentable day !
Lady Cap. What is the matter?
Nurse. Look, look ! O heavy day !
Lady Cap. O me, O me ! My child, my only life,
Revive, look up, or I will die with thee. 20
Help, help ! call help.
Enter CArULET.
Cap. For shame, bring Juliet forth ; her lord is come.
Nurse. She 's dead, deceased, she 's dead ; alack the day !
Lady Cap. Alack the day, she 's dead, she 's dead, she 's
dead !
Cap. Ha! let me see her. Out, alas! she's cold; 25
Her blood is settled and her joints are stiff;
sc.v.J ROMEO AND JULIET 151
Life and these lips have long been separated :
Death lies on her like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.
Nurse. O lamentable day !
Lady Cap. O woeful time! 30
Cap. Death, that hath ta'en her hence to make me wail,
Ties up my tongue, and will not let me speak.
Enter Friar LAURENCE and PARIS, with Musicians.
Fri. Come, is the bride ready to go to church ?
Cap. Ready to go, but never to return.
O son, the night before thy wedding-day 35
Hath Death lain with thy wife : see, there she lies,
Flower as she was, deflowered by him.
Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir ;
My daughter he hath wedded : I will die,
And leave him all ; life, living, all is Death's. 40
Par. Have I thought long to see this morning's face,
And doth it give me such a sight as this ?
Lady Cap. Accurst, unhappy, wretched, hateful day !
32. Enter . . .] "with Musician.-," omitted O, E; present in Q 4.
36. wife] O, E ; bride n i ; .svv] E 2 ; omitted O, E. 37. deflowered] O, E
(deflowred), defloivrcd now V 2. 40. all ; life, /ii'iii^] Collier, all lijc
living Q, E; all, life, living O 4. 41. lo>i\ E, lone (.,) (alone).
29. field} Pope and other editors
add here from Q i the line "Accursed
time ! unfortunate old man ! "
32. let me speak'} In Brooke's poem the means of living, as where Antonio
Capulet cannot speak for grief; Shake- says to Portia (Merchant of Venice, V.
speare remembered this, but only to 286): "Sweet lady, you have given
produce a dramatic touch of self-in- me life and living.' 1
congruity in the old man. 41. thought long~\ desired. In
33. Fri. Conic:'} O i alone of early Brooke's poem, anticipating his mar-
editions gives this line to Paris; it is riage, Paris' "longing hart thinka
followed by Staunton. long for theyr appoynted howre
36. see] This added word of E 2 s (line 2274).
also found in ( ) i.
152 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT iv.
Most miserable hour that e'er time saw
In lasting labour of his pilgrimage ! 45
But one, poor one, one poor and loving child,
But one thing to rejoice and solace in,
And cruel death hath catch' d it from my sight !
Nurse. O woe ! O woeful, woeful, woeful day !
Most lamentable day, most woeful day, 50
That ever, ever, I did yet behold !
O day ! O day ! O day ! O hateful day !
Never was seen so black a day as this :
O woeful day, O woeful day !
Par. Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spited, slain ! 5 5
Most detestable death, by thee beguiled,
By cruel cruel thee quite overthrown !
O love ! O life ! not life, but love in death !
Cap. Despised, distressed, hated, martyr'd, kill'd !
Uncomfortable time, why earnest thou now 60
To murder, murder our solemnity ?
O child ! O child ! my soul, and not my child !
Dead art thou ! alack ! my child is dead ;
And with my child my joys are buried.
Fri. Peace, ho ! for shame ! confusion's cure lives not 65
48. rati/iil] Capell conjectures "O woeful day! O woeful, woeful
snatched. day ! "
49. iL'oc !~\ Grant White suggests 56. detestable] Accent on first syl-
that in "this speech of mock heroic lable, as in v. iii. 45.
woe," Shakespeare ridicules the trans- 58. O lore ! . . . deatJi\ I doubtfully
lation of Seneca's Tragedies (1581). throw out the suggestion: "O life!
The exclamatory mode of love and not life, O love ! but love in death ! "
grief is ridiculed in the Pyramus and 63. Dead] Theobald and many
Thisbe of A Midsummer Nrjhf s editors read, " Dead art thou ! dead ";
Dream, v. i. M alone conjectures, "Dead, dead, art
54. O . . . day .'] Daniel adopts thou ! "
Fleay's conjecture (to emend metre). 65. !/~'cs] Lettsom conjectures ties.
sc. v.] UOMEO AND JULIET 153
In these confusions. Heaven and yourself
Had part in this fair maid; now heaven hath all,
And all the better is it for the maid :
Your part in her you could not keep from death ;
But heaven keeps his part in eternal life. 70
The most you sought was her promotion,
For 'twas your heaven she should be advanced ;
And weep ye now, seeing she is advanced
Above the clouds, as high as heaven itself?
O, in this love, you love your child so ill, 75
That you run mad, seeing that she is well :
She 's not well married that lives married long,
But she 's best married that dies married young.
Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary
On this fair corse ; and, as the custom is, 80
In all her best array bear her to church ;
For though fond nature bids us all lament,
Yet nature's tears are reason's merriment.
Cap. All things that we ordained festival,
Turn from their office to black funeral ; S 5
Our instruments to melancholy bells,
Si. In all} Q i ; And in Q, F. 82. fond} F 2 ; some Q, F ; us all} O,
all us F.
72. advanced} Advance means both Dekkcr (Works, ed. Grosart, i. 129) :
promote and raise or lift up, as often ''Death rudely lay with her, and
in Shakespeare of a sword or a stand- spoild her of a maidenhead . . . the
ard. Furness reads advanced . rosemary that was washt in sweete
76. ive/I :} Rolfe: " Often thus used water to set out the Bridall is now
of the dead." Compare IVinter's wet in teares to furnish her buriall."
Tale, v. i. 30, and Ant. and Cleop. So. custom} See iv. i. 110, note.
II. v. 32 : "But, sirrah, mark we use 82. fond} foolish. Knight defends
To say the dead are well." some Q, F, some impulses of nature,
79. rosemary} The evergreen, comparing Milton's "some natural
emblematic of immortality, and of tears." Possibly the light word is
remembrance, used at both weddings soon (misprinted some) in the sense,
and funerals. See note on Hamlet, frequent in Shakespeare, of readily.
IV. v. 175 (ed. Dowden). Compare
154 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTIV.
Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast,
Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change,
Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse,
And all things change them to the contrary. 90
Fri. Sir, go you in ; and, madam, go with him ;
And go, Sir Paris ; every one prepare
To follow this fair corse unto her grave.
The heavens do lour upon you for some ill ;
Move them no more by crossing their high will. 95
[Exeunt Capulet, Lady Capulet, Paris,
and Friar.
First Mus. Faith, we may put up our pipes, and be
gone.
Nurse. Honest good fellows, ah, put up, put up ;
For, well you know, this is a pitiful case. \Exit.
First Mus. Ay, by my troth, the case may be amended.
Enter PETER.
Peter. Musicians, O, musicians, " Heart's ease, i oo
95. Exeunt . . .] Theobald, Exeunt manet Q, Exeunt manent Musici O 4,
Exeunt F. 96. First Mus.] Capell, Musi. O, Mu. F. 98. Exit]
Theobald. 99. First Mus.] Capell, Fid. O, Mu. F.
88. dirges] The transposing of all again in Winter 's Tale, IV. iv. 844,
things from wedding to funeral uses where by case the Clown means his
is described in Brooke's poem "And skin: "though my case be a pitiful
Hymen to a dirge," etc. one, I hope I shall not be flayed out
95. Exeunt . . . ] O I has the of it."
stage - direction, "They all but the 99. Enter Peter] So Qq 4, 5, Ff;
Nurse goe foorth, casting Rosemary Qq 2, 3, "Enter Will Kemp" ; Q I,
on her and shutting the Curtens. "Enter Servingman." Kemp, the suc-
Enter Musitions." cessorof Tarlton in comic parts, played
96. pipes} "To put up pipes" was Peter. In both Q 1600 and F his
also used figuratively; "Poor mens' name is prefixed to speeches of Dog-
children may put up their pipes for berry in Much Ado. Before Peter's
being gentils in their day ;) Blazon of entrance Qq 2-5 have Exit (<>r
Gen fry, Part I. Exeunt) omnes.
99. case'] The play on rase, state 100. "Heart's ease"] A tune
of things, and case, cover, occurs mentioned in Alisogonus, a play
SC. V.]
ROMEO AND JULIET
155
Heart's ease " : O, an you will have me live,
play " Heart's ease."
First Mus. Why " Heart's ease " ?
Peter. O, musicians, because my heart itself plays
" My heart is full of woe." O, play me some 105
merry dump, to comfort me.
First Mus. Not a dump we ; 'tis no time to play now.
Peter. You will not then ?
First Mus. No.
Peter. I will then give it you soundly. I 10
First Mus. What will you give us ?
Peter. No money, on my faith, but the gleek ; I
will give you the minstrel.
First Mus. Then will I give you the serving-creature.
101. an] Pope; and Q, F. 103. First Mus.] Capell, Fidler Q, Mu. F.
105. of tew] Cjq 4, 5 ; omitted (), F. 105, 106. O . . . comfort me.} O
omitted F. 107. First Mus.] Capell, Minstrels Q, Mu. F.
as early as 1560; the music is given
in Naylor's Shakespeare and Music
(1896), p. 193.
105. " My heart is full of li'oe'']
The burden of the first stanza of A
Pleasant A'ew Ballad of Tivo Lovers,
printed in Sh. Soc. Papers, I. p.
12: " Hey ho! my heart is full of
\voe."
106. dump] NCT.U En^. Did. : " A
mournful or plaintive melody or SOUL; ;
also, by extension, a tune in general :
sometimes apparently used for a kind
of dance.'' The adjective nici-ry
is a comic incongruity. So in Tu-o
Gentlemen of Verona, ill. ii. 85 :
"to their instruments Tune a de-
ploring dump."
109. First Mus.] Here and in later
speeches the speaker is Minst. or
Min. (Minstrel) in Oq and Mu. in F.
112, 113. tlic ^leek . . . minstrel]
"To give the gleek" meant to flout
or scoff. "Where's the Bastard's
braves and Charles his gleeks?"
(scoffs), 1 Henry VI. III. ii. 123 ;
" gleeking and galling at this gentle-
man," Henry V. v. i. 78. Turber-
vile's Ovid's Epistles, x. vi. : "To
him alone she closely clinges, and
gives the rest the gleake.' There
may be a quibble in "give the
minstrel " on gleeman or gligman.
Minstrel may have been a scoffing
name, because of the inclusion of
wandering "minstrels" in 39 Eliza-
beth 3 and 4 with bearwards, fencers,
etc., as "rogues, vagabonds, and
sturdy beggars.'' For to give mean-
ing to represent or describe, compare
Corio/anus, i. ix. 55 : "to us that
,;/YT'r.' you truly.''
114. Kn'ing-treature] Perhaps a
more contemptuous title than serving-
man. In The Three Ladies of London
(1584^, Simplicity says, "Faith I'll
be a sett'ing - creature" ;
Ilazlitt's Dudsley's Old Plays, x. 253.
156 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTIV.
Peter. Then will I lay the serving-creature's dagger 115
on your pate. I will carry no crotchets : I '11
re you, I '11 fa you. Do you note me ?
First Mus. An you re us and fa us, you
note us.
Second Mus. Fray you, put up your dagger, and 1 20
put out your wit.
Peter. Then have at you with my wit ! I will dry-
beat you with an iron wit, and put up my iron
dagger. Answer me like men :
When griping grief the heart doth wound, 125
And doleful dumps the mind oppress,
Then music with her silver sound
why " silver sound " ? why " music with her
silver sound " ? What say you, Simon
Catling? 130
First Mus. Marry, sir, because silver hath a sweet
sound.
nS. An~\ Pope; And Q, F. 122. Then . . . wit'] continued to Sec.
Mus. Q, F ; as here Q 4. 125-127. When . . . sound] verse Q I ; prose
(,), F. 125. grief] Q I ; griefes Q, F. 126. And . . . oppress] O i ;
omitted Q, F. 131. First Mus.] I Q I, Minst. Q, Mu. F.
116. crotehets\ I will bear none of "dry-beating." But probably no
your whims ; the same play on the quibble is intended,
words crotchets and note occurs in 122. Jiave at you~\ Peter takes/;//
Much Ado, II. iii. 58, 59. oitl not as meant, i.e. extinguish, but
116, 117. /'// re yon, /Y/faj<w] as the opposite at put up (your dagger),
It is possible that (as Ulrici thinks) and so draw, unsheathe.
([nibbles are continued here. Ray 122, 123. dry-bcaf\ See III. i. 82,
meant to befoul ; compare Taming note.
of the S/ircii', iv. i. 3: "Was ever 125. When griping grief] From a
man so beaten ? was ever man so poem by Richard Fdwards in the
rayed!'" 1 Fay meant to cleanse, as Paradise of Daintic. Devices. See
in Burton, Anat. of Melancholy : "To also the poem as given in Percy's
. . . fay channels." See New Enq. Diet. Rcliques.
for other examples ; and compare the 130. Catling A small lute or
phrase "to dust one's coat." The fiddle string of catgut, as in Troilas
processes of befouling and cleansing and Cressida, in. iii. 306.
might both be accomplished by a
sc. v.] ROMEO AND JULIET 157
Peter. Pretty! What say you, Hugh Rebeck?
Second Mus. I say " silver sound," because musicians
sound for silver. I 3 5
Peter. Pretty too ! What say you, James Sound-
post ?
TJiird Hfus. Faith, I know not what to say.
Peter. O, I cry you mercy ; you are the singer ; I
will say for you. It is "music with her silver 140
sound," because musicians have no gold for
sounding :
Then music with her silver sound
With speedy help doth lend redress.
[Exit.
First Mns. What a pestilent knave is this 145
same !
Second Jlfus. Hang him, Jack ! Come, we '11 in
here ; tarry for the mourners, and stay dinner.
\_E.vcunt.
133. Pretty!} Pope (from O I Prctie}; Prates O; Pratcsf n 3, I-'.
136. Pretty too!} Pope, from O i ; Prates to O ; Prat, t lo O 3, F. 141.
musicians} O, F ; such fe/lowcs as you O I ; no ,^<'M] <J, I'" ; seldom ^old
I. 145. First Mus.] Capell, Min. O, Mu. F. 147. him, Jaci:!}
1 larmier ; liini Jack, (J, F.
133. Pretty!} Here and in line 136 133. Rebec!:} a three - stringed
what is probably a misprint of O fiddle.
Prates, modified to Pratest in (1 3, 136, I ,7. Soundpost} the pillar or
F, is followed by some editors, piri; \vhich supports the belly of a
Pratest' Rowc ; Pratest! Johnson; stringed instrument.
Prates .' Delius. Compare the speech 145. pestilent} vexatious, as in
158 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACTV.
ACT V
SCENE I. Mantua. A Street.
Enter R.OMEO.
Rom. If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep,
My dreams presage some joyful news at hand :
My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne,
And all this day an unaccustom'd spirit
Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. 5
I dreamt my lady came and found me dead
Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to
think !
And breathed such life with kisses in my lips
Mantua] Rowe. I. tntth} Q, F; eye Q I.
I. truth} I do not doubt that or proposed; Warburton, ruth;
Shakespeare originally wrote eye Q I Collier (MS.) death; Singer soother
"eye of sleep" meaning visions of (for "truth of"); White sooth, in
the night. We have in Sonnets, the sense of augury.
xxxiii., "flatter the mountain tops 3. bosom's lord] Steevens notes
with sovereign eye"; in Richard III. that, in Chester's Loves Martyr
I. iv. 271, "if thine eye be not a (1601), the line "How his deepe
flatterer''' ; in King John, II. i. 503, bosonies lord the dutchess thwarted"
"the flattering table of her eye"; is explained in a marginal note
compare also Julius Cczsar, iv. iii. "Cupid.'"' Malone compares Othello,
89, 90. But, as Daniel notes, in O in. iii. 448 : " Yield up, O lore, thy
1 of the present play for II. ii. 141, crown and hearted throne.''' Again,
we have " Too flattering true to be in Twelfth Night, I. i. 38, the heart
substantial" ; possibly \vl\enjlatteri/ig is the throne., the lover its king ; and
truth here was substituted for flatter- in the same play, n. iv. 21, " the seat
ing eye, the flattering true of the where Love is throned " seems to
earlier passage became flattering mean the heart. Bosom's lord
tweet. Mr. Fleay suggested that perhaps, then, means Love ; but
flattering means in both passages perhaps, more obviously, it means
(when connected with true and truth] the heart.
seeming. It is an old saying that 4. this day aii\ Misprinted "this
morning dreams come true ; can an day an " in F, and altered in F 2
"flattering truth of sleep" mean a to " this winged."
flattering morning-dream? Various 8. breathed} Steevens suggests that
emendations of truth have been made Shakespeare remembered Marlowe's
sc. i.] ROMEO AND JULIET 159
That I revived, and was an emperor.
Ah me! how sweet is love itself possess'd, 10
When but love's shadows arc so rich in joy !
Enter BALTIIASAR, booted.
News from Verona! How now, Balthasar !
Dost thou not bring me letters from the friar ?
How doth my lady ? Is my father well ?
How fares my Juliet? that I ask again ; I 5
For nothing can be ill if she be well.
Bal. Then she is well, and nothing can be ill :
Her body sleeps in Capel's monument,
And her immortal part with angels lives.
I saw her laid low in her kindred's vault, 20
And presently took post to tell it you :
O, pardon me for bringing these ill news,
Since you did leave it for my office, sir.
Rom. Is it even so? then I defy you, stars!
Thou know'st my lodging: get me ink and
paper, 2 5
And hire post-horses ; I will hence to-night.
Bal. I do beseech you, sir, have patience :
II. F.nter . . .] Enter Balthasar his man booted O i ; Enter Komeos man
Q, F. 15. fares my Juliet] O i ; doth my Lady Ju'i, t O. F. 19. lire.-}
Q, live F. 24. even} F, in O, /,// Collier ; d,jy you} Pope ; defie my Q I :
denie you Q, F. 27. 1 . . . patioicc\ O, F ; Pardon, me Sir, I n'lll not
leave you tints, Q I.
line in Hero ana Lcatider \ "He Capels' monument.'" Shakespeare
kiss'd her and breathed life into her found Capel and Capulct used in-
lips." That poem was not published discriminately in Brooke's poem
till 1598. (Malone).
17. well] See IV. v. 76, note. 24. </-'/V] Deny may be ri^ht, in the
18. Cafcl's} Capels Q, F. Rolfe : sense disown, repudiate. Delias cites
" CafcFs seems better here thin J\in^ John, \. i. 252: "I deny the
Capels', on account of the omission devil.'' See v. iii. in.
of the article ; but v. iii. 127, ' the
160 ROMEO AND JULIET [ACT v.
Your looks are pale and wild, and do import
Some misadventure.
Rom. Tush, thou are deceived ;
Leave me, and do the thing I bid thee do. 30
Hast thou no letters to me from the friar ?
Bal. No, my good lord.
Rom. No matter : get thee gone,
And hire those horses ; I '11 be with thee straight.
\Exit Balthazar.
Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night.
Let 's see for means : O mischief, thou art
swift 3 5
To enter in the thoughts of desperate men !
I do remember an apothecary,
And hereabouts he dwells, which late I noted
In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows,
Culling of simples ; meagre were his looks, 40
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones :
And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuff'd and other skins
Of ill-shaped fishes ; and about his shelves
A beggarly account of empty boxes, 45
Green earthen pots, bladders and musty seeds,
33. Exit] Rowe ; after lord, line 32, Q, F. 38. Ac] F 2, a Q, omitted
F ; whicJi} Q, F ; wJioni Q i.
39. overwhelming} a word which Mode, plate iii. So, too, in Garth's
Shakespeare connects with brows in Dispensary.
Venus and Adonis, Vu\o. 183, and Henry 45. empty boxes} Some details and
V. ill. i. ii. words are imported into the play
43. alligator} Malone notes that from the corresponding description
Nash in Have with You, to Saffron in Brooke's poem.
Waldcn, 1596, refers to an " apothe- 46. Green earthen pots} Halliwell
cary's crocodile or stuffed alligator" quotes a letter, August 1594, from Sir
as part of his shop properties. It J. Caesar showing that the manufac-
appears in Hogarth's Marriage a la lure of these pots was carried on in
sc. i.] ROMEO AND JULIET K;I
Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses,
Were thinly scatter'd to make up a show.
Noting this penury, to myself I said,
An if a man did need a poison now, 50
Whose sale is present death in Mantua,
Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.
O, this same thought did but forerun my need,
And this same needy man must sell it me.
As I remember, this should be the house : 5 5
Being holiday, the beggar's shop is shut.
What, ho ! apothecary !
Enter Apothecary.
Ap. Who calls so loud ?
Rom. Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor ;
Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have
A dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear 60
As will disperse itself through all the veins
That the life-weary taker may fall dead,
And that the trunk may be discharged of breath,
As violently as hasty powder fired
Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb. 65
Ap. Such mortal drugs I have ; but Mantua's law
Is death to any he that utters them.
50. .-/// if] O, F ; And if (^ i, O 5. 57. Enter . . .] Q I, F ; omitted
Q. 60. soon-sfccdtHg] hyphen F 4.
England at that date. They \s ere 60. soon .v/v rch'/ij ,!>var] Rolfe :
"drunk in by the gentlemen of the "quick -dispatching stuff." From
Temple." Brooke's poem, " Faire syr (quoth
51. present] immediate. Knight he) be sure this is the speeding
says there was no law in England gere."
against the sale of poisons, but (quot- 67. any he} Delius cites Tawing oj
ing Raleigh's Discourse oj Tenures in the S/uru', ill. ii. 256: "I'll bring