SCENE I.-A public Place. Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, armed with Sam. Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals.' Gre. No, for then we should be colliers. Sam. I Dean, an we be in choler, we'll draw. Gre. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of the collar. Sam. I strike quickly, being moved. Gre. But thou art not quickly moved to strike. Sam. A dog of the house of Montague moves me. Gre. To move is to stir; and to be valiant is 3 to stand; therefore, if thou art mov'd, thou run'st away. Sam. A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's. Gre. That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the wall. Sam. True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall:therefore I will push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall. Gre. The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men. a The first quarto of 1597 which we mark as (4), "Stand to it." Sam. "T is all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I have fought with the men, I will be civil with the maids, and cut off their heads. Gre. The heads of the maids? Sam. Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads; take it in what sense thou wilt. Gre. They must take it sense, that feel it. Sam. Me they shall feel, while I am able to stand: and 't is known I am a pretty piece of flesh. Gre. 'Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou hadst been poor John. Draw thy tool; here comes of the house of the Montagues." Enter ABRAM and BALTHASAR. Sam. My naked weapon is out; quarrel, I will back thee? Gre. How? turn thy back, and run? Gre. No, marry: I fear thee! Sam. Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin. Gre. I will frown, as I pass by; and let them take it as they list. Sam. Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them; which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.3 you thumb at us, sir? Abr. Do bite your Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Sam. No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir; but I bite my thumb, sir. Gre. Do you quarrel, sir? Sam. If you do, sir, I am for you; I serve as good a man as you. Abr. No better. Sam. Well, sir. Enter BENVOLIO, at a distance. Gre. Say-better; here comes one of my master's kinsmen. Sam. Yes, better. Abr. You lie. Sam. Draw, if you be men.-Gregory, remember thy swashing blow.* [They fight. Ben. Part, fools; put up your swords; you know not what you do. [Beats down their swords. The undated quarto, which we mark as (D), cruel. b(A), In sense. c Poor John. Hake, dried and salted. (4), two of the house. Enter TYBALT. Tyb. What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death. Ben. I do but keep the peace; put up thy sword, Or manage it to part these men with me. As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee: [They fight. Enter several partisans of both houses, who join the fray; then enter Citizens, with clubs. 1 Cit. Clubs, bills, and partisans ! 5 strize! beat them down! Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues! Enter CAPULET, in his gown; and Lady CAPULET. Cap. What noise is this?-Give me my long Enter PRINCE, with Attendants. Prin. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, That quench the fire of your pernicious rage a The quarto of 1609, which we mark as (C), drawn. For this time, all the rest depart away : Mon. Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach ? Speak, nephew, were you by, when it began? La. Mon. O, where is Romeo!-saw you him to-day ? Right glad am I, he was not at this fray. Ben. Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun 6 Peer'd forth the golden window of the east, Pursued my humour, not pursuing his, seen, With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew, a And makes himself an artificial night: Ben. My noble uncle, do you know the cause? Could we but learn from whence his sorrows a The first ten beautiful lines of Montague's speech are not in the original quarto; neither is Benvolio's question, "Have you importun'd him?" nor the answer. We find them in (B), the quarto of 1599. b The folio and (C) read same. Theobald gave us sun; and we could scarcely wish to restore the old reading, even if the probability of a typographical error, same for sunne, were not so obvious. Rom. Bid a sick man in sadness make his will: Ah, word ill urged to one that is so ill!- Ben. Iaim'd sc near, when I suppos'd you lov'd. Rom. A right good marksman!—And she's fair I love. Ben. A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit. Rom. Well, in that hit, you miss: she'll not be hit With Cupid's arrow, she hath Dian's wit; She will not stay the siege of loving terms, That, when she dies, with beauty dies her store.a Ben. Then she hath sworn, that she will still live chaste? Rom. She bath, and in that sparing makes huge waste; For beauty, starv'd with her severity, She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair, Ben. Be rul'd by me, forget to think of her. Rom. O teach me how I should forget to think. Ben. By giving liberty unto thine eyes; Examine other beauties. 'Tis the way Rom. To call hers, exquisite, in question more: These happy masks, that kiss fair ladies' brows, Being black, put us in mind they hide the fair;8 He that is strucken blind, cannot forget The precious treasure of his eyesight lost: Show me a mistress that is passing fair, What dot her beauty serve, but as a note Where I may read, who pass'd that passing fair? Farewell thou canst not teach me to forget. Ben. I'll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt. [Exeunt. SCENE II-A Street. Enter CAPULET, PARIS, and Servant. Cap. And Montague is bound as well as I, In penalty alike; and 't is not hard, I think, For men so old as we to keep the peace. Par. Of honourable reckoning are you both; And pity 't is, you liv'd at odds so long, But now, my lord, what say you to my suit. Cap. But saying o'er what I have said before: My child is yet a stranger in the world, She hath not seen the change of fourteen years; Let two more summers wither in their pride, Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride. Par. Younger than she are happy mothers made Cap. And too soon marr'd are those so early made. Earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she, The scene ends here in (A): and the three first lines in the next scene are also wanting. (B) has them. b So (D). The folio omits And. e Lady of my earth. Fille de terre being the French phrase for an heiress, Steevens thinks that Capulet speaks of Juliet in this sense, but Shakspere uses earth for the mortal part, as in the 146th Sonnet: "Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth," and in this play, "Turn back, dull earth." |