LUCIUS.

hence,

Some loving friends convey the emperor

And give him burial in his father's grave.
My father and Lavinia shall forthwith
Be closed in our household's monument.
As for that heinous tiger, Tamora,

No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds,
No mournful bell shall ring her burial;
But throw her forth to beasts and birds of prey.
Her life was beast-like, and devoid of pity;
And, being so, shall have like want of pity.
See justice done on Aaron, that damn'd Moor,
By whom our heavy haps had their beginning:
Then, afterwards, to order well the state,
That like events may ne'er it ruinate.

192

196

200

[Exeunt.

ROMEO AND JULIET

ROMEO AND JULIET

INTRODUCTION

THIS, the first tragedy of Shakespeare, if we set aside Titus Andronicus, certainly his first tragedy in which beauty and terror are harmonized, was published in quarto in 1597 with a title that describes it as often (with great applause) plaid publiquely, by the right Ho-nourable the L[ord] of Hunsdon his Servvants'. The second quarto, 1599, is said to be' Newly corrected, augmented and amended: As it hath been sundry times publiquely acted by the right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his Servants.' Other quartos followed in 1609 and 1637; one, undated, in which the author's name is given, appeared at no long interval after 1609. The folio text, 1623, is derived from the third quarto.

The earliest quarto was surreptitious and defective; it contains 2,232 lines; the second-probably authorized by the players-contains 3,007. Some critics have supposed that the quarto of 1597 exhibits the play in an earlier form than that of 1599. It is, however, substantially the same Romeo and Juliet, imperfectly produced from notes taken during the performance, which include some interesting descriptive stagedirections, and from the reporter's recollection. There are, at the same time, good grounds for believing that before 1599 the text underwent a revision by the author, and that some passages were re-written. The Cambridge editors point to a passage in Act II, Scene vi as one of which it can be affirmed with certainty that the change must be attributed to Shakespeare. In the edition of 1597 Juliet enters somewhat fast, and

embraceth Romeo', whereupon the dialogue proceeds thus:

[Friar.] See where she comes.

So light of foote nere hurts the troden flower:
Of love and joy, see see the soveraigne power.
Iul: Romeo.

Rom: My Iuliet welcome. As doo waking eyes (Cloasd in Nyghts mysts) attend the frolicke Day, So Romeo hath expected Iuliet,

And thou art come.

Jul: I am (if I be Day)

Come to my Sunne: shine foorth, and make me faire.
Rom: All beauteous fairnes dwelleth in thine eyes.
Iul. Romeo from thine all brightnes doth arise.
Fr: Come wantons, come, the stealing houres do passe
Defer imbracements till some fitter time,

Part for a while, you shall not be alone,

Till holy Church have joynd ye both in one.

Rom Lead holy Father, all delay seemes long. Iul Make hast, make hast, this lingring doth us wrong. Fr: 0, soft and faire makes sweetest worke they say. Hast is a common hindrer in crosse way.

Exeunt omnes.

In the corresponding passage of the revised version rhyme is dropped; the passion of Romeo is allied with. a higher imaginative enthusiasm; the burden of Juliet's love can find no adequate relief in words.

The date at which the play was written cannot be precisely ascertained. The abundance of rhyme, the frequency of conceits, and other characteristics of Shakespeare's earlier work, have suggested to some critics that Romeo and Juliet may in part belong to its author's dramatic nonage, and on very slender grounds they have spoken of 1591 as a probable date. Since the time of the earthquake, says Juliet's Nurse, it is eleven years,' and an earthquake occurred in England in 1580. But, even if the reference-which seems highly questionable-were to the English earthquake, the point of the allusion may have lain in a blunder of the Nurse's memory, on the accuracy of which she