Each vital spirit; for no pulse shall keep In thy best robes uncover'd on the bier, Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault, Abate thy valour in the acting it. Jul. Give me, O give me! tell me not of fear. In this resolve: I'll send a friar with speed To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord. Jul. Love, give me strength and strength shall help afford. Farewell, dear father! SCENE II. [Exeunt. A Room in CAPULET's House. Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPU LET, Nurse, and Servants. Cap. So many guests invite as here are writ. [Exit Servant. Sirrah, go hire me twenty cunning cooks.1 2 Serv. You shall have none ill, sir; for I'll try if they can lick their fingers. [4] If no fickle freak. no light caprice, no change of fancy, hinder the performance. JOHNSON. [1] Twenty cooks for half a dozen guests! Either Capulet has altered his mind strangely, or our author forgot what he had just made him tell us. P. 55. RITSON. 15* VOL. VIII. Cap. How canst thou try them so? 2 Serv. Marry, sir, 'tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers; therefore he, that cannot lick his fingers, goes not with me. Cap. Go, begone. [Exit Servant. We shall be much unfurnish'd for this time. What, is my daughter gone to friar Lawrence ? → Cap. Well, he may chance to do some good on her : A peevish self-will'd harlotry it is. Enter JULIET. Nur. See where she comes from shrift with merry look. Cap. How now, my head-strong? where have you been gadding? Jul. Where I have learn'd me to repent the sin To you, and your behests; and am enjoin'd And beg your pardon :-Pardon, I beseech you ! Cap. Send for the county; go tell him of this; Cap. Why, I am glad on't; this is well,-stand up : This is as't should be.-Let me see the county; Ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither. Now, afore God, this reverend holy friar, All our whole city is much bound to him. Jul. Nurse, will you go with me into my closet, To help me sort such needful ornaments As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow? La. Cap. No, not till Thursday ; there is time enough. Cap. Go, nurse, go with her :-we'll to church to[Exeunt JULIET and Nurse. La. Cap. We shall be short in our provision ;3 'Tis now near night. morrow. Cap. Tush! I will stir about, And all things shall be well, I warrant thee, wife : -What, ho! They are all forth :-Well, I will walk myself Against to-morrow my heart is wondrous light, SCENE III. JULIET'S Chamber. Enter JULIET and Nurse. Jul. Ay, those attires are best :-But, gentle nurse, I pray thee, leave me to myself to-night; For I have need of many orisons To move the heavens to smile upon my state, La. Cap. What, are you busy? do you need my help? So please you, let me now be left alone, And let the nurse this night sit up with you; La. Cap. Good night! Get thee to bed, and rest; for thou hast need. [Exeunt Lady CAP. and Nurse, Jul.Farewell!-God knows, when we shall meet again. I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins, That almost freezes up the heat of life : My dismal scene I needs must act alone.- What if this mixture do not work at all? No, no ;-this shall forbid it :-Lie thou there. [Laying down a dagger. What if it be a poison, which the friar I fear, it is and yet, methinks, it should not, Come to redeem me? there's a fearful point ! To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in, The horrible conceit of death and night, So early waking,—what with loathsome smells; [She throws herself on the bed. SCENE IV. CAPULET'S Hall. Enter Lady CAPULET and Nurse. La. Cap. Hold, take these keys, and fetch more spices, nurse. Nurse. They call for dates and quinces in the pastry. Enter CAPULET. Cap.Come,stir, stir, stir! the second cock hath crow'd, [4] This idea was probably suggested to our poet by his native place. The charnel at Stratford-upon-Avon is a very large one, and perhaps contains a greater number of bones than are to be found in any other repository of the same kind in England. I was furnished with this observation by Mr. Murphy, whose very elegant and spirited defence of Shakspeare against the criticisms of Voltaire, is not one of the least considerable out of many favours which he has conferred on the literary world. STEEVENS. [5] This speech is confused, and inconsequential, according to the disorder of Juliet's mind. JOHNSON. STEEVENS. [6] Distracted. The curfeu bell hath rung,7 'tis three o'clock :- Spare not for cost. Nurse. Go, go, you cot-quean, go, Get you to bed; 'faith, you'll be sick to-morrow Cap. No, not a whit; What! I have watch'd ere now All night for lesser cause, and ne'er been sick. La. Cap.Ay,you have been a mouse-hunt in your time, But I will watch you from such watching now. 8 [Exeunt Lady CAPULET and Nurse. Cap. A jealous-hood, a jealous-hood !-Now, fellow, What's there? Enter Servants, with spits, logs, and baskets. 1 Serv. Things for the cook, sir; but I know not what. Cap. Make haste, make haste. [Ex. 1 Serv.] Sirrah, fetch drier logs ; Call Peter, he will show thee where they are. 2 Serv. I have a head, sir, that will find out logs, And never trouble Peter for the matter. [Exit. Cap. 'Mass, and well said; a merry whoreson ha, Thou shalt be logger-head.-Good faith, 'tis day : The county will be here with music straight, [Music within. For so he said he would. I hear him near :Nurse-Wife-what, ho!-what, nurse, I say! Enter Nurse. Go, waken Juliet, go, and trim her up ; I'll go and chat with Paris :-Hie, make haste, [7] The curfeu bell is universally rung at eight or nine o'clock at night; generally according to the season. The term is here used with peculiar impropriety, as it is not believed that any bell was ever rung so early as three in the morning. The derivation of curfeu is well known, but it is a mere vulgar error that the institution was a badge of slavery imposed by the Norman conqueror. To put out the fire became necessary only because it was time to go to bed: And if the curfeu commanded all fires to be extinguished, the morning bell ordered them to be lighted again. In short, the ringing of those two bells was a manifest and essential service to people who had scarcely any other means of measuring their time. RITSON. [8] In Norfolk, and many other parts of England, the cant term for a weasle is a mouse-hunt. The intrigues of this animal, like those of the cat kind, are usually carried on during the night. This circumstance will ac count for the appellation which Lady Capulet allows her husband to have formerly deserved STEEVENS. |