Which too untimely here did scorn the earth,

Rom. This day's black fate on more days doth depend;" This but begins the woe, others must end.

Re-enter TYBALT.

Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again.
Rom. Alive! in triumph! and Mercutio slain!
Away to heaven, respective lenity,1

And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now!2.
Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again,

That late thou gav'st me; for Mercutio's soul
Is but a little way above our heads,

Staying for thine to keep him company;
Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.

Tyb. Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here, Shalt with him hence.

7

1608:

hath aspir'd the clouds,] So, in Greene's Card of Fancy,

"Her haughty mind is too lofty for me to aspire." Again, in Chapman's version of the tenth Iliad: and presently aspir'd

66

"The guardless Thracian regiment." Again, in the ninth Iliad:

66

and aspir'd the gods' eternal feats."

We never use this verb at present without some particle, as, to and after. Steevens.

8 This day's black fate on more days doth depend;] This day's unhappy destiny hangs over the days yet to come. There will yet be more mischief Johnson.

9 Alive! in triumph! &c.] Thus the quarto, 1597: for which the quarto, 1599, has

He gan in triumph

This, in the subsequent ancient copies, was made-He gone,

&c.

1

Malone.

respective lenity,] Cool, considerate gentleness. Respect formerly signified consideration; prudential caution. So, in The Rape of Lucrece:

"Respect and reason well beseem the sage." Malone.

2 And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now!] Conduct for conductor. So, in a former scene of this play, quarto, 1597:

"Which to the high top-gallant of my joy

"Must be my conduct in the secret night."

Thus the first quarto. In that of 1599, end being corruptly printed instead of ey'd, the editor of the folio, according to the usual process of corruption, exhibited the line thus:

And fire and fury be my conduct now.

Malone.

Rom.

This shall determine that.

[They fight; TYB. falls.

Ben. Romeo, away, be gone!

The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain :

Stand not amaz'd: 3-the prince will doom thee death, If thou art taken :-hence!-be gone!-away!

Rom. O! I am fortune's fool!4

Ben.

Why dost thou stay? [Exit Roм.

Enter Citizens, &c.

1 Cit. Which way ran he, that kill'd Mercutio? Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he?

Ben. There lies that Tybalt.

1 Cit.

Up, sir, go with me; I charge thee in the prince's name, obey.

Enter Prince, attended; MONTAGUE, CAPULET,
their Wives, and Others.

Prin. Where are the vile beginners of this fray?
Ben. O noble prince, I can discover all
The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl:
There lies the man, slain by young Romeo,

That slew thy kinsman, brave Mercutio.

La. Cap. Tybalt, my cousin!-O my brother's child! Unhappy sight! ah me, the blood is spill'ds

Of my dear kinsman!—Prince, as thou art true,6
For blood of ours, shed blood of Montague.-

3 Stand not amaz'd:] i. e. confounded, in a state of confusion. So, in Cymbeline: "I am amaz'd with matter." Steevens.

40! I am fortune's fool!] I am always running in the way of evil fortune, like the Fool in the play. Thou art death's fool, in Measure for Measure. See Dr. Warburton's note. Johnson. See Pericles Prince of Tyre, Act III, sc. ii, Vol. XVII. In the first copy-O! I am fortune's slave. Steevens.

5 Unhappy sight! ah me, the blood is spill'd-] The pronounhas been inserted by the recommendation of the following Steevens.

me,

note.

The quarto, 1597, reads:

Unhappy sight! ah, the blood is spill'd —.

The quarto, 1599, and the subsequent ancient copies, have: O prince! O cousin! husband! O, the blood is spill'd, &c. The modern editors have followed neither copy. The word me was probably inadvertently omitted in the first quarto.

Unhappy sight! ah me, the blood is spill'd, &c. Malone.

cousin, cousin!

Prin. Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?

Ben. Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay; Romeo that spoke him fair, bade him bethink How nice the quarrel was, and urg'd withal' Your high displeasure:-All this uttered With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd,Could not take truce with the unruly spleen Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts With piercing steel at bold Mercutio's breast; Who, all as hot, turns deadly point to point, And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats Cold death aside, and with the other sends

It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity

Retorts it: Romeo he cries aloud,

Hold, friends! friends, part! and, swifter than his tongue,

His agile arm beats down their fatal points,

And 'twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm

An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life
Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled:
But by and by comes back to Romeo,
Who had but newly entertain'd revenge,
And to 't they go like lightning; for, ere I
Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain;
And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly:
This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.

La. Cap. He is a kinsman to the Montague,
Affection makes him false, he speaks not true:

6

as thou art true,] As thou art just and upright. Johnson So, in King Richard III:

"And if King Edward be as true and just, -." Steevens, 7 How nice the quarrel-] How slight, how unimportant, how petty. So, in the last Act:

8

"The letter was not nice, but full of charge,

"Of dear import." Johnson.

See also, Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, sc. xi, Vol. XIH.

Malone.

and urg'd withal-] The rest of this speech was new written by the poet, as well as a part of what follows in the same scene. Steevens.

9 Affection makes him false,] The charge of falsehood on Benvolio, though produced at hazard, is very just. The author, who

Some twenty of them fought in this black strife,
And all those twenty could but kill one life:
I beg for justice, which thou, prince, must give ;
Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.

Prin. Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio;
Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?
Mon. Not Romeo, prince, he was Mercutio's friend;
His fault concludes but, what the law should end,
The life of Tybalt.

Prin.

And, for that offence,
Immediately we do exíle him hence:

I have an interest in your hates' proceeding,1
My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a bleeding;
But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine,
That you shall all repent the loss of mine:

I will be deaf to pleading and excuses;

Nor tears, nor prayers, shall purchase out abuses,2
Therefore use none: let Romeo hence in haste,
Else, when he's found, that hour is his last.
Bear hence this body, and attend our will:
Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.3

[Exeunt.

seems to intend the character of Benvolio as good, meant perhaps to show, how the best minds, in a state of faction and discord, are detorted to criminal partiality. Johnson.

1

in your hates' proceeding,] This, as Mr. Steevens has observed, is the reading of the original quarto, 1597. From that copy, in almost every speech of this play, readings have been drawn by the modern editors, much preferable to those of the succeeding ancient copies. The quarto of 1599 reads-hearts proceeding; and the corruption was adopted in the folio. Malone.

2 Nor tears, nor prayers, shall purchase out abuses,] This was probably designed as a covert stroke at the church of Rome, by which the different prices of murder, incest, and all other crimes, were minutely settled, and as shamelessly received.

See Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, edit. 1632, p. 701.

Steevens.

3 Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.] So, in Hale's Memorials: "When I find myself swayed to mercy, let me remember likewise that there is a mercy due to the country."

Thus the quarto, 1599, and the folio. The sentiment here enforced is different from that found in the first edition, 1597. There the Prince concludes his speech with these words:

Pity shall dwell, and govern with us still;

Mercy to all but murderers,-pardoning none that kill.

Malone.

SCENE II.

A Room in Capulet's House.

Enter JULIET.

Jul. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus' mansion; such a waggoner
As Phaton would whip you to the west,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.5—
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night!
That run-away's eyes may wink; and Romeo

4 Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,

Towards Phabus' mansion; &c.] Our author probably remembered Marlowe's King Edward II, which was performed before 1593:

"Gallop apace, bright Phœbus, through the skie,
"And dusky night in rusty iron car;

"Between you both, shorten the time, I pray,

"That I may see that most desired day." Malone.

Gallop apace, &c.] Cowley copies the expression, Davideis, B. III:

"Slow rose the sun, but gallopt down apace,
"With more than evening blushes in his face."

The succeeding compound "fiery-footed" is used by Drayton, in one of his Eclogues:

"Phœbus had forc'd his fiery-footed team."

It is also used by Spenser, in The Fairy Queen. Todd.

Phabus' mansion;] The second quarto and folio read, Phabus' lodging. Steevens.

5

immediately.] Here ends this speech in the eldest quarto. The rest of the scene has likewise received considerable alterations and additions.

Steevens.

6 Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night!

That run-away's eyes may wink; &c.] What run-aways are these, whose eyes Juliet is wishing to have stopt? Macbeth, we may remember, makes an invocation to night much in the same strain:

Come, seeling night,

Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day,” &c.

So Juliet would have night's darkness obscure the great eye of the day, the sun; whom considering in a poetical light as Phabus, drawn in his car with fiery-footed steeds, and posting through the heavens, she very properly calls him, with regard to the swiftness of his course, the run-away. In the like manner our poet speaks of the night in The Merchant of Venice:

"For the close night doth play the run-away." Warburton. Mr. Heath justly observes on this emendation, that the sun is necessarily absent as soon as night begins, and that it is very un