when he asks leave to go out; and thus, says Baretti, they are a check upon each other. Going to find a bare-foot brother out, One of our order, to associate me, Here in this city visiting the sick, STEEVENS. And finding him, the searchers of the town Suspecting, &c.] So, in The Tragicall Hystory of Romeus and Juliet, 1562: 66 Apace our friar John to Mantua him hies; "And, for because in Italy it is a wonted guise "That friars in the town should seldom walk alone, "But of their convent aye should be accompanied with one "Of his profession, straight a house he findeth out "In mind to take some friar with him, to walk the town about." Our author having occasion for friar John, has here departed from the poem, and supposed the pestilence 30 rage at Verona, instead of Mantua. Perhaps the third and fourth lines are misplaced. If, however, the words" to associate me" be included in a parenthesis, the line "Here in the city visiting the sick," will refer to the brother whom friar John sought as a companion; and all will be right. MALONE. 107, -was not nice,-] . e. was not written on a rivial or idle subject. STEEVENS. A line in King Richard IH. fully supports Mr. Steevens's interpretation : "My lord, this argues conscience in your grace, "But the respects thereof are nice and trivial." MALONE. 114. Within these three hours will fair Juliet wake;] Instead of this line, and the concluding part of the speech, the quarto, 1597, reads only: Lest that the lady should, before I come, To free her from the tombe of miserie. STEEVENS. 134. Fair Juliet, that with angels, &c.] These four fines from the old edition. The folio has these lines : POPE. Sweet flow'r, with flow'rs thy bridal bed I strew; O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones, Or, wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans. JOHNSON. Mr. Pope has followed no copy with exactness ; but took the first and fourth lines from the elder quarto, omitting the two intermediate verses, which I have restored. STEEVENS. 152. dear employment : -] That is, action of importance. Gems were supposed to have great powers and virtues. JOHNSON. Ben Jonson uses the word dear in the same sense : "Put your known talents on so dear a business." Catiline, act i. Again, in Chapman's version of the 10th book of the Odyssey: -full pitching on "The dearest joint his head was plac'd upon." STEEVENS. 157. -savage-wild;] Here the speech concludes in the old copy. STEEVENS. 165. detestable-] This word, which is now accented on the second syllable, was once accented on the first; therefore this line did not originally seem to be inharmonious. So, in the Tragedie of Crasus, 1604: "Court with vain words and détestable lyes." Again, in Shakspere's King John, act iii. sc. 3. "And I will kiss thy détestable bones." STEEVENS. 182. Pull not, &c.] The quarto, 1597, reads: heap not. The quartos 1599 and 1609, and all the folios: put not. Mr. Rowe first made the change, which may be discontinued at the reader's pleasure. STEEVENS. 188. I do defy, &c.] The quarto, 1597, reads, I do defy thy conjuration. Paris conceived Romeo to have burst open the monument for no other purpose than to do some villanous shame on the dead bodies, such as witches are reported to have practised; and therefore tells him he defies him, and the magick arts which he suspects he is preparing to use. So, in Painter's translation of the novel, Tom. II. p. 244. "the watch of the city by chance passed by, and seeing light within the grave, suspected straight that they were necromancers which had opened the tombs to abuse the dead bodies for aide of their arte." The folio reads: I do defy thy commiseration. To defy, anciently meant to refuse or deny. Paris may, however, mean-I refuse to do as thou conjurest me to do, i. e. to depart. STEEVENS. 206. presence-] A presence is a publick room. JOHNSON. This thought, extravagant as it is, is borrowed by Middleton in his comedy of Blurt Master Constable, 1602: "The darkest dungeon which spite can devise 210. 0, how may I read, STEEVENS. Call this a lightning ?- -] I think we should -0, now may JOHNSON. How is certainly right and proper. Romeo had just before been in high spirits, a symptom which he observes was sometimes called a lightning before death: but how, says he (for no situation can exempt Shakspere's characters from the vice of punning), can I term this sad and gloomy prospect a lightning. This idea occurs frequently in the old dramatick pieces. So, in the second part of The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, 1601 : "I thought it was a lightning before death, "Too sudden to be certain." Again, in Chapman's translation of the 15th Iliad : ❝—since after this he had not long to live, "This lightning flew before his death." Again, in his translation of the 18th Odyssey : "extend their cheer "To th' utmost lightning that still ushers death.” STEEVENS. 216. And death's pale flag, &c.] So, in Daniel's Complaint of Rosamond, 1594: "And nought respecting death (the last of paines) "Plac'd his pale colours (th' ensign of his might) "Upon his new-got spoil," &c. In the first edition of Romeo and Juliet, Shakspere is less florid in his account of the lady's beauty; and only says: -ah, dear Juliet, "How well thy beauty doth become the grave!" The speech, as it now stands, is first found in the quarto, 1599. STEEVENS. And death's pale flag is not advanced there.] An ingenious friend some time ago pointed out to me a passage of Marini, which bears a very strong resemblance to this : "Morte |