Is guilty of this lamentable chance!— [JULIET wakes and stirs. JUL. O, comfortable friar! where is my lord? I do remember well where I should be, And there I am:-Where is my Romeo? [Noise within. FRI. I hear some noise.-Lady, come from that nest Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep;3 Hath thwarted our intents; come, come away: The lady stirs.] In the alteration of this play now exhibited on the stage, Mr. Garrick appears to have been indebted to Otway, who, perhaps without any knowledge of the story as told by Da Porto and Bandello, does not permit his hero to die before his wife awakes: "Mar. Jun. She breathes, and stirs. "Lav. [in the tomb.] Where am I? bless me! Heaven! 66 "Mar. Jun. She lives, and we shall both be made immortal. 3 MALONE. and unnatural sleep;] Shakspeare alludes to the sleep of Juliet, which was unnatural, being brought on by drugs. 4 STEEVENS. Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead;] Shakspeare has been arraigned for departing from the Italian novel, in making Romeo die before Juliet awakes from her trance; and thus losing a happy opportunity of introducing an affecting scene between these unfortunate lovers. But he undoubtedly had never read the Italian novel, or any literal translation of it, and was misled by the poem of Romeus and Juliet, the author of which departed from the Italian story, making the poison take effect on Romeo before Juliet awakes. See a translation of the original pathetick narrative at the conclusion of the play, in a note on the poem near the end. MALONE. 5 And Paris too; come, I'll dispose of thee [Exit. JUL. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.What's here? a cup, clos'd in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end: O churl! drink all; and leave no friendly drop, To help me after?—I will kiss thy lips; Haply, some poison yet doth hang on them, To make me die with a restorative. [Kisses him. Thy lips are warm! 1 WATCH. [Within.] Lead, boy :-Which way? 5 Stay not to question, for the watch is coming;] It has been objected that there is no such establishment in any of the cities of Italy. Shakspeare seldom scrupled to give the manners and usages of his own country to others. In this particular instance the old poem was his guide: Again: "The weary watch discharg'd did hie them home to sleep." "The watchmen of the town the whilst are passed by, In Much Ado about Nothing, where the scene lies at Messina, our author has also introduced Watchmen; though without suggestion from any dull poem like that referred to on the present occasion. See, however, Vol. XIX. p. 241, n. 8, in which Mr. Malone appears to contradict, on the strongest evidence, the present assertion relating to there being no watch in Italy. STEevens. 6 O churl! drink all; and leave no friendly drop,] The text is here made out from the quarto of 1597 and that of 1599. The first has Ah churl! drink all, and leave no drop for me! O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop, JUL. Yea, noise?-then I'll be brief.-O happy dagger! [Snatching ROMEO's Dagger. This is thy sheath; [Stabs herself.] there rust, and let me die. 8 [Falls on ROMEO's Body, and dies. Enter Watch, with the Page of Paris. PAGE. This is the place; there, where the torch doth burn. 1 WATCH. The ground is bloody; Search about the churchyard: Go, some of you, who e'er you find, attach. [Exeunt some. Pitiful sight! here lies the county slain ;And Juliet bleeding; warm, and newly dead, Who here hath lain these two days buried.Go, tell the prince,-run to the Capulets, 7 Snatching Romeo's dagger.] So, in Painter's translation of Pierre Boisteau, Tom. II. p. 244: "Drawing out the dagger which Romeo ware by his side, she pricked herself with many blowes against the heart." STEEVENS. It is clear that in this and most other places Shakspeare followed the poem, and not Painter, for Painter describes Romeo's dagger as hanging at his side; whereas the poem is silent as to the place where it hung, and our author, governed by the fashion of his own time, supposes it to have hung at Romeo's back: 8 "And then past deadly fear (for life ne had she care,) "With hasty hand she did draw out the dagger that he ware. MALONE. there rust, and let me die.] is the reading of the quarto 1599. That of 1597 gives the passage thus: "I, noise? then must I be resolute. "Oh, happy dagger! thou shalt end my fear; The alteration was probably made by the poet, when he introduced the words, "This is thy sheath." STEEVENS. Raise up the Montagues,-some others search;o- Enter some of the Watch, with Balthasar. 2 WATCH. Here's Romeo's man, we found him in the churchyard. 1 WATCH. Hold him in safety, till the prince come hither. Enter another Watchman, with Friar LAUREnce. 3 WATCH. Here is a friar, that trembles, sighs, and weeps: We took this mattock and this spade from him, As he was coming from this churchyard side. 1 WATCH. A great suspicion; Stay the friar too. Enter the Prince and Attendants. PRINCE. What misadventure is so early up, That calls our person from our morning's rest? 9 Raise up the Montagues, some others search;-] Here seems to be a rhyme intended, which may be easily restored: "Raise up the Montagues. Some others, go. "We see the ground whereon these woes do lie, "We cannot without circumstance descry." JOHNSON. It was often thought sufficient, in the time of Shakspeare, for the second and fourth lines in a stanza, to rhyme with each other. It were to be wished that an apology as sufficient could be offered for this Watchman's quibble between ground, the earth, and ground, the fundamental cause. STEEVENS. Enter CAPULET, Lady CAPULET, and Others. CAP. What should it be, that they so shriek abroad?1 LA. CAP. The people in the street cry-Romeo, Some-Juliet, and some-Paris; and all run, With open outcry, toward our monument. PRINCE. What fear is this, which startles in our ears? 2 1 WATCH. Sovereign, here lies the county Paris slain; And Romeo dead; and Juliet, dead before, PRINCE. Search, seek, and know how this foul· murder comes. 1 WATCH. Here is a friar, and slaughter'd Ro- With instruments upon them, fit to open CAP. O, heavens!-O, wife! look how our daughter bleeds! This dagger hath mista'en,-for, lo! his house that they so shriek abroad?] Thus the folio and the undated quarto. The quarto of 1599 has-that is so shriek abroad. MALONE. 2 What fear is this, which startles in our ears?] The old copies read-in your ears. The emendation was made by Dr. Johnson. MALONE. 3 This dagger hath mista'en,-for, lo! his house Is empty on the back of Montague, And is mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom.] The modern editors (contrary to the authority of all the ancient copies, and |