Page:Romeo and Juliet (Dowden).djvu/205

Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses, Were thinly scatter'd to make up a show. Noting this penury, to myself I said, An if[C 1] a man did need a poison now,50 Whose sale is present[E 1] death in Mantua, Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him. O, this same thought did but forerun my need, And this same needy man must sell it me. As I remember, this should be the house:55 Being holiday, the beggar's shop is shut.— What, ho! apothecary!

Enter Apothecary.^{[C 2]}

Ap.	What, ho! apothecary! Who calls so loud?

Rom.

Come hither, man. I see that thou art poor; Hold, there is forty ducats: let me have A dram of poison, such soon-speeding[C 3] gear[E 2]60 As will disperse itself through all the veins That the life-weary taker may fall dead, And that the trunk may be discharged of breath, As violently as hasty powder fired Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb.65

Ap.	Such mortal drugs I have; but Mantua's law Is death to any he[E 3] that utters them.

1. 50. An if} Q, F; And if Q 1, Q 5.
2. 57. Enter …] Q 1, F; omitted Q.
3. 60. soon-speeding] hyphen F 4.

England at that date. They were "drunk in by the gentlemen of the Temple."

1. 51. present] immediate. Knight says there was no law in England against the sale of poisons, but (quoting Raleigh's Discourse of Tenures in proof) that such a law was in force in Spain and Portugal.
2. 60. soon-speeding gear] Rolfe: "quick-dispatching stuff." From Brooke's poem, "Faire syr (quoth he) be sure this is the speeding gere."
3. 67. any he] Delius cites Taming of the Shrew, III. ii. 236: "I'll bring mine action on the proudest he." Other examples could be added.