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6
ROMEO AND JULIET
[ACT I


Sam. Me they shall feel while I am able to stand;30
and 'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh.[E 1]
Gre. Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou
hadst been poor John.[E 2] Draw thy tool; here
comes two[C 1] of the house of the[C 2] Montagues.

Enter Abraham and Balthasar.[C 3][E 3]

Sam. My naked weapon is out: quarrel; I will35
back thee.
Gre. How! turn thy back and run?[C 4]
Sam. Fear me not.
Gre. No, marry; I fear thee!
Sam. Let us take the law of our sides; let them40
begin.
Gre. I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it
as they list.
Sam. Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb[E 4] at
them; which is a[C 5] disgrace to them, if they45
bear it.
Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Sam. I do bite my thumb, sir.
  1. ↑ 34. two] Q1; omitted Q, F;
  2. ↑ house of the] F, house of Q.
  3. ↑ Enter …] Rowe; Enter two other serving men Q, F.
  4. ↑ 37. run?] Q, run. F.
  5. ↑ 45. a] omitted Q (alone).
  1. ↑ 31. pretty piece of flesh] The same expression occurs in Much Ado, iv. ii. 85, and Love's Cure, III. iv. 16.
  2. ↑ 33. poor John] hake, dried and salted, poor and coarse eating; Massinger, Renegado, i. i.: "To feed upon poor John when I see pheasants And partridges on the table.
  3. ↑ 34. Enter … Abraham] In Q, F, "Enter two other serving men." Abraham's name can be inferred from the prefix to his speeches. His silent fellow was named by Rowe, Balthasar being Romeo's man.
  4. ↑ 44. bite my thumb] Singer quotes from Cotgrave a description of this mode of insult: "Faire la nique … to threaten or defie, by putting the "thumb nail into the mouth, and with a jerke (from the upper teeth) make it to knacke."
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