The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (Dowden)/Act 1/Scene 4

by William Shakespeare

SCENE IV.—The Same. A Street.

Enter Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, with five or six other Maskers, Torch-bearers, and Others.

Rom.	What, shall this speech[E 1] be spoke for our excuse, Or shall we on without apology?

Ben.

The date is out of such prolixity:[E 2] We'll have no Cupid hoodwink'd with a scarf,[E 3] Bearing a Tartar's painted bow[E 4] of lath, 5 Scaring the ladies like a crow-keeper[E 5]; Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spoke After the prompter, for our entrance:[C 1][E 6][E 7] But, let them measure us by what they will, We'll measure them a measure[E 8], and be gone. 10

Rom.	Give me a torch[E 9]: I am not for this ambling; Being but heavy, I will bear the light.

Mer.	Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.

Rom.	Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoes With nimble soles; I have a soul[E 10] of lead 15 So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.

Mer.	You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings, And soar with them above a common bound.

Rom.	I am too sore enpierced[E 11] with his shaft To soar with his light feathers; and so bound,[C 2] 20 I cannot bound[E 12] a pitch above dull woe: Under love's heavy burden do I sink.

Mer.[C 3]

And, to sink in it, should you burden love;[E 13] Too great oppression for a tender thing.

Rom.	Is love a tender thing? it is too rough, 25 Too rude, too boisterous; and it pricks like thorn.

Mer.	If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down. Give me a case to put my visage in:[E 14] A visor for a visor![E 15] what care I 30 What curious eye doth quote[E 16] deformities? Here are the beetle-brows[E 17] shall blush for me.

Ben.	Come, knock and enter; and no sooner in But every man betake him to his legs.

Rom.	A torch for me: let wantons, light of heart, 35 Tickle the senseless rushes[E 18] with their heels;[E 19] For I am proverb'd with a grandsire phrase[E 20]; I'll be a candle-holder, and look on. The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done[C 4].

Mer.	Tut, dun's the mouse[E 21], the constable's own[C 5] word: 40 If thou art Dun,[E 22] we'll draw thee from the mire,[C 6] Or, save your reverence, love,[C 7][E 23] wherein thou stick'st Up to the ears. Come, we burn daylight,[E 24] ho!

Rom.	Nay, that's not so.

Mer.	I mean, sir, in delay[C 8] We waste our lights in vain, light lights by day.[C 9][E 25] 45 Take our good meaning, for our judgment sits[E 26] Five times in that ere once in our five[C 10] wits[E 27].

Rom.	And we mean well in going to this mask; But 'tis no wit to go.

Mer.	Why, may one ask?

Rom.	I dreamt a dream to-night[E 28].

Mer.	And so did I. 50

Rom.	Well, what was yours?

Mer.	That dreamers often lie.

Rom.	In bed asleep, while they do dream things true.

Mer.

O, then I see Queen Mab[E 29] hath been with you.[E 30] [C 11]She is the fairies' midwife[E 31], and she comes In shape[E 32] no bigger than an[C 12] agate-stone[E 33] 55 On the forefinger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomies[E 34] Athwart[C 13] men's noses as they lie asleep: Her waggon-spokes made of long[C 14] spinners'[E 35] legs; The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers; 60 Her[C 15] traces, of the smallest spider's[C 16] web; Her[C 17] collars, of the moonshine's watery beams; Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lash, of film; Her waggoner, a small grey-coated gnat, Not half so big as a round little worm[E 36] 65 Prick'd[C 18] from the lazy finger of a maid:[C 19] Her chariot[E 37] is an empty hazel-nut, Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub, Time out o' mind the fairies' coach-makers. And in this state she gallops night by night 70 Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love; O'er[C 20] courtiers' knees, that dream on court'sies straight; O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream[C 21] on fees; O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream, Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues, 75 Because their breaths[C 22] with sweetmeats[E 38] tainted are: Sometime she gallops o'er a courtier's[E 39] nose,[C 23] And then dreams he of smelling out a suit; And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail Tickling a parson's nose as a'[C 24] lies asleep, 80 Then dreams he[C 25] of another benefice; Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck, And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats, Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,[E 40] Of healths[E 41] five fathom deep; and then anon 85 Drums in his ear,[C 26] at which he starts and wakes, And, being thus frighted, swears a prayer or two, And sleeps again. This is that very Mab That plats the manes[E 42] of horses in the night, And bakes the elf-locks[E 43] in foul sluttish hairs, 90 Which once untangled[C 27] much misfortune bodes; This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,[E 44] That presses them and learns them first to bear, Making them women of good carriage[E 45]; This is she—[C 28]

Rom.	Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! 95 Thou talk'st of nothing.

Mer.

True, I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, Which is as thin of substance as the air, And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes 100 Even now the frozen bosom of the north, And, being anger'd, puffs away from thence, Turning his face[C 29][E 46] to the dew-dropping south.

Ben.	This wind you talk of blows us from ourselves; Supper is done, and we shall come too late. 105

Rom.

I fear, too early: for my mind misgives Some consequence yet hanging in the stars, Shall bitterly begin his fearful date[E 47] With this night's revels, and expire the term[E 48] Of a despised life closed in my breast 110 By some vile forfeit of untimely death: But He, that hath the steerage of my course, Direct[C 30] my sail![C 31][E 49] On, lusty gentlemen.

Ben.	Strike, drum.[Exeunt.[E 50]

Critical notes

1. 7, 8. Nor … entrance] Q1; omitted Q, F.
2. 20. so bound,] Q, to bound: F.
3. 23. Mer.] Qq 4, 5; Horatio Q; Hora. F.
4. 39. done] Q1, F; dum Q; dun Qq 3–5.
5. 40. own] Q, F; old Q1.
6. 41. mire] Q, mire. F.
7. 42. Or … love] F4, Or save you reverence love Qq, Or save your reverence love Ff 1–3, Of this surreverence love Q1.
8. 44. sir, in delay] sir in delay Q; sir in delay, Qq 4, 5; sir I delay, F.
9. 45. We … day] Nicholson, We burne our lights by night, like lampes by day Q1, We waste our lights in vaine, lights lights by day Qq, and (with commas) lights, lights, Ff.
10. 47. five] Malone (Wilbraham conj.); fine Q, F.
11. 54–91. She … bodes;} verse Q1, Pope; prose Q, F.
12. 55. an] Q, omitted F, in Daniel conjec.
13. 58. Athwart] Q1; over Q, F.
14. 59. made of long] Q, F; are made of Q1.
15. 61. Her] Q, F; The Q1
16. spider's] F, spider Q.
17. 62. Her] Q, F; The Q1.
18. 66. Prick'd] Q, F; Pickt Q1
19. maid] Q1; man Q, F; woman Ff 2–4.
20. 72. O'er] Q1 (O're); On Q, F.
21. 73. dream] Q, dreamt F.
22. 76. breaths] Rowe; breathes Q1; breath Q, F.
23. 77. courtier's nose] Q, F; Lawers (lawyer's) lap Q1.
24. 80. as a'] Q, F; that Q1.
25. 81. dreams he] Q1; he dreams Q, F.
26. 86. ear] Q1, Q; eares F.
27. 91. untangled] Q, F; entangled F3.
28. 95. she—] Ff 2–4; she. Q, F.
29. 103. face] Q1; side Q, F; tide Collier (MS. ).
30. 113. Direct] Q, F, Directs Q1
31. sail] Q1, sute Q, F.

Explanatory notes

1. 1. this speech] Furness suggests the speech. Capell conjectures that Benvolio and Mercutio are the speakers, assigning conjecturally 1, 2 to Ben., 3–10 to Mer., and 13 to Ben.
2. 3. prolixity] Benvolio says that the apology of masqueraders for their entrance is out of date. Moth's apologetic or explanatory speech, introducing the maskers in Love's Labours Lost, V. ii. 158, is an example. See also Cupid's speech in Timon, I. ii. 128, and the Chamberlain's speech in Henry VIII. I. iv. 65. "In Histriomastix a man wonders that the maskers come in so blunt, without device" (Steevens).
3. 4. hoodwink'd … scarf] So "hood-winked in this scarf," Jonson, Silent Woman, IV. ii.
4. 5. bow] Douce: "The Tartarian bows … resembled in their form the old Roman or Cupid's bow, such as we see on medals and bas-reliefs. Shakespeare uses the epithet to distinguish it from the English bow, whose shape is the segment of a circle."
5. 6. crow-keeper] a boy employed to scare crows; also a scare-crow. So Lear, IV. vi. 88: "That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper." Steevens quotes Drayton, Idea, 48:

   "And when corn's sown, or grown into the ear,
   Practise thy quiver like a crow-keeper."

6. 7, 8.] White conjectures that these lines, found only in Q1, were omitted on account of their disparagement of prologue speakers on the stage.
7. 8. entrance] a trisyllable here, as in Macbeth, I. v. 40. Hanmer in place of for read 'fore.
8. 10. a measure] a grave and dignified dance. Compare Much Ado, II. i. 80: "the wedding mannerly-modest, as a measure full of state and ancientry." The play on the word occurs in Richard II. III. iv. 7.
9. 11. torch] Masquers and masqueraders were accompanied by their torch-bearers. Westward Hoe (Pearson's Dekker, ii. p. 292): "He is just like a torch-bearer to maskers, he wears good cloathes, and is rankt in good company, but he doth nothing."
10. 15. soul] The play on the word was irresistible. Compare Julius Casar, I. i. 15.
11. 19. enpierced] A variation in spelling of empierced, or impierced, to which the word was altered in the later Ff. New Eng. Dict. gives no example of enpierced except that of the text.
12. 21. bound] Steevens apologises for Shakespeare by quoting Milton, Par. Lost, iv. 181: "At one slight bound high over-leap'd all bound."
13. 23. burden love] Compare II. v. 79, and line 94 of the present scene.
14. 29. visage in:] Theobald read in? and added the stage direction "Putting off his mask." Johnson, also reading in?, added "Putting on his mask." Capell, rightly, I think, reading in., added "taking one from an Att.," and, rightly, after visor! line 30, added "throwing it away." Mercutio, an invited guest, goes, I think, unmasked. Perhaps, as Professor Littledale suggests, we should read "visage in!"—Mercutio at once rejecting the mask.
15. 30. A visor for a visor!] My face, fantastic as a mask, needs no visor. Compare Rosaline to Berowne, Love's Labour's Lost, V. ii. 387: "That vizard; that superfluous case That hid the worse and show'd the better face."
16. 31. quote] observe, as in Hamlet, II. i. 112.
17. 32. beetle-brows] overhanging brows; apparently not eye-brows, for eye-brows could not blush. New Eng. Dict. says that brows in Middle English always means eye-brows; beetle-browed is as old as Langland, Piers Ploughman, 1362. The origin favoured by New Eng. Dict, is a comparison with the tufted antennæ of certain kinds of beetles. Shakespeare seems to have invented the verb beetle used in Hamlet, I. iv. 71: "The cliff that beetles o'er his base," that is, a cliff like an overhanging forehead. Cotgrave, however (1611), has "Beetle-browed, sourcilleux," and he explains sourcilleux as "having very great eye-brows."
18. 36. rushes] Steevens notes that not only were rooms strewn with rushes, but the stage was also so strewn. Dekker's Gul's Hornbook, 1609: "On the very rushes when the comedy is to daunce."
19. 35, 36.] Steevens notes Middleton's echo of these lines in Blurt Master-Constable, 1602:

    "—bid him, whose heart no sorrow feels,
    Tickle the rushes with his wanton heels,
    I have too much lead at mine."

20. 37. grandsire phrase] Ray gives a proverb, "A good candle-holder proves a good gamester." Ritson (see line 39) refers to the proverbial saying which advises to give over when the game is at the fairest. I am done in line 39 seems to mean I give over the game.
21. 40. dun's the mouse] This phrase occurs in several Elizabethan dramas, sometimes with quibbles on done. Malone took it to mean Peace; be still! and hence he supposed it is the constable's word. He cites Patient Grissel (1603), "don is the mouse, lie still." Mascal in Government of Cattle (1620) has "mouse-dun coloured hair."
22. 41. Dun] Here Dun is a dun horse. Dun is in the mire, spoken of by Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Manciple's Prologue, and still played by William Gifford when a boy, is an old Christmas game, in which a heavy log (the horse Dun) is brought into the room, is supposed to stick in the mire, and is extricated by the players. References are not infrequent in Elizabethan plays.
23. 42. Or, save your reverence, love] Many editors prefer, from Q1, Of this sir-reverence love, where sir-reverence is used, as indicated in Comedy of Errors, III. ii. 93, in the same apologetic way as save your reverence. I see no good reason for departing from F.
24. 43. burn daylight] burn candles by day, also waste or consume the day-light. Compare Merry Wives, II. i. 54. See The Spanish Tragedy in Hazlitt's Dodsley's Old Plays, v. p. 115 (and note).
25. 45. We … day] This reading, proposed by Nicholson, is printed by Daniel; it only rejects one letter, s, from Q, F. Johnson reads like lights by day. Capell's reading, We waste our lights in vain, like lamps by day, is commonly accepted, but it seems undesirable to make up a new line from halves of Q, F and Q1.
26. 46. sits] Rowe and others ready fits; Collier (MS.) hits.
27. 47. five wits] In Sonnets, cxli. 9, Shakespeare speaks of the five wits as different from the five senses; it is certain, however, that five wits was used for five senses. In Stephen Hawes' poem Graunde Amour and La Belle Pucelle, xxiv. (ed. 1554), the five wits are common wit, imagination, fantasy, estimation [judgment], and memory (Dyce). Malone cites, from the old copies of Shakespeare's plays, other examples of the erratum fine for five, and vice versâ. Q1 has Three times a day, ere once in her right wits.
28. 50. to-night] last night, as frequently in Shakespeare. See Schmidt's Lexicon.
29. 53. Queen Mab] Thorn ("Three Notelets on Sh.") states that no earlier mention of Mab than the above is known; that no doubt Shakespeare got the name from folk-lore of his own time; that Mab in Welsh means an infant; and that Beaufort, in his Ancient Topography of Ireland, mentions Mabh as the chief of the Irish fairies. Drayton, with Shakespeare's description before him, writes, in his happiest manner, of Queen Mab in Nymphidia the Court of Fayrie. Attempts have been made to identify Queen Mab with Dame Abunde or Habunde; and again with the Irish Queen Maeve. Sir H. Ellis says that in Warwickshire "Mab-led" (pronounced Mob-led) signifies led astray by a Will-o'-the- Wisp (Brand, Popular Antiquities, iii. p. 218, ed. 1841).
30. 53. O, … you] After this line Q1 has "Ben. Queene Mab whats she?" a speech probably meant as a pretext for Mercutio's long description; but Q1 continues to Benvolio the speech of Mercutio.
31. 54. fairies' midwife] Warburton conjectured and Theobald read Fancy's midwife. Warton conjectured fairy midwife. Steevens explains: the person among the fairies who delivers the fancies of dreamers,—the "children of an idle brain" (line 97). T. Warton suggests that Mab is a midwife because she steals infants (leaving changelings) for the fairies.
32. 55. shape] Nicholson suggests state meaning dignity, pomp. See line 70.
33. 55. agate-stone] That is, the diminutive figures cut in agate and set in rings. So 2 Henry IV. I. ii. 19. (Falstaff of his little Page): "I was never manned with an agate till now." Glapthorne, in Wit is a Constable, 1639, speaks of an alderman's thumb-ring. Q1 reads, for alderman, burgomaster.
34. 57. atomies] tiny beings, pigmies. New Eng. Dict. quotes P. Woodhouse, Flea, 1605, "If with this atomye I should contend." Q1 has Attomi, Q2 ottamie, the rest as in the text.
35. 59. spinners'] spiders'. Latimer (in Fox's Acts and Monuments): "Where the bee gathereth honey, even there the spinner gathereth venome."
36. 65. worm] Halliwell (Dict.) quotes Beaumont and Fletcher, Woman-Hater III. i.: "Keep thy hands in thy muff, and warm the idle worms in thy fingers' ends." Worms were said to breed in idle fingers. Banister in his Compendious Chirurgerie (1585) describes women "sitting in the sun" pricking what "we commonly call wormes" from their fingers.
37. 67. Her chariot] Daniel places lines 67–69 after line 58, as suggested by Lettsom; the description of the chariot preceding that of its parts. These lines, not found in Q1, may have been added—Lettsom thinks—in the margin of the "copy" of Q 2, and have been misplaced by the printer. Drayton, in Nymphidia, describes Mab's chariot, with evident reminiscences of this speech.
38. 76. sweetmeats] Malone: "kissing comfits," mentioned in Merry Wives, V. v. 22.
39. 77. courtier's] The courtier has been already mentioned; hence Pope read lawyer's from Q1, but lawyers have also been mentioned. Seymour conjectured lawyer's lip (Q1 lap); Collier (MS.) reads counsellor's. In the next line suit would be proper to courtier—a court request, or in a legal sense to a lawyer. The word suit (of clothes) suggested taylor's to Theobald.
40. 84. Spanish blades] toledoes. Q1 reads countermines.
41. 85. healths] tickling his neck makes him dream of drinking. Malone quotes from Westward Hoe, 1607: "My master and Sir Goslin are guzzling; they are dabbling together fathom deep. The knight has drunk so much health to the gentleman yonder, etc."
42. 89. plats the manes] Douce tells of a superstition that malignant spirits, clothed in white, haunted stables and dropped the wax of tapers on horses' manes. He refers in illustration to a print by Hans Burgkmair.
43. 90. bakes the elf-locks] Pope and others read cakes; Collier (MS.) makes. Elf-locks, hair matted by the elves. Compare Lear, II. iii. 10 : "elf all my hair in knots." Q, F misprint: Elklocks.
44. 92. backs] So Drayton, in Nymphidia, of Queen Mab.
45. 94. women of good carriage] So How a man may choose a good wife from a bad; Hazlitt's Dodsley's Old Plays, ix. p. 37: "You have been often tried To be a woman of good carriage"—spoken with an equivoque.
46. 103. face] The side of Q, F may be right, used, as elsewhere in Shakespeare, of bed-fellows, and thus carrying on the metaphor of wooing the bosom.
47. 108. date] season, period; as in Lucrece, 935: "endless date of never-ending woes."
48. 109. expire the term] cause the term to expire, as in Lyly, Euphues (Arber, p. 77): "To swill the drinke that will expyre thy date."
49. 113. sail] If sute Q, F is not a misprint, it may be explained as courtship; the emendation fate has been proposed.
50. 114. Exeunt] The stage-direction F seems to show that the action proceeded without interruption: "They march about the Stage, and Servingmen come forth with their napkins." So Qq, omitting their and adding Enter Romeo.