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The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (Dowden)/Act 3/Scene 4

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SCENE IV. The Same. A room in Capulet's house.[C 1]

Enter Capulet, Lady Capulet, and Paris. [C 2]

Cap. Things have fall'n out, sir, so unluckily,
That we have had no time to move our daughter:
Look you, she loved her kinsman Tybalt dearly,
And so did I: well, we were born to die.
'Tis very late, she'll not come down to-night:5
I promise you, but for your company,
I would have been a-bed an hour ago.
Par. These times of woe afford no time[C 3] to woo.
Madam, good night: commend me to your daughter.
Lady Cap. I will, and know her mind early to-morrow;10
​To-night she's[C 4] mew'd up[E 1] to her heaviness.
Cap. Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender[E 2]
Of my child's love: I think she will be ruled
In all respects by me; nay more, I doubt it not.—
Wife, go you to her ere you go to bed;15
Acquaint her here of[C 5] my son Paris' love,
And bid her, mark you me, on Wednesday next—[C 6]
But, soft! what day is this?
Par. But, soft! what day is this? Monday, my lord.
Cap. Monday! ha, ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon;
O' Thursday let it be:—o'[C 7] Thursday, tell her,20
She shall be married to this noble earl.
Will you be ready? do you like this haste?
We'll[E 3] keep[C 8] no great ado; a friend or two;
For, hark you, Tybalt being slain so late,
It may be thought we held him carelessly,25
Being our kinsman, if we revel much.
Therefore we'll have some half a dozen friends,
And there an end.—But what say you to Thursday?
Par. My lord, I would that Thursday were to-morrow.
Cap. Well, get you gone: o'[C 9] Thursday be it then.—30
​Go you to Juliet ere you go to bed,
Prepare her, wife, against this wedding-day.—
Farewell, my lord.—Light to my chamber, ho!
Afore me,[E 4] it is so very very late,
That we may call it early by and by:[C 10][E 5]—35
Good night.[Exeunt.


Critical notes

  1. ↑ A room …] Capell.
  2. ↑ Enter …] Rowe.
  3. ↑ 8. time] Q 1; times Q, F.
  4. ↑ 11. she's] Q, she is F.
  5. ↑ 16. here of] Q 4; here, of Q, F; hereof, Q 3; here with Q 5.
  6. ↑ 17. next—] Rowe; next, Q, F.
  7. ↑ 20. O' … o] Capell; A … a Q, F.
  8. ↑ 23. We'll keep] F, Well, keepe Q.
  9. ↑ 30. o'] Capell; a Q, F.
  10. ↑ 34, 35. Afore … by and by] Q 1, Afore … so very late … by and by Q, Afore … so late … by and by F.


Explanatory notes

  1. ↑ 11. mew'd up] shut up, as in Richard III. I. i. 38. Mew, originally a cage; afterwards, as stated in R. Holmes, Academy of Armory and Blazon, "the place … in which the hawk is put during the time she casts … her feathers." The oldest meaning of the French word is to moult.
  2. ↑ 12. desperate tender] bold, or adventurous, offer. Steevens cites from The Weakest goeth to the Wall, 1600: "Witness this desperate tender of mine honour."
  3. ↑ 23. We'll] Mommsen argues in favour of Q Well, supposing that Capulet here replies to a gesture of horror, made by his wife at the suggestion that she can be so soon ready.
  4. ↑ 34. Afore me] i.e. God before me (Dyce), in the presence of God, as in Pericles, II. i. 84: "Now, afore me, a handsome fellow." Or may it not be corrupted from "Afore my God"? Here it is possible that the words are an instruction to the light-bearer to carry the light before Capulet, or to Paris to take precedence in leaving the room.
  5. ↑ 35. by and by] presently, immediately, as in II. ii. 151.
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