The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (Dowden)/Act 3/Scene 5

SCENE V.—The Same. Capulet's orchard.^{[E 1]}

Enter Romeo and Juliet, above, at the window.^{[C 1]}

Jul.	Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; Nightly she sings on yond[C 2] pomegranate[E 2] tree: Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.5

Rom.	It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale: look, love, what envious[E 3] streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east: Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain[C 3] tops:10 I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

Jul.	Yond[C 4] light is not daylight, I know it, I: It is some meteor that the sun exhales,[C 5][E 4] To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,[E 5] And light thee on thy way to Mantua:15 Therefore stay yet;[E 6] thou need'st not to be gone.[C 6]

Rom.

Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death; I am content, so thou wilt have it so. I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye, 'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;[E 7]20 Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat The vaulty heaven so high above our heads: I have more care to stay than will to go: Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so. How is't, my soul?[C 7] let's talk; it is not day.25

Jul.

It is, it is: hie hence, be gone, away! It is the lark that sings so out of tune, Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps. Some say the lark makes sweet division;[E 8] This doth not so, for she divideth us:30 Some say the lark and loathed toad[E 9] change eyes; O, now I would they had changed voices too! Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray,[E 10] Hunting thee hence with hunts-up[E 11] to the day. O, now be gone; more light and light it grows.35

Rom.	More light and light;[E 12] more dark and dark our woes!

Enter Nurse.^{[C 8]}

Nurse.

Madam!

Jul.	Nurse?[C 9]

Nurse.

Your lady mother is coming to your chamber: The day is broke; be wary, look about. [Exit.[C 10] 40

Jul.	Then, window, let day in, and let life out.

Rom.	Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll descend.

[Descends.^{[C 11]}

Jul.	Art thou gone so? love-lord, ay, husband-friend![C 12][E 13] I must hear from thee every day in the hour,[E 14] For in a minute there are many days:[E 15]45 O, by this count I shall be much in years Ere I again behold my Romeo!

Rom.	Farewell! I will omit no opportunity That may convey my greetings, love, to thee.50

Jul.	O, think'st thou we shall ever meet again?

Rom.	I doubt it not;[E 16] and all these woes shall serve For sweet discourses in our time[C 13] to come.

Jul.	O God! I have an ill-divining soul: Methinks I see thee, now[C 14] thou art below,[C 15][E 17] As one dead in the bottom of a tomb: Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale.

Rom.	And trust me, love, in my eye so do you: Dry sorrow[E 18] drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu!

[Exit.

Jul.	O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle:60 If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him That is renown'd for faith? Be fickle, fortune; For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long, But send him back.

Lady Cap.

[Within.][C 16]Ho, daughter! are you up?

Jul.	Who is't that calls? is it[C 17] my lady mother?[C 18]65 Is she not down[E 19] so late, or up so early? What unaccustom'd cause procures[E 20] her hither?

Enter Lady Capulet.^{[C 19]}

Lady Cap.

Why, how now, Juliet!

Jul.	Madam, I am not well.

Lady Cap.

Evermore weeping for your cousin's death? What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?70 An[C 20] if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live; Therefore, have done : some grief shows much of love, But much of grief shows still some want of wit.

Jul.	Yet let me weep for such a feeling[E 21] loss.

Lady Cap.

So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend75 Which you weep for.[E 22]

Jul.	Feeling so the loss, I cannot choose but ever weep the friend.

Lady Cap.

Well, girl, thou weep'st not so much for his death As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him.

Jul.	What villain, madam?

Lady Cap.

That same villain, Romeo.80

Jul.	[Aside][C 21] Villain and he be[C 22] many miles asunder.— God pardon him![C 23] I do, with all my heart; And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart.

Lady Cap.

That is because the traitor murderer[C 24] lives.

Jul.	Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands:85 Would none but I might venge my cousin's death!

Lady Cap.

We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not: Then weep no more. I'll send to one in Mantua, Where that same banish'd runagate doth live, Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dram[C 25]90 That he shall soon keep Tybalt company: And then, I hope, thou wilt be satisfied.

Jul.

Indeed, I never shall be satisfied With Romeo,[E 23] till I behold him—dead—[C 26] Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vex'd.95 Madam, if you could find out but a man To bear a poison, I would temper it, That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof, Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhors To hear him named, and cannot come to him,100 To wreak the love I bore my cousin Tybalt[C 27][E 24] Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him!

Lady Cap.

Find thou the means, and I'll find such a man. But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl.

Jul.	And joy comes well in such a needy[C 28][E 25] time.105 What are they, I beseech[C 29] your ladyship?

Lady Cap.

Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child; One who, to put thee from thy heaviness, Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy, That thou expect'st[C 30] not, nor I look'd not for.110

Jul.	Madam, in happy time,[E 26] what day is that?[C 31]

Lady Cap.

Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn, The gallant, young, and noble gentleman, The County Paris, at Saint Peter's church, Shall happily make thee there[C 32] a joyful bride.115

Jul.

Now, by Saint Peter's church, and Peter too, He shall not make me there a joyful bride. I wonder at this haste; that I must wed Ere he that should be husband comes to woo. I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam,120 I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear,[E 27] It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, Rather than Paris. These are news indeed![E 28]

Lady Cap.

Here comes your father; tell him so yourself, And see how he will take it at your hands.125

Enter Capulet and Nurse.

Cap.

When the sun sets, the air[C 33][E 29] doth drizzle dew; But for the sunset of my brother's son It rains downright. How now! a conduit,[E 30] girl? what, still in tears? Evermore showering? In one little body[C 34]130 Thou counterfeit'st a[C 35] bark, a sea, a wind; For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea, Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is,[E 31] Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs; Who, raging with thy[C 36] tears, and they with them,135 Without a sudden calm, will overset Thy tempest-tossed body.—How now, wife! Have you deliver'd to her our decree?

Lady Cap.

Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you thanks. I would the fool were married to her grave!140

Cap.	Soft! take me with you, take me with you,[E 32] wife. How! will she none? doth she not give us thanks? Is she not proud? doth she not count her blest, Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?[C 37][E 33]145

Jul.	Not proud, you have, but thankful, that you have: Proud can I never be of what I hate;[C 38] But thankful even for hate, that is meant love.

Cap.

How now! how now,[C 39] chop-logic![C 40][E 34] What is this ? "Proud,"[E 35] and "I thank you," and "I thank you not";150 And yet "not proud":[C 41] mistress[E 36] minion, you,[C 42] Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds,[E 37] But fettle[E 38] your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next, To go with Paris to Saint Peter's church, Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.155 Out, you green-sickness[C 43] carrion! out, you baggage! You tallow-face![E 39]

Lady Cap.

Fie, fie! what, are you mad?

Jul.	Good father, I beseech you on my knees, Hear me with patience but to speak a word.

Cap.

Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch!160 I tell thee what: get thee to church o'[C 44] Thursday, Or never after look me in the face: Speak not, reply not, do not answer me; My fingers itch.—Wife,[C 45] we scarce thought us blest That God had lent[C 46][E 40] us but this only child;165 But now I see this one is one too much, And that we have a curse[C 47] in having her. Out on her, hilding![E 41]

Nurse.

God in heaven bless her!— You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.

Cap.	And why, my lady wisdom? hold your tongue,170 Good prudence; smatter[C 48][E 42] with your gossips;[C 49] go.

Nurse.

I speak no treason.

Cap.	O, God ye good den.[C 50][E 43]

Nurse.[C 51]

May not one speak?

Cap.	Peace,[E 44] you mumbling fool! Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl,[C 52] For here we need it not.

Lady Cap.

You are too hot.175

Cap.

God's bread! it makes me mad. Day, night, hour, tide,[C 53] time, work, play, Alone, in company,[C 54] still my care[E 45] hath been[E 46] To have her match'd; and having now provided A gentleman of noble[C 55] parentage,180 Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly trained,[C 56][E 47] Stuff'd, as they say, with honourable parts, Proportion'd as one's thought would[C 57] wish a man; And then to have a wretched puling fool, A whining mammet, in her fortune's[C 58] tender,[E 48]185 To answer "I'll not wed," "I cannot love," "I am too young," "I pray you, pardon me." But, an[C 59] you will not wed, I'll pardon you: Graze where you will, you shall not house with me: Look to 't, think on 't, I do not use to jest.190 Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise: An[C 60] you be mine, I'll give you to my friend; An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee, Nor what is mine shall never do thee good.195 Trust to 't, bethink you; I'll not be forsworn.[Exit.

Jul.	Is there no pity sitting in the clouds, That sees into the bottom of my grief? O, sweet my mother, cast me not away! Delay this marriage for a month, a week;200 Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.

Lady Cap.

Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word. Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.[Exit.

Jul.

O God!—O nurse! how shall this be prevented?205 My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven; How shall that faith return again to earth, Unless that husband send it me from heaven By leaving earth?—comfort me, counsel me.— Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagem210 Upon so soft a subject as myself!— What say'st thou ? hast thou not a word of joy? Some comfort, nurse.

Nurse.[E 49]

Some comfort, nurse. Faith, here 'tis. Romeo Is banished; and all the world to nothing, That he dares ne'er come back to challenge[E 50] you;215 Or, if he do, it needs must be by stealth. Then, since the case so stands as now it doth, I think it best you married with the county. O, he 's a lovely gentleman; Romeo's a dishclout[E 51] to him: an eagle, madam,220 Hath not so green,[E 52] so quick, so fair an eye As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart, I think you are happy in this second match. For it excels your first: or if it did not, Your first is dead, or 'twere as good he were225 As living here[E 53] and you no use of him.

Jul.	Speakest thou from thy heart?

Nurse.

Speakest thou from thy heart? And from my soul too;[E 54] Or else beshrew them both.[C 61]

Jul.	Or else beshrew them both.[C 61] Amen!

Nurse.

Or else beshrew them both.[C 61] Amen! What?[E 55]

Jul.	Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much. Go in; and tell my lady I am gone,230 Having displeased my father, to Laurence' cell, To make confession and to be absolved.

Nurse.

Marry, I will; and this is wisely done.[Exit.[C 62]

Jul.

Ancient damnation![E 56] O most wicked[C 63] fiend![E 57] Is it[C 64] more sin to wish me thus forsworn,235 Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue Which she hath praised him with above compare So many thousand times?—Go, counsellor; Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain.— I'll to the friar, to know his remedy:240 If all else fail, myself have power to die.[Exit.

Critical notes

1. Enter … above, at the window] Cambridge; Enter … aloft Q, F; Enter … at the window Q 1.
2. 4. yond] Q, F; yon Q 1.
3. 10. mountain] Q; Mountaines Q 3, F.
4. 12. Yond] Q, F; Yon Q 1.
5. 13. exhales] F, exhale Q.
6. 16. Therefore … gone] Q, F; Then stay awhile, thou shalt not goe soone Q 1 (and Pope, reading so soon).
7. 25. How … soul?] Q, F; What sayes my Love? Q 1.
8. 36. Enter Nurse] Rowe; Enter Madame and Nurse Q, F.
9. 38. Nurse?] Theobald; Nurse. Q, F.
10. 40. Exit] Theobald.
11. 42. Descends] Theobald, He goeth downe Q 1.
12. 43. love-lord, ay, husband-friend!] Ed.; love, Lord, ay husband, friend Q, F (ah for ay F 2); my Lord, my Love, my Frend? Q 1.
13. 53. our time] F, our times Q, the time Q 1.
14. 55. thee, now] Pope; thee now, Q, F;
15. below] Q 1; so low Q, F.
16. 64. [Within]] Capell.
17. 65. is it] F, it is Q;
18. mother?] F 2; mother. Q, F.
19. 67. Enter Lady Capulet] Capell; Enter Mother (after back, line 64) Q, F.
20. 71. An] Theobald; And Q, F.
21. 81. [Aside]] Hanmer;
22. be] Q, F; are Q 1.
23. 82. him] Q 4, F 2; omitted Q, F.
24. 84. murderer] Q, omitted F.
25. 90. Shall … dram] Q, F; That should bestow on him so sure a draught Q 1.
26. 94. him—dead—] Theobald; him. Dead Q, F.
27. 101. cousin Tybalt] F 2; Cozen Q, F.
28. 105. needy] Q, F; needful Q 1.
29. 106. I beseech] Q 4, F 2; beseech Q, F.
30. 110. expect'st] Rowe; expects Q, F.
31. 111. that] Q, this F.
32. 115. there] Q, omitted F.
33. 126. air] Qq 4, 5; earth, Q, F.
34. 130. showering? In … body] Q 5; showring in … body? Q, F.
35. 131. Thou counterfeit'st a] Q 5, Thou countefaits. A Q, Thou counterfaits a F.
36. 135. thy] Q, the F.
37. 145. bridegroom] F, Bride Q.
38. 147. hate] Q, have F.
39. 149. How now! how now,] Qq 3, 4 (with comma for !), How, how, howhow, Q, How now? How now? F, How, how! how, how! Capell;
40. chop-logic!] Steevens (from Q 1), chopt lodgick. Q, Chopt Logicke? F.
41. proud:] Q 4, proud Q.
42. 151. And … you] Q, omitted F;
43. 156. green-sickness] hyphen F 4 (and so tallow-face, line 157).
44. 161. o'] Theobald; a Q, F.
45. 164. itch.—Wife,] Capell, itch: Wife, Q 5, itch, wife, Q, itch, wife: F.
46. 165. lent] Q, F; sent Q 1.
47. 167. curse] Q, F; crosse Q 1.
48. 171. prudence; smatter] F (comma after Prudence), Prudence smatter Q;
49. gossips] Q, gossip F.
50. 172. Cap. O, ... den] Capell (hyphening God-ye-good-den, and adding ?); Cap. Oh goddegodden Q 1; Father, ô Godigeden Q (continued to Nurse, and so F, spelling Godigoden); Fa. O Godigeden Qq 4, 5.
51. 173. Nurse] Qq 4, 5; omitted Q, F.
52. 174. bowl] Q, bowles F.
53. 177. tide] Q, ride F.
54. 176–178. God's … company] Q, F; Gods blessed mother wife it mads me, Day, night, early, late, at home, abroad, Alone, in company, waking or sleeping, Q 1.
55. 180. noble] Q, F; princely Q 1.
56. 181. train'd] Q 1; liand Q; allied Qq 3–5, F.
57. 183. thought would] Q, F; heart could Q 1.
58. 185. fortune's] Theobald; fortunes Q, F.
59. 188. an] Capell; and Q, F.
60. 192, 193. An] Capell; And Q, F.
61. 227, 228. And … both] F, one line (omitting or) Q.
62. 233. Exit] omitted Q, F; She lookes after Nurse Q 1.
63. 234. wicked] Q, F; cursed Q 1.
64. 235. Is it] Q, It is F.

Explanatory notes

1. Capulet's orchard] So the Cambridge editors; several editors "Juliet's chamber." Rowe, "Capulet's garden," but Rowe closed the scene with line 59. The division-marks which appear in the later part of Q 1 seem to me to support Rowe. I believe that on the Elizabethan stage the dialogue between Romeo and Juliet took place on the balcony, and that the scene then changed to Juliet's chamber. Q 1 introduces the Nurse before the balcony scene closes; she announces that Lady Capulet is coming to Juliet's chamber, and then "she goeth down from the window"; the curtain, I suppose, was drawn, and the orchard below immediately became Juliet's chamber. But for the inconvenience which attends the disturbing of accepted arrangements, I should follow Rowe in this division of scenes.
2. 4. pomegranate] The pomegranate had been introduced into England as early as 1548; it grew "plenteously," says Turner, in his Names of Herbes of that year, "in Italy and in Spayne." Knight quotes, from Russel's account of Aleppo, a description of the nightingale singing from the pomegranate grove. It is the male bird—"he" not "she"—who is the chief singer; but the tale of Tereus and Philomela encouraged the opposite notion.
3. 7. envious] malicious, as often in Shakespeare.
4. 13. exhales] Meteors were supposed to be derived from matter drawn up by the sun; see 1 Henry IV. V. i. 19, and Person's Varieties (1635), "Of Meteors."
5. 14. torch-bearer] Todd quotes parallels for a similar use of the image from Sidney's Arcadia, Sir J. Davies' Orchestra, and Drayton's England's Heroical Epistles.
6. 16. stay yet;] Rowe connected yet with what follows: "stay, yet."
7. 20. Cynthia's brow] In Singer's copy of F 2 brow was corrected in MS. to bow; so too Collier (MS.); brow may mean forehead or countenance. Rolfe understands that the moon is conceived as rising, and that the reflex or reflection is from the edges of the clouds lit up by the moon behind them. Clarke suggests an allusion to the crescent borne on Diana's forehead.
8. 29. division] New Eng. Dict.: "A rapid melodic passage, originally conceived as the dividing of each of a succession of long notes into several short ones." Naylor (Shakespeare and Music, p. 28) notes the cant term "note-splitting" for the old-fashioned variation. Compare 1 Henry IV. III. i. 211: "ravishing division, to her lute." The songster (line 30) is again she; Q 1 reads this in place of she.
9. 31. toad] Warburton says that the toad having fine eyes and the lark ugly ones, it was commonly said that they had changed eyes. Johnson quotes a "rustic rhyme" to this effect. Several editors follow Rowe in reading changed for change. Heath explains: If the toad and lark had changed voices, the lark's croak would be no signal of the day. Lines 33, 34 seem to show that the joy of the lark's song adds a bitterness to Juliet's grief, and that she wishes the bird had a harsh voice to sing of harshness.
10. 33. affray] Not frighten (as Schmidt says), but disturb or startle from sleep or quiet, as Chaucer in Blaunche the Duchess (line 296) is affrayed out of his sleep by "smaie foules."
11. 34. hunts-up] New Eng. Dict.: "Originally the hunt is up, name of an old song and its tune, sung or played to awaken huntsmen in the morning; … hence … an early morning song." Compare Titus Andronicus, II. ii. i. Cotgrave (ed. 1632) has Resveil, "a Hunts-up, or morning song for a new-married wife, the day after the marriage." B. Riche, Dialogue between Mercury, etc. (1574): "Unlesse you sometimes arise to geve your parramours the hunte is up under the windowes."
12. 36. and light;] Theobald and other editors read and light? Staunton has light!
13. 43. love-lord, ay, husband-friend] I have inserted hyphens; love and friend (as commonly) mean lover; otherwise a climax seems attempted with little success. I think that Juliet, trying to amass into names all the sweetness of their union, addresses Romeo as lover-lord, and then, reversing the order, as husband-lover, insisting (ay) on husband, and such a husband as is still a lover (friend). Many editors follow Q 1, "my lord, my love, my friend!"; others read "my love! my lord! my friend!" In the corresponding passage of Brooke's poem friend and friendship are used where we should use lover and love.
14. 44. day in the hour] Collier (MS.) declines hyperbole, and reads "hour in the day."
15. 45. For … days] Q 1 has For … hower … minutes, and adds Minutes are dayes, so will I number them: so Daniel, reading days for minutes in the first line.
16. 52. I doubt it not] Daniel conjectures Ay, doubt it not.
17. 55. below] Some editors prefer Q, F, so low; I think the so was an error caused by soul immediately above.
18. 59. Dry sorrow] Malone: "He is accounting for their paleness. It was an ancient notion that sorrow consumed the blood …" 3 Henry VI. IV. iv. 22: "blood-sucking sighs."
19. 66. down] lying down, abed.
20. 67. procures] Hanmer read provokes, but no emendation is required.
21. 74. feeling] sensible, affecting; so "feeling sorrows," Winter's Tale, IV. ii. 8.
22. 76. weep for] Theobald emends the verse by reading "do weep for." Mommsen conjectures But feeling or In feeling.
23. 94. Romeo,] Daniel reads Romeo—, and puts a dash after heart in the next line. He analyses the ambiguities of Juliet's words thus: "1. I never shall be satisfied with Romeo. 2. I never shall be satisfied with Romeo till I behold him. 3. I never shall be satisfied with Romeo till I behold him dead. 4. Till I behold him, dead is my poor heart. 5. Dead is my poor heart, so for a kinsman vext."
24. 101. To … Tybalt] The addition Tybalt of F 2 is not accepted by all editors. Theobald (omitting Tybalt) reads slaughter'd cousin; Malone conjectures murder'd cousin; other suggestions are tender love, ever bore, bore unto.
25. 105. needy] poor, beggarly, poverty-stricken. Several editors prefer the needful of Q 1.
26. 111. in happy time] Equivalent, says Schmidt, to the French à la bonne heure, used either to express acquiescence, or astonishment and indignation.
27. 121. I swear] omitted by some editors, and absent from Q 1.
28. 123. These … indeed] given by Collier (MS.) to Lady Capulet. As Dyce observes, Juliet's words refer to Lady Capulet's promise (line 104) of "joyful tidings."
29. 126. air] Malone thought the earth of Q, F was supported by Lucrece, line 1226: "But as the earth doth weep, the sun being set." Elsewhere Shakespeare speaks of the dew as "falling." Grant White suggests that earth was printed for air through confusion caused by the pronunciation of earth, airth.
30. 129. conduit] Malone notes that the same image occurs more than once in Brooke's poem, and in Lucrece, line 1234. "Conduits," he adds, "in the form of human figures were common in Shakespeare's time."
31. 133. body is] Ff 2–4 omit is.
32. 141. take me with you] let me understand you, as in 1 Henry IV. II. iv. 506.
33. 145. bridegroom] The bride of Q (and of it alone) is not necessarily wrong. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries bride was used of both man and woman. Sylvester, Du Bartas, IV. ii. 211, 212 (1598): "Daughter dear … Isis bless thee and thy Bride With golden fruit."
34. 149. chop-logic] To chop is to barter, give in exchange; to chop logic, to exchange or bandy logic; a chop-logic is a contentious, sophistical arguer. Awdelay, Fraternitye of Vacabondes (1561), p. 15, New Sh. Soc. reprint: "Choplogyke is he that when his mayster rebuketh him of hys fault he wyll geve him xx words for one."
35. 150. "Proud"] Hudson adopts Lettsom's conjecture:

    "Proud, and yet not proud, and I thank you not;
    And yet I thank you."

36. 151. mistress] pronounced probably as a trisyllable. Theobald reads Why, mistress.
37. 152. Thank … prouds] Rolfe compares Richard II. II. iii. 87: "Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle."
38. 153. fettle] Ff 2–4 read settle. The primary sense of fettle seems to be to gird up; hence to make ready, put in order. New Eng. Dict. cites Schole-House of Women (1561), 571, in Hazlitt's English Popular Poetry, iv. 127: "Our fily is fettled unto the saddle." See a long article in Wright's English Dialect Dict. Elizabethan and earlier examples are not uncommon.
39. 156, 157. green-sickness carrion … tallow-face] The vituperative words dramatically suggest the pallor of Juliet; baggage, compare Cotgrave, "Bagasse, a baggage, queane, Iyll."
40. 165. lent] Many editors prefer the sent of Q 1.
41. 168. hilding] See II. iv. 47.
42. 171. smatter] prate. So J. Heywood, The Pardoner and the Friar: "What, standest thou there all the day smattering!" Hazlitt's Dodsley's Old Plays, i. 211.
43. 172. God ye good den] God give you good even; see I. ii. 58. Qq 4, 5 rightly assign these words to Fa. (Father, i.e. Capulet). Q, F make Father part of the speech, assigning to Nurse the words from "I speak" to "one speak?"
44. 173. Peace] Theobald emended the metre by reading Peace, peace. Fleay conjectures speak t' ye as the close of the Nurse's preceding speech.
45. 178. my care] Rushton, Shakespeare's Euphuism, p. 64, cites Lyly: "Mine only care hath bene hetherto, to match thee.… At the last I have found … a gentleman of great revenues, of a noble progenie, of honest behaviour, of comly personage."
46. 176–178] Pope, following, in the main, Q 1, read:
    "God's bread! it makes me mad: day, night, late, early,
    At home, abroad; alone, in company,
    Waking or sleeping, still," etc.
    So Malone, reading with Q 1 early, late.—Fleay conjectured and Daniel reads:
    "God's bread, it makes me mad:
    Day-tide, night-time, waking or sleeping hour,
    At home, abroad, alone, in company,
    Working or playing, still," etc.
    Perhaps Shakespeare intended that Capulet's madness should break the metrical regularity. A passage in the play Wily Beguiled, resembling this speech, is quoted by Malone; but his statement that Nash in 1596 alluded to this old play is probably an error; the earliest existing edition is of 1606. Several hints for this speech were derived from Brooke's poem.
47. 181. train'd] The allied of Q 3 is preferred by several editors. On the suggestion of Q liand, Capell conjectured 'lianc'd; Mommsen lined (spoken of Paris' purse), or loin'd.
48. 185. mammet … tender] a whining puppet, on the offer of good fortune. Mammet or maumet, an idol (from the supposed idolatry of the religion of Mahomet), hence a puppet. So 1 Henry IV. II. iii. 95: "to play with mammets." Every Woman in her Humour (1609): "I have seen the city of New Nineveh and Julius Cæsar acted by mammets."
49. 213. Nurse] In this speech Shakespeare adopts and develops suggestions from Brooke's poem.
50. 215. challenge] lay claim to. The word is also used for arraign, impeach.
51. 220. dishclout] A common mode of comparison; so Massinger, Bashful Lover, V. i.: "I am gazing on this gorgeous house; our cote's a dishclout to it."
52. 221. green] Hanmer, followed by Warburton and Johnson, read keen. From Chaucer to Longfellow the praises of green or greenish-yellow (citrine) eyes have been sung, and not in English poetry alone. In The Two Noble Kinsmen, V. i., we have "thy rare green eye." In a sonnet by Drummond, the gods advise Nature as to the most desirable colour for Auristella's eyes; Nature accepts the advice of Jove and Venus, and the eyes are "a paradise of green." Compare the comic praise of green eyes in Midsummer Night's Dream, V. i. 342.
53. 226. here] Hanmer read hence; Johnson says that here may signify in this world, an anonymous critic suggests there. Mr. A. Thiselton suggests that here is equal to he 're, that is he were.
54. 227.] To square the line to suit the editor's ear Steevens omitted And, Capell from (before my soul), Hanmer too.
55. 228. What?] Hanmer reads To what? Keightley: What to?
56. 234. Ancient damnation!] Steevens cites the same term of reproach from Marston, The Malcontent (1604). In Westward Hoe (Pearson's Dekker, ii. p. 306) we have "stale damnation!" used as here.
57. 234. wicked fiend] Dyce (ed. 2) reads cursed with Q 1. S. Walker, thinking wicked "flat," conjectured wither'd.