1 Nurse. Marry, farewell!-I pray you, sir, what saucy merchant was this, that was so full of his ropery ?1 Rom. A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk; and will speak more in a minute, than he will stand to in a month. Nurse. An 'a speak any thing against me, I'll take him down an 'a were lustier than he is, and twenty such Jacks; and if I cannot, I'll find those that shall. Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirt-gills; I am none of his skains-mates.2-And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure? Pet. I saw no man use you at his pleasure; if I had, my weapon should quickly have been out, I warrant you. I dare draw as soon as another man, if I see occasion in a good quarrel, and the law on my side. Nurse. Now, afore God, I am so vexed, that every part about me quivers. Scurvy knave!-'Pray you, sir, a word; and, as I told you, my young lady bade me inquire you out; what she bade me say, I will keep to myself; but first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her into a fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very gross kind of behavior, as they say; for the gentlewoman is young; and, therefore, if you should deal double with her, truly, it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing. Rom. Nurse, commend me to thy lady and mistress. I protest unto thee, Nurse. Good heart! and i'faith, I will tell her as much. Lord, Lord, she will be a joyful woman. Rom. What wilt thou tell her, nurse? thou dost not mark me. Nurse. I will tell her, sir,-that you do protest; which, as I take it, is a gentlemanlike offer. Rom. Bid her devise, some means to come to shrift This afternoon; 1 Ropery was anciently used in the same sense as roguery is now. 2 By skains-mates the old lady probably means swaggering companions. A skain, or skein, was an Irish knife or dagger, a weapon suitable to the purpose of ruffling fellows. And there she shall, at friar Laurence' cell, Rom. Go to; I say you shall. Nurse. This afternoon, sir? well, she shall be there. Rom. And stay, good nurse, behind the abbey wall: Within this hour my man shall be with thee; And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair,1 Which to the high top-gallant of my joy Must be my convoy in the secret night. Farewell!-Be trusty, and I'll quit thy pains. Farewell!-Commend me to thy mistress. Nurse. Now God in heaven bless thee!-Hark you, sir. Rom. What say'st thou, my dear nurse? Nurse. Is your man secret? Did you ne'er hear say Two may keep counsel, putting one away? Rom. I warrant thee; my man's as true as steel. Nurse. Well, sir; my mistress is the sweetest lady,-Lord, Lord!-when 'twas a little prating thing,O,—there's a nobleman in town, one Paris, that would fain lay knife aboard; but she, good soul, had as lieve see a toad, a very toad, as see him. I anger her sometimes, and tell her that Paris is the properer man; but, I'll warrant you, when I say so, she looks as pale as any clout in the varsal world. Doth not rosemary and Romeo begin both with a letter? 2 Rom. Ay, nurse; what of that? both with an R. Nurse. Ah, mocker! that's the dog's name. R is for the dog. No; I know it begins with some other 1 i. e. like stairs of rope in the tackle of a ship. A stair, for a flight of stairs, is still the language of Scotland, and was once common to both kingdoms. 2 The nurse is represented as a prating, silly creature; she says that she will tell Romeo a good joke about his mistress, and asks him whether rosemary and Romeo do not both begin with a letter: he says yes, au R. She, who, we must suppose, could not read, thought he mocked her, and says, No, sure I know better, R is the dog's name; yours begins with some other letter. This is natural enough, and in character. Ben Jonson, in his English Grammar, says "R is the dog's letter, and hirreth in the sound." letter; and she hath the prettiest sententious of it, of you and rosemary, that it would do you good to hear it. Rom. Commend me to thy lady. Nurse. Ay, a thousand times.-Peter! [Exit. Jul. The clock struck nine, when I did send the nurse; In half an hour she promised to return. Perchance, she cannot meet him: that's not so.- Of this day's journey; and from nine till twelve My words would bandy her to my sweet love, But old folks, many feign as they were dead; : 1 The speech is thus continued in the quarto, 1597 : And run more swift than hasty powder fired The greatest part of this scene is likewise added since that edition. Shakspeare, however, seems to have thought one of the ideas comprised in the foregoing quotation, from the carliest quarto, too valuable to be lost. He has, therefore, inserted it in Romeo's first speech to the apothecary, in Act v. :— "As violently as hasty powder fired Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb." VOL. VII. 24 Enter Nurse and PETER. O God, she comes!-O honey nurse, what news? [Exit PETER. Jul. Now, good sweet nurse,-O Lord! why look'st thou sad? Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily ; Nurse. I am weary; give me leave awhile ;— Do you not see that I am out of breath? Jul. How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath To say to me that thou art out of breath? The excuse, that thou dost make in this delay, Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse. Nurse. Well, you have made a simple choice; you know not how to choose a man. Romeo! no, not he; though his face be better than any man's, yet his leg excels all men's; and for a hand, and a foot, and a body, though they be not to be talked on, yet they are past compare. He is not the flower of courtesy,but, I'll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb.-Go thy ways, wench; serve God.-What, have you dined at home? Jul. No, no. But all this I did know before; What says he of our marriage? what of that? Nurse. Lord, how my head aches! what a head have I! It beats as it would fall in twenty pieces. My back o' t' other side,-O, my back, my back! Beshrew your heart for sending me about, To catch my death with jaunting up and down! Sweet, sweet, sweet nurse, tell me, what says my love? Nurse. Your love says like an honest gentleman, And a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome, And, I warrant, a virtuous, where is your mother? Jul. Where is my mother?-Why, she is within; Where should she be? How oddly thou repliest? Your love says like an honest gentleman,Where is your mother? Nurse. O, God's lady dear! Jul. Here's such a coil,-come, what says Romeo? Nurse. Then hie you hence to friar Laurence' cell; There stays a husband to make you a wife. Now comes the wanton blood up in your cheeks; They'll be in scarlet straight at any news. Hie you to church; I must another way, To fetch a ladder, by the which your love Must climb a bird's nest soon, when it is dark. I am the drudge, and toil in your delight; But you shall bear the burden soon at night. Go, I'll to dinner; hie you to the cell. Jul. Hie to high fortune!-Honest nurse, farewell. SCENE VI. Friar Laurence's Cell. Enter FRIAR LAURENCE and ROMEO.1 [Exeunt. Fri. So smile the Heavens upon this holy act, That after-hours with sorrow chide us not! 1 This scene is exhibited in quite another form in the first quarto, 1597. The reader may see it in the variorum Shakspeare. |