20

But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart,
My will to her consent is but a part;
An she agree, within her scope of choice
Lies my consent and fair according voice.
This night I hold an old accustom'd feast,
Whereto I have invited many a guest,
Such as I love; and you, among the store,
One more, most welcome, makes my number more.
At my poor house look to behold this night
Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven light: 25
Such comfort as do lusty young men feel
When well-apparell'd April on the heel
Of limping winter treads, even such delight
Among fresh female buds shall you this night
Inherit at my house; hear all, all see,

30

And like her most whose merit most shall be:
Which on more view of, many-mine being one—
May stand in number, though in reckoning none.

18. An] Capell, And Q, F; agree] F, agreed Q (alone). 29. female] Q1; fennell Q, F. 32. Which on] Qq 4, 5; Which one Q, F; view of, many] Ed.; view, of many, Q, F; view of many, Qq I, 4, 5.

17. to her consent] My will is a part subsidiary to her consent, which is the chief thing.

18. An she agree] Daniel, inserting a comma after And, follows Q, And, she agreed.

20. old accustom'd] Dyce, after Walker, hyphens these words.

25. make dark heaven light] Stars of earth which shall cast up their beams to the dark heaven and illuminate it. Warburton read dark even (i.e. evening) light. Mason proposed heaven's light, the earthly stars outshine, and so eclipse, the stars of heaven. Daniel suggests mock (=rival) dark heaven's light. No emendation is needed.

Come, go with me.-Go, sirrah, trudge about
Through fair Verona; find those persons out
Whose names are written there, and to them say,
My house and welcome on their pleasure stay.

35

40

[Exeunt Capulet and Paris. Serv. Find them out whose names are written here! It is written that the shoemaker should meddle with his yard, and the tailor with his last, the fisher with his pencil, and the painter with his nets; but I am sent to find those persons whose names are here writ, and can never find what names the writing person hath here writ. I must to the learned. In good time.

Enter BENVOLIO and ROMEO.

Ben. Tut, man, one fire burns out another's burning,
One pain is lessen'd by another's anguish ;
Turn giddy, and be holp by backward turning;

45

One desperate grief cures with another's languish : 38, 39. written here! It] Dyce; written. Here it Q, F. 43. here writ] Q, writ F.

and dashes to make the meaning clearer. Which for who and whom is common in Shakespeare. Reckoning is used for estimation in line 4 of this scene. The meaning I take to be: On more view of whom (i.e. the lady of most merit), many (other ladies)— and my daughter among them-may stand in a count of heads, but in estimation (reckoning, with a play on the word) none can hold a place. The same construction of "which" governed by a following "view of" occurs in Henry VIII. IV. i. 70, 71: "which when the people Had the more view of, such a noise," etc. Commentators, I think, have been

misled into supposing an allusion here to the old saying that "one is no number." QI has Such amongst view of many myne beeing one,; Capell, On which more view; Mason proposed and Dyce read, Whilst on more view of many, ; Daniel, Such amongst, view o'er many,; other suggestions of less value may be found in Cambridge Shakespeare.

46. one fire] Rolfe refers to the proverb "fire drives out fire," and compares Julius Cæsar, III. i. 171, and Coriolanus, IV. vii. 54. The passage was probably suggested by lines in Brooke's poem.

Take thou some new infection to thy eye, And the rank poison of the old will die. Rom. Your plantain leaf is excellent for that. Ben. For what, I pray thee?

Rom.

For your broken shin.

Ben. Why, Romeo, art thou mad?

50

Rom. Not mad, but bound more than a madman is; 55

Shut up in prison, kept without my food,

Whipp'd and tormented, and -Good-den, good

fellow.

Serv. God gi' good-den.

I pray, sir, can you read?

Rom. Ay, mine own fortune in my misery.

Serv. Perhaps you have learned it without book: 60

but, I pray, can you read any thing you see?

Rom. Ay, if I know the letters and the language.
Serv. Ye say honestly; rest you merry!

Rom. Stay, fellow; I can read.

Signior Martino and his wife and daughters;
County Anselme and his beauteous sisters;
The lady widow of Vitruvio;

[Reads. 65

50. thy] Q (alone), the F. 57. Good-den] Capell; Godden Q, F. 58. God gi good-den] Godgigoden Q, F. 65. daughters] Q, daughter F. 66. Anselme] Q (facsimile) Anselme Q (Daniel, Furness). 67. Vitruvio] F3; Vtruuio Q 1, Q, F.

Signior Placentio and his lovely nieces;

Mercutio and his brother Valentine;

Mine uncle Capulet, his wife and daughters;

70

My fair niece Rosaline; Livia;

Signior Valentio and his cousin Tybalt;

Lucio and the lively Helena.

A fair assembly; whither should they come?

Rom. Indeed, I should have asked you that before. Serv. Now I'll tell you without asking. My master is the great rich Capulet; and if you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray, come and crush a cup of wine. Rest you merry!

Ben. At this same ancient feast of Capulet's

Sups the fair Rosaline, whom thou so lovest,
With all the admired beauties of Verona:
Go thither; and with unattainted eye

80

[Exit. 85

75. Up-] Keightley, Up. Q, F. 76. Whither? to supper?] F, Q 5; Whither to supper? Q. 84. Exit] F, omitted Q. 86. lovest] F 2; loves Q1, Q, F.

Compare her face with some that I shall show, And I will make thee think thy swan a crow. Rom. When the devout religion of mine eye

90

Maintains such falsehood, then turn tears to fires!
And these, who often drown'd could never die,
Transparent heretics, be burnt for liars!
One fairer than my love! the all-seeing sun
Ne'er saw her match since first the
begun.

Ben. Tut, you saw her fair, none else being by,
Herself poised with herself in either eye;
But in that crystal scales let there be weigh'd
Your lady's love against some other maid
That I will show you shining at this feast,

95 world

100

And she shall scant show well that now seems

best.

Rom. I'll go along, no such sight to be shown,

But to rejoice in splendour of mine own.

92. fires] Pope; fire Q 1, Q, F. 102. seems] Qi, Q; shows Qq 3-5, Ff.

92. fires] White accepts fire, Q, F, and observes truly, "The difference of a final s seems not to have been regarded in rhyme in Shakespeare's day."

95. sun] Perhaps Massinger's "shade Of barren sicamores which the all-seeing sun Could not pierce through" (Great Duke of Florence, IV. ii.) is an echo from Romeo and Juliet. See I. 125.

99. that crystal scales] Rowe read those, and is followed by many editors. Dyce: "Used here as a singular

noun.

100. lady's love] Theobald read ladylove, which Dyce follows. Challenged to produce an Elizabethan example

[Exeunt.

97. Tut] F, Q; Tut Tut F 2.

of lady-love, Dyce produced one from Wilson's Cobler's Prophesie, 1594. Keightley reads lady and love. Clarke ingeniously suggests that "your lady's love" means the little love Rosaline bears you; let this be weighed against the charms of some other maid. QI agrees with Q, F in "lady's love." See White's remark on fires, line 92. Might we read maid's at the end of this line?

102. seems] Perhaps shows is right; but Q I supports Q in reading seems; shows might easily be repeated here by the printer; seems, in two independent texts, is unlikely to be a printer's error.