1. The flattering truth. This is apparently = that which bears the flattering semblance of truth. It has perplexed some of the critics, but their emendations do not better it. For flattering in the sense of illusive, cf. ii. 2. 141. Some have wondered that S. here makes the presentiment a hopeful one; but as a writer in the Cornhill Magazine (October, 1866) remarks, the presentiment was true, but Romeo did not trust it. Had he done so, his fate would not have been so tragic.

3. My bosom's lord. That is, my heart; not Love, or Cupid, as some would make it. Lines 3-5 seem to me only a highly poetical description of the strange new cheerfulness and hopefulness he feels—a reaction from his former depression which is like his dream of rising from the dead an emperor.

10. Ah me! See on Ay me! ii. 1. 10 above. It may be a misprint for "Ay me!" here.

12. Balthasar. Always accented by S. on the first syllable. The name occurs in C. of E., Much Ado, and M. of V.

17. She is well. See on iv. 5. 72 above.

18. Capel's. The early eds. have "Capels"; the modern ones generally "Capels'." The singular seems better here, on account of the omission of the article; but the plural in v. 3. 127: "the Capels' monument." S. uses this abbreviation only twice. Brooke uses Capel and Capulet indiscriminately. See quotation in note on i. 1. 28 above.

21. Presently. Immediately; the usual meaning in S. Cf. iv. 1. 54 and 95 above.

27. Patience. A trisyllable, as in v. 3. 221 and 261 below.

29. Misadventure. Mischance, misfortune; used by S. only here and in v. 3. 188 below. Misadventured occurs only in prol. 7 above.

36. In. Into; as often. Cf. v. 3. 34 below.

37. I do remember, etc. Joseph Warton objects to the detailed description here as "improperly put into the mouth of a person agitated with such passion." "But," as Knight remarks, "the mind once made up, it took a perverse pleasure in going over every circumstance that had suggested the means of mischief. All other thoughts had passed out of Romeo's mind. He had nothing left but to die; and everything connected with the means of death was seized upon by his imagination with an energy that could only find relief in words. S. has exhibited the same knowledge of nature in his sad and solemn poem of R. of L., where the injured wife, having resolved to wipe out her stain by death,

She sees in that painting some fancied resemblance to her own position, and spends the heavy hours till her husband arrives in its contemplation." See R. of L. 1366 fol. and 1496 fol.

39. Overwhelming. Overhanging. Cf. V. and A. 183: "His lowering brows o'erwhelming his fair sight." See also Hen. V. iii. 1. 11. For weeds = garments, see M.N.D. ii. 2. 71, etc.

40. Simples. Medicinal herbs. Cf. R. of L. 530, Ham. iv. 7. 145, etc.

43. An alligator stuff'd. This was a regular part of the furniture of an apothecary's shop in the time of S. Nash, in his Have With You, etc., 1596, refers to "an apothecary's crocodile or dried alligator." Steevens says that he has met with the alligator, tortoise, etc., hanging up in the shop of an ancient apothecary at Limehouse, as well as in places more remote from the metropolis. In Dutch art, as Fairholt remarks, these marine monsters often appear in representations of apothecaries' shops.

45. A beggarly account, etc. Cf. Brooke's poem:—

51. Present. Immediate; as in iv. 1. 61 above. Cf. presently in 21 above. Secret poisoning became so common in Europe in the 16th century that laws against the sale of poisons were made in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and other countries. Knight says: "There is no such law in our own statute-book; and the circumstance is a remarkable exemplification of the difference between English and Continental manners." But that this practice of poisoning prevailed to a considerable extent in England in the olden time is evident from the fact that in the 21st year of the reign of Henry VIII. an act was passed declaring the employment of secret poisons to be high-treason, and sentencing those who were found guilty of it to be boiled to death.

60. Soon-speeding gear. Quick-despatching stuff. Cf. the extract from Brooke just above. For gear, see ii. 4. 97 above.

64. As violently, etc. See on ii. 6. 9 above.

67. Any he. Cf. A. Y. L. iii. 2. 414: "that unfortunate he;" 3 Hen. VI. i. 1. 46: "The proudest he;" Id. ii. 2. 97: "Or any he the proudest of thy sort," etc. Utters them = literally, sends them out, or lets them go from his possession; hence, sells them. Cf. L. L. L. ii. 1. 16 and W. T. iv. 4. 330.

70. Starveth. That is, look out hungrily; a bold but not un-Shakespearian expression, for which Otway's "stareth" (adopted by some editors) is a poor substitution. See on i. 1. 216 above; and for the inflection, on prol. 8.

Scene II.—

4. A barefoot brother. Friars Laurence and John are evidently Franciscans. "In his kindness, his learning, and his inclination to mix with and, perhaps, control the affairs of the world, he [Laurence] is no unapt representative of this distinguished order in their best days" (Knight). Warton says that the Franciscans "managed the machines of every important operation and event, both in the religious and political world."

Cf. Brooke's poem:—

Each friar has a companion assigned him by the superior when he asks leave to go out; and thus they are a check upon each other (Steevens).

6. Associate me. Accompany me. For the transitive use, cf. T.A. v. 3. 169: "Friends should associate friends in grief and woe."

9. A house. According to both the poem and the novel, this was the convent to which the "barefoot brother" belonged.

16. Infection. A quadrisyllable. Cf, iv. 1. 41 above.

18. Nice. Trifling, unimportant. See on iii. 1. 157 above. For charge, cf. W.T. iv. 4. 261: "I have about me many parcels of charge."

19. Dear. Cf. v. 3. 32 below: "dear employment."

20. Do much danger. See on iii. 3. 118 above.

25. This three hours. The singular this is often thus used; but cf. iv. 3. 40 above: "these many hundred years;" and v. 3. 176 below: "these two days."

26. Beshrew. See on ii. 5. 52 above.

Scene III.—

A Churchyard, etc. Hunter says: "It is clear that S., or some writer whom he followed, had in mind the churchyard of Saint Mary the Old in Verona, and the monument of the Scaligers which stood in it." See the cut on p. 136, and cf. Brooke, who refers to the Italian custom of building large family tombs:—

At the close of the poem we are told that—

See also the quotation in note on iv. 1. 93 above. Brooke's reference to the "stately tombe, on pillers great," etc., was doubtless suggested by the Tomb of the Scaligers.

3. Lay thee all along. That is, at full length. Cf. A.Y.L. ii. 1. 30: "As he lay along Under an oak;" J.C. iii. 1. 115: "That now on Pompey's basis lies along," etc.

6. Unfirm. Cf. J.C. i. 3. 4, T.N. ii. 4. 34, etc. S. also uses infirm, as in Macb. ii. 2. 52, etc.

8. Something. The accent is on the last syllable, as Walker notes; and Marshall prints "some thing," as in the folio.

11. Adventure. Cf. ii. 2. 84 above.

14. Sweet water. Perfumed water. Cf. T.A. ii. 4. 6: "call for sweet water;" and see quotation in note on iv. 5. 75 above.

20. Cross. Thwart, interfere with. Cf. iv. 5. 91 above.

21. Muffle. Cover, hide. Cf. i. 1. 168 above; and see J.C. iii. 2. 191, etc. Steevens intimates that it was "a low word" in his day; but, if so, it has since regained its poetical character. Tennyson uses it repeatedly; as in The Talking Oak: "O, muffle round thy knees with fern;" The Princess: "A full sea glazed with muffled moonlight;" In Memoriam: "muffled round with woe," etc. Milton has unmuffle in Comus, 321: "Unmuffle, ye faint stars."

32. Dear. See on v. 2. 19 above.

33. Jealous. Suspicious; as in Lear, v. 1. 56, J.C. i. 2. 71, etc.

34. In. Into. See on v. 1. 36 above.

37. Savage-wild. Cf. ii. 2. 141 above.

39. Empty. Hungry. Cf. V. and A. 55: "Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast" (see also 2 Hen. VI. iii. 1. 248 and 3 Hen. VI. i. 1. 268); and T. of S. iv. 1. 193: "My falcon now is sharp and passing empty."

44. Doubt. Distrust; as in J.C. ii. 1. 132, iv. 2. 13, etc.

45. Detestable. See on iv. 5. 52 above.

47. Enforce. Force; as often. Cf. Temp. v. 1. 100: "Enforce them to this place," etc.

50. With. Often used to express the relation of cause.

59. Good gentle youth, etc. "The gentleness of Romeo was shown before [iii. 1. 64 fol.] as softened by love, and now it is doubled by love and sorrow, and awe of the place where he is" (Coleridge).

68. Conjurations. Solemn entreaties; as in Rich. II. iii. 2. 23, Ham. v. 2. 38, etc. Some have taken it to mean incantations. Defy = refuse; as in K. John, iii. 4. 23: "I defy all counsel," etc.

74. Peruse. Scan, examine. Cf. Ham. iv. 7. 137: "peruse the foils," etc.

76. Betossed. Agitated; used by S. nowhere else.

82. Sour. See on iii. 3. 7 above.

84. Lantern. Used in the architectural sense of "a turret full of windows" (Steevens). Cf. Parker, Glossary of Architecture: "In Gothic architecture the term is sometimes applied to louvres on the roofs of halls, etc., but it usually signifies a tower which has the whole height, or a considerable portion of the interior, open to the ground, and is lighted by an upper tier of windows; lantern-towers of this kind are common over the centre of cross churches, as at York Minster, Ely Cathedral, etc. The same name is also given to the light open erections often placed on the top of towers, as at Boston, Lincolnshire," etc. The one at Boston was used as a lighthouse lantern in the olden time.

86. Presence. Presence-chamber, state apartment; as in Rich. II. i. 3. 289 and Hen. VIII. iii. 1. 17.

87. Death. The abstract for the concrete. The dead man is Romeo, who is so possessed with his suicidal purpose that he speaks of himself as dead. Steevens perversely calls it one of "those miserable conceits with which our author too frequently counteracts his own pathos."

88-120. How oft when men, etc. "Here, here, is the master example how beauty can at once increase and modify passion" (Coleridge).

90. A lightning before death. "A last blazing-up of the flame of life;" a proverbial expression. Steevens quotes The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, 1601:—

Clarke notes "the mingling here of words and images full of light and colour with the murky grey of the sepulchral vault and the darkness of the midnight churchyard, the blending of these images of beauty and tenderness with the deep gloom of the speaker's inmost heart."

92. Suck'd the honey, etc. Cf. Ham. iii. 1. 164: "That suck'd the honey of his music vows." Steevens quotes Sidney, Arcadia: "Death being able to divide the soule, but not the beauty from her body."

96. Death's pale flag. Steevens compares Daniel, Complaint of Rosamond:—

97. Tybalt, etc. Cf. Brooke's poem:—

106. Still. Constantly, always; as very often. Cf. 270 below.

110. Set up my everlasting rest. That is, remain forever. To set up one's rest was a phrase taken from gaming, the rest being the highest stake the parties were disposed to venture; hence it came to mean to have fully made up one's mind, to be resolved. Here the form of expression seems to be suggested by the gaming phrase rather than to be a figurative example of it.

112-118. Eyes ... bark. Whiter points out a coincidence between this last speech of Romeo's and a former one (i. 4. 103 fol.) in which he anticipates his misfortunes. "The ideas drawn from the stars, the law, and the sea succeed each other in both speeches, in the same order, though with a different application."

115. Dateless. Limitless, eternal. Cf. Sonn. 30. 6: "death's dateless night;" Rich. III. i. 3. 151: "The dateless limit of thy dear exile," etc.

Engrossing. Malone says that the word "seems here to be used in its clerical sense." There seems to be at least a hint of that sense, suggested by seal and bargain; but the leading meaning is that of all-seizing, or "taking the whole," as Schmidt explains it.

116. Conduct. See on iii. 1. 127 above. For unsavoury, cf. V. and A. 1138: "sweet beginning, but unsavoury end." Schmidt, who rarely makes such a slip, treats both of these examples as literal rather than metaphorical. The only example of the former sense in S. (not really his) is Per. ii. 3. 31: "All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury."

118. Thy. Pope substituted "my," but thy may be defended on the nautical principle that the pilot is the master of the ship after he takes her in charge. That seems to be Romeo's thought here; he gives up the helm to the "desperate pilot," and says, "The ship is yours, run her upon the rocks if you will."

121. Be my speed. Cf. Hen. V. v. 2. 194: "Saint Denis be my speed!" A. Y. L. i. 2. 222: "Hercules be thy speed!" etc.

122. Stumbled at graves. The idea that to stumble is a bad omen is very ancient. Cicero mentions it in his De Divinatione. Melton, in his Astrologaster, 1620, says that "if a man stumbles in a morning as soon as he comes out of dores, it is a signe of ill lucke." Bishop Hall, in his Characters, says of the "Superstitious Man" that "if he stumbled at the threshold, he feares a mischief." Stumbling at graves is alluded to in Whimzies, or a New Cast of Characters, 1631: "His earth-reverting body (according to his mind) is to be buried in some cell, roach, or vault, and in no open space, lest passengers (belike) might stumble on his grave." Steevens cites 3 Hen. VI. iv. 7. 11 and Rich. III. iii. 4. 86.

127. Capels'. See on v. 1. 18 above.

138. I dreamt, etc. Steevens considers this a touch or nature: "What happens to a person under the manifest influence of fear will seem to him, when he is recovered from it, like a dream." It seems to me more likely that the man confuses what he saw while half asleep with what he might have dreamt.

145. Unkind. Usually accented on the first syllable before a noun, but otherwise on the second. This often occurs with dis-syllabic adjectives and participles. Unkind and its derivatives are often used by S. in a much stronger sense than at present. In some cases, the etymological sense of unnatural (cf. kind and kindly = natural) seems to cling to them. Cf. J.C. iii. 2. 187, Lear, i. 1. 263, iii. 4. 73, etc.

148. Comfortable. Used in an active sense = ready to comfort or help; as in A.W. i. 1. 86, Lear, i. 4. 328, etc.

158. The watch. It has been asserted by some of the critics that there was no watch in the old Italian cities; but, however that may have been, S. follows Brooke's poem:—

162. Timeless. Untimely. Cf. T.G. of V. iii. 1. 21: "your timeless grave;" Rich. II. iv. 1. 5: "his timeless end," etc.

163. Drunk all, and left. The reading of 2nd quarto. The 1st has "drink ... leave," and the folio "drink ... left."

170. There rest. From 1st quarto; the other early eds. have "rust," which some editors prefer. To me rest seems both more poetical and more natural. That at this time Juliet should think of "Romeo's dagger, which would otherwise rust in its sheath, as rusting in her heart," is quite inconceivable. It is a "conceit" of the worst Elizabethan type.

The tragedy here ends in Booth's Acting Copy (Furness).

173. Attach. Arrest; as in C. of E. iv. 1. 6, 73, iv. 4. 6, Rich. II. ii. 3. 156, Hen. VIII. i. 1. 217, i. 2. 210, etc.

176. These two days. See on iv. 1. 105 above.

181. Without circumstance. Without further particulars. Cf. ii. 5. 36 above.

203. His house. Its sheath. See on ii, 6. 12 above.

204. On the back. The dagger was commonly turned behind and worn at the back, as Steevens shows by sundry quotations.

207. Old age. A slip which, strangely enough, no editor or commentator has noticed. Furness notes no reference to it, and I find none in more recent editions. See on i. 3. 51 above.

211. Grief of my son's exile. Cf. Much Ado, iv. 2. 65: "and upon the grief of this suddenly died." For the accent of exile, cf. iii. 1. 190 and iii. 3. 20 above.

After this line the 1st quarto has the following: "And yong Benuolio is deceased too;" but, as Ulrici remarks, "the pacific, considerate Benvolio, the constant counseller of moderation, ought not to be involved in the fate which had overtaken the extremes of hate and passion."

214. Manners. S. makes the word either singular or plural, like news, tidings (see on iii. 5. 105 above), etc. Cf. A. W. ii. 2. 9, W. T. iv. 4. 244, etc. with T. N. iv. 1. 53, Rich. III. iii. 7. 191, etc.

216. Outrage. Cf. 1 Hen. VI. iv. 1. 126:—

There, as here, it means a mad outcry. Dyce quotes Settle, Female Prelate: "Silence his outrage in a jayl, away with him!"

221. Patience. A trisyllable. See on v. 1. 27 above. In the next line suspicion is a quadrisyllable.

229. I will be brief, etc. Johnson and Malone criticise S. for following Brooke in the introduction of this long narrative. Ulrici well defends it as preparing the way for the reconciliation of the Capulets and Montagues over the dead bodies of their children, the victims of their hate. For date, see on i. 4. 105 above.

237. Siege. Cf. the same image in i. 1. 209.

238. Perforce. By force, against her will; as in C. of E. iv. 3. 95, Rich. II. ii. 3. 121, etc.

241. Marriage. A trisyllable. See on iv. 1. 11 above, and cf. 265 below.

247. As this dire night. This redundant use of as in statements of time is not uncommon. Cf. J.C. v. 1. 72: "as this very day was Cassius born," etc.

253. Hour. A dissyllable; as in iii. 1. 198 above.

257. Some minute. We should now say "some minutes," which is Hanmer's reading. Cf. "some hour" in 268 below.

258. Untimely. For the adverbial use, see on iii. 1. 121 above.

270. Still. Always. See on 106 above.

273. In post. In haste, or "post-haste." Cf. v. 1. 21 above. We find "in all post" in Rich. III. iii. 5. 73, and "all in post" in R. of L. 1.

276. Going in. See on v. 1. 36 above.

280. What made your master? What was your master doing? Cf. A. Y. L. i. 1. 3, ii. 3. 4, etc.

284. By and by. Presently. See on ii. 2. 151 above.

289. Pothecary. Generally printed "'pothecary" in the modern eds., but not in the early ones. It was a common form of the word. Cf. Chaucer, Pardoneres Tale:—

Therewithal. Therewith, with it. Cf. T.G. of V. iv. 4. 90:—

291. Be. Cf. Ham. iii. 2. 111, v. 1. 107, etc.

295. A brace of kinsmen. Mercutio and Paris. For the former, see iii. 1. 112; and for the latter, iii. 5. 179 and v. 3. 75. Steevens remarks that brace as applied to men is generally contemptuous; as in Temp. v. 1. 126: "But you, my brace of lords," etc. As a parallel to the present passage, cf. T. and C. iv. 5. 175: "You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither!"

305. Glooming. Used by S. only here. Steevens cites Tom Tyler and his Wife, 1578: "If either he gaspeth or gloometh." Cf. Spenser, F.Q. i. 14: "A little glooming light, much like a shade." Young uses the verb in his Night Thoughts, ii.: "A night that glooms us in the noontide ray."

308. Some shall be pardoned, etc. In the novel, Juliet's attendant is banished for concealing the marriage; Romeo's servant set at liberty because he had acted under his master's orders; the apothecary tortured and hanged; and Friar Laurence permitted to retire to a hermitage, where he dies five years later.