That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops,9

Jul. O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon That monthly changes in her circled orb,

Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
Rom. What shall I swear by ?

Jul.

Do not swear at all;

Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,
Which is the God of my idolatry,

And I'll believe thee.

Rom.

If my heart's dear love
Jul. Well, do not swear: although I joy in thee,
I have no joy of this contract to-night:

It is too rash, too unadvis'd, too sudden;
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be,
Ere one can say It lightens.1 Sweet, good night!
This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night! as sweet repose and rest
Come to thy heart, as that within my breast!

9

Rom. O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?
Jul. What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?

moon

3

That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops,] This image struck Pope:

"The moon-beam trembling falls,

"And tips with silver all the walls." Imit. of Horace. Again, in the celebrated simile on the moon at the conclusion of the eighth Book of the Iliad:

"And tips with silver ev'ry mountain's head." H. White.

1 Ere one can say—It lightens.] So, in The Miracles of Moses, by Drayton:

66

lightning ceaslessly to burn,

"Swifter than thought from place to place to pass,
"And being gone, doth suddenly return
"Ere you could say precisely what it was."

The same thought occurs in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Steevens Drayton's Miracles of Moses was first printed in quarto, in 1604.

Malone.

2 Sweet, good night!] All the intermediate lines from Sweet, good night! to Stay but a little, &c. were added after the first copy. Steevens.

3 What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?] Here Juliet seemeth as if she meant to promise (i. e. as much as in her lieth) to afford Romeo, in some future instance, that satisfaction which he

Rom. The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.

Jul. I gave thee mine before thou didst request it: And yet I would it were to give again.

Rom. Would'st thou withdraw it? for what purpose, love?

Jul. But to be frank, and give it thee again.
And yet I wish but for the thing I have:
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.

[Nurse calls within.
I hear some noise within; Dear love, adieu!
Anon, good nurse!-Sweet Montague, be true.
Stay but a little, I will come again.

Rom. O blessed blessed night! I am afeard,
Being in night, all this is but a dream,
Too flattering-sweet to be substantial.

Re-enter JULIET, above.

[Exit.

Jul. Three words, dear Romeo, and good night, indeed.

If that thy bent of love be honourable,

Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow,
By one that I'll procure to come to thee,

Where, and what time, thou wilt perform the rite;
And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay,

And follow thee my lord throughout the world:
Nurse. [within] Madam.

Jul. I come, anon:-But if thou mean'st not well,
I do beseech thee,

Nurse. [within] Madam.

Jul.

By and by, I come :-

To cease thy suit, and leave me to my grief:
To-morrow will I send.

Rom.

So thrive my soul,

Jul. A thousand times good night! [Exit. Rom. A thousand times the worse, to want thy light.

cannot receive while they remain at their present distance from

each other.

Amner.

4 To cease thy suit,] So the quarto, 1597. The two subsequent quartos and the folio have-thy strife. Malone.

Love goes toward love, as school-boys from their books; But love from love, toward school with heavy looks. [Retiring slowly.

Re-enter JULIET, above.

Jul. Hist! Romeo, hist!-O, for a falconer's voice, To lure this tassel-gentle back again!5*

Bondage is hoarse, and may not speak aloud;
Else would I tear the cave where echo lies,
And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine
With repetition of my Romeo's name.

Rom. It is my soul, that calls upon my name:
How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night,
Like softest musick to attending ears!

5 To lure this tassel-gentle back again!] The tassel or tiercel (for so it should be spelt) is the male of the gosshawk; so called, because it is a tierce or third less than the female. This is equally true of all birds of prey. In The Booke of Falconrye, by George Turberville, Gent. printed in 1575, I find a whole chapter on the falcon-gentle, &c. So, in The Guardian, by Massinger:

then, for an evening flight,

"A tiercel-gentle."

Taylor the water poet uses the same expression: "- - By casting out the lure, she makes the tassel-gentle come to her fist." Again, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. III, c. iv:

"Having far off espyde a tassel-gent,

"Which after her his nimble wings doth straine."

Again, in Decker's Match me in London, 1631:

"Your tassel-gentle, she 's lur'd off and gone."

This species of hawk had the epithet of gentle annexed to it, from the ease with which it was tamed, and its attachment to man. Steevens.

It appears from the old books on this subject that certain hawks were considered as appropriated to certain ranks. The tercel-gentle was appropriated to the prince; and thence, we may suppose, was chosen by Juliet as an appellation for her beloved Romeo. In an ancient treatise entitled Hawking, Hunting, and Fishing, with the true Measures of Blowing, is the following passage:

"The names of all manner of hawkes, and to whom they belong:

FOR A PRINCE.

There is a falcon gentle, and a tercel gentle; and these are for a prince." Malone.

* Tercel is used by our author, as the generic appellation of the male Falcon. See Troilus and Cressida, p. 97, and notes 1, *, &c.

6

Am. Ed.

tear the cave-] This strong expression is more suitably employed by Milton:

"A shout that tore hell's concave --" Steevens.

Rom.

Jul. I will not fail;

At the hour of nine.

'tis twenty years till then.

I have forgot why I did call thee back.

Rom. Let me stand here till thou remember it. Jul. I shall forget, to have thee still stand there, Rememb'ring how I love thy company.

Rom. And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget, Forgetting any other home but this.

Jul. 'Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone:
And yet no further than a wanton's bird;

Who lets it hop a little from her hand,
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silk thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.

Rom. I would, I were thy bird.

Jul. Sweet, so would I: Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. - Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say-good night, till it be morrow. [Exit. Rom. Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy

breast!

'Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!

7 My sweet! Mr. Malone reads-Madam, and justifies his choice by the following note. Steevens.

Thus the original copy of 1597 In the two subsequent copies and the folio we have-My niece. What word was intended it is difficult to say. The editor of the second folio substituted-My sweet. I have already shown, that all the alterations in that copy were made at random; and have therefore preserved the original word, though less tender than that which was arbitrarily substituted in its place. Malone.

As I shall always suppose the second folio to have been corrected, in many places, by the aid of better copies than fell into the hands of the editors of the preceding volume, I have in the present instance, as well as many others, followed the authority rejected by Mr. Malone.

I must add, that the cold, distant, and formal appellationMadam, which has been already put into the mouth of the Nurse, would but ill accord with the more familiar feelings of the ardent Romeo, to whom Juliet has just promised every gratification that youth and beauty could bestow. Steevens.

Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell;
His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell.

SCENE III.

Friar Laurence's Cell.

Enter Friar LAURENCE, with a Basket.

[Exit.

Fri. The grey-ey'd morn smiles on the frowning night," Checkering the eastern clouds with streaks of light; And flecked darkness1 like a drunkard reels

From forth day's path-way, made by Titan's wheels:2

8 Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell;

His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell.] Thus the quarto, 1597, except that it has good instead of dear. That of 1599, and the folio, read:

Hence will I to my ghostly frier's close cell,

His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell. Malone.

9 The grey-ey'd morn &c.] These four lines are here replaced, conformable to the first edition, where such a description is much more proper than in the mouth of Romeo just before, when he was full of nothing but thoughts of his mistress. Pope.

In the folio these lines are printed twice over, and given once to Romeo, and once to the Friar.

Johnson.

The same mistake has likewise happened in the quartos, 1599, 1609, and 1637. Steevens.

1 And flecked darkness] Flecked is spotted, dappled, streaked, or variegated. In this sense it is used by Churchyard, in his Legend of Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. Mowbray, speaking of the Germans, says:

"All jagg'd and frounc'd, with divers colours deck'd, "They swear, they curse, and drink till they be fleck'd." Lord Surrey uses the same word in his translation of the fourth Eneid:

"Her quivering cheekes flecked with deadly staine." The same image occurs also in Much Ado about Nothing, Act V, sc. iii:

Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey." Steevens. The word is still used in Scotland, where a "flecked cow" is a common expression. See the Glossary to Gawin Douglas's translation of Virgil, in v. fleckit. Malone.

2 From forth day's path-way, made by Titan's wheels:] So, in Jocasta's address to the sun in the OINIZZAI of Euripides: Ω τὴν ἐν αστροις ἐραν8 ΤΕΜΝΩΝ ΟΔΟΝ.”

Mr. Malone reads

From forth day's path, and Titan's fiery wheels. Steevens. Thus the quarto, 1597. That of 1599, and the folio, haveburning wheels.