Enter Tybalt. Ben. Here comes the furious Tybalt back again. Rom. Alive? in Triumph? and Mercutio flain? Away to heav'n, respective lenity, And fire-ey'd fury be my conduct now! Staying for thine to keep him company; Or thou or I, or both, must go with him. Tyb. Thou, wretched boy, that didft confort him here, Shalt with him hence. Rom. This fhall determine that. [They fight, Tybalt falls. Ben. Romeo, away. Begone: The citizens are up, and Tybalt flain Stand not amaz'd. The Prince will doom thee death, If thou art taken. Hence. Begone. Away. [Exit Romeo: SCENE III. Enter Citizens. Cit. Which way ran he that kill'd Mercutio? 2 Oh! I am fortune's fool.] I am always running in the way of evil fortune, like the fool in a VOL. VIII. F play. Thou art death's fool: in Meafure for Measure. See Dr. Warburton's Note. Cit. Cit. Up, Sir. Go with me. I charge thee in the Prince's name, obey. Enter Prince, Montague, Capulet, their Wives, &c. Prin. Where are the vile beginners of this fray? La. Cap. Tybalt, my coufin! O my brother's child! Prince, O-coufin-hufband-O-the blood is fpill'd Of my dear kinfman. Prince, as thou art true, For blood of ours, fhed blood of Montague. O! coufin, coufin. Prin. Benvolio, who began this fray? Ben. Tybalt, here flain, whom Romeo's hand did flay; Romeo, that fpoke him fair, bid him bethink With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bow'd, Retorts it. Romeo he cries aloud, 3 as thou art true,] As thou art juft and upright. 4 How nice the quarrel-] How flight, how unimportant, how 6 Hold, friends! friends, part! and, swifter than his tongue, His agile arm beats down their fatal points, And 'twixt them rufhes; underneath whofe arm La. Cap. He is a kinfman to the Montagues, Prin. Romeo flew him, he flew Mercutio; His fault concludes but what the law fhould end, Prin. And for that offence, Immediately we do exile him hence: 6 "I have an intereft in your hearts' proceeding, My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a bleeding; 5 Affection makes him falle.] The charge of falfhood on Bentivolio, though produced at hazard, is very juft. The authour, who feems to intend the character of Bentivolio as good, meant perhaps to fhew, how the best minds, in a fate of faction and difcord, are detorted to criminal partiality. F z But 6 I have an interest in your hearts' proceeding,] Sir Th. Hanmer faw that this line gave no fenfe, and therefore put, by a very eafy change, I have an intereft in your heat's proceeding, Which is undoubtedly better than the old reading which Dr. Warburton has followed; but the fenfe But I'll amerce you with fo ftrong a fine, Jul. SCENE IV. Changes to an Apartment in Capulet's House. G Enter Juliet alone. ALLOP apace, you fiery-footed steeds, As Phaeton, would whip you to the west, 7 Spread thy clofe curtain, love-performing night, fenfe yet feems to be weak, and perhaps a more licentious correction is neceflary. I read therefore, I had no intereft in your heat's preceding. This, fays the Prince, is no quarrel of mine, I had no intereft in your former difcord; I fuffer merely by your private animofity. 7 Spread thy clife curtain, loveperforming Night, That runaways eyes may wink ;] What runaways are thefe, whole Leap eyes Juliet is wishing to have ftopt? Macbeth, we may remember, makes an invocation to Night much in the fame ftrain, -Come, feeling Night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day, &'c. So Juliet would have Night's darkness obfure the great eye of the day, the Sun; whom confidering in a poetical light as Phobus, drawn in his carr with fieryfooted steeds, and posting thro' the heavens, fhe very probably calls Leap to thefe arms, untalkt of and unfeen. By their own beauties, or, if love be blind, 8 Come, civil night, And learn me how to lose a winning match, Hood my unmann'd blood baiting in my cheeks, With thy black mantle; 'till ftrange love, grown bold, Thinks true love acted, fimple modefty. Come, night; come, Romeo! come, thou day in night, For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night, Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-brow'd night! Give me my Romeo, and, when he fhall die, Take him and cut him out in little ftars, And he will make the face of heaven fo fine, |